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March 26, 2024
Even for "Democracy Now" Putin's To Blame for the Rock Concert Massacre
By Mike Rivage-Seul
Even "Democracy Now," even Amy Goodman are not immune from disseminating Russophobia. They too can be fooled by the Grand Wurlitzer of U.S. propaganda.
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Last week at least 137 Russians were killed at the Crocus rock concert outside of Moscow. Untold numbers were wounded, some remaining in critical condition. ISIS K has reportedly claimed responsibility.
However, according to "Democracy Now" (DN) do you know who the real culprit is?
"Putin!"
That's the takeaway the program's audience was left with at the end of today's program (3/25/24).
The presentation said little about the attack itself, much less about its impact on the Russian people. Nothing at all about how or by whom the attack was planned. No real identification of "ISIS K." Nothing but denials about Ukraine, and not even a mention of possible U.S. involvement.
Instead, DN's report was all about "Putin" (never "President Putin" or "Mr. Putin," only a disdainful "Putin.")
Accordingly, DN centralized interviews with two anti-Kremlin guests whose evident intention was to blame the whole tragedy on the Russian president. The guests were Nina Khrushcheva, Professor of international affairs at the New School, and Moscow correspondent of The New Yorker, Joshua Yaffa. According to both:
I found all that extremely disappointing - especially since (to her credit) Amy Goodman's coverage of world events does not usually follow the direction mandated by U.S. propaganda. However, in this case, it clearly did.
Instead of the usual denunciations of "Putin" it would have been much more informative to investigate the actual perpetrators of last week's massacre. Ex-CIA personnel such as Ray McGovern and Larry Johnson could have helped with that. So could an interview with Scott Ritter (see below). Together or separately, they might have contextualized the horrific event by pointing out:
In any case, here's what Russian expert and former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter had to say about the Crocus tragedy:
The lesson to be drawn from all this is one of extreme caution. Putin is not the issue here. Possible connection with Ukraine and the CIA is.
And regardless of what we might think of Scott Ritter's analysis, it signals the complications of the questions at hand, the importance of not jumping to conclusions and of asking the right questions.
Propaganda, fake news, changing the subject, and gaslighting are everywhere. Even "Democracy Now," even Amy Goodman are not immune from disseminating Russophobia. They too can be fooled by the Grand Wurlitzer of U.S. propaganda voiced by characters such as Khrushcheva, and Jaffa.
The lesson here (as always) is to focus on the heart of the matter, don't allow misdirection of attention; retain constant suspicion of anything our government tells us. They're all liars. Ex-CIA director Mike Pompeo put it best when he said as much:
Mike Rivage-Seul is a liberation theologian and former Roman Catholic priest. Retired in 2014, he taught at Berea College in Kentucky for 40 years where he directed Berea's Peace and Social Justice Studies Program. His latest book is "The Magic Glasses of Critical Thinking: seeing through alternative fact & fake news." Mike blogs at
http://mikerivageseul.wordpress.com/