It’s ironic that the thing that’s going to bring Putin, Tumpism, and Brexitism to its knees is the very racism it was built upon. When Putin attacked Syria, the West really didn’t seem to care, I think, because we were mostly talking about the murder & suffering of brown people & Muslims. When Putin attacked Ukraine, it’s clear that he thought the “West” would react the way we did when he was bombing Syria.
His miscalculation is that Ukraine is a largely white European nation made up of mostly Christians. Essentially, Putin did the one thing that could forge some semblance of unity between people who love justice & equality and the bigots who make up the majority of the GOP. I get that a lot of world leaders want Putin to do whatever he’s going to do to Ukraine, install his puppet govt., and just calm things down a bit so that the world can get on with thinking about Ukraine the way we think about Syria: “Golly, what a shame. I wonder what’s on Netflix!”
Again, the problem is that Ukraine is Europe and the people suffering are largely white and largely Christian. Every modern country whose cultural identity is European-derived, who has a history of being run by white people, and whose Christians are political, will feel the rape of Ukraine on a personal level. Leaders who are apathetic towards Ukraine, or worse, who are pro-Putin, will just make their followers question their leader’s position.
Moreover, what is happening to Russia is a lesson that China will take note of.
I just don’t see a way that this doesn’t end badly for Putin. If there’s one thing the small minds that comprise the brain worm-riddled zombie hoard that is the current GOP base is it’s white European Christians. 1980s Red Dawn is a wet dream for these goons. I can’t see any right-wing propaganda that will be able to override the GOP’s core motivating identity. Couple this with the other half a country that doesn’t care about their race or religion, but cares a whole lot about justice and equality, I just don’t see how this can become another Syrian moment, which is a big problem for Putin and, consequently, the rest of the world given Putin’s nuclear posturing.
