Russia is suddenly in vogue, and Rachel Maddow is doing a segment on Alexei Navalny. It’s complete junk, of course. She’s peeing herself with enthusiasm over a fellow who’s a neo-Nazi. Here is my old post about Navalny. I tried giving him every benefit of the doubt but he opens his mouth, and some racist shit pops out every single time. 

I’m sorry that the only choice in Russia is between a gauche, wooden-faced neo-Nazi and Putin. It stinks. But that’s the country that installed its puppet as our president right now. Take it from somebody who is more familiar with Russia’s political life than you are with the palm of your hand: there’s nothing hopeful, redeemable or positive there. There’s nothing but slime. 

And one more thing. Other places are complicated. You can’t figure them out from a quick googling session. You need experts, knowledgeable people. Or you’ll end up waxing enthusiastic for a fellow who likes doing the Nazi salute. 

13 responses to “The Russian Vogue”

  1. Dreidel Avatar
    Dreidel

    The ONLY Russian-in- charge leader right now is Valdimar Putin. Period.

    Trump doesn’t pay any attenton to MSNBC clowns like Maddow — and who cares about the half dozen leftie idiots who take her seriously?

    A major Putin lover (Flynn) has been purged from the administration. Most (I didn’t say all) of those remaining on Teump’s staff eye the Rusian ex- KGB agent with a more jaundiced eye. Many of those people are realists who understand how a functioning democracy works.

    I know that you have doubts about that, Clarissa — and some of your readers are absolutely panicked avout the survival of American democracy — but none of them have lived through as much American history as I have, and I’ve seen its resilience.

    The current Democratic leadership is scared shitless, running around like sewer rats with their hairless tails on fire,unable to decide whether they should race to the left or to the safe center — but their successors will be back in power in four or eight or at most twelve years.

    In the meantime, “life as we know it” will go right on — along the street, around the corner, over the hill — and off into the future, taking families like you and N and Klara safely along with it.

    Feel free to get as angry and emotional as you want. (Hey, it’s your website.) But when all the anger and angst is over, your daughter will grow up — and you and N will grow old — in a free, democratic America.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar

      Russians have installed their own pocket president of the US. This is a fact of objective reality. How to react to it is everybody’s own subjective choice.

      I feel no angst or anger. I feel very entertained. The party of Reagan installing a Russian puppet in the White House- that’s very funny. I so wish Ronnie could see this.

      Like

    2. Clarissa Avatar

      And by the way, Trump does pay attention to MSNBC. He’s been tweeting about it like crazy tonight. All pouty and wounded.

      Like

      1. Shakti Avatar
        Shakti

        What, you haven’t blocked him? I can’t stand his face, and I got sick of seeing RTs in my timeline. :-/

        I’m very good at looking right at someone like they aren’t there.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar

          I never followed him on Twitter. I saw these tweets on MSNBC. ☺

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          1. Shakti Avatar
            Shakti

            I never followed him either. But all of these people would RT with quotes into my timeline and it is quite obnoxious. I don’t think the mute function works so I blocked him. I’ve never blocked so many government officials, advisors and talking heads in my life. LMAO.

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  2. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    Can anyone give me a rational explanation as to why any election campaign team needs to be in frequent contact with a foreign intelligence organization? Dreidel?

    Like

    1. Shakti Avatar
      Shakti

      Weren’t there rumors that Reagan was in contact with the Iranians before the election in 1980 about the hostages?

      Also nothing to see here, Reagan later appointed a committee that absolved him of any knowledge of the
      Iran Contra scandal.

      Like

      1. Clarissa Avatar

        Iran is one thing. The KGB is another.

        Like

        1. Stringer bell Avatar
          Stringer bell

          Plus, the major difference being that those were actual deals, pursued on equal terms by both ‘partners’. However wrong-headed they were, at least there was an element of furthering US interests at the time by morons who thought they knew what they were doing.

          This is not a deal. I mean, what are Americans getting out of this? Other than a promise by putin that he’ll delete donnie-getting-pissed-on-by-hookers.avi from his user/putin/my documents/videos folder.

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          1. Clarissa Avatar

            “Plus, the major difference being that those were actual deals, pursued on equal terms by both ‘partners’. However wrong-headed they were, at least there was an element of furthering US interests at the time by morons who thought they knew what they were doing.”

            • Exactly. Reagan acted as the agent of his country’s interests as he understood them. He understood them badly but he wasn’t anybody’s puppet. A shitty president is one thing. This country has had its full measure of them. But this is an entirely different situation. This is somebody actively engaged by a hostile foreign power. Yes, Nixon stank. Reagan was a jerk. One might dislike Obama or Carter or JFK for any number of reasons. But they were our own men, working for us in the way they knew how to. And Trump is not. He has a competing object of allegiance. That’s really scary shit.

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  3. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    Plus, the major difference being that those were actual deals, pursued on equal terms by both ‘partners’. However wrong-headed they were, at least there was an element of furthering US interests at the time by morons who thought they knew what they were doing.

    This is not a deal. I mean, what are Americans getting out of this? Other than a promise by putin that he’ll delete donnie-getting-pissed-on-by-hookers.avi from his user/putin/my documents/videos

    . He will always be GSLIC whether that exists or not. Putin can probably make a phone call or two and get all of his loans called and his tax returns released.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar

      The day after the peeing dossier was released, Putin gives a press conference and says “My prostitutes [he called them “girls with low social responsibility”, a new meme] are the best in the world.” As usual, he’s not trying to be subtle.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor