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Ukraine Reframes Democracy

Ukraine Reframes Democracy

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Once upon a time not long ago, 200 countries in the world were content to coexist. Quarrels between neighbors were left for them to work out. Outside intervention came as needed and not always advisedly. But the great era of European expansionism ended with the Second World War and a new chapter in world history began.

Democracy was a province of the lucky few in the age of the Soviet Russian Iron Curtain across Eastern Europe.. All countries signed on to the Charter of the United Nations, the global forum founded to resolve conflicts through diplomacy and prevent a nuclear melt down. Yet it’s a long and winding road from agreement to implementation.

The democratic principles in the UN Charter are modeled on those in the US Constitution. The terms of the agreement are highly malleable. Implementation of laws from global to national is a convoluted politico-legal process. Loopholes abound.

The actuall state of democracy in a country depends on the chef. Russia, for example, has the makings of democracy. Russia’s Constitution guarantees rights. As head of Russia, Putin puts in place judges who rule against anyone contesting chef Putin’s will.

That porous state of democracy is the current condition in Hungary and other backsliding states in Easterrn Europe formerly in the Soviet harness. Freedom is exciting but scary when the going gets tough. Emerging economy countries like Brazil and India are split between lively democracy and the tighter rule already in place. That uncertainty wavers back and forth as democracy unfolds on a tech united world stage. The world’s poorest countries are even more bewildered. They are preoccupied with simply existing and thus are easily swayed to either hard rule or democracy.

Unlike commonly considered in everyday usage, democracy is not a monolith. Democracy has many forms. The common bond is rule by the people, not some overbearing ruler. Western Europe has the most stable form that is mediocre economically. The US has among the most chaotic forms. Its democracy is a roller coaster driver of a booming economy. But an offshoot of the economy is the social fabric of a country. There, hard rule and democracy meet over Ukraine.

The Iron Curtain fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. It is doubtful that any other than Vladimir Putin and his corrupt network wanted that grim period revived. But with the mighty Russian Army at his command, Putin installed enough leaders in neighboring countries to make a comeback starting with a lunge at Ukraine. It seems also likely that America’s Donald Trump was his ticket to success.

Writers, politicians and con artists know that it takes numerous repititions with slight changes in emphasis to get a message across. In that vein, many years passed before my mother solved a mystery for me. How had Russia taken over half of Europe?

Simple, my mother said. They installed leaders and backed them with force if needed. Her wisdom prompts a train of thought.

Donald Trump first visited the former Soviet Union in 1987, when rumblings of change were in the air. With him was his Czech wife Ivana fluent in Russian. They were scouting sites to build a Trump Tower Moscow. Putin in the KGB secret service kept an eye on Trump as he came and went during the turmoil of the Russian empire collapse. Fast forward to the modern day overlap of history in the making.

Trump was a failure in business but he excelled in headlines. Among his sensations wes the famous escalator ride announcing his campaign for president. A carpet condemnation of Mexicans was part of the media event. By then, Putin had tested the waters with Obama.

Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014 when Barack Obama was president. He made off with a big chunk of his Ukraine prey without reprisal and Trump launched his campaign in 2015. Trump won the presidency in 2016, lost re-election in 2020 and Putin made a second grab for Ukraine in 2021, even as Trump kept the US off balance with charges of voter fraud as if the US was a developing country with armed guards at first-time voting booths.

Someday the story of Trump and Putin will be clear and democracy will live happily ever after. Then human good can continue developing. In the meantime, Ukraine is the whipping boy between two devious tyrants. As a complete surprise to some and no surprise to others, Ukraine is beating both tyrants at their own game.

Ukraine’s fight for democratic values has captured the world’s attention. All countries are watching, rich and poor, democratic or oppressed. The fierceness of determination to resist subjugation is inspiration for people all over the world. It moved American Biden to tighten the NATO democratic alliance for a cycling of aid as Ukraine shows a clever use of resources to bolster its courage on the battlefield and among its citizens..

.Surprisingly enough, America itself is now split over the direction of its future. The shakiness came on with lightning speed as all in America does. A few short years under Trump as Putin made his moves on Ukraine shook the whole world awake to democracy.

In a way, the story of Ukraine and democracy is that of sleeping beauty and the prince who wakes her. The roles may invert in a democratic pairing but one thing is clear.

The democratic strain in America woke the sleeping beauty in Ukraine and vice versa. The democratic strain is the prince that wakes democratic sleeping beauty.

That process is happening in Ukraine, the US and Europe and throughout the world. Once roused, sleeping beauty and the prince together wake the democratic kingdom on earth

A happy ever after is the result. It is rich with growth once pretenders to leadership are deposed. All that’s left to add to democracy as reframed by Ukraine are the words of American astronaut John Glenn. Godspeed.

Democracy in a Global World

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American President Biden popped in to visit Ukrainian President Zelensky on the one-year marker since Russia illegally and viciously attacked Ukraine. As they met, the American President stressed again his country’s view that the entire world must stick together to save the democracy for which Ukraine shed blood on behalf of all the truly free world.

All men are created equal. That’s the phrase used by the wise American forefathers in their time 250 years ago. In 2023, America still believes in that ideal, fully aware of how far it differs from reality.

The ideal of equality inscribed in the US Constitution was a product of thought inherited from European thinkers. That branch of European society was liberal, like most thinkers are in modern America. Liberals see possibility in a better future. Too many conservatives see the future as bleak with liberals destroying a comfortable way of life they see as their birthright..

Since time unknown, the world has grappled with the mystery of how to deflect tyranny. That timeline stretches from the first caveman ever recorded until now when way too much becomes part of the record. It covers a period of civilization that spans a baseline from conking a woman for a date until now when women knock down glass ceilings in the same way that minorities do, both at home and in the broader world.

.In 2023, America is no longer a melting pot. America now is a petri dish for how the world’s near 200 countris will interact.

The shifting balance of the world’s near 200 countries gained a momentum led by America. The country’s liberal part elected in 2008 the first non- country. White head of a western industrialized country. The backlash was fierce, led by business huckster Donald Trump. With his band of deadly men, he nearly succeeded in a coup.

In that case, democracy was saved by the country’s well founded institutions, their operations kept in check by good people of all genders and levels of adherance to tradition. Then Eangland, steeped in tradition as it is, elected a non-White Asian as Prime Minister. And still America with its short history of racial inequality remains mired in a racial divide while nearly all-White Europe has turned on itself yet again.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an extension of an era thought dead with the outcome of the Second World War. In fact, the entire democratic world is now involved in freeing Ukraine from the clutches of a self destructive White expansionist history that Vladimir Putin wants desperately to revive.

Europe learned from the Second World War that force simply doesn’t work on a society’s most valuable members, its thinkers. Those brainiacs are not necessarily its erudite elite such as pundits, scholars and politicians at all levels. America’s thinkers are those who value equality of people beyond color or race,

Russia, it seems, has not learned that lesson. Its savage invasion of Ukraine is White on White aggression, which proves that evil is more than skin deep..

Slavery did not begin in America. But its remnants are currently at the top of the American social agenda. Other countries with less of a racial mix are coping with remnants of ethnic, religious and geaographic history.

Further, the entire western hemisphere is coping with fallout from the White expansionist tradition that stumbled onto America and built it into the prosperous country most everybody wants to join. Most, however, love their birthplace and would never leave if their homeland could adopt the US democratic values. That includes the troubled Middle American Triangle countries, including transit countries leading there from throughout the world. Haiti and Cuba are just two of the many lush islands still struggling to find a footing as a democracy..

The ideals of the US Constitution that encapsulate the ideals of democracy are globally earth shattering. They contain the explosive strength of a nuclear bomb as a force for good. The viability of those ideals is now on the line. They wait to see if countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the overlooked countries of the Americas believe in them. As the world’s petri dish for those values, America affirms its democratic values through Ukraine.

That White on White aggression is a reminder to America that honor, civility and equality i are all more than skin deep. That awareness can unite America with the rest of the world as a force for the good of all people.

Refugee Kids Will Remember Putin

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Thirty years after the Soviet Union imploded because it didn’t work, Russian leader Vladimir Putin starts a vanity war with Ukraine. Allies flew to Ukraine’s aid. Under US lead, the transAtlantic Alliance became stronger than ever. But a frivolous war putside the rule of law has consequences far beyond the battlefield.

Great strides have been made in worldwide development since the Second World War. United Nations programs and funds have reduced poverty, increased literacy and promoted health initiatives. They have also addressed the many aspcts of climate change, particularly the migration that results when people become climate, economic or political refugees. Immigration, in turn, causes political unrest in most receiving countries at present. Yet because of Putin’s vanity project in Ukraine, those challenges are on the back burner.

For the first time in its history, the seat of democracy is threatened by home-grown enemies. Solid Europe held the fort as the rest of the world looked on. Then Putin struck Ukraine and all eyes turned there.

Nearly a year after the onslaught began, there is no end in sight for the simple reason that Putin doesn’t care about people. The fierce Wagner Group of convicts can free prisoners for cannon fodder in all the neighboring countries in Putin’s sway. But all the while, the eyes of children around the world are on Putin.

Ukraine is familiar to the West. Empathy comes more readily than with victims from more distant lands. But beneath the surface differences, all refugee experience is traumatic. For kids, it is the cause of an emotional pain that lasts a lifetime regardless of fortunes and therapies.

To be torn from your home base without warning and in the midst of explosive chaos is bad enough. But relocation in a strange land far from familiarity with no friends is brutal. Being flexible, kids adjust. They lead a more or less normal life except for a gaping hole that opens at unexpected or intimate moments. Explaining to others rarely helps. It’s difficult to express in words the homesick longing for a place barely known. Most painful are moments of realizing that others just don’t care. They don’t want to know. For you, there it is, that sharp pang on seeing a refugee child from anywhere, the frustation now compounded by the familirity of children from Ukraine.

Since God is on the side of good, as are Ukraine’s allies, Ukraine will eventually expel Russia from the sovereign territorial borders agreed upon in international treaties. But in the meantime, Putin is creating enemies of refugee children not just in Ukraine but in national trouble spots waiting on the back burner for international attention.

All those kids will hate Putin for their lifetimes. That does not bode well for the future of Russia.

A Bird’s Eye View of the Pope at the UN

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Note: This item first appeared when Pope Banedict XVI visited the United States and the United Nations. It is reissued as a tribute to Pope Benedict and the power of faith as a spiritual guide in a rapidly evolving world.

Press Officers in the Department of Public Information at the United Nations write on-the-spot press releases available to the world on the web. Few outside the UN read the releases but when Pope Benedict XVI came to address the General Assembly in April 2008, the Holy Trinity Hungarian Church in East Chicago, Indiana asked one Press Officer to describe the experience of seeing the world’s spiritual leader interact with the world’s leaders.

The Pope’s visit was very exciting, she said.  The vast Assembly Hall was filled to capacity. A few thousand people waited for him to arrive, all buzzing with anticipation above and beyond the usual rustle of an important world leader appearing.  When the announcement was made that the Pope was near, people got very quiet and turned to watch him walk up from the back in his red Prada shoes, accompanied by two bishops and UN security staff. The air was much more solemn than usual as the Pope reached the dais and was greeted by the UN Secretary-General and the Assembly President. After they all shook hands, the Pope gestured out to the Assembly and  a protocol officer led the Pope to the white VIP chair at the side of the speaker’s podium.

Since the press officer was not Catholic, she didn’t know what the Pople gestures meant, but he seemed to be blessing the Assembly as he held out his hands and swept those assembled with his eyes. With all his greatness, he seemed very humble,. He seemed to understate his position, which reinforced the sense of being in the presence of gretness. He was more gentle than charismatic and the crowd was obviously awed, as if sending his presence. When he finally spoke, his words were powerful and thought provoking.

The Pope’s message was much the same as the ideas expressed daily at the UN, the press officer said.  But the way the Pople expressed those ideas had a solemn rhythm that suggested there was deeper meaning beyond the words. He spoke about  the need to protect people whose human rights were violated and that governments must not use state sovereignty as an excuse bad behavior in their countries. He talked about the need to help the very poor of the world, many of whom lived in Africa. So the message wasn’t that different but the way he talked about the issues in a religious context gave them impact. He was talking about a concept that at the UN was known as the responsibility to protect.  It was a shared responsibility to help those in need wherever they were, like those in Sudan who were being massacred, The responsibility also meant that governments must not be allowed to get away with mistreating their people. In the religious context and expressed at an elevated intellectual level, the message was striking caught your interest.

The Pope ended by blessing everyone in all six official UN languges, The Secretary-General and the Assembly President then wished him a happy birthday. That was a nice light touch to the powerful presentation.

Overall, the narrator summed up, the Pope at the UN seemed to command total and obvious respect. World leaders were open to his message. They were open to his message and responded with smiles and nods. Some people got very emotional. Most diplomats maintained their air of formality and decorum, but a few cried as the Pope spoke, along with many of the UN staff.  The feeling inside that grand hall seemed to go even beyond deep respect and closer to reverence.  The UN is used to Presidents and Prime Ministers. In person, they are very impressive. But a religious leader of the Pope’s stature was striking beyond mere secular power.

Catholics must have felt they’d seen  light, the non-Catholic press officer went on. But even as a non-Catholic Ishe said she felt she was in the presence of greatness, that the Pope was a very powerful person, one of the most learned people in the world. In that sense, the experience was awesome. The pomp of his garments and entourage certainly added to that sense. It’s only fitting that world-level leaders reinforce the message of their countries with the most splendid garb of their nations.  Overall, the Pope made a terrific impression on the UN and on New York City in general. He brought a spiritual depth to the city and it was very well received. That greater spiritual depth as a result of his visit was reflected right back to the Pople as he made his way around the city in his popemobile. Throngs cheered.

For a Catholic perspective on the Pope’s historic visit to the UN, a staff member snagged a seat at the  press office desk.  On first seeing the Pope walk up the aisle, she said she was struck by the sense that he was the person holding a position that was directly descended from the first Pope, St. Peter, who founded the Catholic Church. The context of that long timeline lent new emphasis to the UN message. The philosophical edge  common themes made them profound and closely aligned. Both Catholicism and the UN had the common goals of helping people and doing good in the world.

Further, she said she was happy to see the Pope as warm within the formality of his role. When he extended hands to bless, his fingers fluttered with earnest feeling. In an address to a rally of young people the previous day, the Pope had shown real rapport with the kids who were obviously thrilled to be in his presence.  He kept looking out at them as with admiration, as if to let them know they were important to him because they were the future.

A Bird’s Eye View of the Pope at the UN

Note: This item first appeared when Pope Banedict XVI visited the United States and the United Nations. It is reissued as a tribute to Pope Benedict and the power of faith as a spiritual guide in a rapidly evolving world.

Press Officers in the Department of Public Information at the United Nations write on-the-spot press releases available to the world on the web. Few outside the UN read the releases but when Pope Benedict XVI came to address the General Assembly in April 2008, the Holy Trinity Hungarian Church in East Chicago, Indiana asked one Press Officer to describe the experience of seeing the world’s spiritual leader interact with the world’s leaders.

The Pope’s visit was very exciting, she said.  The vast Assembly Hall was filled to capacity. A few thousand people waited for him to arrive, all buzzing with anticipation above and beyond the usual rustle of an important world leader appearing.  When the announcement was made that the Pope was near, people got very quiet and turned to watch him walk up from the back in his red Prada shoes, accompanied by two bishops and UN security staff. The air was much more solemn than usual as the Pope reached the dais and was greeted by the UN Secretary-General and the Assembly President. After they all shook hands, the Pope gestured out to the Assembly and  a protocol officer led the Pope to the white VIP chair at the side of the speaker’s podium.

Since the press officer was not Catholic, she didn’t know what the Pople gestures meant, but he seemed to be blessing the Assembly as he held out his hands and swept those assembled with his eyes. With all his greatness, he seemed very humble,. He seemed to understate his position, which reinforced the sense of being in the presence of gretness. He was more gentle than charismatic and the crowd was obviously awed, as if sending his presence. When he finally spoke, his words were powerful and thought provoking.

The Pope’s message was much the same as the ideas expressed daily at the UN, the press officer said.  But the way the Pople expressed those ideas had a solemn rhythm that suggested there was deeper meaning beyond the words. He spoke about  the need to protect people whose human rights were violated and that governments must not use state sovereignty as an excuse bad behavior in their countries. He talked about the need to help the very poor of the world, many of whom lived in Africa. So the message wasn’t that different but the way he talked about the issues in a religious context gave them impact. He was talking about a concept that at the UN was known as the responsibility to protect.  It was a shared responsibility to help those in need wherever they were, like those in Sudan who were being massacred, The responsibility also meant that governments must not be allowed to get away with mistreating their people. In the religious context and expressed at an elevated intellectual level, the message was striking caught your interest.

The Pope ended by blessing everyone in all six official UN languges, The Secretary-General and the Assembly President then wished him a happy birthday. That was a nice light touch to the powerful presentation.

Overall, the narrator summed up, the Pope at the UN seemed to command total and obvious respect. World leaders were open to his message. They were open to his message and responded with smiles and nods. Some people got very emotional. Most diplomats maintained their air of formality and decorum, but a few cried as the Pope spoke, along with many of the UN staff.  The feeling inside that grand hall seemed to go even beyond deep respect and closer to reverence.  The UN is used to Presidents and Prime Ministers. In person, they are very impressive. But a religious leader of the Pope’s stature was striking beyond mere secular power.

Catholics must have felt they’d seen  light, the non-Catholic press officer went on. But even as a non-Catholic Ishe said she felt she was in the presence of greatness, that the Pope was a very powerful person, one of the most learned people in the world. In that sense, the experience was awesome. The pomp of his garments and entourage certainly added to that sense. It’s only fitting that world-level leaders reinforce the message of their countries with the most splendid garb of their nations.  Overall, the Pope made a terrific impression on the UN and on New York City in general. He brought a spiritual depth to the city and it was very well received. That greater spiritual depth as a result of his visit was reflected right back to the Pople as he made his way around the city in his popemobile. Throngs cheered.

For a Catholic perspective on the Pope’s historic visit to the UN, a staff member snagged a seat at the  press office desk.  On first seeing the Pope walk up the aisle, she said she was struck by the sense that he was the person holding a position that was directly descended from the first Pope, St. Peter, who founded the Catholic Church. The context of that long timeline lent new emphasis to the UN message. The philosophical edge  common themes made them profound and closely aligned. Both Catholicism and the UN had the common goals of helping people and doing good in the world.

Further, she said she was happy to see the Pope as warm within the formality of his role. When he extended hands to bless, his fingers fluttered with earnest feeling. In an address to a rally of young people the previous day, the Pope had shown real rapport with the kids who were obviously thrilled to be in his presence.  He kept looking out at them as with admiration, as if to let them know they were important to him because they were the future.

Winding Down for an Up New Year

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Under Pressure describes the world since 2016. British David Bowie married to Somali Iman and teamed with Queen preceded by 35 years the political winds that hit the world in 2016.

2016 is the year that the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union with Brexit It was also the year that Trump took over as US president after Barack Obama, and it was probably the year that Putin saw a green light for his plan to crush Ukraine in a campaign started two years earlier.

Trump’s shocking win over Hillary Clinton on a tecnicality put the whole world on edge. Protests were staged the very next day throughout the world baffled by how America the great and the beacon of democracy had chosen to be led by a crude business tycoon who bragged about grabbing women simply because he saw himself as a star who could get away with it. As his four-year term wore perilously on with increasing rancor and strife, it became ever clearer that the danger Trump posed was greater than mere bad behavior.

Cats have nine lives and worms regenerate lost body parts. No telling how far down the vulgar path Trump will be allowed to leads his small but dangerous part of his country. But one thing is clear. the first part of his assault on democracy has ended with a few big bangs.

Show and tell, compare and contrast are two basic tools of persuasion. Trump continues to deride Democrats as vicious communist socialists as if the two weren’t mutually inclusive. But seaasoned Joe Biden avoids the fray and carries out a rebuilding America platform. America as a whole notices the difference between the two leaders. This was evidenced by big losses for Trump annointed candidates in the 2022 midterm elections. Then came the long-awaited report on the 2021 near coup.

The report was an inspired document, as were the public hearings themselves. They spoke in painstaking detail using down-to-earth language about a horrific event Americans couldn’t associate with their own country. Once opened to the truth, the eyes of upstanding humans can’t remain clenched. We are programmed by evolutionary genetics to live by learning. A big lesson comes right before New Year’s eave when the Trump tax returns are released to the public after seven years of Trump claiming a pre-emptive audit that never took place.

Taxes are the ultimate take-down. They captured Al Capone when law enforcement with all its resources could not bring justice to bear down on him. The mystery of the tax trap and its effectivess lies at the heart of the Trump mystique that nearly ended democracy.

“Only little people pay taxes,” the Queen of Mean Leona Helmsley quipped to a jury of her peers in 1989. The blithe attitude cost her four years in prison plus community service and a $7m fine. The little people who pay the taxes that make this great country possible are the exact opposite of the greedy rich. In the Oval Office, Trump and his enabling allies made out like bandits. They hid their money off-shore and they cut funding for the Internal Revenue Service while entangling business ventures to a complexity that God himself needs time to sort out.

Multiply that complexity by nearly 200 countries dealing with Trump equivalents to get a glimpse into what the New Year holds. Then look at signs showing we’re headed in the right direction.

Trumpism is losing steam in the US. Brexit is proving a disaster in the UK and the social media call for it to end is growing. Social media is also propelling rform in countries strangled by despotic leaders, including Iran and Afghanistan. Most promising at a very high human cost is the stand Ukraine has galvanized against a lawless Russian invasion.

Democracy is at stake in the New Year of 2023. Good leaders manage communication of the way. So sit back, little people of the world. In God we trust and he’s doing a great job.

Christmas as a Global Feast of Faith

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Christmas started as a Christian feast but two centuries of human growth have turned it into a cultural event. In this feast, Christians celebrate the birth of Jewish Christ whose humble birth was uplifted by the gifts of three wise men from the East. Considering that the honored Jesus is believed to have been born in Bethlehem in a part of the world now known as the Mideast, the three wise men from further east may have come from anywhere the world over.

Whatever godly attributes Jesus had, he and his disciples changed the sweep of human history from fear-driven to forgiving. The Hebrew Jehovah of that time smote down enemies. Roman gods fought and undercut each other. Indigenous people of lesser fame worshiped the merciless gods of nature. But Christ and his followers upended those views with the simple common sense principle of the golden rule.

Do onto others as you would have done to you. is the golden rule. It is thought to date back 500 years before Jesus to Confucius. Open source suggests that all major religions including Islam embrace the concept of the golden rule. It seems that few people could argue with the golden rule and yet some do.

The cocept of white supremacy may be the most damning of all current concepts. It claims that the white race is superior to all others based on the short-sighted historical precedent set by the European expansionist period that lasted about 300 years. That era created a lot of carnage but it also helped to unify the world. Overall, European colonialization put western powers ahead of others with industrialized wealth. The end result of that expansionist dominance was two world wars followed by the institution of the United Nations to avert a third.

The United Nations Charter is modeled on the Constitution of the United States, which is basically an elaboration of the golden rule. By now, all near-200 UN member states have signed and ratified the UN Charter, meaning the golden rule is now enshrined in constitutions around the world under the rubric of democracy. But the fly in the ointment is human frailty.

The maze of legal operations between international agreement and incorporation into national law is inestimable among near-200 countries. Loopholes, potholes, cultural proclivities and plain human recalcitrance all afford violations of the golden rule.

White supremacy is no more than a current iteration of an ages-old repudiation of the golden rule. It is the claim that some people are beneath equal treatment. Popularized in the currently dominant west, the superior mentality is not restricted to whites. It operates worldwide among humans, whether between Tories and Labour, Republicans and Democrats, Hutus and Tutsies, settlers on indigenous lands. Whites now bear the burden of guilt for the practice of superiority but it wasn’t always that way and it can be upended by eliminating the physically obvious distinction of race now seen as central to dominance.

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine had nothing to do with race. It was based on a combination of arrogance and lust to exert power. American hostility toward southern border immigrants has less to do with race than with indignation at the insolence of violating the golden rule. How would Russia like to be invaded and how would Guatemala like to be overrun by those more needy than they?

The basic issue of the ages old golden rule is lost in a complex world. But democratic values sum up the essence and Christmas is the time to celebrate and bring together that spirit throughout the world. Make it religious or make it secular, make Christmas an international holiday celebrating the golden rule.