Russia Must Be Challenged and Stopped!

Russia’s aggressive self-serving military offensives in America, Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Britain, Europe and every other country where Russia can get its cyber-hacking feet in the door or boots on the ground, must be challenged and stopped. A robust response is long overdue.

America can and must stop the Russian military industrial complex and its money-men enablers who, in addition to ignoring treaties Russia has signed, have made Putin one of the richest men in the world. Four Hundred billion dollars-worth at last count — and still counting.

The arrest and plea-agreement with Russian agent Maria Butina earlier this week should shed light on Russia’s actions to destabilize America politically, especially during the 2016 presidential election. To ensure a Trump win and defeat of Clinton. That, in and of itself, is not collusion. Was there collusion? That remains to be seen.

Russian political interference in U.S. political affairs and elections must be aggressively challenged and stopped!

Russia’s unprovoked seizure of three Ukrainian naval ships and 24 sailors making their way legally from the Ukrainian port of Odessa to Ukrainian port of Mariupol in the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov on November 25, must be challenged.

This in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and building a 12-mile bridge between Russia’s mainland and Crimea – a potential redux of the Crimean War of 1853-1856 — when the Russian Empire lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain and Sardinia. Russia was then, as it is today, a threat to multiple European interests, was challenged and defeated — and must be challenged again by NATO!

Russian seizure of Ukrainian territory and naval vessels in international waters must be challenged and stopped!

Russian boots on the ground and unrestrained bombing from the air on innocent civilians in Syria must be challenged and stopped.

Russian poisoning of former Russian agents living in exile in Britain must be challenged and stopped.

Russian cyber-attacks across Western Europe must be challenged and stopped.

Russia’s violations of the 1987 Treaty on Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces in Europe, the development of its new 9M729 missile being the latest, must be challenged and stopped.

Russian heightened naval activities and increasing number of naval ships in the Black Sea are threatening NATO members Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey that must be challenged and stopped.

Russian naval and military activities in the Baltic Sea are also threatening Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — and must be challenged and stopped.

President Trump’s cancellation of his meeting with Putin at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires last month was a positive first step.

Since a military solution is not a practical option, Americans, Ukrainians, Syrians, Brits, Europeans and all other people victimized by Russian aggression need the support of the international community in the form of further sanctions against Putin.

The bipartisan Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Obama to punish Russian officials, is a good second — and hopefully final step.