Kremlintarianism
Kremlintarianism is the support of Kremlin policies (Kremlinism, in particular the russian invasion of Ukraine) by self-professed libertarians. Kremlin policies, of course, are the complete opposite of the libertarian philosophy of non-aggression and individual rights.
Kremlintarians are therefore anti-libertarian vatniks (followers and spreaders of Kremlin propaganda) and tankies (supporters of authoritarian regimes) pretending to be libertarians.
“ They have crossed the line from a belief that the U.S. should “mind its own business” to explaining that the reason we should do so is because the regimes we’ve been told to be wary of by the shapers of American foreign policy are in fact righteous victims and national liberators.
What’s so ironic is that so-called libertarians are defending nationalist politicians who never hesitate to use the full powers of the state in quashing the personal freedoms of their citizenry
Kremlinism and Kremlinophilia
Kremlintarianism [6] is an acute form of Kremlinophilia...
“ Even the falls of the British and French empires at the end of World War II do not match as geo-strategic disasters the collapse of the Soviet Empire and breakup of the Soviet Union since the end of the Cold War.
“ Why the West Hates Russia: It’s Not Woke Enough?
“ It is far easier for a political party to gain ballot status in Russia than it is in most states in the U.S.
“ A lot of people have it in for Holy Mother Russia
... and, currently, Putinophilia:
“ Vladimir Putin Is The Leader Of the Moral World
“ We should thank our lucky stars that Putin is a mensch.
“ a decisive, realistic, and nationalistic adult, in the person of Vladimir Putin ... Putin has a very clear view of Russia’s genuine national interests
“ he is not a dictator
“ Putin is a rational statesman, with legitimate security interest
“ Putin is a Russian nationalist, patriot, traditionalist and a cold and ruthless realist looking out to preserve Russia as the great and respected power it once was and he believes it can be again.
“ Putin, a proud Russian patriot... The neocons hate Putin with a passion because he is a patriot.
“ It’s difficult to really know the truth about Putin. I must confess that the more I hear the man speak, the more impressed I am with him.
As such it defends Kremlinism, in particular Russian Imperialism/Russian Colonialism.
Characteristics
“ Let me get this straight. Mises Caucus says the United States should not have fought the Nazis. [ [7] ] But they also say Russia is right to invade Ukraine because of Ukrainian Nazis.
- — [8]
“ To be so angry at your own government that you will ally yourself with tyrants abroad is … well, words fail me. But when I become very calm, one comes to mind with perfect clarity: evil.
“ I gotta say, it takes a certain kind of psychopath to support genocide even when their own country is on the right side of history.
- Obsession with US “empire” while ignoring any other, actual, imperialism (“anti-imperialism” of idiots)
- Moral equivalency between genocidal regimes openly advocating War Crimes[11] and (imperfect yet vastly preferrable) Western liberal democracies
- Criticizing much more the latter than the former
- Worse, openly considering the latter as worse than the former [12]
- Staunch desire for the US, NATO, the EU and any half-decent country to avoid at any price or lose wars, even defensive ones, especially when russia, a russian ally, a former russian ally or russia-supported regime is involved (Ukraine should surrender/be conquered by russia, Taiwan should be conquered by russia-ally China (Kremlintarian Party/Taiwan), the US should have stayed out of WWII [13], Israel should not defend itself against Russia-ally Iran, the US should get out of Syria but russia can keep destroying it, etc)
- Staunch support for Russia to launch wars [14] and be successful in its wars of aggression
- In particular, the russian invasion of Ukraine is to be admired[15], and Russia should be successful in it [16]. Kremlintarians organized a whole pro-war-rally in support of russia retaining its territorial gains in Ukraine: Kremlintarianism/Rage Against the War Machine Rally.
- Denial of genocides by allies of russia, or genocides stopped by NATO intervention [17] [18] (See also: NATO/With Or Without NATO - a Tale of Four Wars)
- Historical revisionism, including Holocaust denial, in order to support the narrative of the US being responsible for every single war (Murray N. Rothbard/Antisemitism and Holocaust denial)
- Favors decentralization of (already small) European states into even smaller [19], indefensible ones[20], dissolution of NATO [21][22], dissolution of the US (“national divorce”) [23] (“Libertarian” Party, Walter Block, etc), etc. Calls for small states to be neutral, non-interventionist, etc.
- Conversely (!), supports territorial expansion of the largest state on earth (Russian Imperialism) [24]. Has no objection to Union State [25], CSTO [26], etc. Never calls for Russia to be neutral, non-interventionist, split into smaller states, etc., in fact, explicitly opposes “national divorce” for russia [27]. (“anti-imperialism” of idiots, deimperialization of russia)
- In particular, while claiming to support decentralization and secession, supports expansion of the largest state territory on earth, through military conquest and fake referenda under occupation. (for instance the 2014 Crimean status “referendum”: “Ron Paul: Crimea secedes. So what?”)
- Does not seem bothered by the fact that “self-determination” to join russia (even were it real and not fake referenda) can only be exercised once (Russia/Laws/Secession). Too bad for the next generation.
- Or that, while secession from russia is very illegal, russian agents are eager to encourage secession to Russia, or any secession that could weaken Western countries (Kremlinism/Subversion/Secession): Spain[28][29], California[30], Texas[31]... (which, it just so happens, is the exact same pattern of encouraging when it suits the Kremlin interests, and opposing it when it does not, that Kremlintarians follow...)
- Always sides with the most anti-libertarian, most authoritarian regime in any conflict, in particular, if that regime is or was supported by Russia at some point (China over Taiwan, Russia over Ukraine, anyone over Israel and the US, etc)
- Support for outright tankies such as Noam Chomsky, “believed to be the greatest living intellectual of our time.” (sic) [32]
- Provincialism
- Publication of outright fascist Russian imperialists such as Aleksandr Dugin [33] (nothing is beyond the pale for the Lew Rockwell Cesspool [34] )
- Of course, they will call their opponents “russophobic”
- Of course, their staunchest opponents are Russian libertarians:
- Mikhail Svetov, “An appeal to western libertarians about the war in Ukraine”
- GrandTurion, “Libertarian Party of Russia vs fake-Libertarian Party of USA” (thread) (pdf) (
- See also: Libertarian Party of Russia/Truth and freedom are on the side of peace and Russian invasion of Ukraine/Russians against the war
- Starting with the ones from Москва itself: Why I’m ashamed to be a libertarian. Followed by Ukrainians, Poles, etc. (Their explanation? They must be paid by the CIA. Of course. [35])
Indeed, Kremlintarianism is directly correlated to residence at a safe distance from the Kremlin, lack of Russian language skills, etc:
“ Have you noticed that [Kremlintarian] support for Russia increases in proportion to how far the [Kremlintarian] lives from [the Kremlin]? Libertarians from Finland to Ukraine are all appalled at the betrayal. Libertarians in Russia (those who dare speak) feel similarly. Here is an appeal by the Libertarian Party of Russia.
- — Roman Skaskiw [36]
Kremlintarians will try to trick useful idiots into moving closer to the Kremlin [37], while remainining at a safe distance themselves.
The worst kind of Kremlinophilia
Arguably, Kremlintarianism is the worst type of Kremlinophilia, as its purported ideas (libertarianism, antistate, antiwar, decentralization, etc) are the complete opposite of what it is actually supporting (Reverse straw man).
Kremlintarianism is profoundly anti-liberal and anti-libertarian
- Cathy Young, “Russia’s Global Anti-Libertarian Crusade” (Kremlintarians did not like this one at all! [38])
Kremlintarianism is anti-American
Kremlintarians go as far as to suggest Russian dictator Vladmir Putin should become president/dictator of the US (they are perfectly fine with a fascist dictatorship in general[39]):
“ if Donald Trump doesn’t run for president in 2024 ... I’m voting for Vladimir Putin.
- — Boyd D. Cathey, LewRockwell.com [ the t-shirt version ]
Kremlintarians also deliberately ignore russian threats against the US.
Kremlintarians and geography
Kremlintarians are not very good in geography.
Kremlintarians claim that Russia is “encircled” or “surrounded” by NATO [40]. (As if, incidentally, this were a bad thing, were it true: countries actually surrounded by NATO —Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein—seem to be doing just fine, and are, in fact, often admired (even excessively so) by those same Kremlintarians[41][42]. Go figure...)
Kremlintarians oppose the so-called “NATO expansion” —they never wonder why victims of russian imperialism were eager to join NATO. While russia is committing genocide in Ukraine, Kremlintarians question who the aggressor is [43]
Kremlintarians claim that “Geopolitical feuds between nations halfway around the globe do not require the United States to choose sides.” [44]. When actually, Russia is threatening the US, in particular Alaska, and Russia is not “halfway around the globe”, but in fact a neighbor of the USA.
Incidentally, note that while “Polish MPs vote almost unanimously to approve Sweden and Finland’s NATO accession”[45], a “no” vote is expected[46] from Kremlintarian Rand Paul (he ended up abstaining):
- In October 2019, the Senate approved North Macedonia’s accession by a vote of 91-2. And in March 2017, just a few months after Russia was found to have meddled in the 2016 presidential election, the Senate voted 97-2 to admit Montenegro.
- The lone “no” votes for both countries came from Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), both of whom have expressed some skepticism over the years about NATO.
- Lee is undecided on Finland and Sweden joining NATO and is considering the arguments on both sides, while Paul told POLITICO that he’s not yet ready to make a statement on the issue. Both senators voted against the $40 billion aid package for Ukraine. [47]
More Kremlinist than the Kremlin?
As the Kremlin propaganda keeps shifting, sometimes the dim-witted Kremlintarian vatniks have trouble keeping up:
- For instance, some of them are still clinging to the lies about NATO expansion as reason for Kremlinist aggressions, even while more senior Kremlinists switched to openly embracing russian imperialism. Vladimir Putin#Comparisons with Peter I[48] [49]
- others will blabber about how US interference overthrew a democratically-elected government... while Russian propagandists have already moved on to Russian intervention “squeezing out the democratization of Ukraine” [50]
- or about how Putin is actually a liberal (“Putin is a liberal in the old fashioned sense that no longer exists in the West.” [51]) even while Putin openly proclaims being anti-liberal [52] (or even: “Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four was about liberalism, not totalitarianism, claims Moscow diplomat”)
- or complain about “Ukrainian Nazi groups”, even after the Kremlin lies have switched from “denazification” to “desatanization”
- or insist about “separatists” in 2014 even when Kremlin admits it was an invasion... (“Putin says he should have seized Donbas in 2014”, “Putin finally torpedoes the Russian propaganda myth of ”separatists“ and ”civil war“ in Ukraine. It was always a covert Russian military intervention, and media that continue to talk about ”separatists“ are quite simply misleading their audiences.”)
Kremlintarian events
Kremlintarians
Kremlintarians, simply put, are vatniks: Kremlintarians are a type of vatnik pretending to be libertarian.
Vatniks who think how smart and original they are by being dumb contrarians by opposing whatever the US government says or does[53]. The one time when Lew Rockwell was not spreading Kremlintarianism was... when he thought the US were ok with russian invasions. [54].
“ I am deeply saddened by the stance of some American [Kremlintarians] during this conflict. Now, we really do need NATO in Central-Eastern Europe. Why? Because some criminals are more criminal than others. And if you stop playing the game of war, it does not mean others will.
typical...
...Kremlintarian
Kremlintarians
“ Thus, fortuitously, from a mixture of theoretical and practical grounds of their own, the Soviets arrived early at what libertarians consider to be the only proper and principled foreign policy ... Stalin and his successors strengthened and reinforced the nonaggressive, “peaceful-coexistence” policy.
“ If there were any justice in the world, Russia ... would have declared war on all the member nations of NATO, all of them without exception.
- Murray Rothbard (🎖 We award him[1] Order of Lenin[55] for outstanding lifetime achievement in promoting Kremlintarianism [56] and thus sabotaging libertarianism)
- Walter Block (🎖 We award him[1] International Stalin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples [57] for his outstanding conclusion, in 2022, as lifelong scholar on libertarian/kremlintarian theories of justice, that: “If there were any justice in the world, Russia ... would have declared war on all the member nations of NATO, all of them without exception.”[58])
Kremlintarian Dens
- Mao Tse Tung Institute [61] (allegedly “Ludwig von Mises Institute”. Ludwig von Mises, of course, was no Kremlintarian (he spoke Russian)[62])
- Ron Paul Institute for Promoting Putinism
- Direct connection to Putin e.g. John Laughland
- Lew Rockwell Cesspool
- Openly pushing Russia Insider, RT, Strategic Culture Foundation, etc “Defeated NATO and Kiev Will Soon Say ‘A Frozen Conflict Anyone?’” “Mariupol Residents Able To Move Freely, No Longer Have To Shelter From Nazi Shelling”
“ I thought… I guess I thought some people I have met would be wiser. And now I am left with downright suspicions (there is a difference between an idiot and and agent)… I thought a certain think tank was on the side of freedom. Now I have to see them publish articles that are clearly in Russian interest or are glorifying a murderous ideology, silencing the fact that Dugin openly called for genocide. Or articles falling for the false cultural narrative of „family values” in Russia – without even checking the statistics (yes, that same narrative that was fabricated in Moscow as a divide-and-conquer strategy). Or even claiming it would be good for a dictatorship to own nuclear weapons.
Levels of Kremlintarianism
- Level 0: non-interventionism, might or might not be Kremlintarian, depending on the justifications for it.
- level 1 Kremlintarian: the delusional Kremlintarian: Russia is not invading! Russia is not our problem! Russia might be bad, but surely it’s not all that bad (likewise China, Hitler, Milosevic, etc). no genocide happening!
- level 2 Kremlintarian: the nihilistic, both-sideist Kremlintarian: Russia and Ukraine are the same. genocide? who cares.
- level 3 Kremlintarian: the evil Kremlintarian: Russia is better! Russia should win! whatever genocide Russia is doing is ok.
- level 4 Kremlintarian: the extra-evil Kremlintarian: Russia is not killing enough, Russia should kill more , declare more wars[63]! Putin is too soft![64]! more genocide!
Examples:
Level 2 Kremlintarians:
“ a ridiculous war effort to save one fascist democracy from another fascist democracy
- — Todd Hagopian, “Kremlintarian-In-Chief”, Kremlintarian Party treasurer, [65]
“ you have to consider surrendering, because you see that only one corrupt gang is exchanged for another corrupt gang. For example, the Ukraine war
Kremlintarian tactics
- The motte & bailey
Kremlintarianism in the UK
Kremlintarianism is primarily an anti-American-American phenomenon, but alas the plague has spread even to the UK...
- The
LibertarianKremlintarian Alliance, who claims that “What we want is a government so small that it doesn’t matter where it is, what it does, who’s in it, or how they got there.”[67], from which “Alan Bickley, who is both Editor of Free Life [sic] and Director of the Libertarian Alliance” concludes: “I hope the Russians will win.”[68]
- Like their American counterparts, they think fighting Hitler was wrong: “Our unwise entry to the Second World War had brought economic dislocation and a large mass of debt, and it required us to rethink our status as an imperial power.” (the Director Alan Bickley again [69])
- They themselves describe their views as “Bleak and Cynical Semi-Libertarianism” in yet another awful piece [70], yet frankly, if we add the publication of such titles as Hoppe’s awful speech redefining libertarianism as boot-licking of the alt-right [71] (while calling real libertarian organizations such as Students for Liberty “stupid”), or “Why I Choose to Collaborate with Racialists and Theocrats” by Keith Preston: “It is true that groups like the Ku Klux Klan have a lengthy history of terrorism and violence against minorities. It is also true that skinhead gangs have perpetrated much violent street crime in the name of racism (though still less than black and Latino crime gangs). However, white nationalism has evolved considerably in the past ten or fifteen years ... Even when I read the commentary of ex-Nazis like Don Black or David Duke, I find that I frequently disagree, but I don’t find their views inherently scandalous”, perhaps “idiotic non-libertarianism” or “dangerously misguided anti-libertarianism”, or, more bluntly, “fascism”, would be even more accurate.
Libertarians are not Kremlintarians
Kremlintarianism is not libertarianism!
Studies on Kremlintarianism
- Jan Krepelka, “Against Urki Libertarianism”, 2022
- Jan Krepelka, “Pro-war is the new anti-war”, 2022
- Steven Greenhut, “Opposing War With Russia Doesn’t Require Excusing Putin’s Aggression”, Reason 2022
- “Russian propaganda for American libertarians”, Analysis of the theses of the Kremlin propaganda focused on American libertarians, 2022 [72] [73]
- Chris Zappone, “Kremlintarians: Russia’s war on Ukraine exposes great libertarian divide”, 2022, The Sydney Morning Herald [74] [75] [76]
- Mihail Pojarsky, “Paleoputinism”, 2022
Groups about Kremlintarianism
- Anarcho-Putinism, Facebook Group
- Confused Pro-Putin Libertarians, Facebook Group
- r/kremlintarians, subreddit
Podcasts about Kremlintarianism
- Nidheg - американские либертарианцы за Путина?[77] [American libertarians for Putin?]
- Operator Starsky, This gentleman is full of shi... (about Kremlintarian Dave Smith) [78]
- Classical Liberal Project #6 - Dylan Burns and Debunking Myths about Ukraine (Dylan Burns, Joshua Reed Eakle, Jonathan T. Casey)
- The Think Tank, Ep. 3: Kevin (@gaughen) on Libertarianism, Russian Propaganda, and the Mises takeover
Protests against Kremlintarianism
- A letter to the Cato Institute on Ukraine and Russia Kremlintarianism/A letter to the Cato Institute on Ukraine and Russia
- Alexander McCobin (United States, Co-Founder and (then) President of Students For Liberty), Eglė Markevičiūtė (Lithuania, Member of the International Executive Board of Students For Liberty), “Ron Paul Gets It Wrong When He Speaks about Secession and Crimea”
US libertarians
Ukrainian libertarians
- Anna Partisanka, “There is no libertarian party of America. I don’t care what these fascists tell you dear friends. Don’t ever pick their candidates. Don’t fund them. Don’t support them. They are lie. Defining principle of libertarianism is non aggression followed by property rights.” (thread) (pdf)
- Roman Skaskiw, “Hoppe’s Idiotic speech about Russia and Ukraine” (Hans Hermann Hoppe/Kremlintarianism)
- see also: “anti-imperialism” of idiots and westsplaining
Polish libertarians
- Polish Libertarian Party, “As the Polish Libertarian Party, we significantly distance ourselves from [Kremlintarianism], which we consider contrary to the ideas of libertarianism.”
Spanish libertarians
- Libertarian Party of Spain freezes relations with the Libertarian Party of the United States and expresses its support for the Libertarian Party of Russia in its frontal opposition to the Russian regime and to its criminal invasion of Ukraine.
- Spanish Libertarian Party, Resolution on the Libertarian Party (of Spain)’s International Relations
- Resolution on the Libertarian Party (of Spain)’s International Relations
- Spanish Libertarian Party Freezes Relations With US Libertarian Party
Russian libertarians
Threads about Kremlintarianism
- N. Stephan Kinsella, “I *literally* have some ”libertarian“ friends arguing that Russia’s attack on Ukraine is *justified*”
- Mikhail Svetov, “Ten likes one fact about Putin’s Russia and everything that Western right wing gets wrong about Putin.”
- Mihail Pojarsky, https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1566731792551403522.html [81] auto-translate: https://threadreaderapp-com.translate.goog/thread/1566731792551403522.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
- Mihail Pojarsky, https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1508772598494150668.html [82] auto-translate: https://threadreaderapp-com.translate.goog/thread/1508772598494150668.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
- GrandTurion, #Kremlintarians Hoppe and Kinsella. (thread) (pdf) (Kremlintarians, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, N. Stephan Kinsella)
Non-Kremlintarian libertarian statements
“ American Libertarians stand with Russian Libertarians in condemning Putin's military invasion of Ukraine.
American Libertarians stand with Ukrainian Libertarians against Putin's military invasion of Ukraine.
Right-wing reactionaries defend Putin's military invasion of Ukraine.
- — Nicholas Sarwark, Former Chairman of the Libertarian Party (2014-2020), February 24, 2022
- Julia Kril, “Students For Liberty’s Response to the Ukraine-Russia Border Crisis”, February 10, 2022
- Alianza Libertaria de Ibeamérica (AL), “We condemn the new attacks on the civilian population by the Putin regime. We repudiate the dictatorships in America allied with the Russian regime. We are committed to defending freedom and supporting the people of Ukraine 🇺🇦”
- David Wiley, “Freedom Talks: Ukraine War and the Libertarian Foreign Policy”, January 21, 2023
- Cathy Young, “Russia’s Global Anti-Libertarian Crusade” (Kremlintarians did not like this one at all! [84])
Non-Kremlintarian libertarian organizations
Global
- Liberty International (twitter: @Liberty_ISIL)
- Students for Liberty (twitter: @sfliberty)
United States
Europe
- Partia Libertarianie (Polish libertarian party) [85]
- Либертарианская партия (Russian Libertarian Party) [86]
- Spanish Libertarian Party
- Laissez-faire @laysayfare (Swiss libertarian think tank)
South America
Libertarians helping Ukraine
- Atlas Network, Ukraine Freedom Fund, When you give to Atlas Network, your money goes where it’s needed most. Pictured here are volunteers and civilian doctors and medics whose efforts have been empowered by your generosity. Ukraine is defending the possibility of a free society while Russia brazenly attacks its citizens. Atlas Network’s Ukrainian partners will play a crucial role in the future of the country.
Kremlintarians vs libertarians debates
- Kremlintarian Ted Galen Carpenter vs libertarian Agnieszka Płonka: “Who is to blame for the war in Ukraine?”
- Should libertarians support or abolish NATO? Podcast with libertarians Joshua Reed Eakle and Jonathan T. Casey and Kremlintarian Dave Smith
See also
Libertarian foreign policy
Objectivist view
- Thomas Walker-Werth, “The Fundamental Difference between Ukraine and Russia”, January 31, 2022
