Third Congressional District Republican candidate Joe Kent seems to misunderstand the entire concept of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance. It is a defensive alliance constructed to counter the very type of Russian aggression currently on display in Ukraine.
NATO is an alliance a country chooses to join. After the fall of the Soviet Union, former Warsaw Pact, Eastern European nations who had for 45 years lived under the Soviet boot chose to align themselves with Western Europe, the United States and Canada. They sought a more democratic and prosperous life for their people. For the most part, that hope has been realized.
Kent buys into the Russian claim that NATO is encroaching on its sphere of influence. By doing so, he agrees with Putin that Ukraine is not a sovereign country.
Presumably, he would be comfortable with a U.S. invasion of Canada if they ran afoul of our demands.
Because of the belligerent aggression of Russia in Ukraine, both Sweden and Finland are reconsidering joining NATO. After 73 years of maintaining a neutral stance, the two nations are looking west toward NATO for protection. Finland has an 850-mile border with Russia. Does Kent believe Finland is a buffer state? Should it voluntarily submit to Putin’s nuclear threats?
There are people still alive in Ukraine who remember Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s terror-famine of 1932-33 when 3 to 5 million Ukrainians lost their lives.
Anyone with an ounce of historical sense would understand that Ukraine would take the first opportunity to break away from Russia. Since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine has attempted to extricate itself from Russia’s grasp. Putin’s effort to re-establish Russian hegemony was always going to be met with fierce resistance from Ukraine.
Putin has two goals in Ukraine. First, he seeks to obliterate the example a prosperous, democratic Ukraine offers to the Russian people. That is a serious threat to Putin’s dictatorial rule. In lieu of a total information blackout, he seeks to destroy Ukraine.
Second, he aspires to re-establish the Great Russian/Soviet Empire. For centuries, Russia has coveted Ukraine for its rich agricultural production and for its warm water seaports on the Black Sea. Ukranians understand that the Great Russian Empire was built upon paranoia and grievances and was never to be trusted. At what border will Putin’s appetite be satisfied?
Kent’s slanderous rant about President Zelensky of Ukraine channels extremist right-wing QAnon conspiracy theories. Like fellow pathological liars Donald Trump and Madison Cawthorn, R-QAnon, he provides no evidence whatsoever for the intellectual garbage he dumps on American citizens.
The Third Congressional District can do much better than Joe Kent.
Marty Ansley
Cinebar
