For some time now I've been concerned about the very distinct flavour of support for the Russian President that seems to come from Little Green Footballs. For one thing, it seems odd in the context of the weblog's routine denunciation of President Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder, many of whose policies on the Middle East and Iraq differ little or not at all from those of Putin. For another, it could strike one as incongruous that such support should go to a president who has done little or nothing to protect his people from international Islamic terrorism, and who can reasonably be accused of having aggravated its consequences in Russia by a barbaric use of force against the Chechen people ever since he took office. The barbaric atrocity of Beslan did not simply come from the blue - it's the result of a long and murky history of connivance between corrupt Russian security forces and Islamic terrorists, which dates back at least to 1999, and the controversial apartment bombings, in which Russian security personnel were almost certainly involved.
Now the weblog has apparently begun to insult anyone who considers that President Putin might have something to explain as Euroweasels. A rather large number of concerned Russian citizens will also find themselves in this category, if such is the criterion that's to be applied.
I mention this only because I admire LGF and the stand it has taken against Islamic terrorism and Islamofascism, and can only think that somewhere a misunderstanding must have arisen. Putin's brand of fascism, with its cynicism, Goebbels-like propaganda and double-speak, and use of ruthless force, fits together with the fascism of the terrorists perfectly. It's strange that LGF apparently can't see this.
2 comments:
Well, let's hope, as you say.
But it still surprises me that so many in the West are unable to see the real nature of this President Putin, and seem to be so willing to be duped. I wrote about this willingness of Westerners to invariably believe the best of Russia in my post on Robert Conquest and Western attitudes to the Soviet Union. Nothing much seems to change.
Obviously in the aftermath of this horrible atrocity there is a great deal of emotion that needs to get out. But still, the request for an explanation does seem like a reasonable one, even if the timing of the request was more than unfortunate. After all, the EU is Russia's next-door neighbour, and people in countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia and others - which have traditionally been threatened and also occupied by Russia - must be feeling an even deeper anxiety than the largely American readership at LGF.
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