Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.
Tucker Carlson, lately of Fox News before he was let go, has gone to Russia and interviewed its leader, Vladimir Putin. That interview will be aired on X/Twitter on Thursday, February 8th beginning at 6:00PM EST.
Should you watch it? Apparently not. Here’s one headline from CNN: “Tucker Carlson is in Russia to interview Putin. He’s already doing the bidding of the Kremlin”
Comrade Carlson is a useful idiot! A Kremlin stooge! A Putin puppet! Maybe even a Putin apologist! Geez, you’d think Carlson had become the Mouth of Sauron. (That’s from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.)
My opinion? Of course you should watch it, especially if you’re interested in how Russia’s leader sees the world, and how he spins it for his own benefit. Because all leaders do this. They all see the world differently. They all spin it for their own benefit.
When I was a lieutenant in the Air Force, back in the Cold War days, I attended a special course on how the Soviet Union sees the world conducted by two Air Force officers dressed in Soviet uniforms speaking Russian for the sake of authenticity. (They switched to English quickly.) The idea wasn’t to turn us all into Communist comrades. It was to help us gain insight into our main rival. And to learn. Period.
I.F. Stone reminded us that all governments lie. Including, of course, your own, wherever you live. I don’t expect Putin to tell 100% of the truth. I expect him to tell his (slanted) side of the story, from which I expect to gain some insight into how he sees the world, and in particular how he sees the United States and its leaders.
Anyone with a functioning brain should be able to listen to Putin without falling under some kind of spell. It’s not like he has the One Ring of Power or any dark wizardry like that. Right?
William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views.
I have not been a twitterite, so, I will miss it. I hope that there will be a channel that will broadcast it. Slanted, or not, Putin has points to make. One of the main points he may make is the lost opportunity for peace when the Soviet Union dissolved. America chose to reject the aspirations of Gorbachev to have Russia be a member of the alliance, and equal partner for peace. In my view, that is when the second Cold War began. Stupidity. Pure stupidity. Let’s face it, our leaders do not care about our safety, peaceful co-existence.
I assume it will appear on Youtube at some point. If not, this site posts links to uploaded versions of Carlson’s X videos along with TV shows, movies, etc.:
http://rlsbb.to/
Downloads from that site are from various file download services. If you want decent speed, a subscription to them might be necessary. I use Rapidgator which is $18 a month.
If the interview shows up on Youtube, there are any number of sites and software that will download a Youtube video. I use Media Downloader software or Yt5S.com.
He was allowing it for free on his site.
It’s interesting Astore has to spend half his piece warning us that Putin lies. This is what happens when you’re stuck in Cold War 1.0.
Frankly, having read numerous Putin speeches (Karl Sanchez’ Substack is a great place to see them), I find very little evidence that Putin ever lies. He may dissemble a fair amount – he is a politician, but outright lies? Very little. Yes, he does “spin” in terms of how great Russia is. But comparing him to John Kirby, well, why even try, let alone trying to compare him to the travesty of speech Biden gave the other day?
In reality, if you watch the interview it’s unlikely we’ll learn anything we didn’t already know if we’ve been paying attention to the last ten years of Russia-Ukraine history. You might learn something about the history going back to WWII if Carlson allows Putin to delve into that since that’s where the Ukraine Nazi – and US CIA – history begins.
As for Putin’s view of things, that’s objectively correct. NATO and the US are the bad guys. Period. End of story. No “spin” required.
I think like most politicians, the propaganda or spin is through omissions. But I agree that the narrative about the coup and what transpired after is on point.
I would have loved to hear Zelensky’s answer for leading n@zis after Putin mentioned his father fighting against them.
Another US ex-military turned journalist…. Living in the past…!
Feb 6, 2024 Tucker drops BOMBSHELL about his Putin interview, NSA is PISSED
Journalist Tucker Carlson just dropped a teaser about his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin and admitted the NSA spied on him and actively worked to undermine his trip.
https://youtu.be/4KgHmkViV0E?si=YAiYMDJs1n7Csbo0
The Russian President did say the brain has two hemispheres, the old saying goes “two heads are better than one” even if for only a moment.
I just finished watching the interview… About 50% of Tucker Carlson’s questions were stupid and that is expected from a US journalist with little or no knowledge of Russia or US-Russia diplomatic relations….! And BTW, Putin make a complete fool of Tucker…!