Editorial was a shameful misrepresentation of Syrian tragedy 

It is shameful for a respected newspaper to turn things upside-down. Some time ago The Nation declared a war on fake news and earned credit for that. Now it is risking its reputation for deliberately providing the readers with fake analysis.
It is a shame not to mention in the editorial on Syria those who opened the Pandora’s Box by bringing chaos to the Middle East and in particular to Syria – one of the most prosperous countries in the region before the war – under an attractive slogan of the “Arab Spring”.
It is a shame to avoid mentioning ISIS and al-Nusra Front who used this chaos to occupy half of the Syrian territory turning it into a safe haven for themselves and other radical groups. Make no mistake: it is combating terrorism and not the Bashaar Assad rule that must be a primary goal for Syria, the Middle East and the whole international community.
Instead, the editorial repetitively uses the phrase “Russia’s intervention” as if people do not know that the Russian Aerospace Forces conduct their operations in Syria upon the request of the legitimate president of the Syrian Arab Republic. This “intervention” helped Syrians to liberate most of their homeland from terrorists and brought peace to hundreds of villages, towns and cities including the second largest city of Aleppo and cultural heritage of Palmira. This “intervention” has paved the way for the ceasefire agreement and peace talks in Geneva and Astana.
One may think that the editorial is a result of misinterpretation or ignorance – just as in the case of the American ambassador to the UN who was quoted in the article but who must have no idea of what happened in Rwanda in the mid-1990s (to me, to compare the genocide in Rwanda to the liberation of Aleppo terrorised by al-Nusra is a flagrant blasphemy). But no, journalists working for The Nation are true intellectuals. Maybe the editorial was written by a foreigner? The style is so familiar to everyone who reads what Western media write about Russia.
Or maybe its false accusations against Russia were simply a way to divert the attention of the readers from the battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul, which the US-led coalition has been fighting for six months with no success? Though it cost the lives of thousands of civilians and over a million people have been displaced, the Western media are keeping silent about mistaken air strikes and mismanagement of humanitarian assistance to the residents of Mosul.
Yes, Syria is in a bad shape, but on the right track. But other parts of the Middle East are on fire too. Let me ask a few questions inspired by the catchy title of the editorial: Who has failed the Syrians? Who has failed the Iraqis? Who has failed the Yemenis? Who has failed the Libyans? Who has failed the Afghanis? If you want to understand the real “anatomy” of conflicts in these countries I strongly recommend that you drop the habit of reliance on biased information, ignoring other sources like the Russian Foreign Ministry, RT and Sputnik.
At the end of February the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website launched a new section, “Published materials that contain false information about Russia” (www.mid.ru/en/nedostovernie-publikacii).
We regret to say that this editorial will be sent to the Foreign Ministry to be published in that section.
We understand that it will be bad publicity for The Nation, cooperation with which our embassy values highly, but it is a coercive measure aimed at preventing publication of a false information about Russia and its foreign policy in future.
Kirill Barsky
Russian Ambassador