Who is causing the most damage to America?
Who is the biggest threat to America's future?
- Khaled Mashal
Posted on 08/22/2014 1:57:02 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Will Russia’s unconstitutionally elected president, Vladimir Putin, unleash a full-scale land war against Ukraine?
I can give you ten reasons for every possible answer to this question. Which is to say that, like everyone else trying to divine Putin’s “mind,” I don’t know.
But there is one thing that I definitely do know. Suddenly, we are all talking about war in Europe. The one thing that was supposed to have become “unthinkable” and “unimaginable” after the end of the Cold War and the rise of the European Union has become perfectly thinkable and quite imaginable.
And all thanks to Putin. If tomorrow’s headlines scream “RUSSIA INVADES ESTONIA,” we’d be shocked, but would we be surprised?
Don’t blame the thinkability and imaginability of war on the Ukrainians. All they did was remove a corrupt dictator and embark on building a democracy. The Ukrainians didn’t invade Crimea. Nor did they arm separatist republics with Russian soldiers and weapons. That was Putin’s doing and only Putin’s doing.
There’s a lesson here, and it’s not either of the ones that are usually drawn: that Putin is a power-hungry madman, if you’re his critic, or that Putin is a shrewd statesman motivated by raison d’état and Realpolitik, if you’re his backer. The real lesson is that dictatorships, especially fascist dictatorships built on the ruins of collapsed empires, are prone to do bad things, such as engage in imperialist wars.
I’ve made the comparison many times before (starting in the late 1990s, by the way), but it’s worth reminding ourselves just how similar Russia’s and Putin’s trajectories are to those of post–World War I Germany and Adolf Hitler. The point is not to score easy debating points or to shake Germans’ assumptions about the uniqueness of Nazi evil, but to demonstrate that there are deeper structural reasons for Putin’s aggressiveness and indifference to international norms.
Both Germany and Russia lost empires and desired to rebuild them. Both Germany and Russia suffered economic collapse. Both Germany and Russia experienced national humiliation and retained imperial political cultures. Both Germany and Russia blamed their ills on the democrats. Both Germany and Russia elected strong men who promised to make them grand and glorious again. Both strong men employed imperialist arguments about “abandoned brethren” in neighboring states, remilitarized their countries, developed cults of the personality, centralized power, gave pride of place in the power structure to the forces of coercion, constructed regimes that may justifiably be called fascist, and proceeded to engage in re-annexing bits and pieces of lost territory before embarking on major landgrabs. Both strong men demonized friendly nations. Germany’s strongman ended up starting a world war. Russia’s strongman—well, we don’t know what he’ll do, but please do notice that a rigorous pursuit of the comparison does not bode well for peace in Europe or the world.
Democracy matters. Dictators are more prone to war precisely because they can manipulate public opinion and ruthlessly pursue whatever warped visions they have without much resistance from institutions and elites. Democratic presidents don’t have that luxury—as a rule of course. That’s why democracies plod along. That’s why they muddle through. That’s why they’re the worst form of government, as Winston Churchill observed, except for all the others.
Ukraine’s democracy has at best been crummy and creaky for the last two and a half decades. It’s done far too little about reform and it’s been much too enamored of corruption. As a result, Ukraine has muddled along, sometimes muddling up, sometimes muddling down. Change is imperative, and, thanks to the Maidan Revolution, everyone in Ukraine finally knows it. Stasis is bad, possibly unsustainable, probably destructive. And yet, and yet: Ukraine remains a democracy, far more so now than just a few months ago. It’s searching for answers to complex questions, balancing far too many interests and sensitivities, moving much too slowly to satisfy proponents of breakthroughs (and that includes me).
But do take note of one very important fact. Amid all this democratic sludge, independent Ukraine has been pacific for the entire time of its existence. At the same time, when provoked, as in the past few months, democratic Ukraine has also demonstrated that it can fight to defend itself and its values.
Which goes to show two things: that, except for the likes of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Stephen F. Cohen, Marine Le Pen, and Aleksandr Dugin, even a crummy Ukrainian democracy is preferable to an efficient Russian dictatorship and that a war initiated by democratic Ukraine really is unthinkable and unimaginable.
Don’t blame the thinkability and imaginability of war on the Ukrainians. All they did was remove a corrupt dictator and embark on building a democracy.
Slight problem. You can't logically criticize Putin for behaving unconstitutionally and simultaneously excuse the Ukrainians for doing the same.
Why not?
Yanukovich was impeached and removed from office constitutionally.
How long until someone stands up and shouts “Godwin! Godwin!!” ?
The author left one out who belongs with these two. You might hav eheard of him. His name is Barack Hussein Obama.
Everything said about Hitler equally applies to Stalin.
Don’t have time to read all this right now but I can tell from the headline that the writer is comparing the wrong people. Obama is a perfect match for Hitler. Everything he has done has followed Hitler’s path. It’s like his operation manual is Mien Comte. Putin seems like a logical man to me. He just don’t take c..p off anybody.
An Orthodox Christian (according to reports) who prefers to act like a Muslim expansionist.
Putin committed genocide against ethnic Georgians when he invaded Georgia unprovoked. Putin is genocidal, expansionist, and he attacked first. Georgia and Ukraine never attacked Russia. Putin invaded their lands unprovoked. Putin is a mass murderer and war criminal who is leading his nation to ruin. Putin’s Russia is going to be tossed into the ash-heap of history where it belongs along with the EVIL EMPIRE he loyally served.
Obama is Neville Chamberlain, Putin is Hitler.
It appears he was not impeached, and whether his removal from office was constitutional is at minimum highly questionable.
The Rada did not follow the constitutional provisions for impeachment. Instead they essentially passed a law declaring the office of President vacant and called new elections. A similar procedure in the US would most definitely be unconstitutional.
http://www.ponarseurasia.org/article/was-yanukovych%E2%80%99s-removal-constitutional
I am not claiming his removal was illegitimate. In extreme situations constitutional provisions often break down, and people have to do the best they can in bad circumstances.
One problem is that Yanukovych packed the Constitutional Court (ultimately responsible for his impeachment) with his buddies. So it was a farce from beginning to end (sorry he doesn’t get to use his mansion with the zoo).
Surprise, surprise.
There's a lot that's wrong with Putin, but it's hard to say he's as bad as Hitler or in the same category, so by saying it the writer loses support and the audience (at least among sane people).
Correction
An Orthodox Christian (according to reports) who prefers to act like a Christian expansionist.
Before the war Hitler was considered a great man and was Time Magazine Man of the Year, just like Putin.
No. Unless the Christians are Russian Orthodox, and his former informants with the KGB, then he wants nothing to do with you.
Who is causing the most damage to America?
Who is the biggest threat to America's future?
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