Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has made one thing clear: his regime poses a threat to not only global security and justice (as we have seen with his defense of regimes engaged in mass murder), but also international peace and order—the order that restricts countries from invading their neighbors and stealing their land. The gravity of the threat is clear (perhaps even to the people, including Catholic leaders, who foolishly praised his commitment to peace a year ago), and President Obama may be realizing that the United States must lead those states that believe in democracy, human rights, and the rule of law against authoritarian aggression.

His speech in Estonia today was a strong defense of these values:

We’re stronger because we’re democracies.  We’re not afraid of free and fair elections, because true legitimacy can only come from one source — and that is the people.  We’re not afraid of an independent judiciary, because no one is above the law.  We’re not afraid of a free press or vibrant debate or a strong civil society, because leaders must be held accountable.  We’re not afraid to let our young people go online to learn and discover and organize, because we know that countries are more successful when citizens are free to think for themselves.

Obama explained in the clearest of terms what has happened in Ukraine:

The protests in Ukraine, on the Maidan, were not led by neo-Nazis or fascists.  They were led by ordinary Ukrainians — men and women, young and old — who were fed up with a corrupt regime and who wanted to share in the progress and prosperity that they see in the rest of Europe.  And they did not engage in an “armed seizure of power.”  After an agreement was brokered for constitutional reform, the former president then abandoned his office, and parliament endorsed new elections so that today Ukrainians have a new democratically elected president.  And I look forward to welcoming President Poroshenko to the Oval Office this month.  He was chosen by the people of Ukraine.

It was not the government in Kyiv that destabilized eastern Ukraine; it’s been the pro-Russian separatists who are encouraged by Russia, financed by Russia, trained by Russia, supplied by Russia and armed by Russia.  And the Russian forces that have now moved into Ukraine are not on a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission.  They are Russian combat forces with Russian weapons in Russian tanks.  Now, these are the facts.  They are provable.  They’re not subject to dispute.

He made his position clear, as well:

Just as we refused to accept smaller European nations being dominated by bigger neighbors in the last century, we reject any talk of spheres of influence today. And just as we never accepted the occupation and illegal annexation of the Baltic nations, we will not accept Russia’s occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea or any part of Ukraine.

Obama ended the speech with language showing strong faith in the future of human dignity, justice, participation, and freedom, values all Catholics should hold dear:

The currents of history ebb and flow, but over time they flow toward freedom — more people, in every corner of the Earth, standing up and reaching to claim those rights that are universal.  And that’s why, in the end, our ideals are stronger.  And that’s why, in the end, our ideals will win.

Dignity will win — because every human being is born equal, with free will and inalienable rights.  And any regime or system of government that tries to deny these rights will ultimately fail and countries that uphold them will only grow stronger.

Justice will win — because might does not make right, and the only path to lasting peace is when people know that their dignity will be respected and that their rights will be upheld.  And citizens, like nations, will never settle for a world where the big are allowed to bully the small.  Sooner or later, they fight back.

Democracy will win — because a government’s legitimacy can only come from citizens; because in this age of information and empowerment, people want more control over their lives, not less; and because, more than any other form of government ever devised, only democracy, rooted in the sanctity of the individual, can deliver real progress.

And freedom will win — not because it’s inevitable, not because it is ordained, but because these basic human yearnings for dignity and justice and democracy do not go away.  They can be suppressed.  At times, they can be silenced, but they burn in every human heart in a place where no regime could ever reach, a light that no army can ever extinguish.  And so long as free peoples summon the confidence and the courage and the will to defend the values that we cherish, then freedom will always be stronger and our ideas will always prevail no matter what.