Paleoputinism

In March, I wrote about how American paleolibertarians were praising Putin in all sorts of ways. And not so long ago, dudes of approximately the same views (Mises Caucus) came to the leadership of the Libertarian Party of the USA: paleolibertarianism, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, memes, Trumpism, that’s all. And now they write that the American government staged a coup in Ukraine in 2014, and now there is Nazi on Nazi and Nazi. As an understandable visualization of the theses, they drew Zelensky’s photoshop with a Hitler mustache (fans of memes, after all).

Isolationism, of course, is traditional for American paleoconservatives and paleolibertarians, however, a purely isolationist position would sound like “your Ukraine didn’t give up on us - let it solve its own problems,” but here the dudes literally retell the Kremlin’s narrative about the Nazis, the coup d’état and everything else word for word. If you dig around, you can also find other elements of Kremlin propaganda in them - for example, a tale about people in Odessa being burned alive by Ukrainian Nazis (in reality, everything was much more complicated). Apparently, memes about “Where were you for 8 years?” will soon begin to rivet. So, this is not at all traditional isolationism, but simply a learned Kremlin manual.

Where did they get it from, there are two options. First: they sincerely and honestly watch Russia Today, winding everything that they say there into their two and a half convolutions. The option is quite possible. The main motive of this public sounds like “I will freeze my ears to spite the establishment (especially the Democratic Party)”. If the establishment forbids Rush Today, then Rush Today only speaks the truth and nothing but the truth. Option two: they have some kind of closer ties with the Kremlin propaganda. It has long been known that the Kremlin feeds all kinds of European right-wing radicals (leftists, too, by the way) like Marine Le Pen or the Jobbik party. Once they even brought the entire Western ultra-right zoo to a conference in St. Petersburg. And this public, in turn, tells its flock that the Russian Federation is the last oasis of white conservative values headed by an Orthodox tsar. Of course, it would be surprising to see the New Hampshire Libertarian Party on this list, but, after all, how are they worse?

However, without good reason, it is still impossible to make statements about a vicious connection. Therefore, we remain with hypothesis number one - they freeze their ears to spite the establishment. And this is a sad example of what such a position can lead to. If you get too caught up in fighting the establishment, the mainstream, “the agenda” and the like, then this can make you an easy victim of manipulation by those who pose as fighters against the global conspiracy. And you will find yourself in unpleasant company. Murray Rothbard, the original author of the libertarian “paleo strategy,” ended up collaborating with the Ku Klux Klan, and his current followers repeating the Kremlin manuals.

Mihail Pojarsky, 2022-09-05

See also

• Kremlintarianism