Dear President Putin,
I write to you not as an American citizen, but as an environmentalist and as a citizen of the World. I’m also writing to you as the great-nephew of a Lithuanian Communist Party leader who was assassinated in a right-wing, military coup d'etat in the 1920’s.
I know I must sound incredibly naive, but please stop supporting Donald Trump and the Republican Party. I can only image how excited you must be to have Trump in the White House. You’re definitely going to be in the history books. No one is ever going to forget you. You’ve made your point! Democracy is badly flawed and easily manipulated.
I know you must be thinking: Why in the world would you want to give up having such leverage? Here is my argument: The ice is melting. The tundras are thawing. The world is getting a lot hotter. By supporting the most extreme right wing, anti-environmental, Republican lunatics imaginable in USA politics you are helping to endanger the entire world. The last time I looked Russia is a very big part of the world. Don’t you want your descendants to inherit a world that’s not substantially under water and over heating? President Putin, for short term gains the Russian people (and the rest of humanity) are going to experience long term losses. Think of the big picture, please.
For the life of me I don’t know why you would want to support billionaire thugs like the Koch Brothers and Robert and Rebekah Mercer. I realize you’re as capitalist as any American, but you’re supporting the very people who would be only too happy to destroy Russia politically if they were given the chance. They also have a total disregard for the environment. They could care less about destruction they are causing that will take generations to repair. They don’t care about their own country, the rest of the world, the future, or even their descendants. All they care about is getting their way like a five-year-old child and making as much money as possible, and nothing more.
I know you care about Russia and the Russian people. You see yourself as a patriot. I respect that. But lets say the Koch’s and the Mercer’s succeed in making American democracy totally dysfunctional, how does that benefit you and the Russian people? Do you really think the horrific environmental destruction they will cause will simply stop at the American border? Or, that their destructive political shenanigans won’t spread to Russia?
I’m also a student of history. 99% of Americans don’t know that the USA (American Expeditionary Force Siberia) invaded Russia after World War 1. Nor, do most Americans know that the bulk of World War 2 was fought on Russian soil that cost approximately 27 million Russian lives. Or, that the Soviet Union literally helped save the rest of the world from Nazism. American cities should have statues honoring the ordinary Russian soldier and civilian who sacrificed so much during World War 2. But instead the vast majority of Americans are in total ignorance.
The Russian people have been portrayed very poorly in Hollywood and in the news media. Does your support of the invasion of the Ukraine and the Crimea have anything to do with national pride? I realize you support the Republican party and Donald Trump because the Democrats are unified against the invasion in the Ukraine and have imposed sanctions. I can only imagine all the grievance you have against the West and the USA in particular. You think of us as hypocrites, and rightfully so. But two wrongs don’t make a right! You should not invade sovereign nations just because the United States did the same exact thing in Iraq. You come from a Christian tradition. Jesus’ bottom line: Don’t take the easy way out, and seeking revenge - or doing what you want - is the easy way out.
I propose a Truth Commission where the Russian Government and your allies and the American government and their allies air out all their grievances going back as far as each side wants. You hold this Truth Commission in some neutral place and let the whole world witness the process. President Putin, I know I must sound like such a fool to be so naive. But isn’t it time to get out of the gutter and try something new and a lot better? Show the World how great you are by making the first move by ending all support for Donald Trump and his thugs in the Republican party. Future generations will thank you!