Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Masha Gessen — The Real Madman

Where Putin’s unpredictable persona is a carefully cultivated one, Trump has given no evidence that his madman act is an act.
I disagree with notorious Putin-basher critic Masha Gessen, who is Russian-born and is fluent in Russian, and should know better. Putin may appear to be a "madman" from the Western POV, but his actions are perfectly rational based on Russian interests, for which he is willing to take risks, which Gessen seems not to understand or does not want to understand.

Putin actually met with her at the Kremlin on several occasions. Has any US president every met with a prominent critic like Noam Chomsky, let along invited one to the White House? I didn't think so.

On the other hand, Trump? Gessen is also a foe of Donald Trump, and she is on firmer ground on this score.

The New York Review of Books
The Real Madman
Masha Gessen

4 comments:

Noah Way said...

Confusing stupidity with insanity ... although the end result is the same.

And conveniently overlooking the forces acting on Trump, an article riddled with disinformation - including Russia's "annexation" of Crimea with no mention of the US sponsored coup in Ukraine - which to Crimea it is not a legitimate government.

Tom Hickey said...

A most significant thing also is the NYRB giving Gessen a platform since she is obviously so biased and her writing is more rant than argument.

Matt Franko said...

Ukraine must somehow owe the Zionists a lot of munnie is all I can think......

Matt Franko said...

Tom, you are over thinking things here... it's about munnie as usual.... keep it simple...