The US has directly accused Russia of violating the ceasefire in Ukraine and joined other security council members in lining up to pour scorn on a UN resolution drafted by Moscow approving the truce.
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Moscow sharply criticised at UN after putting up resolution that endorses truce while pro-Russia rebels continue their advances
The US has directly accused Russia of violating the ceasefire in Ukraine and joined other security council members in lining up to pour scorn on a UN resolution drafted by Moscow approving the truce.
Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said it was “ironic to say the least” that Russia produced the motion at the same time as it was “backing an all-out assault” that continued in Ukraine despite the ceasefire.
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YouTube is banned and tweets are censored, while pornography thrives and foreign Islamist militants have their say
Pakistan already goes further than most in digitally shielding its citizens from the outside world. There are only two countries where Facebook blocks more content at the request of their governments, and a YouTube ban imposed two years ago shows no sign of being lifted.
That is not enough for some. In a country becoming ever more sensitive to perceived insults to Islam it is not just clerics and hard-right religious parties who want more control over the internet, but also a group of tech-savvy activists who have built their own alternative Facebook. “We are the largest Muslim social network in history,” said Omer Zaheer Meer.
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 The Week Magazine |
Alabama governor apologizes for police assault that left visitor from India ...
The Week Magazine Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) has written a letter to the government of India, apologizing for the actions of two police officers who seriously injured a man visiting from the country. Alabama Governor apologises for use of 'excessive force' on Sureshbhai ... Alabama governor apologises for assault against IndianTimes of India Alabama governor apologises for incident involving Indian manHindustan Times Alabama Governor Bentley apologises for assault against IndianSeeandSay CNN-Business Standard all 158 news articles » |
Afghan security forces have launched a large offensive against the Taliban militants in the country's south before the group’s spring offensive.
The figure, a record since the United Nations began tallying in 2009, reflects the altered nature of a war in which almost no Western troops are still fighting.
A U.N. report said around 3,700 civilians were killed and 6,850 injured by violence in 2014, making it the most violent year since the U.S.-led invasion of 2001.
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EXCLUSIVE: The infographic, created by Berkshire-based Made to Measure Blinds, reveals the sleep habits of people such as Barack Obama, Margarate Thatcher and Winston Churchill.
WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland will comply with a European Court of Human Rights ruling that the country had hosted a secret CIA jail, foreign minister Grzegorz Schetyna said on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Ukraine Tuesday to allow its troops to surrender to rebel forces, as fighting escalated sharply in the country’s eastern region.
“I hope that the responsible figures in the Ukrainian leadership will not hinder soldiers in the Ukrainian army from putting down their weapons,” said Putin, according to Reuters.
The pro-Russian rebels have been rapidly advancing in the southeastern town of Debaltseve, and have reportedly surrounded over 5,000 Ukrainian troops.
The fighting in Debaltseve, a railroad hub to the east of Donetsk, broke out despite a cease-fireagreement reached in Belarusian capital, Minsk, just days before.
The rebels claim the cease-fire does not apply to Debaltseve and say they have already taken control of the town and captured “hundreds” of Ukrainian soldiers. “Eighty percent of Debaltseve is already ours,” rebel leader Eduard Basurin said. “A cleanup of the town is under way.”
The Ukrainian army has refuted these statements, saying they are holding their positions and contesting the number of prisoners claimed by the rebels.
Although the U.S. has considered sending defensive weapons to aid Ukrainian forces in the conflict, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that “getting into a proxy war with Russia is not anything that’s in the interest of Ukraine or in the interest of the international community.”
 BBC News |
Despite ban, fox hunts still thrive, and divide, in Britain
Washington Post IBSTONE, England — The horses wait in the farmyard, tails braided and manes gleaming, while huntsmen in brightly colored coats marshal the eager hounds, straining to chase the scent of a fox. To some, the start of a fox hunt is a quintessentially English ... Ten years on from the hunting ban, has anything really changed?Telegraph.co.uk Poll: Are the regulations introduced by the Hunting Act tough enough?shropshirestar.com Ten years on and campaigners are calling for fox hunting to be made legal againGloucester Citizen all 22 news articles » |
Do older people lose interest in sex? Ten myths of ageing – debunked by Joan T Erber and Lenore T Szuchman
From older people getting into more car accidents to worries about falling, here are some of our favourite ageing myths busted
Many surveys prove this to be false. In one study, 74% of women and 72% of men aged between 75 and 85 said that satisfactory sex is essential to maintaining a relationship. When there is a partner available it’s safe to assume that people are having sex. When we desexualise older couples by calling them cute, this might be disrespectful and can result in harm, such as neglecting to educate older people about sexually transmitted diseases and failing to make privacy possible in nursing homes.
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 Irish Independent |
Rebels continue rail hub onslaught
Irish Independent Ukrainian government soldiers on a road from the town of Artemivsk to Debaltseve. (AP Open Gallery 1 Ukrainian government soldiers on a road from the town of Artemivsk to Debaltseve. (AP). Russian-backed rebels are continuing their onslaught on the ... and more » |
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Snowed-in Washington residents engage in a massive snowball fight in the US capital. Report by Sarah Kerr.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's view of the U.S. role in the Middle East and North Africa is being challenged by deepening crises in the very countries he has seen as models for his approach to the volatile region: Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya....
UN: Afghan Civilian Deaths Rose 25 Percent in 2014by webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The number of Afghan civilians killed by conflict-related violence rose by 25 percent last year to the highest level since at least 2009, according to a new United Nations report released Wednesday. The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the fighting killed 3,699 civilians and injured 6,849 others, including a record number of deaths among both women and children. The report attributed the jump to an increase in ground fighting along with the use of mortars, rockets...
Key issues in the states' lawsuit over immigrationby By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's plan to shield more than 4 million immigrants living in the country illegally from deportation is on hold after a judge temporarily blocked the effort....
KIEV (Reuters) - Pro-government forces began on Wednesday to pull out of the town of Debaltseve which is under siege from Russian-backed rebels, commanders of pro-government paramilitary units said.
A fighter with separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic army sits on top of armoured personnel carrier in village of Nikishine
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Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's anti-immigrant National Front, is a politician on the rise. According to a recent survey, the far-right Le Pen would come out on top if polls for France's 2017 presidential election were held today.Read full article >>
 Reuters |
In Afghanistan's deadliest year, battles, not bombs, top killer of civilians
Reuters KABUL (Reuters) - Battles between the Taliban and government forces were responsible for the most Afghan civilian casualties in 2014, the war's deadliest year, surpassing roadside bombs as the leading killer for the first time, the United Nations said on ... and more » |
Ukrainian troops begin leaving embattled transport hubby Karoun Demirjian, Daniela Deane
ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine — Ukrainian troops began leaving the embattled eastern city of Debaltseve Wednesday one day after the Ukrainian military admitted it no longer had full control over the strategic railway hub, news reports said.Read full article >>
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's government confirmed it would ask on Wednesday for an extension to its loan agreement with the euro zone, which it distinguishes from its full bailout program.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly calls Clint Eastwood’s film ‘propaganda against Muslims’, while head of American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee calls movie a ‘turning point’
Iran’s supreme leader has criticised the Oscar-nominated Iraq war biopic American Sniper for encouraging attacks on Muslims.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the comments during a meeting with representatives of the Islamic Republic’s religious minorities in parliament three weeks ago, according to the the state-run IRAN Farsi newspaper yesterday. He also reportedly said he had not seen Clint Eastwood’s film but had heard about its plot.
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Ukraine began withdrawing its troops from the embattled railway hub of Debaltseve after pro-Russia rebels overran much of the town despite last week’s European-brokered cease-fire deal.
Officials open investigation into suspected ‘aggravated money laundering’ and search bank’s Geneva premises
Prosecutors in Geneva searched the premises of HSBC’s Swiss private banking subsidiary on Wednesday after launching an inquiry into suspected money-laundering activities at the bank.
In a statement, prosecutors said the investigation into “suspected aggravated money laundering” was prompted by “the recent published revelations” about the private bank. The revelations, by the Guardian, the BBC, Le Monde and other media outlets, showed that HSBC’s Swiss banking arm turned a blind eye to illegal activities of arms dealers and helped wealthy people evade taxes.
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan/TORKHAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan immigrants ordered out of Pakistan in what officials say is a bid to root out militants are, some analysts say, scapegoats being used to distract attention from the authorities' failure to end violence.
International conference in Washington comes within days of suspected Islamist attack in Copenhagen and mass beheading of Egyptian Coptics by Isis
The home secretary, Theresa May, will attend a summit in Washington on tackling violent extremism, called by Barack Obama after the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris.
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KIEV (Reuters) - Some Ukrainian forces began to pull out of a town under siege by Russian-backed separatists on Wednesday as renewed fighting threatened to wreck an international deal aimed at ending the conflict.
Adcock holds a .308 caliber rifle with the lettering 'American Sniper' etched on the side during the murder trial of Routh in Stephenville, Texas
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DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Wednesday that his country would resist global sanctions imposed over its disputed nuclear program, saying that Iran might respond to international pressure by cutting back gas exports.
Nuland Continues South Caucasus Tourby noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service)
During a visit to Georgia, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland has expressed support for the country's territorial integrity, democratic reforms, and EU and NATO aspirations.
 Times of India |
Iraq envoy to UN: Islamic State might be harvesting organs
Times of India UNITED NATIONS: Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations asked the UN Security Council on Tuesday to look at allegations that the Islamic State group is using organ harvesting as a way to finance its operations. Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim told ... ISIS is suspected of selling human organs for money in IraqNew York Daily News UN urged to investigate ISIS's bloody trade in human organs after Iraqi ...Daily Mail Iraq's ambassador urges UN to investigate claims Isis is harvesting organs: 'We ...The Independent Scottish Daily Record -Business Standard all 104 news articles » |
 Haaretz |
Middle East Updates / Iran's Supreme Leader vows firm stand on nuclear issue
Haaretz Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers speech during a meeting with air force commanders and officers in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015. Photo by AP. Text size. Comments (0). Print Page. Send to friend. Share on Facebook. Share on ... Khamenei vows firm Iranian nuclear stand, warns on gas exportsTODAYonline Iran supreme leader: American Sniper made to 'harass and offend the Muslims'The Guardian Iran's supreme leader condemns 'American Sniper' movie as anti-Muslim ...Business Standard NBCNews.com -Tehran Times -TIME all 153 news articles » |
US and Russian officials trade blows during a United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, accuses Russia of violating the ceasefire in Ukraine, while Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin maintains that Moscow has always advocated a 'bloodless political solution' Continue reading...
In the United States, it seems obvious that police officers carry guns and are allowed to use them.In other places, however, this would be considered a provocation and a violation of law.In Britain, Ireland, Norway, Iceland and New Zealand, officers are unarmed when they are on patrol. Police are only equipped with firearms in special circumstances. It's a strategy that seems to work surprisingly well for these countries. Police officers there have saved lives -- exactly because they were unable to shoot.Read full article >>
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ATHENS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Greece will submit a request to the euro zone on Wednesday to extend a "loan agreement" for up to six months but EU paymaster Germany says no such deal is on offer and Athens must stick to the terms of its existing international bailout.
Canada has imposed additional sanctions against Moscow and its sympathizers over the Ukraine conflict.
Russia: Quiet Flows The Dark Money On The Hudson by Eurasianet.org
Remember when Russian anti-corruption crusader Alexei Navalny dubbed Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his cronies as “The Party of Liars and Thieves?” Well, a The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) investigation suggests that a sizable chunk of Russia’s dark money has ended up in New York City’s real estate market.
The Times’ report highlights how oligarchs have used byzantine networks of shell companies to purchase luxury properties in New York. Despite extensive attempts to hide ownership, the Timesdetermined that in one luxury building alone, the Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) Center situated at the southwest corner of Central Park, moguls from the former Soviet Union own or have owned at least 20 apartments collectively worth in excess of $200 million.
A central figure in the investigative report – part of a lengthy series on shady practices in New York’s high-end real estate market – is Andrey Vavilov, a former Russian deputy finance minister who became “extraordinarily wealthy” after going into banking following his departure from government in 1997. A trained economist, Vavilov, according to Swedish economist Anders Aslund, “was one of the [Russian] reformers who switched to the oligarchic side.”
Vavilov used shell corporations in 2007, when he attempted to purchase a pair of penthouses at the Plaza – one for $39.5 million, the other for $14 million. The deal ultimately fell through after Vavilov’s wife complained the apartments were not large enough for her liking, according to the Times report. However, Vavilov has successfully used shell corporations to purchase a pair of other apartments, paying $13 million and $37.5 million for two apartments in the Time Warner Center.
Other Russians powerbrokers with properties in the Time Warner Center identified by the Timesinclude Konstantin Kagalovsky, a former vice chairman of Yukos; Maxim Finskiy, a former executive with Norilsk Nickel; and Vitaly Malkin, a former Russian senator. All three have used either shell companies or limited liability companies to mask their identities.
Russia recently ranked 136th out of 175 countries surveyed in Transparency International’sCorruption Perceptions Index.
The Times investigation noted that oligarchs from other former Soviet republics, including Kazakhstan, also used shell corporations to purchase luxury New York apartments, but the report did not name any specific individuals.
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Published on Feb 16, 2015
A train carrying more than 100 tankers of crude oil derailed in southern West Virginia on Monday, sending at least one into the Kanawha River, igniting at least 14 tankers and sparking a house fire. (Feb. 16)
ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine — A battle for a railroad town in eastern Ukraine escalated sharply on Tuesday, with both the Ukrainian army and Russian-backed militants saying that their soldiers were engaging in pitched street battles.
By midday, the separatists said they had captured the town, Debaltseve, a separatist news agency reported. The Ukrainian military denied the claim, saying its soldiers were repelling the attacks.
“An intense fight is underway now on the outskirts of Debaltseve,” Ukraine’s military spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, said in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital. “There are engagements near the train station. But our soldiers are holding their positions, and they have full authority to return fire.”
A cease-fire took effect on Sunday, but it has not silenced the guns near Debaltseve, a strategic railroad hub connecting the capitals of the two rebel regions, Donetsk and Luhansk.
As many as 8,000 Ukrainian soldiers are holed up in the besieged city. Rebels reportedly have sent text messages to phones in the town, telling the soldiers there that they have been abandoned by their command and should surrender.
The Ukrainian government maintains that the town was not surrounded before the cease-fire took effect, and that European monitors of the truce should insist the Russian-backed separatist forces halt their offensive and open a corridor to evacuate the wounded.
The main rebel group, the Donetsk People’s Republic, announced hours before the truce was to take effect it they would not observe the agreement in Debaltseve, saying that the town was encircled before the cease-fire began and that it was therefore now an internal region in their enclave, not a section of the front.
The only resupply road into Debaltseve is mined, in range of rebel artillery and at times held by pro-Russian infantry. On Friday, eight Ukrainian soldiers reportedly escaped on foot through the fields, and on Sunday a dozen or so more made it out in a truck.
On Tuesday, however, Ukrainian rocket-launching trucks and tanks were barreling down the resupply road toward the fighting, though the cease-fire required both sides to withdraw heavy weaponry starting at midnight Monday.
Rebel shelling was hitting points up and down the resupply road on Tuesday. A shell struck a gas pipeline beside the highway, and it burned unabated in a gigantic twirl of orange flame.
An artillery barrage sent black smoke rising from a checkpoint by a critical and already partially damaged bridge, and sent tank crews scrambling to start their roaring vehicles and disperse out along the road.
A barrage that struck near news reporters wounded a driver for a Ukrainian television station.
“They are shooting at us,” one soldier standing outside his pillbox at a checkpoint on the route said, which was evident enough on a crystalline, icy cold winter day here, as the booms of both outgoing and incoming artillery echoed from miles around.
“Where’s the help from America?” said the soldier, who declined to be identified, saying he was not authorized to speak to the news media. “We are poor and cannot fight the Russians alone.”
Another soldier scoffed at the idea that a few American weapons could help in what is already a major clash of conventional armies in an open battlefield. The United States and Europe should forceRussia to observe the cease-fire, he said. “We don’t need weapons,” he said, “we need peace.”
President Obama has said he is considering sending antitank and counter-battery weapons to Ukraine, while acknowledging doing so could provoke a fierce Russian response in eastern Ukraine. Opponents say arming Ukraine would draw the United States and Russia into a tit-for-tat contest that could lead to a proxy war.
A separatist official asserted Tuesday that 300 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered. His claim could not be independently confirmed.
In Kiev, Mr. Lysenko, the Ukrainian military spokesman, said that “the pro-Russian propaganda claims soldiers are surrendering, and that we are asking for a corridor to get out.”
“In fact,” he said, “the situation looks different. The enemy requires ever more personnel and weaponry, and fire support from their artillery continues.”
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Earlier this month, as fighting raged in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian rebels and forces loyal to the Western-backed government in Kyiv, Dmitry Kiselyov, the pugnacious, middle-aged journalist who heads Russia’s main state news agency, gazed defiantly into a TV studio camera. “What is Russia preparing for?” he asked. As if in reply, the director cut to an ominous backdrop image of an intercontinental ballistic missile emerging from an underground launch silo.
National Post GraphicsCLICK TO ENLARGE: This graphic attempts to look at the number of immediately available nuclear weapons in the world; weapons that could at a very short notice — because that is the point — be used in a war.
“During the era of political romanticism, the Soviet Union pledged never to use nuclear weapons first,” Kiselyov told the audience of Vesti Nedeli, his current affairs show, one of the country’s most widely watched programs. “But Russia’s current military doctrine does not.” He paused briefly for effect. “No more illusions.”
There was nothing out of the ordinary about this reminder that Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to a “threat” to its statehood. Since the start of the crisis in Ukraine, which has massive geostrategic importance for Russia, state-controlled TV has engineered an upsurge in aggressive anti-Western sentiment, with Kiselyov as the Kremlin’s top attack dog.
Last spring, as Washington warned of sanctions over Russia’s seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, Kiselyov boasted about his country’s fearsome nuclear arsenal. “Russia is the only country in the world realistically capable of turning the U.S. into radioactive ash,” he declared.
VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty ImagesA pro-Russian separatist walks down a road near the eastern Ukrainian city of Uglegorsk on Sunday.
Kiselyov’s blood-curdling comments will have had the Kremlin’s implicit backing, analysts say. “This threat of nuclear war should be taken seriously,” said Sergey Markov, a political strategist. “In Russia, we believe that Ukraine has been occupied by the U.S. And that this occupation is not about democracy, or even money, but that it is the first step in a war against Russia. The U.S. is seeking to undermine our sovereignty, neutralize our nuclear potential, and steal our oil and gas. Under these circumstances, the danger of nuclear confrontation is very real.”
Some 5,500 lives have been lost in the almost year-long conflict in Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels in the east have carved out two self-declared “people’s republics.” The crisis was sparked by the February 2014 overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, in what Kremlin officials say was a coup orchestrated by the U.S. In addition, President Vladimir Putin has spoken of what he called a “NATO legion” fighting alongside the Ukrainian army.
While there is no proof that NATO forces are in action in Ukraine, U.S. officials have suggested that Washington could supply weapons to Kyiv to assist its battered army. The proposal sparked a furious response: Viktor Zavarzin, of Russia’s defence committee, warned of the “irrevocable consequences” of such a move.
In turn, the West has accused Russia of providing both troops and weaponry to the rebels, a charge Putin has consistently denied.
A ceasefire thrashed out by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany – the second attempt to bring peace to the devastated region – was set to come into effect Sunday at one minute past midnight.
Amid these tensions, Kiselyov is not the only one pushing the possibility of nuclear confrontation with the West. Russia’s Zvezda TV channel, owned by the defence ministry, has also been preparing its audience for the worst. “Russia and the U.S. are on the verge of nuclear war,” read a headline on its website last week. The article cited an analyst from the Moscow-based Politika think tank, Vyacheslav Nikonov, which said a nuclear exchange between the two former Cold War-era foes was increasingly likely because the U.S. wanted Russia to “disappear” as an independent country. “This is not in our plans,” he said.
AP Photo/Petr David JosekUkrainian government soldier walks atop of his armored vehicle on the road between the towns of Dabeltseve and Artemivsk, Ukraine, Sunday.
Russia has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, with 8,400 warheads compared with a U.S. total of 7,500. A day after last week’s peace talks in Belarus, Russia’s nuclear forces staged large-scale exercises, soon after navy nuclear combat drills in the Arctic. All of which causes concern in the West. Michael Fallon, the U.K. Defence Secretary, said earlier this month that he was worried Russia had “lowered its threshold” for the use of nuclear weapons, while “integrating nuclear with conventional forces in a rather threatening way.”
The prospect of nuclear war is also being talked up by pro-Kremlin movements. In a clip posted online last month, a Kalashnikov-wielding member of the Moscow-based, pro-Kremlin National Liberation Movement (NOD) vows global nuclear devastation in the event of the defeat of Russia’s interests in Ukraine. “If we lose, we will destroy the whole world,” intones a young NOD activist named Maria Katasonova. She sweeps a circle with her arm, and the screen is filled with a virtual image of an explosion as the planet is consumed in an atomic inferno.
“Russians will not sit by and watch as their country’s sovereignty is threatened by the U.S.,” Katasonova told The Sunday Telegraph last week. “If our country is in genuine danger, we really will use nuclear weapons.”
AP Photo/Petr David JosekMen are seen outside of an apartment building that was damaged in recent shelling between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces in the town of Svitlodarsk, Ukraine, Sunday.
Katasonova is a follower of Alexander Dugin, a hardline nationalist thinker who has called for the destruction of the U.S. Dugin – described as “Putin’s brain” by the respected U.S.-based Foreign Affairs journal – is something of a fanatic. He combines political activities with occultism, and often speaks of his belief that the world must be “brought to an end.”
WikipediaRussian nationalis Aleksandr Dugin.
So what’s going on? Is Moscow really preparing its people for the unthinkable – nuclear confrontation? Or is all this simply North Korean-style bluff and bluster? How many minutes are left until the Kremlin’s doomsday clock strikes midnight?
“It is, of course, a disgrace and an embarrassment to my country that such things are being said on national television,” said Lev Ponomaryov, a veteran human rights activist and Soviet-era dissident. “But statements about nuclear war are mainly for domestic consumption. In particular, they are directed at the more radical, nationalist members of society – those who have been fighting as volunteers in Ukraine, or support the rebels there.”
While Putin denies that regular Russian troops are fighting in Ukraine, he has hailed the hundreds, if not thousands, of apparent volunteers who have travelled to what the rebels call “Novorossiya” – “New Russia.” A number of these fighters have become folk heroes back home; in particular, Igor Strelkov, the ultra-conservative enthusiast who spent much of last year commanding rebel forces in Ukraine’s Donbass region.
“I think these people frighten the Kremlin even more than they scare me,” said Ponomaryov. “The authorities are afraid that they could one day turn their weapons against them, and the government will do anything to keep them on side.”
State television’s war rhetoric is not confined to the nuclear. In recent days, one Kremlin-run channel has discussed how long it would take for Russian tanks to “reach Berlin,” while in east Ukraine, bloody and bruised government soldiers were abused by a notorious rebel commander in front of Russian television cameras.
BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Igor Strelkov.
But state-run media’s fever-pitch, anti-Western TV programming is not only pandering to the radicals, it is also creating them. “Nationally televized broadcasts, such as those presented by Dmitry Kiselyov, have scared people, and led to increased hostility in society,” said Lev Gudkov, who heads the independent, Moscow-based Levada-Center polling agency. “We have seen a drastic change in the collective consciousness of the Russian people over the last year or so.”
The figures are startling. The number of Russians who believe their country and the U.S. are now mutual enemies has increased tenfold in a year to 42 per cent, according to an opinion poll. The total professing a negative attitude to the U.S. has almost doubled.
The statistics are backed by everyday incidents, from the racist image of a banana-munching President Barack Obama laser-beamed on to the wall of the U.S. embassy in Moscow, to the T-shirts with slogans hailing Russia’s nuclear missiles, on sale across the country.
“Of course I don’t want an atomic war with the West,” said Yegor Denisov, a twenty-something computer programmer. “But we have to defend ourselves from our enemies. And this,” he said, gesturing at the ballistic missile on his newly bought T-shirt, “will help us do that.”
AP Photo/Petr David JosekUkrainian government soldiers take a rest on the road between the towns of Dabeltseve and Artemivsk, Ukraine, Sunday.
Although state media broadcasts have clearly had a pernicious influence on society, putting the country on a war footing and boosting Putin’s approval ratings, Peter Pomerantsev, a U.K. journalist who worked in Russian TV in the 2000s, believes they are mainly intended for a Western audience.
MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty ImagesRussian television journalist Dmitry Kiselyov.
“I wouldn’t take these statements about nuclear war literally,” said Pomerantsev, whose book,Nothing is True and Everything is Possible, dissects the Kremlin’s media manipulation tactics. Talk of impending nuclear conflict is “one of Putin’s mind-benders,” part of what he called an attempt to convince the West that the former KGB officer is this “crazy, unpredictable” leader whom it would be advisable not to push too far.
But the lines between fantasy and reality can all too often get blurred.
“There is always the danger that games somehow slip into reality – you start off playing with these narratives, and you end up stumbling into a real conflict,” said Pomerantsev.
The Kremlin’s masters of reality have uncorked the atomic genie. It is to be hoped they show the same aptitude when it comes to putting it back in the bottle.
VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty ImagesPro-Russian separatists ride an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) near the eastern Ukrainian city of Uglegorsk on Sunday.
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