Quote of the day 10th March 2018
"Russian propagandists now have their own Western radio and television stations, and work across the web to influence the results of elections and referendums. And it seems as if nothing has changed. Just as the old Soviet Union funded Communist propaganda, so Russia now funds Putin propaganda. Just as the old Soviet Union funded the Communist parties of Europe, so Putin’s Russia provides money for Europe’s new far-right parties. "
"No foreigner would volunteer to fight for Putin’s Russia. By definition, the appeal of Russian nationalism is limited to Russians. Julian Assange and a few Western journalists have moved from opposing Western imperialism to supporting Russian imperialism. But although the journey is surprisingly easy to make, there is too much hypocrisy along the way for any decent person to stomach."
"Russia uses RT and Sputnik to settle scores and blacken the name of reputable critics."
"A child could understand the game Russia is playing. But Russia is also spinning a line that is harder to expose: we may be a corrupt, authoritarian gangster state, it implies, but you are no better. You have no right to look down on us or insist we follow your liberal standards. If we are trash, so are you."
"Russian propaganda, of course, never talks openly about the criminals who run the country. But its question — “what right have you to criticise?” — is always present. The picture of Western countries that emerges is of lands where corporations have captured politicians, where media freedom is a sham, and everything you hear from official channels is a lie."
"This is not the whole truth about the West, but it is a part of the truth about parts of the West for part of the time."
"Many have written with astonishment and more than a little disgust about how far Left and Right have united in their admiration of Putin. How, we wondered, can Corbyn’s chief strategist Seumas Milne and sections of the British Left join with Marine Le Pen, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump in doffing the cap to the Russian autocrat. The answer, if there is one beyond power worship, lies in their common hatred of liberalism."
"The more interesting question is what Russia hopes to gain. It certainly isn’t looking for ideological obedience from its adherents, as the old Communists once did and Islamic State does today. Rather, it wants to undermine the credibility of Western democracy. In the zero-sum game of Kremlin foreign policy what weakens Britain strengthens Russia."
"Whatever their many and glaring failings, the presidencies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama at least paid lip service to the universal human right to self-government and the protection of basic freedoms. Trump does not. He has far more time for autocrats that he has for democrats. If Russians rise up against Putin, they will neither expect nor receive support from his America."
"Russia’s propaganda in the West does not just aim to influence Westerners but Russians. Its message to them is: there is no hope."
(Nick Cohen, extracts from an article about Russia's propaganda machine, "Russian Spider spins its web" which you can read on the Standpoint website here.
I don't always agree with Nick Cohen, but there are few journalists on the right or left who are better at asking the difficult questions of people on all shades of the spectrum which not enough other people are asking, and pointing out when emperors have no clothes. If the people who have been posting things in praise of Vladimir Putin's Russia this week have anything remotely resembling an open mind, they might benefit from reading Nick's masterly analysis of Putin's propaganda machine.)
"No foreigner would volunteer to fight for Putin’s Russia. By definition, the appeal of Russian nationalism is limited to Russians. Julian Assange and a few Western journalists have moved from opposing Western imperialism to supporting Russian imperialism. But although the journey is surprisingly easy to make, there is too much hypocrisy along the way for any decent person to stomach."
"Russia uses RT and Sputnik to settle scores and blacken the name of reputable critics."
"A child could understand the game Russia is playing. But Russia is also spinning a line that is harder to expose: we may be a corrupt, authoritarian gangster state, it implies, but you are no better. You have no right to look down on us or insist we follow your liberal standards. If we are trash, so are you."
"Russian propaganda, of course, never talks openly about the criminals who run the country. But its question — “what right have you to criticise?” — is always present. The picture of Western countries that emerges is of lands where corporations have captured politicians, where media freedom is a sham, and everything you hear from official channels is a lie."
"This is not the whole truth about the West, but it is a part of the truth about parts of the West for part of the time."
"Many have written with astonishment and more than a little disgust about how far Left and Right have united in their admiration of Putin. How, we wondered, can Corbyn’s chief strategist Seumas Milne and sections of the British Left join with Marine Le Pen, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump in doffing the cap to the Russian autocrat. The answer, if there is one beyond power worship, lies in their common hatred of liberalism."
"The more interesting question is what Russia hopes to gain. It certainly isn’t looking for ideological obedience from its adherents, as the old Communists once did and Islamic State does today. Rather, it wants to undermine the credibility of Western democracy. In the zero-sum game of Kremlin foreign policy what weakens Britain strengthens Russia."
"Whatever their many and glaring failings, the presidencies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama at least paid lip service to the universal human right to self-government and the protection of basic freedoms. Trump does not. He has far more time for autocrats that he has for democrats. If Russians rise up against Putin, they will neither expect nor receive support from his America."
"Russia’s propaganda in the West does not just aim to influence Westerners but Russians. Its message to them is: there is no hope."
(Nick Cohen, extracts from an article about Russia's propaganda machine, "Russian Spider spins its web" which you can read on the Standpoint website here.
I don't always agree with Nick Cohen, but there are few journalists on the right or left who are better at asking the difficult questions of people on all shades of the spectrum which not enough other people are asking, and pointing out when emperors have no clothes. If the people who have been posting things in praise of Vladimir Putin's Russia this week have anything remotely resembling an open mind, they might benefit from reading Nick's masterly analysis of Putin's propaganda machine.)
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