Forbes
came out on July 18 with a piece focused on the 2016 Republican platform
vis-a-vis Russia.
Its headline read, "Trump, Deferring
to Putin, Deleted GOP Platform's Call to Supply Ukraine with Lethal Defensive
Weapons."
There isn't anything in this headline that is demonstrably true. Interestingly,
that same Trump-Putin theme is being voiced strongly by the Hillary Clinton
campaign. Trump is in cahoots with Vladimir Putin they claim. There's been no
factual substantiation, though.
Let's pick off a couple of the clearest points first.
Forbes said, "Under Putin, Russia
is in the top list of journalists killed for political motives."
The article references the Committee to Protect Journalists as the authority on
that. But CPJ's own website puts that story in better perspective. Here is the
organization's list of the 20 deadliest countries for journalists:
1. Iraq:
111
2. Philippines:
75
3. Algeria:
58
4. Colombia:
43
5. Somalia:
41
6. Russia:
36
7. Brazil:
36
8. Mexico:
34
9. Pakistan:
33
10. India:
26
11. Turkey:
22
12. Bangladesh:
19
13. Syria:
17
14. Rwanda:
17
15. Tajikistan:
14
16. Afghanistan:
12
17. Sri Lanka:
10
18. Sierra Leone:
9
19. Nigeria:
8
20. Peru: 8
Although Russia
really is in that top 20 list, it clearly does not top the list.
Forbes suggested these murders in Russia
were political assassinations.
But CPJ instead calls them "Journalists Killed in Russia/Motive
Confirmed." CPJ goes on to explain: "We consider a case 'confirmed' only if we are reasonably certain that a
journalist was murdered in direct reprisal for his or her work; was killed in
crossfire during combat situations; or was killed while carrying out a
dangerous assignment such as coverage of a street protest."
That covers a lot more territory than the alleged political assassinations
ordered by Putin per the Forbes'
article. It could include a death resulting from a business dispute, a result
of a war zone injury, or a result of a domestic protest gone violent, among
other things.
Forbes lied. The CPJ statistics are
not focused on politically motivated deaths.
Certainly the 36 journalist deaths in Russia are nothing to brag about.
But here's another fact. All those journalist murders for which Forbes blames Putin didn't even happen
under Putin's watch. Indeed, under Yeltsin there were more murders per year on
average.
Again Forbes lied, plain and simple.
And just to illustrate the utter vacuousness of the Forbes claims: one of the journalists murdered after Putin became
president is Paul Klebnikov, an American of Russian decent, and, ironically,
editor of the Russian edition of Forbes.
Klebnikov was no critic of Putin, and actually admired him. According to NBC
News, "He saw his ancestral homeland, after years of crime-infused chaos
and government corruption, moving forward under a strong leader, President
Vladimir Putin."
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