[1]
by John Helmer, Moscow
@bears_with [2]
Following yesterday’s publication [3] on the work of Lawrence Freedman (lead image, left*), he was sent a request that “in the event you detect error of fact or interpretation in this piece, please inform me at once so that the appropriate remedy may be taken”.
A reply signed by Freedman has been received. The email address is Freedman’s institutional one which has been made public by King’s College, London; the IP address locates the origin of the email in Dublin, Ireland, through Microsoft.
Freedman replies:
“Seriously. What do you expect from me? This is all nonsense. I haven’t got the time or energy to go through it all.
“But I do need to make it clear that I made no money by chairing KCL enterprises (because that was part of my job as a member of KCL’s senior management team), or from RAND Europe. I did not have shares in either (nor could have had). The idea that I used these bodies to monetize my expertise is just wrong as well as defamatory. Nor have I ever got anything from ‘All American entertainment’, of which I was unaware until today although it does have a very old photo of me. You should also note that you fail to distinguish between free subscribers to Comment is Freed – by far the majority – and those that pay. It would be great to have 40,000 paying subscribers – but we don’t.
“You appear to be deeply antisemitic – from your opening and that you find my son’s work with the Holocaust Education Trust to be sinister.
“As for the rest I’m happy to defend the integrity of my analyses, past and current, but not with you.
“Instead of trying to show that I’m a terrible human being why not just acknowledge that you support a corrupt and criminal regime engaged in a catastrophic aggressive war against its neighbour and I don’t.”
The email exchange is published verbatim without comment:
[4]
[5]For readers who wish to follow up and subscribe to Comment is Freed [6], this is how:
[7]Source: https://samf.substack.com/p/the-2nd-anniversary-post [8]
[*] The lead photograph of Freedman is his selection for his current Twitter account [9]. The illustration of a jester in yesterday’s publication is an adaptation of a woodcut titled Der Schalksnarr (“The Fool”) by Heinrich Vogtherr the Younger which was first published in 1540. The Ukrainian flag colours were substituted yesterday; the original artist’s inscription was omitted. In High German this was the jester’s wisecrack.
[10]It means “I laugh at all you fools / Who only take pleasure in your fool-stick.” For an analysis of the original symbolism in Vogtherr’s art work, click to read [11].