As it became known, the administration of the current president of the United States, Donald Trump, has proposed to stop the broadcasts of three editions of Radio Liberty: Tatar-Bashkir, North Caucasus and Georgian. This is being done under the pretext of reducing government spending — from the $124 million that funds Radio Liberty this year to $87 million next year.
But why is this being proposed at the expense of these three issues? In our opinion, and not only ours, they are currently among the most effective of all the national editions of this media network. This is especially true of Idel.Realii, which in the year or so since its launch has become a breath of fresh air for those who want to know about the problems of the peoples of the Volga region, who are carefully silenced by both the pro-government and opposition Russian media.
Here we cannot but recall the mysterious story of the US State Department, which loudly included Ayrat Vakhitov in the American lists of terrorists. He was accused of collaborating with Caucasian jihadists in Syria. Interestingly, however, this was done several years after Vakhitov had ceased his activities in Syria, settled in Turkey, and begun to become a significant figure among Russian-speaking Muslims thanks to his translation work and thoughtful commentary on the Internet.
Given the apparently deliberate nature of Vakhitov’s listing as a terrorist, and the Trump team’s proposal to eliminate the Tatar-Bashkir edition of Radio Liberty, it is tempting to assume that there is a Tatar-phobic group in the U.S. political establishment (let’s recall that the decision regarding Vakhitov was made under the previous president) that is not interested in the political awakening of the Tatar people and the existence of media and leaders who can be its beacons.