The Dissidents Who Defeated Russia

142 snips

Mar 6, 2025

Eli Lake, a Free Press reporter and host of Breaking History, dives into America's intricate relationship with Russia and Ukraine. He critiques past presidential approaches, notably contrasting Reagan's strong stance against Soviet aggression with contemporary views. Lake highlights the role of dissidents like Václav Havel in the Cold War, emphasizing their courage and resilience. He warns against political endorsements that echo Soviet propaganda, insisting on the importance of historical context in today’s discussions about freedom and moral responsibility.

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ANECDOTE

Trump's Proposed Ukraine Deal

Trump's stance on the Russia-Ukraine war involves concessions like Ukraine not regaining lost territory or joining NATO.
He suggested Zelenskyy is a dictator and proposed Ukraine sign over mineral rights without security guarantees.

INSIGHT

Dissidents' Role in Cold War

Dissidents like Solzhenitsyn lived truthfully under oppressive regimes, resisting the state's lies.
Their partnership with America helped bring freedom and showed the world that captive nations had the right to self-determination.

ANECDOTE

America in 1975 and the Helsinki Accords

In 1975, America appeared weak after Vietnam and Watergate, leading to concessions like the Helsinki Accords.
Reagan opposed these accords, viewing them as giving away the freedom of captive nations.

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Earlier this week on Honestly, Batya Ungar-Sargon, Brianna Wu, and Christopher Caldwell shared their views on President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance’s showdown with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, and on the Russia-Ukraine war more generally.

Simply put, Batya and Chris made the case that Russia is not an American adversary in the way China is and that Trump’s seeming sympathy toward Russian president Vladimir Putin is actually a strategic play to pull Russia away from China and into our orbit.

The conversation is provocative. It provoked many of us here at The Free Press. Not all of our listeners agreed with what they heard either. For some, it was frustrating or even angering to hear this perspective. Yes, contrary to popular belief, we do read the comments.

And there’s been a tremendous amount of debate inside our newsroom about America’s new posture regarding Russia and Ukraine, just as there is on all of the most important topics of the day.

We think that’s our strength. We believe in listening to arguments, in good faith, from people we respect. And if our panel show earlier in the week was dominated by a perspective sympathetic to Trump, today we want to offer a very different perspective from Eli Lake, Free Press reporter and the host of our new podcast, Breaking History.

In this episode, Eli explores how a different Republican president—Ronald Reagan—spoke out against Russian aggression. And how his words inspired dissidents from across the Soviet bloc, like the Czech playwright Václav Havel, to lead their own countries to freedom.

This is a show that looks to the past to illuminate the present, and we think this episode is especially important right now. So today, Eli Lake on Breaking History.

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