Mike Pottage — who we last saw gushing over Vladimir Putin’s softball interview with Tucker Carlson — referenced that interview again to defend Putin in his May 1 WorldNetDaily column:
An interesting and seemingly important aspect of Vladimir Putin’s recent conversation with Tucker Carlson emerged from the Russian leader’s recount of history as he saw it. Putin expressed surprise bordering upon disappointment that the events leading up to major Russian domestic reforms did not produce movement by the West to accept Russia for what it is, a part of Europe.
He went so far as to say “we expected” some overtures to join Europe and the West. That was as significant a comment as anything said about the two nations since World War II. It ranked up there with “tear down this wall.” Yet, it was ignored by the intelligence services of the United States, by the political leaders of this nation and by the media.
The silence was an endorsement of the Cold War status quo.
Pottage is convenient silent about these “major Russian domestic reforms” he claims should have produced “movement by the West.” In fact, those “reforms” involved making the country into a totalitarian dictatorship under Putin that suppresses and criminalizes dissent (i.e. Alexei Navalny) and censors and criminalizes LGBT rights. How is any of that supposed to endear Russia toward the West? Pottage doesn’t explain. Instead, he engages in yet more Putin-fluffing, including the laughable claim that the world’s largest country by size is “land poor”:
U.S. leaders never seem to consider Russia’s position. Russia is “land poor.” Its expanse of land poses serious management problems within the nation, for it embraces many cultures and religions.
Russia’s geography is not enviable. Its north is bitter cold. Its south must deal with the Islamic chaos of fractured states and warring factions. And to the east, there is China. China is not part of Europe and has no desire to move in that direction. And Russia is essentially landlocked, trapped in the Black Sea, trapped in the North Sea, and its capital thousands of miles from Vladivostok.
When the top Russian tells the world his nation was disappointed it was not encouraged to move toward European and Western society, after it made major domestic and foreign relations reforms, the remark is really significant.
More astounding was the Western leadership response. Not one Western leader responded by citing the comments as “interesting” and worthy of future discussion. Not one American leader suggested, “Let’s talk about that.”
Pottage didn’t explain how Russia’s annexation of Crimea by force was supposed to endear it to the West, or how its war in Ukraine to take more land is supposed to address its “land poor” status. He again parroted Putin’s complaints about the possibility Ukraine could be admitted into NATO as justifying his invasion of the country:
Before the shooting started in Ukraine, Valdimir Putin looked at Europe and America and said repeatedly and clearly that Russia would not accept Ukraine membership in NATO. He was ignored. His response was to stage the movement of the Russian military toward the border with Ukraine. Putin was sending a message, and the West, particularly the USA, ignored him.
As a matter of fact, as Russia pummeled Ukraine, the Biden administration told Americans Ukraine was winning. Then along came Oct. 7 and the death of 1,200-plus citizens of Israel, and Ukraine was dropped as a media topic of coverage until it ran out of U.S. dollars and U.S. arms.
At no point in this tragedy were Americans challenged to discuss what NATO membership by Ukraine would mean.
Take note, Putin did not turn east away from Europe. He looked to Europe for a solution.
Meanwhile all the levers of power in America were directed at attacking everyone who did not beat the war drums about repelling the Russians. There was nothing reasoned about the U.S. position. There was no discussion of options. The sophistication of American diplomacy reminded one of a schoolyard fight that never gets beyond the “Oh Ya” stage.
Pottage conveniently omits the fact that NATO is a defensive alliance, meaning that Russia would have nothing to fear from Ukraine joining it … unless the plan was to force Ukraine into Russia all along. He concluded with more whining on Putin’s behalf:
Our institutions are failing us, and ignoring the Putin overture to the West is just one example. In the grand scheme of this, Russia remains European, and as the world fractures along political and religious fault lines, Russia really has nowhere else to go. Can you imagine the nightmares in Russia if China defeated the United States?
We ought to, as a nation, choose leaders smart enough to work that problem and that opportunity instead of prowling about the world looking for the next regional war to suck the lifeblood out of America.
Again, Pottage fails to describe what, exactly, in this purported “overture” should have endeared anyone in the West to Russia. Again, Pottage is merely doing (paid?) PR for Putin.