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[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he rise of Russia as a world power opposing Washington’s global designs and its cynical military “Big Bullyism” has created a heightened interest in all matters Russian, a fact reinforced by the East-West confrontation over Ukraine and other flashpoints, including America’s arrogant “pivot to Asia.” As a result many websites are now devoting considerable space to these topics, and some are completely dedicated to it. Our readers are familiar already with a number of them, which we use as sources for our own analyses (in addition to our in-house analysts, working for Russia Desk). At the same time, the Western propaganda machine, which, for starters, comprises practically all the mainstream corporate-owned billionaires’ media—tv, print, Internet, academic-funded, etc.—has spawned and supports a large number of sites operating as more scholarly, “noncommercial”, or independent sources of information.
Leaving aside official state organs of American propaganda like VOA and its progeny, a cursory examination reveals that such sites are frequently tendentious and no more reliable than their counterparts in the MSM.
Below, an annotated list of sites that focus on East/West events, noting their political and editorial colorations and idiosyncrasies. This is not and does not pretend to be an exhaustive compilation; in time more will be added. But it’s a start. Nor do we pretend to be “objective”. Keep in mind that we do not believe in “objective journalism” as understood and supposedly practiced by “Western professional journalists,” only fair and honest journalism, with serious attention to both truth and historical context, a formula consistently mangled and/or ignored by Western information outfits.
In the compilation that follows we assign a grade along common college scales, with A+ signifying maximum credibility/quality. Naturally, few sources are perfect, including our own, nor many are completely rotten (although they do exist). The main criterion is whether the source/website —on balance—endorses and replicates (or not) Western propaganda memes or attempts to present impartial information that contradicts Washington’s “official truths”. We will be revising and adding to this list as time goes by. Readers are welcome to send us their own suggestions and comments.
—P. Greanville, with the assistance of Branford Perry.
| SOURCE | COMMENT | GRADE | |
| Foreign Policy Journal | Lavishly funded, a mostly center/right liberaloid outfit often supporting pro-West/Washington, with occasional articles by strictly centrist liberals. Even then, when push comes to shove FPJ is always to be found in the corner of “US” vs. “Them”—them meaning the Russkies, or the enemy du jour. | D | |
| The Nation | Mainstream liberal/left-liberal voice, with erratic editorial policy. Of late has been moving toward a more decent and truthful position probably due to Russian expert Stephen Cohen‘s salutary influence on Katrina vanden Heuvel, prominent establishmentarian, owner & editor. Cohen married Katrina in 1988. Vanden Heuvel has been involved in Russian affairs for a considerable part of her journalistic career. | C | |
| The Vineyard of the Saker |
Personal, upfront with its pro-Russian dispatches (which we share), this is one of the most comprehensive and reliable sources on Russian/EU/US/NATO and Ukrainian developments. The Saker is supposedly a Russian national and naturalized US citizen with a military analysis background. While The Saker is easily far more dependable, authoritative (being Russian he can wade through Russian texts and sources, not to mention interpret cultural items better than most US or EU journalists) he is not perfect. We disagree with his disparaging of gays and defense of a newly-formulated nationalist form of monarchism, for example. As a muscular antidote to the constant lies disseminated by the empire’s Ministry of Truth, the Saker is invaluable, often making for informative and fascinating reading. At worst, it provides a window onto what “the other side” is really doing or thinking, itself of considerable value. As might be expected The Saker has its growing legion of disparagers. In a recent exchange, someone accused the Saker of not being sufficiently “professional,” too much tinged with nationalism, etc., none of which he denies or hides. A response by reader John Sumner took care of that complaint so efficiently that we reproduce his reply in toto:
John Sumner said in reply to kao_hsien_chih…
You: “…It may be worth a read to gleam what “the other side of the hill” might be thinking and how they are arriving at their conclusions, but not something to be relied on for “real” information value….” “Yes, of course you´re right. “REAL” information should better be obtained by truly objective media like CNN, FOX, BBC, NBC and others. |
A | |
| Paul Craig Roberts | An intelligent, insightful, and often brave analyst of world affairs, PCR is a unique type of counter-establishment critic and powerful “deprogrammer” of all forms of Washingtonian brainwash. His thoughts and opinions are especially valuable because, as a noted onetime establishmentarian and now citizen of the world (he has served in numerous academic and political posts, including in Ronald Reagan’s cabinet and the WSJ editorial roster), PCR carries the righteous authoritativeness of inside knowledge about the beast he excoriates so magnificently. | A | |
| Russia Insider | Russia Insider is a new, well-funded, interesting, and (in our view) still evolving site dedicated to Russia news and analysis. Its main value is apparently its willingness to print a broader selection of viewpoints than those found on the mainstream media, including political satire, but this big plus is marred by its own admission of being politically right of center, and therefore unapologetically pro-capitalism, with all the consequences that that choice entails when the legendary push comes to shove. As editor Charles Bausman, an American expat sums up the mission of Russia Insider:
“This site got started this past summer when a group of expats living in Russia for many years began thinking about what we might do to address a worsening and dangerous problem. The problem is that the western media present an inaccurate, incomplete, and unrealistically negative picture of Russia, and an incorrect narrative of the past 20 years, since the fall of communism. It seems to us that this has led to profound policy mistakes by the US and Europe, confusion and misperception. Russia is a much more appealing, compelling, and complex story than what is being reported. We are private publication, funded by its founders, independent of any governments or institutions. Our core contributors come from business, finance, journalism, academia and diplomacy, and we tend to be slightly right of center, in an American and European context. |
B- | |
| Colonel Cassad | Colonel Cassad, like The Saker, is one of those Russian-manned information sites that distinguish themselves for their forthrightness, a literal breath of fresh air in the by now highly polluted, stifling air of conceited utterly corporatized corridors of Western journalism, filled to the brim with subtle evasions, hypocrisy, and disinformation in the service of its masters. This is great source of news on the Ukrainian conflict, and apparently one of its reasons for being. As the site states on its homepage:This blog is a faithful English translation of  colonelcassad – the awesome Russian blog about the war in Ukraine. This translation is an independent effort and is not affiliated with any of the resources of colonelcassad. The war in Ukraine is the result of an armed insurgency against the fascist regime in Kiev and the regime’s subsequent attempts to suppress it. If you don’t understand why the current regime in Ukraine is fascist, then please read this article first: http://cassad-eng.livejournal.co |
A | |
| Ukraina | |||
| Kyiv Post | Liberaloid at best, the ostensibly independent Kyiv Post is really a patchwork of establishment Western sources on the Ukraine conflict, a fact that condemns this site to be little more than a conduit for Washington’s and EU propaganda as disseminated by AP, Reuters, and the rest of the justifiably suspect American- and Western-owned news-gathering organizations (i.e., Deutsche Welle, a highly insidious operator). Consistent with its mission, the Kyiv Post works hard to support and legitimate the Kyiv regime, as installed by Washington, and to slander Russia and the “separatists” in the new Novorossiya republics. A typical report uses the old, tired accusation that the rebels are (unfairly!) using residential areas to mount their attacks:
DONETSK, Ukraine – A top separatist commander in eastern Ukraine admitted Thursday that rebels have mounted rocket attacks against government troops from within residential areas but says the practice is being halted. |
F | |
| Johnson’s Russia List | As its Wiki entry notes, “JRL’s content includes articles syndicated from other media outlets, as well as comments contributed by its readers. It is supported by the Center for Defense Information, part of the nonprofit World Security Institute.” This makes JRL a mostly left liberal source, with emphasis on the liberal and not the left aspect of its reporting and analysis, which makes JRL, despite its connections to an older set of genuine antiwar / anti-imperialist thinks tanks, something of a slippery customer. Consider this sample, from a lead article in the latest edition (Putin’s Luck Runs Out“) written by Brian Whitmore:“The New York Times’ Andrew Roth called the scrapping of South Stream “a rare diplomatic defeat” for Putin and “a rare victory for the European Union and the Obama administration, which have appeared largely impotent this year as Mr. Putin annexed Crimea and stirred rebellion in eastern Ukraine.”All true. But such a turnaround was also pretty predictable. And we should expect to see more setbacks for the Kremlin in the coming months…”“All true”?! Putin simply “annexing” (read: taking over) Crimea (a model clean balloting for a referendum, by all international observers) and stirring up trouble in East Ukraine”???! WTF. What is this guy Whitmore drinking? This is count is nothing but a grotesque inversion of truth, the world as seen by Washington’s propaganda gnomes which have all along worked to conceal the basic fact that Washington’s meddling started the brawl and later a vicious large scale civil war in Ukraine (which continues) by engineering a cynical coup against an inconvenient head of state (corrupt but legitimate by world standards, and, since when are the Washington oligarchs shocked by corruption?).Said acts were followed by the installation and support of a totally corrupt pro-West plutocrat (Poroshenko), whose regime is openly riddled with Neonazis and is loyally following Pentagon and IMF advice against the interests of his own people and the world at large; the organizing of many false flag incidents (the most notorious the shooting down of MH17 by an Ukrainian military aircraft), in an effort to frame and isolate Russia, and now, still following the Neocon agenda, obstinate military support for an expanded war in the Donbas—unless Moscow decides to sheepishly capitulate and accept its dismemberment at the hands of the governors of the “indispensable nation.” | D |
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