Noah Berlatsky and Aaron Rupar write:

Ukraine’s successes have made right wing Putin apologists look like fools, bounders, and quislings. Tucker Carlson, all-purpose fascist shill, has constantly insisted that Putin’s victory is inevitable — refusing to change his line even after the most recent defeat.

Tucker: By any actual reality based measure, Vladimir Putin is not losing the war in Ukraine. He is winning the war in Ukraine pic.twitter.com/8uBlud3az4

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 30, 2022

Former Trump aide and fascist mouthpiece Steve Bannon praised the viciously homophobic and nightmarishly authoritarian Putin as “anti-woke.” Like other white nationalists, Bannon hoped a Putin victory would signal the downfall of the decadent west. Instead, the supposedly decadent Ukrainian military is in the process of handing fascism yet another historical defeat.

Putin has also, unfortunately, had apologists on the left. Generally, these voices have been more circumspect than those on the right. But they’ve still engaged in a lot of moral equivocation and encouraged surrender.

Longtime progressive hero Noam Chomsky, for example, acknowledged that Putin’s invasion was wrong. But he’s also insisted that Putin was provoked by NATO expansion, as if invading a neighbor is in any way a reasonable response when they threaten to sign a treaty you don’t like. Chomsky also quickly called for a move “towards a negotiated settlement,” even though it was clear immediately that Putin, sans resistance, would not settle for anything but conquering the country. [Continue reading…]