Andrei Vinyavsky, an amicable liar

[louisgodena@xxxxxxx (Louis R Godena)]

Mr Vinyavsky's pious and self-serving "op ed" in today's New York Times
replicates, in genuine "dissident" fashion,  the heady mixture of
exaggerations, deceit, and lies that characterized that herd during the cold
war.

Now Mr Vinyavsky's sympathies are with the Gorbachev camp.   It is bound to
do that worthy little good, if not a great deal of harm.   "Dissidents" come
at quite a discount nowadays, in Russia as well as in the West.
Publishers' Weekly reports an 87% decline in the publishing of "human
rights" authors from the old "eastern bloc" since 1991 by Western publishing
houses.   Those few titles that see print in Europe and America, like
Vilatov's "Long Journey" (published just last year) quickly end up on the
remainder tables, next to Joan Rivers, Donald Trump, and all those glossy
fan books on the New Kids on the Block..

The New York Times, though, is undeterred.   The editors of the Grand Old
Lady have always had a soft spot for "dissidents" (as long as they don't
hail from Palestine, the USA, or some other favored port o' call), though in
this case they have been, as they say, "snookered".

As reported in Financial Times, the Manchester Guardian, and Reuters,
Gorby's visit to Volgograd took quite a different turn then that described
by our erstwhile "dissident".   True, Gorbachev ran into trouble quite early, as
Chrystia Freeland of FT described it:

                   Mr Gorbachev's rhetorical question: 'should we give power
back to the
                   communists?' was greeted by enthusiastic clappings and
shouts of
                   'Yes, the communists.  It was better then' and 'You sold
off the country'.

But the crowd wasn't through with ole Gorby yet, as he stepped down from the
podium, a rather large woman in a
"red flowered dress" who works as an accountant at a local collective farm
blocked his way.  "In the old days," she told the former Soviet leader, "we
had everything.   Now we need a strong hand to bring things back."   Several
people in the crowd cursed him loudly.   One tried to spit in his face.
Clearly flustered, Gorbachev tried to push his way past the angry throng
toward his waiting car.   The cries and catcalls grew louder: "Mikhail
Sergeyevich," shouted one, "why did you allow Yeltsin to become president?"
"Where did you hide all your millions?" screeched another.   Finally,
Gorbachev made it to his nearby limousine which, under the weight of a dozen
or so hecklers, rocked back and forth like a ride at an amusement park.
His final words, nearly lost in the buzz of security guards and angry
onlookers, evoked the figure of Christ:  "Crucify me if you will.   I
remember Jesus Christ when he went to Calvary.   They spit on him, they spit
and shouted: Crucify him.   Is that not a lesson for us?"

Mr Vinyavsky, by this time, was nowhere to be seen.    He, apparently, has
very little use for "dissidents" with no portfolio who, in turn, insult his
heroes.

As for Mr Gorbachev, he has not been invited back.



    Louis Godena



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