Some Good News in the Fight Against Authoritarianism

Glimmers of Hope Arise as Tyrants Find themselves in Unexpected Trouble

Eastern Moral Values: Putin missile strike hits a children’s playground in Ukraine

The world is at a precarious moment when autocracy could replace democracy and fanatics are trying to run roughshod over free nations. Most recently, we see this in the depressing elevation of fascist-leaning governments planting their toxic flags in Italy and Sweden. In the United States, we head into the fraught midterms under threat by shameless election denying Republicans who are leaning on outright racism and threats of violence to galvanize their rabid base. Despite these omnipresent threats, there are several positive developments that offer the outlines of hope for creating a freer and more democratic world.  

In Russia, Vladimir Putin delivered a deranged speech following humiliating defeats on the Ukrainian battlefield. In his talk, he chastised the West in disturbing Holy War language reminiscent of ISIS suicide bombers.  

“The repression of freedom is taking on the outlines of a ‘reverse religion,’ of real Satanism…Do we really want to see perversions that lead to degradation and extinction be imposed on children in our schools from the earliest years, for it to be drilled into them that there are supposedly some genders besides women and men, and offered the chance to undergo sex-change operations?”

Following Putin’s bizarre address, more than 200,000 Russian men of fighting age voted with their feet -- jumping in cars, busses or trains to quickly head west, in the supposed direction of Satan and drag queens. The Russian people apparently aren’t so fond of the east and are desperately trying to escape the delusions of an egotistical madman.

Putin’s halo is irreversibly tarnished and his reputation for toughness is in tatters. He’s a transparent fraud who boasts of Russia’s religious “values”, then barbarically bombs apartment buildings and occupies nuclear power plants. It’s difficult to claim the moral high ground when you’re lobbing missiles at a children’s playground.

The Russian military has proven so inept that even their terrorism campaign against Ukrainian cities has fallen flat. In retaliation for Ukraine bombing the 12-mile Kerch Strait Bridge linking Crimea and Russia, Putin lobbed 80 cruise missiles and 24 self-destructing drones, costing millions of dollars. Yet, his homicidal death spasm only killed 19 innocent people, far less than some mass shooters in the United States who are armed with only an AR-15’s costing a few hundred dollars.

The trajectory of the war opens the once unthinkable possibility of post-Putin Russia. Leaders and bloggers are increasingly challenging the Kremlin’s execution on the battlefield. Russia is also losing control of territories in its sphere of influence as it is distracted in Ukraine.

Almost everyone expected the war in Ukraine to be short and bloody, with Putin eliminating the Ukrainian leadership and rapidly overrunning the country. More than nine months later, the Russian military looks like a paper tiger and Putin a bombastic blowhard. The marked deterioration of Russian influence and menace is an unexpected gift that few predicted at the beginning of 2022. If Putin continues down this perilous path, his ego could lead to his elimination.

While Putin could be replaced by an equally awful nationalist, the reality of Russia’s underachieving military and tanking economy could force Russia’s new leader to engage the west and forge a more cooperative relationship. A toppled Putin and a less confrontational Russia would be a severe blow to authoritarian police states across the globe. (Of course, that’s why American fascists, such Marjorie Taylor Greene, Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson support Putin)

Only weeks ago, Iran was menacing the middle east and threatening to build nuclear bombs. The clerical leadership is now consumed with people unleashing atomic anger on the ayatollahs. Women are discarding their hijabs and fighting back against the despised morality police, who hypocritically focus their repression on poor Iranians, while cynically allowing Tehran’s ruling elite to live as if they were living Paris. Iranian men are even joining the revolt with oil workers striking and declaring that the clerical regime is “done”.

Wouldn’t it be remarkable if the tyrannical mullahs that have lorded over Iran since 1979 were overthrown? The elimination of Iran’s fanatical leaders would lead to the possibility of calm in the combustible Middle East and undermine theocrats everywhere. Who would have dreamed of this rebellion at the outset of 2022? Even if the ayatollahs suppress the opposition, their moral authority and ruling legitimacy has completely vanished.

In Brazil, the reign of Trump-clone, President Jair Bolsonaro, is under threat by former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. A new IPEC poll found that Lula is leading Bolsonaro 51% against 42%. Bolsonaro is a right-wing homophobic monster who has plundered the Amazon, displaced indigenous people, downplayed COVID and repeatedly threatened a coup to topple democracy. Like Trump, he relies on angry evangelical zealots to threaten violence and question the legitimacy of free and fair elections. If the Brazilian people jettison this buffoon, Latin America would be free of a divisive autocrat, and global efforts to combat climate change would be aided by the restoration of the Amazon rainforest.  

Finally, President Joe Biden is fed up with Saudi Arabia’s murderous Crowne Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) after he brazenly sided with Putin to cut energy supplies, which are crucial to Europe with winter around the corner. To increase oil and gas production, Biden was forced to kiss up to the Saudi leader who cold bloodedly executed Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  MBS’s audacious move to undermine Ukraine is leading Biden to finally reconsider U.S. ties to a nation that disdains our values and makes a mockery of human rights.     

"I think the president's been very clear that this is a relationship that we need to continue to re-evaluate, that we need to be willing to revisit," John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications told CNN. "And certainly, in light of the OPEC decision, I think that's where he is."

In a decade that has given us so much tragedy and pain, it’s conceivable that some of the planet’s worst actors could soon be ushered off the world stage. Civilization might stage a comeback against savagery and reverse the troubling trend of nation’s looking for salvation in the arms of fascists or fanatics. While far from certain, glimmers of hope now light the path to a future absent bullies and butchers that have terrorized millions of people. We can also hope that voters in the United States do their part in November to bring about a renewed age of liberty and democracy.