Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Why Do “Progressives” Like Samuel Charap Shill for Russia and Oppose the Magnitsky Bill?

Minding Russia Blog

I’m liberal, but not “progressive” — and there’s a reason.

And that’s because I often feel that many of the positions “progressives” take (I always put the term in scare quotes because I don’t think it’s a valid description) are antithetical to universality and human rights. It’s usually about a certain kind of myopia and selectivity — a propensity to take out the magnifying glass for the sins of America or Israel, yet not find a thing to say about Palestinian or Taliban terror, even if provided with a telescope. And telescopes are what they do use to look for some problems, and not others, far away — the killing by American troops of civilians in Afghanistan, but never the killings by the Taliban, which make up now 85 percent of the civilian deaths. “Progressives” cheer Egyptian democracy demonstrators, even if they throw rocks; they look fearfully around and ask questions about one broken door caused by provocateurs in Belarus the night 600 people were arrested, many beaten brutally by police. Or maybe they’ve never heard of Belarus…

With the exception of Israel, nowhere do you see the gap in the “progressive” conscience, that can plead for justice and human rights and dignity in so many places, than on Russia. On Russia, the “progressives” can be as horribly indifferent to massive human rights problems as the Kremlin itself, and worse, justify them. They can advocate Realpolitik like the Nixon administration and Kissinger; they can back the “reset” without a single question about press freedom or the North Caucasus. Is this just a harkening back to the old Moscow line of the socialist movements of the 1960s and 1980s that always shielded Moscow from criticism? Or is it a more modern form of OstPolitik that imagines that the statecraft of foreign policy — one controlled by proper liberals, of course — will do best if it doesn’t antagonize another great power? What is this really all about?