And this merger of bogus, ultra right-wing populism, with corporatism, with, for the most part, great militarism and support for the military-industrial complex, and political repression, and contempt for basic civil liberties, as well as human rights...That's a toxic mix that requires, I think, whatever we're going to call ourselves, [to be] "in opposition."
And there are a lot of different, favorite terms: liberal, progressive, left-wing, libertarian. The names matter less than taking a firm position, not just in what we say over the dining room table, but what we do, which is most important. And that is activism, organizing, building institutions, strengthening the ones that exist, like the radio station people are listening to, as well as building institutions that are too weak to fight back against this right-wing, corporate, militarist onslaught, which is embodied now in what's coming up as the Trump administration. So we're in very, very deep peril.
Ecologically, we've got a climate denier moving into the White House. We've got, in terms of civil liberties, and human rights and civil rights, a racist moving into the White House, with a racist base that he has cultivated, and he continues to excite an extreme militarism.
So, we have enormous work to do. And I think we need a broad, deep and wide, united popular front, without caving in to the lowest common denominator, which is what is going to come from the top of the Democratic Party, unfortunately.
DB: Alright, I want to tap your media skills now, which are many and strong. You open up your most recent piece... I think it's up at a bunch of places. I grabbed this off of Consortium News. I think it's up at Common Dreams, as well. It's called The Left's Risk in Blaming Russia.
And you open up the piece with this comment from Donna Brazile at the DNC. And she is essentially raging about how the Russians threw the elections, in a sense that's why Hillary Clinton didn't win. And you quote her saying, "By now Americans know beyond any reasonable doubt that the Russian government orchestrated a series of cyber attacks on political campaigns and organizations, over the past two years and used stolen information to influence the presidential campaign and congressional races." She goes on to say, "The integrity of our elections is too important for Congress to refuse to take these attacks seriously." What's wrong with that statement?
NS: Well, what's wrong with it is, it implies, or directly states, that the problem with our last election was Russian interference. And, as has been documented at the Intercept and elsewhere, it's far from clear to whatever extent the interference took place from Russia. But even if we assume that the CIA has a great, credible record of honesty and integrity as a source of information to the public, and that it is "a slam dunk" so to speak -- a phrase used to tell us there were WMDs [weapons of mass destruction] in Iraq more than a dozen years ago from the CIA -- still, if we give all that [the] benefit of doubt, let's be real about this, I'm very concerned, so many progressives in their understandable concern, deep concern, horror...
DB: "fears"
NS: ... that Trump is going to be president, they're somehow conflating what has occurred with a Russian menace.
And, if we want to move into a new Cold War that could escalate into a military confrontation in Europe, with Russia, and hair trigger the aiming of nuclear weapons in both directions... if we want to excite and push forward a modern version of a McCarthy era, then let's go ahead and demonize Putin.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates attends the first session of the NATO Defense Minister's meetings at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium March 10, 2011.
(Image by (Defense Department photo by Cherie Cullen)) Details DMCA
Let's forget that it was the United States that expanded NATO despite the promises coming from the first President Bush, and President Bill Clinton. If we want to just obviate and obscure history, and demonize Putin and the Kremlin, in this time, in late 2016, and going into 2017, then we're going to have a very dangerous political climate, made worse by progressives.
And we're getting [an] enormous tendency because people are, understandably, so upset about Trump, that they are combining in their own minds, Putin and Trump. And the fact is that, in my opinion, I think this is a fair thing to say, as horrific as Trump's positions are -- even a broken clock is right twice every 24 hours. And in addition to his stance against the TPP, one of the reasons that so much of the democratic and even some of the Republican Party establishments are so concerned and upset, and angry, and denouncing Trump, is that he has departed from the hostility to Russia.
DB: And one of the victims in this move to blame the Russians, also includes the independent press.
NS: Oh, absolutely.
DB: This has become a witch hunt, you know, in terms of the blame-game here.
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