You can get all twisted up by Tucker or any other media boogeyman you like, but the fact remains we have no national security interest in Ukraine. None. To even insinuate we should consider an offensive action like a cyber strike on Russia is war-mongering, neo-con territory right next to John Bolton. And to say arguing against intervention in any way in Ukraine is “sucking up” or serving as Putin’s lapdog is equally dangerous.
Ukraine poses test for fractured GOP Republicans in Washington and on the campaign trail find themselves riven with divisions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, exposing the power of a newly emboldened isolationist strain within the GOP. The Republican establishment is vocally advocating for muscular U.S. sanctions against Moscow after Russia invaded two breakaway areas in Ukraine controlled by separatist militants, bashing the first tranche from the Biden administration as too weak. But populist GOP lawmakers and candidates are downplaying Ukraine’s significance to the U.S and advocating for a lighter touch, marking a reversal from the party’s orthodoxy, which historically favored heavy U.S. involvement abroad. “I think Republicans have mixed feelings about it,” said Brian Darling, a GOP strategist and former Senate aide. “Many Republicans are concerned about getting too engaged in this faraway conflict because it's not something that's immediate,” he added. “But there's also the tension with Republicans who've been around for a while, remember the Cold War, remember the fight for freedom for when the Soviet Union broke up and all the breakaway republics moving towards democracy.”
The interest in Ukraine is that a sovereign and democratically elected nation is being invaded by a corrupt gangster state. You like “freedom”? Or do you like Chinese communist or Russian gangster type rule? That is what’s at stake here. A few of our domestic extremists have made clear what they are about, and no they aren’t just “pacifists” if that’s what you are laughably suggesting. This is an old fashioned case of good vs. evil with little room left for interpretation. Ukraine is unfortunately in the no man’s land in between democratically elected sovereign nations where these hard lines are drawn, and those who would seek to destroy those democratic freedoms and rule of law - either by force or by corruption.
I don't know if Carlson realized how bad he was looking sucking up to Putin that way, or if his bosses at Fox did. On the eve of war, Tucker Carlson defended Putin. Now he's backpedaling
That's why I compared them to Americans who admired Hitler in the 1930s. It's gross and it's completely anti-American.
Even still, it's interesting to me that he phrases it in the negative (non approval) as opposed to his usual mocking and insults when he is against something. He certainly knows how to pull his punches here for whatever reason.
Seems Tucker is now changing his tune. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/02/25/tucker-carlson-russia-ukraine-putin/ I think Tucker is best described by this statement:
Sounds like his bosses got to him. His problem (as well as Trump, Biden, etc) is once it's on video & the internet, you can't hide. Words can't be twisted, etc. He said it. Backpedal away
Where's the GoFundMe to buy tucker a one way ticket to Moscow? Then he can kiss Putin's ass in person
He didn't backpedal at all. His whole point was we should not intervene or get involved in a territorial dispute, war whatever you want to call it at the cost of American lives and money when we have no strategic interest there. He has not changed his tune on that at all. Yesterday he condemned and blamed Putin for invading and starting a war which he is correct about. He did not say ok now we need to get involved. Big difference.
Who says America has to make such a short-sighted, intellectually dishonest choice of “choosing evil” if we don’t go on the direct offensive against Russia? That’s pulled right from the neo-con manifesto. Nobody is arguing Putin’s not a bad guy or that he hasn’t taken an illegal, hostile action, violated all international norms and standards of conflict and isn’t at least a partially delusional man opposed to the idea of democracy. But it doesn’t mean we have to look at the world in such a simple, binary fashion and immediately overreact when bad people do bad things. We can all be allies of democracy but also understand this one doesn’t require offensive, direct intervention on our part.
If the current version of Viktor Orban was in office when Hungary applied for membership in NATO and the EU the chances are that the country would have never been allowed to become a member of the organizations. Same for Turkey and Erdogan.
The point was it seems like if you are in the club, your commitment to democracy can be overlooked by NATO or the EU.
No, he went well beyond simply saying we shouldn't get involved. As Putin massed tens of thousands of troops on the Ukraine border, Carlson assured his viewers that Putin was just keeping his borders safe and that “Putin is having a border dispute with a nation called Ukraine." He dismissed Ukraine as not really a country, but “a pure client state of the United States State Department." He claimed there's no reason for Americans to dislike Putin, the real problem is other Americans, because Putin never "threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him." Because, you know, jailing political opponents and invading other countries is nothing compared to criticizing a cable TV commentator. By the way, this is nothing new. Carlson in 2019: “Why shouldn’t I root for Russia? Which I am.” He later said he was joking, but then said: "And I think we should probably take the side of Russia if we have to choose between Russia and Ukraine. That is my view.”
To be clear, I’m not suggesting we go into Ukraine. Biden made it clear that wasn’t happening. Not directly anyway. This pretty much left it to more of supporting an insurgency rather than engaging Russians over Ukraine. However the NATO territories are a hard line since these are defended by treaty obligation. If Putin moves on them, you have defacto WW3. Not sure what the alternative is unless you want to see a superpower alliance between a reconstituted USSR and China which would make the U.S. a distant 3rd. You’d then have to seriously consider the possibility they wouldn’t just stop at Eastern Europe or Taiwan.
