Anne Applebaum writes in today's
once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle about the convergence of far-right "values," expressed in recent European Parliament elections, with those of Russian homophobe/ autocrat/ czar
Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin:
Indeed, on the same day that Ukrainians voted for “European values” — and almost exactly a quarter-century after the Poles voted for “European values” — another landmark, landslide election propelled an unusually virulent group of anti-Europeans into prominence. Millions of French citizens voted the National Front, an anti-European party with anti-Semitic roots, to the top of France’s European parliamentary election list. A few days earlier, millions of British voters opted for the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), another anti-European organization composed of a charismatic leader, Nigel Farage, and a strange coalition of cranks, cheats and open racists. Dutch, Danish, Italian, Austrian and Hungarian voters sent similarly inclined candidates to the European Parliament, so much so that they may be able to form a full-fledged far-right voting bloc.
Not only do the leaders of these two parties reject “European values,” they also have gone out of their way to declare their solidarity with a man who symbolizes everything that Poles and Ukrainians have been trying to escape. During a trip to Moscow, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, declared her admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “patriotism.” UKIP’s Farage has also named Putin as the world leader he “most admires.” Le Pen and Farage aren’t alone in admiring the Russian “model” — corruption, media manipulation, disregard for borders and the rule of law, all included. What Ukraine is desperate to escape, in other words, Europe’s far right is now desperate to become.
Not mentioned unfortunately, but not unexpectedly (this is the Bezos Bugle, after all), is
the crush the American far-right has for Putin. As authoritarians at heart, they admire the "strong man," as they perceive the strutting Putin to be. In fact, the vertically-challenged Putin is acting out, as has every over-compensating tyrant with a personal and national inferiority complex. The chronically paranoid, phobic right in Europe and America naturally see him as kindred in spirit, someone who has the "will" to turn back the tide of change that they fear so much.
