Dr. Fiona Hill, Senior Fellow on Foreign Policy and Russia expert at the Brookings Institution, and former U.S. intelligence officer, spoke to a Zoom audience sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Piedmont and eight other Leagues across the country. The live audience of over 160 people included 39 local Leagues from 12 different states. Topics covered in this virtual discussion included the economic forces leading up to the election of populist leaders, the Russian influence on American democracy, and the War on Ukraine.
Dr. Hill first described her journey as the daughter of a coal miner in the northeast of England to the White House. Born in 1965 in a coal-mining town in the northeast of England, she was the first in her family to attend college. When the coal mines began closing down, her father, a manual laborer, was forced to take a lower paying job that plunged their family into poverty. In her book,
There’s Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century, she writes of the grievances in places that are left behind and people who are excluded from mainstream employment opportunities. In the 1980's ninety percent of young people in small towns in the U.K. relocated because there were no opportunities for work or school. Dr. Hill was able to escape her hollowed out town with the help of grants from an organization in the U.K. similar to the League of Women Voters, the Rotary Club, and others.
Dr. Hill spoke about the current state of American democracy. She explained, “we've lost sight of our freedoms and taken them for granted. Ukraine is a ‘messy democracy’ like the United States,” noting the contrast between Ukraine and Putin's autocratic regime. She described aggression in Ukraine as a post-colonial grab, as if the U.K. tried to take back the United States. This is a wake-up call to us: democracy is fragile.
Next, Dr. Hill said that Putin thought the U.S. was weak and disunited when he invaded Ukraine. He is still using Cold War-style propaganda. She stressed that it is "difficult for us to penetrate the iron dome of propaganda that surrounds Russia;” the lack of the Russian population's access to outside information, combined with propaganda, has led them to support the invasion. When asked about pro-Putin rallies in Russia versus Russians getting arrested in the streets for protesting against the invasion, Dr. Hill stated that popular support may not be needed because Putin has no checks and balances on his power. He could run for two more 6-year terms and stay in power until 2036. Putin would then be the longest serving Russian president in history, surpassing Stalin.
When asked about the likelihood of nuclear weapons being used, Dr. Hill responded that "Putin is willing to be brutal and ruthless. If there is an instrument, Putin wants to know how to use it.” He has already used plutonium to poison enemies in the UK. Putin likes "shock and awe" and wants to terrify and intimidate us. We have to push back strongly in the diplomatic arena to make it clear that this is impermissible. Dr. Hill believes it was a smart move by the United States to reveal intelligence that Russia was planning to invade. In her view, the U.S. erred in not doing enough before the invasion to rally support from other countries, diminishing our attention on Russia at a critical time. Further, we did not fully factor in Putin's pattern of ruthlessness.
Lastly, Dr. Hill likened Russia to "Dickens' ghost of Christmas future" for the United States. She cautioned that our country is on a path toward authoritarianism that requires us to shore up our system of checks and balances.
To close the program, moderator Lorrel Plimier asked Dr. Hill what each of us audience members can do individually to defend our democracy. Dr. Hill encouraged us to be actively engaged, making sure people have the opportunity to vote, engage with our representatives, and hold them to account at the Federal, state and local level.