If you’re whining about gas prices or rush hour traffic or any number of all-American annoyances, there’s one handy way to put things in perspective: Read this piece about Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian broadcast network employe who popped up on live TV, in the heart of repressive state, with a boldly dissident message (“No war. Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here.”) that may well get her disappeared for up to 15 years.

If there’s any upside at all to Putin’s criminal war, it’s the fact that he’s providing us with a bracing moment of moral clarity. As the death toll of innocents continues to mount, there are only two sides: authoritarianism or democracy. Violence or peace. Frances Fukuyama, the famous political theorist, said it well yesterday: “That authoritarianism has now been translated into horrible slaughter, where everybody can see that kind of politics leads to military aggression…I do think that if people are made to appreciate institutions like NATO and the fact that they live in liberal democracies, presumably it’s going to increase the solidarity that these democracies feel.”

Granted, Putin’s useful idiots – Trump, Tucker Carlson, and assorted other rabble – will continue to kowtow; indeed, on Sunday, Trump said in a radio interview that Putin simply “wants to make his country larger,” a la the Soviet Union, “where there was a lot of love.” But many erstwhile Putin apologists have been pulling back in recent days, because certain aberrant actions, like the indiscriminate bombing of babies, do tend to weigh on the average conscience.

And if anyone else needs further prodding, I suggest they listen to Ovsyannikova, the broadcast editor and producer who has put herself at extreme risk by speaking the truth in a country soaked in lies. Before she rushed on camera, she recorded a video. Here’s what she said (translated from Russian):

“What is going on in Ukraine right now is a crime. And Russia is the aggressor. The responsibility for this aggression lies only on one person, and that person is Vladimir Putin. My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian, and they have never been enemies…Russia needs to stop this fratricidal war immediately, and our brotherly nations will have a chance to make peace.

“Unfortunately, I have been working on Channel One in recent years, working on Kremlin propaganda, and now I am very ashamed. I’m ashamed that I have allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens. I am ashamed that I have let the Russian people be zombified.

“We were silent in 2014 when it (Putin’s aggression against Ukraine) all started. We did not take to the streets when the Kremlin poisoned (dissident Alexei) Navalny. We just silently watched this anti-human regime. And now the entire world (has) turned their backs against us. And 10 more generations of our descendants won’t be able to wash off this shame, this fratricidal war brought on us.

“We are Russian people, we are smart and thoughtful, it is only in our power to stop this madness. Take to the streets, do not be afraid. They can’t jail us all.”

And right now, nobody knows where she is. A Kremlin flack says that her “hooliganism” is being investigated, and that she could be charged with “discrediting” the Russian armed forces (and charged with whatever else they concoct). How many of us would be willing to take such a hit? That is courage far beyond the call of duty – certainly more so than the truckers on the Washington Beltway whining about Covid mandates – and, if nothing else, her willingness to sacrifice herself should further clarify the moral stakes in this war.

Perhaps her action will even inspire more bipartisan agreement here in America for a defense of democracy. Days before she appeared on camera, Mike Pence said in a speech to GOP donors: “There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin. There is only room for champions of freedom.” If even I can find common ground with Mike Pence, perhaps there’s hope after all.