eXile shutting down?
At first I thought it was one of its jokes, but apparently Russian satire magazine eXile is shutting down.
I say shutting down and not “being shut down” because, according to founder Mark Ames, its western financial backers flew the coop after the Russian officials launched an audit of the magazine’s offices, leaving them without enough dough to operate. You can read the entire saga here and here.
I wasn’t a frequent visitor to the site. Even though I checked out War Nerd from time to time, there are only so many half-naked blondes I want to look at, and the satire mostly went over my head. I’m sure I wasn’t in their target audience.
It goes without saying that the audit by Russia’s Federal Service for Mass Media, Telecommunications and the Protection of Cultural Heritage is probably bogus, at least from a western point of view. With new Russian president Dmitri Mevedev sure to continue on his predecessor Vladimir Putin’s path, probably quite a few editors of alternative shops are sweating. Take Moscow Korrespondent, for example (not that it was a true alternative). It was shut down after sparking rumors that Putin was going to leave his wife and marry an Olympic gymnast young enough to be his daughter.
But, also using the Putin story as an example, if Ames and his crew were as hip and tuned in to the government as they claimed to be, did they not see this coming? Ames actually seems shocked in the Radar articles.
As for the backers that “fled to the hills” (whom Ames states are “western”) I find that odd. What is the background of these backers that they run just at the slightest hint of trouble?
Now eXile is waging a fundraising campaign to keep its operations up and running (I’m not sure about the status of the campaign since Ames’ latest Radar article starts with “The Exile is shutting down):
We’re shakin’ your dust from our ‘Nam boots and setting up a new site somewhere not so allergic to truth, boobs and gory jokes. Maybe we can get Eritrea to give us a home. I volunteer to be the eXile’s Eritrean rep right now.
The thing is, it takes money and we have none, zero, aren’t even getting paid any more. We need help. That’s what this mayday is about. You want us in the foxhole with you, fighting against all that’s good and decent in the name of all that’s funny and honest? Then cough it up, soldier!
I wish them luck.