Russia, as Explained to Russians by Americans

[Judi Lynn]

January 8, 2016
Russia, as Explained to Russians by Americans

by William Blum

There is a Russian website (inosmi = foreign mass media) that translates propagandistic russophobic articles from the western media into Russian and publishes them so that Russians can see with their own eyes how the Western media lies about them day after day. There have been several articles lately based on polls that show that anti-western sentiments are increasing in Russia, and blaming it on “Putin’s propaganda”.

This is rather odd because who needs propaganda when the Russians can read the Western media themselves and see firsthand all the lies it puts forth about them and the demonizing of Putin. There are several political-debate shows on Russian television where they invite Western journalists or politicians; on one there frequently is a really funny American journalist, Michael Bohm, who keeps regurgitating all the western propaganda, arguing with his Russian counterparts. It’s pretty surreal to watch him display the worst political stereotypes of Americans: arrogant, gullible, and ignorant. He stands there and lectures high ranking Russian politicians, “explaining” to them the “real” Russian foreign policy, and the “real” intentions behind their actions, as opposed to anything they say. The man is shockingly irony-impaired. It is as funny to watch as it is sad and scary.

The above was written with the help of a woman who was raised in the Soviet Union and now lives in Washington. She and I have discussed US foreign policy on many occasions. We are in very close agreement as to its destructiveness and absurdity.

Just as in the first Cold War, one of the basic problems is that Exceptional Americans have great difficulty in believing that Russians mean well. Apropos this, I’d like to recall the following written about George Kennan:

Crossing Poland with the first US diplomatic mission to the Soviet Union in the winter of 1933, a young American diplomat named George Kennan was somewhat astonished to hear the Soviet escort, Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov, reminisce about growing up in a village nearby, about the books he had read and his dreams as a small boy of being a librarian.

“We suddenly realized, or at least I did, that these people we were dealing with were human beings like ourselves,” Kennan wrote, “that they had been born somewhere, that they had their childhood ambitions as we had. It seemed for a brief moment we could break through and embrace these people.”

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/08/russia-as-explained-to-russians-by-americans/

[jtuck004]

1. Thank you for this. n/t

[cheapdate]

2. Sure, U.S. geopolitics is subject to legitimate criticism.

But the truth is that Russian geopolitcs is EVERY BIT as unseemly and scheming as the US, even if in effect Russian geopoltics have PERHAPS been slightly less quantifiably destructive in recent decades, though that's more an accident of circumstances and opportunity than it is a consequence of design and intent.

The proliferation of Russian propaganda, in which the Russian state is presented as a model of peace and justice, in contrast to the U.S., which is a model of aggression and bad intent, is just as distorted a picture of reality as the American propaganda that's been a staple since the cold war.

Holy crap. The Russian state has supported deplorable regimes in Eastern Europe, the Caucuses, and Central Asia to the same extent that the US supports deplorable regimes elsewhere around the world. Both sides act deplorably and both sides justify themselves with noble expressions.

I'm more than willing to entertain legitimate criticism of US geopolitics. But please spare me from the propaganda that turns a blind eye to sordid side of the Russian state.

(edit: I'm responding generally to the article and not specifically to the poster of the article.)

[Blue_Tires]

3. Judi I love you, but please chill with the Putin whitewashing...

[geek tragedy]

7. anyone who hates the US is a hero to the counterpunch crowd. nt

[uhnope]

9. +1

[Gawdless Pinko Lib]

4. K

+R

[geek tragedy]

5. Blum is a notorious Pootlicker. This kind of article tends to confirm that amongst

those who don't share his hero worship of Russian autocrats.

[geek tragedy]

6. William Blum was proud that Osama Bin Laden endorsed his book.

"I was glad. I knew it would help the book's sales and I was not bothered by who it was coming from. If he shares with me a deep dislike for certain aspects of US foreign policy, then I'm not going to spurn any endorsement of the book by him. I think it's good that he shares those views and I'm not turned off by that."[5] On the Bin Laden endorsement Blum stated "This is almost as good as being an Oprah book."[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blum

[swilton]

8. Russians taking down Michael Bohm

referred to in the article.

How can the US lecture Russia when there are more Russians speaking English than Amerikuns speaking Russian...the absurdity of it all. Blum's article was far too short - more like an introduction than an article. He could have written volumes on the hypocrisy and the irony.

Thanks for posting!