The
Boston Globe was for a couple of decades owned by the New York Times.
In that era, it was reliably Timesy. To be honest, so we
guess. I no longer live in the Boston area so what little I
read was usually a link that evinced no surprises.
As
there are few hot properties in daily news outlets, The Times
unloaded the Globe in 2013 at a fire sale price relative to what the
old Yankee ownership received about 20 years previously.
The
new owner, John Henry, is a successful businessman who also owns the
Boston Red Sox. Out here in Nowheresville, we have not
discerned any change in direction from the usual knee jerk
progressivism. Then again, we are not paying attention.
It
was refreshing to catch a link to an article that is in opposition to
the administration policy in Eastern Europe. The title of the
September 20th piece, Russia
is not the enemy, set the tone that Stephen Kinzer followed to
the end. What's interesting is Mr. Kinzer is a veteran
Timesman. Of course, as we are not following either paper too
closely, we may be misjudging.
Still,
the article is good. It lays out all the reasons why the
current policy toward Russia is ill advised. Reading Kinzer,
one gets the feeling that American foreign policy makers just don't
know when to stop. Well, that has been a bit of a theme here at
The Neutralist.
Mr.
Kinzer's article is worth your time.
The
current administration at the Globe has inherited, for better or
worse, old staff. In the for worse column, we would include
token conservative Jeff Jacoby.
Jeff
is a neocon, which really does not bear much resemblance to
conservatism. The man is reliably for war and more war.
Needless
to say, you can leave out one word in the title of Mr. Kinzer's
article and change Russia to Putin and you have serviceable theme for
Jacoby's article back in March. The title, Putin has builta Russia of hate, is not going to win awards for subtlety, nor is the
article. Jacoby blames Putin for everything except the
Lindbergh kidnapping.
The
article is a rehashing of all the anti-Putin tropes, as Putin has
been,
"crushing
Chechnya, occupying Georgia, running interference for Syria and
Iran-al while eviscerating domestic democratic opposition, plundering
Russia's wealth..."
Forgetting
that Putin also warned us about the Marathon bombers, but so what.
Gee, those Chechens are the nicest people.
That
running interference for Syria, we could translate that as opposing
ISIS, but why quibble.
Putin
might not have annexed Crimea if Nuland et al had not pushed a coup
as Jacoby did not mention.
In
his article, Jeff all but accuses Putin of killing dissident Boris
Nemtsov. For all we know that may be right. Does it mean
we have to go all out against the Russkies. Jeff is all for it.
"America
and the West can best give meaning to Nemtsov's death by emulating
the resolve and courage he embodied in life. Condolences won't stop
Putin's advances. Backbone is a different story."
Jeff
knows all about backbone. He has led the fight against those
who call him and his non-serving ilk "chickenhawks." To
him its a slur. He and the rough writers showed us by marching
down to the recruiting office to lead the battle from the frontlines
and not the keyboard.
Nah,
he still fights from the comfortable Globe bunker on Morrisey
Boulevard.
