McFaul on Russia

McFaul Goes Nuts with Tweeting after Expose of NED


Oxford University's Michael McFaul, currently masquerading as U.S. Ambassador to Russia, has been performing a circus geek act on Twitter since being exposed as a promoter of the destabilization of Russia.


McFaul tweeted to RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan on Feb. 7: 


"@M_Simonyan when we met at White House you asked me tell you when RT ran something untrue. On RT today, @McFaul sent @Navalny to Yale. Lie." 


Simonyan replied, essentially: What on Earth are you talking about? She told McFaul her staff had searched every broadcast on RT's five channels, finding nothing of the kind. 


"Got a link?" she asked. The apparently hysterical McFaul replied, 


"I have to prove that I did NOT send Navalny to Yale? Wierd [sic] idea of reporting. Isnt [sic] it your job to show link that I did?" 


Russian Twitterers had to intervene to explain to McFaul that by "link," Simonyan meant a URL. 


She later pointed out that Professor Panarin's guest commentary had appeared with a disclaimer, saying that his views were not necessarily shared by the RT editors.


In the meantime, Professor Panarin discussed the matter on his website: "Of course M. McFaul did not personally finance the training of A. Navalny. 


M. McFaul is a theoretician, the author of the concept of 'democracy promotion' using specially trained talented individuals. 


Furthermore, M. McFaul sincerely believes that this needs to be done for Russia." Panarin went on to elaborate his view of McFaul, noting the latter's role in the NED [actually its subsidiary, the National Democratic Institute] in the 1990s, from which time his acquaintance with Russian liberal recipients of NED money dates. 


Panarin wrote about McFaul's own enthusiasm for Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution, and identified the NED funding of Navalny and Maria Gaidar, in 2006, as part of an NED search for potential "Orange" leaders in Russia.


He concluded, "Personally I have great respect for M. McFaul, and his knowledge and professionalism. I believe that we should have a dialogue with him and convince him that his chosen strategy in Russia of supporting the liberal opposition and promoting the 'Alexei Navalny' project is WRONG. ...



Russian-American relations should be relations of partnership and friendship; after all, Russia has saved America's nationhood twice. This talented Russia expert, M. McFaul, might apply his encyclopedic knowledge not in support of the liberal opposition, but to build a bridge of friendship and neighborly relations between our two great countries."