Where Do We Go From Here?
It seems there are two main thrusts that must be carried out in our response to Putin’s proclivity for murder.
First, as we have seen taking place, Ukrainians and International friends are working hard to make Putin holster his weapon and/or remove his weapon from his grasp.
Second, we must understand how this murderous regime came about and work diligently and effectively to prevent this from happening in our own government.
For these efforts, I am grateful to be included in all the thinking of the friends who have followed and/or contributed to our email thread. I wish to also thank those who took the time to study the Putin war and found many relevant and related issues, then passed those studies on to me.
1. James sent me George Kennan’s long telegram from his Charge d’affaires office for the US State Department embassy in Moscow in 1946 distinguished effective democratic government from ineffective democratic government as the singular means to protect the people of the democracy over the long term, indefinitely, in fact. This solidly packed document is instrumental in driving us to seek Mr. Kennan’s understanding of the situation he addresses, his reasoning and the philosophical principles he stands on.
His critical message to his government was that the best defence against authoritarianism is good democratic government that bears witness to the answer to the question, “Whose government is this?”. The answer is from each and every member of this democratic society - mine, yours, ours.
2. Duane’s questions, as well as in particular David G’s and David V’s responses, about imposing a no-fly-zone over Ukraine led to more than one email discussion thread about the military, political, international relations strategy, all within a human rights and democratically framed philosophical context, on how to end the war. These discussions are thorough and heartfelt, truly educational.
What can be the end game for NATO in stopping Putin's invasion of Ukraine? What must be the end game for NATO in stopping Putin’s invasion of Ukraine?
3. Democratic processes must be well anchored in principles arising from democratic political philosophy.
As we have witnessed in Alberta, Canada and the United States, democratic processes can be thwarted to disable even the most basic article of democracy, the vote.
4. Establishing an effective philosophical framework for structure of government and all its processes is a necessity for the survival of any state.
How a state can implode - effective governance matters to any state’s survival.
5. Again, we address the discussion of political and military strategy for ending Putin’s war and enlarge it by addressing the existential threat posed for all life on earth, not simply limiting territorial aggression in pursuit of self aggrandisement, in this instance, Putin’s self aggrandisement.
Military balancing acts must be carefully thought through, addressed and followed up on, all while understanding and responding to the implementation of political and military strategies playing out on the ground.
6. We have discussed the character of Putin in our discussions. This piece helps us with that understanding, at least in the narrow context of his murderous bent.
Studying the political development of the person who likes to have the fastest gun in the shootout when that person is armed with a comprehensive and complete military complex - murder at scale.
7. Jerry forwarded a fascinating study of the Russian psyche within the context of its relatively recent history, the last one-hundred twenty years or so. The file Jerry found for my edification is an audio-file some thirty hours in length. This incredible work contains first person interviews of Russians from across the great breadth and depth of that country with their views on life experienced generally and living with various iterations of government through that period. The statements have been translated into English with, I believe eight different voices reading every interview with intonation. I have only worked through the first three of eighteen sections, which took about five hours of fascinating listening. This report has been transcribed, I believe, but I am not certain that the transcription is in word-for-word agreement with the audio-file. In any case, the voices add strength to the messages of these individuals’ statements. Anyone wishing to understand the thinking, emotions, relationships of the Russian people, this is a place to start.
We look to understand the Russian psyche that Putin is exploiting for his murderous exercise.
8. Propaganda, what is it? How does it work?
Lies are the greatest threat to good government. We must understand the machinations of propaganda and propagandists to be able to recognise it when it comes to us and to know how to prevent its spread and its destructive force.
9. We have recent experience with propaganda at work as it interferes with our peace and order, deliberate misinterpretations of what personal freedoms are, deliberate misinterpretations of even the roles of government institutions are continuing to run unabated.
Freedom denied, the transformation of freedom as a basic human right serving as a great good in support of humanity into a great evil in destruction of humanity.
10. What is it to live with democracy? What does it mean to participate in democratic governance?
David H pointed to “Mackenzie King in the Age of Dictators”, Roy MacLaren, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020. This history of Mackenzie King and his time chronicles, among other things, the difficult relationship governments, particularly in North America and Europe, had with the whole notion of what democracies work like, look like throughout King’s time and beyond. My view is that it points out, incidental to the history presented within the book, that newly established democratic governments were ill-defined, simply the previous form of governance but with leadership roles elected rather than inherited. We are still evolving into what a democratically governed society really is.
11. Peace in society means we collaborate with each other, support each other, protect each other from egregious harm. We can see it is one thing to “do our own thing”, it is another thing when “doing our own thing” threatens the person of those around us.
By definition, democracy succeeds effectively one person at a time. This is an individual’s inhuman experience of the great right of freedom turned into the great evil of freedom.
12. Conclusion
After studying all this and watching the disgusting actions of Putin with armaments he treats as his own personal weapons, we know that that fire must be put out and we focus our efforts to do that. Perhaps just as importantly and perhaps with as great a sense of urgency, we must develop our democratic institutions and operations to prevent these kinds of injustices from arising in the first place.
I personally believe we never have established effective foundations of democratic governance to prevent people from feeling left out, alienated from their own society. We have simply imposed the vote on selection of the modern equivalent of the feudal masters, whatever their modern titles may be, without first empowering ourselves with the critical thinking, lifelong experiential learning that we all require for our personal development and the development of the society we live with.
I do not thank Putin for incidentally pointing out the urgency with which we must address this issue because to do so would offer some consolation for his murderous bent. However, I do suggest we use his example to motivate ourselves as we tackle this critical issue now to make certain Ukrainians' sacrifices of their lives in defence of us all never be taken for granted, never be wasted, ever be honoured.
Mike Klein - May 14, 2022
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