Ukraine and its allies must tackle 5 tests for the civilized world to

Here are the five crucial tests Ukraine and its global partners and allies must tackle as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s criminal war approaches its most decisive phase.

Some are short-term, and others have generational consequences. What unites them is that all five are necessary to transform Putin’s murderous authoritarian threat into a historic opportunity for the civilized world to shape a better future.

• Can Ukraine’s friends, particularly those in Europe and North America, not only maintain but also strengthen their unity and solidarity in the face of Putin’s growing brutality? With global energy prices and inflation rising, can Ukraine’s friends avoid the inevitable fatigue among democracies and remain focused on what seems a far-away threat?
• Will Ukraine’s arms suppliers continue to provide Kyiv with greater military capabilities, despite Moscow’s threats of escalation, including the possible use of battlefield nukes. With this enhanced weaponry, can Ukrainian troops not only hold but retake their sovereign territory that is occupied by Russian troops.
• Can NATO overcome Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s opposition — and potentially that of others — to imminent Finnish and Swedish application for allied membership? Can it provide Finland and Sweden protective status until they are full members, and accelerate that process? Can the U.S. Senate ratify Finnish and Swedish NATO membership before the summer break, creating the crucial momentum?
• Can Ukraine and its friends do more to establish globally the factually correct narrative that Putin is solely responsible for this premeditated and unprovoked war? Can they reach the Russian people more effectively so that they better understand that Putin launched a war in their names that was not in their interests?
• Finally, can the U.S. and its global allies and partners strategically defeat Putin and sufficiently weaken Russian military capability, so that Moscow is unable to continue the Ukraine war or repeat it elsewhere? Can NATO and its global partners sufficiently strengthen themselves so that they more effectively deter this sort of threat in the future?

That’s a long list, and it’s only the beginning.

The bottom line is that unanticipated Ukrainian resilience, resourcefulness, patriotism, and bravery have provided the free world an opportunity not only to save Ukraine but also to reverse years of democratic drift and authoritarian resurgence.

 If one is to avoid having the rule-of-the jungle replace rule-of-law, now is the time to act. 

It will be as important in the years ahead that the transatlantic community embraces Russia and Russians as part of President George H.W. Bush’s dream of “a Europe Whole and Free.” One should already be designing how to make that happen. In the meantime, however, Ukraine’s friends, for now, must quell Putin’s revanchist, historically perverted obsession with restoring some false notion of “ancient Rus” through whatever means necessary.

The past week…