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To the Journal editor:
A previous letter to the editor that I wrote two years ago dealt, in large part, with Russian President Putin and his relationship with our president. My comments then, and now, are based on 22 years that I served as a U.S. Army intelligence officer of which 17 years were assignments directly related to Russian activities.
Putin has clearly stated that our democratic way of life and our alliances with other democracies is a threat to Russia and to his own authoritarian control. He has done, and will continue to do, anything to undermine our society and our way of life. He sees those who have been our allies as his enemies. Putin has stated that the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century."
When Putin launched his unprovoked war in Ukraine, intended to last days and now going on 5 years, it was feared it was just the first step in his attempt to seize back parts of the Russian empire that had been taken away. Those concerns are what highlighted a NATO conference held in Warsaw, Poland just this past Oct. 12.
At the conference, the NATO commander U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich outlined in some detail any Russian attempt to attack any NATO country would result in a disastrous defeat for Russia. The general emphasized that he does not view a conflict with Russia as imminent or inevitable, (but) if it were to come, the result would be clear.
He also emphasized that the commitment signed by all 32 NATO allies, including the U.S., that Article 5 of the defense pact states that an attack on one is an attack on all. I am aware that our president has cast doubt on whether or not Article 5 would apply to us, but I don't think that one should assume at some point in the future that it won't.
It's also true that President Trump has said that he has had "good talks with Putin" and Putin assures him he has no intention of attacking NATO after the war with Ukraine is over.
As to the war in Ukraine, Putin launched it because he saw that a free Ukraine, after some 45 years of Russian domination and tyranny, was a threat to Russian control and his political power. That Ukraine under Zelensky's leadership has, to date, remained free in spite of a numerical 3-1 disadvantage in population and military numbers is reminiscent of Finland's heroic resistance to the Soviet invasion of 1939-40.