Vladmir Putin is running out of time with his crumbling economy and overstretched, faltering army trying to advance his ill-advised invasion of Ukraine, while attempting to suppress pro-democracy activists in several nations around his intended sphere of influence. Now, almost three years into his big invasion of Ukraine that was supposed to be won in three days, he has been counting on the return of Donald Trump to the White House to undermine allied support for Ukraine. It need not happen that way.

The next 50 days provide a historic opportunity for the assertion of national independence from Putin’s control in several Eastern European lands. In 1946, the revered U.S. diplomat George Kennan prophetically warned of a “Domino Theory” of nations around Russian falling into a larger Soviet Union. Now, we may be on the brink of seeing a reverse domino effect, as we did in the 1990s when nations broke away from Russia.

As the Syrian rebel force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, swept through Aleppo and then Damascus in a matter of hours, toppling the 60-year reign of the Al-Assad family dynasty, cheers and chants are echoing throughout the streets of the capital celebrating the downfall of an authoritarian regime long-supported by Russia and Iran. Both countries have used Syria as a strategic regional outpost in service of their commercial and military interests.

However, the vast resources Russia and Iran once held have either been destroyed and committed to other failing conquests. In fact, it is the collapse of support from Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah that contributed to the surprise sweep of Syria as the demoralized military under President Bashar Al-Assad’s strict control reportedly did nothing to resist rebel forces. What happens in Syria next is unclear, but the U.S. should certainly be working with Turkey to stabilize the situation while closely coordinating with all parties in the anti-Assad coalition.

Some 700 miles to the north, the shouts of protesters and pops from their fireworks can be heard in the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia, where demonstrators continue their weeks-long call for an end to the pro-Russian ruling party in parliament and entry into the European Union. The exiled opposition leader from Belarus, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has called on her comrades to ignore the farcical presidential “elections” in January — in peaceful protest — that will hand the Russian-backed President Alexander Lukashenko a seventh term.

The house of cards that Vladimir Putin has so carefully stacked over more than two decades is folding before our eyes. Not only are his satellite states rejecting Kremlin influence, but the Russian economy is crumbling, lurching towards severe stagflation. 

Russian GDP estimates for 2025 range from the........

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