If there was any effort to reign in Mamchur's insanity by the bigwigs at Russia Blog in October, however, it came to nothing. On November 7th, two weeks after he said it would appear and more than a month after its last attempt to discuss a political topic (the October 5th Putin rationalization discussed above), Mamchur finally did publish a post about Iran -- and it turned out to be a perfect microcosm of the blog itself. In that post (where, in a bit of really hardcore anti-American propaganda, he tried to convince his sap readers they should be happy that Putin and Ahmadinejad are in bed together) he cited (of all things!) the New York Post as authority for the proposition that Western media were wrong in claiming Vladimir Putin's recent visit to Iran was the first by a Soviet ruler since Stalin. He claims that Leonid Brezhenv did so. He's a liar. Brezhenev visited Iran in late 1963, but did not become the ruler of Russia until late 1964. Nikita Krushchev was the ruler of Russia when Brezhnev visited Iran, Brezhnev was just the figurehead president and was referred to at the time as "one of Nikita Khrushchev's most promising protégés." These are basic historical facts that even a child could unearth -- but not, of course, an ape from the New York Post or a sea slug from Russia Blog. The author of the Post article Mamchur quotes, one Amir Taheri, like Mamchur's own Discovery Institute, has been repeatedly accused of falsifying his writings.


In bizarre fashion, Mamchur couldn't even quote his own source correctly, going on to claim that Krushchev himself had also visited Iran when in fact the Post never said that; rather, it said the other visitor was Nikolai Podgorny. If that name doesn't strike you as being someone who ever ruled Russia, you know more Russian history than the Russian Mamchur does. Podgorny was another meaningless figurehead president (at least the Post gets that much right, but it misleads its readers into thinking that the president and the ruler were the same in Soviet times -- like saying the U.S. President pro tempore of the Senate is the actual ruler of the United States). On top of that, Mamchur mischaracterized (and did not even link to) what the Wall Street Journal wrote about Putin. The paper stated: "Vladimir Putin paid Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a visit yesterday, the first Russian leader to hit Tehran since Joseph Stalin in 1943. But let's not get too carried away by the comparison." Mamchur's characterization: "The Wall Street Journal rushed to report that Putin is the first Russian leader to visit Iran since 1943." So not only was the Journal correct that no Russian ruler had visited Iran since Stalin, it didn't "rush" to judgment -- rather, it called for moderation.

Or maybe Russia Blog thinks that if Robert Byrd (i.e., somebody most of the world has never heard of, but the current President pro tem of the Senate), visits Iran, that means it's OK to report America's "leader" has done so? But that can't possibly be, since in his October 5th post seeking to rationalize Putin becoming prime minister, Mamchur wrote: "The position of Prime Minister in Russia is largely a ceremonial one, and decisions about ministry appointments are made by the President. It really doesn’t matter at the moment whether Putin supports United Russia, nor whether he accepts their offer to assume the Prime Minister’s position." In other words, it doesn't matter if Putin becomes Prime Minister, because that's not a real job.

Yet, apparently, Brezhnev's job as figurehead made him Russia's "leader." Go figure!

This kind of crap has been spewing out of Russia blog for much too long. Those who publish it are simply incapable of telling the truth, much less of publishing professionally researched, reliable facts about Russia. Instead, they are engaged in a naked propaganda screed seeking to subvert U.S. national security while advancing that of Russia and its neo-Soviet Kremlin.

They must be stopped.


After nothing but a few insipid travel pieces from the clueless Charles Ganske between November 8th and November 25th, on November 26th, Russia Blog started posting again, with a diatribe about how we must not start a new cold war with poor little misunderstood Russia. This was followed on November 29th by a second diatribe about the evils of a defensive U.S. missile system in Europe. In calling for "understanding" of Putin's Russia, Russia Blog echoed verbatim the statements of Mikhail Gorbachev in the International Herald Tribune, who wrote that Putin has "shown wisdom and courage" and deserved respect. Two posts in between dealt with Russia's allegedly booming economy, with not one single word about the upcoming Duma elections and the pandemic electoral fraud being practiced by the Kremlin as Russia became a one-party state. Mamchur did find time, however, to make reference to "millions of dollars from the jailed Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky [which] have been paid out to PR agencies in Washington and London, creating a small but vocal anti-Russia lobby." Small? The world's press has been aflame with reporting on the outrageous actions of the Kremlin over the past few weeks, obliterating even the pretense of democracy and firmly establishing dictatorship. Over the weekend, the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal published major op-ed pieces condemning Putin's dictatorship. John McCain, one of the leading figures in the U.S. foreign policy establishment and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, has called for Russia's ouster from the G-8. Mamchur simply ignores it all and, in classic neo-Soviet style, attempts to create a parallel reality totally detached from any semblance of accuracy. In other words, just as if he were on the Kremlin's payroll, Russian Mamchur is trying to change the subject.

No discussion of the elections, much less Russia Blog's outrageous lies about them in the past, much less a correction or apology. It's neo-Soviet Russia in a nutshell, and it couldn't be more clear that Mamchur is a Kremlin functionary. From Russia Today to Russia Profile to Russia Blog, the Kremlin's incipient efforts to undermine basic facts is relentless and perverse.

This must be stopped. If Discovery Institute has an ounce of self-respect, it will do so immediately.


Finally, whilst we are on the subject of Russia Blog, one other point should be mentioned in passing. We've long suspected that Russia Blog was artificially manipulating its traffic by using paid services to drive unsuspecting web surfers onto the blog for a few seconds. Now, we believe this has been conclusively established. As indicated above, Russia Blog's posting had dropped off dramatically over the past few months, and its substantive posts had dwindled virtually to zero. Currently, La Russophobe has more Technorati linking blogs than Russia Blog, though in previous times Russia Blog has been slightly ahead (because it is a much older blog) -- we also have three times more blog reactions than Russia Blog. This is obviously due to the fact that the blog hasn't been posting significant content. Yet, Alexa's data shows that Russia Blog's traffic level hasn't been influenced in the slightest by their lack of content, as any sort of logic would dictate it must be (in fact, the data actually shows a increase in traffic in the most recent period). We believe this can only be because Russia Blog's traffic has nothing to do with its content, it's artificial and, like the blog itself, an utter sham.

Just one more reason why Discovery Institute should shut Russia Blog down for good and send "composer" Yuri Mamchur off to the Russian woods to compose his imaginary symphonies for the listening pleasure of the mushrooms.