On Sky News now: Lavrov giving a news conference

[madaboutharry]

and spewing the most outrageous propaganda. He is just recycling the lies about fighting Neo-nazis and seeking to protect the security of Russia and all of Europe. It seems obvious to me that he doesn't believe a word he is saying.

This false narrative about the state of things is embedded in Russian culture. Mark Twain, upon his return from a tour of Russia in the late 1860's, is said to have remarked "The Russian people will never be free, they are a nation of sheep."

In 1989, there was somewhere around 15 minutes of hope for Russia. I remember watching the news and as we witnessed Boris Yeltsin standing on top of a car, hearing Brian Williams say "We may not see something like Jeffersonian Democracy in Russia, but maybe we will see something close" That hope died quickly.

BTW: Sky News has a 24 hour feed on YouTube.

[Ford_Prefect]

1. I have my own doubts about Sky News and its origins.

Are they acting as a willing purveyor of Russian influence? Or ?

[madaboutharry]

2. Sky News in the U.K. is owned by Comcast,

which also owns NBC. So no, I don't think they are a willing purveyor of Russian influence.

It is different than Sky News Australia, which is now in the control of Rupert Murdoch. That is a different story.

[mwooldri]

4. No. If they were, not any more.

Sky UK isn't owned by Murdoch. Plus UK still has a rigorous fairness regime and a regulator that has some teeth left in it (despite Tory efforts to de-fang it over the decades). Its main competition is the BBC News Channel. Thus Sky News, even under Murdoch, had to be BBC-esque in its content.

[gab13by13]

3. COMCAST 2 major share holders are Vanguard and BlackRock.

[Joinfortmill]

6. Note to investment companies: Streaming services is where it's at

[Joinfortmill]

5. If someone doesn't stop Putin, Russia will become a world pariah

[wnylib]

11. He's not already a world pariah??

[tanyev]

7. I think one of these pictures needs to be included in every thread about Lavrov.

[madaboutharry]

9. Absolutely.

[Evolve Dammit]

10. LOCK HIM UP!!!

[BumRushDaShow]

12. "I remember watching the news and as we witnessed Boris Yeltsin standing on top of a car,

hearing Brian Williams say "We may not see something like Jeffersonian Democracy in Russia, but maybe we will see something close" That hope died quickly."

Gorbachev was running the place in 1989 and Brian Williams wasn't around nationally then (he was doing local NYC news broadcasts), although Tom Brokaw was.

The coup was in 1991 when Yeltsin asserted himself as a natural "replacement" to Gorbachev (who the RW coup-plotters had gone after).

ETA - Yeltsin on a tank then -



It's almost surreal that the above happened just over 30 years ago.

[madaboutharry]

15. I was watching local New York news at the time.

I lived in the tri-state area at the time and all the stations broke away from normal programming with news coverage.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. I live in Philly

and could pick up the local NYC stations (WCBS is on channel 2 there).

If you are referring to Yeltsin's initial election in the USSR legislature, then that clarifies the timing.

[DFW]

13. I've got to hand it to Lavrov

I've only seen Republican members of Congress and senior Fox Noise commentators capable of spewing out lies THAT outrageous with a straight face. He must practice for hours before a mirror before giving these performances. Even then, I'll bet he pleads with fearless leader, "c'mon, comrade president, you don't expect me to say THAT in public, do you?"

To which fearless leader says; "of course you can, Sergei. You do it every time, and you're brilliant at it. So what if no one believes you? We'll put it on our news, and in Russia nowadays, there is NO other news than OUR news."

Re-naming Russian imperialist ambitions worthy of Peter The Great as "protecting the security of Russia and all of Europe" is like getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar, and saying with a straight face that you are in fact repairing electrical circuits. Swallow THAT one at your own peril, and by the way, nobody is swallowing it.

[Evergreen Emerald]

14. He is the one Trump had in the White House after the inauguration.

Traitor.