Empire for Thee, But Not for Me

What do people actually mean when they say we’re hypocrites for opposing Putin’s aggression?

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Dear Reader (excluding anyone who thinks Russia is a NATO member),

“Among the magical words that hypnotize men’s minds and keep them from asking intelligent questions, the Monroe Doctrine has a sovereign charm in American politics.”

Charles F. Dole, a Unitarian minister, wrote that in The Atlantic in 1905.

It’s nice to see that some things never change.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    I think this is outside the paywall. Good! Lots of people need to read this. I’m so tired of the “we do bad stuff too” dismissal of any criticism of Vladimir Putin. It’s BS. Anyone pushing it is either duped or acting in bad faith.

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    Lipo Davis

    I think it's possible to see fault with BOTH sides, but particularly our own.

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    James McDermott

    Biden tells us to expect more pain at the pump as the US has banned Russian petroleum imports, but the pain we feel at the gas pump is nothing compared to pain that the Ukrainians are feeling under the indiscriminate bombing of their cities. BTW, will someone please 'splain to me why gas prices have been rising even before we cut off the Russian supplies?

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    Bel Aves

    Not certain whether you or Williamson are most inciteful political commentators around. I was astounded at hearing those on the right, from Carlson to Noonan citing the US (!) and NATO as the reason for Putin's aggressions. Was NATO the reason for the apartment bombings in 1999? And when we consider the current aggressions of Xi- is there a pacific NATO to which he is reacting? Heck, someone find the American inspired justification of brutal dictator Saddam for invading Iran in 1980. It is more simple than the pretzels upon which these pundits twist themselves into. A dictator has only the legitimacy of fear and might. That is why so many invade their neighbors.

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    Lipo Davis

    Maybe because they feel Russia was provoked into a response. And perhaps that was the whole point of bringing Ukraine into NATO.

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    Lisa Lohnes

    Just want to say I've been trying for several months to get my husband to read your columns. Success! He's heard your podcasts but he's a reader not a listener. Critical communicators are good at the written and the spoken word. Thank you!

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    James McDermott

    Fukuyama may have proclaimed the end of history, but I'm more inclined to view the past as prologue, or as Mark Twain might have said, news of the death of history is greatly exaggerated. The great sigh of relief at the end of all the wars of the Twentieth Century, including the Cold War, and the demise of the Soviet Union and the worldwide Communist movement were but a brief period of relative peace and security, as all such previous periods of peace have been in the history of human affairs. The fact that our leaders fail to recognize that the lulls don't last is the great shame of international politics. We are never prepared to deal with the new threats to world peace.

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    Charlie Hall

    We now see why Trump had surprising support from segments of the nutty far left: The Blame America First Crowd saw Trump as an opportunity to dismantle what they consider to be the American Empire. Note that some of Bernie Sander's campaign team -- Nina Turner, David Sirota, Briahna Joy Gray -- along with others on the far left such as Glenn Greenwald, all did whatever they could to sabotage Biden and get Trump re-elected. (Sanders himself did support Biden.)

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  9. Steven Waters

    Very good stuff. On the issue that Russia has nukes so we can't do anything militarily directly, is there a level of war criminality that changes that? If Pakistan (or Russia) invades India, are all bets still off? I do get the existential element when nukes get into the picture. Thank you.

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    C C Writer

    Jonah, it may seem outrageous and unbelievable that you should have to keep on writing explanations of how to use a moral compass, for the benefit of so many who apparently were insufficiently exposed to these ideas in their formative years. And of course it is (outrageous and unbelievable). But it needs doing, and you're good at it. Keep it up.

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