<nettime> Anne Applebaum

["allan siegel" <allansiegel@internet-mail.org>]

Dear Michael and Nettimers,

I do not favour a pre-screening of articles or anything of the like. Rather I am concerned about pointing out and contextualizing certain political arguments. Although she may think otherwise Applebaum represents a strata of opinion makers that specialises in a specific political terrain; in her case the Soviet Union, Eastern and Central Europe, etc. She operates within binary paradigms of East vs. West, democracies vs. autocracies etc.. She sits in an intellectual grandstand formulating opinions not exactly based on rigorous research but rather stemming from a form of entitlement in which the publications and books she has written spotlight and self-validate her opinions. She is not alone in her role as an ideological agent whose mission is to buttress forms of political discourse that take place within specified boundaries. These forms of delimited discourse are the bedrock of mainstream media - within the U.S. especially. A mainstream wherein the voices of activist movements in the U.S. have been historically marginalised, silenced and sometimes killed. I am simply stating facts here.

So, let me cut to the chase: the CIA, FBI, and all the various stripes of intelligence agencies have used journalists and writers as pollinators of skewed opinions and ostensible facts in order to maintain a superficially neutral status quo - all under the banner of a so-called democracy. 

Given the current extreme political tensions, and the proposals to hopefully avoid a full-out war and resolve the crisis, I was prompted to draw attention to Anne Applebaum's bona fides and the pool within which she swims. Especially given the clouds of misinformation floating across the horizon.

Best

Allan

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