Nashi

Several thousand members of the pro-Kremlin nationalist youth group Nashi (“Ours” in Russian) protest in front of the US embassy in Moscow against American support for Georgia in its war against Russia, charging that the US must have encouraged the Georgian government to attack South Ossetia in order to boost John McCain’s presidential candidacy. During the protest, a film shown on large screens accuses the US of orchestrating wars to control the world. A Russian actor playing President Bush delivers a speech in which he gloatingly reveals that the US government plotted to bring about World War I and II to ruin Europe and orchestrated the 9/11 attacks to broaden government power. Given the close ties between Nashi and the Medvedev-Putin administration, the event suggests that questioning 9/11 is now part of the Kremlin’s unofficial propaganda effort (see also September 12, 2008). [New York Times, 11/2/2008]