Speaking to Rock County Board of Supervisors on Russian invasion of Ukraine

 Here's what I said at tonight's Rock County Board meeting:

"As we are sitting here tonight, Russian troops are shelling and dropping bombs on Ukraine.  People are hiding in subway stations in shock and disbelief that the neighboring country decided to go to war against them.  

My name is Yuri Rashkin and my family came here as refugees in 1988.  We left the Soviet Union because as Soviet Jews, we were in a privileged group of people able to even think about leaving the land of communist nightmares.  My mother was not fooled by perestroika and glasnost, and we left the USSR and came to the United States as soon as we were able to.  

In 2008 when I was fortunate to serve on janesville city council, I spoke up about the Russian invasion in august of that year of the country of Georgia, saying we need to pay attention to the Russian aggression, that left unanswered it will inevitably get worse.  I was not alone in saying this, but that call was not heard.  And yesterday, vladimir putin continued to build on a string of successes - as he sees them - by starting an unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.  

Here are a couple of things I want you to know.  

While today's Russia is an authoritarian mafia state, Ukraine is a democracy, and a sovereign nation.  If anything it's Russia that was born out of Ukraine and the Kievan Rus'.  

The other thing I want you  to know is that it is not about Ukraine's natural resources.  Sure, Ukraine has a large territory full of natural resources, but thinking you need to invade a country in order to get your hands on its resources, is frankly, medieval.  We have money now, and we do not need to invade other countries, in order to do business with them. 

Why is putin doing this? While there are many factors, the bottom line is Putin is threatened by democracies around him and he can't stand an independent and democratic Ukraine, a country that serves as an example and reminder to the people of Russia that democracy and freedom work.

Today's Russia is itself a threat to all democracies, and as senator Mitch Macconnell said - and I never quote Mitch Macconnell: "Vladimir putin is a bad guy".  After so much polarization in our politics, the bipartisan support of Ukraine warms my heart.  We must learn from our past mistakes of appeasing an aggressor, and we must stand strong to protect the world order that brought peace and prosperity to Europe and beyond, and kept us for nearly 80 years without a world war.  We also must accept that when we try to pacify and appease a demented narcissist with nuclear weapons, we do not solve our real problem.  

I fully support any and all sanctions imposed and proposed on putin's regime, yet we must understand that when someone is setting our neighbor's house on fire, cutting up their credit card will have a limited impact on the state of the neighbor's house.  Right now it is up to the people of Ukraine to keep fighting.  

I am using this opportunity to get the word out, and I urge others to reach out to your elected representatives in both houses of congress, and let them know that you care about the people and the country of Ukraine.  

Ukraine does not have a powerful lobby, and it is up to all of us who care, to get the word out.  I'll be on WCLO tomorrow morning with Tim Bremel, and I'm glad to do other media and community appearances to bring clarity and awareness to this important issue.  

Please keep the people of Ukraine in your prayers, Thank you.  Slava Ukraine.