From Reader George:

Snip

We all know by now that Vladimir Putin, as flaming Neocon Lee Smith conceded in a mischievous and smarmy way last October, is “the new sheriff in town.”[1] The Observer has lamentably reported the same thing: “Today, Russia is king of the mount.”[2]

One can say that Putin has become the new sheriff because no leader in the Western world is man enough to fight against what has now become practically unreasonable, morally intolerable, politically impermissible, and intellectually repugnant. Putin basically has no choice but to fight against the ideological tidal wave threatening to wash out Russia.

As one writer put it last year, Putin

“has his back against the wall…he can’t throw in the towel because Russia’s facing an existential crisis. If he loses, then Russia’s going to wind up on the same scrap heap as Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya. You can bet on it. So the only thing he can do is win. Period. Victory isn’t an option, it’s a necessity.”[3]

Since victory is a necessity, Putin has been able to obliterate agents of the New World Order from a strictly rational point of view. Charlie Rose, Fareed Zakaria, and other US and British journalists have all learned their lessons by now: You cannot challenge Putin on a moral and intellectual plane without embarrassing or humiliating yourself.

Remember what Putin told John Simpson of the BBC when he asked Putin that Western countries believe that Russia is being aggressive? “Have you any common sense at all?,” Putin said. Putin had more damning things to say:

“US strategic aviation with nuclear weapons onboard continued to encircle us. For what? We have only 2 military bases abroad. They are in areas of known terrorism dangers…US bases on the other hand are all over the world. And you are telling me that I am the aggressor? What are the US forces doing in Europe, including nuclear weaponry? What business have they got there?

“Listen to me. Our military budget, while slightly increased from last year, is about $50 billion. The military budget of the Pentagon is almost 10 times that amount….And you’re telling me that I’m the aggressor? Is it us putting our forces on the border of the US? Is it NATO that is moving their bases closer to us?

“Does anyone even listen to us, or try to have some kind of dialogue with us? The repeated answer we get is, ‘Mind your own business, and each country can choose its own security measure.’ Very well, so will we.”

Putin moved on to add that “there are rules,” and breaking those rules ought to be illegal. That is how a rational system or government works. But instead of punishing the parties that have broken the rules, Putin said, the US and NATO want to punish Russia. “That is illegal,” he said.

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