28.04.2005 18:40 Saddam Hussein's birthday celebrated in Ekaterinburg
Members of a youth patriotic movement [unspecified] in Ekaterinburg celebrated the birthday of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, reports NTV.
They conducted a noisy rally next to the US Consulate General building. In front of the entrance, they set up a table, covered it with an American flag, and set it with dates and a picture of the former Iraqi leader.
The demonstrators - there were about twenty of them - accused Western nations of violently overthrowing the [Iraqi] regime and forcing the American way of life [on the Iraqi people]. The young people view Saddam Hussein as the last independent president of Iraq. However, they still do not consider him to be an ideal leader.
File under: probably best not to take this too seriously.
3 comments:
I doubt we'll ever see this on the nightly news in the United States.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
Don't be so sure. The US media dislike their own country. The only reason it's not on the news is that Western reporters don't leave the comfortable environs of Moscow.
David, that's one reason why I run this blog - to present things about Russia to Americans (and others) which they might not see otherwise. In this instance, it's a fairly trivial thing, although one could say it reflects broadening anti-Americanism here.
Master Thorn, I have to say you're off base with your comments. I don't think the US media "dislike their own country," they're just willing to criticize it in a way which some Americans don't like. That's one of the downsides of that pesky "freedom of speech" thing, I guess.
And your last sentence is twice misguided: 1) While some foreign reporters are guilty of falling into the "Moscow IS Russia" trap, several who I know personally travel extensively and do their best to "get the story" even if it's taking place far away from Moscow; 2) I didn't have to leave the comfortable environs of Moscow to get this story, it was on the evening news that aired here, so if any reporter wanted to do a story about it, all they would have to do is find a Russian wire report and credit it, then maybe make a few phone calls to Ekaterinburg and see if they could get some comments from people who had been on the scene.
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