Ronald Reagan once joked that he had signed a bill to outlaw Russia. “The bombing begins in five minutes,” he said. Because the Soviet Union posed a mortal threat, his joke was in poor taste. Today’s Russia is a minnow by comparison. It offers no ideological challenge to democracy — and its economy is smaller than Italy’s. Yet liberal America has worked itself up into a moral panic. If it were not for Vladimir Putin, we are asked to believe, western democracy would be in reasonable shape. Without Russia, there would be no Donald Trump.
隆納•雷根(Ronald Reagan)曾經開玩笑說，他簽署了一項從法律上禁止俄羅斯存在的法案。「轟炸將在5分鐘後開始，」他稱。由於當時的蘇聯構成致命威脅，這個玩笑缺乏品味。相比之下，如今的俄羅斯就像一條小魚。它在意識形態上不再對民主政體構成挑戰，而其經濟規模甚至小於義大利。然而美國的自由派陣營神經兮兮地陷入了一場道德恐慌。我們被要求相信，要不是弗拉迪米爾•普丁(Vladimir Putin)在搗亂，西方民主如今將處於不錯的狀態。沒有俄羅斯，就不會有唐納•川普(Donald Trump)。