Ruminations on Russia

Lord Skidelsky, wrote a somewhat balanced view in the Moscow Times (hurry the link will die tonight) on the Russia / Belarus spat earlier this year.  Copydude has been all over this both politically and musically (follow the link).  Skidelsky, somewhat more reasonably, than the blogosphere takes MSM to task for rolling out the same old list of misdemeanours without bothering to dig in to the background of the story.

The FT under Neil Buckley's leadership in Moscow has become a useless source for Russia insight and The Economist, with the honourable exception of Gideon Lichfield has maintained Edward Lucas' policy of being on the wrong side of the story so often as to be a great counter-indicator of reality, as Konstantin has catalogued. 

Intelligent comment is very difficult to find.  I am told that Le Monde is a good source, but my French is not up to it.

Coming Out Negative in the Balance:

"Let me return to the question of why Russia gets such bad press. First, many of the actions of the Russian state can and should be criticized -- as much by Russians as by those in the West. The country has no understanding of the meaning of the rule of law. It uses legal devices to obtain political objectives. This makes it look shifty and vindictive. Secondly, journalists are often just lazy. It is much easier to compile lists of misdemeanors and assert trends than to dig into the circumstances of particular cases."

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