The Mouse That Roared was a 1955 novel made into an uproarious comedy starring the great Peter Sellers in 1959. It is the story of a tiny pre-industrial nation—Grand Fenwick—whose economy has collapsed and whose leaders decide to invade the U.S. because the U.S. always rebuilds the economy of nations it defeats.
Grand Fenwick sends a fleet of 24 soldiers armed with longbows to New York City, and due to a series of miscommunications, accidentally conquers the U.S.
Something like that appears to be unfolding in the grinding war between Ukraine and Russia. After 30 months of absorbing withering attacks on its towns, cities, infrastructure, and people, Ukraine has invaded Russia.
Russia, of course, cries “unfair!” Only Russia can invade, not Ukraine. But invade they did, and the Ukrainians met little resistance.
Thinking like the writer of “The Mouse That Roared,” what if?
What if the Ukrainians pushed their way to Moscow (as the Wagner Group did last year)?
What if they took control of the Kremlin?
What if they captured Putin?
What if Zelensky became the president of Russia and launched a democratic revolution?
I know it’s fantastical, but what if?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
One of the things I like about you is that you have a fantastic mind. And I know how erudite you are so I know that you know that means “tending toward fantasies” not just a really, really good mind.
I love this fantasy. I have always advocated for countries and people to be self-determining and it is clearly the case that people do not make wars . . . “leaders” do. And I am reaching the point that we either have to instill a deep abiding fear of us into our leaders, or do away with them all together.
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I’d be satisfied with “what if” we win the presidency, the Senate and the House, and, let’s be greedy, the Supreme Court
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What if the Russian people, well some of them anyway, start a violent revolt (ans some of Russian’s military join them, and overthrow the Putin regime?
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Putin has over a 70% approval rating in Russia, and those who disapprove feel he’s not anti-western enough. In the unlikely event he were to get overthrown, his replacement will be far less patient and far more virulent.
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Of course Putin has a very high approval rating in Russia! And he got 98% of the vote in his last election. All opponents were either killed, jailed, or disqualified.
Like dictators much?
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As I’ve said before many times, his high approval rating came from shutting down the western pillage of the country during the Yeltsin years that left the vast majority of Russians devastated. Russians now enjoy a higher standard of living that most Americans, including universal single-payer healthcare.
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Gosh, Russia sounds like utopia!
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Well, maybe not for someone privileged to live in a nice house on Long Island with plenty of money and healthcare. But to those, for instance, being swept out of the gutters by the likes of Gavin Newsom, it would be, yes.
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Yes, I am privileged. I have enough money to live well. I don’t ask anyone to pay for the blog, as many other writers do. I give my intellectual property away for free. And I have great healthcare, called Medicare. I believe in Medicare for All.
And no, I have no desire to live in Russia, ever. My mother’s family escaped their clutches in 1909. I visited Russia in 1990, when the Russian people thought there was a real chance for freedom and democracy. I will never go back.
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If you believe in M4A you’re barking up the wrong tree with Harris.
And 34 years ago is a long time to make judgments. Putin wasn’t in power then.
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You are babbling in your Putin-love. He was and is a KGB agent.
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OMG, ROFLMAO. You seriously think Putin had any real power in 1990? That’s as delusional as believing da Russkies were courting Trump in the ’80s. Sad.
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Dienne,
I said I visited Russia in 1990. I did not say that Putin was in power. He was an ordinary KGB agent then. What I saw in Moscow and St. Petersburg was widespread poverty. I said I was hopeful for Russia’s future and so were the disillusioned young people I met. They were sick of their failed system of government and the sclerotic old men who ruled them. They were hungry for real democracy and freedom.
Now they are back to autocratic rule.
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Incidentally, the KGB hasn’t existed since 1991.
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The KGB operates under a different name. The prisons are full of people whose only crime was to protest.
One was a young woman who drew tiny anti-war stickers and placed them in shops and on streets. She was sentenced to years in prison. She was freed by the prisoner swap that Biden arranged.
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The KGB was dissolved. It is currently called the Federal Security Service (or FSB). Its headquarters are in the same building as the old KGB.
Former KGB officer Vladimir Putin served as the FSB’s director from 1998 to 1999
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Do you think there is no one in prison in the U.S. for protesting? Our prisons are also full of low-level drug users (in California that’s thanks in large part to your presidential candidate) and other non-violent offenders. In fact, the U.S. has far higher incarceration rates per capita than Russia does, so it’s not so clear which one is more authoritarian – I don’t believe Russia imprisons people for things like homelessness or their children’s truancy.
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What an idyllic country!!
You should plan a tourist visit.
Talk to ordinary people. Not that they would feel free to express an unauthorized opinion. Unlike you, who will never be arrested for criticizing Biden, Trump or Harris.
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You do know that thousands have been arrested for criticizing Biden, Trump, etc., right? Both parties are working to make nearly all forms of protest illegal.
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No, I don’t know that. I protested against Trump and I was never arrested.
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The artist who was freed in Biden’s hostage exchange: https://search.app/GbKp6mx555EHCYYZ6
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You think that Trump will preserve Medicare or Social Security?
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Only 70%? I am surprised that 30% would dare go on record as dissatisfied. that seems to be really dangerous. If you truly believe what you are saying, why are you not emigrating to Russia? You obviously have no love for the U.S. You have demonstrated that over and over again.
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Ah, yes, the old, “why don’t you move to Russia, you commie?” Used to be something you only heard from the right wing nut jobs.
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You and Trump seem to be Putin’s admirers.
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I too wondered who in Russia would dare to criticize Putin. That’s a ticket to prison.
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“Russians now enjoy a higher standard of living that most Americans, including universal single-payer healthcare.”
This is the most idiotic comment ever posted on this blog. No one who is expert on this issue believes this assertion.
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You didn’t answer the question. What is keeping you here? You no longer even advocate for progressive causes. What do you believe?
Incidentally, Russia is not a Communist country. If the people own anything, I’ll eat my hat. Putin has been called the wealthiest man in the world.
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OMG, **I** don’t believe in anything? **I** no longer advocate for progressive causes??? I think you are very much confused. I’m the one who opposes funding and arming mass slaughter of civilians – you guys are the ones who defend it, which leads me to ask what is it **you** believe??
I also support, in no particular order, M4A, $25 minimum wage, an end to fracking (and all forms of ecocide), an end to arbitrary lines drawn on the earth enforced by men with guns, a 90% tax rate on anything over $100 million, guaranteed housing, an end to police brutality and prosecutorial misconduct, bodily autonomy, an end to the surveillance state, abolishing private prisons (all prisons, actually, except maybe for white-collar/political crimes), reparations, among many other progressive causes. Now, you may claim to support some or all of those in some form or other, but so long as you support Harris, who supports none of them, you don’t really support them.
As for your question, I didn’t answer it because it’s just as ignorant a question when asked by a liberal as by a right-winger. But if you insist. I’m not going to leave because, for better or worse, this is my country. I was born and raised here, I’m a citizen and I have 54 years of a life here – family, friends, community, a job, children with their own lives, etc. It’s ridiculous to think that I’m going to give all that up and start over just because the ruling class has decided on violence and austerity in service to their corporate and billionaire donors. I believe a better world is possible here. Sorry you don’t.
In any case, my moving to Russia is not going to stop the flow of weapons, the devastation of civilian populations or the destruction of our planet. So I’ll stay right here and I’ll protest and keep trying to open the eyes of decent people in this country no matter how much it annoys those of you comfortable with the murderous status quo.
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. . . dienne77: . . . what Diane said . . . and no one in the Kremlin has their thumb on the polling scales.
Who would you vote for, BTW, if voters for the other guy get jailed or murdered?
. . . just wondering. CBK
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Russia’s standard of living is so “high” that their birthrates have collapsed and their life expectancy is less than 70 years old (and less than 68 for men). Their Human Development Index is a full 10 points lower than the US, and our HDI is not that spectacular.
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Ukraine is the little country that could. You have admire their fighting spirit despite the odds.
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…and what if Putin–in desperation, as he was going down–unleashed all or some of his 6000 nuclear weapons?? Then what? Let’s remember another Sellers movie–“Dr. Strangelove: How I learned to Love the Bomb,” in which an errant American bomber breaks through Russian defenses to nuke its target–setting off automatic retaliation.
The movie ends with a mushroom cloud and a song–as the world blows up–“We’ll meet again, don’t know where don’t know when, but I know we’ll meet again some sunny day…” etc.
Dr. Strangelove–played by Sellers (who plays several parts) btw is a left-over Nazi nuclear scientist in the film.
I will remind our readers: Our hands are not clean; we helped overthrow a reasonably-elected government in Ukraine, in 1914. And, oh, yes history does matter–we study Washington, Lincoln, our civil war, etc. Our history guides us. Russian kids study our invasion of Russia at Arkangel and Vladivostok in 1918. Their history guides them.
Peace,
Jack Burgess
History teacher and
a Veteran For Peace
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I’m starting to believe that Putin and his fellow oligarchs have so robbed the Russian treasury that he can get very little to work. He’s using 40 year old tanks because he’s almost out of the new ones.
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“I will remind our readers: Our hands are not clean; we helped overthrow a reasonably-elected government in Ukraine, in 1914. And, oh, yes history does matter–we study Washington, Lincoln, our civil war, etc. Our history guides us. Russian kids study our invasion of Russia at Arkangel and Vladivostok in 1918. Their history guides them.”
And your point is? Because we have inserted ourselves into the internal affairs of other countries, we should ignore Russia’s incursions into Ukraine? Just what would you have us learn from our past misadventures? I suspect that you would expect us to try to do better, and that does not mean ignoring the actions of others. As much as it would be nice not to be “the leader of the free world,” that role matters whether we get it right all the time or not. I hope acknowledging our history helps us avoid future mistakes although we will surely make more.
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Who made us “leader of the free world” and how has that worked out? Are Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Grenada, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria or any other country better off for our intervention? How many millions have we killed “spreading democracy?” Maybe we should clean our own house and remove the log from our own eye before worrying about the specks in others’?
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I’m suggesting, in part, that our decisions be decided by facts and wisdom, not just emotional ideas like “leader of the free world.” A cursory look at history will show our free-world government overthrowing government after government–some close to our border (such as Mexico in 1848) some far away, such as Libya and Iraq in recent years. As we exchange these views, our military-industrial complex (words of Dwight Eisenhower) working through our spy agencies (such as those who proclaimed Hussain’s government developing “weapons of mass destruction as a pretext for our capturing and killing Saddam Hussain–a Russian ally, is engaging in mischief around the world. I wish it weren’t so, but it is.
BTW, I’m not just a retired history teacher, but a veteran of our military, and an old guy–87–who remembers when we did lead the world, under Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, etc. We defeated the Nazis in Europe, but we soon started interfering in other countries–such as our overthrow of Iran’s government in ’54. Most Americans don’t know these stories, but most of our “enemies” like Putin do.
I’m suggesting we stop cheering the brutal war in Ukraine–whichever way it goes–and call on our leaders to work for peace–ceasefire, truce, treaty, etc. It can be done IF we call on our leaders to do it.
Thanks for reading my opinions, as I read yours. The exchange of ideas is what can save us. It’s what we need our leaders to do.
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Whether we like it or not, we are looked to for leadership, but we have been meddling in others affairs, from almost the beginning of our history. Just ask the Native Americans. How about the Mexicans? You are right that we don’t need a holier than thou attitude. I don’ t see recognition that we hold a leadership role in the world is a problem if we continue to develop consensus building skills.
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I can’t imagine “cheering” for the war in Ukraine. I doubt there are many Ukrainians who wouldn’t like it to end tomorrow. But if peace includes ceding land to the Russians, the Ukrainians already did that with Crimea. Guess who didn’t t honor that peace? Haven’t we been through this before? It was ten years, according to my mother, before my 10th Mountain father could go to a funeral. Too many bodies of men who never got a funeral. I hope “we”can navigate a way to peace.
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Jack, I don’t understand your point here:
“And, oh, yes history does matter–we study Washington, Lincoln, our civil war, etc. Our history guides us. Russian kids study our invasion of Russia at Arkangel and Vladivostok in 1918. Their history guides them.”
Americans study history but they are not GUIDED by 100 year old history to justify foreign policy.
Japan and Germany are no longer our “enemies” because of old grievances. We have good relationships with Mexico and Canada. If Harris/Walz wins, Minnesota will have its first Native American female Governor.
In 1976, many people in northern states celebrated Georgia’s Jimmy Carter being elected president.
We are practically best friends with the British, who we used to fight heated battles with!
As a kid, I remember some people would not buy VW cars, but even that idea seems obsolete now, and that isn’t even going back to 1918.
America has made bad decisions for the wrong reasons and has made bad decisions for the right reasons and has made good decisions for the right reasons.
But we shouldn’t excuse those who invoke long ago grievances to justify doing something that is wrong. Are Russian kids being taught a kind of history that uses 100-year old grievances to justify wrongdoing? Because that isn’t the history I learned in school.
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Good point, NYCPSP. I was taught to hate everything German as a child but now I drive a German car and am married to a German.
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What if Putin and Trump leave the world stage this fall. Wouldn’t that be nice? Surely there is a deserted island in the South Pacific where they could hang out.
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Let us Hope Ukraine will not take more territory than it can properly administer, lest they find themselves in the position of Napoleon, who easily took Moscow only to lose his empire. Of course Hitler repeated his mistake, thankfully.
Wars are won ultimately by winning the peace in a way that satisfies the need for stability and safety, hence the German failure in Hitler’s Europe. He conquered, but could not assure safety what with all the death camps. Similarly, Stalin found his civil war could not achieve stability without resorting to the Tsar’s salt mines in Siberia. In a different way, the United States found stability impossible to maintain in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The best scenario got Ukraine is for their incursion to pressure Putin to settle in some way.
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best scenario for. I really should not post when I can’t proof.
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Brava, Diane, what a post! Kudos for inspiring our thinking beyond the now. Thank you for being so generous a writer and educator. –Kathleen Baker, Dover, DE.
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Thank you, Kathleen!
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That’s “The Duchy of Grand Fenwick [pronounced FEN-nick],” thank you.
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Friends,
I realize my point of view is disturbing to some of you. But please consider ALL of what I say–don’t just pick one point and go off on it. Yes, our invasion of Russia was in 1918 (time of Putin’s grandparents, and my parents). But our invasion of Iraq (two invasions, actually), our help in overthrowing Ghaddafi, our overthrows in Guatemala, Iran, Panama, etc.–all in Putin’s life, with the leaders involved mostly allies. And the attempts at overthrows continue in Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, etc.
I want us to be the kind of world leader that set up NATO as a defensive league and stood (briefly) for Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms–as he said, “For everyone in the world.” But he wasn’t talking about sending more and more arms to the Middle East or helping overthrow governments to get ones we like, etc. He pushed for a “united nations,” where differences could be settled by talk–or a “backroom” trade (as did Kennedy) of getting our missiles out of Turkey so they would take theirs out of Cuba.
Ultimately, though, I’m talking about Russia having enough nukes to blow up the world–so we shouldn’t taunt that country–or surround that country and squeeze.
Even the massive profits of the military industrial complex would be useless during and after a nuclear war or exchange.
To me, none of this seems complicated. As Eistein said when nuclear weapons were invented: “This changes everything.”
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You need to understand this, Jack: NATO IS A DEFENSIVE ALLIANCE. Do you grok that? A DEFENSIVE ALLIANCE.
IT EXISTS FOR A REASON, and that reason is to hold the line against Russian aggression. Why, well, fool me once, fool me twice, . . .
Putin has made quite clear, in his imperialist screed “On the Historical Unity of Russia and Ukraine,” that his intention is to create a “Greater Russia” made up of current Russia AND ITS NEIGHBORS. He likes to fancy himself, in his imperialist megalomania, as the second Vladimir the Great. Have you read this? Do you understand at all what he is up to?
We will not let him realize these insane ambitions. We must stop him at the very beginning. We owe this to our Ukrainian friends, to the whole of Europe, to the world.
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Putin says that he had to invade Ukraine because of NATO on his borders. Well, IF he annexed all of Ukraine, his subsequent borders with NATO WOULD BE MUCH LARGER. Which would provide a pretext for the next invasion, of Moldova or Poland or whatever.
Your naivete about his baffles me, Jack. It’s like a woman who stays with the husband who hit her only that one, well two, well three, . . . OK, a few times. . . .
Any sane friend or therapist would tell her, if he did it once, he will continue doing it until you leave him or he kills you.
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Putin’s invasion already expanded Russia’s borders with NATO. As a result of the invasion, Finland and Sweden joined NATO.
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Nice to be back, Diane. Folks, btw, Diane was the first, I think, to point out on this blog that the forcible occupation of Ukraine by Russia, against international law, would EXPAND Russia’s borders with NATO. For this reason alone, Putin’s pretext for the invasion is utter bullshit. Diane would have made a great Secretary of State.
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Would that we had actually put resources into stopping the Bolsheviks way back then. What a lot of utter horror would have been avoided. Thanks for inadvertently making this point, Jack, that similarly, a lot of utter horror will be avoided by stopping the invasion of Ukraine by indicted international war criminal Vladimir Putin.
Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!
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Because, as Putin has made utterly clear, as he has made clear to the world in his imperialist manifesto, Ukraine is simply his first stop, like Hitler taking the Sudetenland.
“When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” –Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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You are smarter than this, Jack.
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Welcome back, Bob.
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If Putin was wrong to invade Ukraine–and yes I believe he was—were we wrong to invade Iraq–twice–to help overthrow Ghaddafi–to continue our efforts to overthrow Assad? Etc. These are all allies of Putin’s.
And what about Einstein’s comment? Even if you are totally right about Putin’s aggressions, and ours don’t matter, what about the nukes? I never see anyone respond to this aspect of the matter. So, let’s set all seriousness aside and remember bumper stickers of the ’70’s: “You can’t hug your kids with nuclear arms” or “One nuclear bomb could spoil your whole day!”
C’mon. You’re ignoring reality in your hatred of Putin. But the nukes are still there.
Peace is the only answer!
Jack
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A peace that leads to more war and to totalitarian rule in formerly free countries is not peace at all. It is a fixed shell game. Here’s how we get peace in Ukraine: we drive the invader out of every square millimeter of the country, including Crimea and the Donbas.
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Okay, so you ignored my Einstein quote, so I’ll try ’60’s folk music:
“They’re rioting in Africa, they’re starving in Spain.
There’s hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch.
And I don’t like anybody very much!
“But we can be tranquil, and thankful, and proud,
For man’s been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud.
And we know for certain that some lovely day
Someone will set the spark off, and we will all be blown away.”
See you all later; I’ll be down in my fallout shelter…
Jack
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Jack, do you really think that we have to negotiate away Ukraine in order to appease Putin in order to keep him from starting a nuclear war?
How about Moldova? Poland? Latvia? Estonia? Finland? and on and on. Your argument is the negotiation with terrorists gift that keeps on giving.
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Putin is a threat that needs to be eliminated. But even he is not crazy enough to go there.
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