by Gordon M. Hahn
I recently gave an interview to Sputnik, one of the Russian state’s media outlets, in the hope that they would present all of my remarks. Some were critical of Russian propaganda, as I was critical of US propaganda (https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201711211059310080-google-news-sputnik-rt/). Unfortunately, Sputnik chose to include only my remarks critical of American propaganda and foreign policy and thus exclude those critical of Russian propaganda and foreign policy. Although Sputnik did not state that all my remarks would be presented in their entirety, the fact that they chose to select out comments critical of Russia indicates a bias. As I made clear in the interview and have done so in my writings, I oppose propaganda posing as objective media no matter who engages in it, whether it be Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Russia Today, Sputnik, Russia, America, China, or Papua New Guinea.
Therefore, I include below a summary of the removed remarks and my statement on my new media appearance policy, which will also be posted on my ‘About’ page.
SUMMARY OF UNUSED REMARKS: I noted that the New Cold War features propaganda and disinformation from the US, EU and Russia and that the false news they foster is polarizing the respective entities’ domestic politics as well as international politics, in particular American domestic politics and Russian-Western relations and therefore risks provoking civil and/or international war. One example I noted is that while Russia focuses on corruption under Petro Poroshenko in Ukraine, the West focuses exclusively on corruption under his overthrown predecessor Viktor Yanukovych. Many of the criticisms I leveled against the US government and media in the interview — which I stand by wholeheartedly and will repeat them whenever the opportunity arises — were also leveled against Russia, but due to editing by Sputnik this was not apparent to readers or listeners of the interview.
MY MEDIA APPEARANCE POLICY
I am willing to give interviews to any news outlet, including Sputnik (since US media do not interview scholars like myself), as long as I am given a minimum of 15 minutes for my remarks and the interview is done live or I receive a written statement pledging that the media organization to which the interview is given will publish or broadcast my remarks in their entirety or allow me to review the written or audiotape of the interview before it is released for consumption.
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About the Author – Gordon M. Hahn, Ph.D., is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies (CETIS), Akribis Group, San Jose, California, www.cetisresearch.org; an expert analyst at Corr Analytics, www.canalyt.com; and an analyst at Geostrategic Forecasting Corporation (Chicago), www.geostrategicforecasting.com.
Dr. Hahn is the author of the forthcoming book from McFarland Publishers Ukraine Over the Edge: Russia, the West, and the ‘New Cold War. Previously, and three well-received published books: Russia’s Revolution From Above: Reform, Transition and Revolution in the Fall of the Soviet Communist Regime, 1985-2000 (Transaction Publishers, 2002); Russia’s Islamic Threat (Yale University Press, 2007); and The Caucasus Emirate Mujahedin: Global Jihadism in Russia’s North Caucasus and Beyond (McFarland Publishers, 2014). He has published numerous think tank reports, academic articles, analyses, and commentaries in both English and Russian language media and has served as a consultant and provided expert testimony to the U.S. government.
Dr. Hahn also has taught at Boston, American, Stanford, San Jose State, and San Francisco State Universities and as a Fulbright Scholar at Saint Petersburg State University, Russia. He has been a senior associate and visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Kennan Institute in Washington DC as well as the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.