Sure, Kilimnik admits out of his own mouth he's Russian intelligence... but Neil is such a NATO-shill imperialist-tool that they named a US tank after him.
Taibbi is a smart curator of his own image. He shies away from engaging directly on the easily-disproved stuff that Maté & other The Grayzone writers constantly push (e.g. false-flag stuff like 'Islamic rebels used chlorine gas on Douma' or 'Azov nazis bombed the Mariupol Theater & executed civilians in Bucha').
But Taibbi measured out a little too much rope for himself here. He went from the safe 'US media is so eager to make Russia-Collusion into a story that they're pushing fairy tales about Piss Tapes' to a too-specific denial of Kilimnik's Russian links.
As you list above, that fawning interview of Kilimnik was non-adversarial and credulously accepted many contrary-to-public-record statements from Kilimnik. Anybody but an everything-is-possible-nothing-is-true Tankie would be suspicious. Unlike Maté's The Grayzone readership, Taibbi's audience is broad & includes a lot of people who, while conspiratorially-minded, aren't inclined to accept something so obviously false just because it attacks their favorite NATO/US/globalist targets.
Sure, Kilimnik admits out of his own mouth he's Russian intelligence... but Neil is such a NATO-shill imperialist-tool that they named a US tank after him.
Taibbi is a smart curator of his own image. He shies away from engaging directly on the easily-disproved stuff that Maté & other The Grayzone writers constantly push (e.g. false-flag stuff like 'Islamic rebels used chlorine gas on Douma' or 'Azov nazis bombed the Mariupol Theater & executed civilians in Bucha').
But Taibbi measured out a little too much rope for himself here. He went from the safe 'US media is so eager to make Russia-Collusion into a story that they're pushing fairy tales about Piss Tapes' to a too-specific denial of Kilimnik's Russian links.
As you list above, that fawning interview of Kilimnik was non-adversarial and credulously accepted many contrary-to-public-record statements from Kilimnik. Anybody but an everything-is-possible-nothing-is-true Tankie would be suspicious. Unlike Maté's The Grayzone readership, Taibbi's audience is broad & includes a lot of people who, while conspiratorially-minded, aren't inclined to accept something so obviously false just because it attacks their favorite NATO/US/globalist targets.