GenZedong

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The amount of times in my life I was told I was not allowed to critisise the US or the Military because "they are the reason you have your rights that no one else in the world has, like to criticize your government or the military" is unreal.

It's absolutely hilarious to see how quickly libs are abandoning all their supposed values as soon as they feel that their ideology is under threat.

I mean whether they do it consciously or not, they demand holding others to a standard they don't hold themselves to. No amount of rationalizing on their part changes this fact.

I don't like Carlson at all, he is no better than any other liberal when it comes to the rampant sinophobia, he just happens to be more reasonable on one specific issue. On the other hand he didn't really say a whole lot, and brought a large audience in to see it. His presence was basically a nonfactor, outside the spy advocacy there at the end.

I don't think the interview was groundbreaking for anyone with a rudimentary undertanding of russian history and geopolitics, but that is probably a very small percentage of the USian audience. So in that sense, it was valuable. Though I wonder how many people actually listened and how many people just go "No, Putin must actually want more land". Most of us here probably didn't hear anything that was particularly new whatsoever.

I think it’s a “big deal” due to this interview being available for western English speaking audiences without a paywall or any kind of barrier. It’s by a “famous guy” and is made accessible. When interviews with Putin are covered by western news sources its only in bits and pieces, sure you can probably find the full talk online but most people aren’t going to look for it or when they do they might not stick around due to the language barrier (even with translators). You probably already know this so I apologize for repeating information. I do agree with you though, I feel conflicted about this whole thing. I’m glad it happened in terms of getting more people to watch, but the fact that it was Tucker Carlson really sucks… He came to Canada recently to spread his bullshit so I can’t say I’m super thrilled with his involvement. I really do wish it was someone else…

Edit: Yeah, the YouTube comments of the interview have an uncomfortable air (some are just explicitly bad), Carlson’s audience will follow him wherever he goes so seeing hero worship is inevitable…

The interview was rather tame- and yes, Tucker is a fascist (though still props to him for stepping up to the chopping block all the same, I can respect that).

I suspect the real groundbreaking things to come will be Tucker's metaphorical crucifixion to come, by the infinitely worse neocon fascists.

I believe he's a right-wing conservative, what in particular makes you say he's a fascist?

I don't think they will sanction him in US because he's too much of a celebrity at this point, and this would raise a lot of questions with the public. Specifically, the west keeps insisting that it's not at war with Russia. And if that's the case, then it's going to be a bit difficult to explain why a journalist going to Russia to interview the president is being sanctioned. Carlson would obviously jump on that too, since it plays into his narrative.

So far, all the controversy they created over this seems to just act as free promotion for the interview. Cynically, you could almost think US wanted it to happen and is now promoting it in a backhanded way. If US is trying to get out of the war, this will likely go a long way shifting public opinion in that direction. The dems can blame the republicans for ending funding for the war, and extricate themselves from the whole thing.

Dr. Desai will likely get pressure in Canada over going to Sochi, hoping it's not going to end up being too much hassle for her.