Ray Paints Putin as Bête Blanche on Russian TV Channel 1 Evening News today (Moscow time)

http://www.1tv.ru/news/world/279330

The ten-minute segment focused on familiar Western media snow-job showing Putin = Pure Evil. Camera crew had to four-wheel it to Ray through heavy snow Friday to tape interview, much of which actually survived (in Russian). Cravenly, Ray seized the opportunity to fall in tune — sort of – with the U.S. media that find all manner of reasons to paint Putin bête noire. Ray painted him bête blanche, as well, for arranging for so much snow to be dumped on Washington (Channel 1 actually left that part in).

In more serious vein, there is nothing remotely like this critique of U.S. media in U.S. media (surprise, surprise). Not even (as far as I know) by Jon Stewart — not even by democracynow, which is still using labels like “pro-Russian separatists” for those more accurately as described as anti-coup federalists.

Speaking of which, this story on page A6 of today’s Washington Post, says it all – or maybe not all. Does anyone notice anything missing?

RUSSIA

Putin had early plan to annex Crimea

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described a secret meeting with officials in February 2014 during which Russia decided it would take the Crimean Peninsula, the Black Sea region that Moscow annexed from Ukraine a month later.

In a trailer for an upcoming documentary, shown on state-owned television Sunday, Putin said he met with security officials early last year to make plans for saving Ukraine’s then-president, Viktor Yanukovych, who soon fled the country in the face of months of protests. Putin said that after the meeting he told the security chiefs that they would be “obliged to start working to return Crimea to Russia.”

He said the meeting was held Feb. 23, 2014, almost a month before a referendum in Crimea that Moscow has said was the basis for annexing the region.

— Associated Press

And so it goes.

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VIPS Memo: Curbs Needed on Surveillance State

 

https://consortiumnews.com/2015/03/05/curbs-on-surveillance-state-urged/

This memo discusses in some detail how close we now are to what Ed Snowden called “turnkey tyranny,” and offers constructive suggestions as to how we can remain free. It was drafted by longtime NSA official Edward Loomis who, together with William Binney and Kirk Wiebe quit NSA when Director Michael Hayden decided (now by his own admission) that he had the power to suspend the 4th Amendment – previously known at NSA as its “First Commandment.” The memo is meant as follow-up to our VIPS Memorandum of Jan. 7, 2014:

“NSA Insiders Reveal What Went Wrong:

NSA Insiders Reveal What Went Wrong

 

Gen. Petraeus: Too Big to Jail

While “lesser” Americans face years in jail for leaking secrets – even to inform fellow citizens of government abuses – retired Gen. David Petraeus gets a misdemeanor wrist-slap for exposing covert officers and lying about it, says ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who was jailed just for trying to ask Petraeus a question.

Gen. Petraeus: Too Big to Jail