Reflections From Putin's Interview
On February 8th, my husband and I joined millions of Americans when we sat down to watch Tucker Carlson’s interview with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
I found Putin’s opening monologue on Russian history very compelling, not because it was wholly accurate or unbiased, but because it highlighted the roots of the conflicts of nations. For many Americans, history started when they were born, which is absolutely crippling to navigating foreign policy. I am surprised that Tucker was surprised, and, although I am chuckling at the many memes poking fun at Putin’s long exegesis, I hope Americans take Putin’s history lesson seriously. History shapes people and nations.
Putin’s history lesson also reinforced that Russia is a serious nation with a long, complex, and impressive history. We do not have to love Russia, but we must respect the challenge Russia presents. Weak Americans today cannot handle the thought of people or ideas they disagree with, so they ostracize those inconvenient people and pretend the ideas do not exist. This behavior is irrational and makes such people wholly unfit to participate in a society that self-governs. Reality does not conform to our preferences, which means we must navigate both the good and the bad that the world presents us. Russia is a major world power. Hearing from its leader is not dangerous, it is interesting to any thinking person.
The interview confirmed a lot of things that independent media has already reported. For example, Putin confirmed that last April Britain’s then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson scuttled peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. That is right, the carnage in Ukraine could have ended more than a year ago, but the war-mongering West wanted to continue the fight.
reported this story back in 2022.
Putin’s many stories highlighting the feckless and meddlesome actions of the Central Intelligence Agency are accurate as far as my study of the CIA goes, and his accounts of the coups in Ukraine sounded generally accurate, too. If you missed Lee Smith’s excellent piece from February 2022, I highly recommend it.
Tucker asked Putin who blew up the Nord Stream Pipeline. Putin leaned forward and laughed: “You!” Sitting at home watching, I had to laugh, too. We all know who blew up the pipeline, but hearing the Russian president say it out loud in an interview that would be viewed by millions felt a little surreal.
I was interested to hear Putin say inflation in the United States is low. That is obviously very wrong. He also expressed an optimistic economic outlook for the United States, which I also do not share. I am uncertain if this was a deliberate error on Putin’s part or if the grass is always greener.
Putin made a very sensible point toward the end of the interview about American involvement in Ukraine.
“Does the United States need this? What for? Thousands of miles away from your national territory. Don’t you have anything better to do? You have issues on the border. Issues with migration. Issues with the national debt. More than 33 trillion dollars. You have nothing better to do, so you should fight with Ukraine? Wouldn’t it be better to negotiate with Russia?”
Perhaps most importantly, the interview confirmed the belief and hope that so many of us have had over the last year, which has been that, despite the insanity of American leadership, Putin would have the sense not to touch off a nuclear war. Listening to him in the interview confirmed that hope. He clearly does not want to prolong the conflict in Ukraine and does not want to start a nuclear war. That does not make Putin a saint; it does make him rational and strategic—two virtues that seem wholly lacking in American leadership today.
The interview was very interesting from start to finish. Western media lost its collective mind the morning after, churning out countless angry, insulting, and panicked headlines trying to dissuade people from watching the interview and dismissing it as a tool of Putin’s stooge (Tucker). The message is clear: Americans—once free men and women—are no longer allowed to consume anything but leftist propaganda.
Finally, watching Putin talk about his nation’s history (his version of events, of course) and thinking about the strategy of his interview reminded me that America is not even in the game anymore. We aren’t allowed to love or revere our country or culture. Our leadership is weaponized against its own people. The FBI is tracking down “domestic extremists,” aka opponents of the ruling regime. Our military is weak and effeminized. Our borders are open and under active invasion. The strategy of geopolitics is not a serious option for us right now because our homeland is in ruinous chaos. For me, that was the primary takeaway—how far our once mighty nation has fallen in so short a time.