Ronald Reagan once joked that he had signed a bill to outlaw Russia. “The bombing begins in five minutes,” he said. Because the Soviet Union posed a mortal threat, his joke was in poor taste. Today’s Russia is a minnow by comparison. It offers no ideological challenge to democracy — and its economy is smaller than Italy’s. Yet liberal America has worked itself up into a moral panic. If it were not for Vladimir Putin, we are asked to believe, western democracy would be in reasonable shape. Without Russia, there would be no Donald Trump.
罗纳德•里根(Ronald Reagan)曾经开玩笑说，他签署了一项从法律上禁止俄罗斯存在的法案。“轰炸将在5分钟后开始，”他称。由于当时的苏联构成致命威胁，这个玩笑缺乏品味。相比之下，如今的俄罗斯就像一条小鱼。它在意识形态上不再对民主政体构成挑战，而其manbetx20客户端下载 规模甚至小于意大利。然而美国的自由派阵营神经兮兮地陷入了一场道德恐慌。我们被要求相信，要不是弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)在捣乱，西方民主如今将处于不错的状态。没有俄罗斯，就不会有唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)。