Hubbry Logo
The eXileThe eXileMain
Open search
The eXile
Community hub
The eXile
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Contribute something
The eXile
The eXile
The eXile
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

The eXile was a Moscow-based English-language biweekly free tabloid newspaper, aimed at the city's expatriate community, which combined outrageous, sometimes satirical, content with investigative reporting. In October 2006, co-editor Jake Rudnitsky summarized The eXile's editorial policy to The Independent: "We shit on everybody equally."[1] As of January 2023, The eXile is published in an online-only format as The Exiled.[2]

Key Information

Rolling Stone magazine said in 1998 that then-coeditors Mark Ames and Matt Taibbi "take the raw material of this decadent new Moscow and convert it into 25,000 instantly snapped-up issues of The eXile, consisting of misogynist rants, dumb pranks, insulting club listings and photos of blood-soaked corpses, all redeemed by political reporting that's read seriously not only in Moscow but also in Washington."[3] A CNN documentary in 1999 focusing on The eXile agreed, saying, "Brazen, irreverent, immodest, and rude, The eXile struggles with the harsh truth of the new century in Russia...Since 1997, Ames and Taibbi have lampooned and investigated greed, corruption, cowardice and complacency."[4] The Moscow Times writes that "The eXile, which publishes Gonzo-style journalism on topics such as drugs, prostitution and Moscow nightlife side-by-side with political analysis, has often pushed the limits of decency -- not to mention libel law."[5] Newsweek correspondent Owen Matthews called The eXile "brilliant and outrageous."[6]

The eXile's history saw several practical jokes, including reportedly getting Mikhail Gorbachev to enter negotiations to secure a position as "perestroika coordinator" for the New York Jets.[7] Jonathan Shainin of Salon also wrote in 2005 that The eXile "ran serious press criticism salted with vicious personal attacks on reporters."

On 10 June 2008, columnist Gary Brecher ("The War Nerd") published a letter on the website asking for donations from readers, saying "it takes money and we have none, zero, aren't even getting paid any more".[8] On 19 June 2008, the London Daily Telegraph reported that following a government audit, the paper would cease to be printed and would, from then on, appear only on the Internet.[9] A month after shutting down, the newspaper launched a web site[10] called eXiled Online. According to Mark Ames, the new site is to "focus more on the United States," though the Saint Petersburg Times reported that co-editor Yasha Levine will remain in Russia "as long as [he] can hold out."[10]

Origins

[edit]

In 1997, Ames was editor of the English-language Moscow newspaper Living Here. The concept of Living Here was first proposed by Manfred Witteman, who convinced his partner Marina Pshevecherskaya to provide $10,000 of start-up capital.[11] Citing Manfred and Marina's "incessant petty squabbles over money and title" Ames quit Living Here and began planning his own publication. Ames convinced most of the intermittently paid staff of Living Here to defect to the newly conceived newspaper, The eXile, including sales manager Kara Deyerin, and his replacement editor Kevin McElwee. Manfred and Marina hired Matt Taibbi to counter this rebellion, but he became disillusioned after producing one issue of Living Here. Taibbi also defected and became co-editor of The eXile.[11]

Some of the contributors, including Ames, Taibbi, Alexander Zaitchik, and John Dolan (using the pseudonym Gary Brecher), previously worked for the New York Press.

Contributors

[edit]

Content

[edit]

Articles published in The eXile have focused both on Moscow- and Russia-related topics, as well as issues of more general interest. Investigative reporting, reviews of Moscow nightlife, concerts, and restaurants, commentary on politics and culture in Russia and America, film and book reviews, and mocking replies to its readers' letters appeared in most issues. The eXile was known for its descriptions of Moscow life. Andrew Meier, who served as Time magazine's Russia correspondent from 1996 until 2001, was quoted by Rolling Stone as saying: "No one describes expat life in Moscow better than The eXile. They hit it right on its ugly head."[3]

"The '90s in Moscow were a great time," Ames told The New York Observer, "like what they say about the 20s in Paris or the early 30s in Berlin. It was completely hedonistic and nihilistic and full of crime... A lot of [Taibbi's] prose was written on smack and a lot of mine was written on speed... We wrote a whole bunch of editorials about the size of Putin's penis".[12]

Features

[edit]
  • "Whore-R Stories", in which Mark Ames describes an encounter with a prostitute, solicited specifically for the purpose of providing material for the column. Ames includes descriptions of her sexual performance, and body type (and sometimes includes a picture), and focuses on the background, opinions, and personality of the prostitute, as well as the economic and social aspects of prostitution in Moscow.
  • "Death Porn", which describes and categorizes gruesome and unusual violent crimes occurring in Russia. This section adopts the graphic and cynical style of Moskovskij Komsomolets's "Срочно в Номер" section.
  • "Mandela Porn", in which Natasha Marchetti covers violent crime and law enforcement in South Africa, with an emphasis on particularly vicious and dim-witted criminals. In December 2006, nearly two years after her relocation to Sweden, she renamed the column "Viking Porn" and has since been writing about crime in Sweden.
  • "Gandhi Porn", in which Alexander Zaitchik covers and reflects on news from India.
  • "[SIC!]", contains letters to the editor and The eXile's response.
  • "The War Nerd", in which self-proclaimed war nerd Gary Brecher provides commentary and analysis of past and present military conflicts.
  • "The eXile's Field guide to Moscow", a description of the stereotypically colorful characters that can be encountered in Moscow, parodying the descriptive style of wildlife or bird-watching guides.
  • "Feis Kontrol", consisting of impromptu photographs of Moscow nightlife.
  • "In Brief", a collection of headlines and short news blurbs in the style of such satirical newspapers as The Onion, typically with the aim of lampooning other news sources.
  • The "Club Guide", a review of Moscow clubs, bars, strip clubs, and other night venues. Each location is rated as a place to drink, as a place to find casual sex, and on its level of "face control".
  • "Press Review", consisting of criticism of the coverage of Russian affairs in Western media.
  • "Schopenhauer Awards", covering the most unpleasant creatures of the animal kingdom.
  • "Chess", wherein eXile writers and editors play and analyze chess games against Russian masters and Russian prostitutes.
  • "Dyev's Diary", in which Lyolya Androsova reflects on the experiences of her Moscow youth.
  • "Kino Korner / Kino Kwikeez", which is a review of films currently running in Russian and English language cinemas, as well as a rundown of popular pieces selling at pirate kiosks.
  • "Vlad's Daily Gloat", a blog-style column in which eXile columnist Vladimir Kalashnikov delivers sarcastic and mocking analysis of US news, including many unfavourable comparisons to Russia.

Ideology

[edit]

According to John Dolan, The eXile publishes articles from perspectives not often heard or read elsewhere.[13] He referred to eXile columnists as "subaltern", claiming they have been discounted from mainstream discourses as "sinful", irrelevant, disgusting, misogynistic, or otherwise too objectionable to be heard. As an example, Dolan referenced Gary Brecher: "Brecher's sensibility...has found hundreds of thousands of fans online. Every day devoted followers write to the War Nerd, giving homage to the only online voice they trust. Yet Brecher's sensibility could never be admitted either to mainstream journalism or to academic writing." Dolan cited The eXile's audience as a reason for leaving academia and what he called its "starchy sensibility", and proclaimed a central role for his concept of sin in The eXile's ideology:

By contrast, The eXile was conceived in sin - "and proud of it," as Bart Simpson would say - by refugees from the moral world of the American academic. Its editor, Mark Ames, fled Berkeley to set up his own paper in Moscow, then the sin capital of the world. In 1997, when The eXile began publishing, Moscow was without law - especially libel law.

Additionally, The eXile aims to publish articles about Russia from outside the perspective of mainstream western journalism. According to editor Jake Rudnitsky western reporting on Russia is often biased: "Western newspapers have an agenda, to show that everything in Russia is related to oil prices, and that Putin's this competent but quasi-fascist leader. They don't have the freedom to go out and actually find out what's going on."[1] Rudnitsky has also stated that The eXile aims to give a more detailed view of Russia than is available in the western press: "We can write about things that Western journalists are too lazy or apathetic to write about...what makes this country fascinating is the details, and that's something we're allowed to focus on."[1]

Libel

[edit]

Former editor Matt Taibbi has said that operating a periodical in Russia was much easier without the burden of American libel laws.[14] Similarly, Ames asserted in his article "Democracy Sucks" that "we'd be sued out of existence within a few weeks of appearing in any Western democracy, but here in Russia, in the so-called kleptocracy, the power elite has been too busy stealing and killing to give a fuck about us, allowing us to fly around the capital beneath their radar, like a cruise missile. A real democracy would never let us get off the ground."[15]

Pavel Bure libel lawsuit

[edit]

In 2001, The eXile published an article falsely claiming hockey star Pavel Bure broke up with a well-known celebrity after discovering she had two vaginas. Bure successfully sued the eXile for 500,000 rubles (about $16,000 U.S.).[16]

Eduard Limonov

[edit]

The eXile regularly published columns by the political activist and avant garde writer Eduard Limonov. Limonov is the founder and leader of Russia's banned National Bolshevik Party.[17] In 2002, Limonov was imprisoned on felony charges of purchasing automatic weapons and explosives, but was released halfway through his four-year sentence at the request of several members of the Russian Duma who protested that the case was politically motivated.[18][19] In his eXile column, Limonov described several violent episodes from his personal history.

YSR assassination conspiracy

[edit]

The eXile's website apparently published an article claiming that Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani is behind the death of former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.[20]

An Indian television channel aired a news story based on eXile's conspiracy theory which resulted in violent protests across the state.[21]

The Reliance Industries plans to file a legal complaint against these media sources for instigating violence.[22]

Kiriyenko letter

[edit]

In a July 2004, an eXile article entitled "We Dunnit! the eXile Prank Hits Halls Of Domer" claimed authorship of the "Kiriyenko letter",[23] a forged document purportedly from five U.S. Republican Congressmen which expressed concern over Russia's "democratic transition," and accused former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko of stealing IMF funds. After claiming to have forged the letter, Ames was condemned by U.S. Representative Henry Bonilla (R-TX), who demanded that Ames be "prosecuted" and "punished" for forgery.[24] Some US media outlets also believed that The eXile had sent the letter.[25] After the letter was printed verbatim by Novaya Gazeta, both it and The eXile's claim of responsibility were covered by Russian newsmedia.[26][27][28]

Kiriyenko won a libel suit against Novaya Gazeta on the grounds that the paper had not fact-checked properly.[29] The episode also earned The eXile a "website of the week award," from the Philadelphia weekly City Paper,[30] while the Moscow newspaper Kommersant Vlasti, which believed Ames' claim of responsibility, called him a "hero of Russia."[31]

In the next issue, Ames claimed that the contentious article was a joke, saying it had been inserted as filler on production day.[32] In columns for The eXile and Metroactive, he wrote that he had been followed and harassed as a result of the claim, and that he feared arrest or violent reprisal.[24]

Investigation and relocation

[edit]

On 5 June 2008, the Moscow Times reported that The eXile claimed it was under investigation by the Russian Federal Service for Mass Media, Telecommunications and the Protection of Cultural Heritage.[5] Ames said: "I get the general sense that they have decided it's time to shut us down, that they're not going to tolerate us anymore." Ames claimed that The eXile's investors were scared off, leaving the paper with no funding. The initial visit by the auditors took place without incident, but shortly thereafter the staff made the decision to leave Russia for the United States.[2]

People close to The eXile, including some investors, claim Ames was using government pressure as a scapegoat because he was tired of publishing. The eXile's lead investor, Alex Shifrin, whom Ames accused of abandoning him, was quoted as saying, "There are a lot of half-truths as to what happened." Another investor claimed that the officials were simply looking for a bribe. However Ames denies this.[33]

Derivative works

[edit]

Content was republished as The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

The eXile

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
was a Moscow-based English-language biweekly tabloid founded in 1997 by American journalist , with as co-editor, aimed at the city's community and known for its gonzo-style blend of hard-hitting investigative reporting on Russian and oligarchic excesses, irreverent , and explicit coverage of , drugs, and . The publication distinguished itself through meticulous analysis of post-Soviet Russia's chaotic transition, quirky columns including contributions from opposition figure , and provocative stunts such as pranks on public figures and contests mocking foreign correspondents, amassing a circulation under 30,000 while influencing underground discourse over 285 issues spanning multiple administrations and crises. Its unfiltered critique extended to hypocrisy and U.S.-backed economic reforms, positioning it as an equal-opportunity offender unafraid of or scatological humor. The faced ongoing controversies for its crass, defamatory tone, accusations of promoting , , and narcotics, and physical threats, yet it persisted as a visceral to sanitized reporting until a 2008 government audit prompted investor withdrawal and forced closure after 11 years.

Founding and Development

Origins and Launch (1997)


Mark Ames founded The eXile in Moscow following an acrimonious departure from his role as editor of the English-language expat newspaper Living Here. Ames, who had been rejected for various journalism positions in the West, channeled personal frustrations and observations of post-Soviet chaos into the new publication, aiming to expose corruption, Western hypocrisy, and the raw underbelly of Moscow's "Wild East" era marked by poverty, violence, and expatriate excess.
The inaugural issue, numbered No. 0, was published on February 6, 1997, from a makeshift office in a spare room of a defense-ministry building, establishing The eXile as a biweekly free tabloid targeted at Moscow's English-speaking expatriate community. Early content featured provocative columns by Ames, such as "Death Porn" and "Whore-R Stories," reflecting the paper's gonzo style and intent to provoke rather than conform to conventional journalism.
Matt Taibbi joined Ames as co-editor in the publication's second month, bringing investigative rigor to complement Ames's satirical edge and helping shape The eXile's signature blend of hard-hitting political analysis and irreverent commentary on Russian life and expat culture. Ames had recruited a small staff of four from Living Here to jumpstart operations, positioning the paper as a direct rival in Moscow's limited English-language media landscape.

Evolution of Operations and Staff Changes (1997–2002)

Following its launch on , 1997, as a biweekly free English-language tabloid distributed primarily in Moscow's expatriate hotspots, The eXile initially operated from a modest in a former Soviet defense ministry building, relying on advertising revenue from local nightclubs, escort services, and firms to sustain costs. Publisher Konstantin Bukaryov provided modest stipends of approximately $1,200 per month to founders and , enabling a lean operation that prioritized irreverent content over profitability. Circulation grew steadily, reaching a peak of around 30,000 copies per issue by the early 2000s, supported by free distribution at bars, clubs, and Western-oriented venues, though exact print runs varied with ad sales fluctuations. The paper's operational model emphasized rapid production cycles, with Ames and Taibbi handling editing, writing, and layout amid chaotic post-Soviet logistics, including frequent delays from unreliable suppliers. By 1999, The eXile had relocated to an office above Rasputin's , reflecting its deepening immersion in Moscow's and shifting operational focus toward more structured investigative reporting alongside , such as Ames's "Death Porn" column on Russian mortality statistics and Taibbi's exposés on and the Chechen conflict. This period saw incremental expansions in scope, including contributions from Russian writer Edward Limonov, recruited early for his nationalist polemics, who continued submitting pieces even after his 2001 arrest and imprisonment on arms charges until 2003. Challenges mounted, including physical threats and violence—such as the 2001 beating of staffer Kevin McElwee, whose legs were broken by assailants—and a libel stemming from a satirical piece on hockey player , which tested the paper's financial resilience but did not halt . Operations remained precarious, with staff often doubling as reporters and designers, and distribution occasionally disrupted by local pressures, yet the paper gained notoriety through stunts like the 2001 pie-throwing at New York Times correspondent Michael Wines. Staff dynamics evolved amid internal tensions, with Taibbi's role as co-editor and lead reporter bolstering the paper's journalistic edge from 1997 onward, but personal and professional strains led to his departure in early 2002, after which Ames assumed sole editorship. Taibbi's exit, prompted by a falling out with Ames and a desire to launch The Buffalo Beast in the U.S., marked a pivotal shift, reducing the founding duo's collaborative output and forcing Ames to consolidate control while recruiting sporadic contributors like Yasha Levine for continuity. This transition coincided with broader operational strains, including reliance on a small, rotating cast of expatriate writers vulnerable to burnout or expulsion risks, though Limonov's remote input provided ideological ballast during his incarceration. No major hires or structural overhauls occurred in this era, preserving the paper's ad-hoc, gonzo-driven workflow.

Expansion and Challenges Under New Ownership (2002–2008)

Following Matt Taibbi's departure to the United States in early 2002 to launch The Buffalo Beast, Mark Ames assumed full editorial control of The eXile, steering the publication through a phase of operational continuity and modest expansion in Moscow's expatriate media landscape. Under Ames's leadership, the biweekly tabloid maintained its gonzo style while broadening its investigative scope on Russian corruption and expat subcultures, achieving a peak print circulation of 30,000 copies distributed free across the city. Revenue derived primarily from advertisements for nightclubs, escort services, and vice-related enterprises, sustaining a lean operation with Ames earning approximately $1,200 monthly. Ownership transitioned in 2005 when self-exiled Yukos shareholder sold the paper to Ukrainian businessman Vadim, marking a shift from earlier informal funding arrangements, such as initial support from Konstantin Bukaryov, to more structured private investment. This period saw no major staff overhauls beyond recurring contributors like , who penned columns from prison between 2001 and 2003 before his release, but the publication endured financial precarity amid Russia's tightening media environment. A 2007 from private investors temporarily stabilized operations, enabling sustained output despite persistent deficits. Challenges intensified with legal and extralegal pressures, including a libel suit filed by hockey player over critical coverage, alongside broader risks to investigative journalists in , exemplified by the 2004 murder of Forbes Russia editor . The publication faced advertiser boycotts, blackmail attempts, and death threats from aggrieved subjects, yet persisted due to Russia's comparatively lax enforcement of libel and laws compared to Western standards. The decisive crisis unfolded in spring 2008 when Russia's Federal Service for , Telecommunications, and initiated an on-site from May 13 to June 11, prompted by complaints over content deemed to mock national traditions and , particularly Limonov's columns. Authorities accused The eXile of violating Article 4 of media legislation by promoting , , and drug use, though no formal ban was issued. Investors and distributors withdrew support amid fears of reprisal—exacerbated by the paper's domestic ownership, lacking foreign backing for protection—leading Ames to announce print cessation on June 11, 2008, after 11 years of operation. The outlet shifted online from an undisclosed location, but print distribution ended irrevocably.

Content and Style

Signature Features and Columns

The eXile distinguished itself through recurring columns that fused , , and contrarian analysis of politics, culture, and expat life in post-Soviet . A hallmark was "The War Nerd," launched on April 21, 2002, under the Gary Brecher (later revealed as writer John Dolan), which delivered biting, unconventional dissections of , ongoing conflicts, and warfare tactics, often mocking narratives and expert punditry. This column gained a for its accessible yet acerbic style, reviewing global wars like a "war reviewer" and emphasizing tactical realities over ideological spin, with pieces appearing biweekly in print and later online. Eduard Limonov, the novelist and leader, contributed regular columns that injected radical, polemics into the paper's pages, critiquing Russian power elites, Western hypocrisy, and societal decay from a nationalist-punk perspective. His writings, such as those pondering subjects suggested by editor , blended personal exile experiences with calls for upheaval, reflecting Limonov's influence on the publication's defiant tone amid his own political persecutions. These pieces often courted controversy, aligning with the eXile's ethos of publishing banned or fringe voices unpalatable to or liberal sensibilities. Founders and penned editorial columns and features that epitomized the paper's hybrid format, interspersing hard-hitting exposés on corruption with scatological humor, sex industry dispatches, and lifestyle guides to Moscow's underbelly. Recurring satirical elements, like lists or "hatred genome" maps lampooning European stereotypes, underscored the columns' role in subverting expat complacency and official narratives. This columnar structure—half investigative rigor, half provocation—sustained reader engagement through 2008, funding operations partly via adjacent explicit personals ads that mirrored the content's raw candor.

Investigative Reporting on Corruption and Expat Life

The eXile distinguished its investigative work by merging on-the-ground reporting with confrontational tactics to expose systemic in Russia's chaotic post-Soviet economy, often focusing on how Western institutions and expats intersected with local graft. Matt Taibbi's 1999 article "Loans for Squares" revealed how international lenders like the World Bank and indirectly facilitated Russia's scam, in which state-owned enterprises were auctioned at undervalued prices to politically connected oligarchs, enabling the transfer of billions in assets to a narrow elite while saddling the state with debt. This piece drew on leaked documents and insider accounts to illustrate the complicity of foreign aid in entrenching rather than fostering market reforms. Further probes targeted mismanagement in Western-backed initiatives, such as a World Bank-funded investor-protection program in the late 1990s, where American and European advisers overseeing the fund engaged in and failed to prevent , undermining claims of transparent in . The paper's reporters, including co-founders and Taibbi, routinely confronted officials and businessmen, using feigned personas or direct stings to elicit admissions of in sectors like and media licensing, as documented in their 2000 compiling early eXile dispatches. These efforts highlighted causal links between unchecked and rising inequality, with empirical details like specific valuations (e.g., Yukos oil shares sold for $150 million despite multi-billion-dollar reserves) underscoring the scale of theft. On expat life, The eXile's investigations portrayed Moscow's foreign community in the as thriving amid bespredel—unrestrained lawlessness—where expatriates from aid agencies, NGOs, and businesses routinely paid bribes for protection or overlooked ties in joint ventures. Articles detailed how Westerners in bars like the Hungry Duck navigated a scene rife with coerced , alcohol-fueled brawls, and opportunistic scams, often rationalizing participation as cultural while ignoring ethical lapses. For instance, reporting exposed expat consultants profiting from corrupt consulting gigs tied to oligarch networks, critiquing the of those preaching abroad yet exploiting Russia's weak institutions for personal gain. This coverage, grounded in , emphasized the perils of immersion—such as Taibbi's own run-ins with armed enforcers—revealing how the expat bubble masked broader societal decay driven by and foreign enablement.

Satirical and Gonzo Journalism Techniques

The eXile pioneered a form of in post-Soviet , drawing from Hunter S. Thompson's subjective, immersive style where reporters embedded themselves directly into the stories, often amplifying personal experiences and biases to convey raw truths about chaotic environments. Co-founders and integrated this approach by blending firsthand participation with hallucinatory exaggeration, as seen in Taibbi's undercover stints posing as a or coal miner to expose grueling Russian labor conditions, or Ames's "Whore-R Stories" series documenting extended encounters with sex workers to critique societal underbelly. This technique rejected detached objectivity in favor of visceral, participatory narratives that highlighted the absurdities of expat life and Russian dysfunction, positioning the writers as flawed protagonists amid the anarchy. Satirical techniques in The eXile emphasized caustic mockery and deliberate provocation to dismantle hypocrisies in both Russian power structures and Western pretensions, employing , fabricated stunts, and profane to underscore real corruptions. For instance, the paper featured prankish assaults like hurling a filled with horse at a New York Times bureau chief, symbolizing disdain for sanitized foreign reporting, alongside editorials lampooning figures such as through crude analogies like dominatrix imagery on covers. Columns often devolved into "verbal abuse" of journalists or officials, parodying their complacency—such as awarding dubious honors to Western correspondents—while "Death Porn" sections juxtaposed gruesome crime photos with ironic commentary on post-Communist violence, forcing readers to confront unvarnished realities obscured by polite discourse. These methods fused gonzo immersion with to create a hybrid critique, where personal excess (e.g., amphetamine-fueled rants or club reviews laced with misogynistic tropes) served as a lens for dissecting elite greed and cultural decay, though critics noted the style's frequent descent into crass that blurred lines between insight and mere shock. Taibbi's pieces, for example, might escalate from factual exposés to gonzo-fueled tirades against systemic failures, using self-deprecating —like dining in a at elite venues—to mirror the performative facades of power. This unapologetic blend prioritized causal exposure of underlying rot over balanced presentation, influencing later contrarian outlets but earning bans for its unrelenting edge.

Key Contributors

Founders Mark Ames and Matt Taibbi

Mark Ames founded The eXile on February 6, 1997, launching its inaugural issue (No. 0) as an English-language biweekly tabloid in Moscow aimed at expatriates, blending gonzo-style satire, investigative reporting, and critiques of post-Communist Russia's political and social decay. Ames, born in 1965 in Los Gatos, California, and educated at the University of California, Berkeley, had relocated to Moscow in 1993 after independently learning Russian and witnessing Boris Yeltsin's dissolution of parliament; he supported himself through odd jobs such as wine dealing before establishing the publication. As editor-in-chief, Ames shaped its irreverent tone, authoring columns like "Death Porn" on violence and "Whore-R Stories" on prostitution, while emphasizing unfiltered exposés of corruption and expat life. Matt Taibbi joined as co-editor in the paper's second month of operation in early 1997, recruited by Ames from an alternative weekly amid Taibbi's prior stints reporting for the in and covering city crime for . The son of correspondent , he had studied at and the University of Leningrad (now ), bringing a focus on substantive journalism—including dispatches from the Chechen War and profiles of Moscow's underground scenes—complemented by satirical pieces that amplified the paper's contrarian edge. Together, Ames and Taibbi co-authored the 2000 memoir The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia, published by on March 23, which detailed their hands-on immersion in 's chaotic transition, from club scenes to political scandals, and defended the publication's raw approach against libel suits. Taibbi departed The eXile in early 2002 to launch The Buffalo Beast in the United States, after which Ames assumed sole editorship and lead reporting duties, sustaining the paper's operations until 2008. Their founding vision rejected sanitized Western narratives of Russia's liberalization, prioritizing firsthand accounts of oligarchic excess, street-level graft, and cultural nihilism, which drew both acclaim for authenticity and backlash for excess.

Eduard Limonov's Role and Influence

Eduard Limonov, a Russian writer and founder of the , contributed regularly to The eXile as a starting from the newspaper's in 1997. His pieces, often focused on , cultural rebellion, and critiques of both Russian oligarchic power and Western interventionism, appeared alongside the publication's gonzo-style reporting, amplifying radical opposition voices to an expatriate readership. Limonov's involvement stemmed from his personal ties to co-founder , with whom he shared an affinity for provocative, aesthetics; Ames later described Limonov as embodying the publication's ethos of unfiltered confrontation with authority. Limonov's columns in The eXile translated his literary style—marked by autobiographical intensity and disdain for liberal pieties—into English, exposing readers to his advocacy for a syncretic that rejected Yeltsin's neoliberal reforms and Putin's consolidating regime alike. For instance, his writings during the late and early highlighted the absurdities of post-Soviet transition, portraying Moscow's elite as decadent betrayers of proletarian ethos, a theme resonant with the newspaper's broader exposés on . This collaboration lent The eXile credibility among Russian dissidents, positioning it as a bridge between underground activism and Western observers skeptical of portrayals of Russia's chaos. The influence of Limonov extended beyond mere contributions; his presence reportedly drew scrutiny from Russian authorities, who viewed The eXile as a vector for due to its platforming of the leader amid his 2001 arrest on charges of armed rebellion. Observers have linked the publication's 2008 shutdown—following raids by federal agents—to Limonov's ongoing role, as his columns critiqued consolidation and clan rivalries in ways that blurred journalistic irreverence with oppositional agitation. Limonov's to Ames and Taibbi's 2000 The eXile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New further underscored this symbiotic relationship, framing the newspaper as a raw chronicle of Moscow's underbelly that echoed his own experiences and impulses.

Other Recurring Writers and Editors

John Dolan joined The eXile in 2002, shortly after Matt Taibbi's departure, and became a key contributor under the pseudonym for the "War Nerd" column, which offered irreverent, data-driven analyses of and contemporary conflicts, often challenging mainstream narratives on warfare tactics and strategy. Dolan's work, blending with tactical breakdowns, appeared regularly until the paper's closure in and influenced later online continuations. Alexander Zaitchik served as a and editor, contributing investigative articles on Russian politics, expat culture, and corruption scandals during the mid-, drawing from his experience in . His pieces emphasized firsthand reporting from Moscow's underbelly, aligning with the publication's gonzo while focusing on verifiable events like oligarch influence and media suppression. Yasha edited and wrote for The eXile from the early onward, specializing in exposés on post-Soviet , , and Western interventions in , often critiquing corporate and governmental hypocrisies through archival evidence and interviews. Levine's tenure extended into the paper's final years, where he helped maintain its contrarian edge amid increasing legal pressures.

Ideology and Perspective

Anti-Establishment and Contrarian Worldview

The eXile's worldview rejected the dominant Western narrative of post-Soviet Russia's transition as a triumphant embrace of and free markets, portraying it instead as a catastrophic collapse marked by economic predation, social disintegration, and elite opportunism. described the era as one of "total devastation, one of the worst, most horrible fucking tragedies of modern times," arguing that proponents of liberal reforms ignored evident street-level realities of poverty and corruption. This perspective critiqued the hypocrisy of Western institutions like the World Bank and financial advisors who championed shock therapy policies while enabling oligarchic theft, positioning the publication as a countervoice to sanitized expat and media accounts that downplayed Russia's human costs. Contrarian by design, The eXile targeted power structures across ideological lines, deriding both emerging Russian autocracy and Western liberal pieties with equal vigor. Early coverage lampooned Vladimir Putin's rise, as in a 1999 issue cover commanding "mother : kneel!" to the incoming leader, anticipating centralized control amid Yeltsin's chaotic handover on December 31, 1999. It simultaneously assailed U.S. foreign policy hypocrisies, such as the 1999 bombing of , which Ames and Taibbi viewed as imperial overreach masked as humanitarianism, and Wall Street's role in exacerbating Russian inequality through predatory loans and privatization schemes. This dual critique extended to Western journalists in , whom the paper accused of self-serving detachment and failure to report unvarnished truths about local graft and violence. The publication's philosophy emphasized raw, uncompromised exposure over journalistic decorum, with Ames articulating a mission to "err on the side of incaution" in pursuit of visceral authenticity. This approach fused gonzo provocation—drawing from —with investigative rigor, aiming to dismantle elite illusions without moralizing or deference to power. By prioritizing firsthand immersion in Russia's underbelly, including expat debauchery and official malfeasance, The eXile cultivated a worldview that valorized skepticism toward all authority, from Kremlin functionaries to globalist reformers, fostering a readership attuned to systemic failures over ideological orthodoxy.

Critiques of Post-Soviet Russian Power Structures

The eXile's coverage of post-Soviet Russian power structures centered on the kleptocratic consolidation under , portraying the privatization as a rigged process that transferred state assets to a handful of oligarchs through schemes like the 1995 loans-for-shares program, where banks lent money to the government secured against undervalued enterprises, enabling insiders to acquire control for fractions of their worth. Ames and Taibbi's investigative pieces detailed how this fostered a symbiotic relationship between oligarchs, criminal networks, and state officials, exemplified by exposés on figures like Boris Berezovsky, whose media empire and political influence were depicted as emblematic of unchecked . These reports often highlighted empirical indicators of decay, such as the 1998 financial collapse that devalued the by over 70% and spiked , attributing it to plunder rather than external factors alone. Shifting to Vladimir Putin's ascent in 2000, The eXile critiqued the transition not as genuine reform but as a reconfiguration of , where siloviki—security service veterans—replaced Yeltsin-era oligarchs in dominating resource sectors, as seen in the 2003 Yukos affair that dismantled Mikhail Khodorkovsky's empire through selective prosecution. The paper's columns, including contributions from , lambasted the regime's authoritarian tendencies, such as media takeovers and suppression of dissent, while rejecting narratives of restored stability as cover for entrenched corruption; Limonov's writings, for instance, decried the liberal elite's complicity in national humiliation and called for dismantling the post-Soviet bureaucracy's parasitic hold. This perspective drew from firsthand observations of Moscow's underclass suffering amid elite enrichment, with GDP per capita stagnating below $2,000 until mid-decade despite oil windfalls. The eXile's approach privileged raw data on inequality—such as the rising to 0.40 by 2000—and causal links between power concentration and public impoverishment, often contrasting Russia's trajectory with Western hypocrisies in advising shock therapy. Controversially, while acknowledging Putin's curb on anarchy, the publication warned of siloviki-led graft mirroring prior excesses, as in of energy firms yielding billions in unaccounted revenues by 2005. Such critiques, delivered through gonzo satire, provoked libel suits from targeted elites, underscoring the paper's role in unmasking systemic incentives for predation over institutional reform.

Rejections of Western Liberal Narratives and Hypocrisies

The eXile consistently challenged Western portrayals of post-Soviet as a of failed attributable primarily to inherent Russian or , instead emphasizing the role of Western economic policies in precipitating the 1990s collapse. Founders and argued that institutions like the (IMF), backed by the Clinton administration, imposed shock therapy reforms that devastated Russia's economy, leading to hyperinflation peaking at 2,500% in 1992 and a GDP drop of over 40% by 1998, while enriching a narrow class of oligarchs through rigged privatizations. This critique rejected the liberal narrative of benevolent Western guidance, portraying it as a form of economic that prioritized market access for Western firms over , with U.S. advisors complicit in policies that funneled billions in aid into corrupt networks rather than genuine reform. Publications in The eXile exposed hypocrisies in U.S. efforts, such as the selective outrage over Russian media control while ignoring American corporate media consolidation and government surveillance expansions under the in 2001. Ames, in essays critiquing American , drew parallels between U.S. interventions and historical hypocrisies, noting how Washington condemned Putin's consolidation of power post-2000—after his election with 53% of the vote—while maintaining alliances with authoritarian regimes like that suppressed dissent far more severely. Taibbi's columns lampooned the sanctimonious tone of Western correspondents in , who decried Russian "kleptocracy" from expat bubbles, overlooking how U.S. policies had enabled the very oligarchs they now criticized, including figures like Boris Berezovsky who amassed billions through state asset sales in 1995-1996. This perspective framed Western liberal advocacy for NGOs and color revolutions as extensions of , masking geopolitical aims like enlargement, which expanded from 16 members in 1999 to 31 by 2023 despite Russian objections dating to Boris Yeltsin's 1993 warnings. Influenced by contributor , The eXile dismissed Western and liberal universalism as decadent impositions ill-suited to Russia's cultural context, arguing they ignored causal realities of national and ethnic cohesion in favor of abstract that had destabilized post-communist states. Ames's "War Nerd" column, a staple from onward, dissected U.S. doctrines with data-driven , highlighting discrepancies like America's $700 billion defense budget in 2007 versus Russia's $30 billion, yet persistent failures in asymmetric wars such as , where U.S. claims of liberating clashed with the reality of 4,000+ American deaths and displacing millions by 2008. These pieces rejected narratives of , positing instead that U.S. hypocrisies—evident in supporting Uzbekistan's Karimov regime despite its 2005 Andijan massacre of 700 protesters—undermined credibility in lecturing on .

Controversies and Criticisms

Libel Allegations and Lawsuits

In 2001, The eXile published a satirical article falsely alleging that Russian hockey star had ended his relationship with tennis player upon discovering she possessed two vaginas. The piece, presented as a in the publication's gonzo style, prompted Bure to file a libel against the newspaper. Bure prevailed in the case, securing a judgment of 500,000 rubles—equivalent to approximately $16,000 USD at the time—from The eXile. This outcome marked one of the few successful claims against the publication during its early years, when Russian libel enforcement remained inconsistent and weakly applied, particularly against foreign-language outlets targeting expatriates. The lawsuit contributed to internal tensions at The eXile, with co-founder later attributing financial strain and mismanagement partly to editor Matt Taibbi's decisions during Ames's absence, including the publication of the offending article. In July 2004, The eXile claimed responsibility for orchestrating a letter purportedly signed by U.S. congressmen and sent to presidential envoy Sergei Kiriyenko, praising his administration in hyperbolic terms as part of a satirical targeting post-Soviet power structures. Although Kiriyenko pursued and won a libel suit against for republishing details of the incident, asserting the letter's authenticity impugned his integrity, no direct legal action against The eXile materialized from the prank. The episode underscored the publication's provocative tactics but highlighted the era's uneven application of laws, which often spared English-language aimed at elite figures.

Political Conspiracy Theories and Publications

The eXile's publications occasionally incorporated elements of political conspiracy theories, particularly in columns that challenged official accounts of power dynamics in post-Soviet and global geopolitics. Eduard Limonov's recurring contributions framed Western-backed reforms, NGOs, and color revolutions as orchestrated plots by "Atlanticist" forces to dismantle Russian and impose liberal , echoing Eurasianist ideologies that posit a deliberate strategy by the and its allies. These narratives portrayed in the 1990s as a to exploit Russia's resources, with Limonov alleging collaboration between Western and domestic oligarchs to perpetuate chaos. Such content aligned with Limonov's platform, which blended anti-capitalist rhetoric with accusations of foreign subversion, including claims that protests and opposition movements were funded by external actors to provoke instability. The eXile's gonzo style amplified these assertions through satirical exaggeration, as in pieces linking Yeltsin-era to hidden Western agendas aimed at preventing Russia's resurgence as a multipolar power. Critics, including Russian authorities, viewed these publications as inflammatory that fueled distrust in institutions, contributing to the paper's legal troubles under media laws prohibiting "." The "War Nerd" column by pseudonymous writer Gary Brecher further engaged conspiracy-laden topics, such as public fears of covert operations, to dissect media distortions and state secrecy in conflicts like . Brecher's analyses often referenced fringe theories—like black helicopter sightings symbolizing government surveillance—to argue that they stemmed from real asymmetries in information and power, rather than outright fabrication, though without endorsing supernatural elements. This approach drew accusations of legitimizing , yet Brecher positioned it as realist demystification of warfare's underreported realities. Overall, while not a primary focus, these elements underscored The eXile's rejection of sanitized narratives, prioritizing raw exposure of machinations over empirical caution.

Accusations of Extremism and Cultural Excess

Critics accused The eXile of cultural excess through its gonzo-style journalism, which featured explicit depictions of sex, drugs, and violence, often blurring lines between reporting and personal indulgence. Columns such as "Whore-R Stories" and detailed graphic encounters with prostitutes and grisly murders, respectively, with the latter including icons of victims "riddled with bullets" to emphasize brutality in post-Soviet . Reviewers described this as rude, cruel, pornographic, self-aggrandizing, and infantile, arguing it prioritized shock over substance, as in accounts of a four-month "brain-sucking speed binge" framed as journalistic immersion. Allegations of centered on portrayals of women as sexual objects or targets of ridicule, with Russian women depicted as "long-legged gazelles with loose morals" available to expats, while Western women were mocked as "fat-ankled" and undesirable. Specific incidents included Ames recounting pressuring a 15-year-old for and later suggesting a post-abortion "trophy" mocking her as the "World’s Greatest Mom," alongside public ridicule of ex-girlfriends and staff. Female journalists faced , such as a pie thrown at New York Times correspondent Michael Wines laced with horse semen, interpreted by detractors as emblematic of broader antagonism toward professional norms. reporter Carol Williams labeled the publication a product of "a bunch of kids" funded to excess, implying immature provocation rather than insight. Accusations of arose from The eXile's platforming of , founder of the (NBP), a group blending and that Russian courts banned in 2007 as an extremist organization. contributed writings on and gender dynamics, which authorities later seized issues to probe for "," "inciting national ," and related violations under Article Four of media regulations. The paper's advocacy of radical acts, like arresting IMF officials and "feeding them to the citizens," fueled claims of endorsing fringe ideologies, though editors framed such content as satirical exposure of systemic corruption. Critics contended this association undermined credible journalism, associating The eXile with NBP's revolutionary calls despite its contrarian rather than ideological alignment.

Government Investigations and Media Law Violations

In early June 2008, Russia's Federal Service for Mass Media, Telecommunications, and the Protection of Cultural Heritage initiated an unscheduled on-site inspection of The eXile's offices to assess compliance with federal media regulations. The probe targeted potential breaches of Article 4 of the Russian Media Law, which prohibits the dissemination of materials encouraging extremism, promoting pornography or drug use, inciting ethnic hatred, or publishing substantive political content under an entertainment-focused license. Officials reviewed three recent issues, with particular scrutiny on columns by Eduard Limonov and other articles accused of mocking Russian traditions, history, and authority figures. Editor Mark Ames underwent a three-hour interrogation during the inspection, which had been scheduled for May 13 to June 11 but was notified via fax only on May 22, prompting claims of procedural irregularity. Ames attributed the action to retaliation for the paper's longstanding criticisms of post-Soviet power structures, while the agency's lawyer, Svetlana Zemskova, highlighted the unusually expedited timeline following unspecified complaints. No formal violations were publicly confirmed, and potential penalties—ranging from warnings for initial infractions to license suspension or revocation for repeats—were not imposed, as the process concluded without adjudication. The investigation's announcement, amplified by coverage in Russian media, , and , triggered immediate fallout, including the flight of key investors and distributors wary of association with a targeted outlet. This financial hemorrhage forced The eXile's closure on June 11, 2008, coinciding with the inspection's deadline for findings, effectively achieving regulatory pressure without courtroom proceedings.

Investor Withdrawals and Forced Relocation Efforts

In June 2008, inspectors from Russia's visited The eXile's Moscow offices on June 6, prompting immediate investor withdrawals. The unannounced , initiated by complaints alleging the mocked and humiliated Russian traditions, examined content for signs of , , narcotics promotion, and ties to opposition figures like of the . Investors, fearing potential legal violations under Russian media laws, rapidly pulled funding, leaving the biweekly unable to sustain operations. Editors and Yasha Levine described the exodus as a direct consequence of the regulatory scrutiny, which amplified perceptions of state intolerance for the paper's contrarian style. The funding collapse accelerated The eXile's print shutdown after 11 years, with no formal closure order issued but financial viability extinguished. In response, the team initiated a "Save The eXile" fundraising drive to support an online continuation at exiledonline.com, seeking reader donations to maintain digital output amid the crisis. This shift represented a desperate pivot rather than a structured relocation of physical operations, as no evidence indicates attempts to move the publication's base outside or before cessation. Regulatory pressures, including the inspection's focus on compliance with protections, effectively forced the outlet into a diminished online form without viable investor backing.

Final Closure in 2008

In June 2008, Russian authorities initiated an investigation into The eXile for alleged violations of federal media legislation, specifically Article 4, which prohibits the publication of materials inciting , , or . The probe followed complaints from unnamed parties, prompting prosecutors to audit the newspaper's editorial content for compliance. This scrutiny, conducted by the Moscow prosecutor's office, focused on articles deemed potentially inflammatory, though no formal charges were immediately filed. The government's actions triggered a rapid exodus of financial backers and advertisers, who cited fears of association with a publication under official investigation. By early June, key investors withdrew support, rendering the biweekly unable to sustain printing operations. On June 10, 2008, co-editor announced the closure in a blog post, describing a meeting with the Russian publisher where final arrangements were made to end publication, attributing the shutdown directly to the audit's fallout. Although The eXile briefly shifted to an online-only format, the loss of revenue proved insurmountable, leading to its complete cessation by mid-June. The closure marked the end of The eXile's 11-year run, with Ames framing it as a casualty of intensified pressure on amid broader crackdowns on dissent. No direct evidence emerged of fabricated complaints or politically motivated orchestration beyond the stated legal basis, but the timing aligned with heightened regulatory enforcement against outlets critical of post-Soviet power structures.

Legacy and Impact

Derivative Publications and Books

The primary derivative book stemming from The eXile is The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia, co-authored by the publication's founders and and published by on October 17, 2000. This 256-page volume compiles selected articles, editorials, and personal accounts originally featured in the newspaper, chronicling the chaotic landscape of 1990s through gonzo-style that exposed , oligarchic excesses, and subcultures. The book features a by Edward Limonov, the Russian writer and leader, who praised its unfiltered portrayal of post-Soviet 's underbelly. Subsequent works by Ames and Taibbi, such as Ames's (2005), echoed the irreverent, muckraking tone honed at , though they expanded into broader themes like and ideological extremism rather than direct republications of the paper's content. No other formal compilations or derivative publications from the original eXile run have been issued, with the newspaper's archives largely preserved online via successor sites like exiled.ru until its eventual discontinuation. The 2000 book remains the sole major print extension, valued for preserving the publication's signature blend of and investigative edge amid Russia's turbulent transition from .

Influence on Independent Journalism and Expats

The eXile's style, characterized by a blend of investigative reporting, , and unfiltered commentary on and Western economic policies in post-Soviet , influenced subsequent by demonstrating the viability of raw, adversarial approaches in restrictive environments. Co-founders and employed tactics such as personal immersion and character-driven exposés—exemplified by pieces critiquing IMF and World Bank schemes like "Loans for Squares"—which prioritized causal analysis of elite influence over sanitized narratives. This approach prefigured Taibbi's later muckraking at , where he applied similar visceral techniques to U.S. financial scandals, underscoring the eXile's role in honing a model of that privileged empirical confrontation over institutional deference. For expatriates in , the publication functioned as a cultural and informational staple from 1997 to 2008, achieving a circulation of approximately 30,000 and becoming essential reading for English-speakers navigating the city's chaotic underbelly. It offered disorienting, irony-laced depictions of expat life amid extreme inequality, , , and "Death Porn" columns on unsolved murders, challenging complacent Western views of Russia's transition and exposing the realities ignored by mainstream outlets. By critiquing both Russian authorities and expat —through features like guides and "Moscow Babylon" on social divides—the eXile fostered a community of disillusioned foreigners, influencing perceptions of post-Soviet "bespredel" () and inspiring localized resistance to economic "shock therapy."

Long-Term Reception and Reevaluations

In the years following its 2008 closure, The eXile has been retrospectively praised for its unfiltered exposure of post-Soviet Russia's corruption, oligarchic excesses, and the disillusionment of Western expatriates, with observers crediting it for maintaining journalistic honesty amid Moscow's evolving media landscape. Edward Lucas of The Economist described the publication as "incredibly gutsy," highlighting its prescient warnings against overly optimistic Western views of Russia's democratic transition under Vladimir Putin. Similarly, Owen Matthews of Newsweek lauded its "breathtakingly dark and cynical" yet brilliant style, likening co-editor Mark Ames's prose to that of Louis-Ferdinand Céline for its raw confrontation with societal decay. Fred Weir of the Christian Science Monitor noted that while it "infuriated an awful lot of people," the paper played a role in "keep[ing] us honest" by challenging sanitized narratives in expat and international reporting. The publication's influence extended through the subsequent careers of co-founders and , who adapted its gonzo-inflected investigative approach to American media outlets. Taibbi, transitioning to , earned a 2008 National Magazine Award for his financial reporting, with editor drawing parallels to Hunter S. Thompson's style—a nod to The eXile's foundational ethos of blending with muckraking. Ames contributed to and , where his "great bullshit detector," as described by , was traced back to the paper's adversarial stance against power structures. Both reflected on The eXile as a formative, regret-free chapter, with Taibbi stating it ensured he would "never have that problem" of unfulfilled journalistic ambitions. Reevaluations intensified around 2017 amid broader cultural reckonings, with critics revisiting the paper's fratboy-esque excesses, including misogynistic content and alleged detailed in Taibbi and Ames's 2000 . A analysis prompted Taibbi to issue a public apology for past behaviors, framing them as youthful immaturity amid Moscow's chaotic expat scene, though it fueled debates on consistency between his early edgelord provocations and later critiques of elite hypocrisy. Academic observers, such as those at NYU's Jordan Center for Russian Studies, noted the tension: The eXile's sharp coexisted with "vile ," raising questions about whether its boundary-pushing style foreshadowed or undermined Taibbi's evolution into a prominent commentator. Despite such scrutiny, defenders argue the paper's core legacy lies in its causal dissection of authoritarian drift, unmarred by personal failings, as evidenced by its enduring citations in discussions of early Putin-era journalism.

References

  1. https://www.rferl.org/a/1144613.html
  2. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/end-exile/
  3. https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/02/exile-201002
  4. https://archive.kyivpost.com/article/content/business/moscows-the-exile-ends-irreverent-run-29172.html
  5. https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/beast-in-the-east/
  6. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/bright-lights-red-square-189787/2/
  7. https://www.rferl.org/a/1059671.html
  8. https://reason.com/2008/06/26/the-exile-in-exile/
  9. http://exiledonline.com/meet-the-war-nerd/
  10. https://www.johndolanwrites.com/
  11. https://limonow.de/read/EL_1997-2008_TE.html
  12. http://www.thenation.com/article/archive/end-exile/
  13. https://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/the_death_of_the_exile
  14. http://www.publishersweekly.com/9780802136527
  15. http://wiki.yak.net/1053/exile151.pdf
  16. https://postsoviet90s.com/artifacts/the-exile-bespredel-for-expats
  17. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/world/europe/moscows-hungry-duck-recalls-decadent-heyday.html
  18. http://exiledonline.com/equal-opportunity-haters-a-profile-of-the-exile/
  19. https://observer.com/2000/06/from-russia-with-lust/
  20. https://exiledonline.com/about-us/
  21. https://exiledonline.com/feature-story-combed-over/
  22. https://groveatlantic.com/book/the-exile/
  23. https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780802136527
  24. https://intrepidtimes.com/2024/02/travels-with-the-war-nerd-interview-with-john-dolan/
  25. http://exiledonline.com/yasha-levine/
  26. https://slate.com/author/yasha-levine
  27. https://reason.com/2001/01/01/from-russia-with-malice-2/
  28. https://www.coldtype.net/Assets.05/Essays/10.Russia.pdf
  29. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/archive/investigators-target-exile-for-possible-violations
  30. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/04/04/matt-taibbis-skepticism-of-the-russian-hacking-coverage-is-all-wrong/
  31. http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/08.04.04/moscow-0432.html
  32. https://libcom.org/article/investigation-red-brown-alliances-third-positionism-russia-ukraine-syria-and-western-left
  33. http://www.markfoster.net/dcf/third_positionism.pdf
  34. https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/d6b2156a-118f-4ce5-b619-35b1829c1262/content
  35. https://www.rferl.org/a/1078019.html
  36. https://cpj.org/2008/06/englishlanguage-paper-closes-because-of-state-hara/
  37. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2008/06/05/investigators-target-exile-for-possible-violations-a368024
  38. https://foreignpolicy.com/2008/06/05/russian-authorities-investigate-famed-expat-tabloid/
  39. https://www.upi.com/Business_News/2008/06/16/Moscow-inspectors-frighten-eXile-investors/47351213646589/
  40. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/2156120/Moscow-forces-expat-newspaper-to-close.html
  41. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121373840365982119
  42. http://exiledonline.com/final-days-of-the-exile-mark-ames-blogs-the-kremlin-crackdown/
  43. https://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSL1620575020080616
  44. https://books.google.com/books?id=Er0eM6BsXggC
  45. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/307165.The_Exile
  46. https://archive.org/details/exilesexdrugslib0000ames
  47. https://www.strandbooks.com/the-exile-sex-drugs-and-libel-in-the-new-russia-9780802136527.html
  48. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/04/bad-boy-bus-interview-matt-taibbi/
  49. https://jordanrussiacenter.org/blog/matt-taibbis-not-secret-russian-past
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
Contribute something
User Avatar
No comments yet.