Putin the Pariah

The establishment lefties at Slate have Putin isolated, shunned, ignored, and more dangerous than ever.

Well, one thing he isn't is "ignored." You can't find a news site anywhere in the Nations of Virtue where Putin's name does not appear on the home page.

That leaves "isolated, shunned, and more dangerous than ever."

If Putin is now more dangerous than ever, one must enquire as to how dangerous he was before.

While the bold activists of Pussy Riot may disagree, having spent 18 months hard time in the gulag for defiling a church, (and being sprung prematurely by the great ogre himself) it is exceedingly difficult to find where Putin has been a danger to anyone.

There was the bloodless reclamation of Crimea, which has unsettled those aforementioned Nations of Virtue no end. This seems to have gone over rather swimmingly with the citizens of Crimea. They tend to see Putin as a saviour rather than a pariah.

As for isolated and shunned, the record speaks for itself. While there is certainly no question that the self-anointed "International Community," ie the US and the usual me-too states, have done their level best and then some to isolate and shun Putin, there is no evidence whatsoever that isolation and shunning has come to pass.

Not only does Putin enjoy approval rates in Russia that are totally unthinkable among the hapless dolts who are doing the shunning... Hollande, Harper, Obama, Cameron... but he has far more credibility in the world beyond NATO than any of his detractors.

Which seems to drive the animus of his detractors... when there is nothing to say, shout louder.