Friday, November 10, 2006

Where is America's Politkovskaya? Part 2.

This is my answer to Mark Ames question.

Any war dehumanizes people. No matter what were the reasons for war the moment people start killing each other humaneness is lost and sooner or later only the need to survive remains. But fighting nations need soldiers who beyond survival can also behave “heroically”. How can you force a sane person into killing more enthusiastically? He must hate the enemy. He must hate not an abstract enemy but any concrete enemy soldier who looks exactly like you and me. One needs some magic to transform an ordinary person into beast, insect, disgusting piece of dirt, sadist and not actually a human being at all. This task at war is performed by war journalists.

War journalists should satisfy a number of hard demands, like
- The should be brave and courageous. This is a real war after all.
- They should be sincere and truly believe in what they write even when they fantasize.
- They should be able to find some real facts about enemy’s crimes to sound credible.
- They should be able to write beautiful fiction and to add chilling details to the facts they find. Who at war is really interested that two children were killed by a hellicopter missle? A real war correspondent should decribe in great details how the pilot was intentionally hunting the poor kids, how tears of the helpless babies were streaming down their faces, how the pilot was laughing demonically when pushing the button and how horrible their mutilated bodies looked. Some call it death porn but for a war correspondent it’s job – nobody says wars are pretty.
- In case there are no facts at hand war correspondents should always be able to find credible witnesses and make interviews with them.

That's exactly what Anna Politkovskaya was – a war journalist fighting on the side of Chechen rebels. And she did her job fine. I believe her books and articles helped dozens of Chechen men and women to become guirillas and suicide bombers. During proper wars like WW2 nations don’t have war correspondents writing “truth” about their soldiers but in case an army is fighting guerillas like in Chechnya or Iraq things are different. First, such wars are mostly distant and don’t disturb everyday activities of ordinary citizens. Second, we live in a very politically correct world where big transnational NGO’s keep a close eye on human rights and power abuses. This way it’s normal that there’re many Politkovskayas both in Russia and in America. Only people both in Russia or America have very little interest to read books where their sons are described as sadistic orcs from Mordor. Enemy war correspondents are almost always marginal figures to the general public in there native countries but are extremely popular in countries that support their enemies. This is why Politkovskaya was so popular in the West and Gore Vidal is so loved in Iran.

Things would be very different if the war with Iraq would’ve been real. Imagine – Iraqi tanks at the gates of Chicago, half of the country lies in ruins, office workers of yesterday are toiling at production lines. What kind of reaction newspaper stories about American soldiers raping helpless Iraqis would provoke?

Taken, for example, into the context of WW2 Politkovskaya’s best stories would sound outrageous. Imagine a Christmas 1944 Time issue with an article by Ann Politkoff. Young American intelligence officers arrest two poor German farmers Hans and Fritz, put them into a pit with water where they lie naked in their own excements when the temperature is at ice point. From time to time American officers rape them saying, “We do so because your German women don’t want to sleep with us”. At last Hans and Fritz are set free. They find Ann and tell her the story but she has to keep them anonymous as well as the place where they were tortured – evil Americans would certainly hunt them down and kill. “Now the only thing I want is revenge, - says Fritz – That’s why everyone in American uniform is a legitimate target for me.”

The story sounds absolutely absurd. How long can a person survive in a pit with freezing water? Did young intelligence offices washed the poor guys from excrements before raping them? How comes they don’t rape German women who don’t want to sleep with them? Why at last didn’t they kill them? On the other hand if this story would've been published in Voelkischer Beobachter Germans in 1944 would’ve found it totally credible – everybody knows Americans are irrational sadists and perverts.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Konstantin,

I see what you mean, and agree, but I am afraid that some of your ironical "shortcuts" might bring some confusion to your readers. Irascible antis and some *lady* might find that this is an invitation to sarcastic comments.

To the subject matter of your post:
In my opinion, any journalist having lied, be it one time, loses any possible credibility. If Politovskaya have once lied, then she could not anymore be considered as a journalist but as a mere politician.

Anonymous said...

I'm an Afghan vet....
In the June of 1989 I returned to the life, i took an airflight from Tashkent (hospital) to Moscow. I came in the centre of Moscow.I walked with the help of the stick..... pssst..... I was dressed as 'dembel' ...i.e. in a blue beret, of course, and in 'dembelsky paradka' uniform.
It was the early morning and the first girl I met at the Gorky street (now it's the Tverskaya street) spitted in my face. I still don't know WHY?
Later I bought the "Ogonyok" magazine and read how the 'new democratic' press demonize us- an ordinary soldiers...


JOURNALISM IS DEEAD! Every of them work for.... Just remember the "Kosovo campghain" and how they (CNN) demonized Serbs.

FUCK YOU WHORES-JOURNALISTS!



P.S. It's very symbolic! I post here and the password I have to type is "UrInU"

The Ranger said...

Thank you pietari, I could not have said it better. My beret is black and says Ranger on it. My blood is red and is given freely when ask for. My heart is broken over the treatment of of brave men like yourself by the so called Public and Journalist. My soul is in formation with our band of brothers as it will always be.
The girl spit in your face because she was ashamed of her and others actions and you just happened to be there at the right time. I have been spit on , called a pig and had coffee thrown at me. It just goes with the territory. It just happens and there is nothing we can do but not like it. Cheers To You. The Ranger

La Russophobe said...

I don't find it the least bit surprising that the moronic, lame-brained author of this blog is reduced to carrying on an imaginary dialogue with the sociopath Mark Ames after lying to his readers about the Yahoo! forum on Georgia.

Nor do I find it surprising that the ape-like remarks of PIETARI would flow out of such a cesspool.

However, I do find it surprising, and quite encouraging, that ANONYMOUS has already exposed the author's idiocy without La Russophobe even needing to mention it. The elixer of LR's truth is flowing strongly in the veins of the Internet.

Konstantin, you are the scum of the earth. You are speaking about a rabid anti-American fanatic and spewing rabid anti-Americanism yourself, even as you condemn russophobia. You're exactly the kind of hypocrite who has brought Russia to her knees and, momentarily, will administer the coup de grace. With "friends" like you, Russia needs no enemies.

Anonymous said...

Ла Руссофак,

Why do you insult people? Nor Kostya, nor me insulted you.Right?
All our guilt is that we want our country, his parents, MY PARENTS WHO SURVIVED FUCKING LENINGRAD BLOCKADE! to live just good.
What is your mission?
Why do you so hate us? A bad love/sex experience??? Come. I'll fuck you so, that you will lay down a week enjoying it.

Or you are just sick bitch?

Tell us!

Anonymous said...

About you, LR:
"It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them."
Pierre Beaumarchais, French businessman & comic dramatist (1732 - 1799)

For the rest of us:
"To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead."
Thomas Paine, US patriot & political philosopher (1737 - 1809)

Anonymous said...

The author of this blog either is blind-deaf-and-dumb or has a tremendous brainwash from the nostalgic comunists/tzarists, embedded in the figure of the dictator called Putin.
Get out of Russia and see how brainwashed and blinded people are kept there...for people like me who have been there a few times, it is clear that the dictatorship present in Russia is far worse than 20 years ago: it is the same, but making everybody believe it is not.

Anonymous said...

What I find most disturbing about this piece, besides the ad hominens in the comments, is the lack of discussion about truth. It's not about who is supporting who, but about the truth of allegations.

In the modern history of warfare, we have tried to minimize the damage of war on civilians. That's what all of the various treaties and conventions are about. Yes, war is hell, but there is no excuse for rape and murder - period.

Human rights abuses need to be exposed. The American soldiers who raped and killed a young Iraqi girl and killed her family should be punished. Just as Russian soldiers should who commit such crimes in Chechnya. This isn't just about "sides," it's about civilization and humanity. We are not savages, we do not pull people out of mosques and burn them alive, as they are doing in Iraq. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than the barbarians who wage Jihadist wars, and rightly so.

Pietari, you claim that CNN demonized the Serbs. So did they fabricate the tapes of the massacre at Srebrenica?

Journalists ought to be praised for uncovering the truth. It's then up to the population at large to decide what to do with that information. Unfortuantely, it is often manipulated, or suppressed. We are adults, we can deal with difficult situations and should not be afraid of the truth.

Anonymous said...

http://www.discovery.org/scripts/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=5&search=Michael+Averko

Owen:

I invite you to read a recent Russia Blog article of mine which at the end has a lengthy discussion that (in part) addresses your rhetorical point. If the link at my name didn't appear, you can cut and paste the above link to procceed in accessing the mentioned article.

The Srebrenica "tapes" don't reveal the bogus claim of 8000 Muslims being summarily executed at that town. There's no proof of that whatsoever. Quite the contrary.

You know anything about what Nasir Oric did in that town? Without Googling his name, are you aware of who he is?

Anonymous said...

What happened to this blog? It's almost dead :( I used to come often to read , Konstantin, and then you started that whole copy/paste thing lately and then stopped writing totally.
We , your readers, hope that you are fine and that this blog will be back to life soon with YOUR writings and comments, PLEASE!

Anonymous said...

Is this blog still alive?

Anonymous said...

Could the owner of this blog post anything to let us know that he's fine?
Konstantin; hope you are OK

Anonymous said...

Man, I'll delink ya, if you don't give a sign of life in the near future. Where are you?

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Anonymous said...

The history of perfume goes back to Egypt, although it was prevalent in East Asia as well. Early perfumes were based on incense, not chemicals, so aromas were passed around through fumes. The Roman and Islamic cultures further refined the harvesting and manufacturing of perfumery processes to include other aromatic ingredients.

Thus, the ancient Islamic culture marked the history of modern perfumery with the introduction of spices and herbs. Fragrances and other exotic substances, such as Jasmine and Citruses, were adapted to be harvested in climates outside of their indigenous Asia.

Anonymous said...

Ah….the sweet, smell of perfume! Today's market is flooded with hundreds and hundreds of different fragrances ranging

from floral to woodsy. Most women love the smell of perfume, wearing it even when going to the grocery store. The problem

is that perfume allergy for some women, is anything but nice.

Anonymous said...

Choosing the right perfume can be difficult and because it is also considered an intimate gift buying the wrong perfume

can backfire on you and get you the opposite result of that which you hoped for.

The first thing you need to do is do some homework, meaning research. Look at your lady's perfume bottles, the ones that

are nearly empty will be her favorites. If there is one there that is nearly full chances are she doesn't wear it often

or doesn't like it. Hint around and ask her what types of fragrances she likes and dislikes.

Humans are very sensory oriented and our sense of smell is no different. Certain perfumes can elicit strong reactions in

both the wearer and the person reacting to the scent. Perfumes are made not only to attract but to also relax someone. If

you aren't totally sure what kind of perfume to buy you can always play it safe and get something in the aromatherapy

line. If you go this route, bear in mind that vanilla scents are considered to relax and a peppermint or lemon scent will

be more stimulating.