On February 21, 2022, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin made the decision to send “peacekeeping” troops into the two separatist enclaves in Ukraine after formally recognizing them in a fiery speech. It raised tensions in the dispute between East and West over the fate of the former Soviet Republic and its fate as a future member of the European Union and NATO. The peaceful economic integration of Eurasia, which had been ongoing since the end of the Cold War, has been thrown into disarray. It also sets the world down a dangerous path skirting the possibility of inadvertently igniting war on European soil. Who is to blame for things getting this out of control? Is it on purpose? Who would want this to happen? Why?
Red State contributors Scott Hounsell and Dennis Santiago met to chat about the events of the day and take a hard look at unpacking the complexities that led up to the moment.
The two discuss the Russian leader’s motivations and how this crisis has worked to Putin’s advantage so far. The pair then go on and ponder how and why the United States came to be outmaneuvered by Russia and how our own domestic vulnerabilities have enabled global adversaries to exploit asymmetric weaknesses in American society’s fabric. Everything from lack of charismatic leadership, misguided political motivations, and the dangers of handing national policy leadership to bureaucracy are delved into as the pair try to pivot and look at the issue from different angles over the course of the chat.
This video is, in the end, a self-examination of how much less of a force in the world the United States has become — done with the hope that discussing it frankly can be a constructive step to bring our country back to the stature it deserves.