Our Kafkaesque World

I was looking at some of the hostage names and their stories here on the Times of Israel website. The ones dead and the ones still missing. What is particularly unnerving about this is how we can all be targeted by terrorism, regardless of where we are. We can be snatched from our homes, or killed in our living rooms. Israel is way better prepared for such attacks than, say, Poland. I can only imagine the carnage if something similar were to happen here. Most people here are totally unprepared for crises. I’m somewhat prepared but it isn’t exactly great. Just basic knowledge. When one missile (Ukrainian, though some say it was actually Russian) hit and killed two Polish citizens near the Ukrainian border, it was a shocking event. To Israelis, it would likely be just another day. Goes to show who’s better prepared for the world engulfed in crises. Israel shoots down all the missiles, or tries to; here, there’s a lot of reluctance to shoot down any missiles. The justification is that shooting them down is going to cause more damage to civilian infrastructure than letting them fly in and out of our airspace. I don’t know. Doesn’t sound that convincing to me.

And make no mistake. These crises are going to get worse and worse. I really thought we weren’t going to see pogroms in my lifetime, yet here we are.

So, I’ve been thinking. What is the most absurd thing we could see? What is the one thing that could really shake us up? Terror attacks? No, not really. Economic collapse? Meh.

I believe it’s seeing Russian propagandists in the White House. I believe Tucker Carlson could very much use his influence on Donald Trump and convince him that it’s going to be good for U.S.-Russia relations to invite the top names of Russian propaganda, excuse me, journalism to the White House. Yes, I mean Solovyov, Skabeeva, Dugin, Mardan, and friends.

That act of journalistic glory would put Tucker Carlson above everyone else, no matter how hard they tried to surpass him. It would immortalize his name in ways no one could ever beat him. He has already interviewed Vladimir Putin. Interviewing yet another VIP won’t give him that journalistic legend status but bringing Russian propagandists to the White House? Now, that’s epic. As symbolic as it gets. You just can’t beat it.

Imagine Solovyov, Skabeeva, Mardan, Karaganov, and Dugin sitting in the Oval Office and talking to Donald Trump. Impossible? Surreal? Come on. Tucker already has all the right contacts. Alex Jones was on Solovyov’s show and knows Alexander Dugin. They can arrange it in a heartbeat. All they need is a nod of approval from Donald Trump at some point.

Vladimir Putin flies to D.C. with Russian propagandists, excuse me, journalists, on the plane. Who’s going to stop Putin? The ICC? Public opinion? Please. Now, this is going to be a Black Mirror episode, right there. Am I wrong? Not going to happen? We’ll see. If there’s a U.S.-Russian thaw, which is likely, expect such meeting to take place.

And that, dear reader, is going to complete the cycle of absurdity of our world.