Since this blog has been going so long (nearly twenty years!), and so much is still so relevant, I'm going to start a regular series of posts and writing from ten and/or twenty years ago.
From twenty years ago comes my interview with painter Michael Newberry, in which we get down and dirty on art, creativity and passion — and on his call for a Moral Revolution of Human Values in the Arts.
And from ten years ago this month comes this still timely post by Russian libertarian Mikhail Svetov on the strange attraction felt by some so-called libertarians to the would-be destroyer of Ukraine. (Some of the pics have sadly been lost.)
(And if you want to search the archives here yourself, click down there on the right-hand side on the "Everything We've Ever Written" drop-down menu.)
Putin's Libertarians
Guest post by Mikhail Svetov
I DECIDED TO WRITE THIS after I noticed that western libertarians have unaccountably developed a soft spot for Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The consensus among them seems to be that Putin is in the right in Ukraine. Even Ron Paul, whom I normally admire, has fallen for his charms. But as a Russian libertarian myself, it leaves me disappointed and terribly sad.
The biggest complaint from libertarians about the Ukraine seems to be that the government in Kyiv is somehow “fascist,” which in their eyes warrants Russian military intervention. I would like to start by outlining some facts about Russia and Ukraine, and hopefully dispel some myths about the war in the Donbass region of Ukraine (also known as the Donetsk Basin).
The simplest way is to focus on some of the most notable characteristics of fascism. The defining characteristic of Fascism is that the good of the State comes before the good of the individual, identified by Laurence Britt as being commonly manifested in the following ways …
