As I waded through paragraph after paragraph of Jonathan Kraut’s Dec. 14 column on Russia invading Ukraine, I paused for a moment to check my compass and ask the question, “Where is this going?” Kraut basically rambled through a very rough history lesson in what empires do. I was like, “Yeah, and your point is…?”
The Signal prints the “interesting” stuff that comes out of Kraut’s liberal word processor because Kraut, like Gary Horton and some others, represents the liberal side of the Santa Clarita Valley and their “Democratic Voices” are given audience. Kraut’s columns, although liberal to the point of being eccentric and sometimes even ludicrous, usually have a point to make, and whether or not his arguments are practical or even rational is largely irrelevant — he gets his time at the podium. But this column had me at a complete loss as to what Kraut was trying to say.
Should America care if the Russians invade Ukraine? Should America care if the Russians and the Chinese are expanding much like how we ourselves expanded over what was once Mexico and some Central American countries? Should NATO send Ukraine an invitation to join, and then should Russia retaliate by turning off the flow of natural gas and oil into Europe? I don’t know, Mr. Kraut, should America care if Coca-Cola has phased out Tab and renamed Coke Zero to Coke Zero Sugar, and why do we still have Diet Coke? I want some answers, man!
Reading this particular column by Kraut actually made me wonder if The Signal has a monthly liberal quota to meet in order to present itself as a fair and balanced publication, and that Kraut forced something out of his machine just to meet that quota.
Arthur Saginian
Santa Clarita
