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On 22 April 1963, the first broadcast of A View from Moscow premièred on Radio Moscow (which later became the Voice of Russia). For fifty years, I’ve hosted this programme. Every Saturday, it presented Moscow’s viewpoint concerning developments in the USA and in the rest of the world. 1963 was the height of the Cold War, but the programme ran regularly. Whoever started this war, it wasn’t Moscow. When President Truman ordered the nuclear bombing of Japan, after the total defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army by the Red Army, he didn’t so much aim at Tokyo as he did at the USSR, its recent ally in World War II… the bloodiest in human history. Besides that, in an infamous speech in Fulton MO, Truman’s political crony and mentor Winston Churchill accused the USSR of creating the Iron Curtain.
From week to week, from month to month, and from year to year, I did my best in my commentary to break through the propaganda “Iron Curtain” created by the Cold War’s proponents. Every week, for fifty years, we tried to break the Western monopoly on interpreting political events by offering a POV different from the one provided by the powerful Western propaganda machine. A View from Moscow’s long life demonstrates that the Cold War, which broke out right after World War II, and which politicians say ended following the disintegration of the USSR, isn’t over. Unfortunately, it’s continuing to this very day at the propaganda level… it’s as relevant as ever. Compare the headlines of the Cold War years in the American media with the headlines today… there’s a lot in common… there’s the same aggressive tone, the same tendentious slant, the same intransigent obstinacy, and the same brazen disregard of the facts.
Let me give you an example of this. In August 2008, there was unprecedented media frenzy over what the West described as “Russian aggression against tiny Georgia“, but there was shameless silence regarding the results of an inquiry conducted by the Georgian government, which found that the “inappropriate behaviour of President Saakashvili” triggered the war. That’s only one incident out of many such! Whilst the Cold War proper knew surges and ebbs, détentes and “resets”, the “propaganda war” has no such pauses, no such relaxations. The “well-oiled”, lavishly-funded Western propaganda machine merely changed its façade from being anti-Soviet to being anti-Russian; its manipulators employ the same fraudulent methods in the pursuit of identical objectives. The lies remain, so, the need to balance these lies with the truth is still there, as well. Many people loathe the level of media manipulation in the West. Therefore, we have a duty to present an opinion other than the one beamed relentlessly by the Western media machine on a daily basis. That’s what I tried to accomplish for half a century in my work on A View from Moscow, and I want to give my thanks to all of my listeners and readers.
16 April 2013
Valentin Zorin
A View from Moscow
Voice of Russia World Service
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_04_18/The-Iron-Curtain-a-different-point-of-view/
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2013_04_16/Vzgljad-iz-Moskvi-Drugaja-tochka-zrenija/
Editor’s Note:
There is NO perfection in the real world. However, I’d mention that Joe Adamov and Val Zorin of VOR both admitted that they’d lied on-air and asked forgiveness PUBLICLY. Victor Potapov has NEVER asked for forgiveness for the lies that he broadcast and told on behalf of the US government. That is, Joe Adamov and Val Zorin “walked the walk”, whereas Victor Potapov (and all of his clique in the District) only “talk the talk”. You can approve of one or the other, but not both. Your choice illustrates your character, I’d say. As for me, I prefer Valentin Sergeyevich and the late great Joe Adamov… both of whom are head-and-shoulders above sell-outs like Potapov & Co (priests ARE forbidden to hold government posts, after all). Actions DO have consequences…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
Media Reports Say Syrian Rebels Take Responsibility for the Chemical Attack… Admit Weapons Were Provided By Saudis
Tags: AP, Assad, Assad family, Associated Press, Bandar bin Sultan, Bashar al-Assad, black propaganda, chemical weapons, Ghouta, Middle East, Middle Eastern, peace in the middle east, political commentary, politics, Politics of Syria, propaganda, Russia, Russian, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Syrian Government, United States, US Federal government, US government, USA, Vladimir Putin, Voice of Russia, VOR, WMDs
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In an interview with Dale Gavlak, a Middle East correspondent for the AP and Mint Press News, Syrian rebels tacitly implied that they were responsible for last week’s chemical attack. We couldn’t independently-verify some of the information. Gavlak wrote, “From numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters, and their families… many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the (deadly) gas attack”. The rebels noted it was the result of an accident caused by rebels mishandling chemical weapons provided to them.
Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of a rebel fighting to unseat Assad, who lives in Ghouta, said, “My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry”. As Gavlak reported, Abdel-Moneim said that his son and 12 other rebels died in a weapons storage tunnel. The father stated the weapons were provided to rebel forces by a Saudi militant, known as Abu Ayesha, describing them as having a “tube-like structure”, whilst others were like a “huge gas bottle”. A female fighter named “K” complained, “They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them. We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons. When Saudi Prince Bandar gives such weapons to people, he must give them to those who know how to handle and use them”. She, like other Syrians, doesn’t want to use her full name for fear of retaliation.
Gavlak also referred to an article in the Daily Telegraph about talks stating that Prince Bandar threatened President Putin with terror attacks at next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi if Russia doesn’t agree to change its stance on Syria. The article stated, “Prince Bandar pledged to safeguard Russia’s naval base in Syria if the Assad régime is toppled, but he also hinted at Chechen terrorist attacks on Russia’s Winter Olympics in Sochi if there is no accord”. Prince Bandar allegedly told Putin, “I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. We control the Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games”. Mint Press News stated that it couldn’t independently-verify some of the information and pledged to continue providing updates on this topic.
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A recent VOR post provoked a strong commotion among internet users; some of them claim that VOR’s reports are more credible than the US government’s allegations against the Syrian government. DylanJamesCo on Reddit wrote, “It’s more credible than the USA saying we have real evidence of Assad using them [chemical weapons]. Assad doesn’t get weapons from Saudi Arabia. They don’t have ties. The USA will use any reason it can to go to war. Even if it means creating one”. Meanwhile, not everyone shares such this point of view. KoreyYrvaI wrote, “VOR wants us to believe that the Rebels totally were responsible for the chemical attack, and it was an accident… because Russia has been impartial throughout all of this and I don’t think America (or anyone) needs another war, but this is hardly credible”. However, one thing unites users… they believe that the US government wants and needs another war in the Middle East. NineteenEightyTwo wrote, “America is just getting better at proxy wars. They have firm ties with the Saudis, and they’d have no problem destabilising Syria if it meant the USA could eventually target Iran and its oil reserve”.
30 August 2013
Voice of Russia World Service
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_08_30/Syrian-rebels-take-responsibility-for-the-chemical-attack-admitting-the-weapons-were-provided-by-Saudis-1203/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_08_30/Voice-of-Russia-might-be-more-credible-than-US-government-Internet-users-0863/