If you disagree, watch the following.

And compare it to Nazi rallies from years past.

Some will argue that many Russians are protesting.  That thousands have been arrested, some for even simply showing a sign.  That many are speaking out, but in Russia it’s different.

Your name will be on a list forever.  You risk your life being a dissident in Russia.

All of that is true.  But was it any different in Nazi Germany?  

Many protested, but many others acquiesced and did nothing.  Inaction was their form of action.  And in Russia today, that is the path of choice for most of the population.

What’s worse, public sentiment is actually growing stronger in favor of Putin.  The world saw evidence of that in his recent public appearance in Moscow, where it looked like he filled an entire stadium. 

Nobody was booing.  Nobody was protesting.  At least on the video.

Like Hitler, Putin has targeted Ukrainian cities, civilians, maternity hospitals, women, and children.  In fact, Russian forces have lately preferred to target civilians instead of the Ukrainian military.  

Meanwhile, Putin has accused the United States of collaborating with Ukraine to manufacture biological weapons.  With no evidence.  He has accused Ukraine of neo-nazism.  With no evidence.

If anyone has turned fascist, it’s Putin.  He has weaponized Russian nationalism, attempting to distract and manipulate his people with false accusations about a genocide against Russians in Ukraine.  He has clearly acted in response to a threat to his control and power.

Not from NATO or western aggression, but from an increasingly democratic Ukraine thriving on his borders.

Russians do not hear these truths because of state-controlled propaganda, you say?  Propaganda is undoubtedly powerful.  Just look at how it has corrupted the GOP in the United States.

But Russians have friends in other countries. They have relatives outside Russian borders.  Many of them are hearing what the world has seen and witnessed; the realities and horrors the Ukrainian people are suffering every day. 

Many saw the bold anti-war protest on Russian state media.

The world is far more connected today than it was in 1939.  Putin may have quashed most dissent, but it’s naive to think Russians don’t have some idea what’s actually going on in Ukraine.  The Russian body bags or young men who never return home speak volumes to their families.

Yet most Russians have done nothing.  Others made the conscious choice to attend Putin’s fascist rally, directly supporting a tyrant who has massacred cities and people who he has called brothers with a shared identity.

Easy for me to say though, right?  I sit here comfortably in America.

But I know history, including Putin’s history, as I’ve written about in the recent past.  Which is why I was correct that he was not bluffing when he incurred the expense of amassing over 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border. 

Which is why I will be unfortunately correct again that Russia will fully realize a fascist dictatorship that invades not only Ukraine, but other former Soviet Republics and potentially more.

Unless Russian citizens stop him.

Putin is now a pariah on the world stage.  Even China is uneasy about publicly supporting him, and thinking twice about providing economic or military support.  

In order to keep his war machine humming and to retain legitimacy, his only option is force.  Diplomacy is not an option because it would require that he submits to western demands, which he will never do. Alternatively, Ukraine would have to agree to unacceptable terms (including formally ceding about ⅓ of its territory to Russia).

Putin will not stop at Ukraine.  Because this was never about NATO or western aggression.  It was always about realizing old Soviet borders and Russian glory. It was always about regaining global superpower status and a world order balanced between liberal democracy and autocracy.

The silence from most Russians is deafening.  Their tacit consent has enabled this monster to bring the world to the brink of World War III, with threats of nuclear and biological weapons.

If allowed to continue, it will not just be Ukraine that suffers his wrath, but the world.  And only the Russian people have the power to stop it before we realize our worst nightmare.

World War III.