America: Land of the Free, Home of the Brave
Though the heading to this essay may surprise many readers, I assure you that it is not ‘fake news’ but accurately reflects my thinking about the States in the context of latest international developments that we will discuss below.
To be sure, I have written a long succession of articles which depict the cowardice, blind conformism, sacrifice of decency and truth on the altar of personal ambition as regards the behavior of ruling elites in the United States, and in particular the foreign policy establishment.
It goes without saying that Number One, in the Oval Office is a dimwit who today would not recognize freedom and bravery if he tripped on them. It is also patently clear that his closest advisers Blinken and Sullivan are highly intelligent idiots, puffed up with hubris and uninterested in objective reality when it contradicts their facile assumptions. Yale law degrees are still law degrees and they do not prepare the bearers, especially the younger ones who lack worldly experience, to manage and resolve complex international relations where a modicum of specialized knowledge is mandatory. Henry Kissinger aptly remarked when describing his own qualifications for office that his appointment broke with the long reign of lawyers at State, all of whom came to the job with an inbasket-outbasket mentality based on short-termism. I say this not in praise of Kissinger, who was a bonafide war criminal when he left office, but simply as a matter of fact observation on the utility of knowing something as opposed to just knowing someone.
Notwithstanding all of the foregoing, I say without any hesitation that the United States is the freest country in the Collective West for those who hold nonconformist ideas to express them without fear of persecution and even to assemble vast audiences of followers.
Of course, free speech comes and goes in the United States. The country coined the term McCarthyism during the witch hunts for Communists early in the Cold War. But at present, thanks to the disrupter in chief Donald Trump, anything goes. When a candidate for president verbally demolishes so many of the sacred verities of the ruling establishment as Trump did in 2016, such as NATO as the keystone of security and of necessity of American military bases around the world for American global leadership to be assured, when he wins and continues to challenge political correctness in all its ugly manifestations, and when he returns to the political stage in 2024 resolved to finish the job of smashing the false idols of the Progressive Liberals and Neoconservatives, then we who seek to bring truth to the people are emboldened to pursue our mission.
America the free and brave compared to what? Compared to Europe which has been enslaved and is being silenced by an unelected Executive called the Commission and by a rubber stamp Parliament that is absolutely controlled by Center Right European People’s Party and the Center Left Socialists and Democrats party, with their respective coalition partners. These two blocs long ago strayed far from pragmatism and serve solely ideological objectives without regard to the consequences for ordinary people. Aside from Viktor Orban in Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia, there are no state leaders among the 27 Member States who dare to question let alone veto the decisions taken by their conformist and intellectually shallow peers. When there is full solidarity at the top, there is no room for free speech and free thinking at the bottom.
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That was, in the terminology of American baseball, the ‘warm-up.’ Now for the pitch.
The number one event in world journalism will be tomorrow’s release of the two hour interview with Vladimir Putin that Tucker Carlson taped yesterday in Moscow during his visit to Russia which began a week ago. I am told that the introduction to this interview and its justification for publication which Carlson delivered in a restrained and logical manner on his own media channel yesterday has been seen by 140 million viewers. It well deserves to be, because what he said was a vibrant defense of journalistic values that none of our major broadcasters and news publishers can produce hand on heart.
I can easily imagine that the interview itself will attract several times that number of viewers around the world. For this we all have to thank the owner of the platform used by Carlson, the genius entrepreneur and wealthiest man on the planet Elon Musk, who took over the leading social media company Twitter, now renamed X, precisely for the purpose of freeing people’s tongues and fighting state-encouraged censorship on all media. In doing so, Musk has demonstrated not only intellectual integrity but outstanding bravery in the face of the censorious politicians on Capitol Hill who would bring him down if given the chance.
The bravery of Tucker Carlson is all the more impressive in that he does not have Musk’s wealth to keep his enemies at bay. What he is doing presently ranks with the deeds of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. His defense is the vast number of visitors to his site who find great value in what he offers.
Yes, Tucker Carlson is close to Donald Trump. There are rumors that Trump is considering him for Vice President in his forthcoming campaign. That may be a step too far, but Carlson would be a wonderful Secretary of State. His educational background appears suitable for the role: the school of hard knocks.
I will be watching his interview tomorrow and urge everyone to do so as well.
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I close this installment with some brief remarks on what they are saying on the other side of the barricades, by which I mean the Russian talk shows.
Of course, Tucker Carlson’s presence in Moscow was a daily discussion topic from day three after his arrival on a commercial flight from Istanbul. There was much speculation over whether he would be granted an interview with Putin, though I think this was just to keep the U.S. embassy off balance and to spare Carlson from external pressures before the deed was done.
Russian panelists wondered whether the embassy would cancel Carlson’s passport as the States had done with Snowden. Would Carlson face jail time when he returned to America? The boys and girls on Evening with Vladimir Solovyov had a good time with such questions.
Otherwise the Russian talk shows daily weighed the achievements and the threats surrounding the ongoing Special Military Operation. Daily Vesti news programs now open with a quarter of an hour reporting from the front, speaking with soldiers at their tanks and artillery pieces. This reporting leaves you with no understanding of the progress being made other than the daily kill count and numbers of destroyed enemy field equipment.
The talk shows bring in the big picture. We are told that the Ukrainian fortified positions in the outskirts of recently taken Avdiivka are being pulverized and that the Ukrainian forces will be pushed far back. This victory in progress is held to be as important as the conquest of Bakhmut, and the territorial loss by Ukraine may be used to justify the final sacking of General Zaluzhny.
On the other hand, some panelists point to the likelihood of another big escalation in the war being readied by the United States and its European allies built upon the delivery of ground launched bombs manufactured by Boeing and possibly also of French made Mirage jets to complement the F16s already promised by several NATO countries. The new Western strategy seems to be to compensate for the obvious failures of the Ukrainian forces on the ground by stepping up Ukrainian capabilities to strike at Russia far beyond the front lines both to hit logistical and command centers and to hit civilian targets in a campaign of terror.
The pessimists among the panelists speak of the oncoming ‘Ukrainization’ of Europe, meaning its being pushed forward into the direct fight with Russia while Washington stands back aloof and safe, a possibility including use of tactical nuclear weapons thereby turning Europe into a nuclear wasteland.
Note that the panelists are often discussing the latest articles in Foreign Affairs and similarly authoritative print materials which they have read in depth. At the same time there is no discussion of Russia’s own scholarly community’s writings on the international scene because, as Solovyov insisted last night: where are these writings? Solovyov leads with accusations that the Institute of USA and Canada is populated by academics enamored with the subject of their studies so that their output is worthless. Moreover, the geopolitical writings coming from the Academy of Sciences are inaccessible and useless to the public, though they may be silently passed upwards to the desk of The Boss.
In a word, the object of attacks on this show has turned from the Central Bank of Russia and Nabiullina to the academic community.
As usual, for purposes of comedy relief, the subject turns regularly to the mental collapse of Biden. We have seen over and over again Biden’s latest appearance before the microphones in which he said he had recently met with French President Mitterand. I imagine this lapse was omitted from U.S. coverage of his speech.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024