The entitled

I’m off to get my car detailed. This is a rush issue.


Pennsylvania

Traffic non-enforcement


Fig. 1. Obviously, nowhere near Pittsburgh: “A Pennsylvania state trooper checks motorists’ speed using a radar gun.” Unattributed photograph credited only to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.[1]

Over the last year, 30,630 vehicles caught speeding on Roosevelt Boulevard dodged tickets because the drivers were traveling without a license plate, according to the Philadelphia Parking Authority. . . .

And 240 vehicles with no plates were clocked at 100 mph or more, the report said. . . .

An unknown number of speeding violations on Roosevelt Boulevard could not be processed because vehicles used false temporary license tags, officials said. PPA staff have also noticed more plates with covered numbers.[2]

Thomas Fitzgerald, “Cars with missing or covered plates are foiling speed cameras on Roosevelt Blvd.,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 28, 2023, https://www.inquirer.com/transportation/roosevelt-boulevard-speed-camera-ticket-evasion-fake-license-plates-20230328.html


Imperialism


Fig. 1. “Map of the Roman Empire during 69AD, the Year of the Four Emperors. Coloured areas indicate provinces loyal to one of four warring generals.” Original: User:Steerpike and en:User:Andrei nacu, August 11, 2009, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

About that hypocrisy I was mentioning . . . Ahmed Twaij calls for charges against George W. Bush[3] like those against Vladimir Putin.[4] It’s a completely fair point.[5]

And, of course, the discrepancy between the two cases supports—even when (not always) they are too dim-witted to quite articulate it—“tankies’” point that U.S. and European support for Ukraine is U.S. imperialism. The charge can omit that Putin is the aggressor by the very failure to treat Bush as we would Putin.

But the question is whether you consistently and reliably oppose imperialist aggression regardless of consequences for the perpetrators. If your priority is retribution, then of course you adopt the “tankies’” view. If your priority is peace, then of course you oppose the aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine in equal measure and must understand that rewarding aggressors with territory—the “tankies’” demand—simply encourages more aggression.[6]

Ahmed Twaij, “Bush did what Putin’s doing — so why is he getting away?” al Jazeera, March 28, 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/28/putin-should-be-punished-so-must-bush

Russia

Ukraine


Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[7] fair use.

Julia Ioffe, “Biden’s Private Ukraine Deadline,” Puck, March 28, 2023, https://puck.news/bidens-private-ukraine-deadline/

Ahmed Twaij, “Bush did what Putin’s doing — so why is he getting away?” al Jazeera, March 28, 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/28/putin-should-be-punished-so-must-bush

Pjotr Sauer and Andrew Roth, “Putin prepares Russia for ‘forever war’ with west as Ukraine invasion stalls,” Guardian, March 28, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/28/putin-prepares-russia-for-forever-war-with-west-as-ukraine-invasion-stalls

United States

Iraq

Ahmed Twaij, “Bush did what Putin’s doing — so why is he getting away?” al Jazeera, March 28, 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/28/putin-should-be-punished-so-must-bush


  1. [1]Associated Press, “Senate OKs local police using radar for speed enforcement,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 23, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/senate-oks-local-police-using-radar-for-speed-enforcement/
  2. [2]Thomas Fitzgerald, “Cars with missing or covered plates are foiling speed cameras on Roosevelt Blvd.,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 28, 2023, https://www.inquirer.com/transportation/roosevelt-boulevard-speed-camera-ticket-evasion-fake-license-plates-20230328.html
  3. [3]Ahmed Twaij, “Bush did what Putin’s doing — so why is he getting away?” al Jazeera, March 28, 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/28/putin-should-be-punished-so-must-bush
  4. [4]Mike Corder and Raf Casert, “International court issues war crimes warrant for Putin,” Associated Press, March 17, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/icc-putin-war-crimes-ukraine-9857eb68d827340394960eccf0589253; Emma Graham-Harrison and Pjotr Sauer, “Joe Biden hails decision to issue ICC arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin,” Guardian, March 18, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/18/biden-hails-decision-icc-arrest-warrant-against-putin
  5. [5]Ishaan Tharoor, “20 years later, U.S. invasion of Iraq hangs over war in Ukraine,” Washington Post, March 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/03/17/iraq-invasion-ukraine-history-shadow/; Ishaan Tharoor, “Biden’s Summit for Democracy is a tough hill to climb,” Washington Post, March 29, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/03/29/summit-for-democracy-biden-critics/
  6. [6]David Benfell, “Because, somehow, Russian imperialism is okay,” Not Housebroken, October 19, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/10/19/because-somehow-russian-imperialism-is-okay/; David Benfell, “Where does Vladimir Putin stop?” Not Housebroken, November 16, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/04/where-does-vladimir-putin-stop/
  7. [7]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q

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