Lesser Evils

For those who complain that there's a double standard in how we treat the last century's big genocidal ideologies—hammers and sickles are acceptable hep bar decor; swastikas aren't—a little compensation in The New York Times this morning:

Still, a fascist Russia is a much better thing than a Communist Russia. Communism was a failed economic system, while Franco's Spain, General Pinochet's Chile and the others generated solid economic growth, a middle class and international contacts—ultimately laying the groundwork for democracy. Eventually we'll see pro-democracy demonstrations in Moscow like those in Kiev.

The fact that fascism is being pitched as the good outcome here should be really, really scary. (Subscribers, by the way, have already seen Cathy Young's take on the Putin problem in the January ish. Aren't you jealous?)