There are many errors made by NATO, yet when the alternative is Mr. Putin's brand of nationalism, where does that leave peace activists? The two polar opposite forces are Putin's nativist policies of expansionism and NATO nation's more democratic and inclusive ideals. Even if they often don't achieve true democracy, at least the NATO nations are trying to be fair with their populations. On the other hand, Putin's agenda is much closer to that of Hitler than any of the NATO nations, and now the U.S. under Mr. Trump is following Putin's lead.

With plain clothes ICE agents grabbing immigrants off the streets and the generalized xenophobia under Trump, we aren't that different from Putin's Russia where Muslims are attacked and beaten by mobs of civilians with government approval. Trump and Putin also openly share their hatred of gays and bisexuals, both trying to enforce heterosexual codes of conduct for the population they rule over. Next step in that line of thinking is pink triangles for the gays as they are marched off to detention camps for forced sexual orientation "re-education". Other dictators of this mindset are the Philippines President Duterte who is still killing drug addicts without any public trial.

When Putin, Trump and Duterte all agree on neo-Nazi domestic policies the rest of the democratic world should take note. The old conflicts of the communistic Soviet Union vs. the capitalistic U.S./NATO alliance isn't applicable to today's issue. When enough dictators like Hitler, Franco and Mussolini get together, a tragedy of massive proportions is often the result. Despite my anti-war outlook, I agree that WW2 needed to be fought and that Hitler's Nazis needed to be eliminated from Earth. When several dictators come together in their ideology in 2017, this same pattern is re-emerging.

Nationalism is an extension of cultural narcissism, including racial superiority agendas. This is taking place today with Trump, Putin and Duterte forming a potential alliance similar to the Nazi Axis nations of WW2 (Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, etc...). Once nationalist dictators accumulate enough power, a war of true self defense may be the only realistic option other than sitting back and watching the carnage. This isn't what peace activists want to hear, but sometimes the truth hurts. The reality is that nationalist dictators Putin, Trump and Duterte ALL need to be removed from power before their hurtful policies can cause even more harm than they already have.

Signed,

Mark Paul Miller

Founder Green Liberty Party