For those fans of Pink Floyd looking to hear the old, great tunes one more time with 78 year old co-founder Roger Waters, may be in for a rude awakening. Waters, who left the band in 1985, has ramped up his anger and hostility at the United States, during his “This Is Not a Drill” tour now touring the country, and in a recent interview with CNN-Sirius host Michael Smerconish.
This was a lively discussion between the two, who are familiar with each other. Smerconish has interviewed Waters before, but for this interview, Waters appeared more passionate about his claims, and also gave some newsworthy quotes for the media to use. Smerconish tried to calmly rebut some of Roger’s beliefs.
Ukraine and China-Taiwan were the two, global hotspots that Waters singled out. “This war is basically about the action and reaction of NATO pushing right up to the Russian border, which they promised they wouldn’t do when Gorbachev negotiated the withdrawal of the U.S.S.R. from the whole of Eastern Europe,”
Waters is not alone in his critique of the US-Nato support of Ukraine. Many journalists, including Glen Greenwald, argue that the war in Ukraine has gone too far, it too expensive, and points to a continued american imperialism that most US citizens are tired of.
Waters called President Joe Biden a “war criminal” for his continued support for the Ukraine war and for not trying to get a negotiated settlement, (not an easy task) between President Zelinski and Vladimir Putin.
When Smerconish argued that the US was acting as liberators for the Ukrainians, Waters quipped back, that the United States, “has no role as liberators… you got into World War II [because of] Pearl Harbor. You were completely isolationist until that sad, that devastating, awful day. Thank God the Russians had already won the bloody war, almost, by then. Don’t forget 23 million Russians died protecting you and me from the Nazi menace.”
This is another historical argument proposed by many; that the Russians actually won World War II and not the U.S. Oliver Stone is one film maker that comes to mind articulating the same.
But some of Waters comments on Taiwan and China were a bit too far off the trail of logic. Waters did make sense when he compared Ukraine and Taiwan, two countries next to China and Russia, and asked “Try to figure out what the United States would do if the Chinese were putting nuclear armed missiles into Mexico and Canada,” adding “Taiwan is part of China and that’s been absolutely accepted by the whole of the international community since 1948.” This claim is not true: China has argued that Taiwan is part of China, but the US and many democratic nations have diplomatic relations, and the US is a big economic partner with Taiwan and also sells the island nation billions in military equipment. But Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations.
Waters also claimed that the Chinese Communist Party, CCP, is not inflicting genocide on its Muslim Uyghur people, calling that widely believed claim “bullocks,” and adding “The Chinese didn’t invade Iraq and kill a million people in 2003.”
And when Waters criticized the US and the West’s response to COVID, he added that the COVID deaths in China were “just a few,” while millions around the world died during the pandemic.
Waters told Smeronish, who prides himself on digesting information from all sources, that “you’re believing your propaganda, your side’s propaganda.”
The fact that a CCP spokesperson re-Tweeted what Waters had to say so doesn’t bode well for Waters crediblity.
Each concerts on this tour begins with a Waters recording, “If you’re one of those ‘I love Pink Floyd but I can’t stand Roger’s politics’ people, you might do well to fuck off to the bar right now.”
Smerconished asked Roger if he wanted his audience that paid to listen to the greatest hits, leave before the show even started. “You never know; those people, if they sit in a community like my audiences… there is such a great feeling of communication in that room between me and the audience, and between us combined with all our brothers and sisters all over the rest of the world.”
I don’t love Pink Floyd enough to go see Roger Waters. I did see a few of his shows in the 1980’s. But for Waters to criticize the United States to the point of hatred, and then tour our couintry and make millions?
Who is the hypocrite now Roger? And don’t worry I’ve already left for the bar.
The entire interview can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZsRj3_iDfM
