Tucker's Mother of all (softball) Interviews. What a real journalist might have asked about Russia and the kompromat war.

Despite his being there to pitch softballs for his master, Tucker Carlson was treated by Putin the same way that Donald Trump treats his lackeys - with curt contempt. A real journalist might have asked: 

"Will you present evidence to a broad, impartial, international commission that Jewish President Zelensky and the several million Ukrainian volunteers who have fought you tenaciously - are Nazis? Would you go along with that commission polling large numbers of random Ukrainians, to see if they deem themselves to be Russian?"

More: 

"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said that Ukrainians will only accept Russians as brothers after a century of gentle friendship, to ease memory of past, horrific ill-treatment. 

"So, now, amid half a million deaths, 6 million buried land mines and whole cities pounded into charred dust, should Ukrainians care about your 'historical grudges' from the 13th Century?"

...and: 

"You claim the West threatens you with invasion. Then why have you stripped your western borders of every military unit you can send to the front? If you claim those borders are strong, even now, shall we let a commission verify? 

"Anyone with a drone can tell there's no one there, so aren't you absolutely counting on western rule-of-law to prevent the very thing you claim to fear?"

...and: 

"Shall we right now agree to form such a commission, made up of Russian, Ukrainian, western and nonaligned citizens, chosen at random from old, paper telephone directories? Let them go anywhere, interview whom they like, and report to the world about your "nazi" assertions and the determination of Ukrainians, and the morale of Russian troops, and so on?"

...and:

"At minimum, would you agree to letting an interview with Joe Biden get as much free access, for 2 hours, across Russia, as you have used this one to push your messages to Western citizens? Are you brave enough to risk Russians hearing Biden? Or Kamala?"

Finally: 

"You and most of the powerful men in Russia today grew up reciting Leninist catechisms, waving hammer/sickle banners, and condemning the czar and his boyars as monsters. You have many times called the end of the USSR 'History's greatest tragedy.' 

"Now, you and your fellow "ex"-commissar Russian oligarchs raise statues to the same czars. You appear to have taken over the US right, just by switching a few symbols and lapel pins (plus some kompromat held by the slightly relabeled KGB.)

"For decades, the 'historical imperatives' that you pushed were Marxist, internationalist slogans about workers rising above tribalism. 

"Now it's Russian hyper nationalism. 

"Hence a final question:

"What line will you push, tomorrow?"

== When will the blackmail be obvious enough? ==

For more than a decade I’ve shouted that this should be obvious: that many of our elites, especially in DC and not just in the Republican Party – behave in ways that cannot be explained by corruption, or fanaticism, or stupidity alone.

It's a point that seems obvious and yet so hard to get across. So please try to grasp this: by itself, graft is satiable! 

A corrupt official who has avoided leaving an evidence trail can say “That’s enough this year. Any more favors I do for you will scream for attention that I don’t want. Come back with your envelopes of cash next year.” Again, bribery alone does not explain the craven self-humiliation of so many, with Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz only the screaming-blatant tips of the tumor.

But their craven kowtowing IS explicable, because blackmail is insatiable! The more you do for a blackmailer, the deeper they sink in their claws. Especially since Kremlin operatives -- stretching back to Stalin’s NKVD & KGB and the Czarist Checka and Okrahna -- specialized in honey traps. Luring Western officials etc. into hanky panky hotel rooms, where recordings begin that digging-in of claws.

A year or two ago, Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn declared that his peers invited him to incredible sex orgies. He was punished for this candor with ejection from the party!  

Only now, an even braver GOP lawmaker has stepped up to blow the whistle harder! 

“A Tennessee Congressman warns that fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives have been lured into honeytraps with sex workers and drugs changing the way they vote…. If it's women, drugs, booze, it will find you in D.C. and in most elected offices,” said Rep. Tim Burchett. “That’s what people, power and influence do.” 

(Well, after 6000 years of feudal lords & kings doing whatever they want, it’s what a large fraction of males will always be tempted to do. Though some can keep it zipped! And shall we compare rates of turpitude between the parties, Rep. Tim?)

In this other article: “As Burchett tells it, Republicans aren’t backing important efforts, such as Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s crusade for Jeffrey Epstein’s flight logs, because they’re being bullied by big backers and Russians.” Again: he attributed the biggest actors doing these "honey pots" to Russian agencies. 

(Full disclosure: Mr. Burchett has been pushing for the Pentagon to make all of its information relating to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) available to the public. And I am fine with that!  I just doubt there’s anything much to divulge. 

== Can anything be done? ==

I’ve long believed that Joe Biden could do one thing – above all others – to rescue the republic, to restore honest government and to get us rolling toward all the good things that you want. That one thing? 

Announce a program of clemency, pardons and whistleblower rewards for the first dozen politicians in DC - or other elites - who step up to fess up and help turn the tables on any blackmail rings.

Even with promised pardons, it would still take real courage to answer this call. A dangerous move in half a dozen ways. And hence, Biden’s promise to treat the first few as flawed but real heroes, at last doing what their consciences should have made them do, from the start. 

(I even started writing a novel based on this concept, till I realized I need a collaborator from the world of FBI procedural fiction – an area I know little about! Anyone know one?)

Oh, and let’s spice up JoBee's offer, cash inducements and a new identity for any KGB/FSB officer who brings over those Kompromat Files. That oughta light a fire under folks like Linds--- but no, I’ll leave you all to fill in the blanks.

Envision it. Sure, some prominent dems and liberals would get caught up, as well. Maybe folks in Biden’s circle. And so? What better proof of sincerity?  Anyway, let's suppose that devastates the male-heavy power structure. SO? If leaves nearly all remaining politicians female, aren’t Dems ready for that, anyway?

== Get educated ==

Here’s an incredible interview from a couple of years ago, with senior members of the Mueller probe, about The Russian Connection.  And don’t let the Fox narrative (“Mueller was a nothing burger!”) fool you. Just the stench-rich convictions surrounding two-time Republican national campaign manager and Putin lackey Paul Manafort - and I mean Manafort alone - swamps any total compilation of Democratic sins.  

But about 20 minutes in, these experts discuss ‘kompromat’ and how prolifically Russian secret services are known to use these methods. “It happens all day, every day.”

== The real way to defeat Russian blackmail ==

Re Blackmail, honeytraps have probably been used as long as there have been rulers to compromise. But on a lighter note:

Perhaps part of the solution is to become "French" about political sex scandals that don't involve minors or abuse of power. I love the story of the French diplomat who, lured into a honeypot in a tryst hotel, is shown pictures… and he explodes in outrage!

"You call THIS photography? And from my bad side?

“My wife would be shamed on my behalf.  I demand a re-do!!"