Chris

You’ll never get him to state it explicitly. I think he knows how distasteful such a statement would be. Pretty much as impolite as opining on Russia’s ‘legitimate security interests’. But I’ve long concluded that this is exactly what he thinks.

Bear in mind that Russia’s propaganda effort has been extensive amongst the Nat movement here in Scotland. It’s no accident that they had a propaganda news agency (called ‘Sputnik’) in Edinburgh, and our former first minister presenting a show on Russia Today, a channel now banned in the UK and across the EU. It’s part of the same campaign that has convinced MAGA republicans that cheering for Putin is somehow patriotic and makes Tucker Carlson think he’s an ace reporter for letting Putin lecture him on (bad) middle school history live on Xitter.