Paula J. Dobriansky Senior Fellow at the Future of Diplomacy Project and former U.S. Undersecretary of State together with David B. Rivkin Jr., constitutional lawyer who served in the Justice Department and the White House under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. discuss how in recent years racist and scatological salvos against foreign leaders have become a staple of official Russian discourse.

A bipartisan consensus is emerging that the United States should do more to address Russia’s continuing aggression against Ukraine. But Russian revanchism does not begin or end with Ukraine, nor are “little green men” its only foreign policy instrument. Moscow is actively engaged in subversive activities along Europe’s eastern flank, targeting the region’s economic and political stability. As Central European capitals grow increasingly concerned, Washington urgently needs to demonstrate its robust commitment not just to the region’s security but to its democratic future.

An enduring diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis has eluded negotiators. But even if the Minsk peace talks’ newly announced cease-firewere to hold, there is widespread agreement in the West that Russia has engaged in a quasi-war in Ukraine. Moscow has acted with some circumspection, employing intelligence agents and plainclothes special forces (the so-called little green men), but in the past several months, it has become much more brazen, deploying thousands of regular troops, backed up by artillery and armor. There is also consensus that Russian activities in Ukraine are destabilizing European security and have violated numerous international legal norms.

"Western diplomats can draw on experience learned in Kiev to help the 'green movement' in Tehran," says Paula J. Dobriansky, a senior fellow at the Belfer Center. "The United States and particularly Europe should be doing much more to engage and cultivate this newly vocal "other Iran," sustaining its calls for a democratically chosen government," argues Dobriansky.