Russian President Vladimir Putin is escalating his war against the West.
asserted
Putin → escalate → West
Putin is directly targeting the United States itself, not just U.S. allies.
asserted
Putin → target → States
The Russian dictator is probing for weakness, and America must respond.
asserted
America → probe → weakness
To restore deterrence and prevent a wider war against the West, the Trump administration must finally end its delusional thinking that commercial ventures will sate Putin’s imperial ambitions or influence him to adopt a more moderate course.
asserted
ventures → restore → course
Appeasement will lead to more war, not less, and for an important reason.
asserted
Appeasement → lead → reason
Putin is an ideologue who explicitly seeks the end of the U.S.-led international order.
asserted
who → seek → order
It’s time for the whole of the Trump administration, the president first and foremost, to recognize as much and begin to fight back.
asserted
whole → ’ → much
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed charges against five individuals and accused them of conducting attacks and murders around the world on behalf of Russia and its intelligence services.
asserted
Department → unseal → Russia
The charges are noteworthy and show a Russia that is both emboldened and fearful.
asserted
that → show → Russia
Moscow’s spy network “paid and attempted to pay individuals within the United States and elsewhere to conduct pre-operational surveillance and carry out targeted killings, and commissioned associates to commit and attempt to commit acts of terrorism against civilian and military infrastructure in European countries that are aligned with, or perceived to be aligned with, Ukraine.”
The RIS Network carries out external attacks on behalf of the Russian Federation.
asserted
Network → pay → Federation
The network tends to target dissidents and defectors and has increasingly expanded its scope to include targeting those nations that support Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia.
asserted
that → tend → Russia
More recently, Russian-backed agents have attempted to recruit multiple individuals within the U.S. itself to carry out surveillance — even murder — on American soil, the unsealed indictment observes.
asserted
indictment → back → soil
During the Cold War, the KGB and other Soviet spy agencies were noted for their aggressive, forward-leaning tactics.
asserted
KGB → note → tactics
Moscow thoroughly penetrated all levels of Western society, including the U.S. government.
asserted
Moscow → penetrate → government
But even at the Cold War’s height, the KGB was generally reluctant to commit murder in the United States.
asserted
KGB → commit → States
Under its longtime ruler, Putin, that hesitancy has all but disappeared.
asserted
hesitancy → disappear → ruler
Putin’s men have targeted and murdered dissidents abroad before, perhaps most notably Alexander Litvinenko, a Putin critic who was poisoned in the United Kingdom in 2006.
asserted
who → target → 2006
As Ivana Stradner, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted, Litvinenko’s murder was meant to send a message that Russian dissidents couldn’t escape Putin’s reach.
asserted
dissidents → note → reach
Two decades later, Putin feels emboldened enough to send a similar message to the U.S.
“The United States is a beacon of free speech,” Stradner said, “and trying to murder someone on American soil because they oppose Putin is an attack not just on an individual but on the principles that America stands for.”
asserted
America → feel → that
On Sept. 13, a Russian drone struck a train engine near the Ukraine-Poland border, shortly after high-profile Western officials, including former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former CIA Director David Petraeus, passed through the area.
asserted
officials → strike → area
This, too, was certainly a message from Putin, as was Russia’s decision to provide Iran with satellite imagery to help murder U.S. troops in the Middle East.
asserted
decision → provide → East
“It’s past time to call a spade a spade,” Stradner pointed out.
asserted
Stradner → ’ → spade
In 2023, for example, troops from Russia-aligned Serbia attacked 90 NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo, an incident that some in the West tried to minimize and sweep under the rug.
asserted
some → align → rug
But this only emboldened Putin.
asserted
this → embolden → Putin
The Trump administration can’t afford to repeat the mistakes of its predecessor.
asserted
administration → afford → predecessor
But this hasn’t stopped some from trying.
asserted
this → stop → some
According to recent reports in the New York Times and elsewhere, the Trump administration is considering opening up commercial ties between the U.S. and Russia with the hope that it will show Russian elites that Washington is “serious about a reset relationship” with Moscow.
uncertain
Washington → accord → Moscow
This has it backward.
asserted
it → have → ?
The burden of proof rests with Putin’s Russia, not America.
asserted
burden → rest → Russia
And an ever-expanding body of evidence leaves no doubt about his murderous intent.
asserted
body → expand → intent
American businesses shouldn’t be breaking ground with a nation that subverts the sovereignty of other nations, the U.S. included, and plots murder on our land.
asserted
that → break → land
Bullets and bombs, not billions of American dollars, are the best way to push back against Putin’s appetites.
asserted
Bullets → push → appetites
The Aporia
