Cathy Young writes:

In the months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, maverick journalist Glenn Greenwald has emerged as one of the loudest anti-Ukraine voices in the American media, with all the usual themes: transparent gloating over Russia’s apparent war gains in Eastern Ukraine; alarmism over United States support for Ukraine leading to World War III; even the flogging of “American biolabs in Ukraine” conspiracies in his Substack newsletter and in videos. While Greenwald has made overwrought claims about the “neo-Nazi menace” of the Azov Regiment, his only response to reports of Russian atrocities in Bucha has been to warn about the dangers of falling for “war propaganda” and “social media’s manipulations.”

This stance from Greenwald, a former lawyer who has been widely lauded for his investigative journalism and civil liberties advocacy, in particular, for his role in helping former National Security Agency subcontractor Edward Snowden expose illicit NSA surveillance and his Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of that story—has been met with bafflement and disappointment from many of his erstwhile admirers, who lament that “Glenn lost his way.”

But Greenwald has been baffling and disappointing legions of his progressive admirers for years with his cozy relationship with the MAGA right. And a look at his career shows that his pro-Kremlin affinity goes way back—as part of a more general tendency to sympathize with foes of the U.S.-led “neoliberal” (or “neoconservative”) international order. [Continue reading…]