[lbo-talk] Counterpunch goes Jihadi

[David Green]

The article in question by Mark Boothroyd is juxtaposed on Counterpunch with Mike Whitney's customary support of Putin/Assad. Whitney is a featured writer both on the website and in the monthly newsletter. http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/10/putins-aleppo-gamble-pays-off/. Counterpunch has predominately supported this tack, including by John Wight and others. This approach has been harshly and repeatedly criticized by Louis Proyect in his attacks on the "anti-imperialist left" on his blog. While Proyect was a weekly film critic on Counterpunch for quite a while after the death of Cockburn, he seems to be gone now, and I suspect the above debate would have something to do with that. Nevertheless, I find Whitney's triumphalism for Putin extremely problematic. Insights welcome.  David Green