Do you ever get the sense that these Freedom House and ex-CIA guys got stuck sometime in 1984 and never stopped? That they’re hooked on a gravey train from a bunch of old fart Russophobes?
Does anybody really think the continued disintegration of Russia along ethnic lines is in the West’s best interest, that there ought to be more Chechnyas? Does anybody think that if it weren’t for Putin, Russia today would be a happy liberal democracy?
This is the bizarre doublethink of the Kim Zigfeld’s of this world – on the one hand, we have to oppose whatever the revived Evil Empire does, but on the other hand, look at how pathetic Russia is and how it’s falling apart. Which is it? And why is there not one iota of compassion for the Russian people, just Phariseeical condemnation dressed up as self-righteousness. After all, KZ has put in a good word for a lot of people – Saakashvili comes to mind – guilty of ballot box stuffing and sleaze, just so long as they “stand up to the Kremlin”. There was a genuine excuse for this when “he was our sunuvabitch” during the Cold War, but not anymore.
And no, you cannot say that Russia, like the USSR, is an economic pygmy but a militarily threatening giant – that’s gone. And the stuff portraying Ukraine and Belarus as victims of “energy imperialism” is nonsense – apparently they were entitled to cheap Russian gas indefinitely, simply because they sit between Russia and Europe.
At least Pajamas Media publishes Richard Fernandez to balance out some of the Russophobic insanity from whoever the heck KZ is. Tell me Kim, if we’re in a New Cold War with Russia, why the heck are the platforms for our sea based missile defense system being built in Vyborg, Russia? How about all those Russian Antonovs hauling bullets and MREs into Bagram and Basra? Oh yeah, doesn’t quite fit the narrative, does it?
As for “the Russians giving money to Hamas and Hezbollah” – show me exactly how this is taking place. Again, KZ just makes all kinds of idiotic and unsupported allegations, with not the slightest evidence to back them up. But at least fewer and fewer people on this site are taking her so seriously, whatever their views of Putin.
