Russia’s State-Controlled TV Crosses the Line

From an editorial by the Moscow Times:

Rossia television has laid to rest any lingering doubts about whether the level of propaganda on state television has returned to record Cold War highs. Konstantin Syomin, an anchor with “Vesti Plus,” opined on the nightly news program last Thursday that Yugoslav Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic had deserved to be assassinated for “selling out” to the West. Syomin described Djindjic as “a Western puppet” who “destroyed the legendary Serbian army.” He accused Djindjic of “selling the heroes of Serbian resistance” to the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague. Therefore, Djindjic “got a well-deserved bullet” in 2003, Syomin said. One has to wonder whether even Soviet television anchors made such outrageous observations after the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Moscow’s Cold War foe.