Whenever the fog of war lifts, one conclusion that will be drawn is that much of the disinformation of Putin and his government was uncritically absorbed and repeated by some on the left. The latest example was the alleged “humanitarian crisis” in the Donbas area that was shopped by some on the left and became the rationale for Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

The right wing is a problem in Ukaine, but nowhere near as big a problem as some on the left suggest. Ukraine has democratic voices and movements, which seem to escape the attention of some writers on the left.

Many people on the left are looking at the confrontation between the U.S. and Russia over the status of Ukraine through the lens of the Cold War. But I wonder if this is the only frame that we should employ? Don’t we have to complicate this framing? I believe so.

Putin is more than a reactive and defensive actor in the present circumstances and generally speaking. By his words and actions, he is an anti-democratic, ruthless autocrat who crushes demoracy at home and aggressively interferes in the internal life of other countries (as we know) beyond Russia’s border. He possesses imperial ambitions to restore some version of the Old Russian empire or the former Soviet Union. At the center of both visions is the absorption of Ukraine.

These facts don’t lend any legitimacy to the expansion of Nato eastward at the end of the Cold War, as the U.S. government continues to do.. But it should inform our understanding of the present crisis. The violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty by Putin’s recognition of the independence of the separatist territories in Eastern Ukraine and the introduction of Russian troops to that area is an act of aggression and a violation of international norms. It’s misguided, illegal, and exceedingly dangerous, an attempt to resolve a complicated situation by military means.

What is more, these actions by Putin could well be the opening salvo, depending on how the international community reacts, to further aggression, to scaling up the invasion to the rest of Ukraine. Such an action would carry with it death and destruction on a barely comprehensible scale. Finally, like any war, it would run the danger of triggering a far wider war, including the danger of the use of nuclear weapons. And that would be catastrophic.

Restraint, de-escalation, and negotiation on all sides is the order of the day.

If anyone is a practioner of identity politics, it is Trump, Fox News, and the far flung media ecosystem of racist authoritarianism. As they tell it, “our” national identity – white, Christian, ethno nationalist, masculinist, straight, hard working, patriotic, etc. is under assault from the left, liberals, “fake news,” coastal elites, feminists, gay and transgender people, and, above all, people of color who, to their great fear, will soon be a governing majority.

This anti-democratic and false framing of our national identity can’t be ceded to the athortitarian right. We have to tell a different story of our country and its history. Not in a vacuum though.

But in the context of a bitterly contested election campaign where the coalition that defeated Trump and the Republican Party two years ago must shine a light once again on the impending danger of an anti-democratic, fascist like takeover, while making a case for robust, multi-racial democracy and economic and social policies – not least the unfinished domestic agenda of the Biden administration – that make a felt difference in people’s lives. And all this while articulating a compelling and egalitarian story of “America” to tens of millions.

Watching NBA All Star pregame where the top 75 players of all time are being honored. I’m old enough to have watched every one of them. Impossible not to be moved. The NBA has always occupied a special space in my life and brought me great joy. Still does!