Why is Putin demonized? A Dangerous ploy- Counterpunch/Andre Levine
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/14/putins-demonizers/Excerpt:
why is Putin demonized?
I would venture that the fact that Putin is the leader of Russia has more than a little to do with it.
Even in what Gore Vidal aptly called the United States of Amnesia, it registers at some level that, a century ago, Russians moved history forward; that they broke free from the capitalist system.
The Communists who led the Russian Revolution then went on to organize and oversee the construction of a historically unprecedented, ostensibly socialist, order. It was a valiant effort – undertaken in an economically backward country and in the face of the relentless opposition of far stronger enemies.
Tragically, what they concocted turned out to be a mixed blessing at best. Seven decades later, it all fell apart.
But Communism – in Russia, and then in Eastern Europe and China — was a living presence throughout much of the twentieth century; its effects on politics and reflections on politics were profound.
Even in a country and at a time when Republican-leaning states and regions are described as “red,” the memory of Communism lingers at some level.
Putin is no less pro-capitalist than anyone else in the liberal fold, and he is as fine a conservative leader as one can be in today’s world.
The east –the Russian part as much as the Chinese – is no longer even remotely red (except perhaps in the sense that Republicans are), but the memory persists in our collective consciousness.
And so, when a Russian leader becomes an obstacle in America’s way, the empire strikes back. Step one is to vilify the leader. And if there is anything our foreign policy establishment and our compliant corporate media are good at, vilification tops the list.
Demonizing Putin may be useful in the short run to the empire’s “bipartisan” stewards.
But, they are dealing with someone more formidable than themselves, and they are getting in over their heads. It is a cynical and dangerous ploy from which incalculable harm could follow.
ANDREW LEVINE is a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, the author most recently of THE AMERICAN IDEOLOGY (Routledge) and POLITICAL KEY WORDS (Blackwell) as well as of many other books and articles in political philosophy. His most recent book is In Bad Faith: What’s Wrong With the Opium of the People. He was a Professor (philosophy) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Research Professor (philosophy) at the University of Maryland-College Park. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press).
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DonCoquixote
(13,961 posts)but then of course, he did not...
go west young man
(4,856 posts)explanation of types of liberalism. Russia obviously is not at the point in it's evolution of true liberalism being maintained. However, there is a possibility of it in the future if we understand and help Russia evolve now, instead of denigrating the country and trying to develop a new Cold War. This point obviously goes over many peoples heads.
DonCoquixote
(13,961 posts)my my, not like that statement alone seethes with contempt, as if societies somehow evolve.
Societies do not evolve, they are forced to change, for practical reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with morality. Slavery ended because industry made more money, segregation ended because it prevented white people from getting black people to buy things, and yes, Obama 'evolved" his postilion because Gays told him the GAYTM was closed, to quote a saying that was popular here on DU.
Now, I do not want a cold war, and I frankly think there is nothing in Ukraine worth fighting for. We went to war in Serbia to stop Genocide, a genocide Russia applauded, supported and approved of. How did we get rewarded, by Muslim Kosovars supporting Ben Ladin. However,let us not pretend that people want to do the right thing, or that compassion moves people. People only stop being cruel when cruelty stops being rewarded. And Putin is one of many people who are setting up the idea that democracy and liberalism may not be evolved, but extinct, especially if the formerly liberal wets starts supporting the Putins of the world, the very idea this awful OP suggests.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)I have more hope for mankind than to believe we are all stuck in a certain way of thinking. Change just takes time, information and patience. "The one true constant in the universe is change" .(Heraclitus) And your quote of the "formerly liberal wets" speaks volumes about 'you', not others.
DonCoquixote
(13,961 posts)typo aside, my comment about the formerly liberal west is accurate, because oddly enough, even people who gained their power because of liberal ideas, be they Obama or Merkel, seem eager to trash certain ideas like the one that a government should spend. As far as change, it does happen, but NOT for the reasons you quote, but because it has to, and people adjust to change forced from without.
Then again, you never thought that the whole idea that the West is trying to patiently help people "evolve" to their level was the least bit PATRONIZING? And you wonder why many Asians find would be Liberals annoying, because you assume the role of teacher, not of fellow student.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)He never evolved because of pressure. He felt the time was politically right to do something. You think you forced change. He had it in his heart and mind to do something all along...for the military and for civilians. That is the difference between us. I have hope for people and you think we have to be forced. I don't. And you infer I'm patronizing. As far as Asians finding liberals annoying your way out in left field with that one. Lucky that a couple of billion Asians all think the same and have you speaking for them. Generalize and stereotype much? Enjoy your day...strange as it may be.
DonCoquixote
(13,961 posts)especially a fellow named edward said, or for that matter, any issue of Asia Times.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)They post opinion pieces all the time and accept any article they enjoy. Read their new Rocky 4 comparison to Russia and US from this week.
DonCoquixote
(13,961 posts)You would have read many times where they get SICK of us assuming that we must come UP to them. There are certain things we do better,such as press freedom (soiled as we have become), but there are thing they do better (ensuring education and medical care), but a lot of the improvements have happened there not because they had some "evolved" moment, but because they realized that if they did not actually evolve, the West would continue to treat them as pawns. In short, pressure from without caused the changes.
Do I mean this in a jingo way?, no. But it does mean that as long as we pretend we can ignore the ways they are bowing to the right, it will go away. In the US, no freedom to any group was given willingly, but only when pressure was placed. Thankfully, we had folks like Martin Luther King who chose different forms of pressure, although part of what MLK effective was the fact that the majority knew that if they ignored him, Malcolm X would speak a different sort of language.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)And spare me the accusations of red baiting--the USSR wasn't evil because it was socialist, it was evil because it was an oppressive, tyrannical, imperialist empire
And, of course, the standard bilge from the anti-American, pro-Soviet/Putin crowd:
After all, how could a graduate of the Harvard Law School and a teacher of Constitutional law at the University of Chicago be less liberal than a former official of the KGB?
But when the final reckoning comes, the obvious answer may not seem obvious anymore.
What has Putin done that is worse, from a liberal point of view, than putting the entire planet under 24/7 surveillance? Has he ordered assassinations without any semblance of due process, the way Obama has? Has he deported some two million people? Has he protected kidnappers and torturers?
And then there is the Edward Snowden question, where the views of Obama et. al. on transparency and press freedom stand revealed, and where Putin has been on the side of the angels.
It is almost axiomatic that free expression is better protected in Obama’s America than in Russia today. But is it true? Compare America’s corporate media with RT (Russia Today) TV, the television service now derided as Putin’s propaganda network.
The level of commentary and analysis on RT is far superior, and the diversity of views is greater. If that is what a propaganda network is like, then bring it on.
Putin is said to be violating international law in the Crimea. This is surely a mark against his liberalism because support for the rule of law is central to liberal politics.
But, in this too, is he worse than Obama? At least he is not a serial offender.
Of course, Democrats are notoriously spineless, and also reluctant to stand up for liberal values when one of their own is in the White House. So when the call goes out to demonize, they demonize. No surprise there.
Were they better liberals, though, they would surely resist the call. They might not be on Putin’s side in the Crimea, but they would have to regard him, at worst, as one of their own; one who has gone astray. They would regard Obama that way too.
This guy is a partisan hack of the highest order.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)That is the first thing you seem to do. You never debate an argument on it's merits.
Eko
(9,993 posts)he could
1. Give the ethnic Russians free Russian citizenship.
2. Offer police help to Ukraine to control the protests and violence.
3. Offer any help.
But instead, he is helping a part of Ukraine break away, massing armed troops on the borders and escalating the whole conflict. So, yeah, I think we can say his actions are bad.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)help violent hoodlums who murdered their own citizens to get the international community involved? Russia is 100% convinced the snipers that killed the people in front of the Hotel Ukraine were Maidan snipers. The BBC has confirmed they saw them. Russia has seen all the videos night after night. The US has never shown the videos. Propaganda is one of the biggest problem in this scenario and western propaganda is nowadays just as bad as any from the former Soviet Union. It's sadly ironic.
DonCoquixote
(13,961 posts)"
It is almost axiomatic that free expression is better protected in Obama’s America than in Russia today. But is it true? Compare America’s corporate media with RT (Russia Today) TV, the television service now derided as Putin’s propaganda network.
The level of commentary and analysis on RT is far superior, and the diversity of views is greater. If that is what a propaganda network is like, then bring it on. "
When RT does a news commentary on the treatment of LGBT in Russia, then your argument will have weight.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)DonCoquixote
(13,961 posts)The Western media’s response to Russia’s law banning gay propaganda among minors is “heavy-handed”, members of Sochi’s gay community have told RT. They worry excessive media attention may lead to Russian society blaming them for “spoiling the Olympics.”
Nothing about how prosecuting gays is actually, well wrong. Nice try.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)A couple of water skiing squirrels should be bringing that forced change for you any moment now.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)What's the difference between American propaganda and Russian propaganda? Russians know they're being lied to.
Igel
(37,535 posts)The reason we don't like Putin is because we're neocolonialist imperialists. We associate Russia with Communism and that's enough for us to be against Russia in principle.
Meh. It substitutes labels for referents, stereotypes for thinking, and a construction of history for current attitudes.
But mostly it demands that there be One True Answer.
There are lots of reasons to demonize Putin.
For some, he gets in the way of America. This doesn't have to be corporatism or anything else trulye vil. I know Mexicans that like Mexico's advancing in the world. Nobody confuses their nationalism, their loyalty to their nation-state, with Hitlerian fascism of the first water. Esp. when it's unclear tha there are horrible consequences (which some assume must always result from anything done by American, but there's no accounting for availability hierarchies and biases). The fact is, Putin is like 1950s America on steroids, limited only by the amount of damage a better connected world can do when the bad things it does gets out.
For some, he violates basic ideas of human rights. LGBT comes to mind, if you're more libertarian or au courant in your menu of rights. If you're a bit more conservative, there's passe rights like freedom of assembly, freedom of the press. Or even due process.
For others, there's the entire idea of corruption. Under Putin things are more corrupt than under El'tsyn's later years, however hard that may be to believe.
Some don't like the idea of a single person accruing personal power for political and state ends. It's one thing to trash a large corporatist if it helps people. But when all it does it help the government increase its authority, maybe not.
Etc. Anybody with a single "Putin is demonized because X" has a bad case of self-imposed simpleness or is just angling to be a demogogue.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)I just find it ironic that DU is leading the charge and sapping up this new anti-Russian mindset in the US. This site was just the opposite back in 2003 and now look at it. Most of the arguments for disliking Russia are also quite simplistic and not very well researched. I also find it ironic that the DU'ers who supported those violent protests in maiden don't seem to realize who they supported. Those guys are a lot more openly ant gay than Putin ever was. Alas you sometimes don't get the government you want after the revolution. Plenty of countries have been spun in reverse. As far as East Ukraine goes I see it breaking away on it's own in the next few weeks. It wouldn't surprise me in the least.
