I had an opportunity to talk with a group of youngish Americans who were employed by US-based NGOs to work in Russia. During our chat, one NGO worker, from Seattle, said she was surprised to discover that some Russian officials treated her as if she were an ‘agent of a foreign power’. Several of her colleagues also expressed astonishment at the fact that they and their NGOs were treated by Russia as… well, what they really are: American organisations promoting American values in a foreign land. When I voiced amazement at their reaction, and asked ‘Don’t you see that you are employed by a foreign organisation, and what’s more by one that is critical of your host country’s government?’, they simply could not see my point. When I asked, ‘How would the American government brand a Russian NGO that was promoting Greek Orthodox values on the streets New York or Chicago?’, I got no response. It was only after I asked what would be their government’s reaction if a group of Russian NGO operatives had financially and politically assisted the Occupy movement or the Tea Party that one of my interlocutors conceded that I might possibly have a point.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 09:02:41 +0000
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