LR publisher Kim Zigfeld recently sent the following letter to the editor of the Moscow Times. As we've previously indicated, it seems unlikely he has the fortitude to publish it.

To the Editor:

It was rather amusing to read in an op-ed from Kremlin supporter Vladimir Frolov (7/14) that "President Dmitry Medvedev has clearly passed muster at his first Group of Eight summit in Japan last week." The contrast with a news article the same date on declarations from Washington and London which basically called Medvedev a liar for breaking a previous promise to support UN sanctions against the rogue dictatorship in Zimbabwe could not be more stark. You reported: "In an unusually harsh statement, Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, accused Medvedev of going back on an earlier promise and 'standing with Mugabe against the people of Zimbabwe. The U-turn in the Russian position is particularly surprising and disturbing ... [and] raises questions about its reliability as a G8 partner.'"

If Medvedev had really been so impressive at the G-8, then Khalilzad wouldn't have used such intensely confrontational rhetoric. Mr. Frolov doesn't seem to realize that Russia, much less well qualified for G-8 membership than India and Brazil and not yet even a member of the WTO, is standing on the brink of international pariah status. As is so often the case behind the iron curtain, few are able to realize that the Emperor has no clothes.

Kim Zigfeld
Publisher, La Russophobe