Did Condé Nast Kill the Story of the Year to Appease Putin?
The only person still alive who can link Vladimir Putin to the staged 1999 Moscow bombings — which vaulted him to power — is talking. Condé Nast had the story, then suppressed it.
And then there was one.
A few months ago, mainstream journalism somehow managed to report the story that the last high-profile human rights activist in Chechnya, Natalia Estemirova, had been assassinated by the Kremlin’s puppet regime in the breakaway region.
But little does the world know — because of the MSM’s characteristic negligence — about the Putin regime having not one but two separate campaigns of political murder underway. One is aimed at human rights activists who seek to reveal the barbaric crimes being committed against the civilian population by Russia’s forces in Chechnya, and the other targets those who would reveal the Kremlin’s involvement in the series of bombings in Moscow which left hundreds dead and was used to justify Russia’s 1999 invasion of Chechnya in the first place.
While the last human rights hero may have fallen, the last bombing campaigner remains alive — for now.
His name is Mikhail Trepashkin, and the current issue of GQ contains a brilliant effort by seasoned war correspondent Scott Anderson to focus enough attention on Trepashkin’s plight that the Kremlin might hesitate before whacking him.
Too bad Anderson didn’t realize Trepashkin wasn’t the only one who needed protection from treachery.
Anderson himself needed it, from his own editors and their malignant overlords at the Condé Nast publishing house. While Anderson was risking his life to report one of the world’s most overlooked news stories, his publishers were stabbing him in the back.
The Anderson piece appeared in the September issue with no mention of it on the magazine’s cover, which was emblazoned with Michael Jackson’s kisser and pulse-pounding items on male fashion and grooming. National Public Radio solved the mystery — the publisher was desperately worried about offending the Putin regime, so much so that it wasn’t even going to let the article run in GQ’s Russian edition at all and wouldn’t place the content on the GQ website.
Enter the fearless Gawker blog, which not only posted readable images of the article but solicited and received a Russian translation, which it also promptly blogged.
For those unfamiliar with the details, the 1999 bombings destroyed two apartment blocks in Moscow and were followed within days by a full-scale assault on Chechnya, even though the rebels steadfastly denied any involvement. Anderson’s reporting is revelatory. He makes four key points about the events strongly and dispassionately, having spoken at length to Trepashkin after his recent release from prison (more on that below).
These are the key facts:
1. Putin would not be in power today without the benefit of the bombings.
2. The West, including both media and government, is clearly guilty of appeasement.
3. All key figures, save Trepashkin, who have tried to tell the truth about the bombings in Russia have been murdered.
4. Trepashkin has clear, direct evidence of KGB involvement. (As if any were needed after KGB operatives were apprehended in the midst of yet another bombing, absurdly claiming that they were just practicing to meet terrorist threats).
Opening with a terrifyingly evil image of a brooding Vladimir Putin, Anderson’s article begins by making the absolutely critical point that the Moscow apartment bombings were not merely used as a pretext for invading and subjugating breakaway Chechnya — which is bad enough in and of itself given that the rebels denied committing the heinous act — but as justification for the empowerment of Vladimir Putin himself.
A proud KGB spy, even in spineless Russia it was to be expected that the population would have some reservations about handing over power to an organization that had just led the country to ruin. The bombings gave Putin the perfect distraction so that nobody paid attention to that disturbing fact when election day rolled around a few months later.
Anderson moves on to nail another critical issue on the bombings: Western appeasement. He quotes the father of a family that perished in one of the bombings, mincing no words:
They say it was the Chechens who did this, but that is a lie. It was Putin’s people. Everyone knows that. No one wants to talk about it, but everyone knows that.
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Kim Zigfeld is a New York City-based writer who publishes her own Russia specialty blog, La Russophobe. She also writes about Russia for the American Thinker and for Russia! magazine and is researching a book on the rise of dictatorship in Putin’s Russia.
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25 Comments
1. J.J. Sefton:Trutherism for thee, but not for me? Et tu, liberals????
Sep 9, 2009 - 4:30 am 2. M. Miller:With the Democrats afflicted with appeasementitis and in love with dictator types (eg, Chavez, Castro, etc.), it’s no wonder the US never pursued this. And since we’re talking conspiracies here, another reason the US may not have pursued this is that it’s a quid-pro-quo to cover up any complicity by the US in the sinking of the Kursk which happened one year after the apartment bombings.
I never thought I’d long for the Clinton years but after eight months of BHO, I’d take Clinton back in a heartbeat.
Sep 9, 2009 - 4:48 am 3. Pelaut:Republicans? See an opportunity? Take a political stand?
Really? Republicans?
Somebody look around the club house for one, maybe under the bar?
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:08 am 4. ALEXISTAN:Good luck trying to find the article inside of GQ, amidst its endless ads featuring modern satyrs in pointy shoes and constant, PC sneering. Man up, America.
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:12 am 5. bibio44:Lies! Libel! You only have to look deep into Putin’s eyes to see the soul of a saint!
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:18 am 6. Marie Claude:the thing is, while the Us closed their eyes on the Chechen repression, (and helped Russia by providing her electronic materials), Russia would leave the free path to the US into ME operations : we call that “tacit entente”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Es2ww1uBTQ
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:28 am 7. Meryl:Republican leadership is now a historical irrelevancy.
Expect nothing from them and you will not be disappointed.
I am a life long registered Republican, but I’m also a realist. We are on the train that has left the station and I am no longer concerned or frustrated with the fact that they were never on it.
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:50 am 8. Meryl:my comment 7. was response to 3.Pelaut….forgot that!
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:51 am 9. David W. Lincoln:Yet another reason why the United States is losing credibility to be the standard bearer of the best of humankind.
So, why should Putin and his crowd get away with it? I still maintain a co-ordinated foreign policy, based on the Borjomi Declaration, be brought into play. The Baltic countries, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, the Balkans, and the original signatories combined would command respect and notice to put the deformed souls in the Kremlin on notice. Either they leave, or the borders of Russia will change, so that the oil that they use to bully is
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:02 am 10. John "birther" Samford:out of their reach.
“a quid-pro-quo to cover up any complicity by the US in the sinking of the Kursk which happened one year after the apartment bombings.”
There is no mystery about the Kuesk. There was a hot run in the fore torpedo tube. Somebody pushed the wrong button. The Data was recovered.
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:04 am 11. Lisette:As far as Putin using a staged event to seize power, that is a sovereign issue for the Russians. What it isn’t is news. ALL changes in Soviet leadership came about thru plots of one sort or another.
Under all socialist systems, power is taken, THEN the elections are held. The US elections of ‘08 were along the same general lines. The Democrats brought EVERY illegal weapon in their arsenal to the election in ‘08. ACORN, Diebold machines, dead voters, stuffed ballot boxes, everything. In parts of MN, there were more votes then voters.
The judiciary stood and watched, when it wasn’t being complaisant. Why should the MSM cover a rigged Soviet style election in Russia when it was the norm? They wouldn’t cover a rigged election in America where it was news.
The truly horrible thing about this is that it will lead to Civil War. Americans are NOT Russians. We take the voting thing seriously. When the facts emerge, as they always do, there will be ‘ell to pay. With the ballot box corrupt and the jury box empty, the only outlets left for Americans are the soap box and the cartridge box. The government is looking to shut up the soap box. Guess what that leaves?
I don’t think Putin was behind the bombings. Yes, he ultimately benefited from them, but if he planned that from the start then he is so satanic and all powerful that he could have just magically taken over the country. The war he started after the bombings was so unpopular at first that no one at the time would have considered it even remotely likely that he would eventually become popular.
It was unlikely to have been perpetrated by ordinary Chechen rebels. They would not have gained from another war and losing the autonomy that they were gradually gaining. It is more likely that it was Islamic militants in the region deliberately stirring things up. That’s what they do, because actual people don’t matter to them.]
I am no fan of Putin, but there are more than enough things that he as genuinely done wrong, both out of malice and incompetence, for anyone to have to make things up.
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:08 am 12. Dale:Bush looked into Putin’ eyes and found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy. He was able to get a sense of his soul. Case closed.
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:40 am 13. Ann141:11 Lisa…
“Blowing Up Russia” and “Putin’s Labyrinth” are just two powerful books written by Russian journalists since 2000 at the risk of their lives, showing that Putin and those accountable to him are involved.
Journalists who have written such books are mostly either dead or in hiding today. Alexander Litvinenko, co-author of “Blowing Up Russia” was assassinated in England. Scotland Yard identified the likely guilty party and issued a warrant to Moscow requesting extradition. Putin rejected it out of hand with no investigation.
The following from the dust jacket of “Putin’s Labyrinth”:
“Consider the month of October 2006:A killer fired four shots into Anna Politkovskaya, killing the journalist in her apartment house. Three days later, gunmen killed banker Alexander Plokhin, the head of a Moscow branch of Vneshtorgbank. Days after that, the victim was Anatoly Voronin, business director of the ITAR-TASS news agency. Finally, a lone assailant used a Kalashnikov with a silence to execute Dmitry Fotyanov, a mayoral candidate in the mining town of Dalnegorsk. None of the murders was solved.”
Remember what Stalin said, “I don’t run the Soviet Union. 10,000 clerks do.” Of course, Putin does not personally do everything he’s responsible for. That clearly does not mean that he did not authorize it. As lethal and cold as he is, those who commit these atrocities certainly would not do so against his will.
One of the factors that assisted him in his rapid ascent from relative invisibility was the corruption that was virulent throughout Russia in the late 90’s under Yeltsin. Those in Russia who were fearful and struggling with the danger in the streets from thugs responded to Putin’s invitation to “return to the safety of tyranny” as he “cleaned up the streets and made it safe for children to go out again”.
It is in Putin’s interest to look like he has clean hands.
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:53 am 14. ALEXISTAN:“The Angel of Grozny” is superb, and informative,
Sep 9, 2009 - 1:27 pm 15. texasredbud:OK Libs, get your guard up, I am about to smear someone. ANd by that I am going to provide some information and draw a conclusion.
user “bibio44″ has made an attempt to mock Bush’s comment about Putin. The actual Bush quote is: “I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul.” Many times I have seen libs refer to this quote and then make fun of Bush because they believe that Bush believed Putin to be a ’saint’. If you would actually read the quote, Bush does not make any comments on the nature of Putin’s soul.
Funny thing though, Bush proceeded to install a missle defense system in eastern Europe. So “bibio44″, what do you think Bush saw when he got a glimps of Putin’s soul?
Do you really believe that the missle defense was because Putin was a ’saint’? Or are you just repeating another liberal lie? The foundation of all Progressive thinking.
Sep 9, 2009 - 1:27 pm 16. Lynn B:Why am I not surprised. There are a number of dead reporters who were writing about the Chechnyans and Putin.
Sep 9, 2009 - 2:33 pm 17. DavidN:Can anyone say “Reichstag fire of the 21st Century”?
Sep 9, 2009 - 3:05 pm 18. Kim Zigfeld:If you’d like to read more of Scott Anderson’s thoughts on the GQ mistreatment of his work, he’s spoken out here:
http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=Politics&articleid=a1252433514
Sep 9, 2009 - 3:52 pm 19. deepthought:#15 texredbud:
The full quote is:
“I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue.
“I was able to get a sense of his soul.
“He’s a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country and I appreciate very much the frank dialogue and that’s the beginning of a very constructive relationship,” Mr Bush said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1392791.stm
Apparently Bush did find something good about Putin’s soul if he found he him to be “straight forward” and “trustworthy” and “deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country.” Based on his record and actions, Putin is more committed to his best interests and not the Russian people. I wouldn’t put it past an ex-KGB officer to “break a few eggs to make an omelet.”
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:08 pm 20. Political Dissident:Concerning some recent commentary related to the 2nd Chechen war of the last decade:
- Russia didn’t need to create a pretext as Chechnya was clearly spiraling out of control.
- Is it so unreasonable for a Russian government agency to seek keeping confidential an anti-terrorist training operation – the manner of which might’ve been based on intelligence information regarding possible terrorist acts?
- In usage, how popular is the explosive in the mentioned FSB training exercise, that’s also said to have been later utilized in the bombing of living quarters with civilians in them?
- On the matter of conspiracy theories, the suggested “censorship” against a non-Russian article supporting Russian government involvement in the killing of civilians was perhaps done to portray the image of evil Russia’s tentacles abroad.
Meantime, the other kind of “censorship” continues to get little if any attention. At some relatively high profile English language venues, this includes one-sidedly negative articles against Nikita Mikhalkov and historically challenged anti-Russian/Ukrainian nationalist pieces.
Sep 10, 2009 - 5:22 am 21. penny:Is it so unreasonable for a Russian government agency to seek keeping confidential an anti-terrorist training operation – the manner of which might’ve been based on intelligence information regarding possible terrorist acts?
That’s a distraction from the issue that Putin has the power to initiate a public investigation into the ‘99 apt bombing. He’s a FSB guy and certainly knows where to sniff out the skeletons. But, like every high profile murderous mishap or botched rescue in Russia whether is was Beslin, the Moscow theater or Anna Politskaya’s murder nothing is ever honestly investigated or resolved.
Politskaya’s family not being dupes had denounced the second trial of her alleged assailants knowing full well that the investigation in the first trial was a sham. They understand that the real culprit is much farther up the food chain. The second trail has been put on hold.
I noticed that you have hit most of the Kremlin themed talking points.
Sep 10, 2009 - 11:55 am 22. Danee Garone:Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only one who sees the threats from nations around the world, especially Russia. I don’t understand why people would doubt a nation that was a Communist Superpower only 20 years ago. They still retain vast sums of weapons and resources and most of the people alive during the Soviet Union’s existence, still live now and probably harbor the anit-American indoctrination they were brought up with.
Sep 10, 2009 - 2:05 pm 23. Kim Zigfeld:Anderson has given a detailed interview to Radio Free Europe:
http://www.rferl.org/content/US_Journalist_Shocked_By_Decision_To_Censor_Putin_Article/1818296.html
Sep 10, 2009 - 6:21 pm 24. Political Dissident:Re: #22
FSB counter-terrorism matters can be reasonably considered as confidential.
As noted, the Russian government didn’t need to create a pretext for taking action in the second Chechen war of the last decade.
Sep 10, 2009 - 7:26 pm 25. narciso:The Second Chechen war, led in part to 9/11, the likes of Al Midhar, Al Hazmi, Moussaoui
Sep 11, 2009 - 7:30 pmall were tied to that effort. and it begat
Nord Ost and Beslan. But we know well the caliber of Conde Nast, printing either libelous
garbage (which a certain essayist tried to rationalize recently) or fulsome encomiums to
others. No one seriously challenges the siloviki