I hope NEO readers will forgive me for the plain-speak I am about to impart. Like most of you, the ludicrousness of Russophobia that’s been unleashed by the liberal world order is just over the edge. So, it’s high time we all call bullshit whenever we see, read, hear, or feel it in our proximity. Today, The Next Web (TNW) is on the pooping end of bullshit slinging.
“Vladimir Putin is extricating Russia from the world-wide-web,” by former U.S. Navy squid Tristan Greene plopped into the ever-growing pile of nonsense about Russia’s Vladimir Putin with a squishy thud. The former junior bozo manager at Midwest carryout franchise, Casey’s General Stores, is now a Putin expert on the level of banished Russian Yukos mafioso, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, I guess. You tell me, from this snippet of the article about a Russian version of Wikipedia:
“But the truth of the matter is that his “wall” will serve only to isolate the people of Russia from the world. Putin will have an “off” switch if an election doesn’t go his way or a foreign press publishes some dirt he doesn’t like. He’ll have the power to disrupt his people’s communication and keep open-source idea exchanges at arm’s length.”
Okay, my first question is for my colleague Zee Kane, who was the man who put The Next Web on the scoreboard in the first place. What the hell happened when you left, Zee? The platform that elevated the internet conference and discussion level in the world, it’s now a platform for NATO political shills? Oh, I see, looking at Wikipedia (ironically) I see that the Financial Times purchased a majority stake in TNW just this year.
Sorry, Zee, I bet you had no idea FT and its owners Nikkei, Inc. had taken over the voice of the web. Hell, are the Japanese attacking Putin now? I guess we are doomed to accept these hypocrites who take the easy road of Russia bashing instead of really critiquing levels of freedom.
Putin moves to counter the truly meddlesome efforts undermining his country, and now technology media chimes in with feigned worry about Jimmy Wales’ untidy brainstorm. Wikipedia was a genius idea, one that got convoluted about the time the crazy liberal lizards took it over. And Putin suggesting a better version is supposed to outweigh Facebook and Twitter censorship? Wow.
Russia’s president is moving to protect the Russian public from top-level propaganda. If Wikipedia can rearrange history, and if a generation of Russians grows up absorbing the bullshit, would President Putin be proud of that legacy? Here, let me show you how Wikipedia arranges history to suit the Russophobia mob. Take this page on the role of the Soviet Union in World War 2. The piece does not begin with an introduction, as it were, but a pronouncement of a Nazi-Soviet pact from the get go. Of course, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany did sign a non-aggression pact in 1939, but an introduction to the Soviet role in the war has to begin with the most weighty impact. This would be outlining the tens of millions who died to defeat Hitler, with the non-aggression pact as an addendum. This aspect is a bit subtle, but for anyone who is an author or historian, Wikipedia’s version is damnable.
“The Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany on 23 August 1939. In addition to stipulations of non-aggression, the treaty included a secret protocol that divided territories of Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland into German and Soviet Union “spheres of influence”, anticipating potential “territorial and political rearrangements” of these countries. In October and November 1940, German-Soviet talks about the potential of joining the Axis took place in Berlin, nothing came from the talks since Hitler’s Ideological goal was Lebensraum in the East.”
Now let’s revert to the Wikipedia page concerning the role of the United States in World War 2. Here we find a narrative that introduces Pearl Harbor, then the number of Americans who served and were killed, how America won even though she was the underdog, civilians on the home front, blah, blah, blah, and how we pretty much saved the day against the stain of the Nazis. There’s no mention of sanctioning Japan to death in order to force them to attack, none of Roosevelt’s preknowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack on rusty battleships, and etc. You can read about our prodding Japan to attack here at the Independent Institute, but not on Wikipedia.
I’ll spare the reader a deep dive into how America’s propaganda is the best propaganda ever leveraged. We’ve covered western mainstream media many times before. But this layered propaganda where lies are built upon lies that rest on a foundation of lies – it’s horrendous for anybody with an ounce of fairness in their bones. The Next Web? Give me a freaking break. Green goes so far as to proclaim California the “place you oughta be” like in the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies. Read this.
“It’s unclear how exactly the Russian president intends to “replace” Wikipedia. In geographical areas where the internet is relatively uncensored, such as California, it’s difficult to understand how the government could replace a website – we’d assume our leaders would simply provide a state-sanctioned alternative.”
Idiot. In California the censorship is universal. Whatever the Looney Tunes crack heads in Silicon Valley decree, however they dress on Rodeo Drive, whichever brand of Starbucks the transvestite next to you is drinking, THAT’s what flies in California. Sorry, it had to be said. Maybe this is the problem in the world? Do we assume that flashy, well-dressed sociopaths with sunglasses must be right in everything they do? The asylum, Pink Floyd’s mention of the lunatic in the grass.
Whatever happened to welcoming innovation and alternatives? Isn’t that how we got Facebook instead of MySpace? Did Google just pop up like corn did for the Pilgrims? Or, were there competitors that “somebody” said were better, more accurate, fairer? Oh, I forgot, Vladimir Putin and Russia are not allowed to think innovatively. That’s interference with the American Way… or somebody’s way.
Next Web, do me a favor and look in the mirror, will you?
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, he’s an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books. He writes exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”