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Kremlin's favorite candidate Jill Stein refuses to call Putin a war criminal during interview (boingboing.net)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/news@lemmy.world
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[–] 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I’m no fan of Stein. I was years ago, but not anymore. But she seems very clear in the beginning, then equivocates in the middle then clarifies (kinda) towards the end— but the way the interviewer goes after her seems like she’s being evasive in a way that doesn’t come across in the textual reading.

Is there an audio and/or video clip of this interview?

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  • [–] [S] 17 points 2 years ago (1 child)
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  • [+] -7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

    Thanks for the link, but I deleted my account years ago. No worky for me.

    If anyone could link something else, I’d be quite grateful. 👍

    Edit: here’s a link:

    https://xcancel.com/mehdirhasan/status/1835761859838038350

    Also— I don’t read her as being so much pro-putin as she is trying to be “stateswoman” and also being terribly unprepared. Just a total flop. She seemed like she was trying to be very reasonable, and she was just destroyed by the interviewer who was unrelenting on a single question that she was not prepared to answer.

    I’m not apologizing for her. It was probably the one and only question she should have been prepared to answer right off the bat. And how she fumbled it was extremely damaging to her.

    She did answer, but her answer got lost in the mess of it all. And that interviewer was being a very aggressive.

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  • [–] 30 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    He wasn't being a dick. He was doing what journalists should do. If she answers with an extremely simple, "yes" every single time Netanyahu and Biden come up but literally every single time he asks about Putin she can't just say, "yes." Every single time she qualifies a yes or hedges without a yes. She doesn't with the others.

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  • [–] 26 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    She had no problem with Biden and Netanyahu, but avoids a direct answer over Putin. It is painfully obvious

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I agree that she’s being evasive

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Thank you for being reasonable

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

    Well, sure. I only wanted to hear all of this in context— and it doesn’t really help her position IMO.

    It really shouldn’t be so hard to very clearly denounce Putin. She makes it seem like a real chore. Like, she has to be squeezed into saying it, and even then, it’s still a little unclear.

    I think, to some degree, she’s trying to be diplomatic, but more importantly, she’s coming off as weak to international powers that she should be standing up to. Even if she isn’t some Russian shill, she should be standing up to Putin in a resolute manner that she is failing to do here, and kind of always.

    In a very kind reading of Jill Stein, if she wants to take a more diplomatic approach to eastern powers, she needs to learn how to stand up to them. She’s a poor choice just because of how incredibly weak she is in her positions and diplomacy.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    While we may not agree on her trying to be diplomatic, this is very well said

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Thanks.

    Again, I’m no fan of hers and certainly won’t be voting for her. I was just trying to be fair.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I get it, and to an extent I can appreciate it, but personally I can never give these people any benefit of the doubt

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I still think it's a nothing burger. It a type of political schadenfreude that always happens. Here the UK you'd get MPs unable to condemn Trump because there's a chance that they'll have a Foreign Office role while he's potentially in power. It comes across as weak but they have to play their cards close to be effective in that role.

    With Stein it seems like she hadden't evolved her message on Putin to respond to questions that are current about her party's funding. It's just disappointing, not particularly damning.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    With all due respect, this isn’t the UK. And a Presidential candidate can’t be taken seriously if they’re seen to either be, at best, overly capitulatory to our enemies or, at worst, in their pockets.

    And when discussing the future leader of the free world, a bit more discretion is called for.

    My regards to Number 10.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago

    It's the same schadenfreude as Obama bowing to the Saudi King. The rightwing press were having conniptions that the 'leader of the free world' could show any deference to a Middle Eastern leader but it was just normal political niceties.

    There are orders of difference between Netanyaho and Putin in terms of future longevity and difficulty in reducing them if that's what the USA wants to do. Putin is a cockroach. For the foreseeable future he is who you're going to have to deal with. So any serious leader will always be running a political calculation as to what their position must be. Stein erred and so sweaty commentators are making hay.

    If the Democrats wanted to undermine her position they could easily stop supporting Israel's psychopathy. Any popularity that Stein might be enjoying would wither on the vine.

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  • [+] -28 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Yeah she explicitly said "yes" multiple times. I don't like her, but this is garbage.

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  • [–] 32 points 2 years ago*

    Unless she can say the words 'Putin is a war criminal' she is avoiding the question. "In so many words" is not a yes. I understand she follows with yes he is, but why can't she just say yes, Putin is a war criminal?

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  • [–] 31 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Because with the other 4 world leaders she said a simple, "yes." Every single time she was asked about Putin it was either a "yes..." followed by a qualification or a hedged answer that wasn't a yes.

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