Russians are well-informed
and have learned to be very skeptical of the west’s Orwellian 24/7 media echo
chamber
Peter Lavelle is the host of
Crosstalk, RT’s flagship political discussion show.
Western media coverage
of Russia is breathtakingly biased and never held to account for the lies and
nonsense it spews out.
The following memes
highlight the kind of journalistic malpractice actively encouraged by western
governments, and gleefully reproduced by corporate media.
“If they only knew the truth”
The “If the Russians only knew” meme: The fact is Russian audiences interested in politics know a lot and certainly far more than their counter-parts in the west. This should not surprise anyone who has been watching Russia and watching western media coverage Russia over the past few years. The intentional distorting of “the Russia story” is breathtaking in its breath and depth – it is a propaganda war without historical peer. Rarely are there any facts used, there is an absence of chronology, missing is any sense of causality, and the overt willingness to deny any responsibility about things written or said about Russia.
The “If the Russians only knew” meme: The fact is Russian audiences interested in politics know a lot and certainly far more than their counter-parts in the west. This should not surprise anyone who has been watching Russia and watching western media coverage Russia over the past few years. The intentional distorting of “the Russia story” is breathtaking in its breath and depth – it is a propaganda war without historical peer. Rarely are there any facts used, there is an absence of chronology, missing is any sense of causality, and the overt willingness to deny any responsibility about things written or said about Russia.
Nonetheless, the west lectures Russia about media
professionalism. Russians no longer trust western media when it comes to
coverage of their country. This applies also to western media coverage of Iran,
Syria, and, of course Ukraine. Russian audiences are aware and fuming at how
the West uses and abuses journalism for crude geopolitical gains.
Who wins, who loses?
The “Who lost Russia” meme is one of the most arrogant and long-term western media and policy themes in play. Russia now and always will be a country not to be won or lost by anyone outside Russia itself. This meme needs to be re-worded to ask a more germane question: Why does the west’s policy toward Russia continue to go from bad to worse? Why do the West’s rhetoric and intentions become more shrill and violent? No one in the halls of power in Washington (and its supportive “stenography union” echo chamber media) has ever been held responsible for the catastrophic bi-partisan policy approach toward Russia since the end of the Cold War.
The “Who lost Russia” meme is one of the most arrogant and long-term western media and policy themes in play. Russia now and always will be a country not to be won or lost by anyone outside Russia itself. This meme needs to be re-worded to ask a more germane question: Why does the west’s policy toward Russia continue to go from bad to worse? Why do the West’s rhetoric and intentions become more shrill and violent? No one in the halls of power in Washington (and its supportive “stenography union” echo chamber media) has ever been held responsible for the catastrophic bi-partisan policy approach toward Russia since the end of the Cold War.
Over the past two decades there can be not doubt who has
won Russia – it is the Russian people themselves.
They are richer and freer
today than they have been in their entire history. Washington and Brussels (and
their pliant media) will continue to “judge” and “suggest,” and “berate” their
behavior, but they are the real losers in all of this. Fortunately a solid of
majority of Russians today no longer look to the west for inspiration. There is
plenty at home to be proud of.
Empire: Who has already built one?
The most common fantasy meme regarding Russia is its alleged desire to regain empire. This claim is repeated 24/7 by western media and cited more times than not as the motive behind Putin’s “aggression.” However, there is scant evidence to support this wild claim. In fact it is often forgotten how Vladimir Putin during his first and second terms as president repeatedly reached out to the west to reform Europe’s security structures to encompass the interests of Europe and Russia as equal partners. The west, particularly Washington, would have nothing to do with any notions of security equality. Russia had to completely submit or suffer the west’s full spectrum assault.
The most common fantasy meme regarding Russia is its alleged desire to regain empire. This claim is repeated 24/7 by western media and cited more times than not as the motive behind Putin’s “aggression.” However, there is scant evidence to support this wild claim. In fact it is often forgotten how Vladimir Putin during his first and second terms as president repeatedly reached out to the west to reform Europe’s security structures to encompass the interests of Europe and Russia as equal partners. The west, particularly Washington, would have nothing to do with any notions of security equality. Russia had to completely submit or suffer the west’s full spectrum assault.
That assault started after Washington’s minion in
Georgia – Mikheil Saakashvili – attacked recognized peacekeepers and civilians
in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia in August 2008. Russia responded
militarily, but importantly did not make any attempt to take and occupy
Tbilisi. When faced with western-back military action on its borders Russia
will react. Tragically this tenet of Russia’s security policy Washington refuses
to take on board.
The Ukraine fiasco is further evidence that Russia does
not have imperial ambitions. If Moscow wanted to take Kiev militarily, it could
do so in a couple of days. However, this will not happen. The Russian Empire
and the Soviet Union were a net loss for its core nation – the Russians. There
is no national debate about regaining empire. Only voices in the west talk
about this. Russians do not want to make the same mistakes of the past as the
U.S. continues to expand its real global empire through the use of force.
Ukraine: Washington’s filthy hand
Ukraine is a media meme that has rapidly and widely
become associated with the words quagmire, hopeless, senseless cruelty and
insanity. The western designed and activated regime change in Kiev disgusts and
unites the Russian public like no other issue sense independence in 1991.
Proclaimed western values have been left in tatters in the destroyed homes and
lives of the Donbas.
The west’s portrayal of this civil war as a Ukraine
conflict with Russia rings hollow when put under scrutiny. With the exception
of Moscow’s traitorous fifth column liberals, the vast majority sees through
the lies of western propaganda. The truth is the people of the Donbas continue
to defend themselves (and often with degrees of Russian help) against the
aggression delivered by Kiev’s western-backed right-wing and even neo-fascist
militias.
It is interesting to note that among the media memes mentioned thus
far, this is the one cracking under pressure.
Alternative and independent media (and some rights
groups) have started to shame the corporate media shielding the corrupt and
murderous regime in Kiev. Nonetheless, the west’s “ministers of propaganda”
always have recourse to claim that all that is bad in Ukraine is “Putin’s
fault.”
Putin, the one and only
Vladimir Putin is a media meme all on his own. The
Russian president is widely liked and respected among his people. His foreign
policy protecting and advancing Russia’s interests on the world stage has
almost universal acceptance at home. This is what makes the west’s hatred of
all things related to Putin of supreme interest to many Russians.
A great deal of western print media is instantly
translated into Russian. The ahistorical and mindless missives written by
Washington’s guardians of empire are all a click away (and the reaction is a
mixture of laughter and seething anger). Russian audiences have access to CNN,
BBC, France 24, Sky News, and Al-Jazeera. What is said about their president
does not have to be censored or filtered. The lack of knowledge and transparent
hatred of Russia is obvious for all here to see. The more the West tries
to demonize and isolate Putin, the more his place in history as the Russian who
said “NO” to the Empire is assured.
Another reason Russians have to be proud.
Peter Lavelle is host of
RT’s political debate program “CrossTalk.” His expressed opinions may or may
not reflect those of his employer.
Source: Russia Insider 13-08-2015
