The Fatboy Show hosts James Onen popularly known as Fatboy and Olive Najjuma have expressed disappointment at NATO states for forcing Russian residents to denounce their President Vladmir Putin.
This was after famous Russian classical music conductor Valery Gergiev, a 65 year conductor of symphonies at an orchestra in the UK and Putin’s close friend got dismissed from his job when he refused to denounce Putin publicly even after an ultimatum was issued to him.
Olive Najjuma in her standpoint said, “If someone is not putting out information that they are pro-Putin and are just doing their job, why are you forcing their hand? Because at the end of the day, it’s their country and it may have a ripple effect if they stand in the UK and denounce Putin then later return to Russia.”
In addition, Fatboy said that with the Western media constantly portraying Putin as a gruesome and despotic leader, it is contradictory for them to want his citizens to denounce him.
“Western institutions and the media are reminding us everyday how dangerous, despotic and murderous Putin is. And then you’re going around asking these people to denounce him? If what the media is saying about him is true, then you wouldn’t want to put these people in position to denounce their leader because it puts them and their families at risk.”
He further questioned why Western countries did not denounce the USA when it assaulted Libya. “When Libya was being destroyed into smithereens, why weren’t Americans being asked left and right to denounce Obama for his illegal invasion and stripping them of their jobs and titles? No one did because when Americans aggress whoever they want and no one cares,” Fatboy added.
The Presenters argued that the aggressive measures placed on Putin, his government and Russia are reasonable if only exclusive to Russian citizens. In his argument, Fatboy questioned the freedom of speech and political association in the liberal countries.
“Once politics is turned from policy to deciding who is morally right and evil, many will feel justified to oppress and persecute those that they disagree with because they will be viewed as enemies of the country and it will be easy to dehumanize and execute them from society,” he opined.
In her suggestion, Olive said that the focus should be aimed at ending the war, not political sentiments of Russians in western countries. “Forcing people’s hands to denounce Putin is low and if you’re all about security, then you would know that you're putting these people’s lives at risk. What's important right now is not denouncing Putin. It's for him to stop the war because that's what everyone wants,” she said.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive and Sarah every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.