Russia’s distortions of the truth

This report from the Moscow Times gives a flavour for how Russian television is covering the crisis:

“Russian television is flush with footage of misery left by the Georgian assault in the separatist district of South Ossetia, but few, if any, reports mention Russia’s bombing of Georgia. William Dunbar, a correspondent in Georgia for English-language state channel Russia Today, mentioned the bombing in a report Saturday, and he has not gone on air for the station since. ‘I had a series of live, video satellite links scheduled for later that day, and they were canceled by Russia Today,’ he said by telephone from Tbilisi on Sunday. ‘The real news, the real facts of the matter, didn’t conform to what they were trying to report, and therefore, they wouldn’t let me report it. ‘I felt that I had no choice but to resign,’ he added”

The Russian government is pumping out propaganda—see Vladimir Putin’s claim that the Georgians are engaging in genocide —hoping that this will influence the way that the media covers the conflict. It is also worth remembering that the idea that Georgia started all this is wrong-headed. As the Washington Post puts it in its editorial this morning:

“This weekend’s fighting was provoked by Russian-advised South Ossetian separatists; Georgia foolishly responded to the provocation”

To be sure, any resolution to this conflict is going to need to be acceptable to the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. But this fighting was started at Russia’s urging and is being expanded by Moscow at every opportunity. Indeed, there is even talk in security circles that the Russians launched this assault to derail the progress the German government was making towards mediating a settlement in the more strategically vital region of Abkhazia.