Sunday, November 26, 2006

This Just In

They couldn't find it when it happened, but the NY Times gets around to recognizing the deaths of 10 million Ukrainians:

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Holding candles and standing silent, thousands massed on a fog-shrouded square Saturday to mourn 10 million Ukrainians killed by a famine orchestrated by Soviet leader Josef Stalin -- an ordeal many insisted must be recognized as genocide.

Some 33,000 people died every day during the 1932-33 famine, wiping out a third of Ukraine's population in a calamity known here as Holodomor -- Death by Hunger. Cases of cannibalism were widespread as desperation deepened. Those who resisted were shot or sent to Siberia.

The Times couldn't bring themselves to write about it themselves, instead running an AP story. Maybe because they aren't totally beyond being embarrassed:

Pulitzer Prizes board decides not to revoke 1932 prize awarded to New York Times reporter Walter Duranty for 1931 series of articles about Soviet Union that were later discredited as too credulous of Soviet propaganda; cites lack of evidence of deliberate deception by Duranty; award has been subject of protests by Ukrainian and other groups angry over his failure to report vast famine of 1932-33; board calls famine 'horrific' and notes it deserved more international attention; Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr lauds board; admits defects in Duranty's journalism

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