In the past, the leaders of the USSR invited personalities from the West to their homes. These personalities had one trait in common: they wanted to believe in the miracles of communism. Jean-Paul Sartre, the most famous intellectual of the post-war left, is the perfect example of those personalities who were lucky enough to make wonderful trips to Russia. Sartre wrote an immense amount of nonsense about communism and Russia. It would be doing too much honor to Tucker Carlson to compare him to Sartre. However, like him, he was bamboozled by Russian leaders. Like him, he has a vast audience to whom he can impart his political reflections, each more twisted than the last. The interview that Vladimir Putin gave him shows how Putin dominates him, like a cat playing with a mouse.
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1) Why did Putin grant an interview to Carlson?
Carlson unconditionally supports Donald Trump and the ideas of American conspiracy theorists. For example, he accused Justin Trudeau of being a dictator. He claimed that Canada was becoming a Cuba of the north and suggested that the American army invade it. Carlson’s pseudology resembles that of Putin who invaded Ukraine under the pretext that the government in Kyiv was in the hands of Nazis. Carlson’s political naivety confers stupidity. It is therefore easily manipulated. In fact, he just needs to be more convinced of his whims. Carlson’s interventions are pro-Russian to the point where they are picked up by the Russian media.
2) Why give this interview now?
Putin is on the electoral campaign trail, although for the moment no candidate is officially running against him. The Carlson interview is Putin’s way of telling the Russians: “You see, even American journalists listen to what I say without contradicting me.” This interview is also a way of supporting Trump, who is also on the electoral campaign. Putin praised Trump’s understanding of international policy and indulged in conspiracy theories by suggesting that U.S. intelligence was misinforming and disobeying the president.
3) What did Putin say in the interview?
Putin’s interview lasts more than two hours. At the beginning, he gives a long history lesson on Russia and Ukraine. He also discusses relations between Russia and NATO, indicating that NATO leaders have prevented Russia from joining. He discusses several other topics, such as relations between Russia and China, the decline of American power, the imprisonment of an American journalist for espionage, the danger of human genetic manipulation or the threats of artificial intelligence and the need to eventually reach international agreements to control it.
4) What is Putin not saying?
Putin forgets to mention Russia’s occupation of Ukraine in 19e century and the beginning of the 20e century. He does not speak of Russian oppression, nor of Soviet oppression or of the famines caused by Stalin. He does not say that it was his transformation of Russia into a dictatorship that alienated NATO and Ukraine from Russia. He denounces Nazism in Canada because a Nazi was applauded in Parliament, but does not say that it was an error that terrified all elected officials. In short, Putin lies by omission.