In theory, there is nothing wrong with building affiliate networks and with relying on the Internet for program distribution, as long as these are not the only program delivery solutions that can be easily destroyed or blocked.

The BBG staff is largely to blame for reinforcing the worst instincts of the BBG members, as is — it seems — the VOA director. Dan Austin said this week that VOA should not broadcast radio programs in Russian because Mr. Putin has closed down the affiliates. First, it was the affiliates, and now the Internet has become the all-or-nothing solution. What happened to minimizing risk through diversification of program delivery options? And what about Russian speakers who listen to VOA radio broadcasts in Ukraine, Chechnya, North and South Ossetia and Central Asia?

Another sign of the clear lack of strategic logic on the part of the BBG is the idea that extending VOA Ukrainian radio programs only until the end of the year will somehow solve the problem. If the BBG had any common sense or concern for U.S. strategic interests, they would have never in a hundred years stopped VOA radio broadcasts to Russia or to Ukraine and Georgia. I hope Director Austin does not think that the situation in Ukraine or in Russia will suddenly change on December 31 and no further U.S. radio programs will be necessary.

Political loyalits and successful business people without foreign policy experience have a difficult time when it comes to making strategic decisions about U.S. international broadcasting.