Back to the USSR, Shame on U.S.?
Filed under: Russia
From now on, at least 50 percent of the reports about Russia must be "positive." In addition, opposition leaders cannot be mentioned on the air and the United States is to be portrayed as an enemy, journalists employed by the network, Russian News Service, say they were told.
Do you remember receiving assurances from "experts" on Russia, when proud KGB spy Vladimir Putin took power, that Russia could "never go back" to the dark days of cold war and dictatorship, that the Russian people had "learned their lesson," that Russia's democratic changes were "irreversible." Those people who told us that betrayed us, as surely as any spy who stole our secrets, and we must call the to account.
The International Herald Tribune reported on Friday that Russian News Service, a radio broadcasting conglomerate recently taken over by state gas monopoly Gazprom, had brought in a new team of a managers and staff had been informed that America is now to be reported as the "enemy" and opposition politicans were persona non grata -- with mostly good news being reported about the nation's rulers -- just as in Soviet times. Over the weekend, the Kremlin shut down the website of the Glasnost Defense Fund, which reported on violations of press freedom. Its spokesman Boris Timoshenko said: "Russia is dropping off the list of countries that respect press freedoms. We have propaganda, not information." New laws are beign passed making public criticism of the regime illegal. IHT reports: "In a test case, Moscow prosecutors are pursuing a criminal case against a political activist for posting critical remarks about a member of Parliament on a Web site, the Kommersant newspaper reported Friday."
There are really only three prominent beacons of opposition left in Russia: the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, the Echo of Moscow Radio station and Garry Kasparov's "Other Russia" troop (one might also include the Kommersant paper, recently purchased by a Kremlin-friendly oligarch) . Even though none of them have a true national audience, they are all obiously in the Kremlin's sights. Echo has already been purchased by state-owned Gazprom and seen a flight of journalists defect (the same is true of Kommersant). As we previously reported, Kasparov has been called before the KGB and his lawyer is facing disbarrment. He could end up in a cell next to Mikhail Khodorkovsky any day now. Is this new announcment a sign that Echo of Moscow is being targeted? Is Novaya Gazeta next? Echo has a serious following among the intelligentsia, so the Kremlin would need to attack carefully, setting the stage. If/when these dominos start falling, we will know that the neo-Soviet vision for Russia has been fully realized. Whether we know it or not, the new Cold War has already begun (as we at Publius Pundit began warning many months ago).
Now is the time for all of democracy's allies to rally to her cause, before it is too late. Fool us once on Russia, shame on you -- fool us twice, shame on U.S.!
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