Abby Martin is leaving RT

Abby Martin has announced that she is steeping down from her show with RT and opting for 'more editorial freedom'.

I think she sees that a continued association with a Russian broadcaster on't look too good on her CV as the world moves towards war.

Will I miss her? Not really. For me she really had her place in the world after #Occupy, taking on American corporate power and there is no doubt she was good at it.

As the issues she has emphasised have never ever gone away and  when it comes to two of the biggies - rapid climate change and the East-West conflict she has shown herself to be less than well-informed.

Here is her statement.

Never Stop Breaking the Set

RT has given me opportunities I will be eternally thankful for and hosting Breaking the Set has been the best and most invaluable experience of my life. I never imagined the kind of support the show would generate, proving how many people are hungry for raw truth and systemic change.

Throughout the course of the show, I’m most proud of the stories we’ve done on the road – Pine Ridge, Detroit, Gulf Coast, Guantanamo Bay and soon to be released Cuba. As such, after almost three years of reporting from the studio I’ve decided to focus on investigative field reporting.

Please note I’m not stopping or going anywhere. If I can’t find a network to host my new show vision with the same editorial freedom, I will turn to crowdsourcing. And until I establish my next venture I’ll be writing daily, producing video shorts, podcasting and doing talks around the world.

Please follow me on facebook, youtube and twitter to stay tuned to my next move.

I’m excited to put all my heart into the last two weeks of the show and celebrate a great run, all of which wouldn’t have been possible without you.

Much love and appreciation to everyone for supporting me and my future endeavors.

Never stop Breaking the Set.

Abby

http://www.mediaroots.org/never-stop-breaking-the-set/

When she interviewed Guy McPherson at the end of 2013 she proved to be - a woman in denial - and hasn't been anywhere near Guy, or anyone who has something serious to say about this since.

Then came her (in)famous outburst against Russia and her employer after Crimea rejoined Russia early last year.


In July last year she appeared on the Lifeboat Hour with Carolyn Baker and made some comments which I took exception to.

I decided to write an open letter to Ms. Martin and invite her to beef up a bit more on the history and the context of the conflict.

After calling her out I received the following - 

Abby Martin · 17 mutual friends

We don't have to agree on everything. But what in particular do you disagree with? Send me a link/story?

Unlike · Reply · 2 · 22 hrs

I wrote the following to Ms. Martin, but did not receive any response.

Open Letter to Abby Martin

On her interview with Carolyn Baker Abby made comments about MH-17 along the lines that "the rebels probably did it".

I take issue with that, as well as previous comments where she criticised her employer, RT, on air over Russia's actions in Crimea.

In reponse, I wrote the following:

Robin Westenra I cannot condone Abby Martin's comments re MH-17 and Ukraine - it seems naive at best.

Like · Reply · 6 · 28 July at 20:25

And Abby the following:

Abby Martin · 17 mutual friends

We don't have to agree on everything. But what in particular do you disagree with? Send me a link/story?

Unlike · Reply · 2 · 22 hrs

As I had not really responded to her question -  and as I have no way to correspond directly - I have written this open letter to Abby Martin.

Dear Abby,

May I say first off that I have huge respect for the work you do at cutting through the b..shit of corporate media.

Secondly , I can understand that your statements on Crimea and now on MH-17 have come after much reflection on your part

Thirdly, I think I have a sense of pressure there might be on you as someone working for “the enemy” - especially right now.

However, whilst I think I understand where you are coming from I do not agree with it and find it difficult to understand how anyone of good conscience who is in possession of the facts can take such a position.

I am not going to try and convince you of anything other than say that CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING.

Talking for myself, if ever I had any doubt about the veracity of what RT and other Russian outlets have been saying about the whole Ukrainian crisis, this has been exploded by hearing what senior statesmen from the Cold War era have been saying about this.

People such Malcolm Fraser (ex- PM of Australia), Helmut Schmidt of Germany, amongst many others have come out and endorsed Russia's position (including the 'invasion' of Crimea).

First and foremost, I have great respect for what Prof. Stephen F Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian history (and adviser to previous US presidents) has to say about the situation.

If you haven't already (and I realise you are probably super-busy), I strongly urge you to listen to Prof. Cohen to understand some of the context.

Two of his recent interviews are here:

On MH-17:

Discussion wth Thom Hartmann

Two of the most important points in my mind (in understanding this are:

• The place of what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War in the collective memories of the people of the former USSR. 20 million people were killed fighting nazism, so that when they see what is without doubt neo-nazism raise its head at their back door the reaction is strong and visceral. They will not tolerate a resurgence of fascist ideology in their space.

• The betrayal of Russia by the United States and the West. In return for allowing the Berlin War to come down promises were made to Gorbachev that NATO would not move “1 inch” to the West. The opportunity to disestablish NATO came with with the disestablishment of the Warsaw Pact. Since then NATO has expanded Into all the countries that border Russia – and now Ukraine.

War has been brought through the treachery and aggression of one side practically to the gates of Moscow.

When looking at European history (and especially Russian history, which has a specially heavy karma) an understanding of the historical context is ESSENTIAL.

I made my own contribution to trying to understand this in this essay

http://robinwestenra.blogspot.co.nz/2014/03/behind-headlines-on-ukraine.html

I am not going to talk about MH-17 other than say that the following article gives a good summing up of the evidence for the Ukrainian government being behind the shooting-down of MH-17.

http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/07/25/mh17-verdict-real-evidence-points-to-us-kiev-cover-up-of-failed-false-flag-attack/

I have been following people that I have come to trust – Russian and non-Russian. They include Mark Sleboda in Moscow; Vladimir Suchan (who is Czech, not Russian) – on Facebook - and the Saker.

Generally on reliability I would say that EVERY source has its own biases, and it is incumbent on us to find out what those biases are ( this is what you do so well!)

I would be interested if RT has engaged in any conscious DIS-information (in the sense of Fox, CNN, BBC). If it has it has escaped me.

If I was in your place I'm sure I would be listening to your Russian colleagues and trying to understand their heartfelt views on this – and listening to someone like Aleksey Yarsohevsky I cannot accept that it is anything OTHER than heartfelt and sincere. The man's heart is bleeding for Ukraine.

One final point – If I did not have such esteem and admiration for what you are doing I would not be bothering to write this. I trust you will take it in the spirit it is offered.

Best wishes,

Robin Westenra
(Seemorerocks)