A fracture on the international right may seem small fry given everything that is going on right now. But it is worth loitering over. Because in recent years an interesting divide has grown among conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic. On one side are the Cold War warriors and their successors who have continued to view Vladimir Putin’s Russia as a strategic threat. Meanwhile, a new generation has arrived at a different view.
While the West has deranged itself with assaults on its own history, on biology and much more, an assortment of conservatives have come to see Putin as some kind of counterweight. A bulwark – even an admirable corrective – to the madness of our own societies.
As a guest on Steve Bannon’s talk show recently said: ‘The Russian people still know which bathroom to use.’ Of course knowing which bathroom to use isn’t everything. Certainly it is no basis for a foreign policy. But such shorthand has become commonplace.
There are those, for instance, who admire Putin for his embrace of the Orthodox Church. Why do our own political leaders not stand up for the Christian faith in such a sincere and totally uncynical way, they wonder.
An assortment of conservatives see Putin as an admirable corrective to the madness of our own societies
On it goes. As the West goes woke-mad, Putin doesn’t even recognise the most basic rights of gay people. And as our political and cultural elites turn our own history into one of shame, Putin presents a version of Russian history filled only with pride. Just how badly these people have gone awry has become especially clear in recent days.
At the furthest extreme is America’s tiny white nationalist fringe, such as those at the America First Political Action Conference at which Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke at the end of last month.
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