- 13 Feb 2024 17:47
#15304313
Masha grew up in Russia, she watched Putin come to power. As an outspoken scholar opposing autocrats and dictators, she left the country. There are few that understand Putin as well as she does.
"During the interview, Putin gave every indication that he thinks of former imperial possessions as still rightfully Russia’s. That would include not only former Soviet republics but also Finland and Poland.
I can’t get one passage out of my mind. In the history-lecture portion of the interview, when Putin got to 1939, he said, “Poland coöperated with Germany, but then it refused to comply with Hitler’s demands. . . . By not ceding the Danzig Corridor to Hitler, Poles forced him, they overplayed their hand and they forced Hitler to start the Second World War by attacking Poland.” (This is my translation.) The idea that the victim of the attack serves as its instigator by forcing the hand of the aggressor is central to all of Putin’s explanations for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It’s telling, too, that Putin took the time to accuse Poland of both allying with Nazi Germany and inciting Hitler’s aggression. As he has done with Ukraine in the past, he is positioning Poland as an heir to Nazism. He mentioned Poland more than thirty times in his conversation with Tucker. If I were Poland, I’d be scared."
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/tucker-carlson-promised-an-unedited-putin-the-result-was-boring
Ukraine isn't the goal. But it's on the way to 3 places that are easy to defend, and all of them are in NATO.
If we let Putin have Ukraine, that won't be the end of it.
I don't know how to get House Republicans to act sane, but this is going to get a lot worse if we don't.
"During the interview, Putin gave every indication that he thinks of former imperial possessions as still rightfully Russia’s. That would include not only former Soviet republics but also Finland and Poland.
I can’t get one passage out of my mind. In the history-lecture portion of the interview, when Putin got to 1939, he said, “Poland coöperated with Germany, but then it refused to comply with Hitler’s demands. . . . By not ceding the Danzig Corridor to Hitler, Poles forced him, they overplayed their hand and they forced Hitler to start the Second World War by attacking Poland.” (This is my translation.) The idea that the victim of the attack serves as its instigator by forcing the hand of the aggressor is central to all of Putin’s explanations for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It’s telling, too, that Putin took the time to accuse Poland of both allying with Nazi Germany and inciting Hitler’s aggression. As he has done with Ukraine in the past, he is positioning Poland as an heir to Nazism. He mentioned Poland more than thirty times in his conversation with Tucker. If I were Poland, I’d be scared."
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/tucker-carlson-promised-an-unedited-putin-the-result-was-boring
Ukraine isn't the goal. But it's on the way to 3 places that are easy to defend, and all of them are in NATO.
If we let Putin have Ukraine, that won't be the end of it.
I don't know how to get House Republicans to act sane, but this is going to get a lot worse if we don't.
Facts have a well known liberal bias