Running alongside these old realities is a new phenomenon, surely noticed by Mr. Putin: The nations of the civilized world have decided their most pressing concern is income inequality. Barack Obama says so, as does the International Monetary Fund. Western Europe amid the Ukraine crisis is a case study of nations redistributing themselves and perhaps NATO into impotence.This week's other big rightwing add-on -- that Crimea is all the fault of the environmentalists and we should frack our brains out because freedom depends on it -- at least has to do with oil, and is thus connected in some way with reality. But Henninger's implication that Putin has "surely noticed" and is spurred to mischief by the West's attempts to raise workers' pay is a new one -- particularly since, in the last Cold War, ordinary Americans' upward mobility was one of capitalism's greatest weapons against the Russians. I guess their hope is that they can scare people enough that they'll believe anything they say -- as usual.
UPDATE. In comments, satch takes a little trip down Memory Lane: "We can be certain that Vladimir Putin noticed a couple of things in 2008, starting with that notorious traitor and Commie appeaser Charles Krauthammer, who in his best Neville Chamberlain voice said: 'Well, obviously it's beyond our control. The Russians are advancing. There is nothing that will stop them. We are not going to go to war over Georgia.'" Ah, new realities, comrade!
D Johnston considers: "Two weeks ago, [Henninger] wrote a column about Putin the Strongman, and three weeks before that he did a column on how the President was too obsessed with income equality. It's like a mashup. Maybe this opinion remixing will become the next big thing in conservative circles." It's got youth appeal. I can imagine one taker at least.
Vladimir Putin re-proves that sometimes a bad person gains control of the instruments of national power. Their populations do nothing or can't, because they are disarmed by thugs with overwhelming firepower. Or, as on Russian TV now, they are marinated in anti-U.S. propaganda. Today even second-rate megalomaniacs gain access to high-tech weaponry, including missiles and nuclear bombs.
ReplyDeleteDick Cheney chortled and ordered some more infant blood.
~
He's right, we need to take a page out of the Weimar Republic's success and hope that income inequality will work itself out in times of geopolitical upheaval and economic insecurity.
ReplyDeleteWe need to destroy America in order to save it from a three-bit wannabe dictator on the other side of the planet. Gotcha.
ReplyDeleteI'm betting that Henninger never did very well at those kindergarten guessing games of "one of these things is not like the other."
ReplyDeleteIf only because it's a skill he still lacks.
Stupid environmentalists, who needs potable water? We'll drink a mix of vodka and Putin's tears!
ReplyDeleteMan, imagine the WSJ's joy at getting to haul out 'the labor movement is a tool of the communist conspiracy' again. They missed it so! It must be like how normal people feel when they rediscover a favorite childhood book.
ReplyDeleteA few weeks ago y'all were saying that the Ukraine situtation caught these guys so off-guard that they didn't know how to spin it. Well, here you go. In these situations, maybe ignorance really is bliss.
ReplyDeleteseveral grafs of the same Scary Putin Menaces Weak America stuff all the other conservative columnists are doing these days, then goes for the hat trick:
ReplyDeleteYou know, Roy, you may be more accurate than you think. Two weeks ago, this same guy wrote a column about Putin the Strongman, and three weeks before that he did a column on how the President was too obsessed with income equality. It's like a mashup. Maybe this opinion remixing will become the next big thing in conservative circles.
Anyway, it's obvious that the only solution is to invade Iran.
This is the greatest country in the worl...OH MY GOD, CRIMEA!!! WE'RE TOAST, BOYS. CARING ABOUT A LIVING WAGE WILL BE THE DEATH OF US ALL!!!
ReplyDeleteWe can be certain that Vladimir Putin noticed a couple of things in 2008, starting with that notorious traitor and Commie appeaser Charles Krauthammer, who in his best Neville Chamberlain voice said:
ReplyDelete"Well, obviously it's beyond our control. The Russians are advancing.
There is nothing that will stop them. We are not going to go to war over
Georgia."
Of course, that was six years ago, and as we all know, the attention span of the average wingnut is twelve minutes and fifteen seconds.
Henninger says the west is too busy addressing the basic problem of megalomaniacs accruing tremendous levels of wealth and power to deal
ReplyDeletewith the megalomaniac who accrued tremendous wealth and power and is now being a big meanie.
Huh. That’s some serious thinking right there.
Maybe we should also remind the poor that "work makes you free," not high wages.
ReplyDelete"By the time the second World Trade Center tower collapsed on Sept. 11,
ReplyDelete2001, the whole world was watching it. We may assume that
Vladimir Putin
was watching. Mr. Putin, a quick calculator of political
realities, would see that someone was going to get hit for this, and hit
hard."
We'll never know what lesson Putin learned, but obviously the lesson Henninger learned was that the Russian invasion of Crimea is exactly like the destruction of the World Trade Center.
Income inequality? I thought our most pressing concern was NCAA brackets. Surely Mr. Putin noticed that, and timed his actions accordingly.
ReplyDeleteIn America, mobility upward you!
ReplyDeleteWhat passes for grain alcohol and rainwater at the WSJ these days....
ReplyDeleteIn their case, though, that book is Mein Kampf.
ReplyDeleteit pounded and pursued the Islamic fundamentalists of al Qaeda without let-up or apology
ReplyDeleteA fictional universe in which Iraq never happened.
That's pretty lengthy for a shemale pr0n clip.
ReplyDeleteCrimea is all the fault of the environmentalists and we should frack our brains out
ReplyDeleteEurope is weakened by overdependence on fossil fuels. To strengthen it we must increase its dependence on fossil fuels.
Why are American pundits taking the situation in the Ukraine so personally?
ReplyDeleteDid the Ukraine become our 51st state when I wasn't paying attention? So many hawkish pundits seem to be taking Russia's actions as somehow an attack on the USA, and I'm still fairly unclear on how this effects us at all.
It's also amazingly Orwellian that our actions in Iraq don't seem to inform our reactions to this in any way shape or form. Did we invade Iraq because we sensed that Russia and China would be too weak to meaningfully oppose us?
What? Do you not realize that this is the United States of Earth? We run things around here, not some upstart failed totalitarians. We. Us. What do you think the U.S. stands for but "us?"
ReplyDeleteAnd, uh, then there's our "national interests."
I suspect that there is a sense of ownership of Ukrainian politics, ever since the Orange Revolution, when the losing side of a rigged presidential election appealed (not without US assistance) to the Power of the People. Part of the impetus behind the Tea Party was the idea that "If we can overturn a Ukrainian election, why not here?"
ReplyDeleteOh, come on, don't sell them short. Cheney and Bush are at least first-rate megalomaniacs.
ReplyDeleteThe math speaks for itself: Every penny that we increase our minimum wage will result in a dollar's worth of Putin emboldening. The only way to avoid World War III is the total elimination of all capital gains taxes and repeal of the earned income tax credit.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he's all mashed up inside. He doesn't want the west to stand, "impotent," before the face of Putin.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I couldn't give a shit whether Crimea is part of Ukraine, Russia, or Armenia, and 60% of America probably feels the same. And 27% more would feel the same were it not for ObamaHitler/Chamberlain.
ReplyDeleteHenninger is the really weaselly looking one, isn't he?
ReplyDeleteAlternatively: The existential battle to stop Russia imposing its own structure of oligarchy and kleptocracy on the rest of the world is so important, anyone worried about the domestic drift towards oligarchy and kleptocracy is probably a fifth-columnist.
ReplyDeletethat Crimea is all the fault of the environmentalists and we should frack our brains out because freedom depends on it
ReplyDelete"Frack here! Frack now!"
Frack you.
Daniel Henninger has correctly identified that he cannot hold two thoughts in his head at the same time, and assumes that everyone else is similarly impaired.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me wonder what Jonah Goldberg has to say about this.
ReplyDeleteMan, a good Yablonsky or Hoffa right about now would sure hit the spot...
ReplyDeleteAll that reading can't be good for your eyes...
ReplyDeleteI am not afraid of Putin or Russia. Let him have his little Great Leader act now, because once the oil and gas revenue dries up his country is going to be Pakistan with more alcoholism.
ReplyDeleteVia the Pareen piece Roy linked to: Meine Damen und Herren, the House GOP freshman class of 2030.
ReplyDeleteHey, at least Putin actually has WMDs.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the 21st Century" and the gist is basically that capitalism produces massive income inequality that can be fixed by progressive taxes on capital but actually, in reality, has been fixed by world wars.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that what Putin has noticed is the new Piketty book and is trying to right income inequality by the only thing that plutocrats like that also evens the financial playing field. Makes as much sense as anything Henninger's written, anyway.
Yup, all nine of `em. Let's hope that's against forty or fifty other losses.
ReplyDeleteCheck out mini-Chris Hemsworth with the sunglasses and two undone shirt buttons! That makes him like the Republican equivalent of Raoul Duke.
ReplyDeleteMy own optimism caught me unawares. I should've said House GOP leadership of 2036.
ReplyDeleteThat Hitler/Chamberlain thing is quite a feat. Cinematically, it would be like "The Parent Trap," except with funny moustaches and slicked-down hair and umbrellas.
ReplyDeleteJonah might go for the mash-up craze too. Not that it will be easy to tell. His columns are pretty much all the same consistency already.
ReplyDeleteEven, so, at 2036, that would still make them all under 30, from the looks of them.
ReplyDeleteI used to consider myself a liberal, but since the invasion of Crimea, I now oppose the minimum wage.
ReplyDeleteI myself have become outraged by Crimeaquiddick.
ReplyDeleteANYONE CAN SEE IT IF THEY WOULD ONLY LOOK!!1119
ReplyDeleteAs long as there are serious troubles in other parts of the world, be it Russia, Libya, Nicaragua...even France, the USA cannot pay our people a living wage.
Without letup or apology. Or basic competence. Or armor, for a lot of troops in the field.
ReplyDeleteAnd 27% more would feel the same
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of fun to imagine befuddled Limbaugh-listeners trying to phonetically type words like "Crimea" into Google maps (assuming they've heard of Google maps) and coming up with all kinds of wacky results.
... pretty much all the same consistency already.
ReplyDeleteWhich would be the consistency of ... refried beans?
Duck and cover.
ReplyDeleteClearly, we have to destroy the country in order to save it. S'ok, though, I hear the war is now within measurable distance of it's end...
ReplyDeleteIf only there was a unit of measurement for this.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough there are very people going around saying "That Another Kiwi, now he's a quick calculator of political realities" and yet even I knew someone would get pasted for the WTC attacks. I guess that from his undisclosed location in the broom cupboard, Henninger did not know what would happen next. He only knew that it would involve adult diapers.
ReplyDeleteThat bow tie is making me feel all stabby.
ReplyDeleteNo need to insult refried beans like that.
ReplyDeleteAnd an enormous body of highly skilled ex-military computer scientists who will be able to run rampant through the rickety code banks of the West's great financial institutions. Or currently are.
ReplyDeleteRemember when al-Qaeda used to lose a number 2 every 3 months? But never a number 3?
ReplyDeleteOr at the very least scissory.
ReplyDeleteShows how much YOU guys know: This is all a part of 11-ty dementia chess by conservatives.
ReplyDeleteSee, conservatives are the ones really concerned about third-world working conditions and political freedom. Thus, they're trying to raise the consciousness of American workers to achieve solidarity with the third-world laborers--and the only way to do that is to make sure American workers are just as immiserated as any Bangladeshi factory worker.
After that? Freedooooooomm! and, of course, profit for everyone distributed by the kind Randian hearts of the producers.
We made sure that Number 2 was their Number 1 problem. Although, since we took out Number 1, we seem to have exhausted the supply of Number 2.
ReplyDeleteThe bow-tie is the field mark of douche-bags everywhere.
ReplyDeleteIs the F.U. a constant or variable?
ReplyDeletewell…and a few thousand nuclear warheads ready for eBay.
ReplyDeleteThey all also appear to be a family of clones, with slightly different haircuts and costumes.
ReplyDeleteI always assumed the whole thing was a satirical performance, anyway, and the revolving number 2s was a nod to The Prisoner.
ReplyDeleteHe's right, we need to take a web page out of the Weimar Republic's achievements and wish that earnings inequality will continue to perform itself out in periods of geopolitical difficulty and financial uncertainty. At least that way, nothing bad can occur.
ReplyDeleteSpybubble Gratis
Are you suggesting that something might happen in world politics that isn't all about the US? Come now, that's just silly!
ReplyDelete"... an enormous body of highly skilled [Russian] ex-military computer scientists..." are now engaged in the production and uploading of teen porn...
ReplyDeleteLet's split the difference. Cheney, and Bush the elder, are first rate megalomaniacs and Bush junior is a second rater at best.
ReplyDeleteThe nations of the civilized world have decided their most pressing
ReplyDeleteconcern is income inequality. Barack Obama says so, as does the
International Monetary Fund.
Maybe because they are civilized nations? Maybe because without a middle class the whole megilla goes ka-blooie? Maybe because testosterone-laden dick waving over lines on a map doesn't help anyone except the dick wavers?
http://blogs.fas.org/sciencewonk/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2012/10/duck_and_cover_fallout1.gif
ReplyDeleteCivilized is an insult, apparently. He's on the side of the barbarians. Maybe he's a secret Cavafy fan?
ReplyDeleteUnpossible! Washington is never lacking in the supply of Number 2. Why, Number 2 is the primary product of the district.
ReplyDeleteDidn't that La Salle run great?
ReplyDeleteWhy you don't have a column at the Times I'll never know.
ReplyDeleteTwo bucks says bow-tie is the ringleader.
ReplyDeleteNeeds moar nipples.
ReplyDeleteIf this were the eighties, he'd go on an impromptu road trip with John Cusack, get drunk, get laid, and come back to college to tell the Young Republicans to kiss his ass, and he'd buy Sandinista! and a leather jacket.
ReplyDeleteHell yes civilized is an insult to them. Civilization means a) getting along with everybody and b) paying taxes to provide a higher standard of living. These are both explicitly excluded by the party platform.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans are objectively anti-civilization. They'd bring back the Dark Ages if they could.
And the Aryan specimen down at the far right is the
ReplyDeleteSturmabteilung, er, security coordinator.
"bin Laden: wanted dead or alive" --> "I just don't think much about him." No let-up!
ReplyDeleteKids, kids, chillax out, yo. The "Nukes4Sale" thing was a staple of thrillers in the 90s (e.g. True Lies), but it didn't happen, and if it didn't happen then it's not likely to happen now. And as far as I can tell, the Slavic hackers want pretty much what every other Russian with potentially lucrative skills wants: to make a pile of money and get as much of it out of Russia as they can, followed by themselves when the shit goes down.
ReplyDeleteIf this were the seventies, he'd read "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail", drop out of politics, move to San Francisco and open up a head shop with his trust-fund money.
ReplyDeleteWhy are American pundits taking the situation in the Ukraine so personally?
ReplyDeleteI don't think that they're taking it personally in any way, shape or form. They're excited that they can have something to provide "balance" to the GOP's ongoing self-annihilation in the run-up to the midterms. They desperately want to matter, and if that means Cletus McPigfucker (who believes that the gays are going to steal his gold to get abortions for Christian babies) gets elected to the House, hey, not their district.
He does have that Doug Niedermeyer look about him, doesn't he?
ReplyDeleteHis name is Yuri.
ReplyDeleteYou got that right. Note his look of pained concern: "These yabbos around me are the help, Paul. You know I'm your special one, right?"
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking their motto might be "Tomorrow Belongs to Us."
ReplyDeleteLower Slobbovia, people! LOWER SLOBBOVIA!
ReplyDeleteBoy! do you have spare curiosity!
ReplyDeleteIf the "RYAN ROCKS" sign were not cut off, we would see that it does on to read "...AND WHAT'S UNDERNEATH THEM".
ReplyDeleteWell, he certainly seems to like Ryan's rocks.
ReplyDeleteThis is good news for John McCain.
ReplyDeleteAcid rainwater?
ReplyDeleteAvoid the brown acid rainwater...
ReplyDeleteOn the far right of the picture, we have Jesse from "Breaking Bad," so at least we know how the Li'l Ryan Suburban Achievers there are financing themselves.
ReplyDelete"Someone unrelated. Someone a little over that way. I can probably do whatever I want, Putin thought. The moron will end up bombing Turkey, instead."
ReplyDelete