The 80's Are Calling

Romney stands vindicated as Europe is embroiled in yet another Russian war.

Editors note: this is part one of a series on the war in Ukraine and how 1980s foreign policy thinking applies.

During the 2012 presidential campaign Mitt Romney, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, discussed the various positions he took in his campaign. In a discussion on foreign policy, Romney expressed his views concerning which nation was the biggest threat to American security. Romney, whose views had been well expressed long before this interview, stated “Russia, this is, without question, our number one geopolitical foe. They — they fight every cause for the world’s worst actors.” Later, amidst the third presidential debate that cycle, Romney was pressed on his quote by Blitzer again and stood in firm affirmation of the remark he made prior.

The Obama campaign, in an attempt to make Romney look outdated and out of touch, pounced on the comments made by Romney in what would be another of the Democratic incumbent’s series of poorly thought-out one-liners. Obama replied, “When you were asked, ‘What’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America,’ you said ‘Russia.’ Not al Qaeda; you said Russia,” Obama later added, “And, the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.” 

After the debate, Romney faced op-ed after op-ed of criticism from America’s modern liberal media apparatus, and even by some from his side in conservative/Republican politics. Richard Lugar, one of the Republican Party’s senior voices on foreign affairs at the time, authored an op-ed in the Washington Post attacking Romney for being opposed to the Nuclear Treaty offered to Russia at the time, stating that Governor Romney’s objections were “hyperbolic.” Funny enough, the bill that Romney opposed was not only backed by Lugar himself, but also by senior realist foreign policy officials within the Republican Party, as well as former government officials such as Jim Schlesinger, Henry Kissinger, James Baker, and Brent Scowcroft. President Obama and his campaign team immediately jumped on Romney for his remark, with countless figures associated with Obama stating that Romney was living in a different era of world politics. 

In his attempt to look modern and forward-thinking, President Obama set Mitt Romney up for one of the most famous “I told you so” moments in political history. 

The 80s Called and We Didn't Listen: Romney Vindicated 

Unsurprisingly, Romney was correct in his previous assessments of Russia. It did not need to take the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to prove him right. Just two years after the 2012 presidential election, Romney was vindicated.

In 2013, after former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych declined to sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement and instead chose to form closer ties with the Eurasia Economic Union, an economic union consisting of five post-Soviet states, peaceful protests began to call for Yanukovych to resign. The Ukrainian government chose this path not only due to political pressure from Russia (that being the threat of not recognizing Ukraine as a state per Kremlin adviser Sergei Glazyev) but also economic pressure as well.

Facing possible energy issues and an economic crisis if Ukraine were to enter into the EU and Ukraine agreement, the government decided to back away from closer integration. This did not go down well with the Ukrainian people. As Steven Pifer noted in an interview with PBS, “Europe has a lot of attraction for Ukrainians. Polls show more than 50 percent of the Ukrainian population now would like to get closer to Europe. And it’s because of the living standards, but it’s also because of the rule of law. For a country where there is corruption, where crony politics [sic], they would like to have a more normal democratic system, and that is the attraction of Europe.” These protests, dubbed the “Maidan Uprising,” first began as a majority of the nation wanting closer ties to Europe and ended in a revolution that would oust Yanukovych from power and form a new government. 

The ousting of Yanukovych, which Putin to this day still believes the West had a hand in, led to the formation of a new government. The new government, an anti-Russia pro-western one, immediately demanded the arrest of Yanukovych for his role in mass crimes against protestors. The former president then fled to Russia and declared himself the legitimate president of Ukraine. sparking the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine. This would eventually lead to the annexation of Crimea. 

While the annexation of Crimea showed Russia was certainly capable of still orchestrating geopolitical conflicts, it was the events of 2022 in Ukraine that showed the old Russian bear still had a great deal of fight left in it. Much like a bear, Russia stayed in hibernation for some time after the collapse of the USSR, patiently waiting for the opportune moment to engage in full military conflict with its neighbor. While it certainly had on prior occasions sought to expand its sphere of influence on its old satellites (Georgia comes to mind), open military conflict is much different.

The wake-up to Russia’s full potential, however, was slow. From 2016 to the present day, much of the anti-Russian commentary we had received was not like that of Romney, warning of its geopolitical dangers, but revolved around modern liberals attempting to pin the 2016 election results on the Russian government. Exhaustion with Russia, as well as a huge dose of “I am whatever you aren't” politics, led many in the GOP to become skeptical of Russia’s potential for chaos and destruction. Donald Trump, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and others of the more MAGA persuasion began to openly praise Putin as being a “strong leader,” a “manly guy,” and other Trumpian remarks. Their appetites for “liberal tears” allowed them to reach for the nearest possible weapon to satiate their needs. What was most notable was the sheer amount of mea culpas issued by modern liberal commentators and political operatives alike. All of them expressed their apologies for mocking Senator Romney long ago. "It looks more like a signature [bias] moment in retrospect, that everyone can recognize Romney was right … just as they now recognize Romney was a much more decent chap than they painted him,” said Tim Graham to Fox News back in 2022. 

If, as Senator Romney later stated, “The ’80s called and we didn’t answer,” then it is worth reviewing what exactly the 1980s had to say. In relation to Ukraine, this story begins with Jeane Kirkpatrick.

Jake Kroesen graduated from the University of Central Missouri with a BS in Political Science and International Law. His writings have appeared in National Review and The Vital Center.