Robert Amsterdam

You've got to wonder at the misguided and vacuous minds at the Open Democracy poll (via Sean Guillory's site) that put Bush ahead of Putin as "worst abuser of democracy".

http://www.opendemocracy.net/servlet/DoVote?pollId=18&answerId=90&bd=true&bdID=14

Am I the only one noticing that so many of the Russia blog sites attract Putin apologists, vacuous lefty hacks and have content of little value?

You're sure right about that, Penny. Those apologists blogs really have nothing to talk about anymore - which is a big change from a few years ago when those kind of arguments were even remotely realistic.

Regarding the Bush numbers, I wasn't surprised at all. It's totally ridiculous, but the international community (Europe especially) is SO singularly focused on blaming the American presidency for all the world's ills. I'm not a fan, but that poll is a true measure of the absurdity.

James, here's a prime example of the lack of Russian blogs of quality, I'm not really understanding why this specific blog which is quasi-literate and has a pro-fascist Putin attitude gets linked by you?

From their site:

"That's exactly what Anna Politkovskaya was – a war journalist fighting on the side of Chechen rebels. And she did her job fine. I believe her books and articles helped dozens of Chechen men and women to become guirillas and suicide bombers."

http://konstantin2005.blogspot.com/

It's sad that so many vacuous little pro-fascist moonbats have English language Russian blogs.

Yes, I don't disagree with your characterization of the comments on that blog. I think that blog really overplayed its hand with such a crass and obscene comment about the indisputably brave and honorable Anna Politkovskaya - by doing so, he is losing his own argument.

The blog links listed on this site do not connotate endorsement or agreement of any kind - they are only there to help educate people about what other people are saying about Russia - the good and the bad. There is also a link to the Accidental Russophile (although Wally Shedd hasn't posted in ages), and once in a while I will even read the most aggressively propagandistic blog in existence - Russia Blog, funded by the Creationist Group Discovery Institute. I think we all should be reading what the other side has to say in order to help make our arguments stronger and be prepared for their strategic responses.

If you have any other blogs you think BA should be linking to, please let me know.

Hi,
I found your blog via google by accident and have to admit that youve a really interesting blog :-)
Just saved your feed in my reader, have a nice day :)