The author appears to be so blinded by his own ideology he is incapable of understanding conservative ideology. Putin apologists? Please.
The folks who have supported Putin the most are those who undermined their own countries with feckless energy policies forcing them to buy Russian oil and gas. They are the ones bowing to Putin now and financing the death of Ukrainians. Are these conservatives? Nope, they are leftists who bought into renewables before they could deliver. The author could benefit from some research on energy markets and the current viability of renewables.
I'm not a fan of Bannon's, but if you have to reach back to a fairly narrow point that he made EIGHT years before the war started, you probably shouldn't have bothered with this essay. Regarding the left, your effort to impune anyone who recognizes that NATO's ill-advised decisions contributed to the unfortunate situation we have now is beneath contempt.
I'm sorry to say Persuasion's war editorializing has been absolute trash and this is a representative example. Cheap moral grandstanding and necon bluster like it's 2003 all over again. Very disappointing.
> … the extreme left is in retreat after its flourishing in the 2010s, and rarely comes close to power.
Except for the fact that their tentacles are wrapped around every facet of mainstream Western culture outside of politics. Journalism, media, art, academy, arbitration of acceptable public discourse, etc.
Are we supposed to believe that’s not “power”? Or not the most consequential power in an age where networked culture is at least as powerful as politics?
(For a piece of evidence on the point that networked culture trumps politics: witness the Western response to Ukraine/Russia - it is conducted almost entirely by networked culture, self-directed, and responsible for guiding and restricting political figures’ available diplomatic actions)
I can say in my circle of conservative friends and family, everyone thinks Putin is a nasty guy. And Evangelicals? Just today in our paper was an article condemning Putin and his actions by Daniel Darling of Southern Baptist Seminary. He also urged us to put aside petty partisan politics to support the Ukranians against Putin.
As for the Left, I couldn't say, but I sincerely doubt many of them hold Putin in high regard either.
I know it's pretty much par for the course for the Guardian to try to blame things on Jeremy Corbyn at this point, but it's getting to be pretty ridiculous. Corbyn has his faults, to be sure, but trying to make him out to be a supporter of Putin is more than a little misleading. Here is Corbyn himself, stating his position on the Russian invasion: https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1500919427126206471
As those of us who have read Pinker know, Putin-style ruthlessness and brutality is also a "traditional value". If you want to turn the clock back to how it was in the old days, this is part of the deal.
The author appears to be so blinded by his own ideology he is incapable of understanding conservative ideology. Putin apologists? Please.
The folks who have supported Putin the most are those who undermined their own countries with feckless energy policies forcing them to buy Russian oil and gas. They are the ones bowing to Putin now and financing the death of Ukrainians. Are these conservatives? Nope, they are leftists who bought into renewables before they could deliver. The author could benefit from some research on energy markets and the current viability of renewables.
I'm not a fan of Bannon's, but if you have to reach back to a fairly narrow point that he made EIGHT years before the war started, you probably shouldn't have bothered with this essay. Regarding the left, your effort to impune anyone who recognizes that NATO's ill-advised decisions contributed to the unfortunate situation we have now is beneath contempt.
I'm sorry to say Persuasion's war editorializing has been absolute trash and this is a representative example. Cheap moral grandstanding and necon bluster like it's 2003 all over again. Very disappointing.
"The right, and in our age the far right, is much better at winning."
I'm trying to square that with the fact that America is currently run by progressives, as are, I think, the majority of EU countries, Canada, etc.
> … the extreme left is in retreat after its flourishing in the 2010s, and rarely comes close to power.
Except for the fact that their tentacles are wrapped around every facet of mainstream Western culture outside of politics. Journalism, media, art, academy, arbitration of acceptable public discourse, etc.
Are we supposed to believe that’s not “power”? Or not the most consequential power in an age where networked culture is at least as powerful as politics?
(For a piece of evidence on the point that networked culture trumps politics: witness the Western response to Ukraine/Russia - it is conducted almost entirely by networked culture, self-directed, and responsible for guiding and restricting political figures’ available diplomatic actions)
I can say in my circle of conservative friends and family, everyone thinks Putin is a nasty guy. And Evangelicals? Just today in our paper was an article condemning Putin and his actions by Daniel Darling of Southern Baptist Seminary. He also urged us to put aside petty partisan politics to support the Ukranians against Putin.
As for the Left, I couldn't say, but I sincerely doubt many of them hold Putin in high regard either.
I know it's pretty much par for the course for the Guardian to try to blame things on Jeremy Corbyn at this point, but it's getting to be pretty ridiculous. Corbyn has his faults, to be sure, but trying to make him out to be a supporter of Putin is more than a little misleading. Here is Corbyn himself, stating his position on the Russian invasion: https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1500919427126206471
As those of us who have read Pinker know, Putin-style ruthlessness and brutality is also a "traditional value". If you want to turn the clock back to how it was in the old days, this is part of the deal.
Putin may want Russia to be an empire. However, It is not an empire so far. The USSR was a true empire. However, the USSR broke up around 1990.