By Cherie Zaslawsky
February 16, 2024
Tucker Carlson interviews President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, February 8. 2024
Though summarily booted off Fox News only ten months ago, Tucker Carlson has singlehandedly pulled off the journalistic coup of the century. He’s now the envy of the myriad sycophants in mainstream media newsrooms, who do nothing more than read the scripts given them by their handlers, all of whom are in the pay of their globalist masters. Predictably, they’re attacking Carlson on cue, meaning he’s over the target.
Way to go, Tucker!
He just enabled us to witness a two-hour candid encounter with one of the world’s most important leaders.
Those of us who’ve listened to Putin’s speeches in the past—especially his remarkable speech from February 24th, 2022, when he announced his reasons for beginning a military operation in Ukraine—were not surprised to find him a highly intelligent, knowledgeable leader with an unflappable demeanor. But as Tucker’s interview with him proceeded, we also got a glimpse of his candor and wry sense of humor.
Predictably, the Putin demonizers—i.e. the mainstream media, Dems, RINOs, the globalist Left, etc.—are clearly scrambling to enact damage control now that millions of Americans have seen for themselves, by virtue of Tucker’s two-hour interview with the Russian President, that Putin is no bogeyman after all. And that means we’ve been lied to for years.
THE TUCKER BASHERS
Those of us who watched all two hours of Tucker Carlson’s interview of Putin were treated to an historic conversation in which we witnessed a true statesman steeped in the history of his country and that of Europe, giving insightful, measured, candid yet diplomatic answers to Tucker’s questions.
Yet the Leftist media found nothing of value in the entire interview, and everything to disparage.
Two memes appeared almost immediately in the MSM’s attempt to discredit Tucker: the claim Tucker is “not a journalist”, but rather a “useful idiot.” Just in case we miss the point, the press lackeys go on to discredit Putin as well.
Case in point: A recent MSNCB article by Frank Figliuzzi
contends that Tucker is “not a journalist” but a “former Fox News entertainer”, and that Putin is a “master at manipulating” a ”despot” and a “stone-cold killer” who “used” Carlson and “played him for a fool.”
Here are some woke attempts at zingers from Tucker’s former colleague, Chris Wallace, who says Tucker was “basically broadcasting fascist propaganda to credulous people in the West who are eager to buy into the mythology of Putin…as an enemy of wokeness.” Wallace elaborated with the memes du jour, saying the interview was: “one of the most disgraceful — to call it a journalistic performance is wrong because he’s not a journalist. …It was just simply being a scribe to one of the most vicious dictators of our time.” (Emphasis mine)
Nice try, guys. But you’ve got it exactly backwards. Having been shills so long probably makes it hard for you to recognize a real journalist when you see one. The biggest tip-off is that Hillary herself called Tucker “a useful idiot.” That’s a badge of honor coming from the Hildebeast who refers to American patriots as the Deplorables.
In fact, with his rational discourse and impressive knowledge of history and changing global power alignments, Putin puts our own President, Vice President, and most members of Congress to shame, though they were in no need of outside help on that score.
Putin comes across as sincere, principled and even, dare I say, compassionate. What a shock! Of course his perspective clashes with that of O’Biden’s destructive policies, as could be expected. And another shocker for many in Tucker’s audience may be the provable fact that the West, and particularly America, repeatedly betrayed Russia after the fall of the USSR. So instead of Putin appearing as the villain in this piece, we are confronted with our own guilty role in the war in Ukraine which we are stubbornly prolonging, among other things.
A FEW BIG TAKEAWAYS
During the interview, Putin put to rest a few of the West’s main charges against him. It’s your decision, of course, whether to believe him or not, but many facts bear him out.
We learned that Putin favored a diplomatic negotiated plan regarding Ukraine, and that such a plan had been in the works, but got torpedoed by the UK’s Boris Johnson, presumably at the behest of the U.S. Here’s some outside verification.
Arguably the biggest lie of the Leftist press has been that Putin plans to take over Europe. Here’s Politico quoting Strobe Talbott in February 2022: “Putin certainly has an endgame in mind: It’s recreating the Russian Empire with himself as tsar.” And here’s the title of an article from the UK’s Independent from March 2022: “Putin the imperialist: Why Ukraine is part of his dream of a Greater Russia.”
So Tucker asked Putin: “Well, the argument… is that, well, he invaded Ukraine. He has territorial aims across the continent. Latvia. Expansionist behavior. Can you imagine a scenario where you send Russian troops to Poland?”
And now we have Putin on record: “…they’re trying to intimidate their own population with an imaginary Russian threat… we have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else. Why would we do that? We simply don’t have any interest. It’s just threat-mongering…. It is absolutely out of the question.”
MY QUIBBLES
And though most of Tucker’s questions were apt, I, for one, winced when he asked Putin: How could he be a Christian and yet go to war, when Jesus said one shouldn’t kill, but just turn the other cheek?
Of course, if Christian pacifism under all circumstances was a necessity,
Britain should never have gone to war against Hitler, since England is a Christian country. In fact, so is nearly all of Europe, though the Nazis cultivated paganism. Or did Tucker mean to imply that this supposed Christian standard—refusing to kill no matter what—pertains only to Russia?
One more gripe. Here’s a paraphrase of another of his questions: “Why are you concerned with de-Nazification? After all, Hitler died 80 years ago…”. Did Tucker not notice the worldwide recent rise of antisemitism? Had he not heard of the Azov Battalion with its Nazi heritage and a swastika on its flag? Does he not know that copies of Mein Kampf were found among Hamas terrorists’ belongings?
Of course we owe Tucker our gratitude for pursuing this historic interview, and for asking Putin a number of vitally important questions, especially those about the war in Ukraine, and for allowing Putin to speak at length with few interruptions. And though I have quibbles over a couple of his formulations, it is possible, even likely, that his questions had to be submitted in advance for approval, as one might expect.
MY WISH-LIST OF QUESTIONS FOR PUTIN
Nevertheless, regarding questions, this was not vintage Tucker at his brilliant best. Here are some questions I wish he’d asked the Russian leader:
- You must know that a number of American politicians not only support Ukraine, but have called for regime change in Russia, i.e. they want to see you ousted from power. Why do you think that is?
- Why do you think the American elites, media, entrenched political establishment, and even many of our courts fought so hard against Trump while he was in office, and are trying to keep him from running now?
- Trump has declared he could end the war in a week if elected. Here’s a quote from the BBC from last May: “’If Mr. Trump cuts off the supply of weapons, the war will end on Russian terms, which is the West’s worst nightmare,’ says the former head of Britain’s secret service, Sir Alex Younger.” What do you anticipate would happen regarding the war in Ukraine if Trump is reelected in November, and how might that affect Russia’s relationship with the US?
- What can you tell us about corruption and malfeasance in Ukraine, including Hunter Biden’s role, his father’s role, the reported biosecurity labs, etc.?
- You say that the West is focused on practicality and technological gains, while Russia remains patriotic, religious, and nationalistic, in an almost mythic-poetic way. Yet you observe that the world power structure is changing and that one should adapt to it, and so Russia is increasingly allying with China, at least economically. Isn’t that being practical? And mightn’t there be a downside to allying with a powerful Communist country?
THE IMPORTANCE OF HISTORY
Though Putin spoke about Russian history at some length, I don’t recall him referencing the Warsaw Pact by name, and the fact that while the Pact was disbanded in 1991, its counterpart, NATO, remained—even after the collapse of the USSR. This shifted the balance of power against Russia, and of course the threat of bringing Ukraine into the NATO fold on Russia’s doorstep was a bridge too far.
Putin likely felt it necessary to review Russian history since the Western media misrepresents it, pretending Ukraine was historically an independent nation, though long referred to as the “bread basket of Russia.” Similarly, the same Leftist press misrepresents “Palestine” as the former country of Arab Muslims, though it never existed as more than a region, and where Jews were inhabitants long before Arabs.
Interestingly, there are some additional parallels between Russia and Israel. Both nations face what they perceive to be an existential threat, and have responded militarily to that threat, yet both are being accused of war crimes as they defend themselves. Furthermore, Western and especially U.S. indignation against them has resulted in the O’Biden administration and their pals in Congress clamoring for “regime change” in both Russia and Israel. We’re told Putin plans to invade more countries for Greater Russia, and that Netanyahu seeks to create Greater Israel, so both should be stopped. More Leftist lies and scare tactics, used to confuse the actual issues.
Let’s be honest: under O’Biden, for all the administration’s verbiage to the contrary, America is essentially on the wrong side in both wars. We’re fighting a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine—the seat of money-laundering and major payoffs for the Big Guy and pals; and though Biden/Blinken claim to be supporting Israel, they’re actually funding the terrorism by funding Iran, resupplying Hamas, and attempting to tie Israel’s hands to prevent the defeat of Hamas.
In fact, a case can be made that neither the war in Ukraine nor Hamas’ October 7th attack on Israel would have occurred without American aid to the miscreants.
SOME INCONVENIENT TRUTHS
I suspect President Trump would have had an excellent relationship with Putin if the Deep State hadn’t tied his hands, and excoriated him with their “Russia Russia Russia” faux accusations, which made it awkward for him to court a new friendship with Russia. The two men likely recognized they were both nationalists fiercely opposed to globalism, giving them common ground.
Is it coincidental that the Dems/Marxist Left engineered the theft of the 2020 election, and are doing their damnedest to keep Trump from even running this year? Is it merely a coincidence that Progressive Leftists at home and abroad seek to remove Putin and Netanyahu? Or could it perhaps be because, whatever their individual flaws and shortcomings, all three leaders are dedicated nationalists who love their countries and stand firm in opposition to the global predators seeking their dystopian New World Order/Great Reset/Agenda 2030—the abolition of national sovereignty and personal liberty?
In fact, I’d argue that one of the many reasons the Dems/Deep State/Leftists concocted the Russia hoax and made up the nonsensical charge of MAGA Trump being a Russian spy, was to keep him from forging an historic relationship with our former Cold War enemy. And that may also be one of many reasons they want to keep Trump out of the White House once more, as well as a reason for their push to topple Putin. For if Trump could engineer an alliance with Putin, if nationalist America and nationalist Russia started working together, that would be mighty inconvenient for the Global Elites as they pursue their One World Totalitarian Government “Utopia.”
THE EVENTUAL HOPEFUL ENDING
I was surprised when Tucker threw Putin a curve ball in the last ten minutes of the interview, accusing him of wrongly imprisoning America journalist Evan Gershkovich and asking him publicly, on air, to release him then and there.
Though Putin gave a diplomatic response, last-minute focusing on the Gershkovich issue would have ended the two-hour interview on a sour note, so I was relieved that Tucker asked one final question. In response, Putin told a remarkable true story, invoking the presence of the Russian soul that he believes resides in the Ukrainians as well as the Russians.
It made a beautiful last word for the interview, and Tucker graciously let Putin be the one to say: “Shall we end it here?” So the master statesman, who began the program with half an hour’s history lesson that most of us could benefit from hearing, ended it on a hopeful note that healing will follow after the war, as he alluded to the profound, soulful connection to Mother Russia that, through it all, will persist for those on both sides, once peace is achieved.
In the meantime, we’ve also learned that this is a new Tucker, freed from the shackles of Fox News, courageously pursuing truth and making journalistic history. And that he’s unstoppable.
© 2023 Cherie Zaslawsky – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Cherie Zaslawsky: cherzz@sbcglobal.net
