"An Article Brings Sharp Responses From Russians"
"Some readers called it blatant propaganda from the West. Others viewed it as a depressing exposé that rang true. A third group said the facts did not matter, outsiders simply had no right to train a critical eye on their country.
Those were some of the reactions of Russians to an article in The New York Times that described the crackdown on democracy in Russia under President Vladimir V. Putin. The article was published Sunday, but in an effort to give readers a better feel for Russian opinion, The Times posted a Russian translation of the article on Friday morning on a Russian-language Web site and solicited comments.
The response was large. By Sunday night, nearly 3,000 comments had been made on The Times’s Russian-language blog on the site, www.livejournal.ru, which is Russia’s most popular blogging platform, with more than eight million users each month. The Times blog was one of the site’s five most heavily trafficked blogs for much of the weekend.
So the idiotically ignorant of the elites were again surprised at the reaction to their bullshit-peddling on the BLOGS of all places?
"Times Executive Editor Bill Keller wrote yesterday that he was "surprised by the volume of the reaction."
(Author of this blog shaking his head)
So when you gonna GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS, Times?
The article focused on one region, Nizhny Novgorod, to show how Russia has essentially become a one-party state under Mr. Putin. Russians responded by engaging in intense debates on the blog over the political situation in the country, relations between Russia and the United States and other topics.
The Moscow bureau of The Times reviewed the comments in Russian and translated scores that were representative of the strains of opinion on the site. The translations in English were then posted in the comments section that accompanied the article on www.nytimes.com.
Here are excerpts of the translations:
“I do not doubt that most or all of the facts in the article have a place, but they are a drop in the ocean. THERE IS NO ATMOSPHERE OF FEAR in the country, though the journalist is subtly painting the picture of a ‘bloody regime’ that pressures its citizens.
We do have problems and we will solve them in time. Democracy is great when you live under a warm roof and have your piece of bread with butter for lunch. For now, the people do not need democracy, but the possibility to live humanely.
Please, do not teach us how to live.” dmlord
“Russia has always needed to have a czar who tells people how to live and condemns things that are not right.” victor_aka
“You’re facing an uphill perception battle. Your article is a piece of investigative journalism; to you — but not to your audience. Most of what’s published in this genre in Russian are thinly veiled, slanted opinion pieces masquerading as reporting. Your work, to a greater or lesser extent, will be read in the same vein.” muphta
“We criticize our own government with pleasure, as well as the way of life that they impose on us. But we will never allow non-Russians to criticize our Motherland. Even Pushkin noted that.” 3rd_world_kid
“If it’s a propaganda material, it is very stupid and weak. If it’s a journalist’s text, such journalists have to fired for professional incapacity. It’s better not to translate such a nightmare into Russian. One can only repeat what McCain’s wife said: I am ashamed for The New York Times.” panam
“Anti-American propaganda is under the Russians’ skin, and will be for a long time.” Sashapyls
“It is funny to read this from people who, for 10 years, have invaded other countries, toppled the stable regimes that ruled and enforced their rules there. Especially funny to read it if you don’t forget about prisons and torture in Guantánamo. And completely funny when you recall how these people hanged the former president of the country they invaded. Why am I saying this? Because Mr. Putin and his team are evil, of course. And only cattle vote for him. BUT these are OUR problems. And WE will sort them out.” happy_bra
“People in Russia today have still failed to learn how to really look at things. For many Russians, it is still easier to blame some ‘enemy’ for all of their problems than to look for solutions to those problems.”
Rothschtein
“How frightening it is to live in this country.” ouks
“This article is somehow strongly reminiscent of an editorial in Pravda from the Soviet days. The journalistic brainwashing techniques are identical.” Yurvur
“So much noise, so much noise and the article itself is absolutely objective, it tells truth. Why attack it? Yes, the newspaper does not depend on any authorities, it’s difficult for the Russian bloggers to imagine it.” boris_petrov
“Americans don’t understand an elementary thing.
There is no real opposition, not because ‘Putin banned’ it, but because it has discredited itself.” archer5
“Ah, freedom of speech, the foundation stone of democracy. How you got me with your ‘denunciation’ of the Putin regime. Sometimes I think that the majority of people see more ‘totalitarianism,’ ‘dictatorship’ and other frightening words than there is in reality, much more.
My grandmother told me how in the 1940s at night they came and took people. That was a police state.” chiga28
“Looks like everything is correct and that overall, the quite ugly picture of political reality in Russia is outlined with high authenticity.
But why do I have such an unpleasant feeling from what I’ve read?
As the patriots correctly noted, the opinion of the reporter is too contemptuous, which is very close to America’s and Americans’ foreign political views on the outside world.” mark_ars
“This can be a first pebble skipped on the water, just to send out feelers and find a pretext to start a dialogue. Not a dialogue between Bush and Putin, but between our peoples, who are neither dumb nor bright, simply different.” falcon icp"
Also see: World War III: Who Started It?
Look for the New York Times reference, readers!
