Thank you for visiting my website and enjoying my books. While my next thriller is being written, with the controversy surrounding the war in Ukraine, I thought you might be interested in an op ed I wrote concerning an idea to help transform Russia and end the violence.
OPINION The Star-Ledger. Affiliated with NJ.com. Tuesday, March 22, 2022
It's time to kick out the Russian ambassadors -- Opinion
By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist -- Alan L. Moss
Requiring Russian ambassadors and their consulate staff to return home while having foreign diplomats stationed in Russia also abandon their stations will help to complete the picture of deserved isolation.
It's time for the Free World to order Russian ambassadors and their embassy staff to go home.
Given the Russian invasion of its Ukrainian neighbor and its barbaric treatment of a peaceful society wanting to remain free, no Russian diplomats should be allowed to maintain a pretense of diplomacy. There can be no diplomacy representing the barbaric Russia we've seen in Chechnya, Syria, and now in Ukraine.
Allowing Russia's diplomats to stay abroad, pretending to serve a noble cause, helps to maintain the disguise of evil. There can be no diplomatic representation of those who bomb hospitals, fire on women and children, and indiscriminately destroy apartments, churches, and other non-defense structures. There can be no negotiation with those who seek only to destroy and confine a free people.
While architecture may be disfigured by Russian bombs and missiles, the Ukrainian devotion to independence and democracy hasn't been so easy to dismantle. Scenes of private citizens fighting as soldiers, preparing the materials of war, and demonstrating openly against their oppressors recall the bravery associated with the American Revolution. As bombs and missiles fall on Ukraine, the people refuse to give in, following a president who rallies their support and defies the threats of the invader.
Perhaps, the real motivation behind Russia's naked aggression is an attempt to hide its inability to maintain a representative government of its own. Brief experiments with Russian democracy invariably fall to the autocracy of one-man rule. Having the shining star of a democratic Ukraine next door must have been too much for KGB agent, and current Russian President Vladimir Putin to endure.
He can paint the Russian invasion as a justified incursion and prohibit truth-tellers and demonstrators from leveling with his population, but having to threaten jail time for those who attempt to inform the public is a clear signal to Russians that something is not right.
The strategy of the West, led by President Biden, is also to tell the Russian people that something is not right. The unprecedented economic sanctions and withdrawal from Russia of major U.S. corporations like McDonald's have to be raising questions in the minds of average Russian citizens. Requiring Russian ambassadors and their consulate staff to return home while having foreign diplomats stationed in Russia also abandon their stations will help to complete the picture of deserved isolation.
Unable to enjoy the soft life of many Russian diplomats stationed abroad, perhaps they might begin working to use what they've seen to plant the seeds of a Russian transformation to a workable and peaceful democracy.
In the meantime, the U.S. and its allies must continue to come to the aid of Ukraine with military equipment, domestic goods, and medical assistance. At the same time, we must accept immigrants in a thorough and coordinated manner.
Finally, we must present a picture of military strength while offering examples of peaceful, democratic and prosperous lifestyles to which the Russians might aspire.
Alan L Moss, Ph.D. was a congressional fellow to the late U. S. Sen. Frank R, Lautenberg of New Jersey. He was also chief economist of the U.S. Wage & Hour Division and is the author of seven published books, two nonfiction and five novels.