Earlier I wrote:

"All of [my sources on recent Russian history] fall with in the mainstream of the academic literature, in the mainstream of Western political science and Russia studies..." [This was in response to Stan Shebs, stating the following in reference to my work: "I... worry that the unabashed socialist viewpoint will hurt WP's credibility as an impartial recorder."]

The following is a list of some of the authors I've cited in my work on post-Soviet Russia on Wikipedia: Anders Åslund, Stephen Cohen, Marshall Goldman, Juan Linz, Branko Milanovic, Sheila M. Puffer, Henry S. Rowen, Pekka Sutela, Joseph Stiglitz, Ray Taras, Stephen White, Charles Wolf. [Perhaps Stiglitz and Cohen can be accused of social democracy and neo-Keynesianism-- how sinister indeed-- but Anders Åslund offers some balance from the "Washington Consensus" (BTW, this is quite a pro-market, pro-Western mix next to general public opinion in Russia right now, and even some of Vladimir Putin's statements in the past few years. And oddly enough, I'm being accused of "socialist bias." If anything, it's probably the other way around.)

I invite anyone interested to do some research in order to see for himself/herself how absurd some of the attacks on my credibility have been.

-172

_________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/