While Liberal National Party MP and limacine mouth-breather George Christensen is best known for his loathing of Muslims, yesterday he revealed hitherto-untapped depths of foreign policy expertise. Inspired by Donald Trump’s lauding of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Christensen was moved to tweet in support of the Kremlin’s annexation of the Crimea on the basis that some Russians lived there.
As one of his interlocutors pointed out, that’s exactly the logic Hitler used. Or, it might also have been noted, that Slobodan Milosevic used to justify ethnic cleansing and mass extermination in the former Yugoslavia. Christensen then tweeted articles suggesting the United States was supporting terrorist groups and helping Islamic State. This morning, Christensen’s intellectual mentor Pauline Hanson was similarly supporting the Putin regime. Remember the good old days when, if nothing else, you could rely on right-wingers to be resolutely anti-Russian?
There must be some serious money changing hands to make “conservative” politicians blind to the bastardry of Putin’s gangster regime.
It’s not the money changing hands – it’s the potential for money-making. By many accounts Putin may be the richest person in the world, having siphoned 10’s of billions from Russian resources. What is not in doubt is that Russia under his rule has become a defecto crony capitalist society, ruled by a small number of obscenely rich and politically connected billionaires. This is appealing for those in our country who have political power but lack an obvious means to turn it into obscene wealth.
That certainly helps explain why Trump loves him. Thugs love other Thugs as long as they can avoid not walking on each other’s Turf – Trump loves his Golf though.
About 38,000 people voted for Christensen from the Dawson electorate… This man’s comments as an individual are, by and large, of no great consequence.