Is Wired Magazine’s ‘Military Correspondent’ a Kremlin Dupe? (Part 2)
More evidence that we should take Russia-Georgia reporting by David Axe with a grain of salt.
On September 12, I published a column on Pajamas Media raising questions about some reporting about the Georgia conflict by Wired magazine’s David Axe. I pointed out that Axe, in attempting to argue Georgia was at fault in the conflict, had relied on a single source, Professor Gordon Hahn, whose background indicates a web of Kremlin connections that Axe did not disclose, calling his journalistic ethics and/or competence into question. I also noted that Axe himself is by no means a qualified military expert, so he should have reached out to a corroborating source to verify the story — which should have been child’s play if he really has the access he claims.
On that same day, Axe responded to my piece on his blog War Is Boring. Yet in fact there was no response at all. He totally ignored my question, the sole point of my article, which was to ask why he didn’t tell his readers about Hahn’s obvious conflict of interest — and, indeed, if he even knew about it — or obtain a corroborating source before reporting his claims as credible. He made no attempt to stand behind his discredited source or to offer additional corroboration of Hahn’s claims, seeming to confirm there is none. In fact, he didn’t even mention Hahn’s name at all. Is that what passes for journalism at Wired?
Instead, Axe chose to focus only on his own credentials as a military expert, seeking to defend himself as qualified because he’d been to Iraq and Afghanistan eight times and published in various newspapers, as if I hadn’t in fact acknowledged that openly. But he admits he has no formal training in national security and has simply visited various battlefields basically as a citizen journalist and recorded his impressions there. Basically, in other words, he tried to change the subject. As to his background, he admits his education is in the humanities, not military science or even journalism, and he has no special knowledge of Russia. That doesn’t mean, of course, he’s necessarily wrong when he credits Hahn’s statements, but it does mean he’s no qualified military expert. Thus, readers have to take a good, hard look at his claims before accepting them as anything other than childish nonsense.
So now, let’s take that good, hard look at the specific factual claims made by Hahn that Axe reported as evidence, and let’s also review some of the other things Hahn said that Axe chose to ignore. To start with, it’s important to remember that Hahn did not publish his ideas in any credible third-party source but merely sent them around in an email. As we study them, it will become clear why that was so. You will watch those claims fall apart before your very eyes.
The only support cited by Axe and Hahn for their claim that Georgia was the aggressor in Ossetia was an August 25 translation by BBC monitoring and republished on Norbert Strade’s Chechnya List, a forum harshly critical of Russian policy in Chechnya. The BBC summarized a report in the Georgian newspaper Kviris Palitra in which the Georgian military touted the effectiveness of its artillery barrage against the invading Russian forces, claiming 100 tank kills. It’s an odd place, to be sure, to try to uncover information supporting Russia’s version of events. But never underestimate the power of neo-Soviet creativity — especially if motivated, perhaps, by the Kremlin’s large store of petrodollars, funneled through enterprises like Russia Profile and Russia Today!
Hahn’s claim, as reported by Axe, was that the mere fact that artillery was used in the battle proves Georgia was prepared for it. Axe quotes Hahn as follows: “It takes many days if not weeks to bring in the kind of heavy artillery about which the commander is talking into or near the conflict zone through the mountainous terrain around South Ossetia from Georgian army bases in Tbilisi, Senaki, or Gori.” But there is no source whatsoever given by Hahn to support this claim, and Hahn has no military credentials or qualifications which would enable him to make it on his own. Moreover, the Eurasia.net story (and much other similar reporting) proves that Russians were preparing for battle months in advance, not “days if not weeks” in advance.
Believe it or not, that’s it. That’s what Wired’s Axe went to press with. Hahn cited no actual evidence of Georgian artillery being moved into the conflict zone in advance, nor in fact is there even any independent confirmation that Georgia actually destroyed 100 invading Russian tanks — something that, coming from a Georgian source, could be nothing more than nationalistic bluster. He cited no evidence that the artillery could not have been moved into place quickly. And even if there were clear proof of Georgia moving artillery into place days or weeks in advance, how could anyone possibly criticize it for doing so when it was witnessing the massive buildup of Russian forces on its border, something Hahn does not deny — because he cannot — and perceived the possibility that it was about to be invaded?
Axe makes an argument in Russia’s favor on an Economist magazine debate forum; there, he makes no reference to Hahn’s claims about the movement of artillery. And, again, he makes no reference to it in his response to my original article, while ignoring the questions I actually raised there.
On September 11, Garry Kasparov’s Other Russia website published a translation of a comment on former Kremlin insider Andrei Illarionov’s blog which used a published interview with a Russian solider to establish that Russian soldiers were on the move into Georgian territory long before Georgia’s attack on Ossetia began. On September 16, the New York Times reported on the release of intercepted radio broadcasts showing that “part of a Russian armored regiment crossed into the separatist enclave of South Ossetia nearly a full day before Georgia’s attack on the capital, Tshkinvali, late on Aug. 7.” Even China has sided with Georgia against Russia, giving Russia a humiliating refusal to approve the war or recognize the breakaway regions and inking a massive loan deal with Georgia to promote reconstruction. The evidence is simply overwhelming that Russia initiated the attack and ignored Georgia’s unilateral call for a ceasefire because it wanted to annex the disputed territories, which it has effectively done. The only ones left to take Russia’s side are the likes of Daniel Noriega, Pat Buchanan, and, yes, even David Duke.
And Gordon Hahn, of course, whose shadowy Monterey Institute, as I reported previously, is caught up in a major spy scandal. Hahn is, in other words, either a complete fool or else engaged in a totally shameless campaign of smoke-and-mirrors disinformation, for reason or reasons unstated.
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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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28 Comments
1. Kim Zigfeld:A related topic of interest is a post by blogger Dmitry Minaev, which points out that a Russian blogger associated with the Oborona opposition movement was arrested and charged with “extremism” shortly after he posted comments critical of Kremlin militarism in Georgia and spoke approvingly about a report in early July on Kavkaz Centre, the Chechen rebel website, which predicted Russian military intervention in Georgia well before it occurred:
http://minaev.blogspot.com/2008/08/dangers-of-blogging-in-russia.html
Minaev brings in a wealth of translated material, including a full translation of one of the blogger’s so-called “extremist” posts.
Scary stuff.
Sep 21, 2008 - 5:12 am 2. Papa Ray:Everyone should know that “Wired” is populated with and written by mostly liberals or at least people that are under forty something, who have been “liberalised” by the American Educational System over the last fifty or so years.
So, it is not really their fault.
They have been exposed and are infected by re-written history, biased teachers, ommited history and generally a poor and distorted education.
Papa Ray
Sep 21, 2008 - 6:31 am 3. Ex-fetus:West Texas
USA
Of course Russia precipitated the Rape of Georgia. The military incidents that happened before the actual invasion were just part of the cover story. This was a page right out of Hitler’s playbook.
Did you know that when the Nazi’s invaded Poland there was a mix up and some units attacked a day early. The Poles didn’t really notice because there had been so many border incidents that they saw it as just another bunch of trigger happy Krauts. Nobody today remembers that the actual justification for the Nazi invasion of Poland was a border incident just like the one the Russians used against Georgia.
No, the whole Rape of Georgia was planned and executed on orders from the Kremlin and if the Georgians hadn’t responded to the ambush and murder of a truck load of Georgian troops, some other incident would have been manufactured. This is all standard fare for Fascist powers, which what Putin has turned Russia into.
I find it amusing the the Winners of WW2 had a cold war, which ended about 2 generations later with the collapse of Socialist Russia, which within a generation had become fascist, while the “winners” of the cold war had become Socialist. Having lived thru all that, it makes me wonder.
“Order is not pressure which is imposed on society from without, but an equilibrium which is set up from within.”
Jose Ortega y Gasset
Spanish philosopher & politician (1883 – 1955)
I think that the Kremlin is in serious trouble. It’s NOT 1939 anymore and raping, looting and pillaging your neighbors is not accepted with a wink and a nudge.
Sep 21, 2008 - 7:01 am 4. Norm Funk:The Russian stack market was shut down Friday after losing 25% of it’s value. Russia lost more money then they could hope to gain by looting Georgia. Poland signed up for Star Wars Jr. which means any military advantage Russia gained by holding the Roki Tunnel is lost in the overall military balance. Considering that Russia’s enemies move most of their kit by sea or air, that tunnel isn’t very important. Not important enough to offset the Ukraine joining NATO.
So far the Rape of Georgia has been a political and economic disaster for the Russians. The question is, are they smart enough to figure that out?
A note to Putin; Religious fanatics make poor allies.
Note to Georgia: Link the Vehicle registration database to your Border enforcement agents and seize any stolen vehicles attempting to cross back into your country from the Russian zone. Apparently there were a lot of cars, trucks and anything not nailed down showing up in Ossetia after the conflict.
Have the Video showing Russian troops robbing the Georgian bank showing on continuous loop on billboards leading to the Russian zone. With a Large sign saying “Is business or trust of these people really necessary?” When the Russians start shooting Ossetians for being Thieves and Barbarians the point will be made.
Sep 21, 2008 - 7:58 am 5. Kirk:What amazed me most about your ‘part 1′ was the amount of Kremlin tools that buried your comments section in crazy propaganda. It’s like the NKVD, ops sorry I mean the KGB, ops sorry I mean the state security guys in Russia are paid to watch your work and bury it.
“Salute” to post something that may get you killed. The Russians have proven they are not above morals or reproach. I am actually scared for you.
Sep 21, 2008 - 1:51 pm 6. Ex-fetus:KGB breakfast special. Scrambled eggs and plutonium on a Muffin. You get your choice of cheeses.
Sep 21, 2008 - 2:33 pm 7. Bill N:Ex-fetus; the Russians use polonium. Plutonium is not particularly toxic if eaten.
Sep 21, 2008 - 7:46 pm 8. Elija:If we only knew Kim Zigfields background. If we could only see how deep and shady its own web of connections is. Does anyone even question its journalistic ethics and/or competence after reading the hateful, bigoted and hysterical posts on LaRussophobe?
Sep 21, 2008 - 9:54 pm 9. dave472:“Is Wired Magazine’s ‘Military Correspondent’ a Kremlin Dupe?”
I don’t know, but I do know that FOX News has a Foreign Affairs analyst that is a member of a terrorist organization.
Sep 22, 2008 - 5:53 am 10. General Khlynov:There is nothing ’shadowy’ about the Monterey Institute. Anybody interested can click this link and check it out: http://www.miis.edu/
Professor Hahn is not just at the Monterey Institute. Here’s a bio of his:
Gordon M. Hahn, Ph.D.
Senior Researcher
Gordon Hahn is a Senior Researcher for the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies. Dr. Hahn is an Academic Fellow at Smolny College , St. Petersburg State University , Russia . He has taught Russian domestic and foreign policy and international and comparative politics at Stanford, St. Petersburg State ( Russia ), Boston , American, and San Jose State Universities . Dr. Hahn received his BA in 1986 and MA in 1988 from Boston College and his Ph.D. from Boston University in 1995.
He is author of Russia ’s Revolution From Above, 1985-2000: Reform, Transition and Revolution in the Fall of the Soviet Communist Regime ( Rutgers University , N.J. : Transaction Publishers, 2002) and the forthcoming The Bear and The Crescent: Russia’s Rising Islamist Challenge ( New Haven : Yale University Press, 2006). He has published in the scholarly journals Post-Soviet Affairs , Demokratizatsiya , East European Constitutional Review , Europe-Asia Studies , Problems of Post-Communism , Russian History/Histoire Russe , The Russian Review , The Journal of Cold War Studies and numerous English and Russian language newspapers, magazines, and newsletters.
Dr. Hahn has been both a Visiting Fellow (1995-96) and a Visiting Scholar (2000-03) at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University and a William J. Fulbright Visiting Professor at Saint Petersburg State University ’s Faculty of International Relations. His current research examines federalism, multi-national states, self-determination, Muslim politics, and terrorism in Russia , the post-communist states and around the world. His most recent articles include “Russian Federalism Under Putin,” in Stephen L. White, ed., Developments in Russian Politics ( London : MacMillan/Palgrave, 2005) and “The Rise of Islamism in Kabardino-Balkariya,” Demokratizatsiya , 13: 4 (Fall 2005). His forthcoming articles include “Islamism in Russia ” will appear in Barry Rubin, ed., Survey of Global Islamism ( Armonk , N.Y. : M.E. Sharpe, 2006) and “The Perils of Putin’s Policies” Journal of International Security Affairs , 2 (Spring 2006).
What are “Zigfeld’s” qualifications?
Sep 22, 2008 - 6:34 am 11. General Khlynov:Elija,
Kim Zifgeld doesn’t even exist. It’s a collective of unknown individuals with fake names without any discernable qualifications.
The Institute of Historical Review has more integrity.
Sep 22, 2008 - 7:15 am 12. narciso:Well General Vladimir Shamanov does exist, he headed operations in Chechnya from the North Caucasus(Ossetian) base in Vladikavkaz. He protected the war criminal Col. Yuri Budanov, who raped a Chechen civilian, by having a Soviet style psychologist declare him insane. He was responsible for massacres in Stare Atagi
Sep 22, 2008 - 6:39 pm 13. David Essel:and Baldy. In this capacity, he probably was a one man recruiting poster for AQ (re; Al Midhar, Al Hazmi, Moussaoui) He’s running the show in Georgia. A Russian warlord out of the mold of General Yermolov; the founder of the Grozny ‘fortress’ and savager of Chechnya
Zdravie zhelayu, tovarishch General! A quick look at your link for the Monterey Institute easily elucidates what that body is. Of themselves, they say “the school’s focus [is] on promoting international understanding through the study of language and culture”. Immediately all is clear: “international understanding” is current moral relativist code for failing to criticise anything foreign and always blaming the West for e.g. failing to understand the poor Palestinians grievances that understandably lead them to behave way outside any moral norms that should be strictly imposed ONLY on us understanding Westerners… So shucks to that.
Sep 22, 2008 - 8:05 pm 14. Steve J. Nelson:As for Kim Zigfield, people with brains can use them to analyse content and determine qualifications, so whether KZ is a person or the collective effort of a right-wing and right-thinking righteous think tank of moral non-relativists is quite immaterial. That you find it upsetting that a single person is achieving so much and adducing such crushing arguments and therefore prefer to believe that it is the work of a collective is a good example in itself of weak-kneed moral relativist thinking that fears to admit that anything can be strong and straight and obvious.
David,
You can read rebuttals of Kim Zigfeld’s lies and completely unsubstantiated comments over at my blog, La Russophobe Exposed. I have also repeatedly rebutted her last post pointing to Der Spiegel and other credible Western media sources calling Saakashvili a liar, or like the New York Times, accusing him of amateurism, hot-headedness and spending more time on the phone with McCain than with his own generals (all of whose cellphone conversations were intercepted by the Russians anyway).
Kim Zigfeld is an embarassment to Pajamas Media and other PJM bloggers like Richard Fernandez, who quietly refuse to put her on their blog rolls related to Russia while conspicuously linking to Russia Blog – as does that other notorious Kremlin stooge, Thomas P.M. Barnett, a New York Times bestselling author who has sold just a few hundred thousand more books than lying Kim Zigfeld. So I think when you compare the people in the blogosphere that link to Russia Blog, versus those who tout Kim Zigfeld (most of whom, like Prof. Burger until I contacted him, are either ignorant of her insanity and shameless hypocritical personal attacks or are hardcore Russophobes for their own reasons), you will find more credible people linking to the former than the latter.
In any case, this anonymous smearblog has repeatedly been caught in stupid lies about real individuals using their real names (for example, claiming that their university credentials don’t exist, then backtracking and lamely insisting that their credentials are irrelevant to Russia – as was the case with Axe). Kim also has a stupid habit of calling Russia Profile a neo-Soviet Kremlin shill organization even though many of her own contributors, such as Prof. Ethan S. Burger, regularly contribute to Russia Profile! Talk about chutzpah!
“So whether KZ is a person or the collective effort of a right-wing and right-thinking righteous think tank of moral non-relativists is quite immaterial.”
David, why are constant shameless attacks on individuals credentials ok, then you turn around and say that Kim’s complete absence of real personhood or credentials are irrelevant? Have you stopped beating your wife lately? Stop defending McCarthyite character assassination. It’s fake conservatives like you who are running conservatism into a ditch, destroying the Republican Party and bankrupting America with adventurism that has nothing to do with securing core national interests or fighting the terrorists.
In fact, the sheer strategic stupidity of alienating Russia, the world’s largest energy producer, a country that has been repeatedly victimized by the global jihad, and that remains the most likely long term victim of Chinese aggression, is beyond me. But it can be explained by a combination of Cold War nostalgia, dislike of Putin’s oil industry nationalizations (all that talk about freedom getting destroyed in Russia only popped up after Khodorkovsky’s Menatep Bank started throwing around cash), and the self-interest of what can best be described as the perpetual anti-Russia (not just anti-Soviet or anti-dictatorship) lobby in D.C. which is dispraportionately Polish and Ukrainian (I know, everyone talks about the all-powerful Israel lobby, but nobody says a damn word about those sneaky Poles!). The sheer hatred and “why don’t you Russians die off already” hysteria that passes for informed comment on La Russophobe is mostly thinly veiled racism, like those Georgian and Ukrainian nationalists that still like Stalin because he killed so many Russians.
I’m sorry, but I’ll be damned before I let a bunch of western Ukrainian nationalists who are despised in their own country and cannot cobble together a majority in Ukraine for NATO membership ramrod it through the U.S. government. Especially not with the help of well-paid lobbyists like Randy Scheunemann or shills for the arms industry (the non-war on terror arms industry) like Frank Gaffney Jr.
In any case, here are the links to articles supporting Axe’s point of view, which he is not obligated to cite every time Kim Zigfeld furiously attacks him:
Newsweek: Republican Realists Worried About McCain’s Blind Support for Georgia
http://www.newsweek.com/id/160069
Der Spiegel: “Saakashvili lied to us”
Sep 22, 2008 - 9:15 pm 15. Steve J. Nelson:http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,575581,00.html
http://larussophobeexposed.blogspot.com/2008/09/la-russophobe-tries-to-rebut-wired-and.html
Here’s the link to my full rebuttal. And a quote from another post, about why this New Cold War lobby keeps rolling:
Sep 22, 2008 - 9:33 pm 16. General Khlynov:Well, the equally fake David Essel had to make an appearance, of course. The only place David Essel writes about Russia is here and on the pages of LR. “He” is about as real as Kim Zigfeld – a completely invented identity.
The reasons the LR folks have to fake their identities is that nobody would openly identify with that kind of nonsense. It would ruin anybody’s career.
Your statement that ““international understanding” is current moral relativist code for failing to criticise anything foreign and always blaming the West for e.g.”" is, of course, based on nothing but your own opinion. It’s one of those statements that are not falsifiable and hence utterly meaningless.
Steve: anybody with half a brain knows that there is no such person as Kim Zigfeld, and that David Essel is equally faked.
Nothing they write about Russia has credibility. While they may occasionally state facts, that means little. The Institute of Historical Review very often provides factual information – that’s generally the common modus operandi of hate propagandists. Throw in a few bits of facts, hoping that the dumb suckers will swallow the garbage with it.
Thanks for your blog, by the way.
Sep 23, 2008 - 5:07 am 17. kabud:all the traitor’s names are noted
when it will get to business – they will be dealt with
Sep 23, 2008 - 4:53 pm 18. Xavier Cugat:The Pope, Benedict XVI, needs to consecrate Russia, specifically, by name, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in union with all bishops throughout the world.
These are the insstruction which were given in Fatima in 1917. This has not been done according to the directions which were specifically given to world in Portugual.
October 7th, the birthdate of Vladimir Putin (and also the anniversarty of the famous and miraculous battle of Lepanto) would be a good date for such a blessing for the Russian people.
If the Consecration is done according to form there will be blessings for Russia and peace in the world.
Otherwise, Russia will go forth spreading her errors throughout the world.
We have already witnessed the errors of Russia since 1917. The question remains, What will happen in 2017 if the Consecration is not celebrated?
I shudder to think of the consequences for the world.
Besiege the Pope if you want true peace and conversion of heart for the Russian people.
The Consecration must be done. NOW!!!
Sep 23, 2008 - 8:53 pm 19. David Essel:G’day Steve J
I took a look at your La Russophobe Exposed. Tried to leave a message but moderation was turned on.
This was what I said:
I’ll take two sugars and a little bit of milk with my tea, please, but I must go soon as I find it difficult to be polite to theists for very long.
The problem is that anyone who can believe in a god is demonstrably able to believe absolutely anything at all, however preposterous.
Sep 24, 2008 - 6:24 am 20. General Khlynov:“David” – your comment on religion is interesting. Aren’t you part of a collective that stridently supports John McCain and Sarah Palin, and seems to be particularly fond of Ms. Palin who is a very committed theist, to put it mildly?
If you feel that religious people are fundamentally incapable of rational thought, don’t you feel a tad bit nervous about who is endorsed by the only site on the internet you publish your writings?
Or was this just another one of these blind ad-hominem attack, utterly besides the point and devoid of argument, that you and your collective at LR excel in?
Sep 24, 2008 - 10:56 am 21. David Essel:“General”!
The criticism was not of the person but of the intellect.
A charge of ad hominem attack is therefore disingenuous and an attempt to wriggle.
Sep 24, 2008 - 8:32 pm 22. General Khlynov:Well, ‘David’, then you will not consider it an ad-hominem attack if I called you stupid? Because that’s not an attack on your person, but on your intellect? And if I called you a liar, that also would not be an attack on your person, but merely on your conduct?
Got it.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Any other pearls of wisdom you wish to offer?
Sep 25, 2008 - 5:43 am 23. General Khlynov:Also, do you feel that Palin is “able to believe absolutely anything at all, however preposterous” because of her theism? And how does that make you feel about the endorsement by LR of Palin?
Feel free not to answer the question, of course. No answer is also an answer.
Sep 25, 2008 - 5:45 am 24. Steve J. Nelson:If he is a real person and not a sock puppet, Essel’s behavior is certainly par for the course for La Russophobe – ad hominem attacks on others credentials and character are fine, but any discussion of LR’s credentials on Russia is a completely irrelevant, “neo-Soviet” attempt to change the subject. As far as Kim Zigfeld is concerned – heads you win, tails you lose, and have you stopped beating your wife lately? Over here at Pajamas Media, where Kim cannot cut out all critical comments in her nice little blog cocoon, the comments run at least 2 to 1 critical of La Russophobe, excluding my own words.
Kirk, if there truly are Kremlin operatives who have so much free time on their hands to check on Ms. Zigfeld, then they could not ask for a better parody of an opponent – someone who not only trashes Putin but the Russian people as a whole. It’s kind of like the Republicans nominating Palin to unleash the predictable deranged reactions from the Daily Kossack Democrat Left, and then turning to soccer Moms across America and saying, “See, this is what THEY think of you”. In the case of the Kremlin/Vyachaslav Surkov (the Karl Rove of Russia) types, it’s “see, these people had no problem with Russia when we were weak, begging them the West for money, when our women and most talented people were fleeing in droves and our President was mocked around the world as a drunk. But suddenly when Russia’s economy is booming, women are having babies again, talent is coming back to Russia, and our military has demonstrated that it is capable of beating a third rate opponent, thye start screaming about democracy and the revival of the Soviet Union. The West is hypocritical and lying.” And of course, on the latter score, they INDEED have a point, even Condi Rice said so although she was oblivious to the implications of her own words about Russian humiliation during the 90s. We are hypocrites when it comes to Kosovo vs. Abkhazia/South Ossetia, as the Serbs weren’t even doing their nasty deeds on our borders against American passport holders, but we still bombed them with no UN authorization whatsoever. But the sainted Bill Clinton did that and not George W. Bush, so naturally he gets pass from Democrats who rant about Bush’s “illegal war” in Iraq, which had far more legitimacy after 16 UN resolutions against Saddam.
Of course there are more credible critics of Putin that live in Russia and don’t feel the need to hide behind fake names or engage in petty BS attacks on individuals. Many of them are “working within the system”, either at Russian investment banks, or perhaps, Medvedev himself, who said after the attack on Mechel that “terrorizing of business must end”. The pointless street theater of Garry Kasparov, the oligarchic intrigues of exile Boris Berezovsky (who according to the late Forbes journalist Paul Klebnikov, was perfectly capable of killing his business rivals when he ruled the Kremlin, and probably poisoned Litvinenko to keep the extradition attorneys from Moscow at bay) and others are worse than useless. A real Russian opposition will only emerge when it can work with the Russian Orthodox Church, push for real reforms in the corrupt and backward Army draft, and promote a pro-life position in a country with more abortions than live births. But as long as Kim Zigfeld views the Russians as basically sub-human who deserve their fate, why should anyone listen to her?
Sep 25, 2008 - 9:14 am 25. General Khlynov:Litvinenko probably died of incompetence in dealing with radioactive substances.
It’s funny that his final ’statement’ was never recorded on video or at least audio.
There’s a tongue-in-cheek hypothesis according to which the LR gang is sponsored by the Kremlin. BUT – I don’t think the Kremlin would ever be that complicated.
Sep 25, 2008 - 12:08 pm 26. General Khlynov:Essel, your silence speaks volumes
Apparently, you do lack both intelligence and integrity. But, that’s not an attack on your person, only on your intellect and moral quality.
Sep 28, 2008 - 10:40 am 27. Steve J. Nelson:La Russophobe cannot stand behind her own lies, and I see that even at a right wing hotbed like Pajamas Media precious few wanting to defend “Kim Zigfeld” either. Instead, commenters like ex-fetus and kirk can only smear people tired of being smeared by La Russophobe as Putin apologists or tools of Kremlin propaganda.
I sincerely hope that David Essel is a real person and not another Kim Zigfeld sock puppet.
Sep 29, 2008 - 1:36 pm 28. General Khlynov:There is absolutely no evidence that David Essel exists outside the mists of LR. There isn’t even any good reason to assume Essel is anything but just another incarnation of the LR team.
Sep 29, 2008 - 2:14 pm