Letters: Calling for ‘regime change light’; Climate litigation an important step

Calling for ‘regime change light’

The phrase “regime change” is generally understood to mean a basic altering of a country’s governmental structure. We tried (but failed) to achieve regime change in Vietnam, we tried (with limited success) to achieve it in Iraq, and Russia is trying to achieve it now in Ukraine.

But there is another, more limited, meaning to the term, namely an effort to replace the specific leadership of a government without altering the overall structure of that government itself. We might call this “regime change light.”

President Biden forcefully opined that Vladimir Putin should be removed from his position as head of the Russian government. When he received some blowback for that comment, the White House announced that he was not calling for “regime change,” as that term is generally used. He was not advocating a restructuring of the Russian government.

He was suggesting a case of “regime change light.”

Biden is absolutely right.

Putin must go!

Our government, with support from the other NATO countries, should tighten the screws of the financial sanctions on Putin and the other oligarchs, flood the Russian population with the truth about their leaders (a return of Radio Free Europe), and inflict cyber warfare on the Russian government and military.

We should give the Russian people every support imaginable to help them depose this despot from his position.

Climate litigation an important step

While the world’s attention has been focused on the coronavirus pandemic and, recently, Russia’s murderous invasion of Ukraine, something important is happening in the fight for climate change accountability: climate lawsuits are advancing through legal systems here and around the world.

Lawsuits against the fossil fuel companies for ignoring climate damage aren’t new. But in past years most didn’t advance far through the legal systems. This is changing.

In the past six years alone more than 1,400 climate lawsuits have hit the courts. Many of these are advancing as climate damages worsen and become measurable, and as evidence of corporate malfeasance mounts. Plus, current actions by lawmakers and policy-makers have proven inadequate to meet calls for justice and accountability.

Starting with the #Exxonknew investigation of 2015, the fossil fuel industry can no longer pretend they don’t know the damages their products cause. The potential liability extends to ad agencies that promote fossil fuel lies, to the banks that finance the fossil fuel industry, and to governments that don’t take action.

Even individuals are a growing target as shown by recent legal action against Shell board members at how they failed to disclose and respond to climate risks. In another case Honolulu’s effort to hold oil company executives accountable for climate change damage is advancing.

Few cases have succeeded so far but more and more will. The fossil fuel industry has had its way for over a century, but the tables are turning. Let’s hope it’s in time.

Where is our national resolve?

Everyone seems concerned about President Biden’s frank expression of horror concerning Putin’s behavior. But read on. Let’s now think back, resting assured that history will guide us. Today Russia and Belarus are teaming up to destroy Ukraine quite similarly to the situation 83 years ago when in September 1939, Germany and Russia conspired to lay waste to Poland. That similarly led to huge suffering of the civilian population much as we are witnessing today in Ukraine.

However, there is an important difference about which we, as Americans, should be quite troubled. This can be illustrated by the following: Suppose that former President Hoover, whom President Roosevelt had defeated in election, had stood up and announced one month after the Polish invasion that “Hitler is smart and savvy.” As a person old enough to have known the national mood back then I have to say that quiet tolerance would not have been the result.

Fast forward: Today we are worried about Biden’s statement, while Trump announces that “Putin is smart and savvy.” For shame, America, have you lost all your convictions while your sons and daughters remain clueless? Or rather, should we say in the spirit of political correctness that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion and should be welcome to say any stupid or dangerous thing that he or she desires?