I'm sorry, but I think the "victory" in the Cold War looks increasingly meaningless by the day

[BeyondGeography]

9. "Victory" in quotes, exactly the problem

When it comes to Russia. Real wars have real surrenders after much death. Putin never accepted the geopolitical “verdict” of the Cold War. Russia won’t go down without a fight, per him, and being the Tsar, he is the only person who matters.

That’s why Putin needs to be defeated, to make the verdict of the Cold War real. Or so one would think.

Putin picked up on hatreds he shares with the right, he gets points for that, but he has so far been unable to fully exploit them. His problem is Russia craves our power position in the world without doing the boring but necessary work to attain it.

What do we have? The very things that the Republican Party is trying to destroy. Democracy, meritocracy, the rule of law, free and fair elections, strong institutions, freedom of information.

By invading Ukraine and showing just how amoral and hollowed out kleptocratic Russia has become, Putin woke up the West, or at least that portion of it that is committed to free and open societies. There’s only one thing that can save him now: the Republican Party and its quest to destroy American liberal democracy. They want what Putin has: a license to steal with impunity, crush opponents, and full legal and political unaccountability. The Cold War will indeed turn out to be meaningless if they win.