by Sergio Weigel for The Saker Blog
Despite “poison gas”, “barrel bombs” and “annexation” – a large part of propaganda is going nowhere in Germany. Recent surveys show a pronounced media literacy among many citizens and a great yearning for German-Russian rapprochement.
The first survey of interest might be the one Forsa Institute did on behalf of RTL (private media TV) about the trust of Germans in their öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk, the public broadcast. It showed that only 48% of Germans think ARD and ZDF would do their job well (9%) or very well (39%). 30% of Germans think that they do a mediocre job, and 14% think they do it badly. Yet still 74% support the dual system of public and private broadcast. So, Germans do want their public broadcast TV, but they criticize it and 44% consider the monthly fee of €17.50 too high. A bigger problem with the TV tax, as most citizens call it, is that it is charged per household, regardless of whether you own a TV or not. Even cars have to pay for their radios (with a few marginal exceptions), which is especially a burden for small businesses like plumbers since they have to pay for almost every rolling thing in their car pool. So, public broadcasting, yay, funding and information, rather nay.
Another poll conducted by Civey about the trust of German citizens into the press in general shows that 53.3% have no confidence in the media, a fifth (20.8%) has even absolutely no confidence. A third of Germans (33.9%) as strong confidence in the media, but only 1.9% have total confidence. So, if you include the weekly and daily rags, the trusting citizens become a (slight) minority.
So far so trustworthy. The following surveys, however, really surprised me to my delight.
An earlier poll from March and also conducted by Forsa revealed that 91% of Germans don’t see Russia as a threat. In the age group of 18-29 it is even a staggering 98%! This is the generation that was born after the fall of the Berlin Wall and has never experienced the claustrophobia of the Cold War. They are currently attending universities together with about 15,000 Russian expat students and they grew up with the children of three to six million Russian speakers (estimations vary) living in Germany. I would be surprised if they saw Russia as a threat at all. Further, 83% of respondents said they think Trump might wage war to enforce his interests, 65% said the same about Putin. Polls can only deliver quantitative measures, so I’m sure most people had Syria in mind when they mentioned Putin. Nonetheless, the media propaganda might not work on Russia as a nation, but certainly it does on Putin as a person. I’ve noticed that a lot of Germans, even those who deeply mistrust the US, feel uncomfortable with the idea of putting trust in Putin. But if you follow the media, it is impossible to get an understanding of Russia and thus of Putin. However, the same is true about the US, just the other way around.
Another poll from March was conducted by Die Welt. It’s one of those Atlanticist rags (are there any other?), so maybe they fixed the results a little bit. It shows that 58% of Germans want closer cooperation with Russia, 26% want more distance, and 14% are content with how things are. A more recent poll from April shows an even bigger German desire for cooperation. According to Forsa it is 94% who think that good relations to Russia are important, East (95%) and West (94%) alike. The poll also reveals that 83% of German citizens don’t fear Russia, while 79% consider the US to be the bigger threat. It also reveals that only 43% (35% in the East, 46% in the West) consider Russia to be responsible for the poisoning of the Skripals. 28% don’t believe it, while 26% honestly said they don’t know.
All these results are consistent with an older poll from 2016, according to which 81% of Germans plead for closer relations to Russia, only the relations to France (89%) are viewed as more important. Interestingly enough Russians then placed Germany on number one with 62% barely ahead of China with 61%.
Ok, that is all nice and dandy, but why aren’t Germans buying into the propaganda? One obvious reason might be that Germans have had their share of propaganda throughout their history. They’ve been exposed to the propaganda that led to WW1, Nazi propaganda and Cold War propaganda on both sides. They’ve been lied to and duped into bombing Serbia, and since 9/11 through various stages of US imperialist propaganda, first 9/11 itself (23% of Germans think it was an inside job according to this survey), then a decade of anti-Islam propaganda, and now we’re back at good old Russia again. It would be a surprise if such a nation didn’t somehow developed a sixth sense for being lied to. I honestly don’t know, but I am glad that it is how it apparently is.
Now that Europe apparently will try to go an independent way, Germany will be designated leader. I can almost here the clatter from knees shaking at the chancellery and Department of Foreign Affairs. Leading without being bossed around on a leash? Is that even possible? Maybe they will be able to take a little comfort from the fact that they have all the support they need from their own people, their true designated boss – at least in theory. If they are serious, they will learn how a Putinesque level of popularity feels like.
Thanks for an inside view!
I try to pick up the feel of Germany but the available English-language media are all EU/Soros. Those polls are the exact opposite of what I read in the media.
Your last two sentences are hugely important. Putin is strong because he rules IN HARMONY with his own people. In other words, he is DEMOCRATIC in the deepest and oldest sense of the word.
If the German leaders tried the same thing, they might not need to form temporary fragile coalitions.
come on…there is no excuse to you having to read the junk you do when everything is available and just a simple translation add on does the trick.
The American and pro-Atlanticist media doesn’t get it, but every leader who stands up to the Americans is popular with his/her people.
Now that Europe apparently will try to go an independent way, Germany will be designated leader. I can almost here the clatter from knees shaking at the chancellery and Department of Foreign Affairs. Leading without being …
You should read articles on german-foreign-policy.com. According to the analysts writing at that web site Germany would lead in a similar way the US Empire does (even with the same goal of dominating Russia). Basically we would get from one bad situation into another.
“You should read articles on german-foreign-policy.com. According to the analysts writing at that web site Germany would lead in a similar way the US Empire does (even with the same goal of dominating Russia).” I think you are wrong in this one, These “analysts” that you mention are not neutral they are sponsor by US-NATO money. Germany (German people) has had their share of wars with Russia which the US is so far “missing”
German Foreign Policy outlines political officials’ political intentions, not of the German people. They have certainly not been financed by Nato, as they are highly critical of it.
As a German, I do not trust our officials either. They are the product of 70 years of transatlanticist political engineering. There were some reliable people among them, like Willy Brandt or Egon Bahr, but these people’s career date back further than the end of WW2. Willy Brandt was a socialist antifascist, member of the socialist party SDAP, who organised political activity of exiled socialist Germans in Norway. However, the currrent political staff has passed the filters of transatlanticist networds like the “Atlantic Bridge”, the “Aspen Institute”, the “German Marshall Fund” or the “Trilateral Commission”.
There needs to be much pressure from below, before we have a chance to have again political leaders who follow ours, not US interests.
Resilience of Germans have a lot to do with the fact that eastern Germans (17 million people) and 3-5 million people in Germany with family ties to Russia have closer relationsships to Russia than in other western countries. That is one aspect. Another one is that even during and in the years after WW2, despite of the bloodshed and brutality of war, millions of Germans had personal encounters with ordinary Russian people that showed the absurdity first of Nazi, then of Nato propaganda.
Propaganda always demonizes people, while personal encounters show us human beings in all their varieties and pains. If I recall one main message from relatives who were pressed as ordinary soldiers into the war, the main impression is that of trauma and complete absurdity. War propaganda tries to turn us into tools against people we have absolutely no reason to hate privately. It’s abuse, cynism and murderous. Whoever uses and developes it has no respect for human life – neither our own nor others’.
Thanks. Your observations are appreciated.
Thanks for clarification. The US appears “decided to fight” Russia although, using Poland, Romania, the Baltics and whatever possible.
“Now that Europe apparently will try to go an independent way, Germany will be designated leader. I can almost here the clatter from knees shaking at the chancellery and Department of Foreign Affairs.”
Empty euro talkings. Maersk, Allianz SE Total are already leaving Iran.
China will takeover Total’s Iran business.
the leash is still there, isn’t it? German security services serve the USA, not Germany, don’t they. Eg Perhaps those seeded among the refugees might perform terrorist blckmail duties to pressure the German state.
You’re correct. US influence is still way too strong, but the problem is way bigger than that.
The fear mongering with the threat of possible terrorist activities works. Bavaria passed recently passed a law that extensively expands the power of the police. Now they’re permitted to use military style weapons (this includes granades), to spy on communications of “suspects” (even by hacking into computers and using spy software – trojan) and to alter communications.
Basically it doesn’t make much of a difference if the US rules Germany or if German politicians rule Germany. All of them are serving the bankers.
It is true that Weigel’s article is not about the “TV tax” as such. However, people have been jailed for not paying it and the highest court, Federal Constitutional Court, heard 4 suits filed on it pleading its unconstitutionality last week, outcome pending.
These facts show that it is not the minor irritant in Germany that an uninformed reader might assume from Weigel’s casual mention of it:
https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Bundesverfassungsgericht-verhandelt-im-Mai-ueber-GEZ-Nachfolger-4021715.html
Note also that in the last couple of days, it will be no accident that Google News Germany has started an “anti fake news” (sic) series of fact-checking articles (sic) on the right-hand side of the home page. And in April 2017 ARD, the main public TV channel, had introduced a similar “Faktenfinder” (sic).
Lastly., Weigel’s reference to “anti-Islam propaganda” after 9/11 appears to be the habitual quasi-Left belief that any enemy of the Main Enemy (USA, Israel etc) must be a good friend, benevolent, well-disposed towards all the Left holds dear, etc. Compare the worship of Stalin in the non-Trotsky, non-anarchist Western left until 1956.
Because “Islam is the religion of the oppressed” (sic), and the Left has to support the oppressed, ergo the Left must support Islam.
Well, to discover what that support is worth, see if you can find a surviving elderly Iranian communist from the period 1979-81, and ask him about the “cooperation” between Khomeini and the secular Left that had toppled the Shah.I believe the dead communists after 1981 ran into the thousands, no?
Anti-Islam propaganda increased after 9/11. It dates back way further. Chancellor Helmut Kohl tried to lure Turkish migrants to move back to turkey by promising them a certain amount of money. It was hilarious to read that one of his sons is married to a Muslima.
You shouldn’t attempt to conceal your prejudice against Mulsims by using the statement that the enemy of my enemy must be a friend. For Muslims (I’m not referring to the fake Wahhabi type) Jesus is one of the most important prophets.
Because “Islam is the religion of the oppressed” (sic), and the Left has to support the oppressed, ergo the Left must support Islam.
The Left is for women’s rights, for LGBTQ and similar things. This contradicts your perception of the Left. Did you miss the endless discussions about wearing a headscarf? Basically all woman’s rights supporters are against wearing a headscarf at all, because for them it symbolizes the suppression of women. Their wailing is joined by hardcore “Christian” fundamentalists and the Right.
I would like to add that those hardcore feminists of the Left are also against the Christian Church, except maybe for those who are tolerant towards LGBT marriages.
I give you my poll I conducted on myself. My trust in the current U.S. government is a stunning 0%. My trust in the US media outlet is a more stunning -100%. That right, a minus 100%.
If you assume that everything said is a lie, then you are at least a step closer to the truth.
‘They’ve been lied to and duped into bombing Serbia,…’ yet Germans embraced revolting anti-Serbian propaganda very eagerly back in 1990-es:
STEFAN SCHWARZ, CDU DEPUTY IN BUNDESTAG: “Experiments on humans are being conducted again, like in the Third Reich under Mengele. Serb doctors implanted dog embryos in Bosnian women.” (In “Die Tagesthemen”, janauary 1993.)
“Germany share with you the joy of the military success and pays you the compliments in this war. I must say that even the analysts who know more then myself, could not have foreseen such a swift and glorious action.” (Dr.ENDER, German ambassador in Zagreb, on Croatian radio during his visit to Knin, August 1995., after 250.000 Serbs were purged from Croatia in the largest ethnic cleansing in Europe after WWII))
KLAUS KINKEL: “The Serbs should be brought to their knees!” (a statement given on May 27th 1992.) “Yes, heroism! We have already succeeded in rendering Yugoslavia obedient: on April 7th 1941in a blitzkrieg against Yugoslavia we have destroyed apart of Belgrade in an undertake named “The Court Punishes”. In light of that tradition we see the participation in AWACS flights over Bosnia and in NATO mission… The People´s Society knows how important peace is for Germany. We have proved this twice in this century. Heroism is today, as 50 years ago, a virtue of our soldiers. We are here again!” (Military review “Bundesvehr 2000.”,1994)
DANIEL COHN-BENDIT: “The first thing is that NATO should bomb Pale… The bombing of Pale would undoubtedly have terrible consequences. But I do not believe that the blindness of the Serbian population and the Serbian army would withstand such a show of determination.” (In Die Tageszeitung, 20 april 1994.)
HERTA MULLER: “A ghastly nationalistic self-image has been created, like the map of Greater Serbia which Milosevic kept in his drawer for some time now, and which has covered graveyards for three years. Milosevic and Karadzic, two faces that frighten us afresh every day we see them, two mass murderers, who merely thanks to their position as warlords have managed to acquire “prestige” with a population whose reason has been eclipsed, which applies to itself the definition of a race in order to be able to feel like a nation”. (In Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24 april 1994.)
“Serbian doctors were accused yesterday of conducting vile experiments on women prisoners. One Bosnian woman is said to have died after an attempt to make her give birth to a dog. She was allegedly forced to have an abortion and a dog’s embryo was placed in her womb. The concentration camp doctors are copying the methods of Nazi wartime monster Josef Mengele, claimed German MP Stefan Schwarz. He told a German newspaper the stories come from Croatian women doctors who treated fleeing Bosnians and demanded action to stop the “genocide”. United Nations experts estimate that up to 60.000 Bosian women have been raped by Serbs. (DAILY MIRROR, 04.01.1993.)
SERBIAN DOCTOR IMPLANTING DOG EMBRYOS IN BOSNIAN WOMEN…really? Who on earth could have believed that?
The origin of this sociopathic war propaganda / Graeuelpropaganda is in spirit of the Babylonian Talmud.
The vassal FRG , who has zero sovereignty, slavishly and willingly (shame!) follows any command imposed by the anglozionist cabal.
The majority of Germans were against that war. The people and sources you have quoted (btw they are not all German) are integral part of the transatlanticist networks which have been revealed by the German media scientist Uwe Krüger in a publication at Leipzig University, whose results have been read by millions of Germans ever since (since a political satirical show revealed them on TV.)
I have to admit that I fell into the trap of believing the propaganda. Looking now at the situation I still can’t figure out if it had been age or the illusion of a truthful media.
“SERBIAN DOCTOR IMPLANTING DOG EMBRYOS IN BOSNIAN WOMEN…really? Who on earth could have believed that?”
the same people who believe Germans made soap of Jews or Columbus discovered America first
the ordinary sheep’s
Yes it was sickening the anti Serb propaganda at that time,when those criminals bombed Belgrade that was the first time since Hitlers Luftwaffe bombed the City,that said it all what thoseNato bastards were about,and what the hell was the matter with Cohn Bendit calling for the bombing of Serbia,we had the same from some on the left in Britain backing Nato actions,and I believe the Green party called for Nato attacks,unbelieveable.
Sergio Weigel is fast asleep dreaming. Of a world where Germany is a sovereign nation run by Germans. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it is a sweet dream, that is for sure.
Time is the factor. The generation which fought in World War Two is disappearing from the scene, and we have younger generations, including those who did not experience the Cold War. It’s logical that their attention is focused towards the East and Russia. Russia is a huge country. It’s very attractive from the economic point of view. Geographically it is connected to Europe. It has other attractions.
Germans, and other Europeans, now have a choice. Follow Washington’s imperial policy and be reduced to imperial subjects, or turn towards Russia and China and their economic organizations, which are offering trade based on respect for the sovereign status of nation states. Easy to guess what in the end will happen. Wall Street will not be pleased, as it will see it’s empire collapse. In fact it is already collapsing, with countries beginning to ignore Washington, which is making one foolish move after another, making threats and applying sanctions based on false accusations, hoping that thuggery will succeed. It will not. In the end it always fails, as proven by history. In fact in the case of the US it is guaranteed to fail. The world is being asked to accept a former colony as an imperial overlord. No, that is not acceptable.
I agree with your last paragraph B.F. but Europe is dithering about the choice between Russia/China BRI and US Empire. This is creating a dangerous situation. This dithering favors the Empire and it’s pressure to get it’s way with military aggression.
mike k
You have a point. Europe is trapped inside the EU and NATO, making independent choices very difficult. However, politics is at the mercy of economics. Europe lost billions in trade with Russia, and is asked to lose billions in trade with Iran. It is also being asked to become energy dependent on the US, paying almost double for imported gas. And the worst humiliation of all, it is being threatened with sanctions if it disobeys, as if Europe is an imperial subject of “imperial” Washington. This imperial arrogance has already turned Europe towards Russia, although at the moment it is not showing it openly. What is dangerous is the fact that both Washington and Wall Street think they can do as they please, still living in the past. This means they can misjudge the international situation extremely badly, doing something very foolish. We shall see how this ends.
I hope you are right B.F. and Europe makes the right decision to pull away from dependence on US dictates. But there will be a price for them to pay, hence the dithering. The same problem exists in the East also, nations under pressure whether to support the Empire, or move towards the multipolar world Russia and China are offering. At the same time the Empire is threatening to impose it’s will on those vacillating through military force. Many nations now find themselves in the classic position, “between a rock and a hard place.”
Wall Street and the BIS (Bank for International Settlements), the latter being a sovereign entity, will find a modus vivendi with whatever the geopolitical/global trade outcome from the current wash of events. The globe’s largest banks that fall into the BIS category of “systemically important institutions” are under BIS sovereign control and protection. See: All the Plenary’s Men (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gK3s5j7PgA)
The question is who shall be master: will the master(s) be bankers, sovereign states or more arrangements between competing oligarchies?
Fine very hopeful analysis! I am reminded of the series of ancient maps of Europe that showed over one thousand hears ago, German size versus Russia’s size were pretty alike, gigantic.
The SITREP does a good job of showing how many Germans aren’t buying the propganda. Now a deeper analysis is required to examine where do people like that go to get some real news?
Germany has introduced new legislation effective January 1 2018, that oversees the internet and requires social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to censor their users on behalf of the German state. Anything that can be interpreted as libel, slander, defamation or incitement, needs to be removed within 24 hours, regardless of whether the content is accurate or not, and failure to do so can cause a internet platform to be fined up to 50 M Euros.
This new law was used to smother political dissent as twitter accounts from a representative from AfD were suspended:
https://www.ft.com/content/19f89fb2-efc7-11e7-b220-857e26d1aca4
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/beatrix-von-storch-germany-afd-anti-muslim-twitter-north-rhine-westphalia-new-years-eve-a8138086.html
And what about surveillance of ordinary citizens? I have a German friend who regularly travels to Eastern Europe and Turkey for work. When he telephones his home while he is away, he says that it sometimes happens that he is having a normal conversation, and then all of a sudden the conversation is interrupted and the last 30 seconds of it are played back to him.. as if it was being recorded. Apparently this can happen with VOIP if the internet connection is poor, but this was with the landline.
and how about this: Cartoonist fired over Netanyahu drawing
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-22/cartoonist-fired-german-newspaper-over-netanyahu-drawing
While the awakening of the populace is happening, it is happening far too slowly and it has given the police state time to enact legislation to criminalise free speech.
Btw, this is not just a problem in Germany.
There are several excellent alternative news web sites in Germany. Regarding the state cracking down on dissent I’ve written a few lines about laws implemented in Bavaria (Anonymous on May 22, 2018 · at 6:03 am EST/EDT). With regard to spying on citizens several (if not all) federal states have some laws implemented to use special software for that task “when needed”. The police state is coming (not as fast in the US, but it’s coming nevertheless). Historian Josef Foschepoth (very basic information about him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Foschepoth) discovered that mail and packages hadn’t been opened in “evil” East Germany only – as our media wanted to make us believe. Our own Western intelligence services were as busy opening mail as were Stasi. The “secret” of the monitoring station in Bad Aibling was long known to the local population (at least rumors could be heard that each and every phone conversation could be spied on and recorded). Maybe the technical issues are due to a shitty implemented internet connection or those listening the conversation effed up (with the increasing level of dumbing down of the population I wouldn’t bee too surprised).
Lots of people everywhere are not buying the propaganda any more.
In the US, the corporate media spent a year screaming about Russian collusion, yet polls showed that something like 70% of the population didn’t buy it. That means even about a quarter of the Democrats who hate Trump weren’t even buying the “Russia did it story”.
In the UK, the BBC along with the corporate media constantly slams and attacks Corbyn. The only person who bought it was PM May, who foolishly decided that early elections would provide a big win for the Tories.
All across the west, people are no longer buying the constant lies from “the media”. A trend that should be encouraged of course, as the empire is losing an important weapon it had wielded for decades. The more people who completely turn off the corporate media everywhere and no longer even hear their lies means the corporate media has less power to confuse the population.
I chuckle when Americans on this site tells us what is going on in Europe. When they point out “facts” and and at the same time are unable to point out capitals of Europe and important borders, when they try to berate us on consequences of political decicisions, and they cant telle the difference between the Thirty Year War, The Hundred Year War, due to lack of toes and fingers.
As the author states in his article, there is a change. It is not remarkable, but it is there, people are simply questioning the MSM agenda and and see tha the fighting in Syria slowing down.
I think the EU will be forced to act in correspondence with the wishes of the populace, the corporate interests align with the populace here, no one wishes to pay (anymore) for US imperialism, corporations due to very harming sanctions, the populace due anti imperialistic belief.
And believe me, nobody, absolutely nobody gives a fok about the Ukrainian mess, the Nazi robber barony on the fringes of Eastern and Western civilization, the populace is mostly kept at bay by neo nazi’s and oligarchs.
And both Western Europeans and Eastern Europeans, Russians knows this.
So if the US likes the Ukranians that much, I am sure Aeroflot, Lufthansa, SAS, KLM, Iberia, Air France would agree to fly them to the US free of charge, then they can resettle in Missisipi in the cancer belt along with their American friends, and live out their American dream.
Meanwhile the rest of us builds a new Eurasia.
Massive Ukrainian offensive against Donetsk?
According to concordant sources reporting on condition of anonymity, Ukraine would prepare a major offensive against Donetsk, which would be launched immediately before the start (14 June) of the football championship in Russia.
The obvious goal is to put Russia on the wall, just as it was during the Maidan coup during the Sochi Olympics. Ukraine believes that Russia will not intervene during the football championship, which according to Kiev should put the city on its knees with a ground attack of troops preceded by massive bombing.
According to the same sources, the United States would be divided on this operation, with some leaders wanting Washington and NATO to support it, others wishing President Trump to press Kiev to prevent it.
Kiev’s calculation of Russia’s non-involvement is extremely risky since it is unthinkable for Moscow to stand idly by in front of massacres of Russian-speaking civilians at its borders.
https://rusreinfo.ru/fr/2018/05/offensive-massive-ukranienne-contre-donetsk/
I think what we are seeing in today’s Germany is a particularly extreme case of a gulf between the “elites” in politics and even more so in the media and a vast majority of the population. This gulf is bigger than it was in the past, and it is more extreme as far as relations with Russia are concerned than with other questions. On one hand, with very few exceptions, all establishment media – whether they are traditionally considered left-wing or right-wing, liberal or conservative – conduct constant propaganda about a “Russian threat” and the depravity of the Russian government. This is clearly more extreme than during the original Cold War, when there was considerable variety between different mainstream media (there hardly were pro-Soviet positions, of course, but lots of people at that time supported detente policies, and there still was a kind of critical journalism that did not follow a clear ideological agenda). On the other hand, surveys show that today, a majority of Germans support lifting sanctions against Russia, a vast majority is in favour of closer cooperation with Russia, and only a relatively small minority sees Russia as a threat. So, it is almost absurd how ineffective that constant barrage of anti-Russian propaganda in almost all German mainstream media is.
What could be the reason for this? Certainly, there are alternative media, but I suppose only a relatively small part of the population reads them – this can hardly explain the results of surveys that are completely the opposite of the way German media presents the situation.
I agree that this may partially be explained by the fact that Germans historically have quite a lot of experience with different kinds of propaganda. But it is interesting to see that the survey results with very little hostility towards Russia and a positive attitude towards cooperating with Russia are, with some nuances, quite consistent across generations and across different parts of the country (especially former East and West Germany, East Germany seems to be even somewhat more friendly towards Russia, but the difference is not that big). Of course, it could be that, even though people from different generations and from different parts of Germany have very different kinds of experience with propaganda, the result is still similar, and I suppose a certain critical attitude towards propaganda can probably also be passed on from generation to generation.
But I think there is another important element. Effective propaganda has to be subtle. In most (or probably all) Western European countries, there is probably the same situation with establishment media propagating far more hostility towards Russia than in the general population, but it seems that in other countries the gulf is hardly as extreme as in Germany. When propaganda is subtle enough, it usually has some effect to push public opinion in the desired direction. But if it is perceived as too extreme, it can well have the opposite effect. The desired effect of the constant propaganda, with new campaigns every few months and now even with higher frequency was to create a certain predisposition towards blaming Russia. Many of these affairs were based on accusations with unclear evidence or one-sided interpretations of events, but it can often be assumed that something still sticks, and when there were many previous affairs in which Russia was blamed, people (and especially the majority who does not follow the news very closely) should be more predisposed to blaming Russia in the next case (even if there again is no evidence, but Russian guild is said to be “highly likely”). However, if the propaganda is too extreme, it seems to have a different effect. Since the majority of people hardly look for alternative news sources and many don’t even follow the news very closely (but if someone does not actively look for news, the ones they will somehow get will still mostly be from establishment media), so they could hardly criticize and analyze the different propaganda campaigns in a serious way and provide good counter-arguments, but I suppose most people somehow perceive that this hysterical hostility towards Russia and the demonization of the Russian government is something strange and exaggerated – even if some of the accusations against Russia were true, it would hardly justify such strong words (and what Russia is accused of is hardly worse than many things Western allies of Germany do). Then, the constant sequence of propaganda campaigns (e.g. “Russian invasion in Georga”, the Magnitsky affair, Crimea, Russiagate, the war in Syria, doping allegations, Skripal poisoning) not only fail to reinforce each other, but people who already had the impression that previous propaganda campaigns were exaggerated and inauthentic are more prone to rejecting the next ones.
Then, there is the question why this kind of quite extreme propaganda campaign is conducted when it is so clearly ineffective and a more subtle campaign might be more effective. Many influential German journalists are members of Atlanticist organizations like “Atlantikbrücke”, and the German political and media establishment is probably more thoroughly influenced by US lobby organizations than other European countries. One reason might then be that the Anglosaxon influencers mistakenly incite them to using propaganda campaigns that might to some degree be effective in their countries, while in Germany, where the general attitude in the population is more friendly to Russia, a more subtle kind of propaganda would probably be more effective. Another, perhaps even more important reason is probably that many of these journalists live in a bubble, and many of them possibly even believe in some of the things about a Russian threat they write, and since they are so much in that bubble, it is difficult for them to understand that a vast majority of the population sees German-Russian relations very differently and that this extreme kind of anti-Russian propaganda will hardly be effective.
I don’t know what the effect will be on German politics. For most German voters, relations with Russia are hardly one of the major issues (as long as the danger of a war does not seem too big), and the Atlanticist networks among politicians and influential journalists are strong enough to make it possible that German foreign policy in that respect largely ignores the will of a vast majority of German citizens.
On the other hand, by threatening German companies with sanctions (but in relation with Russia, e.g. for the Nordstream II pipeline, and with Iran) the US government now acts in a way that could lead to changes, while relatively few people in the German establishment care about more friendly attitudes of a majority of Germans towards Russia, many do care about German business interests. Many also seem to care about at least a certain semblance of multilateralism being upheld, and they don’t like unilateral US actions against multilateral rules and agreements. Then, some parts of the political establishment will probably more forcefully support a more balanced foreign policy, and knowing that this would be popular with a vast majority of the German population probably makes this more likely to happen.
I believe the anti-Russian propaganda to be much worse in the UK than in Germany. The reason many people do not buy it is that it is so obvious and so hateful that it shows those who spew it for what they are- ugly people. Look at the faces on BBC when they talk about Russia. Not a pretty picture.
Anti European as well as anti Russian views are common and indeed probably like majority in USA and UK. It is obvious reading their vile media like Fox News and Daily Mail. It is one lie and insult to Europe after another. If Europeans read the real anglo media, they would see indeed what kind of ‘allies’ these wonderful anglo really are, sadly most europeans only read the softer side of the anglo media, like CNN and BBC who decieve in touchyfeely ways, which is just as bad. Donald Tusk aready even said with friends like this we dont need enemies. To these (white protestant/jewish) Anglo, the Europeans are eurotrash, fascists and commies, anti semites and liberal douchebags. Remember the Freedom Fries, that was not a joke but real life. The arrogance, deviusness and brutality of the Anglo Saxons and Isrealis is second to none, always they can be heard critisising ‘european pacifism and appeasment’ about Russia and Iran.
German buisness already lost billions to the russian and iranian sanctions, they will not let this next round of iran and china sanctions ruin them. EU will move to Eurasia but slowly because financial elites in EU have been bought and paid by Anglo banks. By voting Trump and Brexit, an act of exceptionalist supremacy which said ‘we can do whatever we like, ignore international law, start wars, sanction etc, anglo are the best’ they already isolated themselves. They lost all illusion of being normal, rational countries.
They are going to start a major war against Iran, Donetsk and ultimately Russia and the EU leaders know this most likely. That is why Mogherini and Tusk and Merkel have been more vocal against Anglo and open a little to Russia, slightly. Because if there is war in Iran and Ukraine now, Europe will be faced potentially with 20 million or more each of Iranian and Ukranian refugees from the Anglo terror bombing, via Turkey and Balkans.
Thanks to the Dublin II* agreement Germany doesn’t need to take any refugees from Ukraine. Does anyone remember? This agreement says that the country which onto which the refugee set his foot first is responsible for that person. Since Poland borders Ukraine, the Polish citizens will be more than pleased to get some Christian refugees.
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*Dublin II is one of the most despicable agreements, putting the burden of taking care of refugees onto the shoulders of others (especially Greece and Italy). Since lots of refugees are the result of our interconnected global societies it was shocking to witness the right to rise to new levels of popularity all over Europe.