The new Russia-bahers (December 30, 2005)

The Washington Times ^ | December 30, 2005 | Edward Lozansky

[vertolet]

During the Cold War, the most vicious anti-American propaganda was carried out by the Soviet newspaper Pravda, founded by none other than Vladimir (Nikolai) Lenin. The language used by Soviet journalists and commentators was so rude and hysterical that even people sympathetic to the Communist cause were turned off. We used to call it Soviet language rather than Russian.

One should admit that American and European media were more civilized and usually used pretty mild language when criticizing the Soviet Union. As someone who at that time was trying to plant hard-line anti-Soviet rhetoric into Western newspapers, I have first hand knowledge why the editors were often reluctant to print it. Smart people explained to me that most of the media was leaning to the left and did not want to go too tough on the Socialist experiment. In addition, some editors believed that it was not a good idea to make the Soviet bear mad since it had plenty of nukes and it was better not to get on its nerves and try to avoid dangerous confrontations.

Suddenly, things changed dramatically. "Pravda" is out of business and the new Russian mainstream media became quite civilized, never mind the yellow press. Needless to say that many articles are still very critical of the United States, but the language used by Russian journalists is pretty professional and no longer resembles that of Communist times.

The irony is that in this zero-sum game, there are some Western newspapers that have picked up the old Soviet style, and use the tone and expressions closely resembling Pravda vocabulary. The leader in this Soviet-American linguistic exchange is obviously The Washington Post. Read the articles on Russia, and if you had any nostalgia for agitprop, be my guest.

[propertius]

Why are you publishing an op-ed from December?

[vertolet]

I've found it today.

[LIConFem]

"The language used by Soviet journalists and commentators was so rude and hysterical that even people sympathetic to the Communist cause were turned off. "

Sounds rather like the current-day Democrat party.

[MarMema]

ping

[GarySpFc]

I naively thought that America was trying to teach Russians to use free-market mechanisms, and that the WTO is demanding from Russia to use market prices for gas. So, I made a few clicks on Google and discovered that the real gas price these days is around $450 per 1,000 cubic meters. The latest Russian offer to Ukraine is almost half that, but Mr. Hiatt believes that it is too high and demands that the White House get into action and start regulating prices.

The price of gas is $451 in the US. That said, the real issue in the Russian-Ukranian gas dispute was not so much the price of Russian gas or the transit fees the Ukraine received for transporting Russian gas. Ukrainian oligarchs were/are upset that strict controls were instituted under the new contract, and the Ukraine would no longer be able to siphon off billions of dollars worth of gas, and resell it to the EU at market prices.

[GarySpFc]

ping

[avg_freeper]

The poor Russians. Their only fault is providing our enemies with weapons to kill us.

We should really give them a break.

[vertolet]

So you justify Soviet-style propaganda?

[proxy_user]

The weapons are much more likely to be turned against them than us. They are nearby, we are not.

It was Lenin who said that a capitalist would sell him the rope he would use to hang him, but now the shoe seems to be on the other foot.

[avg_freeper]

"So you justify Soviet-style propaganda? "

Yes, obviously the following comment:

"The poor Russians. Their only fault is providing our enemies with weapons to kill us. We should really give them a break."

, directly implies that I

"justify Soviet-style propaganda",

"have an acute phobia of llamas",

"am addicted to hallucinogenic aardvarks",

"believe in a world wide conspiracy involving chrome toasters",

"pledged my eternal allegiance to a single stalk of celery in 1985",

"have fantasies about eating sloppy joes with Mr. T" (I pitty the fool that doesn't like sloppy joes),

"think I look sexy in waders",

and finally

"stopped listening to the 'voices' because they were the ones that told me to like the 70's Art Rock group Kansas in the first place".

[Grzegorz 246]

Hi. Do you have a Russian wife ?

[vertolet]

I'm Russian.

[caver]

"Sounds rather like the current-day Democrat party."

And the nuts in North Korea.

[Mi-kha-el]

Who in the world is "Vladimir (Nikolai) Lenin"?

[Kuehn12]

Russia really doesn't care who they sell weapons to, they are in it for the money. Without the export market for their inferior weapons, the whole of the Russian Defense Industry would disappear. The Russian Defense Ministry and government aren't buying weapons at no where near the level during the Soviet Era, so what do you expect them to do. They know that no self respecting military given the choice between American weapons and theirs is going to choose theirs. I find it comforting, the Iranian buy inferior Russian junk and we simply blow it up with ease with no real casualties in the process. It is a win-win proposition, they get hard currency and we get military victory.

[vertolet]

It's obviously an author's mistake. Must be "(Ulyanov) Lenin".

[Mi-kha-el]

If you are Russian you should know what's going on in the Russian media and the general anti-American frenzy taking place in Russia right now. Please don't take the advantage of the fact that people here cannot read Russian. I can pluck out so many quotes from the Russian media that this oped will seem like a Disney ride. Let us not play games here.

[Mi-kha-el]

So maybe the author should do some research before posing as an expert in Russian-American affairs.

[vertolet]

'The Washington Post' is a mainstream newspaper.
You cannot find something similar in mainsream Russian newspapers.