Spectator letters: RT replies, Bristol bristles, and Ross Clark doesn’t (yet) eat his hat

Moscow writing

Sir: After months of lamentations from western politicians and officials about losing the ‘information war’ to Russia, a former executive editor of Radio Free Europe tries to paint everything Russia Today does in terms of a ‘propaganda’ campaign (‘Moscow calling’, 6 December). If RT is not inherently bad, it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, says John O’Sullivan.

Take the sectarian violence in Libya, and the Syrian rebel groups that have now become Isis. Russia Today was reporting on these issues years before anyone else cared to. According to O’Sullivan’s article, when we cover the hypocrisy of US or European policies it is simply to further RT’s pro-Russian, anti-western agenda. Mass surveillance, drone strikes on civilians, police abuse — according to John O’Sullivan, these are all Russia-favouring stories that are only covered because President Putin orders it.

It is disappointing that an organisation such as The Spectator, whichpurports to advance public debate and democracy, has to resort to such undignified tactics to try and bring down the competition.
Margarita Simonyan
Editor-in-chief, Russia Today, Moscow

In praise of Russia Today

Sir: In September last year, Russia Today gave me my 15 minutes of fame, to talk about the worsening situation on Ascension Island. There, people who hold full British nationality were and are being gravely mistreated on sovereign British territory, by and on behalf of the US military, whose air base dominates the island, and who would much rather the Brits weren’t there.

It is a national disgrace, and to this day only RT has bothered to run this story. The BBC has never done so. Sky News directly refused — I know, because I tried to interest them in it. Not for the first time, and doubtless not for the last, thank goodness for RT. If you do not like it, then better it. You could start by examining the situation on Ascension.