We will see what happens when Tucker Carlson sits down for an interview with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. The early returns are not promising, as Carlson laments, “The war in Ukraine is a human disaster. It has left hundreds of thousands of people dead, an entire generation of young Ukrainians, and has depopulated the largest country in Europe.” The passive voice was used. Apparently this war just happened, randomly, with no particular cause or triggering action. As they in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, “let’s not bicker and argue about who killed who.”
There’s nothing inherently wrong with a Western journalist interviewing a hostile foreign leader, but ideally the questions to Putin would be like the ones suggested by former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst — tough and challenging Putin’s narrative with obvious, verifiable, contrary facts. (Thanks to Jimmy Quinn for spotlighting them.) Will Carlson challenge Putin on Russian war crimes, the kidnapping of at least 20,000 Ukrainian children, the jailing of political opponents, or the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich? Or will Carlson just nod along as Putin rants that the country he’s invading, that elected a Jewish president, is a Nazi state?
I hope Carlson asks Putin about the former’s view that what people believe are UFO and alien sightings are actually signs we are being invaded by a malevolent spiritual force, and that there is good reason to believe that the U.S. government is actually working in partnership with that malevolent spiritual force:
It’s my personal belief, based upon a fair amount of evidence, they’re not aliens, they’ve always been here. And I do think it’s spiritual. That’s my view. And again it’s not provable, but based on the evidence
[crosstalk]
If the US government has, in fact, had contact, direct contact, with these beings, whatever they are, I’ve already told you what I think they are — and has entered into some sort of agreement with them, which is the claim of informed people, it’s a very, very, very heavy thing.
Heck, that might be an accusation against the U.S. government that’s too extreme, even for Vladimir Putin. Already, the Kremlin has corrected Carlson’s claim that no other Western journalist has even tried to interview Putin.