Foreign affairs

Vladimir Putin Isn’t a Supervillain

America’s hysteria over Russian President Vladimir Putin is mounting, and there’s no reason to think the fever will break anytime soon. At this point it’s only tangentially related to the accusations that Putin has made President Donald Trump his “puppet” or that Trump — or Attorney General Jeff Sessions, or any number of other administration officials — is in cahoots with Russian oligarchs.

Perhaps you’ve heard about the sudden death of Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin? It’s all nefarious Kremlin intrigues — or so we’re told. In fact, a lot of Russian diplomats have died recently — isn’t that suspicious? And don’t look now, but while you were fixated on Russia’s subversion of American society through psychological warfare, you may have missed that Russia’s expanding its influence in Syria. And provoking Japan. And meddling with Britain. And it’s sowing “chaos” in the Balkans. And the Baltics. And Ukraine. And may invade Belarus. And Finland. And if that weren’t enough, Putin has a “master plan” for overthrowing the entire European and world democratic order. We might as well give up: Russia “runs the world now.”