Georgia/Russia
- Thread starter Genius Gone Insane
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Will Russia Give the Boot to CNN?
Yasha Levine
The Exiled
September 10, 2008
You probably didnt know that CNN censored Putin for being just too darn sensible. Yep, its true. About two weeks ago, Putin gave the network an exclusive 30-minute interview. And you know what happened? Nothing. It was never allowed to air. CNN doesnt know it yet, but that decision might have cost them their Russian broadcasting rights.
CNN deleted Putins historical roundup of relations between Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia going back to the 18th century.
On August 29, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with senior political correspondent Matthew Chance for a CNN exclusive interview. This was unprecedented access to Russias powerful prime minister, the former KGB spy now increasingly at odds with Washington, an overly dramatic voice-over introduced the segment as Chance and Putin enjoyed pre-game banter and a walk through the courtyard of Putins palatial Sochi residence. Once seated, Chance didnt waste any time with his provocative questions:
Matthew Chance: But its been no secret either that for years youve been urging the West to take more seriously Russias concerns about international issues. For instance, about NATOs expansion, about deployment of missile defense systems in eastern Europe. Wasnt this conflict a way of demonstrating that in this region, its Russia thats the power, not NATO and certainly not the United States?
Vladimir Putin: Of course not. What is more, we did not seek such conflicts and do not want them in the future.
That this conflict has taken placethat it broke out neverthelessis only due to the fact that no one had heeded our concerns.
I think both you and yourourviewers today will be interested to learn a little more about the history of relations between the peoples and ethnic groups in this regions of the world. Because people know little or nothing about it.
If you think that this is unimportant, you may cut it from the program. Dont hesitate, I wouldnt mind.
It was a prescient comment. Not only did CNN delete Putins historical roundup of relations between Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia going back to the 18th century that followed, the network cut out almost everything else as well. Despite the unprecedented access hook, for its U.S. feed, CNN reduced the 30-minute interview into a series of sound bites that seized and ridiculed Putins crackpot theory that the Republican party started the war to boost McCains ratings. CNNs international audience, enjoying the news from hotel rooms all round the world, got to see a little more of the the footage. But most of it had to do with Russias ridiculous non political decision to ban some American poultry importers from doing business with Russia because of their poor quality control standards. CNNs intentions were clear: Putin must come off looking like a fool. And it seemed Putin gave them the perfect material. Embargoes on dead chickens and global neocon conspiracies? Gosh, what serious self-respecting world leader would start talking this kind of gibberish? Even Ahmadinejad doesnt sink that low. Well, the chicken meat embargo might have been a little weak, but the neocon conspiracy Im not so sure about. But more on that later. (You can see the heavily edited interview clips on CNN website, but the network never made the full version available. But you can see it on Russian TV.)
Not surprisingly, this didnt go down none too good with the Prime Minister. See, as it turns out, when Putin told CNN he wouldnt mind if they cut some of his comments, he wasnt exactly being honest. Not only did he mind, but he was sovereignly pissed off to find the entire interview censored. After all, he is the one that usually does the censoring. And its not like he gives out TV interviews every month, or even every year. If Im not mistaken, the last interview Putin gave to American TV was waaaay back in 2000, when he was on Larry King Live making crude comments about the sinking of the Kursk submarine.
And then theres the issue of Saakashvilis CNN time. Just in the past month, Saakashvili has appeared a dozen times on the network giving interviews averaging 5 to 10 minutes each. As CNN correctly pointed out, Putin is a former KGB spy, so he knows all the details, down to the nearest second. And thats exactly why hes taken it as a personal insult from CNNs headquarters (and probably more proof of an international media/government conspiracy against him). But he just might have the last word.
The word on the street here is Putin is out for blood. Its payback time. According to a source with high-level government connections, the Russians are planning punitive actions against CNN. At this point, it is just a rumor, but they are preparing to kick out about half of the half-dozen Western journalists working at CNNs Moscow bureau. Sooner or later theyre going to have to apply for a visa renewal and thats when its gonna go down. Theyll be denied, clean and quiet like. We can only pray that the tool Matthew Chance is up for a new visa soon.
Matthew Chance: the soon-to-be-jobless hack.
Matthew Chance.
So why did CNN decide to cut the interview? The thing is, Putin came off pretty darn well. Sure, the chicken embargo was embarrassing, but the McCain/neocon conspiracy theory wasnt as crazy as some would want you to believe. Gary Brecher has been saying all along that this little war had the mark of a half-baked neocon plan for world domination. As Gary says, Georgias move makes no sense at all from a Georgian perspective. Somebody must have told those idiots theyd be safe to retake South Ossetia. And who better than Cheney?
In general, Putin was able to strike an unusually sympathetic chord during the interview. It sure wasnt anything like the grotesque interview he gave eight years ago, where he made that cruel it sank Kursk joke. This time around, he was level headed, reasonable and, most importantly, very convincing and believablenot what youd expect from the evil Stalin/Hitler hybrid personality being pushed on the American public. And that worried the hell out of CNN editorial staff, enough to make them crudely censor the entire thing and hope no one noticed.
So, what parts of Putin did CNN leave on the cutting room floor?
Putin the anti-Stalinist:
Therefore, those who insist that those territories must continue to belong to Georgia are Stalinists: They defend the decision of Josef Vissarionovich Stalin. [It was Stalin who first split up Ossetia and gave the southern half to Georgia.]
Putin the caring:
For us, it is a special tragedy, because during the many years that we were living together the Georgian culturethe Georgian people being a nation of ancient culture became, without a doubt, a part of the multinational culture of Russia .[C]onsidering the fact that almost a million, even more than a million Georgians have moved here, we have special spiritual links with that country and its people. For us, this is a special tragedy.
Putin the peaceful:
You and I are sitting here now, having a quiet conversation in the city of Sochi. Within a few hundred kilometers from here, U.S. Navy ships have approached, carrying missiles whose range is precisely several hundred kilometers. It is not our ships that have approached your shores; its your ships that have approached ours. So whats our choice?
We dont want any complications; we dont want to quarrel with anyone; we dont want to fight anyone. We want normal cooperation and a respectful attitude toward us and our interests. Is that too much?
Putin the conscientious business man:
Construction of the first gas pipeline system was started during the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, and for all those years, from the 1960s until this day, Russia has been fulfilling its contract obligations in a very consistent and reliable way, regardless of the political situation.
We never politicize economic relations, and we are quite astonished at the position of some U.S. administration officials who travel to European capitals trying to persuade the Europeans not to buy our products, natural gas for example, in a truly amazing effort to politicize the economic sphere. In fact, its quite pernicious.
Its true that the Europeans depend on our supplies but we too depend on whoever buys our gas. Thats interdependence; thats precisely the guarantee of stability.
Yasha Levine
The Exiled
September 10, 2008
You probably didnt know that CNN censored Putin for being just too darn sensible. Yep, its true. About two weeks ago, Putin gave the network an exclusive 30-minute interview. And you know what happened? Nothing. It was never allowed to air. CNN doesnt know it yet, but that decision might have cost them their Russian broadcasting rights.
CNN deleted Putins historical roundup of relations between Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia going back to the 18th century.
On August 29, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with senior political correspondent Matthew Chance for a CNN exclusive interview. This was unprecedented access to Russias powerful prime minister, the former KGB spy now increasingly at odds with Washington, an overly dramatic voice-over introduced the segment as Chance and Putin enjoyed pre-game banter and a walk through the courtyard of Putins palatial Sochi residence. Once seated, Chance didnt waste any time with his provocative questions:
Matthew Chance: But its been no secret either that for years youve been urging the West to take more seriously Russias concerns about international issues. For instance, about NATOs expansion, about deployment of missile defense systems in eastern Europe. Wasnt this conflict a way of demonstrating that in this region, its Russia thats the power, not NATO and certainly not the United States?
Vladimir Putin: Of course not. What is more, we did not seek such conflicts and do not want them in the future.
That this conflict has taken placethat it broke out neverthelessis only due to the fact that no one had heeded our concerns.
I think both you and yourourviewers today will be interested to learn a little more about the history of relations between the peoples and ethnic groups in this regions of the world. Because people know little or nothing about it.
If you think that this is unimportant, you may cut it from the program. Dont hesitate, I wouldnt mind.
It was a prescient comment. Not only did CNN delete Putins historical roundup of relations between Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia going back to the 18th century that followed, the network cut out almost everything else as well. Despite the unprecedented access hook, for its U.S. feed, CNN reduced the 30-minute interview into a series of sound bites that seized and ridiculed Putins crackpot theory that the Republican party started the war to boost McCains ratings. CNNs international audience, enjoying the news from hotel rooms all round the world, got to see a little more of the the footage. But most of it had to do with Russias ridiculous non political decision to ban some American poultry importers from doing business with Russia because of their poor quality control standards. CNNs intentions were clear: Putin must come off looking like a fool. And it seemed Putin gave them the perfect material. Embargoes on dead chickens and global neocon conspiracies? Gosh, what serious self-respecting world leader would start talking this kind of gibberish? Even Ahmadinejad doesnt sink that low. Well, the chicken meat embargo might have been a little weak, but the neocon conspiracy Im not so sure about. But more on that later. (You can see the heavily edited interview clips on CNN website, but the network never made the full version available. But you can see it on Russian TV.)
Not surprisingly, this didnt go down none too good with the Prime Minister. See, as it turns out, when Putin told CNN he wouldnt mind if they cut some of his comments, he wasnt exactly being honest. Not only did he mind, but he was sovereignly pissed off to find the entire interview censored. After all, he is the one that usually does the censoring. And its not like he gives out TV interviews every month, or even every year. If Im not mistaken, the last interview Putin gave to American TV was waaaay back in 2000, when he was on Larry King Live making crude comments about the sinking of the Kursk submarine.
And then theres the issue of Saakashvilis CNN time. Just in the past month, Saakashvili has appeared a dozen times on the network giving interviews averaging 5 to 10 minutes each. As CNN correctly pointed out, Putin is a former KGB spy, so he knows all the details, down to the nearest second. And thats exactly why hes taken it as a personal insult from CNNs headquarters (and probably more proof of an international media/government conspiracy against him). But he just might have the last word.
The word on the street here is Putin is out for blood. Its payback time. According to a source with high-level government connections, the Russians are planning punitive actions against CNN. At this point, it is just a rumor, but they are preparing to kick out about half of the half-dozen Western journalists working at CNNs Moscow bureau. Sooner or later theyre going to have to apply for a visa renewal and thats when its gonna go down. Theyll be denied, clean and quiet like. We can only pray that the tool Matthew Chance is up for a new visa soon.
Matthew Chance: the soon-to-be-jobless hack.
Matthew Chance.
So why did CNN decide to cut the interview? The thing is, Putin came off pretty darn well. Sure, the chicken embargo was embarrassing, but the McCain/neocon conspiracy theory wasnt as crazy as some would want you to believe. Gary Brecher has been saying all along that this little war had the mark of a half-baked neocon plan for world domination. As Gary says, Georgias move makes no sense at all from a Georgian perspective. Somebody must have told those idiots theyd be safe to retake South Ossetia. And who better than Cheney?
In general, Putin was able to strike an unusually sympathetic chord during the interview. It sure wasnt anything like the grotesque interview he gave eight years ago, where he made that cruel it sank Kursk joke. This time around, he was level headed, reasonable and, most importantly, very convincing and believablenot what youd expect from the evil Stalin/Hitler hybrid personality being pushed on the American public. And that worried the hell out of CNN editorial staff, enough to make them crudely censor the entire thing and hope no one noticed.
So, what parts of Putin did CNN leave on the cutting room floor?
Putin the anti-Stalinist:
Therefore, those who insist that those territories must continue to belong to Georgia are Stalinists: They defend the decision of Josef Vissarionovich Stalin. [It was Stalin who first split up Ossetia and gave the southern half to Georgia.]
Putin the caring:
For us, it is a special tragedy, because during the many years that we were living together the Georgian culturethe Georgian people being a nation of ancient culture became, without a doubt, a part of the multinational culture of Russia .[C]onsidering the fact that almost a million, even more than a million Georgians have moved here, we have special spiritual links with that country and its people. For us, this is a special tragedy.
Putin the peaceful:
You and I are sitting here now, having a quiet conversation in the city of Sochi. Within a few hundred kilometers from here, U.S. Navy ships have approached, carrying missiles whose range is precisely several hundred kilometers. It is not our ships that have approached your shores; its your ships that have approached ours. So whats our choice?
We dont want any complications; we dont want to quarrel with anyone; we dont want to fight anyone. We want normal cooperation and a respectful attitude toward us and our interests. Is that too much?
Putin the conscientious business man:
Construction of the first gas pipeline system was started during the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, and for all those years, from the 1960s until this day, Russia has been fulfilling its contract obligations in a very consistent and reliable way, regardless of the political situation.
We never politicize economic relations, and we are quite astonished at the position of some U.S. administration officials who travel to European capitals trying to persuade the Europeans not to buy our products, natural gas for example, in a truly amazing effort to politicize the economic sphere. In fact, its quite pernicious.
Its true that the Europeans depend on our supplies but we too depend on whoever buys our gas. Thats interdependence; thats precisely the guarantee of stability.
grywolf627
Member
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