That’s an easy one: it’s “лицемерие” — or “litsemeriye” in the more familiar Latin alphabet. Broken down, it’s a blend of two words: “face” and “measure,” which makes perfect sense.

But allow me to go off course for a moment before coming back to the subject. On August 19th I posted an article titled “Protection . . . or Censorship?” expressing my concern over Facebook’s having removed one of my posts because they didn’t like something (unspecified) about some part of it. Bottom line: I changed the title, removed a picture, and re-posted the article with the main text unchanged — and it cleared the FB “censors.” But that’s just small stuff.

This week there has been a big to-do in the news about a man named Pavel Durov being arrested in France. Durov was born in Russia 39 years ago, but is now a citizen of both the UAE and France, living in Dubai but traveling widely throughout the world on his private jet. He is a billionaire entrepreneur, the originator of “VKontakte” (“In Contact”) — the Russian equivalent of Facebook — and now CEO of the very successful, and very controversial, messaging app known as “Telegram.”

Telegram’s success is largely due to the fact that it provides custom security settings, including “secret chats,” and does not require the use of a phone number. It has been widely used by the Russian and Ukrainian governments as a platform for a second war — a war of words — and by other governments and individuals throughout the world for even more nefarious purposes.

And here is where Pavel Durov ran into trouble: As CEO of Telegram, he unconditionally refuses to furnish confidential user information to governments — including France — attempting to investigate criminal activity being conducted on Telegram. (He similarly refused the same “requests” from the Russian government, which was why he left Russia in 2014. He was considered a hero then.)

It’s the old “protection vs. censorship” conundrum, which even the so-called experts have been unable to resolve, and I certainly wouldn’t presume to try to untangle.

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So this is where I make a U-turn, and go back to my original subject: Hypocrisy.

You will recall that Pavel Durov was born and raised in Russia. It is unclear whether or not he has renounced his Russian citizenship since acquiring others; but whatever the case, the Russian government has predictably stuck its nose into Durov’s present problem — not to protect one of their native sons, but to turn it into yet another sticky legal and political issue.

You see, Durov is also in trouble in Russia since his refusal to comply with a court order that would have given the Kremlin access to private Telegram messages. As a result, Telegram has been blocked in Russia since 2018 (except, apparently, when the Kremlin chooses to access it for its own purposes). So yeah, you can bet they want “access” to him!

And here’s where it gets funny. It seems that Russia’s “representative to international organisations in Vienna,” one Mikhail Ulyanov, has now said about France’s arrest of Durov that:

“Some naive persons still don’t understand that if they play more or less visible role in international information space it is not safe for them to visit countries which move towards much more totalitarian societies.” [Al Jazaeera, August 25, 2024.]

And that’s not all. The Russian Embassy in Paris has requested consular access to Durov, and demanded that French authorities — you’re going to love this one — “ensure the protection of his rights.” The embassy further said — in a statement posted on Telegram, no less! — that “As of today, the French side has so far avoided cooperation on this issue.” [Mary Ilyushina and Rachel Pannett, The Washington Post, August 25, 2024.]

Who are these people? Ulyanov in Vienna, and some unnamed embassy official in Paris, preaching about “totalitarian societies” and “protection of rights”?!! Are they freakin’ serious??!!!

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I don’t believe any further comment on my part is necessary at this point. I just wish my public source of all Russian wisdom, Dmitry Peskov, would come back from wherever he’s been this past week, and straighten things out for us. You are sorely missed, Dima.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/25/24