A28 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, MARCH 6 , 2022
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR[email protected]W
ITH HIS brutal invasion of
Ukraine, Russian President
Vladimir Putin has opened a
new era in global politics —
and laid bare the vulnerabilities of the
post-Cold War international system.
Among these vulnerabilities, depend-
ence on Russian oil and gas has proved
the Achilles’ heel of security for Europe
and, by extension, the United States.
Quite simply, Russia has fossil fuels in
abundance and has used this as a
geopolitical tool to influence consuming
countries such as Germany and Italy,
blunting their willingness to take a
stand against Mr. Putin’s aggressive
policies until it is too late. The lesson is
that the West needs an energy policy
that is not only environmentally sustain-
able but geopolitically sustainable as
well. Cutting off the United States’
relatively modest oil imports from Rus-
sia, as many in Congress are demanding,
may send a necessary message of repudi-
ation to Mr. Putin. But, it is no substitute
for a long-term approach, which will
have to carefully balance urgency and
realism.
First, urgency. The case for shiftingfrom fossil fuels to renewables was
already strong. The need to cut depend-
ency on Russia — which provides 40 per-
cent of the European Union’s natural gas
— only strengthens it. European Union
countries are already investing heavily
in renewables; the United States still has
an opportunity to follow their example
by approving the green energy programs
in President Biden’s Build Back Better
plan or, even more usefully, enacting a
tax on carbon.
The fact is, however, that Russia’s
invasion disrupted global peace long
before the world’s most developed in-
dustrial economies had come close to
transcending fossil fuels. In the United
States, 79 percent of U.S. primary energy
consumption in 2020 came from oil,
natural gas and coal, according to the
Energy Department. The comparable
figure for the European Union is about
74.5 percent. This is where realism
comes in: As we work toward less
reliance on fossil fuels, the United States
and its allies must make sure that the oil
and gas we still do use comes in
sufficient quantity from suppliers politi-
cally compatible with the West. Thealternative would be shortages and crip-
pling cost increases, for consumers and
businesses, and that could undermine
the political consensus for a strong stand
against Russia. Indeed, it could directly
strengthen Russia by increasing prices
for its remaining oil and gas exports.
Germany has taken a step in the right
direction by suspending the Nord
Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia and
announcing that it will expedite the
construction of two new liquefied natu-
ral gas terminals that could receive
supplies from other countries, including
the United States. Europe is also willing
and able to prevent shortages this year
by tapping its reserves. Soon, it may have
to do more: extending the life of Ger-
many’s last three nuclear power plants,
or building new ones elsewhere; increas-
ing production at gas fields in the
Netherlands despite possible increased
seismic risks. The United States can and
should expand gas production for ex-
port, consistent with environmental
safeguards. From now on, democracies
need to set energy policy not only to save
the planet but also to stop Russia from
dominating it.A new era of energy geopolitics
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means the West needs a sustainable energy policy — and soon.
W
HY IS it that police officers,
who have sworn an oath to
uphold the law, just stand by
and do nothing when a fellow
officer engages in illegal conduct — such
as making discriminatory arrests or
using excessive force? That question has
long been the elephant in the room in
any discussion of police reform. That is
why the conviction of three former
Minneapolis police officers on federal
charges that they violated the constitu-
tional rights of George Floyd is signifi-
cant. Officers are now on notice that
their inaction in the face of wrongdoing
puts them at risk not only of losing their
jobs but also of being criminally
charged. That has the potential to bring
about needed change to hidebound po-
lice cultures.
A federal jury last month found three
former Minneapolis police officers — Tou
Thao, 36; J. Alexander Kueng, 28; and
Thomas Lane, 38 — guilty of depriving
Floyd of his civil rights by failing to
provide medical care as Derek Chauvin
knelt on Floyd for more than nine
minutes on May 25, 2020. Mr. Thao and
Mr. Kueng were convicted on an addi-
tional charge for not intervening to stop
Mr. Chauvin. All three face state chargesof aiding and abetting murder and
manslaughter; they have pleaded not
guilty.
The case against Mr. Chauvin, who
was convicted of murdering Floyd and is
serving a 22-year state prison sentence
while awaiting sentencing for his guilty
plea to federal civil rights charges, was
straightforward. Prosecutors showed
how his actions — pressing his knee
against Floyd’s neck and ignoring his
repeated pleas for help — resulted in the
death of the 46-year-old Black man.
Prosecutors in the federal case, which
was believed to be the first in which
officers were tried for federal charges of
failing to intervene, faced a stiffer chal-
lenge: proving the inaction of the three
officers was willful and deliberate. De-
fense attorneys had argued the officers,
two of whom were rookies new to the job,
were just following the orders of
Mr. Chauvin, the senior, veteran officer
in charge whose judgment they thought
could be trusted.
Prosecutors hammered home that the
law requires police officers to intervene
when they see a fellow officer using
excessive force. They detailed the train-
ing the officers received. But, as federal
prosecutor Samantha Trepel said in heropening statement, “They watched as
Mr. Floyd suffered a slow and agonizing
death.” When he said 25 times he could
not breathe, they “didn’t lift a finger” —
and that, she said, is a crime. Just as in
Mr. Chauvin’s trial, perhaps the most
powerful evidence was the video that
captured the agonizing minutes of
Floyd’s death and ignited protests
around the nation over police brutality.
The verdicts are an affirmation of the
decision by the Justice Department un-
der the Biden administration to aggres-
sively pursue civil rights violations. Just
days before the Minneapolis jury deliv-
ered its verdict, federal prosecutors se-
cured hate-crimes convictions against
three White men in Georgia in the killing
of a Black man who was chased down
while jogging. The verdicts against the
three former Minneapolis officers may
cause some police to think about quitting
and give pause to those considering
entering the profession. Yet the verdicts
underscore the constitutional obliga-
tions of police to intervene when they see
fellow officers breaking the law. They
should spur police departments to make
sure their officers are properly trained to
uphold the law — even when the trans-
gressor is a colleague.The duty to intervene
A landmark v erdict confirms that police must stop crimes by fellow officers.
is a useful guide. Some of those named by
Mr. Navalny were on the sanctions list
announced March 3 by the United States,
including Igor Shuvalov, a former first
deputy prime minister who Mr. Navalny
said had “significant assets abroad” and
“was instrumental in creating the system
of state corruption, which has come to
dominate the country’s institutions.”
Also on the latest U.S. list is oligarch
Alisher Usmanov, who Mr. Navalny said
is “one of the key enablers and beneficiar-
ies of the Kremlin’s kleptocracy.”
At the top of Mr. Navalny’s list was one
of the richest of the Putin-era tycoons,
Roman Abramovich, who has built afortune based on oil and other business-
es, and just announced plans to sell his
Chelsea Football Club. Mr. Abramovich
has denied that he is close to Mr. Putin or
done anything to merit sanctions. He is
not named on U.S. and British sanctions
lists. But any attempt to isolate Mr. Putin
for his barbaric attack on Ukraine must
examine every one of the tycoons, and
their family members and shell compa-
nies that have in the past been used to
shield assets. As British financier and
Putin critic William Browder put it,
speaking of the Navalny list, “You don’t
get to be an oligarch unless you’re basi-
cally in cahoots with Putin.”T
HE UNITED STATES, Canada,
European Union and other allies
have made a strong start in de-
ploying harsh economic sanc-
tions against Russia in response to the
war against Ukraine, including measures
aimed at the oligarchs, a class of super-
wealthy tycoons close to President Vladi-
mir Putin. In recent days, more of them
have been added to sanctions lists, but
some big names are still missing. Those
who support Mr. Putin’s regime must not
be allowed to sail away on their yachts.
Why does it matter? When the Soviet
Union heaved its last breath in 1991, the
vast expanse of factories, mines, refiner-
ies, natural resources and other property
was privatized to establish capitalism on
the ashes of socialism. A small group of
fleet-footed young men acquired enor-
mous stakes in Russia’s enterprises,
thanks in part to rigged auctions under
President Boris Yeltsin, and they became
the first generation of Russian oligarchs.
When Mr. Putin was handpicked as
Yeltsin’s successor in 2000, he replaced
the oligarchs with his cronies. They grad-
ually seized the commanding heights of
the economy, and now they form several
powerful clans that are pillars of Mr. Pu-
tin’s authoritarian system.
They all have benefited in various ways
from international financial networks,
and now they must be subject to all the
pressure that the West can bring to bear.
Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime min-
ister of Canada, declared on Friday in the
Financial Times, “Russia cannot simulta-
neously open fire on our system, while
also enjoying its fruits. You cannot bomb
Kyiv in the morning and dock your yacht
on the Côte d’Azur in the evening.”
A good place to start is a list compiled
last year by the Anti-Corruption Founda-
tion, led by opposition leader Alexei
Navalny, which named 35 business exec-
utives and top government officials, each
of whom the foundation said “actively
participates in the oppression and cor-
ruption” of the Putin regime. This was
before the onslaught against Ukraine butNo escaping on fancy yachts
All of the Putin tycoons must be scrutinized for sanctions.
Regarding Dan Balz’s Feb. 22 The Take
column, “ ‘Politics of evasion’ may cost
Democrats in 2024”:
It’s ironic that analysts William A. Gal-
ston and Elaine Kamarck reflect on the
Democratic Party’s “politics of evasion”
when it comes to the cultural issues that
surround elections. They themselves
evade the reality of economic factors’ con-
trol over voter alignment and the actual
condition of the nation.
Mr. Balz’s analysis of the report present-
ed the economically determinist side of
Democratic campaign tactics generously
through Stanley B. Greenberg’s study this
past month of how the working-class-voter
base has been swinging. Rather than ad-
dressing economic factors too heavily,
Democrats aren’t doing it enough, or at
least with enough focus. The Democrats
were silent on the economic issues of most
of Virginia’s White population in 2021,
pushing an environmentally driven Clean
Economy Act without broadcasting any
sort of plan for the millions of workers in
condemned energy industries, and the gu-
bernatorial election went to the Republi-
can Party.
Mr. Galston and Ms. Kamarck claim
that “economic circumstances do not de-
termine views on guns, abortion, or reli-
gion.” Alignment on all three of these
topics correlates with levels of education, a
common proxy for economic status. The
report’s authors overlook that relation.
And even if they were entirely unlinked,
what are Democrats supposed to do? Yield
on all of those grounds for the vote?
Simba Srivastava, ViennaDan Balz provided great context on the
Democratic Party in his explanation of
how the ideas brought up in “Politics of
Evasion” by William A. Galston and Elaine
Kamarck are afflicting the party. Yet, I
believe one of the most important points
was not emphasized enough: that Ameri-
cans vote with their hearts, not after hours
of deliberation.
This causes economic appeal to bow in
face of cultural appeal. While economics
requires extensive knowledge and
thought to analyze, appealing to American
culture is very effective. Combining this
with the vocal further-left wing of the
Democratic Party is alienating many mod-
erates and causing them to at least consid-
er voting Republican.
This minority is advocating change
that, as Mr. Galston and Ms. Kamarck put
it, goes against the common sense of most
Americans (i.e., defunding the police).
They want too much change, too fast. It
provides easy topics for Republicans to
exploit and appeal to the common sense of
the people — including traditionally Dem-
ocratic voters — and the effects on the
Democratic Party could be devastating. If
Democrats don’t address these issues, it
could pave the way for a Trump-led Repub-
lican victory in 2024, with all the potential
threats to democracy that follow.
Aaron Rahman, McLeanEconomics and elections
Regarding the Feb. 26 Metro article,
“Man who toted Pelosi lectern gets 75
days’ jail”:
I was appalled to read that Adam John-
son, who illegally broke into the Capitol
with other insurrectionists and paraded
around with House Speaker Nancy Pelo-
si’s lectern, received a sentence of only
75 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. This is an
insult to Ms. Pelosi (D-Calif.) and to the
three police officers who died as a result
of this angry mob. Many other officers
were also severely beaten, and the Capitol
sustained $1.5 million in damage. I think
future insurrectionists, hate groups and
militias will only be emboldened by judg-
es giving a slap on the wrist to these
violent criminals instead of holding them
accountable for their actions.
Zorina W. Keiser, Silver SpringA too-lenient sentence
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1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 (202) 334-6000the trees.
The two problems are not independent.
It is time to see carbon fuels as not just
an environmental threat but a threat to
the security of all nations. Bad actors
have for too long used the West’s addic-
tion to carbon fuels as leverage against
policies designed to limit the power and
inclination of these regimes to create
instability through war and terrorism.
It is time for an international commit-
ment to fund a massive, cooperative pro-
gram to research and develop new energy
technologies that are scalable, affordable,
clean, safe and easily constructed. While
critics might decry the search for a “silver
bullet” that would meet these criteria, it
is a failure of imagination not to try. We
should exhaustively investigate all possi-
ble solutions, be theyadvanced small
modular nuclear, super-hot geothermal,
improved solar, etc. We can no longer set
goals and hope they will be achieved. We
must act as if our existence depends on it
— because it does.
Elliott Light, Naples, Fla.In separate editorials published on
Feb. 25 [“Why Ukraine matters”] and
Feb. 28 [“A tipping point”], The Post
opined about climate change (citing wild-
fires raging around the world) and the
geopolitical significance of oil and gas
supply chains (as evidenced by the war in
Ukraine). While the views in each of these
articles had merit, they were actually
evidence of a failure to see the forest forWe’re missing the forest
Joel Mittleman’s Feb. 27 op-ed, “What
gay men’s stunning success can tell us
about the academic gender gap,” illumi-
nated an interesting sociological phe-
nomenon. I can personally — and
through hundreds of stories from friends
and acquaintances — verify the author’s
contentions. While I “passed” in high
school and avoided any direct attacks, I
was always on high alert for actions, even
small gestures, that would give me away
as a gay boy. I felt safe in the classroom,
however, because I knew teachers would
value my hard work and keep me safe.
Even in college, I continued to hide. I
got married later and did not finally
come out fully until I was 41. By then,
much of the developmental lag (i.e., not
having developmentally appropriate ex-
periences, such as dating, until much
later) had occurred. I am still feeling the
effects of those missed years.
I would add one more factor that the
author missed: Many gay boys go to
college to escape their families, home-
towns and churches in order to become
the men they really are, able to express
their full identity and personality. At 41, I
fled to D.C. and graduate school, where I
could finally come out. Luckily, I still
have wonderful relationships with my
family (my mother, son and ex-wife),
something that millions of gay men have
to forgo if they choose to come out.
Charles H. Jones, WashingtonCollege as a safe space
M ICHAEL DE ADDER