Senator Tillis speaks truth on Ukraine

There is room for reasonable debate about how the United States should respond to the current Russo-Ukrainian War and other challenges to our longstanding interests and alliances in Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, and elsewhere. Our leaders must allocate scarce resources across multiple priorities.

But no defensible foreign policy, no coherent strategy for advancing America’s just interests in an increasingly dangerous world, can rest on ignorance or lies. Statesmanship requires realism. Leadership requires truth.

That’s why last week’s speech on the floor of the US Senate by North Carolina’s own Thom Tillis was so important. In arguably his finest hour as a public servant, Tillis presented the stark realities of the present moment and explained what is at stake.

He accurately labeled Vladimir Putin a liar and murderer “responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians.” He correctly blamed Putin for launching the war, which began in 2014 and expanded into a full-scale invasion in 2022. He called out Russia’s use of terrorist tactics: purposefully bombing civilians, attempting to starve and freeze them to death, torturing Ukrainians, kidnapping and brainwashing their children, and systematically raping their women.

“Whoever believes that there is any space for Vladimir Putin and the future of a stable globe better go to Ukraine,” said Tillis, who has done so. “They better go to Europe. They better invest the time to understand that this man is a cancer and the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime. And it will be a cancer that spreads into the South China Sea, into Taiwan, and metastasize across the globe.”

Tillis does not stand alone. Other members of Congress have spoken out in recent days, including other members of the North Carolina delegation. On February 24, the third anniversary of Putin’s full-scale invasion, US Rep. Don Davis, D-NC1, urged his colleagues to “stand with Ukraine, united against Putin as defenders of freedom.” US Rep. Tim Moore, R-NC14, decried Russia’s “terrible aggression” against Ukraine and said “Vladimir Putin needs to be stopped.”

Serious lawmakers — Republicans and Democrats alike — know that Putin started the war, that he is a dictator and Volodymyr Zelensky isn’t, and that the Ukrainian constitution doesn’t permit elections while the country under martial law and fighting for its life. They know that while most of our NATO allies spend too little on defense, Europe has, in fact, provided more financial assistance to Ukraine than the United States has.

They should say so. Whether one views Donald Trump and his approach to Russia with deep suspicion or cautious optimism, there should be no illusions about the nature of Putin’s regime, his extensive alliances with other authoritarian states and terrorist organizations, and the need to maintain alliances of our own to deter aggression and, thus, achieve peace through strength.

America should continue to act as a leader — not a hegemon, not a global constabulary, but a leader. An example. A trustworthy partner and ally. An America that is, as the 1st Marine Division puts it, “no better friend” and “no worse enemy.”

That’s how most Americans still think about our role. In a Chicago Council survey, 56% agreed it was “best for the future of the country” for America to “take an active role in world affairs.” And in a recent Gallup poll, 63% of Americans had a favorable view of Ukraine, while only 17% felt that way about Russia.

That doesn’t mean we all see the issue of Ukraine aid the same way. Most North Carolinians don’t follow international affairs closely — an entirely understandable impulse. It falls to our leaders to do so on our behalf, and to convince us of the proper course of action.

I think Tillis has the right of it: “The world is small. The world is watching. The strength of our alliances are on the line and the future of democracy and the world is on the line if we do anything less than defeat Vladimir Putin.”

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His books Mountain Folk, Forest Folk, and Water Folk combine epic fantasy and American history.