Creative News Reporting

Last night a Georgian news channel reported a hoax on Russia's military invasion of the country under the disguise of news. Only at the end of a 30-min program was it announced that it had been actually a "possible scenario of the events." I suppose, due to his old age, Senator McCain was asleep and did not manage to make a timely announcement that we are "all Georgians now," which - of course - prevented him from looking like an idiot yet again. One time more, one time less would not make that big of a difference, though.

Our newscasts which have been feeding us tales of the economic recovery - lacking the disclosure of a prank at the end - are not that far from such a hoax, yet have not stooped this low so far. (Maybe not all of us are Georgians? Just a thought.) This is an interesting idea for creative journalism, though. Just imagine if at the end of a segment on how great the latest improvements in hiring and manufacturing are our anchors would honestly say, "Just kidding!"

Seriously, I so much liked this postmodernist approach to news reporting, I am placing here the complete text of the event from msnbc.com named "Georgia invaded? Hoax report causes panic
Residents mad at TV station over broadcast of advancing Russian tanks":

"TBILISI - Panic gripped Georgia on Saturday when a pro-government television station broadcast a fake report that Russian tanks had entered the capital and President Mikhail Saakashvili had been killed.


Imedi TV introduced the report as an "imitation of possible events," but the warning was lost on many viewers as mobile phone networks crashed and residents of Tbilisi rushed into the streets.
The report thrust the ex-Soviet neighbors back to August 2008, when Russia crushed an assault by U.S. ally Georgia on the rebel region of South Ossetia in a five-day war and sent tanks to within 28 miles of Tbilisi.


The Georgian Interior Ministry said the report, which did not carry a banner saying it was a hoax, caused "great panic." A cinema in Tbilisi emptied as parents called their children home, a frantic filmgoer said.

Russian Interfax news agency flashed the report on the "alleged" but unconfirmed entry of Russian tanks and death of Saakashvili, and Moscow's Echo Moskvy radio station interrupted its regular programming with the "news."

'Worst day in Georgian history'
Using archive pictures from the 2008 war, Imedi showed advancing Russian tanks.

Switching to a live talk show, the anchor apologized for any panic the report had caused, saying: "We just wanted to show what the worst day in Georgian history might look like."

The report was a barely disguised swipe at opponents of Saakashvili who recently met Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow and called for the countries to restore ties.

Georgy Arveladze, head of Georgia Media Production Holding which owns Imedi, told Reuters the aim was to show the "real threat" of how events might unfold.

Dozens of angry Georgians converged on Imedi, where opposition politician Nino Burjanadze told reporters the stunt was "disgusting."

A Dubious Honor

John McCain was just awarded an Order of the National Hero of Georgia by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili for his heroic support of the Georgian military campaign against the sleeping citizens of South Ossetia in August of 2008.

So now our esteemed Senator is a hero of the country which still has multiple public displays of large portraits and statues of Stalin, which recently blew up the only WWII memorial in the city of Kutaisi to fallen soldiers fighting against the Nazi, and which recruited young people into its Army by using inspirational quotes from Adolf Hitler. A well deserved honor!

Statue of Stalin in front of the Gori Town Hall, Georgia

Congratulations, senator McCain! You are a true Georgian now!

Georgian Department of Defence Quotes Adolf Hitler on TV as an Inspiration

Some of my readers may find it interesting that in the days prior to its attack on South Ossetia in August of 2008, Georgian Department of Defence had quoted Adolf Hitler in its army recruitment video clip which you can watch here or below:



The clip was removed after their utter defeat in this shameful campaign, but it resurfaced on the Internet sites since the recent demolition of the only World War II memorial in the city of Kutaissi, Georgia. Americans may want to know that the official Georgia erases memories of victories over Nazism, while at the same time quoting the great Nazi leader as an inspiration for its army recruits.

Some friends Senator McCain has!

Tell Me Who Your Friend is

The USA is squarely on the side of the "young Georgian democracy" in its conflicts with Russia. Here is what I - surprise, surprise! - do not see reported in our American propaganda - eh-h-h - news. The democratic republic of Georgia decided to blow up a WWII memorial. Let me remind you that the Soviet Union was the decisive force in the victory over the Nazi Germany having lost 27 million lives of its own citizens. Among those killed were 300,000 Georgians. Not to worry. The monument was to be demolished to make way for the construction of the new Georgian parliament building (curiously being moved outside of the Georgian capital Tbilisi). Mr. Saakashvili timed the demolition so that it would coincide with his birthday on December 21 (incidentally, that day is also the birthday of another famous Georgian, Stalin). Georgian opposition voiced their protests against the demolition which were, naturally, ignored in the best traditions of the Georgian democracy. Anyway, the blast was eventually held 2 days ahead of the schedule for reasons unexplained to the press. During the explosion a woman and her 8-year-old daughter were killed by a piece of debris which accidentally hit them.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Saakashvili! Hope you get a particularly tasteful tie as a present.

Great friends we have, really! Blowing up monuments to people who defeated fascism (blowing up their own citizens as a collateral damage, too). Huge portraits of Stalin can still be seen on the streets of Georgian cities. What do friendships like that say about us? Oh, wait. I remember that at some point Osama bin Laden was our friend. Never mind!

The news has been reported by Reuters, and some other Western media - but not the US. Oh, no, not the US. We do not report unpleasant news about our dear friends. We are all Georgians here, remember? Count me out.

The Year of My Discontent

I have been wondering why I am so at odds with the world around me lately. Why am I so upset by the realities around me? Why do I feel so disappointed in this country, so betrayed by it? After all, it is not even truly my country to begin with. What do I care if it turned out to be sold out to special interests, and that it lacks freedom of speech, and offers propaganda in place of the news, and substitutes moral values with money and religion?

This is not simply a mid-life crisis, although I concede that my sentiments may be particularly painful because of that, too. I realized after a while that what I am living through is the fall of my belief system, of a certain ideal I had in my mind, a crisis of consciousness. Many people experienced the same in Russia with the advent of perestroika which all of a sudden made it clear that people who had been glamorized throughout the history of the Soviet State were some of the worst and most savage criminals in history, that the society's value system was all based on a myth, that the very idea on which the country was built was stripped of its worth, flogged and spat at in front of our eyes. As a result, a huge void formed in the Russian society in the place where the soviet value system once stood. And that system was an exact equivalent of a religion with its iconostasis, Lives of the Saints, its own Bible and the religious texts. The iconoclasm of the 1990's did not bring in new values to the society, and the gaping hole is being filled with a mix of Orthodox Christianity, cynicism, cult of money and material success, and the emerging nationalism.

Anyway, I did not live through a crisis of consciousness back then because I was raised in an anti-communist household. It was clandestine anti-communism, and I knew from the early age not to repeat elsewhere what I heard at home. My Dad grew up in a village in the Russian North where many political exiles were sent to live. While growing up, he heard them tell stories about Stalin's atrocities, he imbibed the atmosphere critical of the current regime and its ideology. And he generously shared it with me. So I definitely did not partake of the culture of communist brainwashing, and thus the crash of that culture did not affect me as anything but liberation.

What I did believe in were the ideals of a free world. Of capitalist entrepreneurship, reward for hard work, talent, persistence. Freedom of speech, freedom of beliefs. Justice free from ideology. I thought that America was the country that lived and breathed those ideals. We came here in good faith, we worked hard, and without any public assistance ever we made a very good living for ourselves. I did not pay much attention to George Bush the 1st - we were too busy building our life in America back then. I was horrified and disgusted by the immoral rule of Bill Clinton with an orgy of materialistic excesses and consumerism we saw around us. The fact that the sleazy Bill could get away with anything did not sit well with us. We voted for George Bush both times thinking that his Republican ideas will usher in the era of personal responsibility, human decency, hard work. Instead he busied himself with enriching a few people at the top and completely pillaging the country destroying its manufacturing base, unleashing unnecessary wars under false pretenses and brainwashing, brainwashing, brainwashing us.

And then as a final blow and an eye-opener came Georgia. That is Georgian attack on Ossetia which historically has never been a part of Georgia as a country, and which declared its own independence of Georgia at the time when Georgia became a separate state after the fall of the Soviet Union. Georgian tanks rolled into the streets of the sleeping town on Tskhinval in the dead of the night on August 8, 2008 when the world was busy watching the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing. From the antiquity wars were stopped for the duration of the Olympics, so to start a war at the opening of the Olympic Games certainly was a new low in the international relations. And those tanks were shelling residential buildings killing peaceful population, as well as Russian peace keepers who were on the territory of Ossetia by the international mandate. As a response, Russia brought in its own troops, quickly overturned the "brave" US-trained Georgian forces and advanced into Georgia. It was VERY clear who was in the right, and who was in the wrong. But ALL AMERICAN NEWS SOURCES CHOSE to represent the story as a insidious attack of Russians against peaceful pro-Western Georgians. There were more balanced accounts in European mass media, but in the US there was no place for any other view of the situation except the officially endorsed one. That is when the last curtain fell from my eyes, and I realized that our mass media are not interested in reporting news to us, they are not interested in informing us, they are interested in indoctrinating us and carrying out orders coming from some masters invisible to us.

(Of course, in the time which has elapsed since the Georgian attack, an official European report has found Georgia as an aggressor, but that information, too, which made headlines in Europe, was printed in small print in the mid-sections of our newspapers and with the headers like "The report blames the war on both, Russia and Georgia." Lies, lies, lies. Seriously, no better than what the communists printed in Russia.)

Then I saw how our newly elected President is interested in solely saving his Wall-Street puppeteers, how he continues to escalate the wars which we cannot afford, and I realized that this country is not at all ruled by a democratically elected President and Congress, but rather by a few special interest groups behind the screens. And that those groups do not hold anything sacred - not their country, not God, not justice, not morals - except the Almighty Dollar. And this is when my internal crisis hit me.

Now I experience a void of values to believe in. Capitalism has disgraced itself in my eyes. Religion holds next to no appeal to me - I see it as an unverifiable tale employed by a religious establishment to provide a fairly good living for themselves. I do not see a change I can believe in. I am lost. I am disgusted. I am coming to realization that the only thing in life worth worshiping and admiring is art and human thought. I am preparing for the internal immigration. Good-bye, America! I believed in you. I was wrong.

Cultural Baggage Filled with Political Correctness

MSNBC today is reprinting an article from CondeNast Traveler with important tips on taboo topics in 12 different countries. The article is placed under a header "Where you should think before you speak" which gives a nice prelude of what will follow. The title is quite idiotic, of course. Uh-h-h-g, the answer to that question would be obviously, EVERYWHERE. The author claims that some topics are to be avoided at all costs in various countries (in fact he labels them as absolutely verboten). Examples are: do not discuss Israel and all things Jewish in Egypt, do not talk about the US and Canadian health care in Canada, do not talk about human rights in China, etc. Amidst the topics encouraged by the author are gastronomic delights and possibly cultural and sports achievement of those countries. In other words, when meeting people from other countries, try to learn as little as possible about how they view really relevant issues, and keep the conversation strictly within the range of small talk pleasantries. Speaking food and sports is probably the least enlightening of all conversations known to men. The author is advising us to do just that.

It is easy to see why he makes this bizarre and, really, stupid, recommendation. He proceeds from the premise that Americans have preconceived notions about those issues, and they may not be possibly interested in what other people have to say about them. There can only be a clash of opinions. He even admits it. Don't mention Jews in Egypt because you may hear conspiracy theories. So what??? Where else will I hear the conspiracy theories? What if I want to make my own judgement about them? Don't discuss Canadian health care with Canadians because they are fiercely protective of it. So what??? What if I want to hear that despite all the perceived drawbacks people are actually quite satisfied to wait for their elective surgeries for a year or more as long as they are free? The recommendation not to discuss the atrocities in Chechnya and Georgia with Russians betrays the author's lack of familiarity with the issue and effectiveness of brainwashing by American propaganda machine. The only atrocities committed in Georgia were those committed by the Georgians against peacefully sleeping Ossetians whose houses Georgian troops were shelling in the middle of the night. Atrocities in Chechnya were committed by Chechen fighters against hundreds of thousands of ethnic Russians who used to live in that area - and who were essentially killed or completely driven out of there. Russians would gladly talk with you about those facts.

My feeling is that the author is not trying to prevent us from committing a faux pas, he wants to prevent us from learning stuff which runs contrary to our comfortable cultural stereotypes.

What I absolutely detest about America is our political correctness. No! It is NOT good that we avoid conflicts in our discussions. Because we either never find out that our preconceived notions are incorrect, or our biases and anger settle deeper in our consciousness. I am a firm believer in talking things over, and arguing about them openly, rather than sweeping them under the mat, smiling politely and keeping the conversation down to small talk.

Plastic conversations, plastic people, plastic relationships. If this is the stereotype of an American traveler you want to perpetuate in the world, go ahead and follow the "safe" and patronizing recommendations. Stick to discussing hockey with Canadians. Does anybody else see how condescending and humiliating this advice is to both, Americans and Canadians/Egyptians/Russians, etc.?

What an ugly and barren animal this cross between political correctness and cultural baggage produces!

If this movie is not anti-Russian, I will eat my hat

Hollywood director Renni Harlin ("Die Hard 2," "Cliffhanger," "Exorcist: The Beginning") has started filming a movie about last year's Russian-Georgian military conflict in South Ossetia. The director claims that the movie is not going to be anti-Russian or anti-Georgian, but instead will be anti-war.

According to Georgian news sources, actor Andy Garcia ("The Godfather. Part III," "The Untouchables," "Ocean's Twelve and Thirteen")) will play the role of Georgian President Saakashvili. I hope he already started practicing his skills in eating his tie, which Mr. Georgian President famously did in the live news coverage on BBC (watch here). I don't see how you can convincingly portray this complex individual without such scene. In fact, we have obtained a photo from the rehearsals for this episode:

And here is the scene where Andy Garcia is practicing his skills running away from the Russian planes which are "out to get him."

And if the movie proves to not have an anti-Russian bias, I will personally eat my hat. Especially if the BBC comes to film me.

New Jokes from FOX News

Life in the US reminds me more and more of the life in the Soviet Russia. See, the good thing about living with the propaganda instead of the news, and the lack of free speech was the abundance of jokes. That subculture of folk fun kept our spirit alive back then. For example, here is one of the political jokes of the Brezhnev's era (the guy with bushy eye brows and slurry speech who ruled the Soviet Union for nearly two decades and died in 1982). Here it goes:

Nixon and Brezhnev had a running race. Nixon beat Brezhnev. Here is how the news was reported in the "Pravda" newspaper, the official organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: "Presidents Brezhnev and Nixon participated in a race. Mr. Brezhnev came second with an excellent result. President Nixon came next to last."

Would you call it factually accurate? Yes, if you work for FOX News.

Today, that "news" network published the results of the EU commission's finding that the last year's war in South Ossetia was started by Georgia. (I wrote an earlier post on that which you can see below.) Here is how they packaged the news: "EU Report Blames Russia and Georgia for War". Here is a passage from the publication: "The EU report went on to blame Russia for conducting a military campaign deep inside Georgia. "All this cannot be regarded as even remotely commensurate with the threat to Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia," the report said. Russia's retaliation went "far beyond the reasonable limits of defense," it said, criticizing the devastating Russian assault on a tiny neighbor that in recent years has moved closer into the West with hopes of joining NATO. In a first reaction, Georgia's EU Ambassador Salome Samadashvili said the question of who fired first on Aug. 7, 2008, was immaterial without considering two decades of friction. She said the "report gives the full context," referring to Russia's invasion of Georgia's separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia."

And here is a link to the whole article if somebody wants to read it first hand: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,557702,00.html?test=latestnews

Compare it with the headlines published by the BBC News today: "Georgia 'started unjustified war' ." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8281990.stm)

Both articles report on the same findings, but their emphasis is clearly different. Few people read beyond the headlines, and the US readership will remember that "EU Report blames Russia" whereas the rest of the civilized world will get the message that "Georgia started unjustified war." FOX News never fails to put a nice spin on a story, if you know what I mean.

I am still laughing. Did you hear? Their president came next to last. Ha-ha-ha!

For the Record

Fox News prides itself on reporting facts with no spin. Yesterday, they showed an interview with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, and here is a link to this interview in print: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,555461,00.html. In it both the interviewer, and Mr. Saakashvili several times allude to how the Russian army tried to bomb and kill him during the war last year. Thankfully, the media actually chronicled the details of those insidious attacks as they were happening. And I invite you to watch for yourself - the attack (imaginary), and the reaction of the brave president to that attack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWlQ_fzECl4&feature=related

Please notice that nobody else around hims acts alarmed until he declares there is danger and starts running away erratically. That is when his body guards desperately try to catch up with him, and finally fight him to the ground and cover him with something which looks like black card board, but must be a super effective defense against air bombs. No sound of the airplane or the bombs is discernible at all, and everybody else seems to be continuing business as usual - the traffic is heavy, and you can see groups of people standing and talking. The 2nd video link offers and additional footage of the entire episode from a different vantage point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7DpBZa9x5Q&feature=related

This reminded me of a Russian joke which goes like this:

A famous Russian poet of the 19th century, Mikhail Lermontov wrote in one of his poems: "The battle was short/The timid Georgians ran away." Georgians became outraged with what they perceived as an insult and tarnishing of their reputation, and they asked the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union to change those poetic lines. The highest authority in the country satisfied their request and ruled that from now on the line should read: "The brave Georgians ran away."

Unlike Fox News I do not pretend that the story above is true - it is a mere joke.

Keep spinning, guys! I am watching, and I will set your record straight.

EU Commission Blames Georgia for South Ossetia War

Here is a complete quote from today's publication in the German newspaper Spiegel (http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,650228,00.html)

"Independent Experts Blame Georgia for South Ossetia War

An EU expert commission has put the blame for last summer's South Ossetia war on Georgia, but also holds Russia partly responsible, SPIEGEL has learned. The findings, which are still under wraps, are likely to reignite the debate on the causes of the war when they are published.
The independent commission appointed by the European Union to investigate the war between Georgia and Russia last summer has concluded that Tbilisi is responsible for causing the five-day conflict, SPIEGEL has learned.

According to diplomats in Brussels who are familiar with the contents of the secret document, the EU experts also assign part of the responsibility for the war to Russia, however. The report, which stems from an initiative by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his colleagues from the Benelux countries, concludes that Moscow escalated the conflict through its massive deployment of troops.

The international commission, which is headed by Heidi Tagliavini, wants to keep its findings under wraps until next week because the Swiss diplomat first wants to present the controversial results to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York. After that, the ambassadors of the 27 EU member states in Brussels and the Georgian and Russian governments will be simultaneously informed of the commission's findings.

The publication of the report is set to spark renewed debate about who is responsible for the war. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has already complained that "some idiots say we started the war." Tbilisi is mainly afraid that the report will reduce the chances of Georgia being allowed to join NATO within the near future.

The conflict broke out on Aug. 7, 2008 when Georgia attacked the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russian forces quickly repelled the Georgian attack and advanced into Georgia. Hundreds of people, including many civilians, are believed to have died during the fighting before a ceasefire was agreed upon on Aug. 12."

They forgot to mention that those hundreds of people killed were peaceful Ossetians sleeping in their houses showered by mortar fire by the glorious Georgrian troops which chose to attack in the middle of the night on the night when the Olympic games started, their hope being that the whole world was busy looking in a different direction. I don't believe deaths among the civilian population are claimed to have been caused by the Russian troops.

Does anybody including Senator McCain still feel that we are all Georgians now?