Putin Apologists

NATO was bad, so it's okay for Putin to kill babies?

There are some Nazis fighting on the side of Ukraine so it's okay for Putin to bomb maternity wards and theaters?

Ukraine was a part of Russia for ten minutes so Putin is justified in leveling cities.

I'm not saying that there are a lot of things NATO and the USA have done that are wrong, that have been bad, that sowed dismay or anger. And the US is guilty of starting and instigating wars. But that does not justify oligarch Vladimir Putin attacking Ukraine. It doesn't justify Putin killing pregnant mothers and babies.

I can see criticizing the US for what it has done. I can see and understand being disgusted with the USA's imperialistic foreign policy. But if you are defending Putin, or cheering for him and the Russian Army and its "achievements, its hypersonic missiles, then you are a Putin apologist.

There were Hitler and Nazi apologists too, including some famous people.

Some were worse than others. By definition, since the US was not officially at war with Russia, these Hitler apologists were not traitors. But some of them helped the Nazis, just as Tucker Carlson is not a traitor, but clearly a Putin apologist, and given Russian media's use of his broadcasts, an enabler, helping the Russian cause.

So, go ahead and criticize the US. Talk about how the US is also bad, has done horrible, unforgivable things in other countries, killed hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. I don't have any problem with criticism of the US. I do it myself.

But don't tell me Putin is justified. Don't defend Putin's war crimes and atrocities. Because then, you are a Putin apologist and ally. There is no way Putin is justified in his war crimes and maybe you are misguided. Your contempt for the US may be understandable, but to take the further step to justify and defend Putin, to apologize for him makes you as despicable as the people who apologized for, defended or even lauded Hitler. And I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't some Putin apologists who also apologize for or defend Hitler.

I've spent many years dealing with people writing about Israel. I've published thousands of articles critical of Israeli policy, enough so that I've been called a self-hating-Jew. But a small percentage of those writers criticizing would cross a line into anti-semitism. I've become an expert at seeing the difference. I certainly use different criteria than the ADL or the New York Times. But I think that honing of my ability to see the difference between a critic of Israel and someone spouting anti-semitic rhetoric has helped me to see the difference between critics of US policy and Putin apologists. Among anti-semites, some of them are just too stupid to see that they are crossing a line and some of them re outright bigots. I'm sure the same is true of Putin apologists. On the other hand, perhaps this article will help some readers to see the difference between criticizing the US and supporting Putin and the Russian attack on Ukraine.

Putting it another way, my hope is that the people who are primarily focused on criticizing the US role will realize that it is not very difficult to flip over to supporting, defending or apologizing for Putin. If they think their words through a bit more they can criticize the US, NATO, the West, without apologizing for or aiding Putin.