It’s a six-minute read, or so Six Minutes of Time Magazine: The Deadliest Propagandists on Earth. Before I dove in, my first question was, “Who wrote this?” I guess you already suspect some would-be propaganda expert. And Peter Pomerantsev is the spurt in question. Now, if I may, allow me to poke holes like the Swiss in this cheesy bit of Putin-phobia.
Before I launch into this Time Magazine horse manure, it’s significant to note that Pomerantsev hatched his genius Putin hate piece with a catchy story about traveling to Kyiv from Poland. Please, let’s face it: anybody traveling from Poland to Ukraine’s capital is never going to be carrying any good news about Russia. Let’s address the author’s (or Time’s ownership’s) the biggest question. Do Russians believe the news in Russia? I am told by most Russians I know that, like any other media market in the world, a lot depends on who you are reading, watching, or listening to. That said, the best way to shred Time Magazine’s propaganda is to examine what Western elites say Putin lies about. A few examples will suffice.
Regime of Changes
In 2014, the Russian people were told that the Euromaidan revolution was a coup orchestrated by the EU and the United States. (See Reuters) Western media back then called all that “Kremlin propaganda.” Well, few can forget the conversation between the U.S. State Department’s Victoria Nuland and Ambassador Pyatt discussing strategies to work with the three leading opposition figures: Klitschko, Arseny Yatseniuk, former Ukrainian economy minister, and Oleh Tyahnybok, the far-right nationalist opposition leader to run the country. On this note, I’d like to quote from the Socialist magazine Jacobin, based in New York:
Like today’s Russia-NATO tensions more broadly, at the heart of the Maidan protests was the push by some Western governments, especially the United States, to isolate Russia by supporting the integration of peripheral parts of the former Soviet Union into European and Atlantic institutions — and Moscow’s pushback against what it saw as an encroachment on its sphere of influence.
Moving forward, we mustn’t forget President Putin televising Russia’s destruction of ISIS at a moment when the West’s Central Command was reporting pickup trucks and foxholes being blown up with a billion dollars in bombs and missiles. I reported on this. The following is an excerpt from the 2015 report:
“Israel and the US coalition were likely flying air cover for ISIL (ISIS- is banned in Russia) over Kurdistan and eastern Syria. In an earlier report, my colleague Holger Eekhof and I suggested the Russian Ministry of Defense should televise on YouTube missions against jihadists in Syria in order to prove the coalition’s non-mission. On September 30th RT began rebroadcasting Russian Ministry of Defense YouTube broadcasts of the destruction of ISIL.”
Russia’s aerospace forces blasting thousands of ISIS oil tankers headed for Turkey and ultimate destinations such as Israel were a devastating blow to the Obama White House on social media channels. And speaking of propaganda against Russia and other nations, the Western mainstream media joined the White House and the Pentagon in downplaying the significance of these social media revelations. The Russian people believed Putin’s administration, even before Russia’s Defense Ministry provided the motive, the means, and the method in high-definition aerial footage. Earlier, in October 2015, the super brains at Time Magazine published an anti-Putin propaganda piece by Simon Shuster telling how the Syria campaign was a gamble.
Shuster claimed the assistance to Syria’s Assad was intended to, get this, “trying to end Russia’s economically crippling isolation from the West.” Shuster, a pretty bright guy, also reported in 2014 how “Russia Is Testing NATO’s Resolve in Eastern Europe.” This report gives us an eagle-eye view of what caused the current situation. Unintentionally, Time Magazine’s best expert reveals how Barack Obama was getting set for something big. Part of the story involves his trip to Estonia, Russia’s neighbor to the West. That’s fodder for another report. Let’s get back to the Russian people and who they should believe.
Before I go on, take note of how Time and the Western fake-news machine managed to layer their lies about the Russians, and especially their president. President Barack Obama’s Arab Spring for Assad revealed so much, but examining the real propaganda wizards is a hundred times more rewarding. Desperate Russia kills off ISIS revenue in a single, swift stroke while my country flew air cover for head-chopping terrorists. There are so many lies and levels of misinformation on Syria and Russian involvement, it’s impossible to list them all. Let’s remember that Vladimir Putin told his people and The Guardian that U.S. regime change in Syria would force a reaction from his country. Yes, he warned Washington, London, and the rest about what would happen.
Big Words Don’t Equal Truth
Let’s speed up and fast-forward to the beginning of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, another alleged Putin propaganda campaign. This time, the New York Times’s Max Fisher spins the web of deceit. In “Putin’s Case for War, Annotated,” he makes a horrendous mistake for a propagandist (other than using a catchword in the title). He lays down a quote by Mr. Putin as evidence that Russia’s leader is lying to his people and the world about Ukraine. Here is the quote under the heading: “The Case for War.”
“It is a fact that over the past 30 years we have been patiently trying to come to an agreement with the leading NATO countries regarding the principles of equal and indivisible security in Europe. In response to our proposals, we invariably faced either cynical deception and lies or attempts at pressure and blackmail, while the North Atlantic alliance continued to expand despite our protests and concerns.”
The record reveals that Russia has attempted to come to terms with the NATO countries. Putin even proposed that Russia might become a part of NATO to combat worldwide terror and security more effectively. The record also shows that NATO intends to expand to the frontiers of every border of Russia. Some will argue, but they will be either idiots, sellouts, or flat our liars. Fisher pokes at Putin for saying the West is trying to destroy Russia. Objectivity, research, and reading are beyond the former Vanity Fair writer’s grasp. Let’s look at a quote from NATO’s commander, Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, about a week ago. The General is speaking of expanded relationships Russia, North Korea, and China are forging:
“These countries are forming interlocking, strategic partnerships in an attempt to challenge the existing order. This is profoundly inimical [harmful or dangerous] to U.S. national interests.”
This is from a report from the U.S. Department of Defense. In the report, which was also part of the general’s pitch to the U.S. Armed Services Committee, he assures American politicians that the U.S. and its allies are ready to fight Russia and win. Now, I am not sure what your definition of “win” is, but to the Russian people, hostile enemies on their borders are not assumed to be Girl Scouts selling cookies. Again, Mr. Putin is telling not only his people the truth of matters, but he’s trying to let the world know Russia is not the aggressor in all this. Interestingly, about two-thirds of the world believes him. The thirds who doubt they are the victims of the masters of propaganda.
Take Over Russia: Period!
On Mr. Putin’s claims, Washington and the West want to destroy him and Russia are proven in the words that now proliferate the WWW. Some may recall that on 26 March, U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking in Warsaw, said: “For God’s sake, this man [Putin] cannot remain in power.” And consider Biden’s statement that essentially said Washington is trying to punish Russia after invading, so the people of Russia know what he has brought on them. He said, “That is what this is all about.” Mr. Putin and his spokespersons have repeatedly told Russians and the world of the West’s hyperbolic war against Russia. The elite puppets have no qualms about calling for regime change for Russia or for any nation standing in the way of the hegemony. I could list 500 comments by the leadership of Western countries. Another meaningful one came from former UK PM Boris Johnson’s office, who said of the sanctions on Russia, “we are introducing, that large parts of the world are introducing, are to bring down the Putin regime.”
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s revelations about stalling talks to help Ukraine build up militarily, idiotic stories of Ukraine frogmen diving from sailboats to do underwater demolition on key pipelines, the list of lunatic claims with a Russophibic aim is endless now. Do the Russian people believe Vladimir Putin? Of course, they do. Who should they believe? Perhaps the news media, generals, billionaires, and politicians continually villify and dehumanize them. We have senators in America bragging how economical it is to kill Russians! As far as I know, and this is important, not even the most hysterical RTTV broadcast has ever hinted that killing Americans should be a goal. I’ve been interviewed or reported for almost every major Russian media outlet, and never once was I told what to say or write. Conversely, it’s customary to be chopped off at the knees in American media and business if you utter a dissenting view.
Propaganda/prɒpəˈɡandə/noun – information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.
Everyone promotes. We should search for where the preponderance of truth lies. In Putin’s case, the weight of his statements catapults Western rhetoric toward the balance of truth and justice.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, he’s an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books. He writes exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
