Great article and my shoulders slumped forward toward the end of the article and totally agree, no good solution or end to this sad story of Russian invasion of Ukraine :-(
America is lost in the fog of war. Our mainstream media supplies no history, no background on culture or even Zelensky's suppression of journalists and free speech. Skepticism takes time and thought, and after two years of our own pandemic fog, another U.S. costly and ugly war game was the last thing on our agenda. Ukraine has been a political pawn for Western powers for years, and sadly the Eurasian response may change our world.
When the Soviet Union dissolved we a) made no effort to help the Russians develop a democratic culture, our focus was entirely on getting them to sell of state-owned resources in the severely flawed belief that a free market would promote democracy and (b) failed to dissolve NATO as its reason for existing no longer existed and replaced it with a treaty organization that included all former Soviet states. So, I place a lot of blame on this situation on us simply because we seemed more interested in wallowing in our triumph and rubbing Russia's nose in it, having zero regard for Russia's valid security concerns.
That said, there is the possibility for the US to make things right if we had competent people in the state department, but as Trump drove many out the chances are even lower than normal. This situation shows the real need for competent foreign service bureaucrats protected from political interference who would be able to provide valuable input well before things break down, as they did in this situation.
Whatever happened to all the other comments? Have they been scrubbed, as the Twitter censors are so fond doing? Last night Tucker Carlson showed a clip of Twitter's censors sitting together in a room after they were told that Elon Musk was successful in buying their company. Seems they were near suicidal at the thought of losing so much power.
I’m not saying you can’t disagree, I’m saying asking Twitter to remove content you disagree with is bush league, especially coming from a self-described journalist”
👆
Matt Taibbi on his Twitter feed.
Isn’t blocking someone for far less than straight up abuse “asking Twitter to remove content”?
These ethical inconsistencies ought to and do colour this reader’s perception of the authenticity of your positions.
Here’s a bottom line for you Taibbi. And it’s not so u usual. Some of the same characteristics of your writing/reporting style/approach that I initially enjoyed I now find nearly nauseating...
You fancy yourself “the last real journalist standing...” You’re not. Your wit is now about half. There is no lightness in your writing these days.
It’s finger-wagging all day every day. You work that guess-who-lost-their-free speech today lemonade stand with vigour.
And rake in the bucks.
If only you’d been invited to sit beside Rachel Maddow once in awhile. That resentment makes its way through.
The least interesting thing a writer can do is beat a narrative to death. That you do well. For fuck’s sake. Maybe a surprise now and then?
Great article and my shoulders slumped forward toward the end of the article and totally agree, no good solution or end to this sad story of Russian invasion of Ukraine :-(
America is lost in the fog of war. Our mainstream media supplies no history, no background on culture or even Zelensky's suppression of journalists and free speech. Skepticism takes time and thought, and after two years of our own pandemic fog, another U.S. costly and ugly war game was the last thing on our agenda. Ukraine has been a political pawn for Western powers for years, and sadly the Eurasian response may change our world.
Great article. These last few weeks I feel like the only one thinking we should be trying to de-escalate rather than escalate.
Good for you to reach out to Noam, the perennial voice in the wilderness.
When the Soviet Union dissolved we a) made no effort to help the Russians develop a democratic culture, our focus was entirely on getting them to sell of state-owned resources in the severely flawed belief that a free market would promote democracy and (b) failed to dissolve NATO as its reason for existing no longer existed and replaced it with a treaty organization that included all former Soviet states. So, I place a lot of blame on this situation on us simply because we seemed more interested in wallowing in our triumph and rubbing Russia's nose in it, having zero regard for Russia's valid security concerns.
That said, there is the possibility for the US to make things right if we had competent people in the state department, but as Trump drove many out the chances are even lower than normal. This situation shows the real need for competent foreign service bureaucrats protected from political interference who would be able to provide valuable input well before things break down, as they did in this situation.
Whatever happened to all the other comments? Have they been scrubbed, as the Twitter censors are so fond doing? Last night Tucker Carlson showed a clip of Twitter's censors sitting together in a room after they were told that Elon Musk was successful in buying their company. Seems they were near suicidal at the thought of losing so much power.
I’m not saying you can’t disagree, I’m saying asking Twitter to remove content you disagree with is bush league, especially coming from a self-described journalist”
👆
Matt Taibbi on his Twitter feed.
Isn’t blocking someone for far less than straight up abuse “asking Twitter to remove content”?
These ethical inconsistencies ought to and do colour this reader’s perception of the authenticity of your positions.
Thank you.
Here’s a bottom line for you Taibbi. And it’s not so u usual. Some of the same characteristics of your writing/reporting style/approach that I initially enjoyed I now find nearly nauseating...
You fancy yourself “the last real journalist standing...” You’re not. Your wit is now about half. There is no lightness in your writing these days.
It’s finger-wagging all day every day. You work that guess-who-lost-their-free speech today lemonade stand with vigour.
And rake in the bucks.
If only you’d been invited to sit beside Rachel Maddow once in awhile. That resentment makes its way through.
The least interesting thing a writer can do is beat a narrative to death. That you do well. For fuck’s sake. Maybe a surprise now and then?