9/2/2023 0 Comments Julia ioffe speaking russian![]() ![]() "The field of Russian military studies had almost died or was on life support," he said. He's an expert on Russia's military - a specialty that nearly vanished when the Soviet Union collapsed. Michael Kofman says emphatically he should not be called a Putinologist. Michael Kofman is a prominent expert on the Russian military at the Center for Naval Analyses. And then once a war starts, it's pretty easy to convince Russians that this is a war just like that and that they need to go in and do it," she said. "He created this cult around World War II. She often writes about the way Putin shaped Russian society and prepared it for his military adventures. So, it's back." Ioffe traveled to Russia until a few years ago. ![]() "But the system was becoming more and more and more Soviet, and there were fewer and fewer ways to get into it, to understand it. ![]() Her editor at the time suggested she write a column called "Kremlinology 2012." "It was supposed to be a kind of tongue-in-cheek thing because it was like, 'Who does Kremlinology anymore?'" she recalled. So I've basically been doing this, in one form or another, my whole professional life." That included a three-year stint in Moscow a decade ago. "I kept trying to do something else and kept getting sucked in professionally. "But I couldn't resist Soviet history and switched tracks," she noted. In college at Princeton, she initially planned to be a doctor. So OK, I'll do it." She left Moscow for the U.S. Somebody needs to translate him for the West. "But at the same time, people in the West have a really hard time understanding him. "It's something I fought for a long time," said Ioffe, who writes for Puck News and is often interviewed by other news organizations. This has created a demand for Putinologists - like Julia Ioffe - who accepts the label with some reluctance. It’s not a college lecture, sure, but maybe at least let the expert get a word in? “Otherwise,” Ioffe wrote, “don’t waste my fucking evening.” O’Donnell, at least, played the good sport on Twitter, linking to Ioffe’s original article on the matter, calling it the “best thing” he read on the subject, and adding, “Thanks for joining us.Julia Ioffe often writes about how Russian President Vladimir Putin has shaped Russian society and prepared the country for his military adventures. She proceeded to make a simple, bullet-pointed list of arguments that would never be allowed on cable television because they reveal an ability to think outside a black or white, good or bad, America or Russia dichotomy. ![]() In a post for the New Republic, Ioffe insisted, “god damn it, I know my shit.” Obama’s decision to not meet with Putin one-on-one, she wrote, was a good one, but it was larger than Snowden. The segment, mercifully, ended, but the fight did not. In general, people who haven’t been to Russia tend to overestimate their abilities.” Ioffe added, “We really overestimate Putin’s abilities.” O’Donnell, voiced raised Newsroom style, stressed Putin’s all-consuming power and exclaimed, “Let’s not be ridiculous about this!” and “We’re getting absurd now!” To which Ioffe asked, “Have you reported out of Russia?” “But I think you do overestimate the Russians. “They had and still have complete power over his every breath,” especially Putin. Russia had “complete, total, absolute control over that outcome,” he said. “There was really nothing the Russians could do,” said Ioffe, which really set O’Donnell off. She argued that Snowden was a “headache” for Russia, but that the country could not let him go once the Bolivian plane thought to be holding him was downed in Austria. First, Ioffe, a Moscow-based “expert” (her word) on Russia, appeared on the show. MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell and New Republic journalist Julia Ioffe had it out last night in a most entertaining fashion over Russia’s handling of the Edward Snowden case, ending in a withering blog post in which the writer called the talking head an “angry grandpa” and accused him of “O’Reilly”-ing her. ![]()
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