Posted on 02/16/2014 6:49:21 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The London Daily Mail reported this week that “CNN caused a firestorm when it included a war monument in Brest, a city in the former Soviet republic of Belarus, in an article on the 'world's ugliest monuments' published last month.” This isn’t Ted Turner’s CNN, where a reporter would be disciplined for saying the word “foreign” in a sentence. The online article from a travel-piece contributor was intended as humor.
A Russian news commentator responded by suggesting the Marine Corps War Memorial – the Iwo Jima sculpture just north of Arlington National Cemetery – is “easy to mock” for its homoerotic look:
As pictures of the monumental Brest sculpture filled the screen, Dmitry Kiselyov told viewers how the Americans had ridiculed the Soviet soldier depicted in the war memorial.
He then showed a picture of the Marine Corps War Memorial sculpture shot from behind, so that the U.S. Marines raising the flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima were bent over one another.
'It's easy to mock,' Kiselyov said with his trademark smirk. 'A fevered subconscious could ascribe just about anything to it. Take a closer look: A very modern theme, is it not?'
The CNN contributor mocked the memorial statue in Belarus by describing the look of a Soviet soldier “emerging from a mountainous block of concrete looks as if he's about to thump the West into submission before hurling North America at the sun.” It also noted that others think the soldier "simply looks constipated." Those are fighting words.
On February 6, CNN edited the story on its website and added a note apologizing for the offense it caused in Belarus and Russia. The day after the CNN story was published, the Russian Foreign Ministry took the unusual step of summoning CNN's Moscow correspondent for an official reprimand.
An online statement said “mocking the memory of Soviet soldiers who gave their lives for the victory over fascism cannot be justified or forgiven.” CNN then withdrew the article entirely. In a statement where the article used to be, it states:
CNN apologizes for the unintended offense caused by an article from a contributor that was commissioned to be a humorous look at monumental architecture worldwide. Neither the piece that was commissioned nor the edits made by CNN were consistent with our standards.
We recognize that the Courage Monument carries deep and significant symbolism in honoring the soldiers who gave their lives defending their nation.
Ted Turner sold CNN to Time Warner, and many remember how Time magazine mocked the Iwo Jima memorial on its cover in the spring of 2008, putting a tree in place of the flag to illustrate an article on "How to Win the War on Global Warming" -- under Time editor Richard Stengel, now working in President Obama's State Department.
PS: Ted Turner once lauded the Soviet Union on TV as a "great success."
PPS: Gay lobbyists have tried to appropriate this image.
[HT: Dan Gainor]
Looks like a grumpy Superman who crashed somewhere on earth.
The brave Russian soldiers deserved something better because they not only had to fight the Germans but also their MKVD and Military Kommissars who would shoot them in the back if they even wavered under heavy attacks.
This kind of stupidity easily escalates into barbarism. This is school-yard dumbassery. Thank God almighty the valor of our ancestors remains intact forever.
bttt - well put.
2DV, know that I’m not comparing the 2 conflicts, or besmirching your father’s fight nor those he lost, only that each country, particularly in this case both fighting the ‘Axis’, revere its war dead in its own way.
Newsbusters could have done a much better job.
Unfortunately CNN seems to have been let off the hook by the moron Russian anchor, Dmitry Kiselyov.
Know that both yours & your father’s service & sacrifice will always be honored & never forgotten.
He fought in World War II, Korea and early Vietnam, as did many others.
August 8, 1945: The U.S.S.R. declares war on Japan.
August 9, 1945: The U.S. drops a second atomic bomb - this time, on Nagasaki.
Japan accepts an unconditional surrender only days later.
Talk about "easy to mock!"
Regards,
I wonder if the Russians realize how many people here wanted bombs 3 through 25 to fall on their major cities?
If I had this a@@hat in front of me I’d show him what a former Marine is capable of.
>>>>August 6, 1945: The U.S. drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
August 8, 1945: The U.S.S.R. declares war on Japan.
August 9, 1945: The U.S. drops a second atomic bomb - this time, on Nagasaki.
Japan accepts an unconditional surrender only days later.
Talk about “easy to mock!”
Regards<<<<
Soviet declaration of war on Japanese has nothing to do with A-bombing.
That’s a great Poop face.
He should eat Fiber.
Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
Liberals love to throw insults around - then 'apologize'... They get to trash someone and then pretend it's a 'mistake'... MSNBC uses the same tactic.
I am aware that that is the standard assertion.
Regards,
In the brief period the Soviet forces were in Yugoslavia to help the Partisans take Belgrade, they committed over 1000 rapes and 100 murders. One of the grudges Stalin had against Tito that led to his attempt to oust Tito in 1948 was that Milovan Djilas (the later dissident) had complained about the behavior of the Russian troops and Tito had not immediately sacked him.
I hear you. I vacillated on replying, but felt it important. I am humbled even in the presence of my own boy (3-tour veteran), let alone my veteran elders & ancestors.
My big problem with this 'media circus' (well, besides not ostracizing CNN enough for this):
I don't see anyone identifying the 'contributor' of the CNN story and find that bothersome...
CNN apologizes for the unintended offense caused by an article from a contributor that was commissioned to be a humorous look at monumental architecture worldwide. Neither the piece that was commissioned nor the edits made by CNN were consistent with our standards.
...yet they published it anyway.
Google Cache conveniently has no cache of the page at the URL where a 'web-creeper' might find discover the contributor and neither does The Wayback Machine. I find that odd, particularly that even a Facebook posting that only linked to the story is now 'scrubbed' as well. It seems that internet censorship is alive & well, but to what purpose? To protect the contributor from deserved attention? The enemy is within and I am cynical as to the outcome.
>>>Soviet declaration of war on Japanese has nothing to do with A-bombing.
I am aware that that is the standard assertion.
Regards<<<
Or maybe an ignorance of people stating otherwise on basic historical facts and utter stupidity?
FDR and Churchill demanded Soviets to declare a war on the Japanese as part of D-day deal. It was negotiated as early as 1943 that Soviets will start exactly 3 months after German defeat. Do you realize that Soviet invasion in Manchuria involved millions of troops and thousands of pieces of machinery, most of these moved from Germany? Do you really think this operation was planned and performed in only days after bombing?
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