“Bushido as an independent code of ethics may vanish, but its power will not perish from the earth; its schools of martial prowess or civic honor may be demolished, but its light and its glory will long survive their ruins. Like its symbolic flower, after it is blown to the four winds, it will still bless mankind with the perfume with which it will enrich life.”
I’ve studied Putin as much as anyone has these last three years and I can tell you honestly, he identifies with both the martial prowess and the blessings honor bestows. Vladimir Putin finds favor by something carried on the wind, something no one can really describe. Perhaps this is why the ne’er-do-well seem to hate him so much. Human beings have always held out hope in leadership. It is spiritual mostly, the way we cling to the hierarchical way — God, family, and country — this is who we shall always be. So, understanding how Putin never seems to lose to the globalists becomes easy when one considers his defending of Russia against the onslaught of the opportunists who want to tear her apart.
Finally, for those who have disgraced and dishonored us with lies, war, waste, and crisis there is but one elegant reprieve. I leave this gift offering for them. May the unjust and those who trod heavily on us, who killed, us, and who were disdainful of all honor, here is your emancipation. If you have one ounce of decency and courage from your forebears, you’ll take this opportunity to salvage honor. A single bullet is dreadful cheap after all you’ve wasted.
Afterword
It’s 5:35 a.m. on October 19th, 2017. It’s less than a week until Red October, and the day I announced I would publish Putin’s Praetorians. In the runup, I thought everything except for this introduction to RT’s Editor-In-Chief Margarita Simonyan’s contribution was done. But the last three weeks have been explosive about media and policymaker attacks on Russia, Russian sympathizers, and on independent media overall. Some ads bought on Facebook by a Russian social influence outfit, a U.S. Senate witch hunt, and the government/financial cabal that runs America are threatening to either shut down, censor, and label RT America, or to out-and-out criminalize anyone and anything associated. So, I am compelled to go one step further with my introduction of Russia’s top media personality. At the beginning of this book, I quoted Robert Lewis Stevenson: “The world has no room for cowards.” So, if I were to keep separate and impersonal any relationship I have in Russia, this story will not be a kosher confessional. Here is briefly what I know of the person most responsible for a media miracle RT became and of the attempts to hide, obscure, and destroy the other side of the story forever.
Westerners who might have heard the name Margarita Simonyan regarding her being the propaganda mistress for the archvillain Vladimir Putin are wildly misled. Few who believe such tales ever take the time to learn about her early life. Hardly anyone in America knows of her study there, and especially not of her ideas about Americans. I am sure it will surprise most people reading this to learn about her keen intellect and her moderate view on America and Russia. While I admit having no original intention of profiling Margarita here, I was compelled by the current negatively charged media atmosphere. From the time the young journalist took the reins of the fledgling RT network, the dominant theme was the effort to tell the other side of the story on Russia and other topics. A narrative from Washington back in 2008 reflects my contentions about Simonyan better and in a more unbiased manner than I ever could. Reading the article for this last section, I could not help smiling at some of Simonyan’s comments.[58] At the time, Simonyan told author Karen Rowland about how the war in Chechnya demanded the Russia side of things be related. On the mission of RT in the wake of the Beslan school incident which saw 186 children killed, Simonyan commented:
“The purpose is mainly to tell the world about Russia, what sort of country we are, why what’s happening is happening, to explain things that might not be so obvious and also to give an alternative view of the world.”
RT’s boss goes on in the article to explain how the “stereotypical” Russia personality has been formed by the western media, and subsequently by the media consumer. Back then, she pointed to the ease with which media and the public perceive the new Russia just like the old Soviet Union. And looking at the situation today we see these perceptions used to devastating effect, while Simonyan is continually forced to defend the viability of this “other” narrative. As one of the main ones seeking to defend both free thinking and the role of the opposition view, I’m often called a “Kremlin apologist” for merely stating the obvious. This brings me to the point of introducing the Margarita Simonyan who I know. I’ve thought a great deal about how to help readers understand the real honesty and professionalism of this journalist, without expressing myself in an unemotional way — and I decided this is impossible. So, here’s what I can tell you from the heart.
When RTTV called me in Germany February 7th, 2014, the same day the opening ceremonies of the Sochi Olympics were scheduled to begin, I confess I was stunned. Then, when a CBC TV colleague called after the live show to quip, “Phil, what the hell was that? Nobody gets 5 consecutive uninterrupted minutes on the air like that,” I got more and more interested in how RT worked. Looking back now, I realize it was probably Margarita herself that arranged the programming for that day in Sochi. Today, I am grateful for my own decision to keep a respectful distance from somebody I would otherwise have sought closer ties with. You see, I take a certain pride in my ability to meet just about anybody. And in my job as a PR executive, this has proved to be advantageous many times. I like people, and they like me. Getting access and communicating with the advisers of former President Barack Obama (see volume two next year), with the world’s biggest PR names, with sports figures and movie personalities, and especially with politicians — it’s just natural and fun for me. In the case of Margarita Simonyan, I chose to keep a respectful distance. The reason for this was not simply out of esteem though. To be honest, I somehow suspected that intelligence agencies, combative media, the “so-called” NATO trolls, and a host of adversaries might later have a field day if there were any one-to-one relationships. For the same reason, I refused any payment for writing editorials, I felt it was necessary to maintain a sort of professional distance. However, this “distance” never prevented me from knowing exactly who she was. If you were the NSA using Gmail to record all my communications with Russia, you would see clearly my methodology for “knowing” the people I deal with. As somebody in the business of words, I expect profiling writers is something RT’s boss knows as well as I do. That said, the authority of unspoken communication used to support helpless little kids is something that binds people together even more than philosophies or ideals. Simonyan’s humanity outside the limelight allows me to attest to her character. Also, if one is caring enough to observe, a harried look of weariness or a LiveJournal opinion that shows her passion for the network she almost single-handedly created is revealing. I could go on about Margarita’s charitable endeavors or about how she is a near perfect reflection of the intelligence, wit, humor, and humanity of Putin himself. Haven’t you noticed that all those closest to Russia’s president mirror the same smart and capable aura? To return to my special relationship with such people, I’ve found that the biggest test of character, in the end, is trust. For instance, Margarita trusted me to say what was in my heart and in my character when it counted most for Russia and for RT at Sochi. And I trusted my intelligence, instinct and inner voice enough all along so that I might be able to see the real Margarita Simonyan, the real Vladimir Putin, and the real Russia behind the stereotype shown me my entire life by the American establishment.