This article was written for the Unz Review
A special ‘thank you!’ to my Director of Research, Scott, for providing me with the background info for this article
Everything we were told about the Soviet Union turned out to be a lie,
but everything we were told about the West turned out to be true
Russian joke
In May of 2016 I wrote an article for the Unz Review entitled “Counter-Propaganda, Russian Style” in which I tried to show the immense difference between the old, Soviet, approach to propaganda and counter-propaganda and the approach taken by the Russian authorities today. The main difference was this: if the Soviet went out of their way to prevent western propaganda from reaching the Soviet people, the Russians are nowadays doing the exact opposite: they are going out of their way to make sure that western propaganda is immediately translated and beamed into every single Russian household. What I propose to do today is to share with you a few recent examples of what Russian households are regularly exposed to.
By now, you must have heard about the CNN report about how the evil Russkies used Pokemon to destabilize and subvert the USA. If not, here it is:
In Russia this report was in instant mega-success: the video was translated and rebroadcasted on every single TV channel. Margarita Simonian, the brilliant director of Russia Today, was asked during a live show “be truthful and confess – what is your relationship with Pokemon, do they work for you?” to which she replied “I feed them” – the audience burst in laughter.
The Russian Pokemon was just the latest in a long series of absolutely insane, terminally paranoid and rabidly russophobic reports released by the western Ziomedia, all of which were instantly translated into Russian and rebroadcasted by the Russian media.
One of the techniques regularly used on Russian talkshows is to show a short report about the latest crazy nonsense coming out of the United States or Europe and then ask a pro-US guests to react to it. The “liberals” (in the Russian political meaning of this word, that is a hopelessly naïve pro-western person who loves to trash everything Russian and who hates Putin and those who support him) are intensely embarrassed and usually either simply admit that this is crazy nonsense or try to find some crazy nonsense in the Russian media (and there is plenty of that too) to show that “we are just as bad”. Needless to say, no matter what escape route is chosen, the “liberal” ends up looking like a total idiot or a traitor.
In my May 2016 article I mentioned several examples of particularly heinous and offensive foreign characters which are regularly invited to the Russian talk shows including rabid Ukie nationalists, arrogant Polish russophobes and, last but not least, US reporters working in Moscow. To balance out these truly repugnant characters, mentally sane and credible foreign guests are also invited, typically from southern Europe (France, Italy, Spain). So the typical “guest matrix” ends up looking like this:
| Good guys | Bad guys | |
| Russians | Patriots | Russophobic Liberals |
| Supported by | Southern Europeans | Ukies, Anglos, Germans |
This is a formidable propaganda technique for a number of reasons. For one thing, it joins the internal and external russophobes at the hip in a kind of “guilt by association” which forces them to try to help each other which, if course, only makes them all look even worse (their negative traits reinforcing each other). There is not need to label anybody as “traitor” when the people in question do a great job placing that label upon themselves when they try to explain away all the crazy and hateful anti-Russian nonsense the western Ziomedia constantly spews. An average Russian who hears a Russian liberal explaining that the “Russian Pokemon” story might be based in reality immediately wonders how much the CIA pays this SOB to say that kind of nonsense. But here is where this is getting really cute:
It ain’t the CIA paying that liberal – the Russians are doing it themselves!
A few days ago a major article appeared in the newspaper Komsomolskaia Pravda (yup, they kept that old and, frankly, silly sounding name which translates to “Truth of the Communist Youth League”) which revealed that some of the most offensive guests on Russian talkshows are paid a lot of money to spew their anti-Russian propaganda. Here are the top paid guests:
- Viacheslav Kovtun (Ukraine): 500’000-700’000 rubles (about 8’700 to 12’000 dollars) each month
- Michael Bohm (USA): 500’000-700’000 rubles (about 8’700 to 12’000 dollars) each month
- Iakub Koreiba (Poland): no less than 500’000 rubles (about 8’700 dollars) each month
According to the KP investigators, these guys have legal contracts and they pay Russian income taxes. So this is all very legal and quite pluralistic to boot: the only people who can seriously accuse the Russian government of trying to crack down on the opposition, pro-western political parties or anti-Putin ideas are folks who have have absolutely no factual knowledge about Russia *at all*. Either that, or they are deliberately lying. And that includes the vast majority of the western political leaders (in the USA and in Europe) who are now scrambling to increase the budgets of the traditional western propaganda outfits such as VOA/RL/RFE or who want to create new propaganda outlets to “bring the democratic message to the Russian people”. In reality, the Russian people are fed a daily dose of western propaganda (aka “democratic message”) courtesy of the Kremlin, and that is something which the imbeciles in power in the West can’t even begin to imagine, nevermind deal with.
What is becoming increasingly evident is that western propagandists simply don’t understand the world they live in, especially the US Americans. Think of it: all the major countries involved in WWII had their own propaganda machine which was targeted exclusively at their own population and which was almost never seen by the other side. Likewise, during the Cold War, the frankly stupid people in charge of the Soviet propaganda machine spent immense resources trying to block the western propaganda from seeping in from under the Iron Curtain. As for the Soviet propaganda in the West, it did have a measurable effect (just look at the influence of various Communist Parties in Europe during the Cold War), but never enough to beat the base appeal to hedonism and consumerism promoted by the best and most effective branch of the western propaganda apparatus: Hollywood.
Nowadays, this has dramatically changed and the Russians understood that much better than anybody in the West: in the age of the Internet and satellite TV you cannot target your message solely at a domestic audience, nor can you prevent the other guy’s propaganda from reaching your own domestic audience. The Americans are still operating as they did in the mid 1970s: they target their biggest propaganda efforts at the domestic audience as if the entire world was not carefully parsing everything CNN and the rest of them have to say, and they believe that the West is only unpopular in Russia because of “Putin’s control of the media”. It would be impossible to be more out of touch with reality than these people. The truth is that about 80% or more Russians support Putin precisely because they are exposed to the western propaganda machine and its message on a daily basis.
How is that possible?
For one thing, the Russian counter-propaganda is not aimed at some isolated group of people, but is essentially the same, be it on RT or Sputnik broadcasts for foreign audiences or on the main Russian TV channels. The Russian propaganda effort is global and internally consistent.
Furthermore, and at the risk of sounding like a Russian propagandist myself, I would say something which is quite evident, but still hard to believe: the Russians have no need to lie, their propaganda is fundamentally truthful, fact based and logical. There is no Russian equivalent of the Pokemon story. And when the western leaders demand that Russia withdraw her forces from the Donbass, the Russians have no need to make up some convoluted story about how the Russian military is in the Donbass but that these forces are as invisible to the observer on the ground as they are invisible to the satellites in space. The Russians don’t have any need to lie about their operations in Syria because what they say they are doing there and what they are actually doing there is one and the same: liberating Syria from Daesh. I could multiply the examples, but my point is simple: unlike their US American counterparts, the Russians are not engaging in policies which they cannot justify before their own public opinion or before the public opinion of the rest of the planet. Sounds simple? Then why is it that the USA seems to be comprehensively unable to say the truth about *anything* they do?
Being truthful does not prevent the Russians from being crafty however, and the way they “jiu-jitsu” the western propaganda output to their own benefit is very clever. Clearly somebody in the Kremlin has learned the painful lessons from the dysfunctional and, frankly, ridiculous Soviet propaganda machine.
Contrast that with the kind of self-lobotomy the German media is inflicting upon itself when it calls anybody who is not rabidly anti-Putin a “Putinversteher” or a “Putin understander”. As if not understanding somebody ought to be considered a mark of intelligence or as if agreeing with anything Putin would say ought to be seen as a clear proof or moral depravity. Is it really so surprising that a media capable of coming up with a concept like “Putinversteher” is in no condition to complete with the Russian media? Can anybody imagine the Russians labeling somebody a “Merkelponimatel”? Of course not, instead they invite some garden variety doubleplusgoodthinking German journalist on a live talk show and make sure he gets to defend those who came up with the notion of “Putinversteher”, which that idiot will most certainly try to do, if only because of a misguided sense of professional solidarity with his colleagues back at home. The Russian audience will love it, listen to every word of it, and then go to bed with an absolute conviction that their European neighbors have gone batshit-crazy.
But if foreigners are bad, and Russian liberals are bad, what could be even worse?
Russian liberals abroad of course. And they also exist.
Meet Owen Matthews and Greg Vainer. Oh these two are soooo cool!!
First, Owen Matthews. The man has an official Wikipedia page, so first check it out here. What his Wikipedia bio does not indicate, however, is the kind of background Matthews comes from. In his biography Matthews claims that his maternal grandfather, Boris Lvovich Bibikov, was the first Secretary of the Chernigov regional Communist party Committee, awarded with the Order of Lenin, and that in October 1937 he was charged with violation of the 58th article of the criminal code and executed. So he was a Party apparatchik. Bad enough, but it gets much, much worse.
According to my Director of Research, this information might be misleading. There are historical records including the lists of the NKVD officers that indicate that Boris Lvovich Bibikov never worked for the government of Ukrainian Soviet republic and never was the 1st Secretary of the Chernigov regional Communist party Committee, but was a high profile NKVD (secret police) officer and he worked in the Central Apparatus of the UKB NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR (which, if true, that would make him, by definition, a mass murderer). Indeed, the First Secretary of the Chernigov regional Communist party Committee from January 1934 till August 1937, was Markitan Pavel Filipovich, and after him, Mihailov Aleksey Dmitrievich. As for Bibikov himself, he was eventually shot during Stalin’s anti-Trotskyist purges of 1937. So whether Bibikov was “just” a Trotskyist Party apparatchik or a member of the genocidal gang of russophobic maniacs known as the “NKVD” – Matthews’ hatred for Russia clearly stems from the fact that Stalin executed his grandfather and that his family fell from the top echelons of the Bolshevik regime to the unenviable status of “enemies of the people” (which I personally think every Soviet Trotskyist amply deserved).
Owen Matthews: the russophobic pompous ass
[Sidebar: I don’t think that it is fair, ethical or logical to blame a person for his/her ancestors. I myself am also distantly related to one of the worst murderers of the early Bolshevik regime, and I don’t consider myself guilty of, or in any way bound to, his actions. However, in his book “Stalin’s Children” Matthews clearly takes sides with, endorses and, possibly, even covers up for his Trotskyist Commissar grandfather and that makes him a fair target for criticism]
Matthews himself made his entire career in the growing wave of russophobia in the West and that is why he is a regular guest on Russian TV: I think that nobody comes even close to Matthews in expressing a total condescension to anything and everything Russian. The man literally oozes, radiates, russophobia and contempt. I would say that while his hatred for anything Russian is typical Trotskyist, his immense complex of superiority is definitely British. And that combination make him an ideal guest for Russian talk shows. If anybody truly embodies the notion of “the West truly rabidly hates and despises us” it is Owen Matthews.
Greg Vianer is very different. As much as Matthews is the ideal prototype of the condescending British racist, Vainer is a caricature of the arrogant US American. Of course, Vainer is no more US American than Matthews is really British! Vainer’s real name is Grigorii Vinnikov and he is also a Russian Jew. The funny thing is that this Grigorii insist that he be called “Greg” (in Russian “Грэг”) even though the entire audience knows that he is Grigorii. Needless to say, right there his persona sets off a powerful rejection reaction. But where Vainer is truly at his best is when he defends the USA. Which is paradoxical since in the USA he is known as a petty crook who had to flee the USA (with his client’s money) to avoid prosecution. Says so not yours truly, but Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (backed by other Russian sources, see here and here).
Greg Vainer: the petty crook
Ain’t that all precious?! Instead of a Brit and a American what we really have are two very typical types of russophobic Jews. Neither of them qualify as “Russian liberals” at all, and the audience senses immediately.
What we have here is a layered cake:
- Layer one: on the surface, these guys present themselves as British and American.
- Layer two: in reality, by their knowledge of Russian (Matthews: decent; Vainer: native) it is clear that they are émigrés with some kind of roots in Russia.
- Layer three: in reality both are Jews, one the offspring of a family of Trotskyist Commissars and the other a petty crook. Both a caricature, really.
Could the Russians who hire them to appear on talkshows possibly not know that?
Of course they do, that is precisely why they hire them: to let them spew their anti-Russian hatred on a weekly basis to educate the Russian public on the type of characters which in the West are considered opinion-makers (especially Matthews, of course).
So where is the bona fide Russian liberal?
He exists, of course. Introducing Alexander Nikolaevich Sytin.
His biography is boring (you can check a machine-translated version by clicking here) and as far as I can tell, he is “legit”, in the sense that he is truly Russian and that he is what he claims to be: a political scientist and a historian. But, oh boy, he is also a class act for sure! Not only does Sytin regularly express the most fantastically russophobic views on Russian TV, he also penned some amazing articles including one entitled “The Destructive Terroristic Role of Russia in the World Community” and another one entitled “How the World Should React to the Destructive Terroristic Activities of Russia”. The main thesis of Sytin is that Russia is a terrorist state. This triggered such an outrage that a group of citizens has joined the well-known Russian commentator Ruslan Ostashko in a collective lawsuit demanding punitive damages from Sytin. The logic for their lawsuit is that since they are all Russians, the claim that Russia is a terrorist state damages their credibility and offends them. Of course, what they are really doing is forcing Sytin to defend his statements in court. Predictably (at least for anybody who knows Russian liberals), Sytin has freaked out, he is now trying to apologize and wants to avoid a lawsuit. Ostashko and the people supporting him (thousands of people apparently) want their day in court. It will be fun to watch where all this goes.
Still, there are a few interesting moments in Sytin’s biography. For example, being a historian and a lecturer in the Russian and Soviet history per trade he managed to get a high profile position as the head of a section and project manager in Yukos just when a convicted felon and a suspected murderer Mikhail Khodorkovsky was organizing the giant oil company with the western backing. Having no expertise n the oil industry, Alexander Sytin worker at the YUKOS Oil company till October 2003, when Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the director of YUKOS was arrested and charged with fraud. Immediately, control of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s shares in the Russian oil giant Yukos were passed to a banker Jacob Rothschild. Sytin had lost his cushy job at the YUKOS when the company went bankrupt, and nationalized. It’s possible that Sytin also had lost his share of his company in a process. It’s also possible that he is now representing the interest of the Rothschild Asset Management that recently lost its lengthy legal battle to the Russian state. The company you keep, right?
What really matters here is not so much what Sytin did in the past as the fact that he, using an expression Zionist love, is a real “self-hating Russian” and, more importantly, a living image of what such a self-hating Russian can say and defend. Looking at him most Russian probably think “God forbid these guys ever come back to power again!”.
Alexander Sytin: the prototypical Russian liberal
Truth be told, Matthews, Vainer and Sytin are all typical useful idiots. They appear to sincerely believe that when they go on Russian TV to spew their russophobic views they are achieving some kind of result. Well, I guess, technically they are, but certainly not the one they hope for. If anything, seeing these hate-filled clowns triggers a powerful reaction against everything these guys claims to stand for.
Okay, so the Russian counter-propaganda effort is a very sophisticated and effective one. But is it ethical?
I think that it very much is. Here is why
First, as I said, the Russians do not fabricate lies. What they report is usually factually true (I say usually because I know too much about how journalism really works behind the scenes to have any illusions of the “they always say the truth” kind).
Second, they are using the enemy’s own stupidity. Nobody would call Aikido “unethical” yet it is based on using your opponents moves and force against him (“combining forces” in Aikido terminology).
Third, outrageous, over the top and disgusting as some of the clowns shown on Russian TV are, they do not misrepresent the reality of the AngloZionist Empire. Yes, sure, true russophobes are a tiny minority in the West at least where the people are concerned (especially in southern Europe and the USA), but practically the regimes in power in the West are controlled by russophobes or by their puppets. As for the western Ziomedia, it is wall-to-wall russophobic to such a degree that I would call it unambiguously racist.
So yes, the Russians are using the immense arrogance and poorly-concealed hatred for Russia of some of the more pompous and least intelligent representatives of the West to make paint an absolutely fair and accurate representation of the western ruling elites. If the message was “everybody in the West hates you” then this would be grossly unfair, deceptive and unethical. But when the message is “the western elites hate you” then the message is absolutely fair, truthful and ethical.
We will soon find out whether the Trump Administration will demand that Russia Today and Sputnik register as foreign agents (with the total and enthusiastic support of the US Ziomedia, of course). The US Congress will do what it always does – appropriate more money to try to solve the “Russian problem” by throwing dollars at it. NATO countries will get with the program and “follow the lead”. The Ukronazis in Kiev are doing even better: they are re-activating old Soviet-era jammers to prevent Russian broadcasts from reaching the areas currently under Nazi occupation. I will not be surprised if a full-scale witch-hunt against Russian sympathizers and/or agents in the USA (including Ron Paulians, libertarians, real progressives and yours truly) will eventually be unleashed by the frustrated, frightened and totally clueless US ruling class. If that happens the only thing protecting us all will be the First Amendment (something which, at least so far, the Neocons have not succeeded in destroying). No First Amendment in Europe, but neither is the risk of a crude police crackdown as imminent there. For one thing, the European elites are very very slowly, by tiny steps, waking up to the reality that their abject and total subservience to the USA has put them in an extremely uncomfortable situation. They are still far from the full realization that Russia has much more to offer Europe than the USA, but the first cracks are appearing, which is good. Furthermore, Europe being politically far more diverse than the UniParty system in the USA, the chances of a major crackdown on dissent are much smaller. Finally, it is pretty clear that a lot of folks in southern Europe, even in the media, are more or less pro-Russian, even if they don’t always say so openly.
One of the main weaknesses of the US political elites is that they never bothered to seriously study political science, nevermind Marxism and, even less so, Hegelian dialectics. Which is too bad for them because they are now completely overlooking the fact that the internal contradiction of the AngloZionist propaganda machine are creating a reaction which will make Russia Today, Sputnik and the pro-Russian Internet even more attractive to the western audiences than it already is. In fact, every effort to crack down on “Russian propagandists” will only serve to strengthen the latter, making the perusal of pro-Russian sources something sexy and exiting.
As for the Russians, they will continue to report about, for example, drag queen Xochi Mochi reading stories to children in the Michelle Obama Public Library as part of LGBTQ History Month and then invite the likes of Owens, Vainer or Sytin to prime-time talk shows to comment on the event and they will make sure that each one of them gets all the time needed to fully express his thoughts and feelings :-)
Western style “diversity”
Putin’s popularity will soar while the western Ziomedia will explain it by the total control the authoritarian “Putin regime” has over the Russian media.
The Saker
Enjoyable romp through the Media madness the West has cooked up.
Putin, a judo master, takes down the fat, flabby frauds of the Zio vaudeville.
I’ve always wondered why Russian media was so widely crazed with all sorts and types.
This article gives us a nice view of what and why.
This was a great read – excellent analysis and some of the same observations I’ve had like – all Russia has to do to make the ‘west’ look bad, is tell the truth…
Another author with a good grip on the “west’s” faltering attempts to use propaganda to keep the lid on the can of worms they’ve created is CJ Hopkins (counterpunch.org)
My lass and I watch the evening ‘bash Rossiya’ show on Channel 1 at dinner from time to time. We, and our friends, liken it to an amusing sitcom from the old days in US and our old friend Shali has taken it upon himself to expose the payment the regulars get. Listed in the article are fairly close approximations of these salaries and for those of you who don’t understand rubles, simply divide the ruble amount by roughly 55 and you’ve got the dollar equivalent. This is giant money in this AO for talking heads.
For me it is truly appalling the level of belief in US and EU by the populace of the constant propaganda spewing from governments and msm. My eyes were truly opened in late fall of ’14 when I had to go to US (and while there met Saker and his family) and went to the local pub I used to frequent. For the first half hour it was ‘old home’ week with friends and acquaintances arriving when the word got around that I was in the AO. Then the alcohol began to take effect and my old friends and acquaintances, whom I’d known for 20 and more years and for most kept in some contact after I left, showed their true feelings. Suffice it to say I was gone in another 30 minutes, never to return. These are ‘educated’ people who have the world’s informations at their fingertips. It is a puzzlement.
For EU it is the same, old friends and business contacts I have there are now past tense, as in ‘had’. The exception is my old comrades who as ‘uneducated’ as soldiers are supposed to be are more than aware of the current situation and the truths and lies therein. That number is precisely two.
In essence, while Russia is exposing her populace to the wonders of western msm and propaganda outlets and defacto educating said populace about the false informations spewing from same, on the other side a substantial percentage of the populace seems to believe this pile of foolishness they are exposed to every day. More is the pity for that and this belief in patent lies does not bode well for the future.
Auslander
Author
Never The Last One http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGCY8KK A Deep Look In To Russia, Her Culture And Her Armed Forces
An Incident On Simonka https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ERKH3IU NATO Is Invited To Leave Sevastopol, One Way Or The Other.
Don’t worry, Auslander, the Anglo Zionist liars will have their comeuppance very soon, probably sooner than you think.
Remember, Trump got elected in spite of being dumped on almost constantly by the empire’s propagandists. So it’s quite clear that the media’s lies are losing their effect on a substantial fraction of Americans. (I’m only speaking of Trump’s surprising victory, and not of his competence as President.)
Now the process of educating ignorant people and turning them to realists is much like an epidemic. There is so much evidence against the media’s propaganda that it is not too hard for a single realist to educate several people. Each of these people wake up several others, and so on. The conversions are probably permanent: when one takes the blue pill, he can’t go back to comfortable ignorance, because the truth is really obvious. Like an epidemic, the conversion process is an exponential one.
A property of exponential growth is that it seems slow until the explosive final stages. If it takes X weeks to double the number of awakened people, more than 50% percent of the population will still be sleeping until the last X weeks. Then almost everyone will be wakened.
Educating at least 90% of the population will be possible, I think, because the truth is so clear. And so available. Samizdat was considered a major factor in wrecking the Soviet Union. Today, we have the Internet, and that is one hellaciously effective samizdat.
So don’t despair, as time is on our side. (And not much time will be needed either, as the Anglo Zionist media must be truly desperate if they are pushing the ridiculous Pokemon story.)
“One of the main weaknesses of the US political elites is that they never bothered to seriously study political science, nevermind Marxism and, even less so, Hegelian dialectics.” Wich prevent them from any possibility of a strategical thinking, wich is the ultimate weakness when you want to go to war.
“…the Anglo Zionist media must be truly desperate if they are pushing the ridiculous Pokemon story”
They may be desperate, but it works on the dumbed-down US-American population who will literally believe anything.
Thank you !
Lost 2 old friends of over 50 years on last visit to zombied W. Germany 3 years ago . The western anglozio brainwash is working on many , especially the half educated. Thanks and greet Krim , Stefan
What is AO?
I love Russian humour, even better than the English who, are very good at taking the p*ss out of each other and everyone else, as are we Aussies.
Saker,
You migfht enjoy listening to this little bit of propaganda that was dribbling out of the Australian national broadcaster today
Podcast here:
http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations/9049384
Masha Gessen! A vile Zionist and inveterate liar. It is extraordinary that the Australian government welcomes such a person full of hatred, vindictiveness and pure wickedness. Every time she comes Down Under she appears on the ABS which after all is a public broadcasting radio paid and maintained by Australian tax payers money. Over the last 20 years or so, consecutive Australian governments, from both sides, have become more and more embedded with Zionist USA and Israel in particular to the extend that the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop does not call the Occupied Territories in Palestine, ‘Occupied” anymore but “Disputed”.
It is my experience that of the “5 eyes,” in terms of extreme, obnoxious, NWO totalitarianism, the Australian political class is leading the pack.
I think the totally Zionazi controlled Canadian political caste give our invertebrates some competition.
30 seconds into this broadcast one determines that we are about to hear from a CIA agent who attempted to operate in Russia itself, but discovering that the Russians had blown her cover right at the beginning of her spy career left whining like a baby.
As a woman, she was then repurposed by the US State Department as an ‘insider’ critic of Putin.
Here’s a clue for how this propaganda method goes down. The justification for Tony Blair’s murder of two million Humans in Iraq was an Iraqi known as ‘curveball’ who travelled to the West to ‘reveal’ the horrors of Saddam’s regime. Everything curveball said was a lie, and known to be a lie by Tony Blair. But Blair presented curveball to doubters in the US war machine- and said “you must trust his opinion cos he is an Iraqi”.
Finding traitors from any nation is child’s play. Only a total moron thinks the nationality of a person gives weight to his/her testimony. Facts give weight, nothing else. Curveball is a ***fact*** which is why, sadly, most people have never heard of him. The right facts are not given to people easily- for the vast majority of ‘information’ outlets are liars in the service of the Deep State.
And listen to the tone and language of the scumbag who introduces this genocidal liar in the interview. The monsters love to employ smarmy scum – especially in lesser nations like Australia.
PS arch zionist Murdoch successfully sold Australia to the jewish power bloc. The social engineering in Australia has no equal on the planet. Thankfully what works so easily with the Australian people doesn’t find the same traction elsewhere.
Ecellent article!
And an excellent counter measure by Russian media.
We sometimes speak of “self-censoring”, that media out of self-interest avoid criticizing certain people, do not disclose some information or in other ways act as is they were censored. It is possible that “self-censor” has a cosine: “auto-propaganda”.
I know that CIA et.al. have journalists on their payroll. Some of them were active during the first cold war, but they were reactivated sometime ago. Possibly on the code word “Rainbow” just before the Olympic games in Sochi. But if all those who write outright propaganda about Russia is on the CIA et.al. payroll, then they are either not very well paid (which would explain the quality), or CIA et.al. must have a huge black-ops budget. A budget that I thought were used for supporting Salafist and Wahhabists in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
A better explanation is that CIA et.al. have nudged the MSM in the right direction. They have positioned their candidates in NGO’s to make sure that these, hitherto esteemed organizations, provide a biased picture. They were using their assets in MSM to start the propaganda, helped with “facts” backed by NGOs, shady intelligence, anonymous sources and governmental spokesmen who lied without blinking. And now the journalists in MSM believe that they know the truth about Russia (and Syria, Iraq, Venezuela, China etc.) and are working diligently to inform their audience about it. The Western propaganda is actually brilliant and far more sophisticated that Sovietian propaganda. In Soviet, everyone knew it was propaganda. In the West, not even the propagandist knew it was!
As self-censor is not spontaneous, auto-propaganda is neither. Self-censor occur in an environment that someone have prepared ideal conditions for self-censoring opinions. So also with auto-propaganda, which probably were prepared by the alphabet-soup in unison with financial interests (or on behalf of financial interests). But now it is autonomous and working by itself. I admire the Russian countermeasures, but one must admire the ability of the crocks also: they are achieving their goal in the West.
Zionstream media is the monopoly media source in the Western world and only works as such.
Good (and censored and harassed and banned) independent Western media – exclusively on the internet. Radio, TV, print are no go areas for the common folks – makes a mockery of Zionstream media as good as its Russian counterparts. Nothing could be easier actually, as Zionstream media is deliberately sickeningly pornographic, pervert and propagandistic mind & mass control disguised as family friendly news, information & entertainment.
Zion was very aware that the age of the internet would pose a tremendous risk to its ‘Meinungshoheit’ – opinion sovereignty, opinion leadership – but the step had to be taken, as the internet is the alpha and omega of the planned technocratic, artificial intelligence driven global dictatorship along Noahide laws.
Zion is utterly confident that its monopolistic ownership of all layers of the internet infrastructure – hardware, software, content, intellectual property, etc. – will guarantee its ability to weather the storm and emerge from it stronger than ever before.
Remember, there is a historical precedent (which would deserve much more study). The invention of the printing press, too, was a great challenge to the powers that be. Initially. Before it became its greatest asset in mass-programming whole humanity along unified, simplified, idiot-ified ideologies, memes and principles as a way of preparing the ground for the ‘Brave New World’.
Obama and Bush II have been broken..?
Bill Clinton a no show..?
Hillary repudiated and cast adrift..?
I am not altogether sure Saker but it is significant..?
I think their same day mouthings signal obeisance. The have been castrated and the price of this mercy is steep. The nuclear bribe allegations are a part of this puzzle too. Benghazi lurks in the close background. Harvey the media mogel rapist is a reset of the info-entertainment matrix. The ducks are about to snap into a straight line. The Clinton bonfire will feed the media beast and prevent any inspection of the facts pointing to Armageddon.
‘Harvey the media mogel rapist is a reset of the info-entertainment matrix’.
Orchestrated campaign by msn against this man can mean only one thing – he did
something right. He produced and distributed movie Miral, which according to
American Jewish Committee executive director David Harris was a “blatantly
one-sided event… the film has a clear political message, which portrays
Israel in a highly negative light.”
http://www.tomatobubble.com/harvey_weinstein.html
Sorry meant to attach this…
https://sputniknews.com/us/201710201058392799-obama-bush-trump-us-politics/
and ‘sed’ is a phone text fail for ‘sure’
Apologies for lowering the tone and possibly offending anyone… but is Greg Vainer really man? Judging by the pic I thought it was an horrendously ugly lesbian… am I the only one who thought this?
Maybe. I had him pegged as a genderless freak… The Saker
I do believe most of these characters actually work from Russian government. They are paid to spew nonsense, act as a bunch of lunatics, etc.
Does anyone with some background in social sciences know if an IQ can be negative? Watching the CNN video I’m wondering if the level of stupidity can rise further.
“Stay tuned”
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former”
(quote attributed to Albert Einstein)
Your query whether MSM can have negative IQ reminds me of a statement by Randall Jarrell re US reading habits, which has puzzled me for more than 60 years – but now appears prophetic, as befits the utterance of a true poet. I quote from memory:
“The intellectual level of The Readers Digest is not so much a level as a swamp into which the reader comfortably sinks.”
Thanks Saker (and also Scott), for this insightful overview.
The last time I got irritated on the ‘Russophobia’ of the American presstitudes, was at their shameless behaviour during the press conference with Sergei Lavrov when he was in the USA.
Afterwards I started to see the amusement value of it.
Compare it to the presidential tweets. It’s a gift that keeps on giving. Every morning ‘die Trompete’ starts tweeting, mostly complaining about something and ending with something like ‘Sad!’, and immediately Twitterspace and the internet go into Defcon 1.
The same with all these insane accusations seeing ‘a Russian hand’ after everything. Or was it the evil tooth fairy? It is pure comedy that people make this up, and other people believe it.
Talking for my experiences in NW Europe, I experience far less of this hysteria than in the USA. Maybe we are more down to earth here, maybe we still remember ‘a certain role’ (if not decisive) of the Russians in liberating Europe last century.
Most people will just shrug their shoulders.
Interesting to read how Russian media handle this (share it, discuss it). That’s the right approach, and at the same time I realize that such discussions are almost impossible in (NW) Europe.
There is an almost toxic suppresive atmosphere in the official media, spitting out only what’s in line with the official ‘political correctness’. Even questioning publically will end up in immediate ad hominems (‘Nazi’, ‘populist’, ‘fascist’, ‘white privilige’, etc.).
While in, say, the seventies and eighties at least discussions were possible, slowly a moral dictatorship is introduced. It is no coincidence that the EU was set up exactly like the Soviet Union.
The main objective of the EU is simply ‘power’ (and that works out well, doesn’t it?).
“respectwords dot org” is a project, financed by the European Union, on how journalists should write articles about migrants. The guidelines read like a censorship manual. Some examples:
“Keep in mind that there is no structural connection between migration and terrorism. In cases where there may be a link between these two issues, stick to the facts and avoid generalisations”
“Reflect ethnicity and religious affiliation in crime reporting only when it helps to understand the news”.
I cannot discover any error in essay. Is dead-on.
Clapper said that RT reveals the fissures in our tapestry. More or less as the essay says.
The ordinary usage in English speaking men of his class would be a slogan-like phrase using the word “tapestry” – this word is rare in spoken English outside of Churches and museums – So, what’s the phrase one would expect from Tapper?
“Tapestry of Lies”. The word almost always is presented as this phrase.
So, that’s what Clapper was thinking when he blurted out “fissures in our tapestry”. He understands that their raveled tapestry (fissures) consisted in many important respects of lies.
He therefore understands that delusional population is desirable.
Who, then, is for you? The man who seeks your delusion?
Or the man who speaks honestly?
Is basic Rhetoric. Good essay. Strategic goal-effect over time is, one may suspect, Revolution in DC, such that US abandons empire and becomes contract capable. Ru needs, over the long term, North America and the US (after it is fixed?) – China awful big…
Troika, as planned in 1945 between the major powers (not including England) is goal, condominium of States. Might work… Might need extra cops to make it work, just until people get used to the new nonimperial realities…and find ways to get what they need again.
If there were a door into 1950 I’d jump through. Very ugly History we are in.
Thanks for your insights. Reading this article reminds me of the age-old truth that “it is never too early to panic”. Ha, ha! They’re coming to take All of us away. Regarding that door into 1950 to jump through, I’m afraid that time was (in its own truly bizarre way) just as nuts and crazy as the Present Insanities we all find ourselves in. Let’s look at our 2017 predicament this way, my friends: We’re all here at The Theatre, having paid our rather steep admission price to attend this Desperately Seeking Talent Show, and once we settle down a bit into our comfy seats….. we realize that we’re locked into those seats! Aaack! A voice sounding just like our current President booms out over the PA system saying: “Are we tired of winning yet?” over and over and over again (yes, he is mocking us) and at that time we realize that even if we could escape from our chairs it wouldn’t do much good, because all of the exits have (conveniently) been chained shut! Now, the curtain slowly begins to rise, and flames , yes, tongues of fire, are reaching out from underneath it! No refunded tickets! No “I’m sorry, folks”. Damn and blast, mate. Hang on for dear life–this Show is going to to deliver New Jolts for Jaded Fans, at light speed. Stuff you’ve never seen before. Straight Up Crazy. For me to say that in spite of all the insanity that “god is in control” would be sacrilegious.
Very nice article which makes these unpleasant things very pleasant to contemplate (by explaining how the Russians make pleasure of the unpleasant – so you did to your audience what you report the Russian media to do to theirs).
You asked but forgot to answer the question “Then why is it that the USA seems to be comprehensively unable to say the truth about *anything* they do?” So I will give it a short try.
When the Americans would be honest about their foreign policy they would make themselves potential subject to international court trials for crimes against humanity etc.… So lying is in a broader sense and to a degree in the literal sense a necessity for survival.
This is also by the way the source of what people often attribute as “irrational” or “contradictory” in American foreign policy. If they would stop lying all of a sudden everything they say would make perfect sense. They don’t want to extend their presence in Afghanistan *though* it has been failure until now but because it has payed very well. But they can hardly say that. From the perspective of the “military/industrial complex” it makes perfect sense to arm two adversarial warring parties. And so on. Nothing irrational and rarely something contradictory.
You asked but forgot to answer the question “Then why is it that the USA seems to be com-prehensively unable to say the truth about *anything* they do?” So I will give it a short try.
When the Americans would be honest about their foreign policy they would make themselves potential subject to international court trials for crimes against humanity etc.… So lying is in a broader sense and to a degree in the literal sense a necessity for survival”
The United States of America certainly has a fundamental need to deceive.
If the Americans were to tell the truth, their mask of “Freedom and Democracy” would be shredded and they would be seen as the war criminal nation that they are–and be dealt with as such.
In fact, if the United States were to be held fully accountable for its crimes, it would face greater punishment than that meted out to the German Third Reich or Imperial Japan after World War 2.
And that is the last thing the Americans want.
Indeed, it is their worst fear, what they dread the most—and probably secretly realize is their just desserts:
At long last, America facing a day of reckoning—a belated though deserved Judgment Day.
Why United States Is the Fourth Reich
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/09/27/why-united-states-fourth-reich.html
“… it would face greater punishment than that meted out to the German Third Reich or Imperial Japan after World War 2.”
You do realize Germany and Japan were cemented as banskter puppet states after WW2, right…? Be careful lest your vindictiveness turn you into that which you claim to oppose…
Japan & Germany were cemented as American proxies to control Europe and Asia as part of
Cold War anti-Communism.
If anything, Japan and Germany were let off the hook to a degree.
Let’s hope that America doesn’t weasel off so easily.
The blood of millions of people that America has murdered should not brook such an outrage–nor the disingenous admonitions about “vindictiveness,” which serve as alibis for America’s crimes.
“If anything, Japan and Germany were let off the hook to a degree.”
You call getting bullied into serving the bankster empire being “let off the hook to a degree”…? Something tells me, Anon, you don’t fully understand who is really behind all this…
“War is the greatest injustice. We are not fighting the culprits. Those who pay, who incite, who use the media to make people turn against each other — this is who we should fight against.”
~ Donbass militia member Alexey Mozgovoy
“… nor the disingenous admonitions about ‘vindictiveness,’ which serve as alibis for America’s crimes.”
No, another example of how the banksters use vindictiveness to distract from themselves is through scapegoating Muslims and refugees. Removed. Please stay on topic. Mod
> There is no Russian equivalent of the Pokemon story
Half true.
When Pokemon Go was announced, it was widely speculated that this technology may be used to both hoard unexpecting game addicts into some places (like, moving nazi and antifa crowds together, where their firght would be imminent) or background surveillance and spying (by placing pokemons in the places, game operator wants to see in photo).
This was quite a hot topic, and i think those potential dangers are real. Just looking how pseudo-private companies like Facebook engage in swept political censorship makes one ask “how Pokemon company is different?”.
There indeed was no allegation that US Gov’t actually utilizes this already, but there definitely was a lot of debate about laying frameworks and public habits to start doing it.
Not only Russia but many other states and companies limited Pokemon Go at their premises.
Now, what we see is CNN merely combining the real fears about Po-Go embedded capabilities (which, i repeat, were shared by many Russians) with the typical “Putin is under your bed because all the patriots say so” fundamentalists claim.
“Propaganda bullhorn”: RT under fire in Britain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KiugspfwIY
“What’s next, Mr. Putun? Invade the Disney channel?”
– George Galloway on RT C-SPAN interruption
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8fOT4-iYbY
RT exposed in leaked video: Watch how evil “Kremlin
propaganda bullhorn” REALLY works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQQwBfux9i0
Propaganda without a reality to back it up is useless. US propaganda works only because the US has the hard and soft power, especially the soft power to back it up. Putin is also successful only because Russia is now doing fairly well. But he knows very well that the minute things begin to fall apart, no amount of propaganda will sustain Russia. That’s why his mission from day one has been to foster a robust and stable Russia, with a majority consensus, a fair social contract, and a minimum of destructive dissension.
He has been partly successful – the mission is far from over – and this success – the level of robustness in Russia – is why this ‘open propaganda’ works. If Russia were weak, then it would try and suppress and repress, because its people would be bitter and angry and would be open to believing foreign propaganda. Because Russia is somewhat strong – because the society is stable and robust enough – the people are in a state in which they are unlikely to believe foreign propaganda.
God help Russia keep on sorting through and fixing its own problems, because the better it does that, the stronger it will be
Bravo Saker! The Western media is beyond cringe worthy. The only thing I would keep in mind that more than just stupidity, it is supreme arrogance. The US elites are so used to having their way that they no longer even bother covering up their tracks and at least try to keep up appearances. This renders them the worst of imperialists: blessedly stupid imperialists. Domestically, they know they’re dealing with a beaten down population who have been looted, drugged and propagandized (even if the propaganda is transparently super low grade) to the maximum. Very little resistance will come from these quarters as they are more concerned with the day-to-day struggle of staying afloat and, in any case, are mesmerized by the mass consumer culture. This group, along with the intelligentsia (mentioned next), are what Paul Craig Roberts dubs “insouciant Americans.”
For those just underneath the top 1% that belong to the next 9% income bracket, they busy themselves looking for Russians under the bed, in the cupboards and the dark recesses of the closets in their minds. A friend of mine, who is a retired professor, laments she has just about given up trying to convince those in her circle (mostly professor types with PHDs) that the present national obsession is McCarthyism all over again but even more ridiculous and outrageous than the original. The reaching for tenure, stock portfolios and mutual funds of these elements however weigh more in their calculations than the pursuit of verifiable truth. Academic integrity be damned!
And if any dare protest they are either given the Colin Kaepernick treatment or, if abroad, bombed out of existence when they are not coloured revolution over. The US elites, after all, are, as Chomsky sarcastically puts it, the “Masters of the Universe” so who cares what anyone outside their exclusive circle thinks. “Whatever we say goes” as George Bush Sr. famously said. To the point, has anyone ever noticed how bright and sunny Trump gets when he is talking about who is about to get annihilated? A complete snapshot of the psyche of US elites; that is, of socio/psychopaths. What a country eh?
The Russians don’t need to get their panties in too much of a knot about these American/Western media smear campaigns, as things could be much worse for them. And they know it.
At the end of the day, Russia has a massive nuclear arsenal that can put the fear of God in the Americans and deter them from militarily attacking Russia.
Imagine if Russia were Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, or Serbia.
The Americans would have not only vilified it through their (snicker) free press but also followed up with military aggression leading to the mass slaughter of hundreds of thousands–if not millions–of people and the US raping of an entire society.
The Americans specialize in lies, propaganda, deception, and demonization campaigns against *any* nation, government, group, or even religion that it perceives as a so-called threat to America’s ambitions for world domination. Russia is merely the latest target–not the only one.
This is what Americans do. It is embedded in their national character and political-cultural DNA as a people since 1776.
After all, what is the United States of America really?
The Land of the Free, Beacon of Liberty, or Leader of the Free World?
Hell no.
America is a European colonizer nation that was founded and built through the invasion, theft, and continuing occupation of an entire continent.
As part of its national ideology of American Exceptionalism, the USA believes it has a “Manifest Destiny” to rule the North American continent and ultimately the entire world.
Russia is merely one obstacle in America’s drive to fulfill this God-given (or Demonic) destiny.
The Doctrine of Discovery, Manifest Destiny, and American Exceptionalism
http://christianhegemony.org/the-doctrine-of-discovery-manifest-destiny-and-american-exceptionalism
That did not go as planned for the US Propaganda rag Radio Svoboda:
«Is Putin a Peacemaker?»
YES leads with 68%
https://twitter.com/marcelsardo/status/921276601656119296
Thank you for another brilliant journey into this global war,
Russian sophistication in terms of communication and informational warfare is indeed amazing, when compared to the old soviet time.
Transparency is the best defensive move, to defuse the imperial media agression, using the brute force of the enemy, letting it come in all its viciouness and stupidity, and exposing it, unbalanced.
But we should not forget the cultural arm of this global communication war, hollywood and its « social models », surprising and influencing our youth’s brain while they are receptive, ingesting cultural memes, social or political prescriptions wrapped in entertainment and fictional stories…
Here is a good one for you. Will you post it?
Is Texas an Israeli Occupied Territory?
October 20, 2017 / Gilad Atzmon
You decide!
In order to receive Hurricane Harvey assistance in the city of Dickinson, Texas one has to agree not to boycott Israel…
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/2017/10/20/is-texas-an-israeli-occupied-territory
You Won’t Believe Why They Could Withhold Relief Funds from Harvey Victims
If it was any other country like don’t boycott Russia or else, would the media stay silent?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPZS0R8neuM
Interesting, but off topic. Next time please post that in the Cafe. Thanks. The Saker
Haha, at long last the total imbecility and depravity of Western supremacists exposed with the latters’ own, ahem, very happy cooperation — Russian propaganda at its wittiest and funniest ever !
I have only one minor point of disagreement with regard to the alleged “dullness” of the USSR’s propaganda efforts: These were perceived as dull, unconvincing, or even mendacious, precisely because the West still hadn’t entered its final stage of neoliberal rot, decay, and squalor overwhelming it today. The Russians’ inferiority complex is wearing off, and fast. Watching the West’s contemptible trashbags live on TV surely stands out as the ultimate antidote.
I hope everybody now knows (for those who didn’t before) the underlying thread and nicely exposed at the end by Saker with that image, as to why there is such an apparent puzzle regarding the actions of the West and USG in particular, because if you disregard this you will never be able to understand properly what is going on, namely, that it is spiritual: satanic on the West’s side versus the opposing power in Russia.
“namely, that it is spiritual: satanic on the West’s side versus the opposing power in Russia.”
I think you are 100% right there. And for those wishing to investigate the subject, for the western ruling class, Satanism, pedophilia and human sacrifice are massively indulged in.
I did wonder if the absolute hysteria shown by the deep state at Trumps election was nothing to do with opposition to what his policies would be but fear that hundreds of top US people were now at risk of prosecution for pedophilia,
It was never about the politics. When Trump got elected they got a fright. Though I am no fan of Trump at all I believe he has initiated prosecutions of some of the pedophiles and their networks. Everything is inverted and polluted by them, art, human sexuality, education,what is right and what is wrong and where we would seek peace and harmony, they want blood and hatred, that is how they are.
Without getting too esoteric I would say that there is a huge battle raging across planet Earth right now between good and evil – a battle for a human future versus an inhuman one.
I think perhaps unwittingly Putin has been given a role to play to encourage the human fight back. Once you look into this it becomes obvious. That is why they hate him. That is why he affirms Christian values.
Perhaps he is being helped.
Doesn’t it strike people as incredible that with Syria 80% destroyed in a project supported by the US, NATO, Australia, Canada and several mideastern countries especially ZIonist Israel that Russia went in with a small air force and turned the whole war round leaving the satanists reeling, shocked and unravelled. Now, they can’t get their act together and the US is roaming the planet looking for people it can easily kill.and rob.
Message to the American people: You guys are also targets for destruction.
Til now they have been winning with a docile dumbed down population incapable of critical thinking and glued to their smart phones and tv
But the human pushback is on !
Western regimes, have one advantage over the rest of us. Having neither a conscience nor a moral compass, there is nothing they would not do. Nothing. I believe events unfolding now will govern whether humanity has a future or whether we are totally boxed in to the globalist prison.
That’s why nothing they do makes sense, it’s not meant to – they are not serving God but rather something quite it’s polar opposite. This should be discussed more to help people wake up.
BTW Saker – loved the article, yeah let’s just laugh at them Imagine the effect it would have if every time Nicki Haley, opened her mouth people just roared and laughed at her, or if the whole UN split their sides laughing at evil Netanyahu as he rants away. Oh to see that !
Zena, there is good news, and bad news. Good, because ultimately the fight will be won because God is on the side of good – and I think God put Putin in power, get it? Put In. Putin. It wasn’t so much one man turning Russia around, but God working through one man, the emphasis on God. Bad, because it is going to get so much worse before it gets better.
The point is that the Washington political establishment and the US media have trouble understanding the outside world, namely foreign cultures and mentalities. What struck me about the US anti-Russian rhetoric is how simple and childish it is. Washington and the US media must be using advisers who are experts in World War One propaganda, as it is basically simple. As far as Russia goes, both Washington and the US media apparently have trouble grasping the fact that Russia is not a communist state any more and that Christianity and traditional Russian values are making a revival. The result is that the US is bombarding Russia with cold war rhetoric, which ofcourse backfires, as Russians themselves see what it is, namely propaganda. As for Europe, yes cracks are indeed appearing in the ranks of the European elites, who are becoming very scared with the attitude shown by the US during the past year. The US has acquired the mentality of a second rate Roman emperor whose imperial tastes know no limits. For example, the US Congress has found fit to include Europe in its latest anti-Russian sanctions, to the utter astonishment of European politicians, who have been brought into a very uncomfortable position, having to prove they are not US stooges. Finally, the overall impression is that Europe – states, elites, politicians, business people, ordinary people – are turning their eyes towards Russia, not only because of what it has to offer, but also because it has created an image of being a factor of common sense and stability, something the US has completely destroyed in the minds of European’s. . .
Russian media should employ Maxine Waters, Louise Mensch, Rachel Madcow, Samantha Powers, and all other available vile, crazed, demented US harpies. Pay them handsomely and give them their own programmes with unlimited airtime and complete freedom to spew forth all their bile and poison to their hearts’ content.
In London in the 19th century, people used to pay a penny to watch the lunatics in Bedlam Mental Asylum. This would be a comparable free show.
I watched US news media when I was over there. It was so mind numbingly awful that I had to switch it off after a few minutes. I could literally feel my brain starting to seize up. CNN, MSNBC, whatever, it made no difference. The content and delivery would insult the intelligence of a five year old.
Saker, I´m sorry to say this, but Russian media looks more and more like Western by the day and I find it hard to destinguish any more. Not only that, but Russia foreign policy looks more and more like Western foreign policy: a support for globalisation, being against protectionism and being againts nationalism. Western media and Russian media (RT specifically) like to champion typical progressive causes in its coverage – that means social justice (“SJW”) causes.
And, I´m sorry to say. Russia Today from time to time publishes unverified news – news that circulate in Western sources – without fact checking, thereby making itself (knowingly or unknowingly) guilty of fake news. (If you would like some examples I can send them to you) Because of this I read RT articles with a critical eye – not because I believe it is necessarily publishing fake news deliberately, but because it seems to be flexible on the verification process – a sign that just likeall other news publications, it sources a lot of its content from agencies – without people on the ground investigation.
RTs format has the same semi-tabloid format as Western online publications, because it is geared at Western audiences – it is just “a Western publication” based in Russia – with a Russian editor and some Russian staff. What I mean by that is for a person sitting outside of Europe, North America and Russia, it just comes accross as a Western (or “Anglo”) news publication with a Russian slant. It has the same slant. It is obsessed with the USA. We don´t really get any feeling of Russian culture from it.
Unfortunately RT has become rather trashy and I have been wondering if it has slowly allowed itself to become assimilated by Anglo-Zio culture, because it so slavishly tries to immitate it. The persistent moral high ground approach by its reporters is also wearing really thin, as we can see some very clear double-standards as Russia increasingly takes a similar approach to policy as the Western nations (for example regarding North Korea sanctions and arms deals with Saudi Arabia).
On the subject of propaganda: No doubt nobody can teach Russia a lesson in this subject, but whether it is positive or negative propaganda, what the word needs is less propaganda, less PR, fewer double standards, and more principles – for a while Russia was leading the way in moving towards that direction, but that´s not the case any more. Taking the moral high ground is a risky business, because people would hold you to it (mainainig the high ground in practice) and would demand higher ethics from those who claim it compared to those who don´t.
I think that you are correct in some of your observations, but that your interpretation is wrong. What is taking place is this: there are very different and bitterly opposed factions inside RT or Sputnik – some real patriots and, yes, some, shall we say, “anythingwesternbrownnosers”. While I myself have been at times very disappointed by what I saw from these two (and other) media outlets, I also am grateful for the efforts of the good guys there who are trying hard to wrestle away the control of these outlets from the Atlantic Integrationists, liberals (in the Russian sense of the word) and other “anythingwesternbrownnosers”. YMMV of course. The Saker
great article and it reminded me of this brilliant book I bought 6 or so years ago at the Chicago Art Institute – there was a great exhibition on war propaganda – on how far superior Russian propaganda was compared to what Americans and Brits did (basically Russians were very inspiring, brave and stylish, while Anglo-Saxons were boring, materialistic and fear-mongering) – similar to what we have today.
I think everyone on this blog would love this book – it’s quite big and the quality of paper and print is first class. I bought it used:
https://www.amazon.com/Windows-War-Soviet-Posters-1941-1945/dp/0300170238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508557313&sr=8-1&keywords=the+windows+on+war
Hey, laugh as much as you want to but, seriously using PokemonGo can become a great spying tool.
Before you don you tin foil, consider how many sensors the average smartphone has: most have a suit of gps, camera, microphones (usually three for active noise suppression), light sensor (to switch off the screen when pressed to your face), magnetometer (for compass), accelerometer, gyroscope, and barometer. Some exotic phones, like the CAT S-60 even has a thermal camera builtin.
Now, multiply such a phone by an army of roaming kids (directed algorithmically) and apply some statistical models. And, voila, you have a whole bunch of information.
Consider the following scenario:
Suppose that a foreign power has suspicions that “Mr. Goldfinger” has his hidden underground base in such-and-such hostile area. How can you find more information, without risking agents on the ground? PokemonGO! Send an army of children to catch “monsters” in the area, methodically trying to chart the “off-limits” area. Most children’s movements are used as “noise,” to mask you intention, while still directing enough in sensitive areas. At the same time use their phones’ sensors to pick up data. For example, an accelerometer can pick up vibrations that can indicate underground activity. Yes, a single phone is prone to errors, but these can be cancelled by a good statistical model.
Crazy developments have been devised that can take Mr. Bonds out of commission. For example, sound (even human voice) can be reconstructed from (silent) video
of an ordinary smartphone camera. The algorithm simply analyzes the micro-vibrations sound-waves create on nearby objects. The sound is not perfect but the benefit is that you can reconstruct sound from people behind glass.
Yeah, we’re living in crazy times.
Nice read.
Although smart, it’s not a new idea/concept, and already has a name.
Is called vaccination.
The bbc have a wonderful way of trying to keep their own propaganda hermetically sealed: Their website, has a unique media player (called ‘iPlayer’) that they ensure doesn’t work from any other country in the world so no one else can see the absurdities they tell the British public.
This is ostensibly because non-British residents never paid a ‘license fee’ but of course this is just a laughable joke and not a revenue issue at all because, like everyone else in the world they could actually generate a new revenue stream by using 5-sec commercials on front of their videos. The BBC are actually denying themselves revenue as a price they pay to keep their ridiculous propaganda private.
Thank you, Saker,for these insights! Here in Germany we sometimes see something similar in comedy Die Anstalt. Never in talk shows! Fortunately I live together with a Russian wife,who always has Russian tv on her pc… and she shows me those clowns and translates and I also see the reactions of the audience:exactly as you describe.
Die Anstalt
Yes, I know them, I think I even posted a subtitled show of their’s once. They are hilarious and very good. I highly recommend them to any German speaker.
Cheers,
The Saker
I disagree, or have a different angle, on a few points
>…exposed to the western propaganda machine and its message on a daily basis.
It is more like that they are exposed to a mirror image of ‘Ivan Drago’ , a hapless Russian chap from Rocky movies–Western/Ukrainian version of, in that instance. Those are pretty much arranged/faked/scripted opponents , said to be selected on the basis of their ‘shoutness/loudness’, and then successfully shouted and clapped down by the rest of the TV crowd. it is said that they routinely receive payments for their appearance, from the same cash window as their opponents, and so it is very clear to all the combatants that their fight is not for real (or so it says here http://theins.ru/confession/61361) . —It may be true that the real opponents are about as hapless as those caricatures presented, but this is a separate matter
>the Soviet went out of their way to prevent western propaganda from reaching the Soviet people
There is still a ‘Federal list of extremist materials’ and of ‘Extremist web resources’ . Some of the items on the list advocate violence and so they do belong there. But some others, in my opinion, belong to legit political discourse or free speech (nothing violent in grani, Kasparov, lurkmore . There are also removed items to do with Ukraine, some of them quite nasty, yet trying to block them is questionable)
>Everything we were told about the Soviet Union turned out to be a lie
There is Nostalgy channel which runs old Soviet TV programs. Watching some, it does not come across as outright lies. Yes, some of it is 100% the official ideology. There are also important issues completely ‘vanished’. The rest, may be boring a bit, but does not come across as nasty lies ; in fact, rather as attempting something quite positive and having a human touch; successfully or not is another matter. (Propaganda, yes, but some of it on the artistic level of Eisenstein).
Here in Russia no one believes liberals. I’ll put a quote from a book published in 2001:
Funny enough, that’s exactly what happened to so-called ‘liberals’ here.
There is still a ‘Federal list of extremist materials’ and of ‘Extremist web resources’.
There were a few cases of sites being blocked for some time due to ‘questionable’ materials. But nothing of value has been blocked so far.
Lurk, which you’ve mentioned, was blocked a few times for different reasons. As of right now, there’s a number of articles blocked in Russia, but lurk itself isn’t. And Russian lurk did become quite hateful and toxic, to be honest.
Kasparov is another crooked weasel. Couldn’t care less about him.
I agree, ‘Roskomnadzor’ does overreacts sometimes, but, like I said, nothing of value has been blocked so far.
The zionist oligarchy is no less sophisticated in terms of propaganda, in fact they are still miles ahead of the Russians. They’ll have you believe Rossiya Segodniya and PressTV are voices of the Russian and Iranian governments respectively, a laughable idea in the midst of a global war, when in fact these institutions are clever projects invented in a Tavistock laboratory, in the long running tradition of weaponizing information, the development of which was accelerated when shell shock victims of the First World War began trickling back to England with severe cases of post traumatic stress disorder.
The victims were dispirited and found to be completely malleable and open to suggestion, willing to do whatever they were told, and so some clever British psychiatrists said to themselves, not how do we help these people recover themselves, but how do we make everyone this way?
The difference is RT, in contrast to what occurrs on Russian TV, is used to deliver the message of supposedly ‘good’ guys, then immediately viewers will be thrown into a follow up segment where every zionist mind trap and trick is reinforced, imperceptibly to those viewers still glowing from having heard some minor and unthreatening truth that won’t ever be presented on CNN or the BBC. Max Keiser tells you Capitalism is theft and you imagine this represents a revolution in thinking that will change the world, when most obviously it will not.
In today’s globalist zionist pseudo-reality, Russians are the eternal good cop, and Americans are eternally the bad. In the meantime Russian oligarch-gangsters steal the same way Anglo-American or Chinese oligarch gangsters steal.
At the end of the day these gangsters have far more in common with each other than they have with people like you or I, because they a sub species of humanity that lives off the rest of us like a parasitic infection. And like cancer, they do not mind killing the host and commonly do, in the hundreds of millions in the last century alone, and today empowered by technology they imagine themselves capable of killing even more of us without ever being held accountable.
They may have a point, unless you stop patting yourself on the back and thinking yourself so enlightened because you know Russians love their children too.
Think of the picture of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt at Yalta. All of them were psychopaths and all of them knew from before the begining of World War 2 they were executing a plan to manage their respective herds — to reduce it’s size and cull the revolutionary energy of a new generation, a process that has been repeated over and over for centuries if not for millenia.
What everyone needs to understand is that without exception — NOTTA one — all media is propaganda, and NO one has your best interests at heart, even if some of the participants earnestly believe they are working for good. They may kid themselves and justify their behaviour by telling themselves they are making things better for everyone, or maybe less worse, but in fact they are preserving the zionist system and helping to keep it viable and intact. These are your sociopaths, empathic people who have learned how to play the game of a psychopath, and they are middle management for the degenrated condition of globalized humanity.
There is no substitute for learning to understand ALL media in the way of intelligence analysts. All information is propaganda and it always has a purpose. Unless you can train yourself to think this way you will always be a zombified mind slave and useful idiot of the psychopathic zionist elite, and tool in the hands of their sociopathic minions.
“Max Keiser tells you Capitalism is theft and you imagine this represents a revolution in thinking that will change the world, when most obviously it will not.”
Max Keiser and/or his guests will also tell you that no sovereign nation needs to borrow its money, and knowing that no one needs to be the bankster empire’s debt slaves is world-changing thinking.
“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing.”
~ US Founder and President Thomas Jefferson, 1798
“In the meantime Russian oligarch-gangsters steal the same way Anglo-American or Chinese oligarch gangsters steal.”
The evidence says Russia is actually working to bring its criminal oligarchy to heel.
“[Mikhail] Khodorkovsky was arrested in October 2003… Khodorkovsky’s partner in crime, Leonid Nevzlin, later fled to Israel.
“Berezovsky and Gusinsky went into exile, facing prosecution if they ever return to Russia. Putin regained control of stolen enterprises, natural resources, Oligarch media, and the associated tax revenues. Many of the criminal Oligarchs ended up in jail. Those who escaped Sheriff Putin’s justice fled to America, Britain, or Israel. A few other big shots were allowed to hold onto most of their assets; provided that they behave themselves.”
~ “Putin is Winning the War Against Satan Worshipers and New World Order Agents,” Jonas E. Alexis
“… all media is propaganda, and NO one has your best interests at heart…
ad hominem statement removed …. mod
Saker would never believe how big is support for Russia in Croatia among the ordinary people.
It is very big, enormous, the reason is because the ordinary people have been lied by the western media and the EU, USA and own politicians.
I would advise him to do some research on this topic or to establish some contacts with Croatian journalists and intellectuals if it is possible then he would see that I speak the truth.
Everything is changing.
It has not been like it in the past – I must admit.
Saker a real eyeopening article. I love your spirit. I just sent you $100 worth of bitcoin. Between sending you bitcoin and fiat dollars I picked bitcoin. It was a hard decision because of the greatly appreciating bitcoin but you may as well benefit.
By the way maybe one day you can do an expose on the Trotskyist origin of the Neo-Cons.
Thanks for all you do.
Catholic Propaganda about Russia… ?
https://youtu.be/b32qav9QrYU
What you are refusing to admit is, the western elite and the regular folk in the US and Europe are the SAME, just as the difference between a banker and his customer is their bank account.
Western ‘propaganda’ only voices and parrots what Americans and Europeans truly think.
So careful with your assumption that one day soon Americans and Europeans will wake up and we’ll all have our wonderful global kumbaya moment despite the best efforts of western elitist-funded AngloZionist propagandists.
Because Americans and Europeans are NOT asleep. Anymore than they were when they butchered each other to the tune of millions of souls for most of the 20th Century, to the extent that they had to resort to the importation of foreign males from enemy populations in order to work their factories and the wombs of their women.
Western ‘civilization’ is an abomination.
“Western ‘propaganda’ only voices and parrots what Americans and Europeans truly think.”
While I do share your contempt of and revulsion against Western populations generally, it is total nonsense to view them as being in a position where they decide what gets politically approved as truth and what doesn’t. “Western democracy” just doesn’t work that way. Proud imbeciles would never be able to keep the system going were they in charge.
You’re putting words in my mouth. Where did I ever say anything about anyone deciding this or that?
What I said is, the general western populations share the same beliefs as the western ruling classes, so that western propaganda is more akin to constantly replaying the west’s “national anthem” to a stadium full of football fans rooting for the same team, than an actual effort of going after their hearts and minds.
Westerners one and all, know very well what they are doing. They are what they do, no one is fooling them. What you call western propaganda amounts to no more than cheerleading.
I am a westerner. I know. You will not be allowed to live or breath or participate in society unless you look and sound like, and do and respond as does, everybody else. The tattooed and pierced looks are only one of the uniforms you get to choose from. That’s all the freedom you get in the West. And it’s a self-imposed thing, the authorities are not actively forcing them to conform. It’s the western herd instinct.
And now they’re adding and mixing the hostile muslim flavor to it. Truly, we will get a hybrid monster out of this experiment to rival the Aliens (from the movie).
Did not put any words in your mouth; the quote at the top was copied and pasted verbatim. The logical conclusion to be drawn from it is either that the slobs of the West really don’t need their dear MSM, or that the latter merely acts as the voice of the Western peoples. Both are equally flawed. It is the corporate mindrot which shapes Western public opinion, cultivating a vulgar, hysterical mass base addicted to their diet of excrements. The ruling Zionazis also know what they are doing, mind you.
Where did corporate executives come from? From Mars? Who designs “corporate mindrot”? Aliens?
“The ruling classes” come from, and are populated by, the innocent little people. I grew up in the West but instinctively felt a great revulsion towards the mores or lack thereof, of western populations. Practically no one else around me, did.
You think that the little people are manipulated into devolving into the subhuman things that they’ve become. I think that that is their natural state only reinforced by the “corporate mindrot” that the little people themselves create for their own benefit with the blessing and funding generously provided by the ruling classes (who themselves were begotten by the little people in the first place, despite their groundless protestations to the contrary).
For me, the only difference between the ruling classes and the little people of the West is the amount of money they each have in their bank accounts and whether they are major shareholders of the banks, or mere “creditors” groomed for the next “haircut” by the selfsame banks.
Let’s agree to disagree, OK?
“I… instinctively felt a great revulsion… Practically no one else around me, did.”
Isn’t one of the strong points of today’s Russian propaganda its emphasis on evidence-based inquiry and logical thinking? You have some anecdotal experiences, Maestro, yet the big picture shows that many Westerners are waking up to the bankster cartel. Just look at the Armed Forces Tea Party and other Syrian War protests, the Rethink 9/11 movement, the Justice or Else rally (which also highlighted the lies behind 9/11), the Occupy movement, the Standing Rock protests, the rising popularity of alternative media like RT and The Saker, etc.
In fact, the attempts to demonize and shut down the alternative media testify to how effective the strategy is, don’t they…?
you are right. Most of these ruling people like Mc Cain just inherited their positions and money and they have no clue about anything. A friend of mine who was a director of a big department of Johnson & Johnson had a lot of money, shares , huge beautiful house on the beach, he could buy anything he wanted. he died like a poor man from neglect basically (even though he had the best insurance and was paying about 5k a month for his nursing home where he was supposed to recover after a surgery. My uncle in Serbia (same age) had the same surgery for free and he recovered fast and is doing great. My J&J friend left many millions to his kids (he used to neglect when young so they didn’t really care about him at all although they ended up inheriting a lot money).
My friend’s best friend was twice a governor of a big state. he had contacts, money and great career – still anyone I know in Serbia or Latin America is much happier with life than this poor (yet wealthy in $$) late friend of mine
Here are some ideas for Russian media to reveal the truth through mockery:
1.) Have “An hour with Xochi Mochi the LGBTQ Queen once a week. Get Pussy Riot types to attend the show with full freedom to do whatever comes to their deranged minds. Encourage some liberal types to also come and participate in Q&A’s.
2.) Start a weekly “Geopolitical Show”. Show tonnage of US bombs that have landed on each longitude and latitude of the globe. Get intellectual types to debate the pros and cons of bombing as a means of spreading freedom and democracy.
3.) Host “An evening with our American friends” show. Be creative in choice of who get invited. Perhaps some full blooded, commie-hating, American flag-wavers; some snowflakes to explain how Russia scares them; a sample of the freaks and nuts that abound in America, such as drag queens, dope-heads, porn stars, tele-evangelical preachers, China-haters, Russia-haters, world-haters, some rabid talking heads from American TV shows, etc. etc.
4.) Host a “Business Smarts from America” show. Interview successful and good business people. Also interview wealthy drug-dealers, conmen of various stripes, Mafia bosses, and other shady business people.
In short: Hold up a mirror to reality to cure the world and Russians of their illusions about the “Perfect West”.
Haha, truly excellent piece of advice! And to top it off, also toss in:
5) A panegyric exposé of Russia under Yeltsin. Never have Russia and her people been so democratic, prosperous, and simply elated!
By the time english language RT started broadcasting, all it had to do – and did – was hold up a mirror to the West.
We did the rest ourselves. We did RT’s work for them. No need for invention.
“..The Russians have no need to lie, their propaganda is fundamentally truthful, fact based and logical……. Unlike their US American counterparts, the Russians are not engaging in policies which they cannot justify before their own public opinion or before the public opinion of the rest of the planet. Sounds simple?..”
such a simple approach to live a good, honest life – unfortunately the exact opposite from what’s used on Anglosheeple by Zionist media. Best described in one of the first Snowden NSA leaks. if you scroll down you will see a whole set of spread sheets of totalitarianism called Gambits for Deception. Basically how to crate totalitarianism – all the tricks, how to lie, fear-monger, confuse and degrade people into submission. Another slide is called How to Identify and Exploit Fracture Points (it builds onto the Gambits for Deception – they are used to create fracture points) Here’s the link:
https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/