CNN Report on Russia Shows the Lies of Putin's PR Spin Effort

As readers have likely figured out, I view Russian President Vladimir Putin as a nasty piece of work who seemingly sees himself as a modern day Tsar.   And just like too many of the real Tsars did during their reigns, Putin is prostituting himself to the ugliest elements of the Russian Orthodox Church and populace bigotry as he tries to retain power.  Now with the Sochi Olympics soon to begin Putin has been on a PR campaign trying to whitewash Russia's state sponsored homophobia and human rights abuses in general. Blogger friend John Becker at The Bilerico Project offers details on a CNN report that shows that Putin is nothing but a calculating liar.  Here are excerpts:

Late last week, CNN ran a segment about the gangs of nationalist vigilantes that are entrapping and torturing gay men in Putin's Russia, then uploading videos of their crimes to YouTube and social networks. While this disturbing issue has received wide coverage in the LGBT media for months, including on this site, it has received comparatively little in-depth scrutiny from the mainstream media.

Until now, that is. CNN reporter Phil Black's must-watch segment is [above]. The images are disturbing -- one clip shows a terrified young man being told by his kidnapper to choose between losing an eye or being sodomized with a sharp fork -- but they're important if we want to understand how truly terrifying the LGBT experience in Russia can be. 

Maxim Martsinkevich, the founder of the anti-gay group Occupy Pedophilia depicted in the CNN report, was arrested this weekend in Cuba on charges unrelated to his violent anti-LGBT extremism. His arrest came after CNN's report aired.

It remains to be seen whether the Russian government will charge Martsinkevich for his crimes against LGBT people; however, his group now has so many branches across the country that his arrest is unlikely to have much of an impact on their sadistic activities.

Contrast this jarring CNN segment with an interview Vladimir Putin gave to ABC's George Stephanopoulos that aired yesterday's This Week. As we've written before, Putin seems to be engaging in a wide-ranging PR campaign to whitewash Russia's record of LGBT-related human rights abuses and the impact of its draconian ban on so-called "gay propaganda."

"In this country, everybody is absolutely equal to everybody else, irrespective of one's religion, sex, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Everybody is equal," said Putin.

Uh-huh. I guess I must have missed all those news reports about straight Russians being singled out, assaulted, and arrested for living and loving openly. Fancy that.

te last week, CNN ran a segment about the gangs of nationalist vigilantes that are entrapping and torturing gay men in Putin's Russia, then uploading videos of their crimes to YouTube and social networks. While this disturbing issue has received wide coverage in the LGBT media for months, including on this site, it has received comparatively little in-depth scrutiny from the mainstream media.
Until now, that is. CNN reporter Phil Black's must-watch segment is below. The images are disturbing -- one clip shows a terrified young man being told by his kidnapper to choose between losing an eye or being sodomized with a sharp fork -- but they're important if we want to understand how truly terrifying the LGBT experience in Russia can be.

Read more at http://www.bilerico.com/2014/01/cnn_russia.php#Cgl8W6UUAKZF5dIf.99