Defender of Putin, Detained in Russia: American Activist Deemed U.S. 'Agent'

[uhnope]

Source: RFL/RE

For a person who has dedicated her life to improving ties between Moscow and the West -- and who has passionately denounced what she calls the "demonization" of President Vladimir Putin by Western media and officials -- Sharon Tennison has gotten a strange reception in Russia.

Tennison, an American activist whose bridge-building efforts date back to the Cold War, and her colleague were detained this week in the southern city of Volgograd for violating the terms of their tourist visas and fined 2,000 rubles ($26) apiece. A Volgograd court ruled on February 16 that Tennison and fellow activist Theodore McIntire were not acting as tourists when they held a meeting about relaunching programs run by the Center For Citizen Initiatives, a San Francisco-based NGO that Tennison launched in 1983 to "bring about a constructive relationship with the Soviet Union."

That they were dinged for their visa status is not necessarily surprising: anecdotal evidence suggests that authorities in various Russian regions in recent years have clamped down on Western academics and NGO workers conducting research and other work on tourist or business visas. What is surprising is how Tennison, a staunch opponent of current U.S. policy toward Russia, and her organization have been portrayed in Kremlin-loyal and state-owned media: namely as nefarious agents of American influence.

The sensationalistic LifeNews website, which is widely believed to have ties to Russia's security services, reported that Tennison and McIntire "met with businessmen, conducted seminars, invited [people] to the United States for internships, and in every possible way tried to impose American values." The local Volgograd web portal V1.ru called the activists "U.S. State Department agents," while the local edition of the national broadsheet Moskovsky Komsomolets called them "propagandists from the U.S."

Read more: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-sharon-tennison-detained-us-agent/27558544.html

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[msanthrope]

1. Um......what's her DU name? nt

[iandhr]

2. Beat me to it.

Let me give you props for this post before it gets altered on.

[msanthrope]

3. I'm worried that a good DU'er....another liberal like me is being falsely accused. nt

[geek tragedy]

4. I can't make you love me ... nt

[LiberalLovinLug]

5. Laugh it up

But the world needs more people like her. Not excusing Putin's behaviour in many different fronts. He is a megalomaniac autocrat overseeing a corrupt oligarchy much like a giant Mafia.

But if the world is ever going to come together to fight important issues like global warming, poverty, middle east conflicts, and on ...people need to rise above the "I know you are but what am I?" juvenile attitudes of the cold war like thinking and find common goals instead of the perpetual demonization of each other.

[uhnope]

6. more people like Neville Chamberlain, in other words. nt

[LiberalLovinLug]

8. So must REALLY hate Obama's "cowardly" overtures

in regards to the Iran nuclear deal
And also in normalizing relations with Cuba. He should have just declared war immediately "bomb bomb bomb Iran..." (and then Cuba)

But political leaders are not what I was referring to. Usually there is all kinds of peripheral motives of political ramifications that one must filter when reading about those decisions at that level.

I am talking about women like this, or even people like Samantha Smith

You laugh at this stumble, but I admire and respect people who go against the grain and do such a thankless endeavor with the endgame of making the world a more peaceful place.

[uhnope]

9. ok let's not argue

I respect that's how you see what's going on in this case and that you hope she is fostering goodwill among citizens of different countries. I don't think that's the case, though.

There's a line between fostering peace and supporting a dictatorship. Ms. Tennison has stepped over that line; in fact
her blog http://www.russiaotherpointsofview.com is filthy with Kremlin conspiracy theories, apologia for the war on Ukraine and general Russian neocon BS. It even has a CT abbreviation, WMSM, that I've never seen before (Worldwide MSM?). I respect that you seek the fostering of goodwill between regular people in different lands. This Ms. Tennison is not worthy of your admiration on that score, however. In fact the more I look into her doings the more I see a sold-out crank & collaborationist airhead so I hope she enjoyed her stay in gulag-lite.

[LiberalLovinLug]

10. Agree to disagree then

Thanks for the link. You only solidified my beliefs. I did not know about her, but now I have a great deal of respect for this bold maverick that is going against the grain and actually honestly trying to communicate with the west, just how Russians see the world from their perspective. This is a first step. I have no doubt that our MSM distorts facts to fit the Big Bad Russia narrative for its viewers. Just as most likely Russian controlled media distorts the evils of the US. It takes a brave soul to wade into that swamp and not be just another paid and bought "journalist" that mimics western corporate talking points on the Evil Empire. Whether one agrees with Russia's viewpoints or not, the more important issue is understanding where it comes from first and foremost.

I think there are powers that be, in the US and in Russia, who view transparency, and those who threaten the political establishment in usurping their control over the narrative, especially some foreigner from a country they are competitive with, as a threat in itself.

[Blue_Tires]

7. LOL...