I am not a fool at least I would like to think I am not a fool. But of course, a fool would think that wouldn’t he?
Anyway, I know how things work and I don’t pretend any single event will change the world overnight…. but I also know that some events are historic in nature and I believe the events we are witnessing in Ukraine are a potential turning point in history.
I believe Putin has been exposed for the average intellect, ruthless, petty, mid-level bureaucrat that he is. I also think the world has stopped believing HIS propaganda that he is always 5 steps ahead of everyone else and we have come together against him... finally. This could signify a change in direction for events around the globe.
With that in mind, here are a few things I HOPE will come to pass. Again I am not foolish enough to believe they will all come true, but I do see some reason for a fair bit of optimism, a ray of sunshine during some dark days.
- I hope to see Volodymyr Zelensky given a standing ovation at the U.N. when he is asked to speak on behalf of the Ukrainian people after surviving the Russian attack and leading his nation to victory by pushing the invaders back across their borders.
I hope he can finally get corruption under control. With his newfound political power after standing up to the bully and punching him square in the jaw coupled with the massive disruption to daily life in Ukraine requiring their society to be rebuilt, this is a possibility. I also hope Ukraine will eventually be accepted into NATO and the EU with open arms.
And I also hope after all the dust settles Mr. Zelensky is revered as a hero by the Ukrainian people, his bravery should be rewarded. I believe the Russian propaganda machine leaked the fact that Zelensky was on a kill list expecting he would flee, that he stood his ground is perhaps the main reason Ukraine is still holding on.
- Hope to see Putin deposed (at the very least) and brought up on war crimes charges. I believe this has a much higher likelihood than I ever dreamed of even just a week or so ago.
The ramifications of such an event would have extremely wide-ranging implications. Putin made it his number one goal to defeat democracy and as the richest man arguably in human history (operating a criminal syndicate at a global level will do that), we have seen just how much damage he has done on the world stage over the last decade-plus.
Yes yes, the horse is out of the barn in some respects and it’s going to take time to get things on the right track. But IF Putin were gone the level of disinformation driving global discord would go down significantly. I hope that the world can turn the tide against the rise of fascism and countries like Brazil, Turkey, India, Belarus and others will begin to see past the smokescreen Putin helped to erect.
- I hope to see Alexei Navalny released from prison and win a fair election in Russia. I don’t know the man, and I do know that Russian corruption runs deep, but I suspect he could put the nation on course to become a better actor on the world stage and we could finally see some good come to the Russian people, just like the people of Ukraine, they deserve better.
- I hope the sanctions imposed on Russian oligarchs will finally uncover just how deep the rot is in the American right. AND I hope the DoJ will follow up on criminal wrongdoing by the wealthy right-wing in America.
Sadly, of all the things on this list, this is the one I may have the least confidence in. On the other hand, sanctions will require some serious scrutiny by the Treasury Department, the IRS and the FBI among others. I have to believe there are enough good people still in these agencies that will do something if they uncover evidence of money laundering and/or illegal campaign contributions from foreign actors. There might be a lot of people turning a blind eye up to this point that couldn’t actually do that under the brighter spotlight of sanctions.
From the little I do know about politics in the U.K. I suspect much of what I wrote above will be true there as well.
- I hope a lot more attention will be paid to Trump’s “I want you to do me a favor though” phone call with Mr. Zelensky. There is a direct thread, a flaming arrow of sorts, from that call to the events unfolding today in Ukraine. The American government owes it to the people of Ukraine to spell out exactly what was wong with that call and to hold Trump accountable criminally if he crossed the law (which I believe he did).
- Related to the point above, I hope some attention is finally given to the income inequality problem around the world (especially here in America). How is this related you ask? Good question.
Mr. Zelensky was practically begging Trump to release $250 million, that was the difference between his ability to hold back the Russian troops in his borders now and being overrun. I know, I know, there was more money than that at play before and since, but Mr. Zelensky did see that money as critical.
Jeff Bezos made $5 BILLION dollars in 2021 ALONE while that same year the Ukrainian military budget was $4.2 billion.
Read that again, one single human made enough money in one year to affect the geopolitical landscape of the world. One human made enough money to fund the ENTIER Ukrainian military budget and would have STILL had $800 million dollars profit left over.
This is a serious problem. Income inequality IS a national security problem and it needs to be recognized as such.
- I hope the world will wake up and realize that dependence on foreign sources of energy is a massive national security problem. Depending on Russian oil and gas is literally like paying someone to hold your national security and sovereignty hostage. This is also true for actors in the Middle East.
I hope the tragic events in Ukraine can lead to an even stronger move toward green energy that doesn’t threaten the national security of countries the world over. Humans are reactionary creatures, we can’t imagine the worst effects of climate change in the future but we can see how Russia used their fossil fuels as a wedge and that could lead to some changes in foreign policy for many nations…. or it should.
- I hope China saw the world’s reaction to events in Russia and it makes them think twice about Taiwan. Had Russia taken over Ukraine with little global outcry (which was exactly what Putin was expecting) China would have learned a bad lesson. The way events are unfolding for Putin has to be making China reconsider any aggressive plans.
- I hope that Americans are paying attention to the ABSOLTLE MASTER CLASS my president Joseph R. Biden gave on diplomacy and consensus-building.
Trump had NATO on the ropes just a year ago and America’s leadership role in global affairs was thought to be lost, the mantle had passed to Germany.
Mr. Biden brought the world together, the F’N world, in a way no one thought possible anymore, all in just a few short weeks. Of course, one could say that he did that over the course of his entire career and this is just the expected outcome from decades of integrity on the international stage and fostering relationships globally.
Either way, I haven’t been this proud of American leadership on the world stage in a long time and all without a shot fired by American troops, funny thing isn’t it? I just hope others see it and it gives us some tailwinds heading into the midterms.
Again, I am not foolish enough to believe all of these things above will come true… but I do have hope… and hope is a funny thing, sometimes it pays off.
