Solidarity with Ukraine
My first post on Substack is about Solidarity with Ukraine and the need for conservatives and liberals to help the Ukrainians repulse Putin's invasion.
When General Wojciech Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Poland on December 13, 1981, I was in charge of Voice of America (VOA) Polish Service broadcasts. They originated in Washington, DC. Americans and many people around the world were showing then their solidarity with the Polish nation and the Solidarność independent trade union movement’s struggle for human rights, democracy, and independence from Soviet Russia. Conservatives and liberals in the United States united in their support for the people of Poland and their fight against the communist regime, although many Democrats still strongly opposed President Ronald Reagan on most domestic and foreign policy issues.
I am extremely pleased to see in the last several days the enormous amount of solidarity with the people of Ukraine as they fiercely resist the unprovoked, brutal invasion by Vladimir Putin’s Russian military forces. Deep partisan divisions in the United States, however, still hamper getting a more effective response to Putin’s aggression. Putin’s propagandists have been working for years to exacerbate these divisions. Both conservatives and liberals allowed themselves to be surreptitiously influenced by Russia’s disinformation warfare.
On the positive side, the support for Ukraine has been so incredibly strong lately on social media that Putin’s usual witting and unwitting agents of influence are not as prominently visible as they were before. They can only be effective if social media users and mainstream journalists repost and repeat their disinformation. The Kremlin’s trolls initiate confusion to promote internal conflicts in the West, but Western politicians and journalists who are duped do most of the damage. In the United States, Tucker Carlson has been one of them. But the weak initial response from the Biden Administration to the invasion of Ukraine, as well as the fact that Vladimir Putin felt safe enough to launch his attack, show that the Kremlin’s disinformation tactics have been effective also against the establishment figures and the media on the Left.
In general, this time around, unlike the period of World War II and the Cold War, conservatives rather than liberals in America are more likely to fall for Putin’s propaganda lies. His state media outlets have been highlighting TV clips from Tucker Carlson, but even Carlson has issued a weak condemnation of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tucker Carlson, former President Donald Trump, and other conservatives should do much more to disassociate themselves from any past support for Putin. If they don’t, history will not be kind to them. Fortunately, not all conservatives have been deceived, just as not all liberals have allowed themselves to become completely divided from their fellow Americans who hold more conservative views but are not fooled by the Kremlin’s propaganda. I am hoping that Putin’s war on Ukraine will help unite more Americans, although I am a realist. Even a small movement in that direction would be good for the United States.
Meanwhile, I rejoice in seeing great solidarity among Americans for the brave Ukrainians who are resisting Vladimir Putin’s armies. May they quickly defeat him, hopefully much faster than the time it took for the Solidarity trade union movement in Poland to put an end to Communism and Soviet domination. But eventually, Putin will lose, and Ukraine will remain free and independent. He will share the fate of all dictators. Vladimir Putin will die in office or be removed by oligarchs under pressure from the West and the Russian citizenry. I am quite certain of that.
Tadeusz (Ted) A. Lipien is an international media executive, journalist, writer, blogger, and press freedom advocate. He was Voice of America (VOA) Polish Service chief during Solidarity trade union’s struggle for democracy, acting VOA Associate Director, and served for a short time as President of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). His articles on U.S. international broadcasting have been published in American Diplomacy, National Review, The Washington Times, The Washington Examiner, and Digital Journal. He is the author of a book on feminism and Pope John Paul II, O-Books, UK, and Świat Książki, Poland.