On Tuesday, Edward Snowden tweeted:
everyone who disagrees with me is a russian agent
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 15, 2022
The NSA whistleblower was likely being sarcastic, but he is—rightly—mocking a common neoconservative tactic that many on the Left now also use: Arguing that not wanting a new U.S. war over Ukraine (or any other country) means you are siding with the enemy.
Or as leading neocon Bill Kristol tweeted on Tuesday:
"We have a crisis in which Russia is threatening an American ally with pre-meditated, unprovoked aggression…What unites [the progressives and the nationalists] isn’t that they’re anti-war. It’s that they are—both of them—objectively pro-Russia."https://t.co/yPEBV45ABg
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 15, 2022
Independent journalist, and arch enemy of neoconservatives, Glenn Greenwald couldn’t let that one go:
Anyone who opposes US involvement in a Russia/Ukraine war — whether on the right or left — is "objectively pro-Russia."
This framework is and long has been the defining poison from the neocons, who now reside at the center of Democratic Party power and discourse: https://t.co/ZwzXf5DlHb
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 16, 2022
Greenwald says the numbers even show that the Democratic Party is now dominated by neoconservatives:
Relatedly: just as more Dems favor state and corporate censorship of the internet than Republicans, just as more Dems support CIA and FBI, far more Dems favor US support for Ukraine; the rest want to stay out. This is the neocon-dominated Dem party:https://t.co/RSss70LYUH
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 16, 2022
Why the shift?
Well, the Democrats invested heavily in the Donald Trump-Russian collusion theory over the last six years. (Ultimately a conspiracy theory that was eventually disproven by Robert Mueller’s probe and has recently shown to be even more based on lies by John Durham’s probe). Yet this partisan investment has made Democrats reflexively against whatever they imagine Vladimir Putin is for.
For so many on the Left, it’s Putin = Trump and vice versa. There’s just one problem: this isn’t true.
Of course, Democrats’ feelings don’t care about Mueller and Durham’s facts. Here is popular left-leaning “The View” host Joy Behar claiming Trump and Fox News are in bed with Russia just last month:
On “The View”, Joy Behar and company push #BlueAnon fake news by claiming Donald Trump kissed Putin’s ring and Tucker Carlson is “all in for Russia”. pic.twitter.com/RzYkqyhCCH
— Mythinformed MKE (@MythinformedMKE) January 21, 2022
When lefty ice cream makers Ben and Jerry recently tweeted out an old school, progressive antiwar tweet, many of the comments accused them of pushing Russian propaganda.
Read the comments to their tweet yourself:
You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war. ⁰⁰We call on President Biden to de-escalate tensions and work for peace rather than prepare for war. ⁰⁰Sending thousands more US troops to Europe in response to Russia’s threats against Ukraine only fans the flame of war.
— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) February 4, 2022
As ridiculous as this tactic is, it is not new.
Just ask “Russian Stooge” Rand Paul, who once committed the unpardonable sin of wanting diplomacy with Russia instead of war. The late Senator John McCain accused Paul of “working for Vladimir Putin” for opposing bringing Montenegro into NATO (aka preventing war). Or recall when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of being a “Russian asset” due to the veteran Gabbard’s non-interventionist views.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of Trump in 2018, “Just as I have said to the president: With him, all roads lead to Putin,” further fueling the conspiracy theory that continues to permeate her party.
Right now, the debate over whether or not the U.S. should take military action is the primary determiner of which Americans are or aren’t Russian agents in the minds of many Democrats.
If you oppose a new war, you might be one.
Thankfully, a handful of progressives have put their antiwar principles above their Trump hatred and are opposing military action over Ukraine. Notably, this includes Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Ro Khanna. The more high profile Bernie Sanders is also saying sensible things.
Too bad Bernie is a Russian agent.
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