You know, 72 hours ago, there were those in the US who held a certain admiration for Vladimir Putin (especially compared to the invertebrate who currently befouls the White House with his presence). There were many in the US who viewed Putin's Russia as a more reliable ally than Europe in America's long-term struggle; that is, against China.
And why lie? I was one of them.
-This author, in his office in Kharkiv, 27 February, 2022.
So it has to be said: the reason the American Right has been reluctant to support Ukraine is because a lot of American Conservatives really, really wanted to like Russia, and its president, Vladimir Putin. The fringe on the far-right is still trying to tacitly avoid casting total blame on Putin for the invasion. The fringe of that fringe is still trying to cast Ukraine as the villain and Russia as the "valiant defender of Traditional Values" against some kind of "US-led New World Order," whatever the Hell that phrase is being taken to mean this week.
...I, um, kind of thought the US was the leader of the existing world order (for good, ill, or both) and wouldn't have much need for a new one, but I digress.
Anyway, even conservatives who have finally torn the rose-colored glasses away and recognized Putin for what he is, have done so with a mournful sigh and a "what might have been" attitude toward the old dreams of a Russo-American alliance against Neo-Imperial China and an increasingly Sinophilic European Union. As one such conservative myself, I have this to say to anyone on the Right who is still clinging to the Russophilic hopes of yestermonth.
It might have been possible once upon a time. Not anymore.
I Get It: He Was Tough and Our Guy Was a Wimp
image from Media Matters article by Brian Powell
I remember how this admiration for Putin began. Think back, American readers, to the Obama days. As our own president went around the world apologizing for every war we ever had the unmitigated audacity to win (Bolton, Rove), threw long-standing and vital allies to the wolves (Harris, Oren, Pasick), threw away everything our soldiers died for in Iraq by fleeing before ISIS (Beccaro, Kharroub & Perugino), and humiliated himself by going to Iran with hat in hand as a supplicant begging "pweeze no bildz nukes, k," (Epstein, Zuckerman) we hid our faces in shame at the spinelessness of a man who was, at the time, the most cowardly president we had ever had (a title he later lost to his own VP).
The Syria crisis only furthered this impression. As Obama toothlessly and impotently drew "red lines" that had no meaningful consequences when crossed (Morris), Russia stepped in and persuaded Syria to give up their chemical weapons stockpile with a level of ease that made Washington look even more foolish (Radia, Schifrin & Hughes). The image of a rising Russia (Pfifer) and a declining America (The Washington Times Staff) was unshakeable
The unflattering differences between Obama and Putin didn't stop with actual policy.
While Obama was not only afraid of a light drizzle but was also incapable of holding his own umbrella so he had to get a Marine to hold it for him like a lady in Victorian England (Piccione), and his wife openly attested that her husband's election was the first time in her life she had ever been proud of her country (Fryguy99), Vladimir Putin braved torrential rain (without forcing someone to hold an umbrella for him) to honor his country's defenders by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (1) (News Russia Ukraine Syria World). While Barack Obama didn't even bother to hide his disdain for Judeo-Christian traditional ethics (Wallbuilders Staff), Putin made it an active point to discard the former USSR's Atheistic stance and portray modern Russia as the defender of both the Christian Faith and traditional Western morals (Inessa S; Mrachek). Besides, when Putin spoke of the "Moral Decay of the decadent West," we looked around at a society that was trying to make pedophilia acceptable while claiming anyone who knew what bathroom to use without a six hour debate was outmoded, and we had to bite our tongues and admit "he's kinda not wrong."
It was a time when it seemed like everything American conservatives hold dear (patriotism, ruggedness, faith, family) was being dragged through the mud by America's president and enshrined by Russia's, to say nothing of the image of weakness our president at the time was presenting, compared to the unabashed, chest-beating, Conan-the-Conqueror masculinity of Russia's president. While Russia's president was shooting tigers, ours was posing as a majorette on a golf course that wouldn't have challenged an 8-year-old girl. While Russia's president was riding wild horses, ours rode a pre-teen girl's bicycle with a helmet from the 1980's. Every time Russia's president did something that made him seem like a 1980's action hero, ours did something that made him look like a neutered Mister Mom (Chumley).
It was hard to look across the Bering Strait and not feel a stab of envy. As the Sino-American clash that is rapidly becoming the defining feature of the first half of the 21st Century began to take shape, Americans began to wonder who was on each side. With Communist ideology no longer tying Russia and China together, with Europe sliding into China's arms, and with cracks beginning to form in the Russo-Chinese "alliance (if it could ever have truly been called that)," American conservatives began to ask ourselves "when the showdown with Xi's horde of 1.5 billion begins, who do we want on our side? The bear-wrestlers who pray over every meal and have 7500 nukes, or the tea-drinking, beret-wearing, beignet-munching panda-huggers whose countries our ancestors risked their lives to get out of?"
If anyone is unsure what the answer was, I challenge you to put a Siberian, a Texan and a Belgian at the same bar, politics notwithstanding, and see which two hit it off and which one winds up running for a "safe space."
Bottom line: we knew Putin was a dictatorial sonofabitch, but we envied Russia for having the son, when all we had was the bitch!!
After the four year reprieve we got from 2016 - 2020, the White House was then contaminated by the presence of Joe Biden, a man so inept that his only major political achievement in history was being selected to run on the Obama ticket as Darth Barack's assassination insurance policy: you take me out and you're stuck with this guy! While Putin outmaneuvered Sleepy Creepy Joe at every turn (which I'll confess isn't a high bar to clear), and while Biden seemed determined to one-up his former boss's catastrophic Iraq retreat with a more humiliating one in Afghanistan, we looked back at Russia and sighed with envy once more. "One day," we dreamed, "we'll have someone in the White House as bold, decisive, and cunning as that guy."
That Changed
So what happened? Well, it's hard to see someone as a "tough guy" when they promise not to invade a country and then do (sneakiness is less impressive than boldness), have to beg for help from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Syria and China to do so (so much for "rugged individualism"), blow up day care centers and maternity wards (takes a big man to kill infants and pregnant women with cruise missiles from 3,000 miles away, doesn't it?), and then somehow, after violating every known rule of war, they still manage to lose more troops in 25 days than the US did in 20 years in Afghanistan and 11 years in Iraq combined.
But more importantly, where Putin crossed a line of no return was when he targeted civilians.
Not when he killed civilians.
When he specifically targeted them to be killed, out of fear of going toe-to-toe with a smaller and less equipped military.
Almost any military operation, no matter how precise and selective the munitions are, causes some civilian deaths. When the "virtuous" (at least compared to most Great Powers) United States bombed Iraq, our missiles on military targets tended to kill the civilians around them too. But when Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to systematically target densely populated civilian areas, with no legitimate military targets in them, that was a line.
I've spoken before of Saltyvka (often spelled Saltovka) and Kyevski Districts in Kharkiv. Neither of these ditricts had a political, military, or industrial target anywhere in them. Both were residential areas filled with NOTHING but civilians. Russia's artillery bombarded both for more than a week straight, to the point where barely a structure is visible in any direction. A maternity ward, an elementary school...
...mines in a God damned Humanitarian corridor for Christ's sake??
And of course, Putin did himself no favors where his image is concerned. Where there once was a calm, cool, collected leader who always seemed to be playing Roddenberrian 3D chess when everybody else was playing checkers, there now sat a raving, desperate, unhinged, shrieking dictator who sees threats in every corner. Where once sat a stoic, calculating, James-Bond-type behind a desk, there now sat a wild-eyed brinkman who seemed less like Clint Eastwood and more like Achmed the suicide bomber, ready to blow himself and everybody else up to make his point... with the minor distinction that Achmed didn't have the only nuclear arsenal larger than ours at his command.
The image of "standing for traditional values" was lost when he threatened nuclear retaliation for sanctions.
The image of being "one step ahead of everyone else" was lost when he tried to compare the sanctions to the Holocaust... while carrying out a holocaust of his own.
The image of "boldness" was lost when he targeted children and elders.
The image of "strength" was lost when the children and elders started fighting back, and winning.
...Look. I know. With the White House occupied by a simpering twit who has done nothing in response to this assault but wag his finger and wants the media to praise him for the imagined "strength of will" that it took to do so, we conservatives are looking for a hero. We have been doing so since 2008. We want to think there's still a rough, tough, macho leader who, as Rommel said of Patton, "prays on his knees and curses like a stable boy;" someone we can point our politicians to and say "take notes on that guy;" a statesman who isn't afraid to say "well if you want to get rough, say when;" someone like Ben Netenyahu, but younger and with more inspiring oration. And we're not afraid to look outside the all-too-woke-for-its-own-fucking-good United States to find him. Hell, let's be honest. With the average American needing a safe space and forty hours with a government-provided therapist when someone tells them "Socialism has failed every time it's ever been tried, there are only two genders and the world doesn't owe you anything so get a fucking job and quit bitching; I don't care which pronoun you want to be addressed with," we kind of have to look outside the US.
...But this isn't the guy.
He proved that on February 24.
Zelensky though? Now he's got potential.
I realize he was a comedian before he ran for office but let's recall, Ronald Reagan was an actor and as presidents go, he's the G.O.A.T.
Just sayin'.
(1) A Monument in Moscow, not to be confused with the monument of the same name at Washington D.C's Arlington National Cemetery.
Works Cited
Beccaro, Thomas. "Sorry, Democrats: Obama Is More Responsible For ISIS Than Trump." Forbes. 16 Feb, 2017. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasdelbeccaro/2017/02/16/are-the-democrats-helping-isis-recruit/?sh=7fc352ec26ff
Bolton, John. "Obama’s shameful apology tour lands in Hiroshima." New York Post. 26 May, 2016. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://nypost.com/2016/05/26/obamas-shameful-apology-tour-lands-in-hiroshima/
Chumley, Cheryl K. "Vladimir Putin scores 6 goals, 5 assists in hockey game." The Washington Times. 12 May, 2014. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/12/vladimir-putin-scores-6-goals-5-assists-in-hockey-/
Epstein, Richard. "Obama’s Disastrous Iran Deal." Hoover Institution. 20 Jul, 2015. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.hoover.org/research/obamas-disastrous-iran-deal
Fryguy99. ""All this for a damn flag" Michelle Obama at World Trade Tower Ceremony." Youtube. 14 Oct, 2012. Web. 21 Mar, 2022.
Harris, Tobias. "Obama’s Japan policy: Benign neglect at work?." East Asia Forum. 25 Apr, 2009. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/04/25/obamas-japan-policy-benign-neglect-at-work/
Inessa S. ""With the absence of values, society begins to decay" - Putin." Youtube. 7 Aug, 2016. Web. 21 Mar, 2022.
Kharroub, Tamara & Perugino, Roxanne. "The “Dos and Don’ts” of Defeating ISIS: Obama’s wasted 13-minutes." Arab Center Washington D.C. 6 Dec, 2015. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/the-dos-and-donts-of-defeating-isis/
Morris, Tim. "Obama's 'red line' failure assured crisis in Syria." Nola.com. 11 Apr, 2017. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.nola.com/opinions/article_3635bdcb-4a9f-595a-a34f-35863ecdc303.html
Mrachek, Alexis. "How Putin Uses Russian Orthodoxy to Grow His Empire." The Heritage Foundation. 22 Feb, 2019. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.heritage.org/europe/commentary/how-putin-uses-russian-orthodoxy-grow-his-empire
News Russia Ukraine Syria World. "Russia Putin braves rain to honour WWII victims at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier." Youtube. 22 Jun, 2017. Web. 21 Mar, 2022.
Oren, Michael. "How Obama Abandoned Israel." Wall Street Journal. 16 June, 2015. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-obama-abandoned-israel-1434409772
Pasick, Adam. "“I announce my separation from the United States”: Duterte puts the Philippines in China’s corner." Quartz.com. 20 Oct 2016. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://qz.com/814950/rodrigo-duterte-in-china-the-philippine-president-said-his-country-is-now-aligned-with-beijing-not-the-united-states/
Pfifer, Steven. "Pay attention, America: Russia is upgrading its military." Brookings Institute. 5 Feb, 2016. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/pay-attention-america-russia-is-upgrading-its-military/
Piccione, Mike. "Obama breaches Marine umbrella protocol." Daily Caller. 16 May, 2013. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://dailycaller.com/2013/05/16/obama-breaches-marine-umbrella-protocol/
Powell, Brian. "For Russia With Love: Right-Wing Media Mad For Vlad." Media Matters for America. 4 MAr, 2014. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/russia-love-right-wing-media-mad-vlad
Radia, Kirit; Schifrin, Nick & Hughes, Dana. "Syria 'Welcomed' Russian Proposal to Destroy Its Chemical Weapons." ABC News. 9 Sep, 2013. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://abcnews.go.com/International/syria-welcomed-russian-proposal-destroy-chemical-weapons/story?id=20198655
Rove, Karl. "The President's Apology Tour." Wall Street Journal. 23 Apr, 2009. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124044156269345357
The Washington Times Staff. "EDITORIAL: Obama and America’s decline." The Washington Times. 9 Nov 2010. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/9/obama-and-americas-decline/
Wallbuilders Staff. "America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U. S. President." Wallbuilders.com. 29 Dec, 2016. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://wallbuilders.com/americas-biblically-hostile-u-s-president/
Zuckerman, Mortimer B. "A Bad Deal Off to a Worse Start." US News. 21 Jan, 2016. Web. 21 Mar, 2022. https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2016-01-21/obamas-iran-nuclear-deal-is-a-bad-deal-off-to-a-worse-start