Absorbing A Narrative: Why The West Hates Putin

Why the West Hates Putin

Paul Craig Roberts

Putin is a liberal in the old fashioned sense that no longer exists in the West. He believes in sustaining a network of laws and agreements that resolve disputes diplomatically instead of with violence. He believes that government should serve the people and not the economic interests of the elite.  He believes that religion is an important element of social unity and sustains moral behavior on which society depends.  He is constrained in implementing his beliefs by Washington and Russian leadership elements that are pro-Western.  This leaves Putin frustrated and angry.

Putin’s views contrast sharply with what passes for liberalism in the West today.  Western liberals teach race and gender hatred of white people and men.  Morality for Western liberals is championing “transgender rights,” such as the ability of men to declare themselves women and compete in female sports.  Western liberals  are active in reducing the informational content of language by erasing the use of gender pronouns.  Liberals regard religion as the cause of wars and superstition.  The sharp difference in views gives liberals many reasons to hate Putin.  But these are not the main reasons Putin is hated.

The West consists of different strata. Ordinary people incapable of thinking for themselves hate Putin because they watch CNN and Fox News, listen to NPR, and read the NY Times and have been brainwashed with the war propaganda narrative.  The patriotic conservatives among them hate Putin because their government does and waving the flag is how they show their patriotism. When they hear the American President calling the President of Russia a “war criminal,” a “murderous dictator” and “a pure thug,” they do the same.

Ordinary people have absorbed a narrative.  The hatred originates in those who constructed the narrative.  What the Western intellectual class hates about Putin is that he believes in national sovereignty.  In the West national sovereignty is associated with Nazi Germany.  The West’s politicians, with the exclusion of Trump and Marine LePen, are committed to open borders.  European countries have allowed, indeed encouraged, their borders to be overrun by immigrant-invaders who do not assimilate.  The same for the US and Canada.  Indeed, American liberals consider defense of US borders against immigrant-invaders to be civil rights violations and a crime against humanity.  Putin’s defense of Russian sovereignty is the reason Hillary Clinton branded him “the new Hitler.”

More....