But this is the essential point: if I were Russian, I would be free to vote against Putin as, I suspect would most of my Russian friends -- as more than a third of Russian voters did in 2012. And like my friend Misha, I would likely complain about Putin loudly and openly, without fear of repression.
Last I heard, all of my friends, Misha included, are "at large" and undisturbed. None have been sent to a Siberian gulag.
Which prompts this question: "If so many of your friends are opposed to Putin, how do you account for those Levada poll numbers and the 2012 election returns, which indicate substantial support?"
IV
"The Russians have influenced our election!"
If you have given more than casual attention to our broadcast and cable news
media, you have heard that accusation hundreds of times. Double that number
if you regularly watch MSNBC.
With these endless repetitions, that accusation has become undisputed,
albeit unsupported, "common knowledge." "Everybody knows that!"
"Unsupported?" That claim requires an argument, which I have presented
at length in a recent essay,
In the Throes of a
National Hissy-Fit
Suffice to say, the accusation of "Russian meddling" in our election has not
only been repeated endlessly, it has evolved over the past few months. At
first it was accompanied by qualifiers such as "suspected" or "attempted"
interference. With time and repetition, albeit absent of fresh evidence,
those qualifiers have been discarded, as that "interference" has morphed
from "possible" to "probable" to "certain." Similarly, over the years
Vladimir Putin was at first correctly described as the "leader" or
"President" of Russia. Those description have gradually been replaced with
"dictator," "autocrat" and "despot."
The hostility toward Putin and Russia has reached such a high pitch that
merely speaking or corresponding to a Russian can put one's career in
jeopardy, as Michael Flynn and Jeff Sessions, among others, were to learn to
their sorrow.
And yet, a refusal to communicate with our rivals is immoral, foolish, and
above all dangerous. (As I argue in my previous essay,
"Trump Aides Talked
to Russians" Big Deal!").
V
Well, what about it? Is Vladimir Putin the murderous, kleptocratic tyrant
that the "conventional media wisdom" tells us he is?
Quite frankly, I do not know. And the more I read from independent sources
both foreign and domestic, and the more I correspond with friends in Russia
and with Russian ex-patriots, the more perplexed I become. There is informed
opinion on both sides.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
