Most right-wing American political figures who support Putin do so out of a belief that he is their ally in the culture wars. Against all of the evidence, they see Ukraine as just another front in the common battle against wokeness. There is a more sophisticated intellectual thread, however, to the effect that containing China is our overriding objective, and that Putin can be flipped to our side through appeasement. Does this approach make sense?
Only if you make the unjustified assumption that Putin’s territorial dreams end in Ukraine. In all likelihood, appeasement would require giving him the Baltic states and at least part of Poland, as well. That would mean an end to NATO as we have known it. Europe would be staring down the barrel of a Russian gun with no assurance of American help. Would that be a fair trade for some level of Russian assistance containing China?
No, and if you think this analysis sounds a lot like the disastrous calculation made by some British right-wing political figures about Hitler and Stalin prior to 1939, you’re right. I will have more to say about the analogy to the thirties in a subsequent post.