The Russian invasion of Ukraine puts an Arkansas-based columnist in the same dilemma he’s been in during much of the COVID pandemic: How can he write about stupid, day-to-day politics when a world-shattering event is occurring? But how does he write about the world-shattering event when he’s just an Arkansas-based columnist?
So I’ll do what I’ve been doing the past two years, which is give it a shot and find Arkansas angles.
Here’s one: Members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation have muted their criticism of President Biden since the invasion began. Normally, my inbox receives a stream of press releases that at least take a shot at him somehow. Some of the state-based politicians do the same, an exception being Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
They’ve largely avoided criticizing Biden about the invasion since the invasion, at least as of midday Tuesday. It’s nice to see some political norms have not yet been completely shattered. I’m 52 years old and grew up in a world where politics supposedly stopped at the water’s edge. I sometimes wish we could go back to the good ol’ days.
Speaking of Hutchinson, here’s another Arkansas angle. On Monday night – at 9:15 p.m., actually – his office sent a press release announcing he had directed his cabinet secretaries to determine if their departments have any agreements with Russia or Russian entities. He wants the state to do nothing to support the Russian economy.
The press release said there are no Russian-owned or Ukrainian-owned companies located here. However, Arkansas businesses do trade with both countries. In 2021, the value of Arkansas’ imports from Russia totaled $8.1 million, while the state exported $64 million. Arkansas actually had a trade deficit with Ukraine: $2 million in imports and $455,361 in exports.
The governor also called for three days of prayer for Ukraine.
At least during this world-shattering event, we all should agree who the bad guy is: Vladimir Putin. He’s the one who attacked his sovereign neighbor.
There’s no gray area now: You’re either with Putin or you’re against him, and most of the world – even historically neutral Switzerland – is against him. Putin is almost completely isolated. His country is now an outcast.
It’s hard to see how Putin wins. Even if he succeeds in installing a puppet regime, he may not be able to keep it in power. He certainly can’t occupy Ukraine with his out-of-gas tanks for long. Regardless, he has made a strategic blunder that will decimate his economy, diminish Russia’s standing for decades to come, and permanently stain whatever place he had in history.
And in his worst nightmare, Putin could face a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Ukrainian people, their president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the military and financial weapons the world has provided to support them. The former KGB agent with the cold stare is facing the possibility of being beaten by a former actor and comedian who in 2006 won Ukraine’s version of “Dancing with the Stars” – but who has shown himself to be a man of unexpected strength, character and heroism.
Unless this gets a lot easier for Russia, Putin will become a desperate man. His army has already been exposed as disorganized, dispirited, and weaker than expected, but he has enough bombs to kill a lot of people. If he goes that route, he’ll destroy what little standing Russia has in the world community.
The big, bad bear will then be toothless, clawless, and emaciated. But it will still have nukes. Surely Putin won’t use them. But it’s a little unnerving for a 52-year-old columnist who spent his childhood living through the Cold War. I guess I really don’t want to go back to the good ol’ days after all.
For all of these reasons, in addition to praying for Ukraine, I’m praying for and about Putin – that he’ll repent, that his life and heart will turn in a direct direction, and that he’ll turn his army around.
And if he’s instead determined to destroy Zelenskyy’s country as well as his own, that he’ll be replaced by someone who will do neither. Soon.
Steve Brawner is a freelance journalist and syndicated columnist. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com or follow him on Twitter at @stevebrawner.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: This time, we all should agree who the bad guy is | Steve Brawner
