This link seems to claim that its information comes from electronic (radio?) surveillance. What do you folks think of this? Is this all bogus or is it real or somewhere in between?
Phil, (May I call you Phil? Easy seems wrong somehow.) it really doesn’t matter. NPR reported yesterday that the Russian press is cutting the US some slack in order to improve relations between the two nations. Even if the Russian reporters are doing their best to appear “objective” in their reporting, there’s still going to be errors in their accounts. Sooner or later, the US will overwhelm the Iraqi military. The only news that really matters is when the coalition forces announce the formation of a provisional government. At that point, Saddam is no longer considered a creditable power in Iraq.
fan,(May I call you fan? Tucker seems wrong somehow.) I agree that the outcome of the war is pretty clear, I’m asking about where on the credibility line does this information sit.
Well I would love it if a Russian speaking doper could get a peek at the original transcript. The article seems a little, shall we say, eloquent to be a strict translation imho.
Also the homepage’s banner says “News you won’t find on CNN or Fox Mooooo’s” which to me detracts from their take seriously rating. The other articles linked on the homepage seem a little over the top.
Hmm, first time I’ve seen a “.info” suffix. The internet sure is getting big. I think it’s really going to catch on.
Well, I’m a Russian-speaking Doper. I’ve peeked at the source the English purports to be from (www.iraqwar.ru), and can’t find the original article (although there are lots of other blow-by-blow articles; thanks for pointing me to the source), so I can’t comment on the accuracy of this specific translation.
Somehow I doubt, though, that Russian military intelligence would be keen on the idea of posting actual radio surveillance transcripts on the Internet (at least anything that isn’t publicly available through other sources). First, why would they want to release this information, if true? Second, wouldn’t revealing the content of detailed transcripts possibly compromise their access to the source of the information?
I have deliberately not been following the blow-by-blows in the English-language press, because it stresses me out too much (my cousin in embedded with the 3rd Infantry), so I can’t comment on the extent, if any, to which the Russian version may differ from other versions of events.
Maybe a Doper with military or intelligence background can comment on that aspect.
There is some skepticism about this site in the Blogverse, largely because it seems unlikely that the US would be using unscrambled channels to communicate sensitive info.