Ran Jak Diary

Biden and Saakashvili

There they were again today, Biden and Saakashvili, the scariest wacko duo of our times, promising the moon and the stars to Georgia, even if they threaten international stability in the process.

Russian riot police stop protest

Russia's Omon riot police in Vladivostok broke up a protest on Sunday against a government decision to increase car import duties to protect the ailing domestic auto industry. Prime minister Putin (photo) said that importing cars was “inadmissible” while auto assembly plants in Russia  were being forced by the global crisis to reduce production.
Russian and western news agency reports were similar. At least 100 people were detained as police closed in on the unsanctioned rally, beating protesters and reporters covering the event. Itar-Tass said 1,000 persons gathered in the central square to protest on Sunday morning.

A government decision will cause import duties to rise 50% on second-hand foreign cars and 100% on used foreign trucks. The decision has sparked a wave of protests in the Primorye Region in the Russian Far East where over 90% of vehicles are used Japanese cars, RIA Novosti reported.

US rightist tries provoking Russia

You would think the US declared war against Russia, frrom the vicious commentary by America's former UN ambassador ambassador John Bolton that appears in the Washington Post. His most bellicose claims are alarming and false. Read it and see for yourself.

Russia better learn

A commentary for the Russian news agency RIA Novosti includes this fascinating line.

"It was clear from the word go that we would lose the propaganda war over South Ossetia to Saakashvili and the United States. . . We have never won a propaganda war."

There it was - Russia never wins in a war of words.

Until Moscow learns to compete for world opinion, it will continue to suffer from biased news media coverage.

Now, in the 21st century, old ideas that used to define opinion makers as a small group of stodgy old commentators, has been replaced by an ever expanding pool that includes respected bloggers, standup comedians who are revved up by current events and a whole new breed of marketers, public relations wizards and talking heads.

The effective communicators in this pool don't take kindly to bent truths or long explanations when short ones will do. They are after totally accurate big stories with un-manipulated facts to back them up, plus video footage that is fresh - like only a few hours old - to hold interest. With a package of proof like that, competitive breakthrough opinion makers will be pleased to have a juicy exclusive. Yes, even if it is about Russia.

Medvedev undermines his authority

Russian president Medvedev has undermined the view that he is in charge. In a paper unveiled Tuesday, Medvedev states that the prime minister, Putin, will be allowed for the first time to implement foreign policy measures, a right previously assumed to be monopolized by the president.
In March, Medvedev said that he would exercise the presidential right to control foreign policy.

Questions after UK swipes at Russia

Prime Minister Brown

The UK has launched an extraordinarily dark and menacing repositioning of Russia, which it claims is now the third largest threat to Britain's security. In particular, Russian spies form this menace to the national security in the UK, London asserts. The worst threat? Taleban terrorists. Number two, Iranian terror and maybe a nuclear threat from Iran - if it learns how to make bombs in the future. Third biggest threat, Russian spying on Britain. Say again?

Last Tuesday, as Russian president Dimitry Medvedev and British prime minister Gordon Brown met during a break in the G8 talks in Japan, BBC Newsnight went on the air, opening with a scoop that one of Newsnight's reporters was handed by British intelligence. The Russian State, according to the scoop, was involved in the murder of dissident Alexander Litvinenko two years ago. As the story unfolded, it turned out the State meant Russian intelligence. By then, of course, whatever goodwill Medvedev had hoped to encourge at his first ever meeting with Gordon Brown, was dead.

The idea of Britain seeking the humiliation of another country's new head of state is, according to diplomats, a nearly unheard of "no-no." Yet that is exactly what British intelligence accomplished. Of course, any real journalist at Newsnight might have smelled something rotten when the scoop was handed to its reporter on the very day of the Medvedev-Brown meeting. Why didn't the BBC Newsnight editors notice they were being played?

Propaganda is not news

There are surely many bad decisions being made in Russia. At the same time, the list of bad decisions being made in the US is horrendously long.
It makes no sense at all for the New York Times to by writing about Russia as if it were America's enemy. This week's anti-Russian piece in the Times, "Putin Opponents Are Made to Vanish From TV", was embarrassing. It appeared in a daily that ignores news about Palestine, that ran the Bush bullshit about Iraq Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) as if it were truth instead of a false claim, and that continues to preach to the world although the US is no longer in any position to preach.
Anton read the Times piece and noted, "Many of the mentioned opposition people are either crooks or idiots."

Gorbachev says, don't trust U.S.

Whenever the western media wanted a big name to speak out against Russia's leaders or to praise tough US policies against Russia, it called on Mikhail Gorbachev to speak. The former Soviet president was always good for a few quotes that reinforced the west's desire to keep remnants of the Cold War alive. This week, Gorbachev shocked the western media as he accused the United States of mounting an imperialist conspiracy against Russia that could push the world to instability. And he praised ex-president Putin: "There is a phenomenon in the West to criticise Putin's domestic record. But in Russia he has mass support. His popularity ratings are 70 to 80 percent. Is this not democracy?"
On foreign affairs, Gorbachev declared, "The Americans promised that NATO wouldn't move beyond the boundaries of Germany after the Cold War, but now half of central and eastern Europe are members, so what happened to their promises? It shows they cannot be trusted." More in the Telegraph.

Medvedev is president of Russia

Dmitri Mevedev has been sworn in as president of the Russian Federation. He succeeds Vladimir Putin, who will become prime minister.

The western media has done little to give perspective to events in Russia, and so this report from BBC News is definitely worth watching.

Coverage of the transfer of presidential power was generally factual in western Europe. In the US, the swearing in of Medvedev was played down. The NYTimes day-long headline, Protégé in Russia Is Sworn In, was typical. By late at night, the Times changed its headline to Medvedev Takes Oath in Russia.

If you want a Russian perspective on economic and international issues in English, there are more possibilities than ever these days, although few of them seem spontaneous or professional. A recent entry is Russia Beyond the Headlines. There are many others.

BBC polls the world on Russia, Putin

The full BBC poll result is here 25_02_08_worldservice_poll_putin.pdf.

FPIF: Cold War II threatens

With the occupation of Iraq soon to enter its sixth year and the looming possibility of war against Iran, it’s easy for Americans not to notice the Bush administration’s attempt to expand the U.S. military presence in Europe. A new Cold War between the United States and Russia threatens. And the U.S. media is paying little attention. This report is from Foreign Policy in Focus.

Estonia's ex-BBC president

They had both worked for the BBC. One is now a BBC foreign correspondent, the other is president of Estonia, a sliver on the map, a part of US cold war propaganda, and now a republic.

... arriving at the pad he occupies as president of Estonia - a charming little salmon-and-cream-cheese-coloured mansion in a park built for Peter the Great - I could not help feeling a twinge of envy. It was not the kind of home either of us could have imagined in the late 1980s when I was a talks writer in the Russian section of the BBC World Service, and he was something similar in the Estonian section of Radio Free Europe.

Enjoy this, from BBC News.