Al Franken interviews Julia Ioffe - and indulges in weirdly superficial hawkish fantasies - on the Russia-Ukraine War

Al Franken does a podcast with interesting guests. This episode features the journalist Julia Ioffe, now a high-profile Russia expert. I take it for granted that being an "expert" is very far from a sign of infallibility, especially when it comes to wars. But her commentary on the facts about the Russia-Ukraine War over the last year has been informative and generally careful with the facts. As we hear in the interview, she does have her own policy perspective.

But I don't recall hearing Al talk like this before. Franken was a Democratic Senator and is generally thought of as a liberal. But when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine War, he sounds here an awful lot like a standard-issue, chronic blowhard hawk. Not quite Dr. Strangelove levels, but geez ...

"This is a bargain for the United States. ... We have significantly degraded the Russian army - our sworn enemy - with the massive support of all these allies." He celebrates the number of Russian soldiers killed and wounded with no American casualties. "We are eroding Russia's defense capabilities every day at no risk to American lives." How many "no risk" military interventions have we had in the last 50 years? And, not to be picky, but isn't the official US goal to restore Ukraine's control over its sovereign territory? (Also, did Congress officially declare Russia to be our Sworn Enemy? Just asking.)

Why anyone would talk about the Russia-Ukraine War as having "no risk" for the US is, well, a little hard to understand. But I can't say I'm surprised. I'm "old enough to remember" how the Very Serious People in 2002-3 thought an invasion of Iraq would be a "cakewalk" for the US. A bargain for the United States, we might say.

Al goes on - I'm not making this up - "I'm not an arms dealer but Ukraine has been just a helleva showcase for American ingenuity." So I guess for Al, it's all hunky-dory with that awesome little war in Ukraine. For Americans, anyway. Well, Ukrainians have it kind of hard, what with their territory being occupied, their economy and vital infrastructure wrecked, over a quarter of their population displaced from their homes, and, oh yeah, all those Ukrainians killed and injured and stuff. But, hey, according to Al, it's "a bargain for the United States" and an awesome moment for American arms dealers. And those are the important things!

Sometimes, you just have to wonder how the human race has survived even his long. But I guess a 300,000-year run for home sapiens has been a pretty good showing.

P.S.: For future reference and as I noted in an earlier post, there are Americans who are part of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, which is under the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Including Malcolm Nance, who was a MSNBC commentator. So, despite Al Franken's gushing over what a no-risk deal it is for Americans, there are Americans directly participating in the war. I notice stuff like this because I'm "old enough to remember..." I will be completely unsurprised to find out later that US direction of that operation is more direct than currently publicly acknowledged.

(This post is also available on Substack.)