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Two questions . . .

1. Is anti-anti-Putinism just Putinism?

2. Shouldn't the bar for retaining tenure be a bit higher than not murdering someone and maybe include avoid naked bigotry and not truckling with white supremacy?

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I certainly think so. But Charlie is deeply offended that they changed some of the blatantly racist lines in the James Bond novels so, you know, he’s a purist.

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In some cases, it's actually pro-Putinism. It's possible that a pro-Putin bias might sometimes begin with "Liberals say that Putin is bad; therefore, he must be doing something right." But years ago, tradcons were writing things like "Putin gets it; why don't we?"

Some believe that his strategic alliance with the Orthodox Church reflects a sincere commitment to Christian values -- and that liberals are misguided in being so critical of little things like the assassination of critics and rivals. Some no doubt believe that anti-LGBTQ policies justify all that.

The savagery of the attack on Ukraine does present a bit of a challenge to the "Christian values" and "national sovereignty" defense of Russia, so the radical natcons are digging deep in the effort to find a greater evil in Ukraine -- biolabs! Nazis! -- that might justify bombing Ukrainian apartment blocks, abducting Ukrainian children, and even threatening other parts of the world with starvation by destroying Ukrainian croplands and grain exports.

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