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Russian reporter’s question at White House seen as revival of Cold War
Published: 15 January, 2011, 01:39
Edited: 17 January, 2011, 13:24
TAGS: Scandal, Russia, Accident, Politics, Human rights, Mass media, USA
A chill in Russian-American relations blew through a White House briefing following a question by a Russian journalist suggesting the Arizona shootings could have been due to the freedoms enjoyed by Americans.
Andrey Sitov, a reporter for Russia's official news agency ITAR-TASS, asked if the Arizona shooting rampage was an inevitable by-product of Americans having too much freedom.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs countered the question in a firm and direct way by saying the actions of the gunman were totally un-American.
“There is nothing in the values of our country, there is nothing in the many laws of our books that would provide for somebody to impugn and impede on the very freedoms that you began with by exercising the actions that individual took on that day. That is not American,” said Gibbs.
RT spoke to Andrey Sitov, the reporter who asked the controversial question. He said that after the conference he was approached by many other correspondents who wanted to express their sympathy and understanding.
“They definitely knew where I was coming from. I was coming from a simple desire for the Americans to have a discussion of this that is comprehensive and that would help prevent such incidents in the future.”
However, Sitov was surprised to find later in the blogs of the correspondents from the White House Press Corps that his question was treated by many of them as a resurgence of the Cold War.
“I think this is rhetoric that was definitely misplaced. It looks like there is a double standard here, where an American journalist in Moscow who’s asking about internal politics of Russia is a hero and a defender of human rights and democracy. And if a Russian journalist in Washington DC touches upon a sensitive subject of internal politics here, then he is somehow an enemy of the American people, which I find ridiculous,” he told RT.
On January 8, 2011 Jared Lee Loughner, 22-years-old, opened fire on a crowd that had gathered to meet with US Congressman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona. Allegedly, his main target was Giffords, however, he did not manage to kill her, although she was severely injured after being shot in the head.
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To all poster Americans, on RT:
". . . and we
learned that a relatively unknown congresswoman was seriously wounded
and a federal judge had been among the six killed."
". . . FBI Agent Tony Taylor filed an affidavit with the court swearing that
he saw Roll chatting with Gifford’s congressional aide, Ron
Barber, for several minutes prior to the shooting, and that Roll had
been notified by
telephone of the Saturday rally on Friday. Roll was apparently at the
rally to discuss illegal immigration and the extreme caseload imposed
on federal judges in Arizona largely related to immigration cases.
——
*Sheriff Mack will be speaking at the FLS Freedom Conference
to
be held in Southern California Feb. 18-21, 2011.AFP’s Victor
Thorn and
Jim Traficant will also be featured speakers.
An American wrote in#20
That Andrei Sitov, he needs to mind his own business. No one goes over to Russia and pesters him about how the Russians live.
It is in our Constitution. America is a republic. A republic is where a charter protects the right of the few from the will of the many! In this case, the Second Amendment of the Constitution of America protects a citizen's right if they so choose to own a defensive weapon!
And where is the source of your statistics PR101. You are just throwing around that big number. More people die from drug interactions from doctors prescribing medication. More Americans die from heart attacks and stroke than from gun violence. Look at Mexico, they have some of the strictest gun laws in the Western Hemisphere and they have such a high crime rate. Can't you see, less guns equal more crime!
Thats pretty rich "An American" Why doesn't America mind it's own business with other countries? The reason America doesn't tell Russia what to do is because they know they can't bully them like they do other countries. As for what Gibbs said..it is American. The USA is very violent
The russian reporter was wrong in asking such a stupid question.
Every educated soul knows that the american constitution and its 16 amendments is the ultimate rule of law.
Pentagon is teaching police and other government agencies that the founding fathers of america were terrorist.
Russia should read and learn from the american revolution.