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Putin came in for criticism from politicians on both sides of the aisle with his op ed in the New York Times. But taking his bullet points one by one, it's obvious that he is borrowing his ideas from those that American liberals have espoused since the 1960s.
The main points are:
Indeed, President Obama has explicitly expressed support for all three of these principles at one time or another. I suspect that it was not by accident that Putin based his argument on those ideas.
But when liberals contradict themselves, even when it involves long held points of ideology, they are usually oblivious to the fact. It gives one the impression that their principles don't really matter to them, that they only have principles in any moment as a means to a particular end. Even if they are aware of the contradiction a President who has done so much to diminish the USA must be defended. So once they are done with Putin they will go right back to their belief in the supremacy of international law, the wrongness of American "imperialism", and the rightness of multicultural pieties, the end in this case being the dissolution of American power and influence.
The main points are:
- It's contrary to international law for a member nation to attack another member without approval of the UN.
- Intervention into civil wars in other countries is likewise against international law.
- The United States isn't an exceptional nation, or it's no more exceptional than other nations.
Where have we heard Mr. Putin’s principles before? They are in fact basic articles of faith among American liberals who have been saying for decades that the U.S. should not use military force without United Nations authorization, we should not intervene in civil wars abroad, and the idea of American exceptionalism is a myth used to cover up crimes against women and minorities at home and the poor and oppressed abroad.
Indeed, President Obama has explicitly expressed support for all three of these principles at one time or another. I suspect that it was not by accident that Putin based his argument on those ideas.
But when liberals contradict themselves, even when it involves long held points of ideology, they are usually oblivious to the fact. It gives one the impression that their principles don't really matter to them, that they only have principles in any moment as a means to a particular end. Even if they are aware of the contradiction a President who has done so much to diminish the USA must be defended. So once they are done with Putin they will go right back to their belief in the supremacy of international law, the wrongness of American "imperialism", and the rightness of multicultural pieties, the end in this case being the dissolution of American power and influence.