This is actually a case of me annoying them, rather than them annoying me.

I seem to have really wounded this gentleman. Ohdearwhatapitynevermind.

Dear Nicholas,

I had an idea. Would you like to be interviewed for my website? It would give you a chance to present your side of things and maybe save you time instead of having to send little messages to the RM Digest people, you could get it all out in one go. And, since it would be an email interview, you can be certain of not being misquoted.

If you are up for it, please let me know.

Thanks,
C

C,

I have to say I wasn’t awfully impressed with your “correction” to your previous article – you left the main text untouched, and put the new statement (which is not exactly a simple correction) at the bottom of the web page at http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=409 where nobody will ever see it. So I’m afraid I don’t think I can see my way to complying with this request, unless you conclude that earlier problem in a more satisfactory way.

Nicholas

Dear Nicholas,

You could have just said that despite the MASSIVE media coverage your organization aggressively seeks out with boot-licking media bodies across the world, you are afraid of speaking with anyone who might be in any way critical of your logic and interventionist policies.

In this avoidance you expose both your cowardice and your really wonderful interest in democratic debate – not to mention that you are quite well aware of your organization being, at bottom, intellectual fraudsters obsessed with an overblown sense of self-importance, not to mention power and money.

But I suspect that somewhere deep down you are aware of this fraudulence – and yet choose to live it out, thus foresaking any shred of individuality, independence or intellectual integrity you may once have had.

And in this I truly pity you and others of your ilk. Enjoy!

Sincerely,
C

Not at all, C. It’s just that your lack of professionalism bores me, and I have better things to do with my time.

Regards,

Nicholas

Sorry Nicholas,

But that disaffected British cynicism of yours is simply not going to cut it. Regardless of what you may think of me as a journalist, the fact remains that since my government is funding your organization, and since that by living in a “crisis region” you cover, I and my family are directly affected by the influence of your reports.

So, as long as I am paying you to endanger my life, you had damn well better be accountable – especially since you consider transparency and fair play so important for all those ignorant and savage nations you preach to.

Now, there is an easy way and a hard way to do this. I am offering you the easy way. I am prepared to be charitable, and to let you state your position on reality, in a short email interview – in which there is no chance of you being misquoted – that would be, essentially, fair. But if you continue to ignore me, you at the same time will drastically reduce the options available. I believe this would be to your long-term detriment, since not everyone shares your opinion about me and since you yourself are not nearly so popular as you may think. I beg you to reconsider.

Best,
C.

C,

Unfortunately you’ve already demonstrated that you cannot be relied on to act professionally, and this latest hysterical message is yet more evidence of that. You failed to adequately correct your untrue statement about me in a previous article, which is still on your website, and until you have done so there is no point in continuing this discourse.

If your government is unhappy with our reporting arrangements, I’m sure they will let us know. I suppose what provoked your latest outburst was the piece about me in Vreme earlier this week. I will of course continue to give interviews on the record to journalists who have not let me down in the past. I think you’ll find most people will behave that way and would consider that behaviour reasonable.

Nicholas

Dear Nicholas,

So be it.

C.

Notice how eloquently and diplomatically he tries to persuade me to do the interview with him! Needless to say, he didn’t bother notifying me that he had made further changes to his web-page after we’d concluded this correspondence. And it’s funny how he wasn’t able to make changes to the body of the text in October, and suddenly was able to in February!