On March 5th, Clapper was on CNN performing his regular duties as a "far-left conspiracy theorist," suggesting that Vladimir Putin was no better than Adolf Hitler.
"It’s always a mystery to us. And all we really have to go on, at least for me, is his behavior and statements, his demeanor, and what he is causing to happen. I think that really gives a real insight into his character and for me, he’s a 21st Century Hitler."Yet, CNN host Jim Acosta didn’t challenge Clapper on his statements, or on the fact that a great deal of the aggression of Putin was seen under Clapper’s time in intelligence. Instead, Acosta played stooge to Clapper’s ignoring the fact that Putin has always been the person he has been, and that a large part of his aggression took place during the Obama Administration.
Clapper’s statements, limited in context only to the current conflict in Ukraine, attempt to circumvent Putin’s history in the region. In 1999, Putin ordered his forces into Chechnya to restore Russian control of the then-independent region. In 2008, Putin’s forces entered the South Ossetia portion of Georgia, taking and holding control. In 2009, incursions into Crimea in Ukraine had begun, leading to the region’s annexation in 2014. Clapper’s statements nearly echo the statements made by Western leaders about Adolf Hitler circa 1941.
The point is that Clapper has been in the room for the discussion for more than 20 years about Putin’s brutalities. The actions taken within Chechnya alone read like a liturgy of human rights violations. Where was Clapper during the dozens of incursions into Ukraine during the Obama Administration? Where was he when they took South Ossetia? Where was the talk of him being as bad as Adolf Hitler then?