One of the more bizarre things on the right-wing fringe in the US is the apparent admiration for Vladimir Putin.
Part of this can be explained by the popularity of the sensationalist financial website ZeroHedge, a website that has predicted doom and gloom for Western economies ever since it started after the financial crisis.
None of these predictions have materialized so far, but this hasn't dented the enthusiasm at ZeroHedge, a hangout place for rightwing fringe conspiracy theories and hype.
ZeroHedge got it's own exposé when one of the three bloggers, a guy called Colin Lokey, couldn't take it anymore, quit and revealed who where behind the website (Bloomberg).
Ivandjiiski has some baggage:
But hey, nobody's perfect. Some eyebrows can also be raised about the rather stark contrast between ZeroHedge guiding motto, which comes from the male teenage cult film Fight Club (the bloggers write under the name Tyler Durden, who fights against consumerism and the financial system and is hell bent on bringing it down.
In reality, as Lokey disclosed, the website is finely attuned to generating advertisement income through maximizing page views, and the lifestyle of Ivandjiiski isn't exactly that of Tyler Durden:
Lokey himself made more than $100,000 in the year that he worked there but despite that
But it's the political bias that is most noteworthy, here is Lokey (who was responsible for most of it) wrote:
“I tried to inject as much truth as I could into my posts, but there’s no room for it. “Russia=good. Obama=idiot. Bashar al-Assad=benevolent leader. John Kerry= dunce. Vladimir Putin=greatest leader in the history of statecraft,”
We are actually not surprised. Under the cloak of libertarianism, the website is not only hell bent on destroying Western capitalism, it's political bias is thinly veiled.
A guy who features quite regularly on ZeroHedge is Paul Graig Roberts (search on ZeroHedge itself doesn't yield results, but google paul graig roberts + ZeroHedge and you'll find plenty results). This is a curious guy, writing stuff like:
You should also now this, here is Paul Graig Roberts himself:
The article is aptly called "Vladimir Putin Is The Leader Of the Moral World..
When we first came across this our first inclination was to think this was a parody, but if you read more stuff from Roberts it is instantly clear it isn't.
Who is Paul Graig Roberts?
Well, he isn't a nobody, he has actually been the US assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy under Reagan and wrote no less than 12 books (one on Karl Marx's Theory of Exchange, Alienation, and Crisis!)
The curious thing is that he has some interesting views on the financialization of the economy and the effects of the neocons, and a considerable amount of his criticism of the US governance system makes sense.
But in his over the top praise of Putin and other really weird stuff (like arguing the terrorist attack against the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo was executed by the US to punish the French for their independent foreign policy).
By all means, read that article, as there is more rather incredible stuff in there, like 9/11 conspiracy theories in the same vein as the Charlie Hebdo story.
Part of this can be explained by the popularity of the sensationalist financial website ZeroHedge, a website that has predicted doom and gloom for Western economies ever since it started after the financial crisis.
None of these predictions have materialized so far, but this hasn't dented the enthusiasm at ZeroHedge, a hangout place for rightwing fringe conspiracy theories and hype.
ZeroHedge got it's own exposé when one of the three bloggers, a guy called Colin Lokey, couldn't take it anymore, quit and revealed who where behind the website (Bloomberg).
Quote:Lokey said the other two men are Daniel Ivandjiiski, 37, the Bulgarian-born former analyst long reputed to be behind the site, and Tim Backshall, 45, a well-known credit derivatives strategist. (Bloomberg LP competes with Zero Hedge in providing financial news and information.) In a telephone interview, Ivandjiiski confirmed that the men had been the only Tyler Durdens on the payroll since Lokey came aboard last year, but he criticized his former colleague's decision to come forward.
Ivandjiiski has some baggage:
Quote:Ivandjiiski worked for a hedge fund before being barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in 2008 for insider trading. He didn’t admit or deny wrongdoing, the agency said.
But hey, nobody's perfect. Some eyebrows can also be raised about the rather stark contrast between ZeroHedge guiding motto, which comes from the male teenage cult film Fight Club (the bloggers write under the name Tyler Durden, who fights against consumerism and the financial system and is hell bent on bringing it down.
In reality, as Lokey disclosed, the website is finely attuned to generating advertisement income through maximizing page views, and the lifestyle of Ivandjiiski isn't exactly that of Tyler Durden:
Quote:Despite holding itself out as a town crier for market angst, transcripts from Zero Hedge internal chat sessions provided by Lokey reveal a focus on Web traffic by the Durdens. Headlines are debated and a relentless publishing schedule maintained to keep readers sated. Lokey said the emphasis on profit—and what he considered political bias at the site—motivated him to quit.
He pointed to the wealth of the Durdens as a factor. Ivandjiiski has a multimillion-dollar mansion in Mahwah, N.J., and Backshall lives in a plush San Francisco suburb—not exactly reflections of Pitt's anticapitalist icon. “What you are reading at Zero Hedge is nonsense. And you shouldn’t support it,” Lokey wrote in an e-mail. “Two guys who live a lifestyle you only dream of are pretending to speak for you.”
Lokey himself made more than $100,000 in the year that he worked there but despite that
Quote:he left because he disagreed with the site's editorial vision. “Reality checks are great. But Zero Hedge ceased to serve that public service years ago,” Lokey wrote. “They care what generates page views. Clicks. Money.”
But it's the political bias that is most noteworthy, here is Lokey (who was responsible for most of it) wrote:
“I tried to inject as much truth as I could into my posts, but there’s no room for it. “Russia=good. Obama=idiot. Bashar al-Assad=benevolent leader. John Kerry= dunce. Vladimir Putin=greatest leader in the history of statecraft,”
We are actually not surprised. Under the cloak of libertarianism, the website is not only hell bent on destroying Western capitalism, it's political bias is thinly veiled.
A guy who features quite regularly on ZeroHedge is Paul Graig Roberts (search on ZeroHedge itself doesn't yield results, but google paul graig roberts + ZeroHedge and you'll find plenty results). This is a curious guy, writing stuff like:
- Paul Craig Roberts: How The American Neocons Destroyed Mankind's Hopes For Peace
- Paul Graig Roberts: "America Is A Gulag"
- Paul Graig Roberts: World War III Has Begun
- Paul Graig Roberts Warns 'Killary' Will Be "The Last American President"
- Paul Graig Roberts: There Is No Freedom Without Truth
You should also now this, here is Paul Graig Roberts himself:
Quote:Vladimir Putin’s remarks at the 11th meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club are worth more than a link in my latest column. These are the remarks of a humanitarian political leader, the like of which the world has not seen in my lifetime. Compare Putin to the corrupt war criminal in the White House or to his puppets in office in Germany, UK, France, Japan, Canada, Australia, and you will see the difference between a criminal clique and a leader striving for a humane and livable world in which the interests of all peoples are respected.
In a sane Western society, Putin’s statements would have been reproduced in full and discussions organized with remarks from experts such as Stephen F. Cohen. Choruses of approval would have been heard on television and read in the print media. But, of course, nothing like this is possible in a country whose rulers claim that it is the “exceptional” and “indispensable” country with an extra-legal right to hegemony over the world. As far as Washington and its prostitute media, named “presstitutes” by the trends specialist Gerald Celente, are concerned, no country counts except Washington. “You are with us or against us,” which means “you are our vassals or our enemies.” This means that Washington has declared Russia, China, India, Brazil and other parts of South America, Iran, and South Africa to be enemies.
The article is aptly called "Vladimir Putin Is The Leader Of the Moral World..
When we first came across this our first inclination was to think this was a parody, but if you read more stuff from Roberts it is instantly clear it isn't.
Who is Paul Graig Roberts?
Well, he isn't a nobody, he has actually been the US assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy under Reagan and wrote no less than 12 books (one on Karl Marx's Theory of Exchange, Alienation, and Crisis!)
The curious thing is that he has some interesting views on the financialization of the economy and the effects of the neocons, and a considerable amount of his criticism of the US governance system makes sense.
But in his over the top praise of Putin and other really weird stuff (like arguing the terrorist attack against the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo was executed by the US to punish the French for their independent foreign policy).
By all means, read that article, as there is more rather incredible stuff in there, like 9/11 conspiracy theories in the same vein as the Charlie Hebdo story.