I publish Copydude’s work at Atlantic Free Press http://www.atlanticfreepress.com along with the work of luminaries such as Bill Blum, Normon Solomon, Paul William Roberts, Craig Murray, Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, James Kunstler, Juan Cole and well over a hundred other writers. All with permission I might add – I am not simply a news aggregator… I ‘work’ with my writers.

I can understand why no one is syndicating your cookie cutter, blogspot charity site that has only had 86,000 visitors in one year.

Tell me – do you think blogging is about cutting and pasting? Do you have any original thoughts of your own longer than a paragraph? Or do you just prefer to rip off the work of others with a snippet of snot from yourself?

That’s not blogging, that’s copyright theft (read three to four paragraphs – not almost entire articles – then link).

Copydude makes mincemeat out of you and your pathetic little dance here – in order to mar the interview – is indicative of your true nature.

R. Kastelein

Ger,

I’m not picking a fight with you, but wanted to point out that you often “jump in with both feet” only to then apologise for what/how you’ve said something, on the pretext that you are new to blogging and get carried away. I was just wondering, how long it’d be before you got in to the habit of re reading your posts before clicking submit?

Rebecca

You’re missing the flip side. For the longest of time, I played it in a less dramtic mode. It got me nowhere as not so talented (in comparison) others advanced.

People make a living in journalism. Some of them make a lucrative one at that. Am I out of line for believing that the media’s unpopularity has to do (in part) with that entity being so out of touch with reality?

I don’t think so with others agreeing. The English language coverage of Russia is a noteworthy example.

I’ll expand on this a bit more in the next Qucik Takes. Eamnil afweb1@yahoo.com to subscribe.

Do you ever stop blowing your own trumpet?
If you ask me there’s too many gobshite journalists in the world as it is both in Russia and the US. Men making mortar on building sites or using jackhammers get paid less for far more useful and productive work.

I’m beginning to wonder if most blogging is just egoism on a massive scale. I’d say only 50% of responses to posts actually deal with the issues at hand. I’m new to blogging and the notion that there’s more info to be got from it than conventional media is total nonsense. Everyone just seems to be preoccupied with being known by everyone else. It reminds me of how kids behave in playgrounds. Who bloody cares who knows who? Are most of you that bereft of attention from people in real life?

This makes no sense. What fishing for compliments?

As previously noted, my commentary has been well received at the leading English language blogs covering Russia. There’s no debate on that.

Also previously stated, I’ve received free offers for state of the art web site design and tech support from folks liking my work. Like I said: IMHO, I’m worth a salary as well; and a good one at that.

Thanks Andy for the followup.

CD:

Slavic women in general are on the hot side. For me, two headed eagles are more preferable than red stars. Much like Riurikist-Romanovism over Marxist-Leninism. I note how the meaning of the red star has been somewhat changed.

Your rant at
http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2007/03/annals-of-russophile-gibberish.html

is as dreary, childish and repetitive as ever. Do have anything to say apart from:
“They elected a proud KGB spy!”
“The average Russian earns $2.50 an hour!”
”They are losing a million people a year!”

Do you actually have anything else to say apart from this? Or are you just a copy and paste job with stupid, insipid, hate-filled remarks added?
With breathtaking stupidiy and ignorance you refer to the Russian Academy of Sciences as a ”weirdo institute”
Do you need your head examined? Sounds to me like you’ve never heard of the RAS before. WHich means you really do know NOTHING about Russia. Leaving aside any liking for Russia, its only one of the foremost scientific research institutions in the world. And you’ve never heard of it. Amazing.
You constantly refer to Russians proudly electing a KGB spy. That was the decision of the people of the Russian Federation, not your decision. Why should what YOU think is right for Russia actually matter to ordinary Russians? Democracy is about self determination. The fundamental of which is that if Russians didnt like Putin, Ivanov or Medvedev they wouldnt vote for them. What part of ‘VOTE’ dont you understand?

Really? Wow, then he was off even more than I thought. And I’m even more elite than I thought! Thanks for the correction (can you give me a link?)

ALL:

I really find this discussion here quite priceless. Someone with a failed Russia blog (Ruminator) and someone who doesn’t even have a blog at all (Averko) and people who blog about Slovenia (Michael M.) and Turkey (Dinc) think Copydude is wonderful. And nobody gives the slightest substantive reason nor discusses any substantive point he’s made. I guess that explains why Copydude is at the bottom of the heap in terms of both readership and blog interest. He’s one of the most irresponsible and crazed in the Russia blogosphere, and apparently actually believes he knows who “really killed” Litvinenko better than all the West’s journalists. Pity Andy didn’t ask him a pointed question about that. Pour a bit of vodka down his gullet and he’ll tell you who killled JFK too. And yet nobody will listen! What a tragedy.

I have nothing but contempt for his crazed utterances, as it seems does the blogosphere. And his hypocrisy in this interview is truly breathtaking. His Russophelia and women-talk is simply pathological and spooky.

But apparently even he has the sense to abandon his crazed political “analysis” and write travelogue. Very sensible.

He is also another reason why I want to see Kaliningrad

Well, as this is what you obviously desire I wish you the best of luck. Should you need some advice you are welcome to contact me. I am a rather experienced fisherman. My mailbox tells me that you have my address. Feel free to mail any time.

Mike – you may want to re-read the interview – it’s still just a sweet, but now slightly longer..

The whole town looks like someone played Sim City and lost.

Copydude deserves an Order of Lenin medal for that line, and the explosive laugh it brought out of me. Wonderful.

Not hip with the Soviet nostalgia, while tending to sympathize with much of the rest of CD’s views.

Typical dilettante British/English ad copywriter happy waffle – with a bad rinse

(1) It’s 55 million blogs, not 45.

(2) Asked what blog about Russia he likes most, he names none. However, he names two he doesn’t like, while claiming he reads them all.

(3) He thinks spy novels are a legitimate basis for interest in Russia.

(4) Asked what place he’d like to visit in Russia, he names none. Then he says he’s going to write a travel guide. He apparently thinks somebody looks to him for travel advice, when his blog barely exists in terms of readership.

(5) Asked for the worst thing about Russia, men dying at before 60 means nothing. Hot apartments are bad.

(6) He lives in Kaliningrad but talks about talking to “Gorby” through a translator. Oh yeah, all Russians hate Gorby, but he thinks its a “privilege” to talk to him.

(7) He claims all countries have exactly the same level of democracy.

(8) Soviet value for the arts? Oh right, the way they valued Solzhenitisyn.

(9) Georgian wine already is being imported. http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11259540&PageNum=0

(10) Putin is going to retire in Kalinigrad? As if.

(11) That stuff about Soviet women . . . just plain creepy!

Oh but wait, I see. He meant to do that. Spew out all this totally useless disinformation, just to show how evil it is that the West is doing that (which is why he left us of course, not at all because he couldn’t make it here).

Gosh, that’s awfully clever. Wise might possibly be pushing it, but definitely oh, so clever.