The recent edition of TIME100 Magazine dated June 2, 2022, is dedicated to the most influential persons worldwide. Inside the front cover is the message from the Editor-i-Chief/CEO, Edward Felsenthal. He called this edition the “Power for Good,” where it describes the contents of this magazine. He says “When our team gets together to choose the TIME100, we have one barometer: influence. Who shaped the year? Who stood up? Who stood out? Influence, of course, may be for good or for ill – a dichotomy never more visible than in this year’s TIME100 which describes both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
This edition includes the Russian dictator (Putin) behind a brutal war, and his foe, the Ukrainian president (Zelensky) whose leadership has made him a rare heroic figure in our divisive time.” The description of President Zelensky was written by U.S. President Joe Biden. The description of President Putin was written by Alexei Navalny. Navalny is the current leader of the Russian opposition, was poisoned by Putin but survived, and is now serving 18 years in a Russian maximum-security penal colony.
Navalny begins his description of Putin by saying: “Perhaps Vladimir Putin’s true mission is to teach lessons. To everyone – from world leaders and pundits to ordinary people.” This includes the voting public of the United States of America at a time when our democracy is at stake.
Navalny goes on to say: “Putin has been especially good at this in 2022. He reminded us once again that ‘a path that begins with just a little election rigging’ always ends with a dictatorship.”
When I read this statement, all I could think of was President Trump’s phone call (which was taped) to Brad Raffensperger (R), the Secretary of State for Georgia pressuring him to “just find 11,780 votes in order to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.”
Elizabeth Graham had a Top Secret Clearance at a young age and worked undercover with the CIA for nearly a decade. Then she joined Science Applications International, a division called the Foreign Systems Research Center (FSRC) where she spent 12 years of which 8 years was studying Russian. Her job as the Data Base Manager of the largest Russian-language military, technical, and intelligence library taught her to “correct” technical Russian. She was also the Software Configuration Manager for a $5M USG contract to deploy and mobilize Russian troops and trains in the case of a declaration of war. She began to travel to the Soviet Union and then became one of the very few Americans to move to the USSR. This move was intended to be for one year, but twenty years later she was still returning to live/work in former communist and dictator countries. She was also a consultant in war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Rwanda. Over time, she became “Russianized.” Her first-hand knowledge and understanding of life in a communist or dictator-led country is shared with Americans in her book From Democracy to Democrazy. Few Americans appreciate our democracy and freedoms more than Graham. This book is intended as a “warning” to all Americans regarding Trump’s behavior, decisions, and words and how his actions are destroying our precious democracy.