Robert Amsterdam

VOA has an interesting book review of "Of Spies and Spokesmen: My Life As a Cold War Correspondent" by Nicholas Daniloff, a journalist who at one point was imprisoned by the KGB.

Nicholas Daniloff says that, although both sides know more about each other today, there are still many misperceptions. He says, while America tends to view Russia as a democracy and "probably a friend," for Russians, the "love-hate relationship seems to live on." He says Russians are quick to blame the United States for things that go wrong. According to Mr. Daniloff, it has become almost a "national pastime" for the U.S. press to criticize those in power, whereas in Russia those in power are suspicious of media criticism. In the post-Soviet period, he says, the regimes in the successor states, especially those in Central Asia, see little benefit in "looking problems straight in the eye" and tend to suppress dissident views. In the 1960's, Nicholas Daniloff explains, censorship was quite strict with hundreds of forbidden topics, and it was difficult for foreign journalists to have "any kind of relationship" with Soviet citizens.

Read the rest here.