Russian Media Jingoism
Our favorite pro-government news outlet RBK Daily strikes again. Well known for their enthusiastic, yet often clumsy, support of the government propaganda line, this latest piece of jingoistic saber-rattling is reminiscent of the sort of stuff that paragon of high-standards journalism, Joseph Pulitzer, published back in the day to justify the Spanish-American War (it worked, didn’t it…?). Makes your hair stand on end. See some previous translations from RBK here and here. War of destruction In the conflict with Georgia Russia is going to have to go all the way Yesterday reports from South Ossetia brought some clarity into the contradictory picture of the war. It became clear that Tskhinval [sic], about the taking of which the Russian mass information media had been reporting two days in a row, was completely occupied only on Sunday. However, there is a danger that at this the Russian troops will stop, allowing the Georgian army to once again carry out a regrouping on the commanding heights and descend on the Tskhinvalian «cauldron». As of Sunday night, there had been no order to throw back the adversary in the direction of Tbilisi, the sole imperative in this situation. Reports about Russian aviation strikes on military bases, runways and ports in Georgia are coming in the main from Georgian sources and, unfortunately, could turn out to be a great exaggeration. Unfortunately — because if the infrastructure of Georgia is not demolished, Russia risks losing the war. If this happens, the powers of the country can forget about a worthy place on the international arena and the support of their own population.