Portside

We take Portside content and our responsibility to our subscribers and readers very seriously, yet sometimes we make mistakes, and this was a serious one. We feel we have a special responsibility of providing material that is of value and service to the Left, and while others also ran or posted this article, we should have researched the author and evaluated the content more fully. We sincerely apologize and commit ourselves to greater vigilance in the future.

The Portside Moderators

     ====

And here are some comments from Portside readers:

I feel a little queasy about  this article and wonder about the bona fides of its author. While much of the information may be true, it has the scent of familiar well-worn anti-Semitic  accusations of the past.

James H. Williams, PhD, MSW

     ====

What???

Engdahl is an "ex" LaRouchite purveying a complementary line echoed and amplified by the Michel Chossudovsky, the Ron Paul Institute, and other such sketchy people  of dubious politics whose work is intertwined with the Russian State (including funding wise, it would appear).

Anti-Imperialism is great, but this is the 'anti-Imperialism of Fools'...

Austin America

     ====

This takes at face value the claims of an anonymous hacker group that may well be a front for the Putin regime in Russia-Engdahl starts with saying the documents are alleged, but then goes on to abandon all caution in accepting the validity of the supposed documents. And then Engdahl goes on to end by repeating the right wing attacks on Soros for allegedly collaborating with the Nazis in the Holocaust--using terms that could have been lifted from any far right web site in recent years.

And I have to say that this "puppet master" narrative reminds me of the recent Antisemitic screed "The Family that Rules the World" about the Rothschilds as well as the Antisemitic classic "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."  Here Engdahl is playing on the margins of classic Antisemitic themes about Jewish bankers and speculators pulling the strings and manipulating governments from behind the scenes in order to spread disorder and make profits.  

I find it disturbing that Portside is distributing this sort of material without comment and seeming approval, but it seems that many leftists these days don't recognize Antisemitism when they see it.

Stan Nadel

     ====

I am surprised to see Portside reprinting the articles of climate change skeptics and associates of Lyndon LaRouche and his movement, namely "George Soros: `Puppet Master' Behind Ukrainian Regime " by F. William Engdahl. There are many sources on the internet concerning Soros and the Ukraine and Portside should at least identify the author as a LaRouche supporter.  "New Eastern Outlook" is published by The Russian Academy of Sciences and Engdahl is a regular contributor. I hope they know what they are doing. Maybe he has changed his spots.

J. Thomas Riggins

     ====

F. William Engdahl is a long- time LaRouchite.  This article is as absurd as it is dangerous.  The rhetoric is straight out of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.  Jews as puppet masters is an Anit-Semitic trope. I'm furious to see this presented as fact by a group I generally respect.

Lynne Portnoy

     ====