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Russias war on Ukraine has built an unprecedented level of unity and geopolitical decisiveness across the Atlantic and among democracies around the world. This is the precise opposite of what Russia had intended. Russia has worked to sow discord within democratic countries and between allies for years through its information operations, often portraying the West in disarray and as weak supporters for their global partners.

The past couple of weeks have shown the opposite. The United States, NATO and the EU are fully coordinated and providing era re-defining support for Ukraine, a country defending itself from an invasion that seeks to deter Ukraine from its path toward democracy and a system free of corruption. Moreover, the invasion is finally motivating Europeans and Americans to free their countries of Russias influence in their information, energy and financial sectors.

Across Europe, the war has inspired a commitment to democracy, and it has forced through tough political decisions that seemed impossible a week ago. Perhaps in the United States, the war will also inspire a true reckoning across the political spectrum, beyond the Biden administration alone.

The West is proving Russia wrong. As the Alliance for Securing Democracy noted, in the lead up to the invastion of Ukraine, Kremlin-linked social media accounts falsely asserted that Western countries need a war, misrepresenting the motivations and interests of the U.S. and Europe, and in the case of France, amplifying voices calling for the country to leave NATO. Russian state-backed media outlet RT also pushed the narrative that Ukraine is isolated and without supporters, depicting Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as helplessly bemoaning that Ukraine has been left alone.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The West was at Putins table, passionately working for diplomatic resolution. Putin launched the invasion in the middle of the U.N. Security Council meeting on paths for de-escalation (torpedoing the diplomatic option in practice and symbolically). Then, the U.S., with Europe, UK, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and other democratic partners, put in place the most unified and severe economic sanctions that could have been foreseen. The coordinated move even targeted the Russian Central Bank, which President Putin uses as a war chest.

Contrary to worst expectations, even far-right French politicians denounced the invasion. And rather than leaving Ukraine to be overrun, individual European countries and the United States are not only providing Ukraine with weapons, but the European Union for the first time in its history is providing EUR450 million for military assistance.

Russias war on Ukraine has pushed Europeans to make foreign and domestic policy decisions not seen in a generation or more. Germany, which until last week had stood by 1970s principles of economic partnership with Russia and hope for political change through trade, halted the completed, but not yet operational, Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Russia and committed to beefing up defense spending to EUR100 billion, more than doubling spending from last year. This turnaround includes a commitment that Germany will meet the NATO target of spending 2% of GDP on defense one that Germany previously seemed unlikely to reach any time soon.

The transformative and consolidating effect of Russias invasion is also directed inward. Weak policies on Russia for decades have hinged on openness to Russias influence, in the energy sector in Europe and in the financial and information sectors worldwide. The EUs announcement of a ban on Russias state-backed outlets, expected transition away from Russian energy, and severe economic sanctions on Russia despite likely fallout on European economies show the dramatic turnaround in Europes vulnerability to Russia influence. The Biden administration also announced a taskforce that will seek to identify ill-gained assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs in the U.S. and the West.

As the war continues, Europe has already taken steps that for decades have been pushed but seemed impossible. The question remains how much of this introspection and foundational support for democracy will also extend to the far corners of the U.S. political establishment. Before the invasion, Fox News star commentator Tucker Carlson participated in spreading the idea that the United States and its allies were the main driver in the current escalation with Russia. Former President Trump called President Putin a genius, though he has walked back these comments in recent days.

Will Americans across all corners of the political spectrum follow their counterparts in France and Germany and do what is essential but seemed politically impossible just days ago, cutting off autocratic tendencies and weaknesses? Russia is forcing a reckoning for all democracies to stop anti-democratic erosion, one that Russia itself has seeded across societies. It is the moment to prove Russia wrong and heal what has been broken at home. If Europe so long denounced as slow and unambitious can do it in a weekend, so can the United States.

Kristine Berzina is a senior fellow and head of the geopolitics team for the German Marshall Funds Alliance for Securing Democracy. She wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.

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How Russias invasion of Ukraine strengthened democracy around the world - The Dallas Morning News

The Pennsylvania State Capitol. Photo by Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0

Democracy Starts with Us

The Pennsylvania legislature is among the largest and highest paid in the country. Unfortunately, democracy is not measured by how many state and federal representatives we have, or even by how much we pay our representatives. It is what they do. Pennsylvanias full-time legislators in the House met 69 days, and Senate members only 52 days, during the last calendar year. True, some of their time was spent in travel to the Bahamas, for off-site discussions, but we need to do better.

Pennsylvanias essential role in the founding of our country earned it the nickname, the Keystone State. Thats a lot to live up to. Our state legislators have a decisive role in democracy, but we have the most important role. Democracy starts with us; we select our representatives to act for us. Make your preferences known.

Now is a great time to meet with our representatives to understand redistricting, gerrymandering, the Electoral College (win without a majority of total votes), foreign interference and new voter ID laws. Thats our responsibility. We have to understand the issues, tell our representatives what we think and be sure our representatives understand. For example, we can discuss under-resourced cities, gun-violence, the pandemic and mask mandates, school inequalities, the health of our natural environment, unionization and voter suppression.

The mid-term election in 2022 is very important. Yes, we hold our politicians accountable for democracy, but we have the most important role.

Carl Evensen,Ferguson Township

Benninghoff and the Blame-Game

State House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoffs op-ed in Thursdays CDT is a prime example of using a non-partisan issue, the Ukraine invasion, for partisan purposes.

Representative Benninghoff writes about the importance of Pennsylvanias natural gas resources in a global energy market that is in the throes of dramatic geopolitical change. Fair enough. Unfortunately, he omits any mention that Pennsylvania is already the natural gas producing state with the lowest taxes in the industry. Strangely, he goes on to blame the Democrats and the Wolf administration for a failure of leadership, even though Pennsylvania is the second largest producer of natural gas in the country, following only Texas, which, by the way, levies a 7.5% extraction tax, to Pennsylvanias 0% extraction tax (instead, PA charges an annual impact fee for every gas well thats drilled, resulting in much lower revenues).

But in the most egregious and blatantly self-serving portion of his piece he blames our state and federal leaders for policies that will embolden Vladimir Putin.

Nice try, Mr. Benninghoff, but your reasoning is full of gas and your argument doesnt hold water.

Ronald Filippelli,State College

Business Tax Reductions Dont Create Jobs

A common false narrative, pushed by Republican politicians, is that reducing an employers income tax will lead to job creation. Not true.

The theory is that employers, upon learning that their tax liabilities are being reduced, will be so overjoyed that they will rush right out and hire a bunch of additional people.

Aint gonna happen.

Employers, altruistic as they might be, do not hire more people just because they can afford to. They hire more people when they need them to meet an increased demand for their products or services.

This erroneous theory, called supply-side economics or trickle-down economics, has been around for a long time, at least since the Reagan Administration (hence the alternative term Reaganomics, which George H. W. Bush called voodoo economics). It was repeated twice by the Bush-43 Administration and again by the Trump Administration. The historical data shows that the promised jobs creation never occurred in any of those four cases.

And there is no reason to expect it should have.

Of course the tax reductions left more after-tax profits in the business coffers. What did they do with the extra money? They increased dividends to shareholders and retired treasury stock, both of which enriched the investor class. They also, quite likely, returned some of it to the very politicians who provided them with the tax reduction in the first place, in the form of campaign contributions. (Could this have been the intent all along?)

But they did not create jobs.

Ed Satalia,State College

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Letters: Democracy Starts with Us; Benninghoff's Blame Game; False Narrative of Business Tax Reductions - Statecollege.com

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, The War and Peace Report. Im Amy Goodman.

Antiwar protests are continuing in Russia. A local monitoring group says over 5,000 people were arrested by police across 69 Russian cities Sunday. This comes as part of a sweeping crackdown on civil society and the press. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new law to impose jail terms of up to 15 years for spreading so-called false information about the military or its activity in Ukraine.

The prominent independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta said it was removing its reporting on the invasion because of censorship. The papers editor, Dmitry Muratov, was one of the recipients of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize just a few months ago. In a message to its readers, the paper said, quote, Military censorship in Russia has quickly moved into a new phase: from the threat of blocking and closing publications (almost fully implemented) it has moved to the threat of criminal prosecution of both journalists and citizens who spread information about military hostilities that is different from the press releases of the Ministry of Defense, unquote.

On Thursday, independent Russian channel TV Rain went off the air, with its staff walking off set saying No to war. Non-Russian news outlets, including CNN, ABC, CBS, Bloomberg and BBC, have moved to limit their activity in Russia.

This comes as Russia becomes increasingly economically isolated. Visa and Mastercard have become the last corporations to cut or, the latest corporations to cut or reduce ties to Russia.

Were joined now by Ilya Budraitskis. He is a Russian historian and political writer. Hes the author of the award-winning book Dissidents Among Dissidents: Ideology, Politics and the Left in Post-Soviet Russia. We last spoke to him from Moscow in February. He has since left Russia.

Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Ilya. If you can talk about the crackdown on the protests and the press? Again, at this point, I think its over 13,000 people have been arrested across Russia for protesting.

ILYA BUDRAITSKIS: Yeah. So, in fact, were entering the new political reality in Russia for now, because all the previous, lets say, laws of game, theyre not working. And if before, just months, two months ago, you could be arrested for the participation in the street demonstration and just spent some days in prison or pay some fine, for now if youre arrested or if you just spread some information which is different from the official point of view, you could be imprisoned for years. And that is the new situation. Thats a new level of risk for the protest movement in Russia. And, of course, those people who just yesterday came to the streets of the main Russian cities, they are extremely, extremely brave, and I think they should be a part of the heroic part of the history of the global antiwar movements.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about who the people are who are protesting and how much information is getting out about these protests all over Russia right now, despite the crackdown on the press?

ILYA BUDRAITSKIS: So, most of those people, they are young people. Theyre, lets say, some students or just young people under 25. And unfortunately, those part of the population which actively oppose the war is very, lets say, limited in terms of generations and in terms of access to information, because, as probably was told already in your programs, in Russian official media the picture of reality, the picture of what is happening in Ukraine, is totally different. Its like an alternative reality. Theres no images of bombings of the Ukrainian cities. There is no even any true information about the actions of the Russian military units in Ukraine. So, in fact, most of population have, unfortunately, a very wrong understanding of what is really going on there. So, those who came to these protests last days, they mostly get their alternative information from some social media which are still accessible in country or from the, lets say, alternative oppositional websites, which most of them which are now blocked, but you still can access them using the VPN and so on.

AMY GOODMAN: The significance of Dmitry Muratov, who won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, his newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, saying theyre just not going to report it because of the censorship?

ILYA BUDRAITSKIS: Yes, absolutely. So you have a new situation with the censorship. And as you know probably, even the term war or the term invasion, theyre described as the disinformation or the fake news in Russia, and you could be according the new law just adopted by the parliament couple of days ago, you can be imprisoned up to 15 years for the distribution of such disinformation. Yes, so, and already we have criminal investigations on people who not just write something in this way, yeah, but even repost some news on social media which call this war a war. Yeah? So, the situation

AMY GOODMAN: War or invasion, you cant use those words.

ILYA BUDRAITSKIS: Or invasion, yes, you also cant use the term invasion. You can use only the term special military peacekeeping operation. And also, you cant spread any alternative information of the losses of the Russian army, and you only can use the official information from the Russian Ministry of Defense. And the difference between these numbers, so if you look on the numbers reported by Ukrainian side and the numbers reported by Russian side, they are so different, so different from each other. So, just couple of days ago, Russian Ministry of Defense first time officially recognized that around 500 Russian soldiers already died in Ukraine. So, on Ukrainian sources, you have the information that more than 7,000 Russian soldiers already were killed. And, of course, you cant continue this censorship for a long period of time, because all these soldiers who already died in Ukraine, all these Russian soldiers, they have their relatives, they have their families in the different areas of Russian Federation. And, of course, this is starting to form some different point of view among some part of the Russian people.

AMY GOODMAN: Are people hearing the pleas of Ukrainians? Like on Friday, President Zelensky appealed to Russians to stage protests over Russian forces seizure of Europes largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia. Now thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing that area. Then youve got the Ukrainians telling the Russian mothers to come pick up their soldier sons in Ukraine. Are you hearing these pleas? Are they hearing in Russia?

ILYA BUDRAITSKIS: Unfortunately, as I said before, the access to the information is very limited. And I think that this address by Zelensky also was distributed only around those who have this access to the alternative information, to that sort of social media.

AMY GOODMAN: Ilya, we dont have much time, and I want to get to a few points. Sanctions, the effect of these sanctions on the people of Russia, the population?

ILYA BUDRAITSKIS: Its already huge. Its already huge effects. It will lead to the collapse of, lets say, the middle class in Russia. It will lead to the, lets say, to the destruction of the future for I dont know millions of young people in the country. And it will lead to the social catastrophe. And I am not sure that the current leadership of Russia can manage the social catastrophe and rule the country in this

AMY GOODMAN: And so, do you think this will lead to a settlement? In the 10 seconds we have, or in the minute that we have, do you think this could lead, press Putin to settle with Ukraine?

ILYA BUDRAITSKIS: I dont know, in fact, because we see that his decisions are quite irrational, quite irrational.

AMY GOODMAN: Irrational.

ILYA BUDRAITSKIS: And we cant discuss it in the, lets say, rational way.

AMY GOODMAN: Have you been shocked by what has taken place?

ILYA BUDRAITSKIS: Of course. Of course, as millions of people in my country.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think the protests will continue?

ILYA BUDRAITSKIS: I hope so, despite of the very, very brutal, very aggressive pressure that we have from the top.

AMY GOODMAN: Did you flee because of whats taking place?

ILYA BUDRAITSKIS: In fact, I dont want to talk about it much.

AMY GOODMAN: OK. Ilya Budraitskis, I want to thank you so much for being with us. Ilya Budraitskis is Russian historian and political writer, author of Dissidents Among Dissidents: Ideology, Politics and the Left in Post-Soviet Russia.

That does it for our show. Check our website for jobs. Im Amy Goodman. Stay safe.

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Russian Crackdown on Dissent Intensifies as Over 13,000 Arrested for Opposing Ukraine Invasion - Democracy Now!

ISLAMABAD Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Affairs, Dr Shahbaz Gill on Monday said that it was beauty of the democracy that people have difference of opinion with each others. He said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership was united to tackle any challenges. Aleem Khan has a deep relation with the PTI and he himself rendered matchless sacrifices for the party, though his reservations on governance will be resolved, he said while talking to a private news channel. He said they all are strength of PTI and have the ability to tackle the challenges and a wall against those who were looter of the country. SAPM Dr Shahbaz Gill said PTI will easily foil oppositions no-trust motion as Prime Minister Imran Khan enjoys full support of party members and allies in the Parliament. Addressing a news conference he said, the opposition was destined to fail in ousting a democratically elected government which would fulfill its constitutional term of five years. Gill dispelled the notion that the opposition has support of the governments coalition partners saying the respectable politicians always stood by the commitments they made with others. By announcing no-confidence move, Shehbaz said the opposition trapped into a blind alley particularly due to their corrupt leaders who were hell bent on saving their loot and plunder. He said, it was in knowledge of the government that the opposition revived the culture of horse trading in the politics. Gill said the PTI members had requested the prime minister to chalk out a strategy to expose the opposition in public after the failure of no-trust move.

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Difference of opinion, beauty of democracy, says Shahbaz Gill - The Nation

As one of the detrimental legacies of the protracted conflict, Somalia has been stuck in a vicious cycle of clan-based indirect selection of political representatives and leaders for more than 20 years, both at Federal and State levels. In the last year, the nation has been grappling with indirect electoral process at the Federal level marred by procedural irregularities, unfair practices, political tension and corruption. Despite this bleak outlook for Somalia's political landscape, there have been efforts to transition the country into democracy in some parts of the country. Puntland State of Somalia, a semi-autonomous Federal Member State in Somalia's north-eastern region, successfully conducted its first early direct local government elections in three districts on 25 October 2021. I oversaw these elections, which were declared free and fair by national and international observer and was overwhelmed with joy to witness the success of our endeavor. The experience has gripped the nation's imagination and instilled a sense of hope, a sudden awakening of public interest and realization that peaceful direct elections were feasible in Somalia.

I was elected as the Chairman of the third Transitional Puntland Electoral Commission (TPEC), appointed in August 2019, to coordinate democratisation activities and manage the first direct one person one vote local government elections in the State. There have been two previous electoral commissions that invested time and resources in the programme but were unsuccessful for various reasons to move the process forward. I led the Commission for two years and six months, and during that period, we succeeded not only to hold peaceful, free and fair elections but to mainstream democracy and bringing it to the heart of the Puntland State political system.

Our work began with the creation of an environment of dialogue, community and stakeholder engagement, consultations and ensuring shared ownership of the process and outcome. We completed the essential laws, regulatory frameworks, policies and procedures for the democratisation programme and electoral system for Puntland State. We set standards for political associations and put in place fair and transparent inspection process, validation and a registration system. We oversaw the effective formation of nine political associations with divergent political ideologies, visions, strategies and programmes. Through our standards of conduct, work and outreach, we restored the trust of the Somali people and our international development partners and donors in the democratisation programme. And finally, we pioneered and successfully conducted peaceful direct early local government elections in three districts of Qardho, Ufeyn and Eyl for the first time in more than a half-century.

The defining characteristic of our democratisation programme was our unequivocal and stringent enforcement of our standards of conduct and work ethics. We have built relationships with different stakeholders based on mutual trust, compliance with the laws, accountability and transparency, recognition of separate roles and responsibilities and respect for the neutral, impartial and independent position of the Commission.

The second notable feature was the local ownership and leadership of the process, and the recognition that it was not born out of pressure from external actors. Rather, it grew out of the need for political change in the State and the appeal of a democratic political culture that was a model built within where citizens could choose their political leaders in a climate of healthy competition.

The third distinguishing quality of our work related to our approach and engagement with stakeholders and Somali citizens. Inclusive politics and democracy are mentioned almost in all Somalia's peace and state building priorities and became the clich of the day for many of the political elite and a campaign slogan for all those vying for presidential and senior positions up and down in the country.

We are committed to concluding elections as soon as possible: Somali Premier

The Commission has taken a more responsible approach to frame the democratisation narrative as that of a dynamic learning process of introduction, improvement, consolidation and practice. I have argued, in my interaction with government officials, representatives of political associations, civil society groups and the public, that the direct local government elections were merely the first and necessary transitional step for democracy in Somalia but not sufficient if the other dimensions of democracy were lacking. The process must, therefore, include strong rule of law institutions, respect for individual rights and freedoms, free media and the citizen's right of access to accurate information.

After the October 2021 early elections, the democratisation process in Puntland has come under attack. I have never been reticent about the challenges we faced nor complacent about the enormous and complex tasks of delivering direct democratic elections in a country that was reeling from the effect of protracted conflict and for a population which has never known elections for over half a century. I resigned from my position as the Chairman and a member of the Commission on 2 January 2022 in the light of a series of existential challenges and disagreements with the government over the management of the democratisation programme.

First, the Commission was severely underfunded despite numerous requests to the government. For example, in 2020 it received only about 16 per cent of its allocated budget from the treasury, which hampered its capability to carry out its core functions and plans to expand its coverage and work for different districts in the State. I voiced my concerns on numerous occasions that the Commission could not operate without full political and financial backing. The government must now accept its failings in this regard and authorise the timely and unhindered transfer of funds to the Commission.

Secondly, I recognised that although democracy embodies a culture of transparency and accountability, it could hit a formidable snag if it was not underpinned by effective rule of law institutions, namely independent judicial mechanism with jurisdiction over constitutional issues and election disputes. The absence of a constitutional court in Puntland State coupled with the expiry of the term of Puntland High Court Judges on 15 August 2021 created a constitutional, legal and judicial vacuum and made our work to reassure political associations and the public very difficult. The government cannot evade the glaring reality of this failure and the urgent need to appoint Puntland High Court judges and form a Constitutional Court.

Thirdly, the completion and publication of district boundaries of the State was very vital for the electoral process, particularly drawing constituency boundaries, identifying polling stations, registering voters and resolving disputes between neighbouring districts and communities. The Commission received a number of boundary complaints from the communities in adjacent districts of Qardho and Ufeyn during the early elections which served as an indication that there would be a torrent of boundary disputes among the 50 districts in Puntland once the elections were extended to the whole State. This work on boundary delineation must be completed as soon as possible and the information made available to the public so that preparatory electoral work to identify constituencies can be undertaken and any boundary disputes resolved before the elections.

Fourthly, the government's reluctance to implement the results of the October 2021 elections and oversee a smooth hand over of the administration of the three districts to the new democratically elected council members within 30 days as stipulated by Article 43 of Puntland Local Government Law damaged the confidence in the process and was construed as a purposeful attack on the democratisation programme of Puntland State and a discernible shift in the government's determination to implement a multiple party-political system in Puntland State. The recent events in Qardho and Eyl districts where attempts were made to thwart the meetings of the newly democratically elected councillors are very worrying. The public need to counter, in a spirit of unity and purpose, decisions and actions that can threaten our transition to democracy and the right of our elected officials to govern. The government must heed the warnings and demands by the political associations, civil society organisations and the wider public not to retreat from the democratisation programme. It must bring the process back on track and begin with the handover of power to the newly democratically elected councillors of Qardho, Ufeyn and Eyl districts. Moreover, Puntland Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) and Non-State Actors need to continue their valuable work to keep the democratisation transition moving and increase their monitoring and observation activities in order to keep the pressure on the government to stay on the path to democracy.

Lastly but not least, Puntland's president, Said Abdullahi Deni's political ambitions to compete in the Federal presidential elections have adversely affected Puntland democratisation programme and resulted in much needed support, input and attention from the Puntland government to be diverted to his election campaign.

During the planning of the early elections, we were reminded of the failed attempts of democratisation in the past because certain political groups were not ready for the transition. Besides, there were powerful people who harboured heretical views about the democratisation programme and had invested private interest in the status quo which kept the reins of power firmly in the hands of a few. However, the widespread positive reactions and public acceptance of the process strengthened our resolve to build trust in the fairness, credibility and legitimacy of Puntland democratisation process and elections. We could not let premonition of failure damp our spirit and define our desire, ability and determination to succeed in our transition to democracy. We could not delay or backtrack from our transition to democracy by feigning a semi democracy model that would keep Puntland and the rest of Somalia in a state of perpetual defeat and missed opportunities. The prospect of democracy for Somalia was very promising and we had to go ahead at full steam to deliver free and fair one person one vote early local government elections, nothing less, nothing more and that is what we did on 25 October 2021.

Somali graduates of Turkish scholarship program give back to their country

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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Puntland in transition to democracy: challenges and the way forward - Middle East Monitor