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[Sashadroogie]

But that is not how the BBC is supposed to work. That bastion of objectivity is not allowed to present biased half-truths, use cheap tricks like associating one crime with another, nor make claims which it cannot back up. These low standards would not be acceptable if they were reporting on any other European country - but with Russia it seems any twisting of facts is fine. The best thing they had to say was that Russia was not North Korea. Wow! Such insight. Hang on, I'll do the same thing. The UK is not the Third Reich, despite its history of racism, concentration camps, imperial aggression and involvement in toppling sovereign governments. Dispassionate, eh?

The BBC would be better served looking after its own affairs, and ensuring that innocent children on its premises are never victimised again.

[coledavis]

You are right about the UK.

No, they also said that Russia did not seem a threat to other countries.

As for twisting of facts, well one of the problems is that this happens inside Russia, making it rather difficult for outsiders to do much more than speculate. Although the killings seem real enough.

[Sashadroogie]

Plenty of killings inside the UK and beyond, No doubt. But to connect them with government policy requires hard evidence - of which there is none in this article. Just supposition.

If this was Rush Limbaugh, we'd laugh at how naive American media are. But I fail to see anything in this BBC article that is better than his style of insinuating commentary.

[coledavis]

I know. One of the things that I have yet to substantiate is this rash of restaurant food poisoning in Britain. The Fat Duck could have had polonium on the menu. Pan-seared dogfish, drizzled with heavy water.

[Sashadroogie]

Prove that that was ordered by the Kremlin. Go on - dare you! Double dare ya!

[coledavis]

It has already been established.

Khrushchev's secret speech.

I'll have the smoked salmon, comrade, with lashings of that there lemonade, and some of that heavy stuff, what is it... ah yes, polonaise. Bolognese? Don't say Bolognese to me! I'll bury you. In polonaizshch...

The recording becomes a little vaguer.

Take the comrade's face out of the pelmeni, comrade.

[ecocks]

Without taking sides, I'll point out that at some point you have to present things like unsubstantiated claims, the numbers of journalists attempting to fly from balconies, simply disappear or becoming bullet magnets while riding the elevator.

At some point, journalism is SUPPOSED to ask questions even if they don't have the answers. Failing to report or denying that a question exists is how problems such as corruption, intimidation, persecution and discrimination get out-of-control.

If whistleblowers are not listened to then things will return to those "old ways" of doors crashing open in the middle of the night, neighbor spying on neighbor or only getting a job because you or your parent belong to some clique......come to think of it, even worse that "the old ways" could be like the current days in America.

[Sashadroogie]

Asking questions is one thing. Presenting conspiracy theories as half-fact, and ascribing blame to various government agencies is quite another.

Yes, bad things happen here, but who is to say that these incidents are not in reality caused by the CIA or MI6 in order to create instability inside Russia? Wouldn't be the first time they used dirty tricks like that, after all. Probably using NGO Trojan horses etc. I am fairly sure I could get a vox pop on the streets of Moscow to confirm that supposition. Should we ask those questions? Would that still be journalism? Or just peddling political distortions?

[coledavis]

Sashadroogie: the implication of western organisations that you have just made is as much smear as anything you have been criticising. Ecocks' point about this 'you have no evidence' way of looking at things is very true; in my situation, friends and foes alike use this excuse for not acting against the obvious culprit. Corrupt people make really sure that evidence is not forthcoming. If you go along with this - knowing perfectly well that press investigation does not carry the same weight of evidence as a criminal trial - then you are to some extent complicit.

[Sashadroogie]

Sorry, Cole. I have smeared nobody. I'm complicit in nothing at all. Look into the history of just Iran in the 20th century, and the interference with its sovereignty by the UK and the US, and see if my comments are not true. The actions of the UK and the US are well documented, and not even denied. Glossed over, but there is no attempt to deny that these actions were taken. The evidence is overwhelming.

To imply that the government of Russia is responsible for the murders of journalists, or whatever other heinous crime, is itself irresponsible because of the total absence of any hard evidence to support those claims. And it is lazy journalism too, which is possibly more dangerous freedom of expression than any conspiracy the likes of Luke Harding or the BBC can dream up.

[coledavis]

'Who is to say'... MI6... CIA ... come on! That's not smear?

And this 'you have no evidence' is exactly what the murderers and cheats use. I'm fighting one of these, as you well know, and that's exactly how they work. I know that after my enemy started his project, suddenly different government departments suddenly became intractable or hostile to our school, but 'you have no evidence'.

And our journalists are very active, until you suggest that they might investigate corruption. They go all introspective then.

In the case of the government of the country we live in: the president at times declares that enemies of his country will be pursued wherever they are. Or is that also not clear enough for you? I suppose you can explain it away as a strictly military statement; that would appear to suit your way of thinking at the moment.

[Dedicated]

Vladimir Putin is presiding over the worst time for human rights in Russia since the Soviet era, according to reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW). Since being re-elected as president a year ago, Putin has "unleashed a crackdown unprecedented in the country's post-Soviet history" said HRW, bringing in new laws and adapting existing ones to stifle dissent and intimidate critics and NGOs.

The reports were published last week to coincide with the opening of the trial in Kirov of Putin's most prominent critic, Alexei Navalny on fraud charges that many see as politically motivated.

Here in London we have not forgotten the poisoning in 2006 of Alexander Litvinenko with lethal radionuclide polonium -210, which was tracked back to a nuclear powerplant in Russia.

And what about Anna Politkovskaya, known for her opposition to Putin, who was assassinated in the lift of her block of flats?

[maruss]

After seeing the programme and reading the postings above, which all make some valid points, I have to agree with the last one most of all for several reasons: my personal experiences of living in Russia,(and my subsequent barring from the country) the experiences of former Guardian correspondent in Moscow Luke Harding who I know personally and who has written a very interesting and also alarming book which I recommend to anyone who wants to find out more about the 'nitty-gritty' of contemporary Russia, and last but by no means least, my conversations with Russian people who have varying levels of education and political opinions and who live both in Russia and here in Cyprus. As far as the BBC programme is concerned, within thirty minutes it is impossible to cover many topics in depth and my main criticism of it would be that it would have been more comprehensible if it had confined itself to only one or two of the cases presented: the final implication that the U.K. government is 'soft pedalling' on Putins regime to protect the business interests of British firms who have extensive dealings there is equally disturbing and says a lot about the ethics of governments in mnay countries!

[Sashadroogie]

More banal statements of the obvious, mixed in with reheated calumnies. Enjoy!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22986053

[teacher X]