Posted on 11/02/2007 1:11:02 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
News Corp, the global media empire headed by Rupert Murdoch, usually does its political homework before investing in a new market. But its recent intervention in Georgia, the former Soviet republic caught in the crossfire between a resurgent Russia and the west, looks like getting the group involved in a Caucasian hornets’ nest.
Smouldering Russian-Georgian tensions blew up again this week when Russian peacekeepers arrested four Georgian policemen on the borders of Abkhazia, the secessionist territory. Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, immediately flew to the area to confront the Russians in person.
His televised intervention came on the eve of an international conference in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, attended by leading supporters of his pro-western government such as Carl Bildt, Sweden’s foreign minister, and Dan Fried, the US assistant secretary of state.
That in turn coincides with a planned mass demonstration in Tbilisi on Friday by opponents of Mr Saakashvili.
Each actor is playing to an international audience and one false move could spark a more serious confrontation. Russia imposed a blanket trade and transport embargo after four Russian spies were arrested last year. Georgia is rapidly increasing military spending.
In the middle of all this, News Corp announced it had agreed to take control of Imedi, the main anti-government television station. The Murdoch group agreed a one-year deal with Badri Patarkatsishvili, a billionaire Georgian businessman, to take trusteeship of his majority stake. Mr Patarkatsishvili will in turn become an overt financial supporter of the opposition.
This is where it all becomes very confusing. In Moscow, Mr Murdoch’s intervention was instantly seen as some sort of anti-Russian conspiracy. But Mr Saakashvili is seen in the Kremlin as an arch-enemy. The Russian media speculated that maybe the Murdoch move was intended to neutralise the opposition. Or was it a sign that the US government was getting embarrassed by Mr Saakashvili?
Mr Patarkatsishvili is the long-standing close business partner of Boris Berezovsky, the billionaire Russian oligarch who now lives in exile in London. Both Mr Berezovsky and Mr Patarkatsishvili face extradition demands from Moscow on fraud charges. Russia treats both as enemies of the state.
Mr Berezovsky says he is financing the Russian opposition to Vladimir Putin, with whom he once worked closely in the Kremlin. In Georgia, Mr Patarkatsishvili is financing the opposition to Mr Saakashvili, although Mr Putin sees him as an enemy, too.
Mr Patarkatsishvili insists he is financing the opposition not to overthrow the government, but to preserve the constitution. In the long run he wants to see a constitutional monarchy.
So what role is News Corp playing? Marty Pompadur, chairman of News Corp Europe, says it is not political, although it allows Mr Patarkatsishvili to become a political actor. It is also commercial. Georgia’s advertising market is growing by 30 per cent a year, and News Corp sees it as a route into the wider Caucasus market.
It is also part of a big expansion in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Although News Corp had failed to acquire a TV station in Russia, it intended to remain involved in that market, Mr Pompadur said. News Corp owns three radio stations and Russia’s largest advertising hoarding agency.
Russian conspiracy theorists are blinkered, he says. “They cannot believe a US company might think the Georgian president is too pro-American and too anti-Russian. But that is a fact.”
As for the Georgian government, “they will not allow any of their people to appear on [our] TV. I say this is crazy. We end up with a monologue, not a dialogue.
“We want to have a fair and balanced presentation.”
If only it were so easy.
That's because that's how the Russians do it. They think everyone is just like them. Whenever any media organ criticizes the Russian government, the Kremlin send its agents to take over that media organ and turn it into friendly pro-Kremlin propaganda.
Like British-based Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who also owns an English soccer club, Usmanov is believed to operate freely in large part due to his support for Putin. In 2006, Usmanov bought the Russian newspaper "Kommersant," which once belonged to Putin's staunch critic and London exile, Boris Berezovsky. The newspaper can be relied on by Kremlin leaders for a steady stream of positive spin. - LINK
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