{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "A fascinating thing about Vladimir Putin is how he\u2019s managed to get both the American/European center-right and -left aligned...", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/178692275913/", "html": "<p><a href=\"/post/87255583138/\" class=\"tumblr_blog\" target=\"_blank\">kontextmaschine</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p>A fascinating thing about Vladimir Putin is how he\u2019s managed to get both the American/European center-right and -left aligned against him at the same time he\u2019s got the extremes of both wings rooting for him, for different reasons:</p>\n<p>winning the marginalized right and alienating the center-left with his repressive Christian traditionalist posturing; winning the marginal left and alienating the center-right (and to a degree winning the off-right) by opposing the NATO imperium (plus some off-left bonus from reviving the 20th century \u201canti-fascist\u201d imaginary).</p>\n<p>He\u2019s got both the channels and the rhetoric to speak out of both sides of his mouth to different crowds - able to justify any given geopolitical move in both registers at the same times - and I\u2019d be shocked if this wasn\u2019t the plan all along; one of the strengths of the KGB he came up through was its ability to fracture coalitions and inspire internal conflict in the western bloc</p>\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t say I in any way trust his commitment to any cause beyond \u201cRussia strong\u201d, but I certainly respect his relentless <em>competence </em>at power politics. (Admittedly, the Chuck Norris masculinity charms me a little too.)</p></blockquote>\n\n<p>May 29, 2014</p>"}