I used to trust (broadly speaking) news coverage from the BBC. In recent years I have come to suspect that their coverage is biased, selective, hypocritical and (in part) flatly untrue. As so often, Peter Hitchens makes the case powerfully:
Yes.
Unfortunately the Western media are infexcted nowadays with Russobia and the Russian media are infected with Westernfobia.
We have very critically to read and listen to all articles in both sides and to wait for a better time in our relations.
I hope they will come.
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I agree with Evgueny.
I want to remark however that a significant minority in the West is apparently infected with Russophilia instead, which in my opinion is just as bad.
Btw the BBC’s coverage of middle eastern politics is just as biased.
The nice thing about knowing foreign languages is that while it is difficult to get to the sources you can critically read articles from all the sides.
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I don’t know about you guys , but it seems to get worse after Trumps victory, and it’s weird because everything that comes from Russia is a big danger, cold war is back…and so on.I think this has to do with Hillary’s loss, mainstream midia has made many mistakes during the campaign and they do not want to admit it.
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I think this is because of a political and (perhaps) diplomatic contrast. An example would be the U.S. supporting the Syrian rebels and Russia supporting the Assad Regime.
Something you must clarify when talking about these things (and similar things like China) is that you have to clarify whether you are talking about Russia politically or culturally.
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The war on nuance continues. Depending on who you ask, Putin is either the greatest leader in world History or the next Hitler.
I might be an exception to that rule, because even though I lean to the right of the political spectrum, I am nowhere near polarized.
Agreed. I for one do not by any means view Putin and his policies in an uncritical way. I don’t think he’s a very nice guy. I wouldn’t probably want him as my buddy. I don’t have a huge admiration for him. I do find, though, that he is systematically demonised by mainstream Western media. And in so doing they apply blatant double standards. If civilians are killed in the fighting in Aleppo it’s a disgusting foul and brutal warcrime. Yet when civilians are killed by the US airforce (and indeed the RAF) in Mosul, it’s just unfortunate collateral damage! For the most part, of course, it’s not even mentioned.
They drone on about Assad “killing his own people”. Yet they studiously ignore the fact that we are helping regimes in other parts of the world to do the exact same thing!!
The BBC is also talking a lot about a “genocide” which is - allegedly - going on right now in Aleppo. After spending perhaps 10 minutes of airtime going heavy on this they will just very quickly tuck in at the end that they have not been able to confirm the reports independently (i.e. they have zero concrete evidence for it.) So why bang on about it before getting their facts lined up?
Yes. I blame the media. It bleeds into Hollywood, where the Russian is always the bad guy as well as other aspects and it just creates an atmosphere of xenophobia.
I don’t see good relations happening anytime soon. Sour relations seem to have been this way since the establishment of the USSR (I say this because in the 1910s, the same interest of imperialism was shared). There’s just a conflict of interest and values between Russia and the West.
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It’s a shame, really. The unsavory nature of the Assad regime complicates things, but Russia and the US have a common enemy in radicalized Islamic jihadis and should be allies to some degree. I admit that I’m probably naive. I generally avoid all things political – I can’t do anything about them but see my blood pressure rise.
All the Russians I meet on Hello talk seem really friendly.
Not as much as Egypt. Egypt really pissed off Putin with this, which is of course the best video on the internet - YouTube
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Same with all the Ukrainians, Russians, and Kazakhs that live in my city. They’re arguably the hardest working people I’ve worked with and tutored. They’re quite the breath of fresh air really, because they still believe in old values like family and maintaining friendship from the old neighborhood, while a lot of the people around here are materialistic.
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"Too many of Mr Putin’s critics end up dead - around twenty since he took power in 2000. "
Is this true or not? Are the following news articles all influenced by “russophobia”?
List of journalists killed in Russia List of journalists killed in Russia - Wikipedia
‪Here’s a list of Putin critics who’ve ended up dead Here's a List of Putin Critics Who've Ended up Dead via @bi_politics‬
‪The Putin Critics Who Have Been Assassinated http://news.sky.com/story/
‪More of Kremlin’s Opponents Are Ending Up Dead More of Kremlin’s Opponents Are Ending Up Dead - The New York Times
i think people should separate the russian government from the russian people i find peole just lump all russians as one thing
I feel like young people are just like us. The ones who were raised in Soviet times are the greatest in my opinion. In my experience, people our age (I’m guessing we’re 18-25 here) are always on their phones just like we are.
Yes. It’s hilarious to see John McCain and other extremely old politicians talk about hacking like they know what they’re talking about. Also very ironic to see CNN blaming fake news.
Hopefully they’ll change their attitude before the next election or we will have another two term president (4th in a row!).
Andrew Kramer More of Kremlin’s Opponents Are Ending Up Dead - The New York Times said:
"…From a certain perspective, certainly the Kremlin’s, Vladimir Kara-Murza’s behavior in Washington could be seen as treasonous, a brazen betrayal of his homeland.
In a series of public meetings on Capitol Hill, Mr. Kara-Murza, a leader in the Russian opposition, urged American lawmakers to expand economic sanctions against the Russian government…"
Maybe the Kremlin thinks it can help traitors to mother Russia to regain their honour through death?