So things are a mess in Ukraine and we're getting to see how PR is being twisted and used for propaganda purposes, by both the Americans and the Russians.
What makes this interesting is that it's really the first time we're getting to see Russia play the propaganda game using PR. In the past, outside of Western countries, propaganda was more of a marketing tool. This time around though Russia is showing its PR chops in the propaganda wars.
So let's look at what the situation with Ukraine is and then what we're getting from Russia and from the US.
Ukraine - what's really going on?
You can fact check my interpretation of events, but basically this is more of an economic issue. Ukraine is bankrupt. They need $35B to get through the next two years.
The European Union and the West saw this as an opportunity to expand Nato influence and offered to "help them out" with a billion or so, with more to come as required via the IMF. Russia stepped in though and said we'll give you 15 billion, problem solved, now please go tell the EU/Nato/US to get out of town.
The US then pumped 5 billion into opposition parties in Ukraine, who then overthrew the government.
Russia then moved troops into Crimea (basically the southern part of the Ukraine) to secure its naval and military bases that it had in that area. The people of Crimea now (supposedly) want to annex from Ukraine and join Russia. The Ukrainian government (recognized as legit by the US, but not by Russia) says they aren't allowed to do so.
So now you've got a stand off. Russia is securing Crimea and Obama is warning him to get out.
Here are some good videos summarizing the situation:
The Russian Position
So the Russian position on all this is basically the following:
The Ukranian government was taken over in a coup. Even if the previous President (Yanukovych) was corrupt, there were ways of removing him other than a coup. In addition, neo-nazi's were the driving force behind the coup and once firmly establishing control will go after Russian-speaking Ukranians (you guessed it, who are located mostly in Crimea and East Ukraine).
As such, the Russians are 'protecting' the Russian-speaking inhabitants from a neo-nazi, illegal government.
RT Television
The main outlet (in terms of getting their story to Western audiences) for the Russians is RT (Russian television). I watch RT regularly and while it is clearly biased in that it never criticizes Russia, it's still nonetheless factual in its criticism of the West.
They've done an excellent job of communicating the Russian position on the whole Ukraine situation. They revealed that sniper fire that everyone thought had been coming from the Yanukovych government (when he was still in power) was actually not coming from Yanukovych but rather from the opposition forces who wanted to make the government look like it was opening fire on the protesters.
I don't know if I'd call what they are doing propaganda per se... it's more like propaganda-light in that everything they say is basically true, yet they never talk about Russia's real motivations in the situation (which we can safely assume is the protection of its borders from Nato and an expansion of the Russian empire, ie. a land grab).
Overall I'd say they are doing a better job at "managing the narrative" than the US media outlets.
As you can see above, this is not some poorly produced news program. It's not as flashy as the US outlets, but it's good enough to have that sense of authenticity.
The US Position
The US position is what it always is, that it stands behind freedom seeking citizens. In response to Ukraine the US holds that it did not support a coup and that the revolution was organically conceived and was the will of the people.
The US propaganda machine has been pulling every dirty trick in the book though since this started. They released to the press that Angela Merkel told Obama that Putin had lost his mind, you've got Hilary Clinton making Russian/Putin comparisons to Hitler. You've got John Kerry saying that a country should not invade another country on false pretense (which is kind of ironic given that's what the US did with Iraq).
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The US essentially threw everything but the kitchen sink into the narrative that Putin was crossing the line and was invading another country in a tyrannical fashion.
The only problem with this narrative is that not a single person has been shot by Russian troops (that we know of anyway). In addition, huge portions of Ukraine want Russia there to safe guard them. Huge portions of Ukraine also want to join Russia.
So for a tyrant invading another country, Putin is taking his sweet time and going about it in a relatively peaceful manner (so far). Not to mention, Russia has a pre-existing agreement with Ukraine that allows it to have up to 25,000 Russian troops in Ukraine. So even in terms of boots on the ground Putin hasn't technically broken any laws yet.
The biggest coup for the US has been an RT anchor who quit live on air stating that she couldn't put up with the propaganda the station was engaged in.
But even in this regard, check out the YouTube link above (it's on the RT YouTube station). So RT isn't even trying to bury this event and is leaving the content online for people to see.
A lot of folks, myself included, take this anchor's resignation with a grain of salt. Personally I thought it was an irresponsible thing to do... when two super powers are clashing it's pretty naracassistic for a journalist to throw themselves into the middle of things shouting "Puting is the bad guy!"
I'm not saying she was put up to quitting by the US, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see her working at CNN next. I believe she saw an opportunity to make a splash and get in the media spotlight (beyond RT) and she took it.
Either way, the US media ran with her resignation hard for a few days.
Ironically, Sharyl Attkisson of CBS also resigned, citing liberal bias at CBS (this story however received zero media attention).
Over the past few days the US media has basically dropped the Ukrainian story. It still gets a minute here or there as developments arise, but it has dropped the 24/7 coverage it gave the story last week. My two cents is that their strategy of whipping the American public into a cold war frame of mind - Russia versus America - was not working. Not to mention, the Russians were taking every opportunity to point out inaccuracies that the US pushed in their narrative (via RT mostly).
As such, I think the Americans thought it better to just forget trying to propagandize the story because not only can they not stop Putin, the more attention they give him the more they highlight that they are currently powerless to stop Russia from taking Crimea.
In the end, who is winning the PR war?
I have to say, right now Putin is winning. He's managed to invade another country, occupy the land he wants, defy the US and European Union (despite their threats of sanctions) and do so without any noticeable shift in world opinion towards him.
The US on the other hand has bumbled and fumbled this situation from day one. Their "we must free the Ukrainian people" seems to be falling on deaf ears for the most part. And that's kind of sad when you think about it. The US has so squandered its brand as a 'liberator' through aggressive occupations and wars over the past 10 years, that when it tries to speak as a liberator it is ignored (by its own citizenry at that).
Is the PR/propaganda war over though? Not just yet.
As the situation in Ukraine evolves there will be opportunities for the US to try and control the narrative again.
But if what we've seen so far is any indication, don't get your hopes up. Unlike the old days when the US put forward a narrative that's what everyone went with, now Russia is in the PR game as well and will counter that narrative at every turn.
The irony in all of this is that neither Russia nor the US care about the Ukrainian people. If the US got its way Ukraine would become enslaved financially to the IMF and would suffer horrible austerity in the same way Greece has. If Russia gets its way Ukraine will lose its sovereignty.
If the US or Russian really cared about the people of Ukraine they would work together and cooperatively help the country get out of debt and back on its feet. But that's a story you won't hear from either the West or the East... because that's not an outcome either of them want. Ukraine for the time being is like a rag doll stuck in a tug of war between two rottweilers.
Instead enjoy the PR war as each side tries to establish that they are the virtuous power saving Ukraine in its time of need.
What makes this interesting is that it's really the first time we're getting to see Russia play the propaganda game using PR. In the past, outside of Western countries, propaganda was more of a marketing tool. This time around though Russia is showing its PR chops in the propaganda wars.
So let's look at what the situation with Ukraine is and then what we're getting from Russia and from the US.
Ukraine - what's really going on?
You can fact check my interpretation of events, but basically this is more of an economic issue. Ukraine is bankrupt. They need $35B to get through the next two years.
The European Union and the West saw this as an opportunity to expand Nato influence and offered to "help them out" with a billion or so, with more to come as required via the IMF. Russia stepped in though and said we'll give you 15 billion, problem solved, now please go tell the EU/Nato/US to get out of town.
The US then pumped 5 billion into opposition parties in Ukraine, who then overthrew the government.
Russia then moved troops into Crimea (basically the southern part of the Ukraine) to secure its naval and military bases that it had in that area. The people of Crimea now (supposedly) want to annex from Ukraine and join Russia. The Ukrainian government (recognized as legit by the US, but not by Russia) says they aren't allowed to do so.
So now you've got a stand off. Russia is securing Crimea and Obama is warning him to get out.
Here are some good videos summarizing the situation:
The Russian Position
So the Russian position on all this is basically the following:
The Ukranian government was taken over in a coup. Even if the previous President (Yanukovych) was corrupt, there were ways of removing him other than a coup. In addition, neo-nazi's were the driving force behind the coup and once firmly establishing control will go after Russian-speaking Ukranians (you guessed it, who are located mostly in Crimea and East Ukraine).
As such, the Russians are 'protecting' the Russian-speaking inhabitants from a neo-nazi, illegal government.
RT Television
The main outlet (in terms of getting their story to Western audiences) for the Russians is RT (Russian television). I watch RT regularly and while it is clearly biased in that it never criticizes Russia, it's still nonetheless factual in its criticism of the West.
They've done an excellent job of communicating the Russian position on the whole Ukraine situation. They revealed that sniper fire that everyone thought had been coming from the Yanukovych government (when he was still in power) was actually not coming from Yanukovych but rather from the opposition forces who wanted to make the government look like it was opening fire on the protesters.
I don't know if I'd call what they are doing propaganda per se... it's more like propaganda-light in that everything they say is basically true, yet they never talk about Russia's real motivations in the situation (which we can safely assume is the protection of its borders from Nato and an expansion of the Russian empire, ie. a land grab).
Overall I'd say they are doing a better job at "managing the narrative" than the US media outlets.
As you can see above, this is not some poorly produced news program. It's not as flashy as the US outlets, but it's good enough to have that sense of authenticity.
The US Position
The US position is what it always is, that it stands behind freedom seeking citizens. In response to Ukraine the US holds that it did not support a coup and that the revolution was organically conceived and was the will of the people.
The US propaganda machine has been pulling every dirty trick in the book though since this started. They released to the press that Angela Merkel told Obama that Putin had lost his mind, you've got Hilary Clinton making Russian/Putin comparisons to Hitler. You've got John Kerry saying that a country should not invade another country on false pretense (which is kind of ironic given that's what the US did with Iraq).
)
The US essentially threw everything but the kitchen sink into the narrative that Putin was crossing the line and was invading another country in a tyrannical fashion.
The only problem with this narrative is that not a single person has been shot by Russian troops (that we know of anyway). In addition, huge portions of Ukraine want Russia there to safe guard them. Huge portions of Ukraine also want to join Russia.
So for a tyrant invading another country, Putin is taking his sweet time and going about it in a relatively peaceful manner (so far). Not to mention, Russia has a pre-existing agreement with Ukraine that allows it to have up to 25,000 Russian troops in Ukraine. So even in terms of boots on the ground Putin hasn't technically broken any laws yet.
The biggest coup for the US has been an RT anchor who quit live on air stating that she couldn't put up with the propaganda the station was engaged in.
But even in this regard, check out the YouTube link above (it's on the RT YouTube station). So RT isn't even trying to bury this event and is leaving the content online for people to see.
A lot of folks, myself included, take this anchor's resignation with a grain of salt. Personally I thought it was an irresponsible thing to do... when two super powers are clashing it's pretty naracassistic for a journalist to throw themselves into the middle of things shouting "Puting is the bad guy!"
I'm not saying she was put up to quitting by the US, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see her working at CNN next. I believe she saw an opportunity to make a splash and get in the media spotlight (beyond RT) and she took it.
Either way, the US media ran with her resignation hard for a few days.
Ironically, Sharyl Attkisson of CBS also resigned, citing liberal bias at CBS (this story however received zero media attention).
Over the past few days the US media has basically dropped the Ukrainian story. It still gets a minute here or there as developments arise, but it has dropped the 24/7 coverage it gave the story last week. My two cents is that their strategy of whipping the American public into a cold war frame of mind - Russia versus America - was not working. Not to mention, the Russians were taking every opportunity to point out inaccuracies that the US pushed in their narrative (via RT mostly).
As such, I think the Americans thought it better to just forget trying to propagandize the story because not only can they not stop Putin, the more attention they give him the more they highlight that they are currently powerless to stop Russia from taking Crimea.
In the end, who is winning the PR war?
I have to say, right now Putin is winning. He's managed to invade another country, occupy the land he wants, defy the US and European Union (despite their threats of sanctions) and do so without any noticeable shift in world opinion towards him.
The US on the other hand has bumbled and fumbled this situation from day one. Their "we must free the Ukrainian people" seems to be falling on deaf ears for the most part. And that's kind of sad when you think about it. The US has so squandered its brand as a 'liberator' through aggressive occupations and wars over the past 10 years, that when it tries to speak as a liberator it is ignored (by its own citizenry at that).
Is the PR/propaganda war over though? Not just yet.
As the situation in Ukraine evolves there will be opportunities for the US to try and control the narrative again.
But if what we've seen so far is any indication, don't get your hopes up. Unlike the old days when the US put forward a narrative that's what everyone went with, now Russia is in the PR game as well and will counter that narrative at every turn.
The irony in all of this is that neither Russia nor the US care about the Ukrainian people. If the US got its way Ukraine would become enslaved financially to the IMF and would suffer horrible austerity in the same way Greece has. If Russia gets its way Ukraine will lose its sovereignty.
If the US or Russian really cared about the people of Ukraine they would work together and cooperatively help the country get out of debt and back on its feet. But that's a story you won't hear from either the West or the East... because that's not an outcome either of them want. Ukraine for the time being is like a rag doll stuck in a tug of war between two rottweilers.
Instead enjoy the PR war as each side tries to establish that they are the virtuous power saving Ukraine in its time of need.
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