James Kirchick: Why I ambushed Russia’s news network with rainbow suspenders

[Robb]

I was two days into a pleasant Baltic Sea vacation when the request from RT arrived in my inbox. Formerly “Russia Today,” RT is Moscow’s multilingual, global cable news network.

RT is not your babushka’s Soviet-style propaganda; it broadcasts sophisticated conspiracy theories and “anti-establishment” attitudes to push a virulently anti-American and illiberal agenda. The network relies on a pool of talking heads, including “9/11 Truthers,” anti-Semites and other assorted extremists, who espouse the sort of views found where the far left and the far right converge. It has amassed more YouTube hits than any other global news channel.

Resting in my Stockholm hotel room after a tour of the Swedish royal family’s residence, Drottningholm Palace, the idea of appearing on Russian state television to talk about the sentencing of leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning — the topic of the panel onto which I had been invited — was the furthest thing from my mind. Obsessive and one-sided coverage of the Manning case is typical of RT, as with any story that can be used to paint the United States in a negative light. What’s more, I had sworn off appearing on RT or any news channel funded by an authoritarian government, after Iran’s English-language broadcaster deceived me by posing as a Danish network to book me on a panel about the 2008 vice-presidential debate.

But suddenly an idea popped into my head: I could use the opportunity to publicize the abominable anti-gay laws passed by Russia’s lower house of parliament that essentially forbid public expression of pro-gay views. The measures — and anti-gay statements by various Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin — have encouraged harassment of and attacks on gays. The situation for gays in Russia has become so dire that some have compared next year’s Sochi Olympics to the 1936 Berlin Games, when the world stood in silence as Hitler’s Germany ramped up its oppression of Jews, gays and other minorities....

Read More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-i-ambushed-russias-news-network-with-rainbow-suspenders/2013/08/22/237ba62a-0b2d-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html

Edited to add: In case you missed it, the awesomeness is below.

[SidDithers]

1. Hearty DU rec...

thanks for posting.

Sid

[JI7]

2. lawrence odonnell said he will be on his show today

[Cha]

8. Good to know.. thanks J17

[Cooley Hurd]

3. He did the right thing...

I know some praise RT for its unvarnished look at things (like Snowden, the NSA Scandal, etc), but they are the de facto mouthpiece for the Russian Government.

James Kirchick should be commended for his statement!

[DevonRex]

4. So cool!

I saw it last night. He would not let them shut him up.

[sufrommich]

5. His description of RT is right on the money.nt

[BeyondGeography]

6. A standing O from the Swedes and a free ride to the airport

Not bad at all.

[joeybee12]

7. Please link to this whenever some asshat here uses a link to RT to say

the Russian laws aren't all that bad...thanks.

[starroute]

9. You do know that the guy is basically a Neocon?

He may have gotten in one positive gesture, but he's no hero.

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/kirchick_james

James (“Jamie”) Kirchick is a fellow at the neoconservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a contributing editor at the New Republic. A former writer-at-large for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Kirchick has also contributed to various rightist outlets like the Weekly Standard and Commentary magazine’s Contentions blog, as well as numerous mainstream publications, including the Los Angeles Times and Politico.

Like others of his ideological kin—such as Lee Smith, also at FDD—Kirchick has wielded accusations of anti-semitism in an effort to sideline those who are critical of hardline Israeli polices and one-sided U.S. support for them. In a February 2012 op-ed for Israel’s liberal Haaretz, Kirchick defended “pro-Israel” U.S. writers like Josh Block—a fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute and former AIPAC spokesperson—who had been criticized for arguing that progressive, Democratic Party-affiliated organizations like the Center for American Progress (CAP) allowed their writers “to say borderline anti-semitic stuff.” Kirchick misleadingly claimed in the article that Block was “ultimately vindicated” when CAP criticized use of terms like “Israel-firster” in its publications.[2] However, it was Block who was forced to back off his anti-semitism claims, telling a reporter that anyone “suggesting” the he thinks CAP is anti-semitic is simply trying “to distract from what I am actually saying.”[3] Kirchick apparently missed this retraction from Block.[4]

According to Kirchick, the real back story to this episode is what he calls a growing “leftist McCarthyism” aimed at “questioning the loyalties of American Jews.” To support this claim, Kirchick argued—without providing any supporting evidence—that big-name scholars and journalists in the United States have recently experienced success in their careers precisely because of their willingness to criticize Israel. He wrote: “Figures ranging from University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer to journalists Peter Beinart and Andrew Sullivan have all seen their careers blossom as a result of their harsh and unrelenting criticism of Israel. Indeed, obsessively attacking Israel is a bona-fide way to resuscitate one's career, not destroy it.” He concluded: “Since the 1950s, liberals have routinely accused conservatives of ‘McCarthyism. Now the tables have turned, and it is leftists questioning the loyalties of American Jews.”

[Robb]

11. Yeah, it's really too bad he took a stand for human rights on RT, huh?

[starroute]

12. Sounds like he was overjoyed at the opportunity

[radiclib]

10. Is Thom Hartmann a pinko?