It is particularly illustrative (no pun intended) of how the Western media views the nomination of Dmitri Medvedev to look at the various graphic arts work published along with the articles. Two of the more amusing are below, from the New York Times’s “Russia’s Knockoff Democracy” (left) and the Economist, whose headline on the cover ran “Putin’s Mini-Me” (right). Excerpts after the cut. 
The New York Times:
“Every country has a genetic code,” Mr. Nikonov said. “In many societies, the patterns of government last for centuries, or last for a millennium, and I think that Russia is the same. There is quite a strong tradition of undivided government. There is only one thing that Russians do not like in their leaders. That is weakness.”“The institutions are still not here, they are immature,” Mr. Nikonov said. “Still, for a 15-year-old democracy, Russia is doing well. In Germany, they elected Hitler exactly on the 15th year of democracy.”Mr. Putin himself, while regularly praising what he says are the strides Russia has made in recent years, occasionally seems to be pleading for patience, as if he were acknowledging that the democracy Russia has put in place is not the real thing.“This road is not simple,” he said in September. “It takes time and the right groundwork and conditions. We need to ensure that our economic transformations bring about the growth of the middle class, which is to a large extent the standard bearer of this ideology. This is something that takes time and cannot be achieved overnight.”
The Kremlin’s machinations have revealed a simple truth: that the authoritarian system created by Mr Putin in the past eight years does not allow an orderly transition of power from one elite to another. Kirill Rogov, a political analyst, points out that elections, which in a democratic society act as a mechanism for rotating power, have in Russia become a mechanism for preserving it.This reverses the biggest achievement of Boris Yeltsin’s short-lived, imperfect democracy: a peaceful transfer of power. The manner in which Mr Yeltsin handed power to Mr Putin in December 1999 was not ideal, but he did step down and let somebody else take charge. Mr Putin seems unable to repeat that. Indeed, so as to hang on to power, he may be prepared to undermine the institution of a strong presidency that he helped to create.For all the talk of stability, Russia is in some ways less stable than it was. Mr Putin has been lucky to enjoy an oil boom that filled up state coffers and fanned economic growth. But the underlying economy has not been diversified or restructured. Inflation is running in double digits, domestic gas and electricity prices need to be raised and the outlook for the world economy is suddenly gloomier. Yet the biggest danger for Russia remains political
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James:Do you know if the NY Times piece by Clifford Levy was an editorial? It says above the headline that its in the World Week in Review section.I find it disturbing that the NY Times feels so righteous and confidant that they hold a monopoly of “truth” that attempts to pass off an editorial as a piece of journalism.For example,”…..The scene, though, left a different impression.”* This is their impression not a point of fact.”Heads of four political parties (supposedly independent, but all creatures of the Kremlin)…”* The parenthetical statement is again an opinion of Clifford’s. Nice word “creatures.”"…. sat before Mr. Putin and revealed to him their choice for president. Mr. Putin accepted the decision (though he himself had clearly made it).”* Oh really, how is the NY Times to know that it was CLEARLY Putin’s decision. Rather, this statement is one of inference. Clifford may be right but we simply do not know.”He (Putin) praised the candidate (his longtime lieutenant) and suggested that the nomination reflected the views of a broad variety of Russians (none of whom had been given any say in the process).”* Medvedev’s nomination was by the 4 political parties. That was not the time nor place for the public to be given a say. The public votes in primaries and elections, it doesn’t nominate candidates.”It is as if a veneer of legitimacy has been put on a variation of the strongman rule present here for centuries — whether under Peter the Great, Lenin or Mr. Putin himself.”* When will the NY Times stop describing the elected President of Russia as a “strongman.” Again this is arrogant and condescending of the Clifford Levy.”“He (Putin) still has this desire to look like a civilized Russian modernizer,” said Lilia Shevtsova, an analyst at the Moscow office of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace…”* Is Clifford Levy really that secluded that he needs to again, for perhaps the 1,000 time this year, quote Lilia Shevtsov. Who is she anyway? What’s her agenda? And again, Lilia, how do you KNOW what Putin desires. They must be mind-readers.”Some analysts (Who? Name them Clifford) speculate that Mr. Putin and his associates fear making overtly autocratic moves, lest the West retaliate in ways that could hurt Russia’s economic revival. This view is not entirely satisfying; American and European companies do plenty of business with Saudi Arabia, China and other authoritarian countries.”"But there could be a more personal wrinkle: senior Kremlin officials may worry that they would be personally banned from traveling to the West and that their personal finances might be imperiled…”Oh please, the US is going to derail Russia’s economic boom. Actually, Clifford it’s Russia that can do the most harm by denominating its oil and gas exports in units other than the US Dollar. This is really what’s pissing-off Washington.Kremlin officials (name one Clifford) worry about being banned from traveling to the West!?!What’s most distressing about such a paragraph is that it says the public’s level of knowledge about Russia today in the West is so low that a “journalist” like Clifford Levy has no qualms about writing such non-sense and not being called on it. Amazing!I can’t believe I’m saying it but Michael Wines (the “winner” of the eXiles “magic coin” award to the worst Western journalist) is in jeopardy of being unseated as the worst Russia correspondent for the NY Times by Clifford Levy. That’s saying something!The Economist? Whatever. The Economist has such a hatred of Russia that anything they publish is highly circumspect. Two words…… Edward Lucas. That’s all that one needs to know about The Economist to know that it coverage of Russia is irrelevant.
Timothy Post is displeased that two of the most powerful publications on the planet report accurately on Russia, because it interferes with his ability to dupe hapless victims into investing in Russia, how he earns his despicable living.It’s bad enough that he doesn’t disclose this conflict of interest, but when HE claims to object to biased views on Russia, his own being so utterly one-sided as to call for the term “propaganda,” that is repugnant beyond words.It is neo-Soviet.
Yes, I suppose that I would call the “Week in Review” articles “editorials.”That said, all things considered, I think Levy’s piece is strikingly pro-Putin.Take for example this line: “While the Kremlin dominates television and has cracked down on the opposition, a diversity of voices flourishes in newspapers, where criticism of Mr. Putin is not uncommon, not to mention on the Internet.”There is not a “diversity of voices” in the Russian media, nor is internet access particularly widespread.Levy also writes that “he is more democratically oriented than most Russians” and cites the 2004 letter from Khodorkovsky (a lot has happened since then, to say the least).Whenever a Western journalist buys into the myth that Russians aren’t genetically disposed to democracy, it’s an insult to the legacy of Sakharov.Anyways isn’t it pointless to try to argue with what’s published in the media? Seems like an excuse to avoid debate of the actual issues by obsessing over bias and conspiracy. Such a tired exercise…
James:While I would agree that the availability of high-speed unlimited bandwidth internet is not great, I am not sure I would agree that Russian people’s use of the internet isn’t widespread.Actually, most everyone I know here in Krasnodar under the age of 40 uses the internet daily, literally.Perhaps these folks are not reading hard-core political news sites (after-all the new social networking website “Classmates” is huge!) but they are getting their news through the internet.The other thing is that most young people in the cities of over 500,000 people have satellite or cable TV.So I think it may be true that poorer rural folks or the older generations may not necessarily have a super wide variety of information sources, the younger people absolutely do.The other thing which amazes me when I go to the mall is that there a magazine stands which carry 50+ magazines all in Russian. Hello, GQ, Esquire, Golf, you name, they print it in Russian.Also, there is a new phenomenon at least here in Krasnodar of an explosion of glossy society, home furnishing, and business magazines focused on Krasnodar. I think a Moscow company is distributing these magazines for free to build circulation numbers and advertising rates. Regardless, it’s working.So, in closing, to say that Russians have a limited variety of information sources may be valid for a part of the population but the whole.
“Actually, most everyone I know here in Krasnodar under the age of 40 uses the internet daily, literally.”What sheer unmitigated nonsense. Offensive to the IQ of a turnip. Mr. Post diminishes the gravitas of this blog by commenting on it.”The other thing is that most young people in the cities of over 500,000 people have satellite or cable TV.”A blatant lie. I demand a source or a retraction.
La Russophobe:Your “act” is the one bringing down the level of discourse on Russia. Your blog is misogynist (read your pieces on women’s tennis) and blindly anti-Russian.When will you guys step-out from behind the curtain of anonymity and take responsibility for your actions?Are you guys from the Cato Institute? Are you funded by anti-Russian groups? We don’t know because you claim special exemption to the norms of the blogosphere dialog. You claim to be a group effort lead by Kim Zigfeld (which is not a real person).Now concerning my statement regarding internet use here in Krasnodar for people under 40 years of age, it’s, unfortunately for you, true. Come on over to Krasnodar, spend one day in the city speaking with a 100 of my acquaintances and you might be surprised at not only the number of information sources they have access to daily but their level of understanding of the topics and nuances of the issues.It’s interesting to me how you sit in Washington or London with very little actual contact with average Russians and you lecture them on how they should and shouldn’t behave.As Pat Monihan said before and repeat to you now, “You may have your own opinions but not your own facts.”
No source or retraction, much less apology, just as I thought. I hereby request that therefore Mr. Post be banned from leaving further turd-like comments on this blog. It should not be a venue for him to spread unsourced propaganda but rather a place for readers to find reliable facts about Russia.
Per Monihan’s quote, these are the facts of Russian internet access – 25%.http://bd.english.fom.ru/report/map/ocherk/eint0701/Given that more than half (54%) of those with access to internet live in Moscow, I do not think there is a diversity of voices in Russia’s political debate today. Aside from this, it hardly seems to be an adequate excuse for the incredible restrictions on television coverage, the harassment of and violence against journalists, and the thoroughly demonstrated unwillingness to tolerate criticism by today’s Kremlin.There are plenty of other more effective arguments that the apologists can put forward, but the one about press freedom in Russia is not one you can win.
If La Russophobe is the controlling judge on who may or may not leave comments on Mr. Amsterdam’s blog then I voluntarily will refrain from offering a differing point of view.Ironically, who is lowering not only the level of discourse but also the volume by striving to “ban” opinions which differ from those of their own at La Russophobe?I find it hard to believe that Mr. Amsterdam & James would allow such misogynist, racist, hate-filled, blindly anti-Russian comments from La Russophobe unless the people behind the La Russophobe Project had already identified themselves to Robert and James.It’s time for the boys at the La Russophobe Project to come out of the closet and take responsibility for their anti-Russian propaganda.No need to ban them (that would be anti-democratic and we wouldn’t want that now) but rather ban anonymous comments.After all, La Russophobe bans anonymous comments.
James:I walked around Orange Fitness today and spoke with a number of young Russians. I said to them, “Is the media restricted here in Russia.”Every single one looked at me like I had two heads. They said to me that, “Yes, the state run TV channels may be limited in their coverage but to say that young Russians don’t have access to numerous alternative media sources is (I quote) bullshit!”One guy held up his cell phone and said, “Look, here! BBC and Google RSS feeds of the news.”The overwhelming message from my informal tiny survey is that young are very much exposed to many, many different viewpoints and opinions.You raised some different points regarding, “…. the harassment of and violence against journalists, and the thoroughly demonstrated unwillingness to tolerate criticism by today’s Kremlin..”These are different topics and I don’t feel qualified to offer an expert opinion.Rather, what I am trying to do by leaving comments is to give your readers (and my readers on my blog) some impressions from an average American.I think that while I may not be qualified to offer expert opinions on arms control or legal proceeding, I am, on the other hand, very qualified to offer layman’s observations of everyday life in Krasnodar.When my observations differ from what I read in Western blogs and media sources I often feel obligated to offer a different viewpoint.If you would like for me to refrain from commenting on your blog I would be happy to oblige. Regardless, I think I will take a couple days off and go downstairs to Orange Fitness and hit the ergometers and then take my daughter Christmas shopping.Happy Holidays!