WTH should we do about Putin’s rape, murder and genocide? Former Assistant Secretary of State David Kramer on Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine
What the Hell Is Going On
AEI Podcasts
4.4 • 633 Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2022
⏱️ 46 minutes
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Summary
Outrage over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine intensified this weekend as horrific reports of Russian war crimes emerged and shocked the world. In what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as “genocide,” more than 400 civilians were found dead in the northern Ukrainian town of Bucha after it was seized back from Russian forces—with many of those killed shot at close range with their hands tied behind their backs. Despite the Kremlin’s denial that Russian forces were responsible for the killings, Western leaders have called for additional sanctions on Moscow as evidence of similar Russian atrocities throughout Ukraine increases. How should the US and NATO hold Putin accountable? Will Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine mark a tipping point in the conflict?
David Kramer joined Marc and Dany to discuss Russian war crimes in Ukraine, the US response following the atrocities in Bucha, Putin’s domestic crackdown, and how the US can take a tougher stance against the Kremlin.
David Kramer is the Managing Director for Global Policy at the George W. Bush Institute and a Senior Fellow at Florida International University’s Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center. Previously, Kramer served eight years in the US Department of State during the George W. Bush administration, including as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs; Professional Staff Member in the Secretary’s Office of Policy Planning; and Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary for Global Affairs. Kramer also was the Executive Director of the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, and from 2010 to 2014, he served as the President of Freedom House. He also chairs the board of the Free Russia Foundation and is the author of the book “Back to Containment: Dealing with Putin’s Regime.”
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This podcast is brought to you by the American Enterprise Institute. |
| 0:03.0 | If you like what you hear, please subscribe, rate, review, and share. Thanks for listening. Here's our show. What the hell's going on? What the hell is going on? What the hell is going on? I don't know what the hell is talking about. You don't have to know what the hell is on it. What hell's the matter with these guys? We don't know what's going on. What hell's going on? |
| 0:01.1 | Who in God's name knows what it's all about. |
| 0:23.6 | Hi, I'm Danielle Pletka. |
| 0:36.6 | Welcome to our podcast. What the hell is going on? Mark, what the hell is going on? Well, Danny, first of all, we have good news and bad news today. The good news is that it seems for the moment at least the Ukrainians have won the Battle of Kiev. They have driven the Russian troops out. They would draw from the areas that they've occupied. It was unthinkable at the start of this war when the Russians said their goal was to reach Kiev in three days and decapitate the regime that after five weeks of fighting, they would withdraw and the Ukrainians would win. So that is unquestionably good news. What is horrific is what we've seen in the aftermath of that |
| 1:11.9 | withdrawal. We are just seeing images we woke up to this week in Buka, Ukraine of people |
| 1:17.1 | lying in the streets with their hands tied behind their backs, bullet holes in the backs of their |
| 1:20.9 | head. Women who were raped in front of their children, their bodies set on fire, hundreds |
| 1:26.4 | of bodies filed into mass graves. President Biden |
| 1:29.1 | has said that Putin is a war criminal, that these are war crimes. President Zelensky has said |
| 1:32.9 | this is genocide. What do you think? So I agree with President Biden for the second time when he has |
| 1:38.3 | said something very bold and authoritative about Russia. This president Putin should go, and he is a war |
| 1:44.1 | criminal. But he's not the only war criminal. |
| 1:46.5 | All of the generals, all of the ministry of defense, all of the people on the ground who are committing |
| 1:52.2 | these crimes, they're commanders, their senior officers, all of these people are war criminals |
| 1:57.0 | and we need a system of justice. President Zelensky just spoke to the UN Security Council, |
| 2:01.6 | so let's let him describe it in his words, and then we'll pick up with you. |
| 2:04.6 | I am addressing you on behalf of the people who honor the memory of the deceased every single |
| 2:12.5 | day in the memory of the civilians who died, who were shot and killed in the back of their head after being tortured. |
| 2:21.3 | Some of them were shot on the streets. Others were thrown into the wells. |
| 2:25.3 | So they died there in suffering. They were killed in their apartment's houses, blowing up grenades. |
| 2:32.3 | The civilians were crushed by tanks while sitting in their cars in the middle of the road just for their pleasure. |
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