
The Distortions of the Putin Apologists
The Americans who are desperate to excuse the Russian dictator and explain away the Ukraine invasion.
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Tim Miller: To all the Putin apologists out there, hereās my love letter to you. This is āNot My Party,ā brought to you by The Bulwark. This week, I want to take on arguments made by influencers on the anti-war left and the populist right who are trying to puncture theā
Voiceover: Establishment narrative.
Miller: āabout Americaās role in Ukraine. Weāll call this group, the āanti-anti-Putins.ā Itās everyone from the DSA to Candace Owens who argue itās really the U.S. thatās at fault here. So to break down their arguments, letās go to the Wheel of Distortion, where twisted takes get taken down. And here we go. Weāve landed on Tulsi, and itās a tweet. Apparently, Russia had ālegitimate security concernsā because NATO was encroaching on their turf.
This is the core argument of the anti-anti-Putins, and it has a few obvious problems. Number one, Russia has nukes. so what exactly is their ālegitimate security concernā? Ukraine is no threat to them, militarily.
Vladimir Putin (Beck Bennett on SNL): Perhaps not.
Miller: Number two, Ukraine isnāt in NATO. In 2008, when they tried to join, other European countries rejected them. So what exactly was the imminent danger to Russia in 2022?
Vladimir Putin (the real deal; in Russian): [Do you think our goal is to prove anything to anyone?]
Miller: Number three, if Russia is butt-hurt that Ukraine has increased ties with Europe over them, well thatās too bad. Itās what Ukrainians repeatedly voted for. If the Ukrainian people decide that they want to join NATO, Russia doesnāt get to bomb, terrorize, and invade them. That makes Russia the imperialist aggressor. This illogical argument boils down to: Ukraineās wearing too short of a skirt, so how can you blame Russia for getting all handsy and invading them?
Veronica Mars: Gross.
Miller: Time to spin again. And weāve landed on our good friend Glenn Greenwald. Let watch the clip.
Glenn Greenwald: If China or Russia created a new military alliance and invited Mexico or Canada, we would of course react as if that were a great threat to our national security, which it would be.
Miller: Fascinating, Glenn.
Ron Burgundy: Youāre so wise.
Miller: Okay, well, Brazil, whoās on our side of the globe, did join an alliance with China and Russia, and weāre cool. If Canada did the same, Iām sure weād try to talk āem out of it and build up our Mountie defenses. But we sure as shit wouldnāt start carpet-bombing Toronto. This is a crazy excuse.
Next spin. Ah, Iraq!
Hasan Piker: Once again, a fucking senseless war. The double standard is so fucking flagrant.
Miller: Whataboutism, classic!
David Mitchell: Are we the baddies?
Miller: Okay, letās go here. Iraq was a mistake. I agree. Torture was unforgivable, stipulate. But what does that have to do with Ukraine? Ukraine is a free democracy and Russia is trying to take it over. The U.S. has not fought a war for territory like this since the 1800s.
Bernardo (David Alvarez in West Side Story): Puerto Rico, sĆ.
Miller: These situations are not the same. And regardless, our past mistakes donāt give Russia an invasion Get Out of Jail Free card.
Spin again! And itās Glenn talking about Russiagate.
Greenwald: Now, letās look at the tensions that were created by Russiagate. All of this, constant messaging, Russia as this grave threat, these are the fruits weāre now seeing of it.
Miller: Russia did not attack another country because of the Mueller investigation.
Jesus from Family Guy: Are you sure?
Tim the Enchanter (John Cleese in Monty Python and the Holy Grail): Quite.
Miller: Next. Time for another spin! Glenn is on fire.
Greenwald: No matter what you think of U.S. involvement in the Middle East for all those years, at least there was an actual resource that was of vital interest to the United States, namely oil. The U.S. has no vital interest in Ukraine. Thereās no reason. What is the point of all of this?
Miller: Ah, Ukraine doesnāt matter to America at all. Not our problem. Good luck over there.
Sterling Archer: What could possibly go wrong?
Miller: How is a superpower invading an ally in Europe not our problem? Do you World War II much? European security is American security.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: For us, this is an emergency as serious as war itself.
Miller: Now, letās put the shoe on the other foot. How exactly is indiscriminate violence in Ukraine in the Russian peopleās interest? Look at whatās happening there.
Daleep Singh: The economy in Russia is in free fall. The ruble is worth less than a penny. His stock market hasnāt opened all week.
āThis Is Fineā Dog: Things are gonna be okay.
Miller: Final spin.
Bryce Mitchell: I donāt know whatās going on, to be honest, brother. I really donāt. Thereās so much stuff. And I donāt think nobody knows whatās going on fully. Thereās been so much political corruption in that area.
Miller: Ah, yes. Ukraine is corrupt and we donāt really know whatās going on over there.
Sabine Wren (voiced by Tiya Sircar in Star Wars Rebels): Are you being serious? Is he being serious?
Miller: We do know whatās going on. Look at the videos.
Reporter voiceover: Some two thousand civilians have reportedly been killed.
Miller: If you believe this could be some sinister, NWO, Hunter-Biden military-industrial complex plot, that Iām asking you to log off Reddit, take a walk around the block, and consider why regular, everyday Ukrainians are either taking up arms to defend their country or fleeing in terror. These people need our help. So we must ignore the Russia apologists, and continue to do whatever we can to help. See you next week for more āNot My Party.ā