If you search for the name "Jeffrey St. Clair" at this blog you'll probably find a few posts where I criticize him for his puerile sneering at anyone who doesn't think exactly the way he does. "CounterPunch" is an institution and it has long been a source of vital analyses for myself and tens of thousands of other left-wingers. But it is also a deeply flawed site with a deeply flawed editor and many deeply flawed, if not absolutely useless, contributers.
As of late, writer Patrick Cockburn (a British-born journalist) has been grinding my gears with his constant ignorant, deluded refrain that Vladimir Putin's goal with the invasion of the Ukraine is to recreate the Russian Empire. In spewing such garbage he has a great deal of company. My faith in the collective intelligence of humanity took another serious blow when I saw so many otherwise intelligent people babbling about how Putin was a "thug" and a "madman" but he could simultaneously be provoked, his stated concerns for Russia's security ignored with impunity. This despite the fact that Russia has one of the two largest nuclear arsenals in the world. Enough weapons to obliterate human civilization. Supposedly we can provoke the "madman" with the nuclear weapons and rely on his self-control to not do anything rash.
