We'll freeze, but we won't forgive!

In the news...rallies against election fraud take place in Moscow.

Snow is on the news in Britain, which is once again paralised by the cold. With its love of talking about the weather, climatic conditions predictably colour the UK media’s treatment of Russia’s anti-election fraud protests, with every commentator pointing out that people are not afraid to leave their homes in minus 20. Indeed, ‘We’ll freeze, but we won’t forgive!’ is one of the many witty slogans seen at the Moscow protests yesterday. But February 4, 2012 was not a day to be proud of being Russian. Defying the consensus of the international community, including the Arab League, Russia and China vetoed the UN resolution that condemns President Bashar Al-Assad’s continued use of force against anti-government protestors. The vote took place on an understandably inconvenient day: thousands of Russians came out to demonstrate against what they consider to be rigged parliamentary elections and to demand a fair representation in the upcoming presidential vote on March 4^th this year.

As was expected, the state Channel 1 opened the February 4^th news bulletin with reports of the pro-Putin rally that took place along the anti-government protests. Well aware of the cynical suggestions voiced by most Western and opposition commentators that the demonstrators were either forced or paid to attend, people were interviewed countering the accusation. Putin himself claimed smilingly that it is impossible to pay 130,000 or 190,000 people to attend. Smug? Yes. But he’s got a point. Despite the fact that the government is becoming increasingly unpopular, it has a wide support base and Russia is genuinely split over Putin’s impeding presidency.

Russia’s liberal media, however, widely report on the non-committal atmosphere at the pro-Putin rally, with confirmed instances of incitements both monetary and alcoholic. Both Novaya Gazeta and Moscow Komsomolets emphasized a solemn attitude in the crowd, with people not paying any attention to the fiery, and at times manic speeches from the stage. Referring to the Ukrainian revolution of 2004, the pro-government journalist Aleksandr Prohanov bellowed: ‘Orange is the colour of piss on the snow!’ People shuffled silently, many of them drinking excessively to fight the -20 degree freeze. ‘Don’t photograph, please, or my pupils will see. This was not my choice’ Novaya Gazeta reports a teacher pleading.

One of Novaya’s leading journalists, Yulia Latinina, has controversially termed the government supporters ‘anchovies’ – marinated in the rich brew of government propaganda, unmoving in their barrels. This comparison is perhaps extreme, but one cannot underestimate the unwillingness of many Russians to demand change, which is potentially disruptive and promises no certain future. After all, few remember the lawless, economically chaotic Wild West years that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union with much affection. But if her claims that most pro-Putin demonstrators were bussed in from outside Moscow are even partially true, it not only shows the government’s determination to misrepresent public opinion on a massive scale, but also demonstrates the mainstream media’s complete abnegation of its journalistic ethos. Hello, Democracy – maybe lunch sometime?

It is impossible to determine the number of protesters at either rally, as the suggested figures say more about the hopes of the sources quoting them rather than the reality. According to the BBC, the official figures number the protesters as low as 23,000, while claiming that it seemed more like the numerous December rally that attracted 120,000. The leading Moscow daily, Kommerstant, quotes the official figures at 33-34,000 for the opposition and 138,000 for Putin’s supporters, while unofficial figures are given at 120,000 and 35,000 – a diametric reversal in numbers. Channel 1 claimed 36,000 for the opposition, while the pro-Putin rally was estimated to draw 138,000. With the 15,000 anticipated, the organisers now face a criminal charge and a fine under the ‘disturbing the peace’ clause – which the prime minister told them on state TV not to worry about, as he is more than willing to chip in. Which, after the last year’s disclosures by Wikileaks which show Putin as the richest man in Europe with personal wealth of $38bn, he can clearly afford.

November 20^th, 2011 marked the first major public outcry against Putin when he was jeered at the ‘no rules’ heavyweight bout at the Olympic sport complex. The whistling and calls for the prime minister to resign were silenced on the state news report, but the video went viral on the internet. In Russia, where the electorate tends to be docile and apolitical, this was a worrying and promising sign. The world wide web is full of unpublishable calls for Putin to go, with websites such as protiv-putina.ru (against-Putin) and putinvotstavku.org (Putin resign) branding 156, 327 and 125,680 signatures respectively. Not an overwhelming number, perhaps, but the sentiment is telling: as Natalya from Pskov writes on protiv-putina.ru, ‘I wish Putin would live on my salary, 4,000 roubles!!!’ At least people were getting paid for protesting in Moscow, another commentator mourns.

Perhaps the bitterest blow to Putin’s image is the protest song by the Russian Union of the Airborne forces – an elite part of the military. Desantniki, as they are called in Russia, representing the veterans committee of the Airborne services, have in their own words become outraged by the lies and corruption of the government, saying that the ‘boys can’t take it anymore’. ‘Look us in the eye and close your mandate’ they sing. ‘You are just like me, a man, not a god, I am just like you, a man and not a fool’ is a line the prime minister hardly wants to hear. Especially given his projection of his tough man image – riding on horse back bare-chested, flying destroyers and attempting to bend an iron frying pan with his bare hands, this snub by the toughest military regiment in the Russian army, watched by hundreds of thousands on YouTube and receiving massive cheers from the protest crowd, is an indicator of just how deeply people’s disillusionment with the government has spread.

But the state media would not be state media if it did not try to brush over and under the carpet any visible inconvenience. In an unveiled attempt to both counter the protesters’ accusations and discredit the anti-Putin presence on the internet, the head of the investigative committee announced in a public statement on February 4^th that the ministry of internal affairs had conducted an investigation into the videos showing blatant proof of ballot stuffing abundant on YouTube and concluded that these videos carry ‘traces of editing’ and all originate from one server in the United States. The ministry is now determined to locate the producers of these libellous materials. One has to give credit to Channel 1 for admitting that YouTube offices, responsible for publishing the content, are located in California, thus explaining their US origin. But still. One only has to remember Putin’s bizarre statement that Hilary Clinton was largely responsible for inciting election protests in December to wonder just how many complete idiots the Russian government thinks make up its electorate.

If he is worried, however, Putin’s inscrutable face, made ever more enigmatic by botox, gives little away. ‘I don’t think he cares about what people think of him in the West’ his spokesman Dmitri Peskov has told the New Yorker. ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune.’ These cynical words describe the current political climate in Russia more eloquently than any lengthy political analysis. Russia’s position on democracy is clearly stated in Vitaly Churkin’s speech at the UN, where he claimed that ‘many influential members of the international community…undermined attempts at a political solution, calling for regime change, setting the opposition on the government, unashamedly provoking and fuelling armed resistance’. What in the words of William Hague ‘marked an hour of shame’, claiming more than 5,000 Syrian lives to date, Russia views as hypocritical pressure on the Assad regime. Understandably nervous about the Arab Spring, the Russian government’s attitude to civil disobedience is not promising for the protesters. His public snub of the white ribbons worn by the opposition as ‘unwrapped condoms’ is a shocking disrespect of his own people, who are tired of living in a country of outlandish corruption, repression and election fraud. One can only hope that the people, like the elderly lady who came wearing three layers of newspapers wrapped around her feet to protect her from the cold, will not give up any time soon.

Happy Anniwarsary

In the news...ten years since the start of the Second Chechen campaign, ten years since Putin's coming to power, one year since the Georgia-Russia war over South Ossetia.

August is a heated month in Russia. What the northern country lacks in temperature is more than compensated for by its political climate. This year, Russia is marking some major anniversaries - some more widely advertised than others. On August 7, 1999 the Islamist rebels from Chechnya invaded the neighbouring republic of Dagestan, thereby triggering the beginning of the Second Chechen War and Russia’s continuing streak of human rights abuses in the Caucuses. Vladimir Putin has been named Deputy Prime Minister on August 16, 1999, to be carried forward to the Presidency on the wings of his hard-line policies and the couter-terrorist operation in the breakaway region. Rearing popular support through military bravado has been the Russian government’s steady bet for the past decade. The new President-heir Dmitri Medvedev clearly needed a sprinkle of patriotic heroism for his halo. Thus, on August 8, Russian state media has launched a magnificent propaganda campaign to commemorate last year’s war with Georgia over the contested region of South Ossetia.

Well, less of a war and more of a squabble, rather. Russia has been at odds with the Georgian government ever since the coming to power of the Harvard-educated and NATO-ambitious Mikhail Saakashvili in 2004, who deposed a pro-Russian ex-KGB Eduard Shevardnadze as the result of the so-called Rose Revolution. After four years of stepping on each other’s toes (see below), the Big Bear and its unfortunate neighbour finally came to blows on August 7, 2008. Or August 8, depending on whom you choose to believe. When trying to place blame for some 400 civilian deaths you also have to pick sides, as both Russia and Georgia plead self-defence. As Georgia symbolically picked the first day of the Beijing Olympics in its bid to portray Russia as an aggressor, so Moscow decided that 08.08.08 would look prettier when people will be lighting church candles in the streets a year later.

In the midst of this war-branding process, no one bothered to ask what colour flag South Ossetia wants to be waving. Well, they sort of did. In the 1991, South Ossetia - a small Georgian enclave of about 100,000 inhabitants - declared its independence. No one paid it any attention. Russia was too busy trying to prevent its own dissipation into a million little pieces after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The rest of the world had its nose deep in the Helsinki Accords. So the 1992 and the 2006 internationally monitored referenda - where some 99% of the South Ossetians expressed their desire to belong to Russia - went largely unnoticed. Until recently, when Russia decided to flex some political muscle and show Georgia that flirting with other super-powers like America is hurting Russia’s romantic notions of the Caucuses. Who started shooting first is to be determined by the EU committee, hopefully by September. The report, originally planned to appear in July, was postponed; the world is still not sure who to blame. So the media field is still fair game both for Moscow and Tbilisi. And a year on, the information war is hot as ever.

In the week leading up to the anniversary, Russian state media started reminding its viewers of the Georgian aggression. War ‘trophies’ in the form of military documentation intercepted from the Georgian side were widely cited, proving preparation and intent. First-ever broadcast from the Russian military base in South Ossetia was aired, showing armour glistening in the summer sun. On August 6th, Russia announced tightening of security on the Georgian-South Ossetian 'border', and once again tanks were rolling through the greenery. On 08.08.08 Channel One offered a wide selection of patriotic delicacies. A television series about the special forces fighting Russia’s numerous enemies was being aired as a double bill. Later on, a film about a brave Russian journalist who risks her life trying to prove to the world that Georgia, and not Russia, started the 2008 war, is scheduled. There is also a concert of the army’s favourite rock band. Just to set the mood.

Actual propaganda comes in the shape of two documentaries - ‘Tsekhenvali: a life without war’ and ‘07.08.08’ dedicated to the Western media’s outright prejudice in favour of Georgia at the outbreak of the conflict. Controversial images from CNN, showing the destruction of the South Ossetian capital Tskhenvali but claiming it was the Georgian town of Gori, were shown over and over again. A mistake suggesting that there are usually two sides to a war - a fact that Channel One seemed to have neglected somewhat. The Tskhevali film showed crying mothers and children reminiscing about the horrors of Georgian mortar fire. Awful, no doubt. But the authors of the ‘documentary’ failed to walk across the border to Gori, which saw heavy attacks by the Russian air force. It was a rich dish of human suffering, served with a hefty side of arrogant bias.

Georgia seemed to have ceased to exist on the Russian demagogic map that day. The Channel One news opened with the statement that Moscow, Tskhenvali and ‘the rest of the world’ are commemorating the year since Georgian aggression. Not Tbilisi, mind you. Standing ovations for President Medvedev from his July visit to the South Ossetian capital were repeated. A poster declaring ‘Thank you, Russia!’ was displayed in the centre of Tskhenvali. It was suggested that Russia’s President will visit the capital again. However, he only made it to Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia. There, he addressed soldiers and doctors who took part in the conflict, thanking his fighting comrades for saving innocent lives. Somewhat over-stated, since the President did not even have the balls to go to South Ossetia proper. The same balls by which Vladimir Putin promised to hang Mikhail Saakashvili only a year ago.

If you were curious about how Georgia was dealing with the consequences of the war, you had to go do your own research. The ‘rest of the world’ seemed to pay little attention to the date; the anniversary failed to make any headlines in the Western media. Neither President Saakashvili nor the Georgian press were too vociferous about Russian aggression. Perhaps, realising that the world adoration has shifted, Tbilisi curbed its rhetoric of Russian aggression. Still, with not-so-mild innuendo, the main street in Tbilisi was closed down for a photo-exhibition dedicated to the years of Soviet oppression, specifically the Spring of 1989 when Russian troops suppressed the anti-communist protests. Church bells rang and candles were lit all over the country to remember the dead. The dead neither Russia nor South Ossetia bothered to acknowledge.

Just like the 30,000 ethnic Georgians that are still displaced by the war. South Ossetian ethnic cleansing, that saw some 25,000 Georgians expelled from the border regions, is not getting a great deal of press coverage. However, these people are out there, living in makeshift housing provided by the Georgian government, on as little as $3 a day, according to Amnesty International. Official reports say that 70% of Tskhenvali was destroyed. Although the city saw some of the heaviest fighting, the statistic gives an indication of what damages the Georgian side has suffered. With the propaganda campaign in high-season, Russian promises of aid and reconstruction are echoing over South Ossetia. Distant echoes, that have no walls to bounce off yet.

In August 2008, Russia clearly lost the information war. But in the past year, Saakashvili’s oppression of the Georgian liberal opposition, the fabrications of the Georgian state media and empty accusations of Russian provocations - as well as military documentation - have toppled him off the victim’s pedestal. You would think that Russia could have shrugged that misunderstanding off. But its national pride hurt, and its image of a world super-power under strain, it has debased itself to Orwellian-style propaganda. It seems now that it is not as important to place blame for the events of August 2008 as it is to rise above politics and acknowledge the human tragedy of the five-day war. Alas. Having painted President Medvedev in victorious colours, there is a strong chance that Russia is going to neglect not only the Georgian people, but the South Ossetian pawns of the Moscow propaganda machine as well.

Going once, going twice

In the news...North Korea tests nuclear weapons.

On Monday, if you turned on the news, you probably felt like the end of the world was yet again a step closer. Two steps, if you were in Japan or South Korea. The weekend drowsiness blew away like a cloud with the announcement of the North Korea’s nuclear test, closely following the launch of DRNK’s first ballistic missile in April. Just when you thought you were becoming an expert on Iran’s nuclear cookery.

With the Middle East and South East Asia being prioritised in today’s political climate, it is not difficult to forget about North Korea. The last surviving communist state with a Stalinist flavour, North Korea is a small area on the world map covered in rice paddies and green hills. It is heavily overshadowed by the West’s arch-enemies from the Cold War era - Russia and China. When you expect bad news, you probably don’t immediately think it’ll be coming from the depths of the Korean marshes, on the edge of reason.

Most of the information circulating about the state of the North Korean affairs seems to be conjecture, if not high-brow mockery. Behind the iron curtain for the not-so-wealthy - the barb-wire fence - The Dear Leader and his country remain somewhat of a mystery to the rest of the world. Russian state media is sometimes allowed to film at Communist Party rallies and other social state-controlled events as a favour for its big brother status left over from the good old days. But apart from pictures of inspired youths in uniforms reciting government propaganda in flawless Russian, very little substantial knowledge is obtained. And up until October 2006, when DRNK claims to have conducted its first nuclear test, no one has been all that curious.

In 1994, the Clinton administration considered strategic strikes against North Korea, but retracted after the promises of the Eternal Dear Leader Kim Il Sung to shut down the Yongbyon reactor. When Kim Joll Il, son of the founding-father and current leader of North Korea, restarted the nuclear development, the Bush administration has cut down it’s humanitarian aid programme and was rebuked by the world community for using food as a weapon. Again, Pyongyang promised to de-nuclearise, but instead doubled its efforts in 2006. Now, President Obama cannot decide what ultimatum to present to the ‘axis of evil’. The North is probably going to offer shutting Yongbyon, again.

In 2006, when three strategic missiles hit Russian territorial waters in Nahodka Sea, not far from where President Putin was visiting a military base, Russian anti-missile systems missed them. Embarrassing? The Americans alerted them. Russia is really much closer to the potential threat than anyone would like to think. Experts claim that in the case of a nuclear explosion, the Russian port of Vladivostok, in Siberia, would be covered by fallout within two hours. And still, no one seems to be taking the situation seriously. The news of the nuclear test did not even make the news headlines on the state channel.

Russia has all the more reasons to be embarrassed. It is a well-known secret that the reason why North Korea even has a nuclear programme. There are nuclear black market reports tracing North Korean nuclear gear to Lybia. Which is not that far from Iran, whose attempts to enrich uranium have had Russia’s support, despite international condemnation.

And of course there are the personal ties with Kim. Take alone his nationally televised trip in a bulletproof train around Russia not that long ago. Moscow was so proud to have him stop by. Pictures of the waving un-smiling Dear Leader took over the networks for days.

Many experts claim that North Korea is not really a threat. Western scientists seriously doubt its resources for a nuclear weapon. And even if that was achieved, North Korea still does not have a warhead capable of carrying a nuclear bomb. Or so they think. The trick here is that no one rally knows. Maybe not even Mr. Kim. His erratic behaviour following an alleged stroke and disappearance from public life last year, suggests that a large part of the nuclear threat might be in his head. But this is probably wishful thinking on our part.

Still, with the world’s fifth largest army - 1.2 million active, oppressed, hungry soldiers and a desperation so deep that losing their lives might seem a small price to pay, North Korea is not a neighbour one would wish for. With Japan’s tragic history of nuclear power, it is probably not comforting to think that North and South Korea are still technically at war; and that Russia and Japan also do not have a World War II peace settlement.

While the North is making statements about its readiness for military action, all that the South seems to do is burn banners with the UN Security Council sanctions written across. It is indeed getting hot at the UN, where talks are held to determine the course of action. With Russia and China opposing further sanctions in fear of causing a complete collapse of the state of North Korea, Japan and South Korea would probably like, but not dare to suggest, direct military action. And in Washington, President Obama is answering these phone calls on the proverbial telephone, that may or may not ring at 3 a.m. Good luck, world. 

The Day of Pigs

In the news...a deadly virus is going to kill us all.

We are all going to die. Again.

Over our bacon and eggs, as we nonchalantly shrugged off familiar echoes of global recession and renegade communist leaders shooting rockets into the sky above us, the sound of poor people dying in a poor country hardly made anyone wink. But then something started leaking west-ward (non-geographically speaking), and we perked our ears.

CNN opened the news sequence with the headline: Swine Flu Outbreak. Ok. A picture of a scared-looking little girl in a face-mask, her big brown eyes looking into the camera hangs as a solemn retribution on the studio screen. Another poster-child for disaster. And now, from the creators of the chilling The End of the World II, comes a brilliant new sequel... The pretty anchor looks on compassionately as people reports hurry in about people in New Zealand preparing to stock up not only on surgical masks, but also food and matches. As the queues outside clinics and departure desks in Mexico grow longer, we go live to London Heathrow, where the authorities are getting ready for the Second Coming. It is a grim day, wind slapping torrential rain over the face of a dainty blonde reporter in a long coat and gloves. It is almost May. Somehow we immediately doubt the tropical virus’ chances of survival here. Maybe that’s why the BBC World News are keeping so cool.

But while we go live to London, where soft-spoken university professors are reassuring us that it is too early to worry, and it is still a few days before we see Barack Obama talking about the importance of washing your hands and sneezing into your arm, the Russians don’t seem much bothered. The headline on Monday Channel One News is...the Russian patrol ship has captured one pirate vessel off the Somali coast. Well, such was Russia’s response to the marauding crisis in the African waters about a month ago; it’s reassuring to know the idea was not completely ridiculous. After all, what is the use of just one ship? Bite that, skeptics.

Not that Russia ignored the subject completely. The day when the first cases have migrated to Europe, the state channel raised the question of Russian citizens reconsidering their May-day trips to Spain and France, with over 30% of all purchased tours having been cancelled. You can’t but smile at the idea of the swarms of freshly-baked non-communists spending the most socialist of all holidays at European resorts. Spring in Paris. Indeed, so much has changed. And Gorbachev is still not getting much credit. But overall, the Russian response to the looming pandemic has been rather lukewarm as second-rate news. This coming from a peoples who disconnected two train-cars and held up an entire line of railroad last month when an Asian-looking woman exhibited flu-like symptoms on a train to Moscow. Yes, apparently no one listens to the news.

Today is Saturday, and the western media is still opening with the news from Mexico. A grotesque 300, 000 pigs are reported to await slaughter in Cairo. All of a sudden, the authorities are not happy with the idea of down-town farms run on garbage waste. Well, better late than never. Sorry for the pigs. Especially since it is not even called ‘swine flu’ anymore. Yes, if you didn’t know that, you haven’t been listening, just like the Russians. Tut-tut. Reports say that the name has been changed to ‘novel flu’ (and some, less politically-correct places, ‘Mexican flu’) to avoid panic and ensure that people still bought completely safe pork. Or perhaps, as the idea of a pandemic spread across our consciousness, someone suggested that it would seem a lot nobler if millions of people died of the ‘novel flu’. Even if they died like pigs.