The CEO of the largest Russian media conglomerate died yesterday at the age of 57. The numerous media under his control spent years obsessively promoting the idea that evil Americans want to conquer Russia and impose “the gay lifestyle” on Russians. The TV and radio channels under his leadership were yelling “Western gays are coming to get you!” all day long.
Curiously, this media mogul died in the US, in a hotel located in Washington’s Dupont Circle, also known as the gay Mecca of the continent. It seems like the fantasies about the irresistible attraction of gay life promoted by his media stemmed from personal experience.
And by the way, this fellow’s entire family is living in the evil, corrupt West, just like the families of all Putin cronies.
Clarissa's Blog 
Regarding Russia, seems like you were wrong about that plane crash:
The United States appears to be increasingly confident that a terrorist bomb brought down the Russian passenger jet that broke apart over Egypt.
…
One official said it was “99.9% certain,” another said it was “likely.”
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The belief that a bomb was most likely to blame centers to a large extent on British and U.S. intercepts of communications after the crash from the Islamic militant group ISIS’ affiliate in Sinai to ISIS operatives in Syria, according to officials.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/08/middleeast/russian-plane-crash-egypt-sinai/
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This is a very convenient and gratifying narrative for Putin, of course. I was afraid he’d blame ISIS but he didn’t even need to. Everybody else is doing this work for him.
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So far Putin has been mainly attacking the “moderate rebel” forces (the so-called “good guys” directly opposing Assad) rather than targeting ISIS.
The general wisdom being expressed by pundits on the TV news channels (purely their subjective opinion, of course) is that Putin DOESN’T want the blame for the airplane disaster to fall on ISIS, because that will force him to respond very aggressively (as with the Chechen terrorists) to save face after such a blatant attack on Russians.
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Putin’s only solution to the second Chechen war was to give all the power away to the Chechens and to pay an enormous tribute to them for staying peaceful. That tribute is still being paid today with no end in sight. His aggressive response to the Chechens was all bluster and no action. Do you know that all Chechens were given amnesty for everything done in that war while Russian soldiers have no amnesty? And that the Chechen mafia has been given free reign in Moscow?
These are the reasons why the Russian nationalists detest Putin so much and believe he sold out to Chechens. Today in Russia Putin is the greatest defender of the Chechens and their interests.
As for ISIS, Russians already are convinced that they have only been bombing ISIS. They never hear about any Russian bombs falling on anti-Assad rebels. The Russian media report that Russian airstrikes have destroyed over 800 ISIS camps. This is deranged but that’s all people in Russia know. There is even a joke now that goes, “The Russian military has invented a new kind of missile. It has an ISIS camp built into its nose.”
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\ This is a very convenient and gratifying narrative for Putin, of course. I was afraid he’d blame ISIS but he didn’t even need to. Everybody else is doing this work for him.
What if ISIS has really done it? I hope we hear true reports, not Israel (*) and other countries doing “Putin’s work” for some reason. I know you care about Ukraine the most, but it is not about Ukraine, as far as I understand.
(*) CNN: Israeli Intel led to bomb conclusion for Sinai crash
Israeli intelligence sources reportedly provided critical communications intercepts to the US and UK that indicate foul play.
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I wouldn’t put it past the FSB to blow up the plane. Israel has nothing to do with all this. And Ukraine has something to do with it only inasmuch as Putin is happy to use the crash as a pretext to stop air communication with Egypt. The second summer in a row no tourists came to the Crimea and that’s a blow to Putin. If people are prevented from going to the cheap Egyptian resorts (and ideally, to Turkey), there is hope that they can be diverted to the Crimea.
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Do you REALLY believe that the Russian government could be psychopathic enough to blow up a Russian airliner full of Russian civilians?
(I’m not saying they aren’t — just asking if you seriously consider that a possibility.)
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Do you know about the Nord-Ost act of terror in a Moscow theater? Putin poisoned over 700 Russian citizens to death. Plus there are the two apartment buildings he had blown up in Russia.
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So yes, I wouldn’t put it past him.
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The only thing that goes against the possibility that the plane was blown up internally is that Putin didn’t address the nation or make any statement about it. So he didn’t start milking it and still hasn’t been doing that. This part works in his favor.
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