Nearly a full year ago, on December 29, 1940. Japanese attack on Pearl Harbormillions turned on their radios and led to the United States entering World War II. hearFranklin D. Roosevelt explained why the U.S. should back Europe’s freedom forces against Adolf Hitler s fascist advance.

The Americans were at that time unsure whether or not they should participate in distant European war. However, they were shocked at its horrific reports. Roosevelt used one his most famous fireside chatsTo convince them that America should quickly and decisively use its enormous industrial capabilities to promote freedom.

“We must become the great arsenal for democracy.” he saidThe firm voice was familiar to Americans, who had allowed her into their homes for the majority of that decade. We have provided the British with great material support, and will continue to provide more. We will not allow any ‘bottlenecks to our resolve to help Great Britain. That determination will not be weakened by any dictatorship or combination thereof.

President, eighty-years later Joe BidenMust decide how far he’s willing to go to help Ukraine defeat Russian President Vladimir Putin, the European tyrant. How the Biden administration and its allies have achieved this through military support and sanctions has been remarkableHowever, it is still insufficient to stop Putin’s offensive against Ukraine’s East and South.

Antony Blinken is the U.S. Secretary for State and Lloyd Austin is the U.S. Secretary of Defense visit Kyiv todayIt is not enough for President Biden anymore to claim that the U.S. will defend NATO’s entire territory as required by all 29 members of the alliance. Article 5Its founding treaty. Although this commitment is admirable and vital for all alliance members bordering Russia or Ukraine, Putin has interpreted it as an open game against Ukraine which isn’t a NATO member.

The time has come for President Biden now to make America and, as far as possible, the entire democratic world commit more to Ukraine’s sovereignty, freedom, and independence. This means more than just political support and rhetorical unity. It also requires sufficient intelligence and military aid to not only stop Putin’s advance but defeat him. Any less than this would go against President Biden’s stated convictions. 

As President Biden himself said at his State of the Union address this year, “Throughout our history, we’ve learned this lesson – when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos. They continue to move. They continue to move at great cost and pose threats to America as well as the rest of the world.

Said Biden, “That’s why the NATO Alliance was created to secure peace and stability in Europe after World War II … Putin’s war was premeditated and unprovoked. He rejected efforts at diplomacy. He was certain that NATO and West wouldn’t reply. He also believed he could split us at home. Putin was mistaken. We were ready.”

Are we ready to face the next phase, which grows more dangerous and ugly with every day that Putin advances? Only Ukraine’s survival can reverse the three-decade decline in democratic freedoms across Europe and around the globe, which is threatening all forward progress since World War II.

It newest reportBy the V-Dem InstituteThe University of Gothenburg, Sweden produces the most comprehensive global database on democracy. It wrote that “The average citizen of the global world is enjoying a level of democracy down to 1989 levels in 2021.” This means that all the democratic progress made in recent decades following the fall of the Berlin Wall or the Soviet Union has been completely reversed.

V-dem ranked 34 countries as liberal democracies, which is only the third lowest since 1995. “Together, autocracies now harbor 70% of the world population – 5.4 billion people,” the report warns.

Democrats seem to be growing more bold according to democracy scholars. Putin’s full-scale invasion of UkraineA free country, led by a democratically elected government. five military coups in 2021This is a significant increase that has been seen worldwide in recent decades. The dangers within existing democracies are also increasing.

“Polarization is also on the rise, as well as government misinformation.” writes V-Dem. These trends are connected. Polarized populations are more likely than others to deny political opponents, distrust information from different sources and cause mobilization shifts.

He calls his book “The New Book of…”The Revenge of Power, How Autocrats are Reinventing Politics for the 21^st Century,” Moises Naim writes about the “three Ps” that are driving this trend – populism, polarization and post-truth. He sees this ilk of autocratic power as “malign … incompatible with the democratic values at the center of any free society.”

There is a lot that separates President Roosevelt’s 1940 international crisis and the one faced by President Biden in 2022. The common thread between these inflection points is both the risk of aggressive autoritarianism as well as the lack of common cause to combat it.

Three months after signing the Constitution, President Roosevelt made his appeal in December 1940. Tripartite PactGermany, Italy, Japan created a defense alliance consisting of autocracies, which was meant to discourage the United States joining the war.

The bipartite “Bipartite” was established on February 4, 2012.Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of ChinaThe fact that neither side has to be part of a defense alliance doesn’t appear to make the ” go as far. Its language, however, is not as ambitious or aimed similarly at the U.S.

“Friendship between these two states is unlimited” reads the 5,300-word textThis was just 20 days after Putin began his war. “There is no area of cooperation that’s ‘forbidden.’

It was the same for Roosevelt. President Biden has to now balance the risks of today against future dangers from insufficient responses.

Roosevelt stated, “If we’re to be totally honest with ourselves,” told AmericansIt is important to recognize that every choice we make comes with risk. However, I believe the vast majority of my people support the path I recommend. It is the most risk-free and offers the best chance for peace around the world in the long term.

FDR made it clear to Biden that he must do more immediately in order to end Putin’s influence or he will suffer later.

—Frederick Kempe is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Atlantic Council.