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"Free" Failing

January 5, 2006 03:38 AM

For pure foolishness, I thought there was no way Kennedy School Russaphile Graham Allison could top his recent contribution to the Boston Globe, which I commented upon here. Allison asked "Who could have imagined" that Russia would today be doing any number of things that people might easily imagine, while never asking the most salient question of the moment: Who could have imagined that Russia would be slipping back into an aggressive authoritarianism that suppresses dissent and menaces its neighbors? Well, Allison concludes with a sigh, "there are always enough negatives to support the pessimists." Permit me to revisit that Globe piece for a minute, because it will help you understand that we were not dealing with standard-issue academic malarkey here. This was high test stuff:

In my view, Russia is still the land of the Matrushkas and Potemkin's village -- much more subtle and complex than we realize. One peels off one shell only to find another -- each layer embodying elements of truth, competing with contradictory realities both within and beyond.

You will not read a more fatuous bit of analysis this year.

So what's happened since? Well, the land of the Matrushkas, led by Patrushka Putin, tried to blackmail Ukraine into paying 400% higher rates for its gas by shutting off the spigot mid-winter. That's all.

Now, many a scholar, even at the Kennedy School, would be chastened by this kind of development. After all, most scholars wait years for their repudiation, and Allison received his almost overnight! But Allison simply shifted tack. Writing in the LAT this morning, Allison shows that he is in fact concerned about creeping authoritarianism in... Italy.

You know Italy. Overbearing mother figures. Constant threat to Albania. Participant in "cold war" over lift ticket revenues with Switzerland and Austria. World capital of scooter crashes.

Allison gets worked up over suggestions -- in this case by Sens. McCain and Lieberman -- that Russia, because of its "assault on democracy and freedom," does not belong in the Group of Eight, a consortium of the world's largest economies which now includes, well, Russia, which is not one of the world's largest economies. Meanwhile, nary a word is said about the gulags of Italy, where prisoners are stuffed with manicotti, prohibited from using explanatory hand gestures and forced to watch De Sica films without the sound on.

Okay, well not exactly. The actual problem with Italy is its president, Silvio Berlusconi. You see, he's the nation's "wealthiest individual" and is putatively quite corrupt -- even by Italian standards, I suppose.

Moreover, Berlusconi effectively controls 90% of national television broadcasting. He owns three networks and has indirect control over public broadcasting through his ability to influence the choice of the management at these stations. In its 2003 freedom of the press survey, Freedom House downgraded Italy's ranking from "free" to "partly free," where it remains today. [Emphasis mine]

Wait a second. Now, I don't know much about Italian politics, but I know how to read a basic chart! Read for yourself. Unless I'm mistaken, the 2006 survey awards Italy the top score (1 in scale of 1-7) in both its categories -- political rights and civil liberties -- and the flat designation "Free." I'll take Allison at his word on what the 2003 report says. But wouldn't that mean that press freedom has actually improved under Berlusconi?

Oh, and Russia? Well, FH gives them a low-end 6 for political rights and a 5 for civil liberties. "Not Free." But, hey, it's better than Cuba and Libya!

News Media | Russia

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Comments

Kofi Annan has stepped down at the U.N. - at least a decade too late. I predict future historians will find it difficult to judge whether this ineffectual dupe was the puppet of genocidal regimes and autocrats or just their indispensable enabler. It is tough to fully enumerate the sins and consequences of this repugnant figure, but this WSJ editorial begins the grim task.

December 17, 2006 05:59 AM · Permalink

I am often asked what it's like living in Ukraine. Well, yesterday afternoon I heard some hammering, and it sounded pretty close, so I went to se what was up. Looking out from a living room window I found two men in a cherry-picker, and they were hacking away at the rim of my balcony with sledge mallets, breaking away the concrete and tearing up the tiles. I figured the owner of my apartment must have forgotten to tell me she was having work done. Today I found out this wasn't the case. Alarmed, she phoned the Zhek - the state agency responsible for, but rarely inclined to undertake, the upkeep of public property. Their response was basically, News to us. We are now facing the prospect that we may never learn who these men were and why they were attacking my balcony, which now needs extensive repairs. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that I have been victimized in an act of serial vandalism by two men with sledges and a cherry-picker. That, my friends, is what it's like to live in Ukraine.

November 15, 2006 04:23 PM · Permalink

Help, I'm on crack!

Oops - I mean, Help, I've been hacked! Not sure how long it was there, but someone managed to place an unauthorized link in Ethanistan. If anyone clicked on it, I apologize for not catching it sooner. Unless it linked to something cool. In which case, I'm glad I could open your mind to new exotic experiences, man.

August 23, 2006 12:05 PM · Permalink

REVEALER, REVEAL THYSELF

Hmmmm. You can read through the entirety of Tony Judt's defense of the Mearsheimer/Walt paper without ever learning that Judt has called for the dissolution of Israel. Yet it's a not-unreasonable assumption that this argument, which was (of course) very controversial when it was aired, was what led the Times to Judt's doorstep in the first place. Bad copy editing?

April 19, 2006 08:29 AM · Permalink

Blair: Contra the "Doctrine of Benign Inactivity"

Britain being home to some of earth's most cynical and repugnant twits -- George Galloway and Harold Pinter, to name just two -- it is easy sometimes to forget the heroic moral fortitude its leaders have demonstrated at critical moments across history. Tony Blair reminds us why he deserves mention alongside Churchill and Thatcher.

March 22, 2006 10:08 AM · Permalink

Greg Gutfeld answers one of the blogosphere's great quandaries: How do you even begin to satirize a Web site that presents Alec Baldwin, Deepak Chopra and other B-list dinner guests as deep thinkers? It's the funniest thing in cyberspace at the moment. Don't miss Greg's "bio" -- and definitely do not miss the comments left below his entries by HuffPosters, confused and angry, who came for the wisdom of Cindy Sheehan and got rabbit-punched by this smartass.

March 1, 2006 10:58 AM · Permalink

A true gentleman of the Blogosphere has learned he must battle more than just Moonbats in the months and years to come. Stop by GM's Corner and give George a shout -- and maybe leave some change in the bowl on the way out.

February 16, 2006 05:29 AM · Permalink

Fight Fascism - Eat a Butter Cookie. Wikipedia provides a handy list of Danish companies here. Hey, if all of us here band together and buy Danish that would be like ... four or five bucks. But it's the principle that counts!

February 9, 2006 08:13 PM · Permalink

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