The Russians are Coming

This morning, CBS News interviewed Robby Mook, ex-spokesperson for Hillary Clinton. Mook couldn't stop talking about the threat posed by the evil Russians, how the election was hacked (implying Hillary would have otherwise won) by the Russians, that Trump's national security advisor had the gall to speak with the Russians, that Donald Trump is in league with the Russians, that Trump's people are enriching themselves via the Russians, blah, blah, blah. Of course, because this fits so nicely into the progressive narrative, the CBS interviewer nodded her head and didn't ask a salient question: It's apparent, Robby, that you're very concerned about the Russians. Since Mitt Romney was roundly ridiculed by both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton when he noted the Russian threat during the 2012 campaign, were Obama and Clinton wrong about Russia then and did their lack of concern lead to the problems you tell us we're having now?

Hmmm. That question will not be asked. Why? Narrative conflict.

Roger Simon comments on the Russia scare that now pervades the MSM and is a daily talking point on both the Left and some elements of the Right:

It's been over fifty years--believe it or not--since Norman Jewison's comedy hit The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, starring Carl Reiner and Alan Arkin, among others, made fun of the perpetual distrust (justified or not) we Americans and the then Soviet Russkies had for each other. The liberal filmmakers had their message -- we should all just relax and love each other.

For those same liberals -- perhaps including Reiner and Arkin, who are very much still with us -- the situation seems to have completely reversed. Liberals and progs these days are aping Reagan, naming Russia as the Evil Empire. They wouldn't dare make jokes about the spy ship currently thirty miles off our coast -- it's a matter of urgent seriousness now -- even though we have been spying on them and they on us since the 1920s at least, and probably before.

Apparently the gravity of this espionage is contingent on who's in power. When you're out, it's of the utmost concern. When you're in, it's business as usual.

Similarly, when a new administration comes in, they try to make nice with Russia, eventually fail, and then revert to form. Clinton, Bush and Obama all tried it. (Oh, how Obama tried it.) And now it's Trump's turn. Of course, if you read the junior varsity propagandists at the New York Times, this all began with Donald. But you'd need a lobotomy to believe the NYT these days. Actually, four presidents in a row falling over each other to woo the Russians unsuccessfully could make a pretty funny comedy were Chaplin still alive -- or the Marx Brothers ....

The Russians are an international adversary, but like every administration has done for the past 50 years, they can be dealt with through a combination of negotiated self-interest and resolve. The previous administration truly did not understand how to negotiate (the Iran Deal is prima facie evidence of that) and showed little resolve. Putin was emboldened, and the rest is history.

In the Russians, the Democrats have found a meme that seems to resonate, so they're running with it. Politics as usual. Meanwhile, in their rush to protect anything and everything Islam, the Dems are missing (or willfully disregard) a much larger threat—Iran. Simon continues:

But what is a true threat to the USA -- and many others -- is Russia's alliance with Iran. Over the years, the Russians have been tsarists, communists and, now, oligarchists, but they have always been at least somewhat rational. The Iranians are cuckoo.

Well, not all Iranians obviously, but enough of their leadership and their masses, millions of whom believe this Twelfth Imam mumbo jumbo with its accompanying end days theology. Just the folks to help militarily. But the Russians are doing it.

Some say Trump's outreach to Putin was motivated by an attempt to break this alliance between the Russians and Iranians. It's doubtful we will ever know now, since the uproar caused by a few phone calls was so great it's hard to see how the president has room to maneuver at this point. The Russians noticed this as well. It's been all over their press. We're back to square one.

What marvelous irony. The liberals who wanted so much to make peace in the days of The Russians Are Coming are doing their best to keep us at war.

Iran is our enemy—has been since 1979. Since the previous administration has given them a clear path to nuclear weapons (ten years is not a long time), they will rapidly become a global threat—not just to us, but to the EU, and the Middle East.

Most of the Left and many #NeverTrumpers on the Right have looked at our threat landscape and—as usual—defined the threat incorrectly. Sure the Russians are an adversary, but the Iranians are far more dangerous. An alliance between he two could be very dangerous indeed. Maybe that's why talking with the Russians, rather than demonizing them, isn't such a bad idea.