Morning in Moscow

Russia Insider comes at the Jewish Question like an icebreaker:

Obviously, this is a ridiculous way to run a publication whose object is to get to the truth, so I am writing this to explain why, from now on, the pages of Russia Insider will be open to articles which fairly and honestly address the influence of Jewish elites, including pointing out when it is malevolent, which it often is, and try to understand it and explain it, with malice towards none.

What government or faction funds Russia Insider? According to the publication:

Russia Insider is a grassroots phenomenon, and sometimes resembles a political movement as much as it does a publication. We exist solely because of small donations from readers. We get no funding from major donors, not to mention governments, foundations, or other organized groups. It is all private individuals. Our single largest donation over the past year was $5000, and the median gift is $30. We raised about $80,000 last year. This gives us the freedom to pretty much say what we want, something that can be said of very few publications, even in the alternative media space, most of whom are beholden to large donors.

Buzzfeed reported on the site's launch in 2014:

Russia Insider, which went live at the beginning of September but only started attracting notice this past week with a video featuring a Russian grandma cajoling Obama to leave Russia alone, is an "effort by a group of expats here in Moscow," said Charles Bausman, an expatriate who has been living in Russia since the early 1990s. Before founding Russia Insider, Bausman worked in private equity at a firm called AVG Capital Partners, which invests in large agribusiness projects. 

"We felt that there was a demand among the reading public for a view of news about Russia that wasn't so critical of Russia," Bausman said. "Since that coincides with what we believe, we started this website." 

Bausman, whose last experience in journalism was as a junior producer in NBC's Moscow bureau after college, says that the website has no relation to and is not funded by the Russian government. 

"I know that that they might be very interested in doing that but we're not interested in that," Bausman said. The site, he said, is "a very amateur operation supported by a bunch of people doing this in their free time." Bausman is seeking to crowdfund the operation or attract investors.

Russia Insider may or may not be financed by the Russian government after all, but ultimately that doesn't matter. I find it more interesting that Russia Insider, in raising the Jewish question, is either what it says it is, a global grassroots speaking truth to Jewish power, or the Russian government forced to conceal its defense against Jewish power, demonstrating its remarkable extent.

Any argument can be taken on its merits, author-less, and understood separately from its exponent's intention or bias. While the source is always relevant, whether someone works for Putin or the US government impinges not at all on the objective merits of an argument, or reporting for that matter.

We are blessed and cursed to live in interesting times.