"Keir Starmer sees Putin clearly, unlike some on the American right."The right wing myopia of US conservatives' is worse than Munich, 1938

One of the most jarring emails I ever got was a missive from an "American Conservative " who implored me to "Give Putin some respect". This is why I do not heed this siren call to kissing the feet of the Kremlin tyrant

A. Putin has sequestered over 1 TRILLION USD of wealth from the Russian Federation in over 21 years of looting and stealing, from his own country. I.e. Putin has over twice the wealth of Bill Gates, with most of it hidden in the Cayman islands, and other money laundering spots, not to mention the CITY of London which arguably has more Kremlin dirty money than any other geographic location in the entire world.

B. Russia after Boris Yeltsin was likely to have a tripling of its GNP since the end of 1999 to maybe 8 trillion USD. As a result of Putin mismanagement, the Russian Federation still to this day, has less GNP than ITALY.

C. Russia right now has de evolved from its Soviet scientific powerhouse status to being far inferior to the European Union and China in terms of patents and scientific productivity. As a graduate of the U of Houston in 2002, I remember being told later by the head of the Physics department of the third rate quality of Russian applicants to Physics, a quality so bad that in almost 90% of the cases, the Applicants were fast tracked for the circular file. Also I still have a ticket from RUDIN 10, a meeting at the Peoples Friendship University in Moscow. What I saw was a parade of brilliant Soviet era physics researchers, often very old, followed by scientific nobodies as of the present era, in Russia. It was jarring and sad.

D. Soviet support of left wing causes, while at times jarring has been replaced by Kremlin supplication and support for losers like Steve Bannon, with all that entails. I.e. the dregs of our civilization are now feted in the DUMA, in a development no Soviet leader would have tolerated.

E. Russia is now in all but name a Slavic version of Saudi Arabia, with its non energy component of its GNP in free fall to third world levels

F. The GINI coefficient of Russia is even worse than America, 2022,

G. And Now PUTIN wants to strangle a Slavic democracy, Ukraine , as a way of keeping his people more subservient and obedient to his Kremlin Mafia

Sweet

Hear that tiny violin wailing for PUTIN and his HURT feelings ? Oh , man, how poetic

While the UK is no slouch as to its destruction of global civilization centers, i.e. India during the British RAJ , and also China for 110 years of Opium peddling, at least some in the UK realize that appeasement of loser Putin is not exactly a good look. i.e. see the following

https://www.wsj.com/articles/british-labour-steps-up-on-russia-keir-starmer-ukraine-vladimir-putin-11644534984

quote

Keir Starmer sees Putin clearly, unlike some on the American right.

By?The Editorial Board

Updated Feb. 10, 2022 7:32 pm ET

British opposition leader Keir Starmer in London, Nov. 23, 2021.

Not all of Europe wants to appease?Vladimir Putin?as his troops threaten Ukraine. And not even all of the European left. Full marks to Keir Starmer, the British opposition leader, who on Thursday came out four-square in support of reinforcing NATO and helping Kyiv.

“Nobody wants war. At first glance some on the left may be sympathetic to those siren voices who condemn Nato,” the Labour party leader?wrote?in the left-wing Guardian. “But to condemn Nato is to condemn the guarantee of democracy and security it brings, and which our allies in eastern and central Europe are relying on, as the sabre-rattling from Moscow grows ever louder.”

Mr. Starmer was rebutting the British Stop the War Coalition led by, among others, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. “At best they are naive; at worst they actively give succour to authoritarian leaders who directly threaten democracies,” he wrote. “There is nothing progressive in showing solidarity with the aggressor when our allies need our solidarity and—crucially—our practical assistance, now more than ever.”

His op-ed landed as he was heading to Brussels for a NATO summit that had Ukraine at the top of the agenda. He’s backing the position of British Prime Minister?Boris Johnson?and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. The opposition support is notable in contrast to some on the American right who want to let Mr. Putin swallow Ukraine with little or no resistance.

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It’s also a shrewd political move by Mr. Starmer, who succeeded Mr. Corbyn as Labour leader after the party’s landslide election defeat in 2019. Mr. Starmer seems to understand that one reason for Labour’s rout was that British voters sensed that the party under the far-left Mr. Corbyn had strayed far from their traditional democratic values.

Labour’s support gives Mr. Johnson a boost for his Russia policy, but it also poses a longer-term threat to his Tory government. Mr. Starmer is showing he’s learned the lesson of Mr. Corbyn’s defeat and won’t be an easy election mark. The Johnson Tories will need an agenda beyond the Tory version of tax-and-spend big government if they want and deserve to keep power.

End of quote

I guess that the geniuses in Fox news want a further cratering of UKRAINE, and then of America to satisfy the adage that misery loves company. Right ? I.e. we should all be in Putin land in terms of having all of our assets sold off to appease a troll of a government center, as in Russia ? How about it, FOX and FRIENDS ? GO FOR IT. Really, and just blow off points A to G, and just be happy, while your country has appeasers with no guts singing the praise of a tyrant who has stolen over 1 TRILLION USD of his country's wealth. Go for it, and of course, just realize that not all of us are so blinded

Andrew Beckwith, PhD