The American Right is beginning to receive unlikely defenders.
During a press conference on May 31, 2021, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared that the protesters who were involved in the January 6 storming of the Capitol are being “persecuted” by the US government.
Lavrov’s remarks were made in the lead up to a summit between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin later in June in Geneva.
Before the meeting, Biden has made it clear that he will bring up Russia’s human rights record in the summit with Putin.
“We are ready to talk. We have no taboo topics. We will discuss whatever we think is necessary. We will be ready to answer the questions that the American side will raise. This also applies to human rights,” Lavrov declared.
“For example, we are following with interest the persecution of those persons who are accused of the riots on January 6 this year” in Washington, DC, Lavrov added.
Lavrov observed that “a lot of really interesting things are happening from the point of view of the rights of the opposition and protecting those rights” in the US.
During Memorial Day weekend, Biden promised to confront Putin over Russia’s alleged human rights abuses. The most notable being the jailing of Alexei Navalny, a Russian dissident with a checkered past, who has received significant attention in the Western press in recent years.
“I’m meeting with President Putin in a couple weeks in Geneva, making it clear we will not stand by and let him abuse those rights,” Biden declared.
Despite some of the flawed sanctions signed into law and the military aid sent to Ukraine during the Trump administration, the preceding administration took a slightly more realist approach to Russia by not obsessing over its human rights record.
The US is seeking to relax tensions with Russia now that the national security establishment is focusing more of its attention on China. Further stoking hostilities with Russia could see it fall into China’s orbit and form a strong anti-American balancing coalition.
Russia is a great power that is looking to position itself accordingly in the international system. It’s frequently criticized for its alleged human rights violations, and now, it’s attempting to flip the script on the US. While Russia is no ally for the Right, it’s amusing how it’s highest functionaries fight harder than most Republicans to defend the rights of Trump supporters
Close to 500 people have received charges in the investigation launched concerning the January 6 incident. Some of the offenses these Trump supporters were charged with include assaults on law enforcement, violently entering Congress, and disorderly conduct.
Liberty conservatives would be wise to reject the corporate media’s narrative and start defending these protesters who are being unjustly imprisoned for otherwise innocuous acts. Regardless of what one thinks about the January 6th incident, the actions of the protesters pale in comparison to those of Black Lives Matters rioters and looters, who largely received slaps on the wrist.
At the very least, the Right should grow a spine and defend the January 6 protesters. They can start by pressuring Republican leadership to take stronger stances against the corporate press’s narratives with regards to January 6.
