Russia silences Free Speech

[dArKeR]

By MARK MacKINNON

Moscow — On another day, the symbolism of having a show titled Free Speech censored might have been enough to make Savik Shuster laugh. But yesterday was not the time for appreciating ironies. These are serious days for anyone attempting to do independent journalism in Russia.


Free Speech, which was taken off the air yesterday by Russia's NTV channel, was seen as the last televised forum in the country for open debate of political issues. A talk show with an edge, it drew a highly intelligent audience and Mr. Shuster and his guests were remarkable on the increasingly bland Russian television dial for their willingness to question and criticize the Kremlin.


But in Vladimir Putin's Russia, there are lines you don't cross. The outspoken Mr. Shuster, a Lithuanian-born Canadian citizen and graduate of McGill University's medical school, has had so many clashes with the Kremlin and its allies that he isn't sure when or where he overstepped the bounds.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040707.wxrussia0708/BNStory/International/

The GOP throws the world into chaos and arms races.

[LittleApple81]

1. We already did that and we didn't notice. Putin does not have the touch.nt

[eablair3]

2. yes, it sounds eerily familiar

from the article:

"News of the shuffle came just two days after the NTV appointed Kremlin loyalist Vladimir Kulistikov to run the station. The network is one of three that broadcast across all 11 of Russia's time zones. The other two are directly state-owned.

Since Mr. Putin came to power in 2000, all independent Russian television networks have been taken over by Kremlin-aligned companies. With few exceptions, the rest of the media use careful self-censorship to avoid angering the authorities."

The powers that be taking someone off the air. Rings of Phil Donahue. MSNBC, owned by defense contractor General Electric, takes Donahue off the air claiming "his rating weren't cutting it" but it was later revealed that it was because he was "anti-war" according to an internal NBC memorandum. And, the fact was that Donahue was the highest rated show on MSNBC at the time.

If you want to control the population of millions and maintain power, you have to control what they hear and the news they are given and the views that given out of the tv.

You don't see Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Robert McChesney, Greg Palast and a slew of others on corporate mass media TV too often at all in the U.S.

[Art_from_Ark]

3. And bu$h looked into Pooty-Poot's soul,

gazed upon the "corroded" remnants of the former KGB agent's humanity, and proclaimed "This man is ma soulmate!"

[eablair3]

4. yeah, Bush is so good at reading people

Russian Expert Warns of 'Disturbing Trend' in Kremlin

James M. Goldgeier, who served in the National Security Council and State Department during the Clinton administration, says that President Vladimir Putin is riding high in Russia, thanks to stability and steady prices for oil. Putin faces no credible opposition in March 14 presidential vote.

But Goldgeier, who is director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University and an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, says "a disturbing trend in Russia is that you see a president with a KGB background who has sought greater and greater control over politics." The signs of Putin's growing authoritarianism, he says, include the lack of competitive elections and the disappearance of independent media.

He was interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, consulting editor for cfr.org, on March 1, 2004.

...

Well, the first meeting between Bush and Putin in the summer of 2001 in Slovenia included the famous comments from Bush, who said, in effect, "I've looked into his eyes, and seen his soul, and I liked what I saw." I think he fell for the guy completely, and by all accounts the president values personal relationships, and they did seem to hit it off and they've gotten along quite swimmingly ever since.

http://www.cfr.org/publication.php?id=6819

[tlcandie]

5. Because they see eye-to-eye ....that is why he liked what he saw.

Both one in the same. It's just that Georgie's hands are still tied. I'm sure Georgie is jealous of ole' Putie Poot because he can't just throw in the towel and call himself a dictator!! He did say in the beginning that it would be much easier if he were a dictator.

[Matilda]

6. What else is to be expected from a former KGB boss?

Russia is in a very bad state, and doesn't look like improving.
There's no real democracy - political assassinations and
disappearances are the norm, and elections are rigged, but the
people have meanwhile lost the basic rights of education, health
care and housing, however poor, of the Soviets.

I was very sad that Mikhail Gorbachev didn't stay in power long
enough to revamp the Soviet system. He never pretended to be
anything other than communist, but he did want to make the system
open and accountable, and to make it really work. Backing the
crooked drunk - or the drunken crook - Yeltsin was perhaps one
of the worst errors of judgment made by Bill Clinton. While he
rorted the system and piled up his millions in Swiss banks, only
the criminals flourished in the former USSR, while the West poured
ever more money into Yeltsin's coffers.

Now the wheel has almost turned full circle - almost complete loss
of personal freedom, no real democracy, free speech a joke, and
still only the crooks prosper. All the drawbacks of the Soviet
system, and none of the advantages.

A brave experiment gone dreadfully wrong.

[eablair3]

7. PBS Wide Angle

fyi, .. there was a good PBS documentary on the show "Wide Angle" on PBS tonight, ... probably be replayed. The title of the documentary is "The Russian Newspaper Murders."

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/about/film_s3_f2.html

Was a pretty good show .. shows how journalists are intimidated .. and how the press is kept under control by the government.

more info:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/russia/index.html

[Rex]

8. Putin owns Russia like Bush owns America.

They both get away with murder and then pat eachother on the back.