Danielle Ryan - ‘Russia doesn’t have a good side’: More xenophobic bile spewing forth from Western ‘experts’

Many Labour Party members are being accused of being antisemitic, but what about the blatant the anti-Russianism that is rampant in the West. Why doesn't the liberal and anti-racist Guardian call this out? 

Pretending to ‘understand’ Russia has become quite the lucrative business for Western media professionals in recent years – and “leading” Russia expert extraordinaire Keir Giles is the latest to believe he has cracked the code.

Generous Giles has published a list of 10 “ground rules” for befuddled Westerners seeking to unravel the enigma that is Russia – but before we delve into the finer details, let’s add some important context. This Russia whisperer is a “senior consulting fellow”at Chatham House – a British think tank receiving funding from the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO), the UK Ministry of Defence, the British Army and the US embassy, as well as an impressive array of arms manufacturers. 

4. Bluster and bravado (a Russian thing)

We’re back to unintended irony for ground rule number four, where Giles explains that Russia “defaults to threats and feigned outrage” to “improve its negotiating position.” 

Threats and feigned outrage does sound familiar alright, but that couldn’t be right. Western politicians would never threaten to obliterate other countries or wipe them“off the face of the earth.”They’d probably also never invade and destroy multiple countries and then play the victim of the century when someone posts divisive memes on Facebook. They would never engineer military coups or cripple struggling populations with deadly economic sanctions, either. That would just be totally repugnant, wouldn’t it?

5. Russian ‘beliefs’ are a problem (always)

Giles reminds us in ground rule number five that Russia does “not consist of just one man” – an astute point from our new Russia guru. Unfortunately, however, he does not take this opportunity to point out how wrong it would be to tar all Russians with one brush. Instead he offers that it doesn’t matter which Russian occupies the Kremlin, because if they are being “driven by persistent Russian beliefs and imperatives” they will still cause problems. Presumably, Guru Giles would like the Russian president to be driven by Western beliefs and imperatives?

RT

Danielle Ryan - ‘Russia doesn’t have a good side’: More xenophobic bile spewing forth from Western ‘experts’