Against the Libertarian Cold War

[zg7666]

Great article by ANTHONY GREGORY, on a divide among libertarians on this issue:  http://libertarianstandard.com/2014/03/26/against-the-libertarian-cold-war/

 

"A controversy has arisen in the libertarian movement over the proper approach to the events concerning Russia, Ukraine, and Crimea. Like many such controversies, it has quickly polarized almost everyone, and has served as a proxy for long-standing factionalism within the movement. People quickly accuse each other of supporting Putin's aggression or backing violent U.S. intervention. I myself have been accused of both kissing up to the Russian regime and dishing out State Department propaganda. This doesn't itself show I have the right balance in my position, only that this feud has galvanized libertarians and hardened their rhetorical loyalties.

 

We might learn something from looking back at the 20th century. During the Cold War, most western critics of state power erred too far in one direction or the other. There were some whose opposition to U.S. wars led them to soften their assessment of communist aggression. Free-market and leftist lovers of peace both made this mistake. At the same time, many who favored economic and political liberty often let their anti-communism translate into support for American militarism and the security state. This confusion pervaded Americans across the spectrum

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I easily identify four factions, not two: (A) There are people who outright defend Putin's aggression in Ukraine and Crimea, and who otherwise downplay his autocratic tendencies; (B) There are those who agree that Putin is worth condemning, but who think it's more important to emphasize the evils of U.S. interventionism; © There are those who agree that U.S. intervention is unwise and maybe even unethical, but who think it's most important right now to emphasize Putin's despotism; (D) There are those who outright favor U.S. and western intervention to stop Putin.

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