A recent New York Times article, “Putin’s Forever War,” quotes Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying of the coming 2024 presidential election in Russia, “‘Our presidential election is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy ... Mr. Putin will be reelected next year with more than 90% of the vote.’”

That Russian elections in the Putin era are not fair or open is no surprise to American observers, but officials have never been candid about this state of things. I suggest we can and should ask ourselves, why are they being so now?

During the horrible war in Ukraine, some have wondered what has been happening with Putin. At a certain stage, in 2022, the Russian president appeared to be quite physically unwell. News stories gave seemingly reliable reports that Putin had actual serious health conditions. My personal guess is that Putin was being poisoned. To look at him now, Russia’s president appears to have made a miraculous recovery. And of those reliable reports, perhaps it is well to remember what I call the Hillary Health Hoax of 2016.

While this Ukraine war is totally, horribly awful, I recommend recalling some previous Putin projects, in Chechnya and Syria. Most of us here have little concept of Chechnya, which appears to us as a distant affair, internal to Russia; but if we are serious about seeking peace, I suggest we must learn to care.

Few of us will have failed to notice the subsequent pummeling of Syria, with the ensuing refugee crisis. A repeat performance of “pacification” in Ukraine would not bring an affirmative, positive peace, which is what I trust we all must desire.

Since the Gulf War in 1991, our country has brought sanctions against bad actors, in concert with other governments whenever possible. In these efforts, authorities try to target sanctions precisely; but, arguably, sanctions against a government can never be precise enough.

Saddam Hussein seemed insane to us, as does Putin. Looking through this lens of understanding brings the same problem, now as in the 1990s: What do we do when the patient is running the asylum?

Mary Hayden Hall

South Hadley 

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