Sorry - not impressed by this episode. There are many excellent journalists who could shed light on the current situation in Ukraine (Michael Weiss is one who springs to mind immediately). Instead, Glenn invited someone who would echo his sentiments about how it's always the main stream (leftist) media that is to blame for everything. Everything must be examined through the prism of his own prejudices. It's great that Matt owned up to his own miscall of Putin's intentions but going forward he doesn't seem to have learned anything from it.
maybe you are a nutjob leftist who has fallen for every crackpot article screwing up our country…. and never apologizing for a second that everything you touch has turned out to be wrong.., not a little bit but completely
I agree. This was an underwhelming episode. Would have been much more enlightening if John could have gotten one of the numerous experts on Russian politics from Columbia University to come on. Columbia's Harriman Institute is one of the premier centers of Russian studies in the country.
I find myself missing the old Glenn Show when the lineup of guests and the topics covered was more varied.
really? how many current columbia professors are in any way clear thinking non mentally corrupt left leaning shrews? open your mind and listen to your compatriots no matter how vile you find them. only then will you be of any help to anyone.
Let's see..Timothy Frye, Alexander Cooley, Kimberley Marten, Jack Snyder, Stephen Sestanovich. Not sure why you think I find Glenn/John/Matt vile. I patronize the podcast! Not everything is about the culture war. Expertise is really important, and I wouldn't put Taibbi anywhere near the top of the list of people who write about or study Russia.
Taibbi wields his pen with panache, and I've enjoyed some of his columns. But he also suffers from what the French call a "déformation professionnelle". In this Glenn Show podcast, he blurs the distinction between the US government and the media to the point that a listener could come away with the feeling that it was the New York Times that ordered the invasion of Iraq. Similarly, there's much to criticize about Russiagate, but trying to connect it to Russia's current invasion of Ukraine is a desperate stretch - in the Procrustean sense.
Lamentable though the Iraq war was in hindsight, equating it with Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the stuff of dorm room BS sessions, and not befitting a serious thinker. The US was not trying to absorb Iraq into our own nation. The US did not act alone in that war (The UK was there too, and in the initial stages, so were Australia, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Poland). The US did not specifically target Iraqi civilians. The US did not try to hunt down international journalists covering the conflict. Zelensky can hardly be compared to Saddam Hussein. The motivations for the wars were completely different. Etc. etc.
I do worry that Taibbi (like so many others in the alternative media world) is liable to fall into the trap of being a professional contrarian. Last summer, for instance, he wrote a few puff pieces about Bret Weinstein, that utter charlatan. (A charlatan for whom, I might add, I once had quite a deal of respect.) Did Taibbi ever revisit that topic, I wonder? Ah, perhaps it was Tiabbi's participation in "Ivermectin-gate" that led Putin to invade!
matt grew up a lefty and they always need to fight back the instinct that no matter how much they come to realize how wrong they were they need to portray whataboutism and equating some faux pas with massively corrupt notions…i love that he has come around but please show me one article where someone of the left turning doesnt have to signal to their formerly left constituency that they are still in their corner to some degree…they cant just cross over to objectivity and sanity
Thanks for your thoughts; I basically agree. I think one of the reasons I feel so disappointed in Taibbi (and also Glenn for pushing the Russiagate issue) is that I recognize that they're bright talented men. It feels intellectually cheap and unworthy of them.
explain…you dont think the russiagate thing was massively divisive to our nation and the most corrupt political crime in our history? or am i missing your point? i hope it is the latter
Sorry - not impressed by this episode. There are many excellent journalists who could shed light on the current situation in Ukraine (Michael Weiss is one who springs to mind immediately). Instead, Glenn invited someone who would echo his sentiments about how it's always the main stream (leftist) media that is to blame for everything. Everything must be examined through the prism of his own prejudices. It's great that Matt owned up to his own miscall of Putin's intentions but going forward he doesn't seem to have learned anything from it.
maybe you are a nutjob leftist who has fallen for every crackpot article screwing up our country…. and never apologizing for a second that everything you touch has turned out to be wrong.., not a little bit but completely
I agree. This was an underwhelming episode. Would have been much more enlightening if John could have gotten one of the numerous experts on Russian politics from Columbia University to come on. Columbia's Harriman Institute is one of the premier centers of Russian studies in the country.
I find myself missing the old Glenn Show when the lineup of guests and the topics covered was more varied.
really? how many current columbia professors are in any way clear thinking non mentally corrupt left leaning shrews? open your mind and listen to your compatriots no matter how vile you find them. only then will you be of any help to anyone.
Let's see..Timothy Frye, Alexander Cooley, Kimberley Marten, Jack Snyder, Stephen Sestanovich. Not sure why you think I find Glenn/John/Matt vile. I patronize the podcast! Not everything is about the culture war. Expertise is really important, and I wouldn't put Taibbi anywhere near the top of the list of people who write about or study Russia.
My apologies for my coarse tone.
Taibbi wields his pen with panache, and I've enjoyed some of his columns. But he also suffers from what the French call a "déformation professionnelle". In this Glenn Show podcast, he blurs the distinction between the US government and the media to the point that a listener could come away with the feeling that it was the New York Times that ordered the invasion of Iraq. Similarly, there's much to criticize about Russiagate, but trying to connect it to Russia's current invasion of Ukraine is a desperate stretch - in the Procrustean sense.
Lamentable though the Iraq war was in hindsight, equating it with Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the stuff of dorm room BS sessions, and not befitting a serious thinker. The US was not trying to absorb Iraq into our own nation. The US did not act alone in that war (The UK was there too, and in the initial stages, so were Australia, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Poland). The US did not specifically target Iraqi civilians. The US did not try to hunt down international journalists covering the conflict. Zelensky can hardly be compared to Saddam Hussein. The motivations for the wars were completely different. Etc. etc.
I do worry that Taibbi (like so many others in the alternative media world) is liable to fall into the trap of being a professional contrarian. Last summer, for instance, he wrote a few puff pieces about Bret Weinstein, that utter charlatan. (A charlatan for whom, I might add, I once had quite a deal of respect.) Did Taibbi ever revisit that topic, I wonder? Ah, perhaps it was Tiabbi's participation in "Ivermectin-gate" that led Putin to invade!
matt grew up a lefty and they always need to fight back the instinct that no matter how much they come to realize how wrong they were they need to portray whataboutism and equating some faux pas with massively corrupt notions…i love that he has come around but please show me one article where someone of the left turning doesnt have to signal to their formerly left constituency that they are still in their corner to some degree…they cant just cross over to objectivity and sanity
Thanks for your thoughts; I basically agree. I think one of the reasons I feel so disappointed in Taibbi (and also Glenn for pushing the Russiagate issue) is that I recognize that they're bright talented men. It feels intellectually cheap and unworthy of them.
explain…you dont think the russiagate thing was massively divisive to our nation and the most corrupt political crime in our history? or am i missing your point? i hope it is the latter
I don’t hear that at all- maybe it’s your own prejudices.