No Russians among Slavyansk self-defense forces - NYT reporters

[Tommy_Carcetti]

53. I try to get a fair mix of reputable sources.

Simon Ostrovsky's dispatches for Vice were exceptional. They were actually very even handed and presented a human element to all sides involved. Clearly too good for his own good, apparently.

BBC has been very good. CNN International (not to be confused with CNN Plane Crash Speculation) has been decent. Washington Post, New York Times have been fine for the most part.

While I've never been a fan of Twitter simply based on its poor aesthetics, I will say that Christopher Miller of the Kyiv Post has an excellent, constantly updated feed. The Kyiv Post is independently owned (not state run) and fairly accurate....however I usually refrain from posting to them as a first source simply because I fear people might attack it simply because it is Ukrainian based. But most of which is printed in the Post is subsequently confirmed by other sources, so they are fairly accurate in my mind.

RT simply is not objective, though. There is no bones about it. From its insistence in stating "coup imposed" whenever referring to the Ukrainian interim government to its calling armed militants "activists" or "protesters", to its chief editor posting "Ukraine RIP" on her Twitter feed, to its reliance on clear head cases such as Graham Phillips for its reporting, I simply cannot trust its reporting.

That's not to say that all Russian media is in the same boat. I've found the Moscow Times to be pretty objective and fair in its reporting. But state run ventures like RT and Voice of Russia are a whole other story.

As to my own personal stance, yes my Ukrainian-American background does clearly place me in a certain camp when it comes to the story. But I do try to keep myself in check as much as I can. When certain stories place Ukrainians in less than favorable light, I try not to whitewash it. For example, the Pro-Ukrainian mob violence that resulted in burning down the trade union building in Odessa was inexcusable. (However, so to was the Pro-Russian mob violence that provoked such actions.) And I've never advocated for US military intervention, as I see that only creating more problems, not less.

In the end, a Russian land grab is a Russian land grab, regardless of who sees it. And that's exactly what it is happening here, except to those who are either in serious denial of the situation or wish to deceive.