Reminded of Stalin; U.S. Must Stand With NATO

To the editor:

As a little boy, I was really happy when my dad returned from serving in the infantry during WWII. He brought home mental and physical scars, but never doubted the selfless service that he and others had performed in Europe to stop Fascism and champion democracy. He remembered fondly soldiers he knew who did not come back. He taught me to respect without question the gold star mothers who had lost a son or daughter in war. He never asked, what’s in it for me? He was 34 years old when he saw combat. That maturity helped him understand our nation’s search for humanity, freedom, and democracy. He returned with a deep concern that Stalin threatened human decency and freedom. As a little kid, I was so afraid of Stalin that I slept with a blue, plastic toy 45 automatic pistol by my side. I worried that Stalin would come get me even though we lived in rural western Colorado on a little farm at the end of an ungraveled lane that was 3/8’s of a mile from the county road.

In his quest to dominate as much of the world as he could, Stalin killed millions of his own people, many by starvation and forced labor; he killed political groups and social classes. During the Holodomor, a combination of the Ukrainian words for “starvation” and “to inflict death,” Stalin took crops from farmers in Ukraine, the breadbasket of the Soviet Union forcing them to starve. Imperialism is the lust and bane of Russia, a country with an economy smaller than that of California or Texas. Russia seems to feel the need to erase Ukraine because it was born as a rustic outpost from Ukraine’s national shadow.

Stalin created the Soviet empire by taking parts of Germany after the war, converting Königsberg into the Kaliningrad in 1946 and dividing Germany which remained so until Reagan got Gorbachev to “take down that wall.” Readers of the FCR who have traveled to Berlin since 1989 could see the wall used to keep people in rather than out. I remember well when that wall went up. We were at war with the Soviet Union. We watched black and white TV’s as Kennedy forced Khrushchev to remove the nuclear missiles from Cuba in 1962. Iron Curtain countries in eastern Europe, and elsewhere, were under the thumb of Soviet Russia, including Cuba. Ironically, some Cuban American legislators voted against the Ukrainian aid package.

Slowly, the Soviet Union became ever more a façade and then a shell. Americans had reason to believe a new era of détente with Russia had arrived in the 1990s. US companies helped Russia build its oil industry which was dysfunctional before our expertise came to its rescue. No Russian leader benefited more than Putin did from that expertise both financially and governmentally. But as Stalin did, Putin kills “his generals” and his people. Experts claim that Putin has had 16 Russian generals and one admiral killed since the battle to take Kiev began two years ago. The most spectacular killing of a general occurred when Putin had Yevgeny Prigozhin killed for criticizing the Russian Defense Ministry’s conduct of the war against Ukraine. Readers may recall seeing the plane carrying him rise in the center of the camera’s field of vision, and then explode. Would the pilot and crew have flown that plane if they knew who was inside? In the midst of this killing and economic struggle, how well has Putin done financially with his government salary? He is arguably in competition with Elon Musk to be the richest person in the world. Not only does Putin have his generals killed but also his political competitors, such as Alexei Navalny. All the while his rich oligarch buddies benefit at the expense of citizens in many countries, including Ukraine.

This misery and mischief would only be a bad memory if some Americans in government today did not support Putin’s latest iteration of Russian imperialism. American voices have cheered Putin for years, claiming he is a brilliant military strategist as his tanks rolled toward Kiev. Then the tanks stopped and fell apart or were destroyed by Ukrainians as were some war ships in the Black Sea.

Wisely, the House recently passed a Ukraine aid bill which will help them defend themselves. Passage of the bill required a coalition of Republicans and Democrats, who protected Mike Johnson from the MAGAfringe. Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) asked what’s in the military support for us, America. Several Mike’s stood up to her and others who tried to stop the aid: Michael Mc-Caul, our representative to Congress, is one who stood with Ukraine. Another Mike is representative Turner of Ohio, member of the House committees on armed services and intelligence; he claims that Russian/Putin propaganda is being spouted on the House floor. MTG calls Speaker Mike Johnson a Democrat for his support for Ukraine which is not as bad as her being called a Putin sympathizer.

In this battle, NATO must stand strong, and the USAmust stand with it. One of Putin’s goals is to kill NATO, which was created in the late 1940’s. It is militarily and economically essential to our national well-being. Rather than killing NATO, Putin has made it stronger, because Finland and Sweden joined its membership. This struggle is not just political expedience to some US politicians. It demonstrates that generations of military personnel deserve our thanks for their service. Because of them and our vigilant leaders, little kids sleep more safely as they should. Putin believes that people should adore him or suffer severe punishment. Most of us don’t support Putin who is keen to rebuild the Russian Empire: Peter the Great, Stalin the Great, and now Putin the great. So, when someone asks, what do we get out of supporting Ukraine, one answer is that military aid can help children there sleep in peace. Unlike me, as a little boy who had no reason to actually fear Stalin, children in Ukraine must fear Putin who bombs their homes, kills them, and kidnaps some to Russia. May the children sleep in peace.

Bob Heath Carmine