APPLEBAUM: Putin presented a fake image of Russia to the world. He talks about himself as leader of traditional society.
In fact, divorce rates are very high in Russia, abortion is very common, very few Russians go to church, and less than 5% of Russians have ever read a Bible.
So it's not an especially religious or traditional culture, but Putin has made himself the face of that idea because it's politically advantageous.
He uses it both to build support, to court, and to win over sympathizers in the West, and maybe he uses it at home as well.
It looks a little bit like how in the 1930s Soviet communists also sold a vision of the Soviet Union to Americans and Europeans about how marvelous it was and how they had discovered a new kind of political system.
If you've never been to Russia, Russia is a large country, it's far away, so you can imagine a lot of things about it. You can create a kind of imaginary Russia, an imaginary Soviet Union.
Especially if you only visit Moscow and St. Petersburg, like most tourists do. But most of the people who admire Russia haven't even been to Moscow and St. Petersburg.
It's very similar today. You have a part of European right and American right who have this imaginary Russia that they use as a symbol, without understanding that it has no relationship to reality.
The Mayor of Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq has just published an open letter addressed to Greenland Energy CEO Robert Price on the municipality’s official website.
“Mr. Price,
The people of Ittoqqortoormiit deserve answers.
After your recent public meeting in our town, many citizens left with the same question:
Who are you telling the truth to?
In the American media you have been promoting Jameson Land as one of the world’s next great oil discoveries. You have spoken about potential reserves of 13 billion barrels of oil. You have appeared in interviews claiming that Greenland could become a major contributor to global energy supplies. You have spoken with confidence, certainty and enthusiasm.
Yet when you stood in front of the people who actually live closest to the area you want to explore, your message suddenly changed.
Now everything was uncertain.
Now you said you do not know whether oil exists.
Now you said more exploration is needed.
Now you said no one can know until wells are drilled.
Which version should the people of Greenland believe?
The Robert Price who tells American audiences that a historic oil discovery is waiting beneath Jameson Land?
Or the Robert Price who tells Greenlanders that nobody knows whether there is any oil at all?
Because both stories cannot be true.
You cannot sell certainty abroad while selling uncertainty at home.
You cannot encourage excitement among investors while asking Greenlanders to accept that the outcome remains unknown.
And you cannot expect trust when your message changes depending on who is sitting in the audience.
What concerns me most is that Greenlanders are expected to carry the risks while others are encouraged to dream about the rewards.
When speaking internationally, you have painted a picture of enormous opportunities. When speaking locally, you repeatedly retreat behind uncertainty whenever difficult questions are asked.
That is not leadership.
That is not transparency.
And it is not how you build trust with a community whose future may be affected by your activities.
The people of Ittoqqortoormiit are not naive. They understand that exploration involves uncertainty. They understand that geology is complex.
What they do not understand is why your confidence seems to rise when speaking to foreign audiences and disappear when speaking to Greenlanders.
You have also made statements suggesting that operations could proceed year-round with few obstacles from weather or nature. Anyone familiar with East Greenland knows that reality is far more complicated than that.
The people who hunt there know it.
The people who fish there know it.
The people who have lived there for generations know it.
So again, I ask:
Are you giving Americans the sales pitch and Greenlanders the disclaimer?
Are you telling investors what they want to hear while telling local people what you need them to hear?
Greenland is not a marketing campaign.
Ittoqqortoormiit is not a backdrop for investor presentations.
And our citizens are not props in a corporate narrative.
If Greenland Energy wants to operate in Greenland, then start by speaking honestly and consistently, regardless of whether you are standing in front of investors in the United States or citizens in Ittoqqortoormiit.
Because trust is earned through truth.
And right now, many people in East Greenland are wondering which version of the truth they are being given.
Who are you misleading, Mr. Price? The people of Greenland or your audience in the United States?
The people of Ittoqqortoormiit deserve an answer.
Sincerely,
Avaaraq Olsen Mayor Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq”
This is not a normal statement from a normal cabinet member of a major nation.
This statement from Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir is the statement of a war criminal.
The racist, extremist Israeli government does not deserve one nickel of U.S. support.
This must be the second most heavily defended waterway in the world…after the Strait of Hormuz. I’m back with some sad news from the Lincoln Reflecting Pool…
As a governor, you must surely have a bad taste in your mouth suggesting that another people and country should simply become part of the United States.
Greenland is not a vacant territory waiting to be added as a 51st state. We are a people with our own history, culture, language, and democratic right to determine our own future.
On Greenland’s National Day, a message of respect for Greenlandic self-determination would have been far more appropriate than repeating American expansionist fantasies.
I hope the voters of Louisiana will remember this attitude when the time comes to choose their next governor.
Shame on you.
Thousands of protesters marched in Tirana to demand a change in Albania’s government and voice their opposition to the resort that Jared Kushner wants to build in a protected wetland area