Some more scary stuff from Memorial and the Russian government's transparency to the historical archives, notes Paul Goble's blog over at the Moscow Times:
In an article in the current issue of Moscow's "New Times," Nikita Petrov, the deputy head of history society and activist organization the Memorial Center, wrote that this is one manifestation of what he describes as the "serious illness" Russia's archives now suffer from, "the unconstitutional prohibition on access to information."
Russian laws call for "systematic and regular" declassification of documents, he pointed out, "but this work is not being carried out" consistently and across the board. Decisions regarding the declassification of archived materials belonging to Soviet institutions that have continued to exist are made by those institutions' own officials, who often find reasons not to release information.
I believe Russia still holds the right to choose whether they like to disclose a certain information or not, Just like the right exercised by the U.S. government whether to release guantanamo interrogation photos or not.
Wow, do you seriously just wait around all day to leave nonsensical nationalist comments on a blog that you disagree with 100% of the time? I'm not sure I'd even have the patience for that if I were paid for it.
And why do Russian haters always convience themselves that critics of anti Russian propaganda are all being paid? Is this the latest strategy found in the CIA's book of deception? With the amount of time and efforts being put forward by blog owners that are critical to the Russian government, its not very difficult to identify the real people who are accepting money to spread their vile propaganda. Also, what is your basis for calling my comment nationalist even when I'm not a russian myself?
Going back to the topic, what is the REAL reason behind these calls to the Russian government to disclose as much information regarding the past activities of the Soviet Union? So that More Materials can be Abused to further the United States' anti Russian campaign? The Kremlin has made the right decision to bury these files forever. After all, the U.S. is not the country who has the right to keep state secrets.
JUNICHIRIO:
You seem to be admitting that the Kremlin's archives are full of information that would damage its credibility. That says a lot about the Kremlin, doesn't it?
Do you really want to live in ignorance of those faults, rather than reforming them, just as the USSR did, until Russia goes the way of the USSR?
No, Junichiro. So that real historians can examine these documents and come to conclusions concerning the USSR and its history. You know, don't you, that historians can't work if you don't give them material and data to work on? And that refusing to allow the examination of data from the past fosters myths, hides truth, and leads to distorted visions of the past? (The oldest question: "what are they afraid of?... "Kompromat" from their own archives?..."
They do have the right not to reveal the information, of course. The archive is theirs. But the result is: a past full of myths. Could it be that this is what the Russian leadership wants...