Pajamas Media

35 Comments

1. JF:

Talk about hypocrisy, this pseudonymous “Kim Zigfeld” writes for Russia! magazine and sells her coffee mugs through Russia!, even though this mysterious magazine is owned by the Kremlin-connected company TsUP, a company that is currently buying up much of the Russian internet media world with the aim, according to even “Zigfeld,” of eventually bringing this last bastion of Russian free speech under Kremlin control. No wonder s/he uses a pseudonym to write these articles–the shame is too great. It’s a big mystery whose interests the pseudonymous “Zigfeld” really serves (the La Russophobe blog now denounces Khodorkovsky with the same venom that the Kremlin once did). If anyone finds out which PR company actually funds the Kim Zigfeld project, the mystery would finally be solved.

Sep 12, 2008 - 5:10 am 2. Ex-fetus:

“Georgia had been making military preparations to invade Ossetia before it did so”

S. Ossetia, by treaty, is part of Georgia. So that statement makes about as much sense as accusing the United States of preparing to invade Vermont.

The Russians have put together a very serious agi-prop campaign to cover their rape of Georgia. David Axe just went with the money, sorta like Scott Ritter. If David hadn’t taken the 30 pieces of Silver, someone else would have.
What is important is that Russia is in Georgia to stay, that it will take military force to remove them, which isn’t going to happen. And they are handing out more passports in the Ukraine, which should be a clue to what is on their mind. It also might be a little misdirection while they gobble up the Baltic states and prepare a launch pad for an assault on Poland. You never really know with the Russians.
30 years from now, after tens of millions die and hundreds of trillions are spent on this oncoming war, the historians will look back and say, “you know, if President Bush had a pair, the Russians could have been stopped in Georgia and all those live been saved”.

After all, the Russians haven’t a snowballs chance in ‘ell of defeating the west. So they either think otherwise, don’t care, or don’t think we will fight.
NATO needs to make the Ukraine a member tomorrow. Next week might be to late.

Sep 12, 2008 - 7:06 am 3. dave472:

The Russian spy David Axe is also a freequent contributor to Aviation Week’s Defense Technology International:

http://www.defensetechnologyinternational.com/about.htm

He’s got his commie toes in a lot of places.

Sep 12, 2008 - 8:03 am 4. Steve J. Nelson:

JF,
Please check out my La Russophobe Exposed blog which details many of Kim Zigfeld’s lies, errors of omission (i.e. ignoring the rising civilian death toll from the Georgian offensive and dismissing all claims above the Soros-funded Human Rights Watch’s ridiculously low body count of 45 dead as “Kremlin propaganda”), and frankly deranged behavior (i.e. a pattern of obsessive personal attacks on attractive young Russian females, whether they be celebrities like Sharapova or just ordinary devushki).

Ex-fetus, the Ossetians in South Ossetia never wanted to be a part of Georgia, when that country became independent of Moscow in 1992. And it was Yeltsin’s Kremlin, not Putin, that helped them and the Abkhazians begin to breakaway from the rest of Georgia, admittedly when they were still an ethnic patchwork like Bosnia. There was ethnic cleansing on both sides in the early 90s during those dirty, messy wars, which some people in Moscow were selling arms to both sides (incidentally, just like in Chechnya, and who do you think gave the “Chechen rebels” money for all those heavy weapons? Iran and Saudi Arabian Wahhabis, that’s who. But Kim Zigfeld would say that Chechnya had nothing to do with the global jihad and everything to do with Russians just wanting to brutalize innocent people).

“Kim Zigfeld” is not going to tell you that the borders of Georgia and the dividing line between North and South Ossetia were drawn by Josef Stalin, while demanding that the U.S. commit blood and treasure to secure that part of Uncle Joe’s legacy. Nor is she going to tell you about the Stalin statue in Gori or how many Georgians still admire Stalin because he killed so many Russians.

Sean’s Russia Blog is doing an excellent job of highlighting stories the mainstream media is basically ignoring about Georgia – besides McCain advisor Randy Scheunemann’s lobbying for Tblisi, you had American military contractors on the ground and likely cooperating with Georgian special forces during the conflict. They were not simply sitting in their hotel rooms in Tblisi as we were led to believe. Sean also points out where CNN cut out parts of their interview with Putin, specifically, the part where Putin described the Ossetia conflict as part of Stalin’s legacy. Far be it for CNN to publicize Putin criticism of Stalin or his jokes about Georgia giving Russia Stalin. That would sort of contradict the narrative of Putin as a Stalin apologist nostalgiac for the old USSR…

Sep 12, 2008 - 8:12 am 5. Steve J. Nelson:

As for the actual substance of this article, to the extent that there is any:

1) Kim Zigfeld attacks someone she disagrees with, for basically being 23 years old in 2001 (that would make him 30 years old today by my math) and writing for the Washington Times. Nobody knows how old Kim Zigfeld is, what her qualifications are to write about Russia, but plenty of fellow Pajamas Media contributors and people she cites approvingly and whose content she has republished ALSO WRITE FOR THE “CRAZY MOONY” WASHINGTON TIMES!

2) She says that the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, which shares a campus with the joint Defense Language Institute at the Presidio (an institution I would have attended had I not been kept out of the Army for medical reasons) is a “den of spies”. This is a McCarthyite allegation for which she provides NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER!

3) Kim Zigfeld’s own contributor Ethan S. Burger writes for Russia Profile and has declared that he likes their content and that it is probably one of the most fair and balanced things being published in Russia now. Incidentally, Russia Profile occupies the same address in Moscow as those Kremlin shills at Russia Today TV. So by Kim’s own stupid Googling-moonbat conspiracy theorizing logic, her own contributor Ethan S. Burger, a law professor at Georgetown University, is also tied with the Kremlin, and so is she for writing for Russia! magazine in New York!

4) Other than the fact that Russia Profile REPOSTS Russia Blog content (as does the iPutin website, which is basically a webcrawler) Kim Zigfeld provides no evidence that the Discovery Institute’s Real Russia Project is linked to Russia Profile. Other than the fact that Russia Blog used to post Russia Today TV videos from YouTube on their site, there is also no evidence there. Just Kim Zigfeld’s conspiracy theorizing. And as for her touting Charles Johnson, he hasn’t linked to anything she has written since he decided to smear the Russia program last month, basically because he hates the umbrella think tank it is associated with for promoting intelligent design. What that has to do with Russia, I have no idea.

Pajamas Media should be embarassed for publishing this crap. I know for a fact that Belmont Club Richard Fernandez is. There’s a reason people will link to some of the blogs she hates while ignoring her – the shrillness and baselessness of her accusations is starting to rub people the wrong way. Even Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, whom she tries to cite here, won’t link to her or promote her anymore.

Sep 12, 2008 - 8:26 am 6. dave472:

Voice of America quotes the discredited Hahn as a “Russia expert.”:

voanews.com/english/archive/2005-05/2005-05-20-voa47.cfm?CFID=38258380&CFTOKEN=91972700

Don’t they know who this guy is?

La Russophobe says that “The [Moscow Times] routinely gives voice to the psychopathic Russophile set.” Brian Whitmore, however, writes for the Moscow Times:

See #4 here:
cdi.org/russia/johnson/4076.html

Is Whitmore a spy, too?

Sep 12, 2008 - 8:55 am 7. Steve J. Nelson:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,575581,00.html

It would appear that Der Spiegel, quoting unnnamed OSCE sources, supports Axe’s sequence of events, and “Kim Zigfeld” once again is either wrong or lying.

You think La Russophobe is going to admit to be wrong? Heck no…

‘Carelessly Playing with Fire’

This was reported by military observers working with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) who were in Georgia at the time. Information from tapped phone conversations involving Georgian political leaders may have also made its way into the reports, which have been leaked from OSCE headquarters in Vienna. One source who is personally familiar with the reports summarized the findings as follows: “Saakashvili lied 100 percent to all of us, the Europeans and the Americans.”

Just last week, the Georgian president told Germany’s mass-circulation Bild newspaper: “We respected the cease-fire. It wasn’t until the Russian tanks rolled into South Ossetia that we deployed our artillery.” The OSCE reports also indicate that Saakashvili attacked the civilian population while they were asleep in their beds. That could be tantamount to a war crime. “Our dialogue with Georgia has to become more critical again,” says a top Western diplomat.

Sep 12, 2008 - 8:58 am 8. War Is Boring:

[...] That makes me a “Kremlin dupe,” according to Pajamas Media. But what’s more befuddling is Pajamas’ attack on my credentials. Writes Kim Zigfeld: Axe has made a few freelance trips to Iraq and calls himself a “military correspondent,” with his main claims to fame being that he (a) often writes about Iraq for Sun Myung Moon’s Washington Times and The Village Voice and (b) he writes graphic novels about war. It doesn’t appear that he has any expertise in Russia at all, or any military or national security credentials.   [...]

Sep 12, 2008 - 9:30 am 9. dave742:

The commies may have converted Dana Rohrbacher (R-California)into a commie spy:

“The Russians are right! We’re wrong! Georgia started it, the Russians ended it,” Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, a California Republican, told Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried, who testified on administration policy to both the Senate panel and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080909.wgeorgiaUS0909/BNStory/International/home?cid=al_gam_mostview

Sep 12, 2008 - 9:36 am 10. Unfair attack on Nimble Books author David Axe · Nimble Books LLC:

[...] Media blogger Kim Zigfeld has launched an ad hominem attack on Nimble Books author David Axe, who responds quite [...]

Sep 12, 2008 - 10:11 am 11. coisty:

Pajamas Media should be embarassed for publishing this crap. I know for a fact that Belmont Club Richard Fernandez is.

When Pajamas Media started publishing articles by the conservative movie blogger ‘Dirty Harry’ only a week or so after he revealed his real name I assumed the timing was not coincidental. In other words I thought PM had a policy of not publishing anonymous writers. So I’m surprised to learn that KZ is a pseudonym!

I’ll check out Steve Nelson’s blog.

Sep 12, 2008 - 10:58 am 12. Steve J. Nelson:

There is nothing inherently wrong with using pseudonyms. Richard Fernandez was previously known as “Wretchard the Cat”. Over the years, “Wretchard” certainly could write a thing or two that was critical about the Clintons, or the Left in general, but there was none of the hate or vitriol you see from La Russophobe. Wretchard does not regularly describe those who disagree with him as “psychopaths” “appeasers” “comparable to apologists for Hitler/Stalin” etc.

The problem is when you start attacking others’ credibility, credentials, and qualifications to comment on Russia — all while hiding behind anonynimity. It’s pure cowardice. La Russophobe can say that people are being intolerant of him or her, but this is like saying that people are intolerant of Borat. “Kim Zigfeld” is a character, not a person using their real name like David Axe. The real question is, why hasn’t La Russophobe told us who pays for the blog? The Russia Blog, whom she attacks so often, lists their fellows/advisors right there on their main page (www.realrussiaproject.com), and wouldn’t you know, some of them look like major philanthropists (all to my knowledge, U.S. citizens) who have given to many other organizations like the East-West Institute, Rotary Clubs in Russia, etc. Not exactly the stuff of a nefarious Kremlin conspiracy.

On the other hand, if La Russophobe announced that she accepted donations directly, then he/she/they might be liable for copyright infringement since articles are regularly republished there without permission in their entireity. Hence, the constant declaration that LR “does not take donations from any source”. Well who pays for it then? Switching a blog with that many posts over from blogspot to Wordpress was not free. Why the constant praise for McCain, the silence on Scheunemann, and the obsessive attacks on Russia watchers using their real names in what Kim Zigfeld has candidly admitted to an interviewer is a deliberate effort to haunt “Russophiles” online for the rest of their careers? There’s a very short list of people who would pay for this type of content, and that includes Scheunemann’s Orion Strategies.

Steve J.

Sep 12, 2008 - 12:47 pm 13. Louise:

A WIRED SCIENCE report (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcIdVsCbkm4) on the Large Hadron Collider featured a graduate student claiming that the threat to the Universe is “a crazy woman shooting big game out of airplanes.”

Sep 12, 2008 - 1:12 pm 14. Crazy About Contras:

You dug up an article in a student newspaper? How low.

Sep 12, 2008 - 6:35 pm 15. Ex-fetus:

“Ex-fetus, the Ossetians in South Ossetia never wanted to be a part of Georgia”

SO What! Do you think the Tibetians want to be part of China? Or the Kurds part of Turkey, Iraq, or Iran? Or Montana part of the USA? That list goes on and on. It all means nothing. Where does it stop? Does my next door neighbor get to start his own country, with his dog as Secretary of defense? Part of the UN charter and the biggest reason why the Soviets joined the UN was a freeze on border adjustment by force of arms.
The Ossetria thingie is just an excuse, and a poor one at that.
I just hope the Ukrain and the Baltic states learn from this and immediately expel all persons holding a Russian passport. Tomorrow. Pick them up, take them to the border and send them across.
That is what the Russians would have done if they gave a sh1t about the Osseterians. This is just a naked, 19th century power grab. If there was no Osseteria the Russians would have found some other excuse.
Putin is using the “short victorious War” theory to shore up support at home. Nothing new here. Nothing to see. Move along please!
It seems to be working, but those sort of political ploys are just short term, doing nothing to alter the underlying conditions creating the problem the SVW is intended to cure.
I saw an article today that the President of Russian (Putin the younger?) was telling the people not to panic because the Russian stock market lost 10% of it’s value yesterday.
It seems I’m not the only one that thinks Russia will lose the war it is trying to start. The smart money is getting out of Moscow while the getting is good.
The Soviet Union fell because the conscripts were unwilling to shoot down their mothers, brothers, sisters, sweethearts, fathers, etc. I suspect the conscripts of 2008 will make the same decision.
It would have been so much better if Puttie had retired to his Drachu and worked on his memoirs and found a ‘56 Porsche Speedester to restore instead of channeling Stalin.

Sep 12, 2008 - 6:54 pm 16. Steve J. Nelson:

As for Little Green Footballs and Kim Zigfeld’s claims that Russia Blog inflated the civilian bodycount from Saakashvili’s adventure, the Der Spiegel article would seem to suggest otherwise – that both the U.S. State Dept. and the Europeans got tired of Saakashvili lying to them. Good ole’ Charles Johnson though isn’t going to admit he was wrong about people he hates for his own silly, unrelated reasons.

Sep 12, 2008 - 8:15 pm 17. Susan Katz Keating:

And to think, our intel folks must now revamp their efforts re Moscow. We dismantled way too soon, my friends.

Sep 13, 2008 - 9:42 am 18. Steve J. Nelson:

David Axe responds to La Russophobe’s silly smear here:

http://warisboring.com/?p=1351

At DANGER ROOM and in The Economist’s online debate series, I have taken the position that Georgia provoked Russia into attacking South Ossetia, and then tried to lure the West into helping defend Georgia via a concerted propaganda campaign.

That makes me a “Kremlin dupe,” according to Pajamas Media. But what’s more befuddling is Pajamas’ attack on my credentials. Writes Kim Zigfeld:

“Axe has made a few freelance trips to Iraq and calls himself a “military correspondent,” with his main claims to fame being that he (a) often writes about Iraq for Sun Myung Moon’s Washington Times and The Village Voice and (b) he writes graphic novels about war. It doesn’t appear that he has any expertise in Russia at all, or any military or national security credentials.”

Actually, that’s EIGHT trips to Iraq, plus trips to Afghanistan, East Timor, Lebanon, Somalia, Chad and Nicaragua — plus countless Stateside reporting enterprises. I have written not just for The Times and The Voice, but for literally hundreds of other publications. Therein lies my “military or national security expertise.” Yes, I write books, including graphic novels. I also play Xbox and eat frozen pizzas and partake in other activities that, in fact, have nothing to do with my reporting.

Further proof that I’m not qualified to have an opinion about Russia, according to Zigfeld, is that I hold a degree in creative writing. She quotes a 2001 story in my old graduate school newspaper. She never really bothered to see what I’ve been doing since 2001. Seven years is a long time when you’re only 30 years old.

But really, all this boils down to a disagreement over Russia. I am no starry-eyed Russian apologist. It’s a backward, corrupt and, for journalists, extremely dangerous country. But that doesn’t mean we should blame Russia for the South Ossetia war and punish her accordingly, when it’s clear that Georgia fired the first shot, and followed up with intensive disinformation that itself has provided the backbone of many Western pundits’ opinion on Russia.

Once again, La Russophobe embarasses Pajamas Media with her shoddy facts, false statements, and hysterical rhetoric.

Sep 14, 2008 - 6:47 am 19. Susan Katz Keating:

Except it’s not as simple as that. Russia repeatedly baited and goaded Georgia, hoping for the overreaction it got. Georgia should not have used aggression in South Ossetia, but this was not Russia’s fight. Nevertheless, Russia used the incident as an excuse to invade a sovereign territory.

Sep 14, 2008 - 9:31 am 20. Ethan S. Burger:

Greetings:

Since I was referred to in the discussion above, I feel that it is appropriate to respond. Before I do so, I would like to make a couple of substantive comments.

I have heard from a several individuals who work on Russian affairs full-time that Russia had “its people” within Georgian President Mekhail Saakashvilli’s inner circle and the Georgian military who encouraged the Georgian President to assert control over South Ossetia, thus providing Russia a pretext for invading Georgia. I do not know whether such allegations are true or not, but I find them interesting. I find it unfortunate that the U.S. Department of State did not have VERY senior people as well as White House officials dispel any misconceptions that the Georgian President had with respect to U.S. support.

A Russian invasion of Georgia could have many explanations (and probably could not be prevented with such warnings), including: (i) eliminating the possibility of natural gas or oil pipelines that go to Western Europe or bodies of water than do not cross Russian territory, (ii) undermining President Medvedev’s anti-corruption efforts, (iii) creating the “external threat” to facilitate propaganda to the Russian people and providing an excuse while the quality of life in Russia is not improving significantly for a a large segment of the population, (iv) intimidating Ukraine. other countries in the near abroad, etc.

Now, with respect to the discussion of personal attacks on blogs. I have contributed to Russophobe items of a substantive nature and I think that we should have an informed discussion of current developments.

There are conservative columnists who write for the Washington Post and New York Times, but there is no doubt as to the leanings of its publisher. The Wall Street Journal editors may be conservative, but its news writers are among the best in the business.

I must say that I am disappointed when I see anyone (including Kim Zigfeld) make what can be viewed as a personal attack against individuals as opposed to their personal opinions.

Of course, I think that while we need to be careful when reading items by authors that are “financed” by countries or organizations and this is not disclosed — it is a mistake to assume that the willingness of specialists to maintain a dialog with individuals or organizations necessarily means that their views have been compromised or should be ignored.

My knowledge of the Monterey Institute for International Affairs is limited, but generally positive. I personally have friends who are Russian academics whose views I do not share, but I believe are well informed and make good points when disagreeing with my writings, I have lectured at the Law Faculties of St. Petersburg University, the Institute of State, the Saratov Center for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption and other institutions/organizations. Sometimes, I meet individuals who contribute to my refining my opinions.

So long as one is not censored, there is seldom a problem in trying to reach an audience with whom one may not agree. There may even be the chance to influence the thinking of individuals in positions of influence in a positive way, particularly if there are policy failures due to “group think.”

Regards,

Ethan S. Burger

Sep 14, 2008 - 11:24 am 21. Kevin R.C. O'Brien:

The Monterey Institute of International Studies is not associated with or part of the Defense Language Institute. They are in the same city, but they are at completely separate campuses, have different student bodies and purposes, and relatively little interaction. The Monterey Institute is a private institution, and DLI is a US Military institution which has many civilian employees and occasional civilian, but USG-employed, students. The Monterey Institute is a graduate school with several degree-granting programs. DLI has for the last several years granted only AA degrees, but it does produce some of the best linguists in the nation (and a good cadre of dependable journeymen). One of the best-kept secrets in the military is the generally good, interesting assignments and excellent training available to military linguists.

Another military institution in the city which is often confused with DLI and/or the Monterey Institute, is the Naval Postgraduate School. That is a complete third campus. They’re all an easy walk from each other (kinda like Harvard and MIT) but DLI != MIIS != NPGS.

It’s not unheard of for able students at DLI to also pursue degree work separately at MI, but it is quite rare. DLI discourages outside academic work unless the student proves that the work does not interfere with his or her language study.

I’m agnostic on the loyalty or lack of the same of MIIS-affiliated academics. I will note that during the Cold War, DLI was a hotbed of foreign intelligence service activity, and occasionally, a DLI professor would be shown the door after contacts with foreign intelligence officers. These teachers would often wind up teaching at MIIS in their language programs. I never attributed that to creeping comm’nism at MIIS, only to the fact that most of their students, unlike DLI’s, were not going to wind up in security work.

MIIS is now affiliated with Middlebury College, which is known for a good undergraduate modern languages program. The best school in the nation for that field, though, is BYU, which I’ve always been told is because of Mormon emphasis on mission work.

(don’t bother clicking through to my blog, it hasn’t been updated in months. When I get around to moving it to wordpress one of these days I’ll resume daily blogging. -K)

Sep 14, 2008 - 7:18 pm 22. Wheels within wheels « Eastern Approaches:

[...] by far the most outstanding piece of jiggery-pokery has to come from Ethan S. Burger, who writes: I have heard from a several individuals who work on Russian affairs full-time that Russia had [...]

Sep 15, 2008 - 1:35 am 23. Terry Le Truth:

One quick look at the website “LaRussophobe,” and I’m at once inclined to relegate the unwarrantedly embittered Kim Zigfeld to the well-peopled plane of complete irrespectability.

Even more, I’m astonished that this particular website would dare feature her incredibly illucid rantings here, as well. Who, indeed, pays for Kim’s unworthy presence on the Internet?

Sep 15, 2008 - 7:34 am 24. Steve J. Nelson:

Thank you for setting the record straight Kevin and Ethan. I hope that La Russophobe develops at least some sense of shame about smearing certain individuals for contributing to forums while accepting content from others (such as Prof. Burger) who contribute to the same forums, or attacking others credentials to write about Russia while providing absolutely none of her own.

As far as facts on the ground, I welcome more Americans and Europeans asking questions in depth about U.S., Russian and Georgian actions in Georgia both leading up to and during the war. The presence of American national defense contractors, who may not have been confined to their hotel rooms in Tblisi but actually doing more substantial work with Georgian forces on the front lines, and of Ukrainian and other foreign national mercenaries, are worth investigating.

Whether or not there were paid Russian agents or provocateurs on Saakashvili’s staff is a whole other question. Certainly, the New York Times has already reported that Saakashvili was using his cellphone to direct the battle, and almost ANY intelligence agency worth its salt can tap those things, so Saakashvili’s hapless commanders probably got his orders several minutes after the Russians knew about them. No wonder it turned into a rout!

In the bigger scheme of things, I also welcome a debate about whether American boys should be pledged to fight and die for the Crimea or eastern Ukraine, if those predominantly ethnically Russian regions decide to secede following an unpopular Orange government’s decision to enter NATO. I truly believe that John McCain is more or less pledging the U.S. to not only undo the “captive nations of Eastern Europe” but unwind “centuries of Russian imperialism” in Ukraine – a view that I can only chalk up to McCain’s paid lobbyist advisors and associations with many who have long held Ukrainian ultranationalist views (for those people, like Paula Dobriansky, it was never just about Soviet Communist ideology repressing the peoples of the USSR but about an ancestral fear and loathing of Russia and the Russians as a people!). McCain also gave Saakashvili the delusion that we would ride to his rescue if he risked direct confrontation with Russia.

Like I said, I don’t have a problem with the U.S. making some commitments to other countries. What I have a problem with is Beltway lobbyists for those countries trying to ramrod through such huge commitments when no one is looking, without any serious debate on the topic. Pat Buchanan is no shill for the Kremlin, he’s a rightwing America-First isolationist. And just because he’s unhinged on the subject of World War II or Israel doesn’t mean that he cannot make a valid point about overstretch and individuals in Washington making foreign policy commitments for their own self-serving or ideological reasons.

Sep 15, 2008 - 7:50 am 25. Ex-fetus:

“when it’s clear that Georgia fired the first shot”

Actually, it’s not clear at all. It seems that the first shot (not that the concept of ‘first shot’ has any relevance in the 21st century) was fired by S. Ossetiaians (sp?) in an ambush of a Georgian army truck. Or maybe that should be ‘first IED’, since the truck was mined and then machine gunned.
When you act as a dupe for Soviet, er……Russian propaganda, don’t be surprised when people call you on it. Since you are not a Russian, one can only assume that you have sold out. As a struggling writer, I suppose you needed the money. Scott Ritter did. Althouh it was rumored that Saddam also had pictures of Scott with a little boy, performing an indelicate act, so the 400,000 was a sweetener.
I really can’t blame you, after all, despots and Tyrants have ALWAYS been able to find someone to take their 30 pieces of silver. So if it wasn’t you, it would have been somebody else. You might be the only one to make a profit out of this whole thingie.
None of which hides the FACT that S. Ossetia is, by treaty, a part of Georgia. That fact and the Russian invasion of a sovereign nation to secure access ( the Roki Tunnel) to THE major logistic route into Georgia, Anatolia and places south, leads one to think that Russia is intent on restoring the Soviet Empire by force of arms, which is the same way it was established.
Aiding to this conclusion is the fact that the truck which was ambushed was on it’s way to the Roki tunnel to secure it. To throw more facts in the stew, the Russian started their attack on Georgian communication systems 2 weeks before their proxies ambushed that army truck. Also keep in mind that the Russians were practicing for the rape of Georgia in Early July.
The only people fooled by this agi-prop campaign (maskarova sp?) are the terminally stooooopid and those being paid to be fooled.

“Gentlemen, you may be sure that of the three courses open to the enemy, he will always choose the fourth.”*
*
_Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke to his staff

Sep 15, 2008 - 10:27 am 26. Steve J. Nelson:

“When you act as a dupe for Soviet, er……Russian propaganda, don’t be surprised when people call you on it. Since you are not a Russian, one can only assume that you have sold out.” Yeah yeah yeah, but nobody gives a damn who funds Kim Zigfeld’s hateful rants. And you haven’t sold out to the New World Order crowd that is using Georgia as another pawn to soften Russia up for their eventual hostile takeover by our Chinese friends (more troops on NATO border means less in the Far East)…seriously, get a grip. And yes, by treaty, and by the United Nations own resolutions, Kosovo always remained an integral part of Serbia, and previously, the Republic of Yugoslavia. We all know how that turned out.

Again, whether or not Russia “started it” is ultimately irrelevant to whether American boys and billions in dollars we don’t have right now ought to be sent to Georgia or not. Why is bailing out Saakashvili our problem, while we’re bailing out GM, Ford and Chrysler? If asking such inconvenient questions for the likes of Randy Scheunemann ($800k from lobbying for Georgia in the last two years) makes me a Kremlin apologist, then I’m Elmer Fudd, and Kim Zigfeld is Minnie Mouse.

Sep 15, 2008 - 2:18 pm 27. Chap:

Yeah, gotta remark that this is the worst PJM article I’ve read. Even a blogger knows how to google for a university and figure out what’s going on. I don’t know jack about the Wired thing, but the author here destroyed credibility with the innuendo and so forth. Darn shame, too; I’d be more willing to believe a thesis like this if it were presented in a more credible argument…

Sep 16, 2008 - 4:30 am 28. Ex-fetus:

America has a Representative government. If the people choose to elect representatives that decide to spend money on Georgia, then it is our business. WE are also a capitalist economy, which means we can afford butter AND guns. Russia isn’t and can’t;
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/16/georgia-global-woes-batter-russias-struggling-econ/

“New World Order crowd that is using Georgia as another pawn to soften Russia up for their eventual hostile takeover by our Chinese friends (more troops on NATO border means less in the Far East)…seriously, get a grip.”
I’ll get a grip if you promise to release the one you have on that pipe.
China is as much of a paper Dragon as Russia is a cardboard Bear. Neither one could fight their way out of a paper bag.
Russia uses conscripts and obsolete Soviet equipment from the late cold war period. Chinese uses conscripts and cheap copies of that obsolete Soviet Equipment. China could no more take over Russia then Canada could take over the USA.

“And yes, by treaty, and by the United Nations own resolutions, Kosovo always remained an integral part of Serbia, and previously, the Republic of Yugoslavia.”
This is a bald faced lie. There was NO nation called Serbia after WW2. Since there was no Nation called Serbia When the UN was created, it could not be a member of the United Nations. Period.
Serbia, along with Kosovo, was PART of Yugoslavia. Kosovo hasn’t been part of Serbia since the last time Serbia existed as a state, which was about 6 or 7 centuries ago.
What the UN ( United Nations) did was recognize that Yugoslavia was now several independent nations, One of which was Serbia, and one of which was Kosovo. The Serbs just got their nose out of joint because they tried to grab most of Yugoslavia for themselves when it broke up and NATO and the UN wouldn’t let them.
What’s important here is that Kosovo is NOT analogous with S. Osseteria, Since the UN has recognized Kosovo as a sovereign nation, while S. Ossetia will NEVER be seen as anything except a Russian pawn.
So, Mr. Fudd, should I explain this version of the Bush Doctrine tp you and why protecting fledgling democracies from corrupt Tyrants like Pootie is more important then GM, Ford or Chrysler?

“The key is to commit crimes so confusing that police feel too stupid to even write a crime report about them.”
Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive Comic, 10-30-03
Webcomic pioneer

Sep 16, 2008 - 4:51 am 29. Steve J. Nelson:

“Since the UN has recognized Kosovo as a sovereign nation, while S. Ossetia will NEVER be seen as anything except a Russian pawn.”

Sorry, this is false, fewer than 45 countries have recognized Kosovo’s independence, and this excludes India, China and Russia – or basically, two governments representing 1/4th of humanity.

And you are also wrong about other facts – the UN recognized Serbia as a member state and the successor state to the Republic of Yugoslavia, just as Russia inherited the USSR’s seat on the Security Council. The UN resolution that authorized the presence of NATO ground troops in Kosovo (just as the UN also recognized the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq post-hoc) declared that Kosovo was an autonomous part of Serbia. How exactly is that different from the status the Russians originally proposed for South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Saakashvili rejected, upon U.S. advice?

The U.S. also urged the leaders of Moldova to reject a proposed deal to resolve the TransDniestr crisis because it would have involved them renouncing foreign troops (read: NATO members) on their soil. This was according to that notorious group of Kremlin shills at the Nixon Center in Washington D.C., which publishes The National Interest magazine.

As for a Chinese takeover of Russia, I wasn’t talking about the direct use of military force, as made clear by the remark “hostile takeover”. Russia still has thousands of nuclear warheads, and this is why China is going to be smart about it, and not follow the failed route of Hitler and Napoleon. Think demographic conquest without firing a shot over forty years. And idiots like Kim Zigfeld wish the Russians would just die off already, as if the Chinese will show less greed for all those natural resources we want to get our hands on…

Sep 16, 2008 - 4:58 pm 30. meanrusski:

Think about Ossetians, not just Georgians, you neocon jerks.

http://mamarussianbear.blogspot.com/2008/09/forty-days-of-mourning-church-services.html

Sep 16, 2008 - 11:49 pm 31. Ivory Sayaf:

Well one thing is for certain, Wired is Tired and Russia is indeed a very scary place. Georgia, may have bitten off more than they could chew, but Russia has provoked this reaction for a long while now. Last year (2007) the Russian were violating Georgia’s airspace by dropping a high tech bomb within Georgia proper. I’m curious to know why not much of this has been mentioned? After all, this could be considered a most serious first offender claim! Let’s face it, for all those who think of this Russia government as our “friends” or “buddies” you must consider the future consequences of your ignorance. They hate us with a passion, are currently trying to undermine democracy, and installing an authoritarian regime that is starting to look a little bit like the Fuhrer’s.

Sep 18, 2008 - 1:24 pm 32. Ivory Sayaf:

Steve, since you ask why the US is “bailing out” other people, how about we just become that isolationist Disneyland you seem so fond of. You act as if 100% of this money is being poured into arming Georgia. The fact is, only a 3rd of the funds received by Georgia in the past have gone into the police,border gaurds, and military.I believe this has been proven to be an essential part of fighting worldwide crime and terrorism. Remember, Georgia is surrounded by strife other than their own. The rest of the money has vastly improved the quality of living in Georgia over the last 3-4 years. If I were Georgia, I’d build a moat, a wall, and watchtowers around South Ossetia and Abkhazia, give em a few years, and both populations will be seeking refuge in Georgia. Russian care nothing of the Caucasians and it’s a damn shame Abkhazians and Ossetians felt the need to forfeit their cultures and quite possibly their lives by aligning themselves with the Bear.

Sep 18, 2008 - 1:36 pm 33. Pajamas Media » Is Wired Magazine’s ‘Military Correspondent’ a Kremlin Dupe? (Part 2):

[...] September 12, I published a column on Pajamas Media raising questions about some reporting about the Georgia conflict by Wired magazine’s David [...]

Sep 21, 2008 - 12:05 am 34. War Is Boring:

[...] alarmist anti-Russia rhetoric coming out of Washington, an anonymous blogger called me a “Kremlin dupe.” The ensuing debate generated enough heat that Russian TV news network Channel One called requesting [...]

Sep 24, 2008 - 2:49 pm 35. orknexus:

Ex-fetus: “I just hope the Ukrain and the Baltic states learn from this and immediately expel all persons holding a Russian passport. Tomorrow. Pick them up, take them to the border and send them across.”

Good idea. Right thing to do.
But unfortunately unrealistic.
Why?
You just can’t imagine what howling would arise from EU about “violation of basic human rights”, if you try to evict the Russian Fifth column.

Seems, that we in Latvia will have to wait till Russian tanks invade Baltic states (as they once already did in 1940) and then look at EU “being sensible” and “building constructive dialog” with Russians. The only hope is our NATO membership, but at the moment it seems more like decoration.

Another way for us to act would be to abandon any links to the West and willingly return to Mother Russia. As they say – “Better horrible end then horror without end”. Then Ukrainians and Balts will take places behind controls in Russian tanks looking Westwards, Russians will install nuclear missiles in their old Soviet missile bases, now abandoned, Russian Navy and Air Force will return to their old bases. The next step will be getting the rest of Eastern Europe under the boot, and that will be increasingly easier as it goes.

Well, I am surprised by childish naiveté of many so called “experts on Russia” talking about “alarmist anti-Russian” rhetoric etc. Possible reason for that is that they actually do not understand a hack of what they are talking about. Well marketed fools, if you ask my opinion…

Jan 7, 2009 - 11:14 pm

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