Russia has engaged in expansionist wars of aggression in the present and very recent past.
Russia has blocked many universally beneficial UN resolutions/actions.
Russia's government is actively repressive of homosexuals, the press, and political dissidents. Deadly repressive in many cases.
Russia, like it or not, is acting like "the bad guy" from every modern perspective, in a way that no other industrialized nation even comes close to. China, while similarly troubled, is miles away from Russia's belligerence.
Are we arguing about what Russia does or what RT news is?
I don't have any doubts about the evils of Russia. My actual point is no one looks at what good, if any, comes out of Russia. RT (albeit biased) provides that alternate perspective.
RT news is a state sponsored propaganda wing of that regime. It's not a valid alternate perspective. It doesn't even reflect the people of Russia or their perspective at all: just their fucked-up government's.
Launched in 2005 to help create a more positive picture of Russia and to give “Russia’s side of the story,” the network first tried to cover a similar news agenda as that used by the BBC and CNN, while mixing in puff stories about the country. The channel was largely ignored—and Russia’s image didn’t improve. During the 2008 war with Georgia the channel found a sense of mission, labeling Georgia’s war in Ossetia a “genocide” and portraying Russia as the peacekeeper. But no one had been attracted to the channel in the first place to hear the Kremlin line. The network’s editorial policy shifted. News about Russia was minimized. The channel rebranded itself from Russia Today to the more neutral RT: anyone tuning in would not immediately know it is Kremlin-run or even associate it with Russia. Instead of trying to promote Russia, RT now focuses on making the West, and especially the US, look bad. To do so it relies on Western voices: whether far-left anti-globalists, far-right nationalist party leaders or Julian Assange. Some RT “experts” have backgrounds in extremist or fringe groups that would make them ineligible for other channels: RT has presented Holocaust denier “Ryan Dawson” as a human rights activist,36 and neo-Nazi Manuel Ochsenreiter as a “Middle East analyst.”37 Validating this approach is the idea, frequently articulated by senior management at RT, that there is no such thing as “objective truth.” This concept is quickly stretched to mean that any opinion, however bizarre, has the same weight as others.
One of RT’s specializations is screening conspiracy theories—from the views of 9/11 “truthers” to beliefs about the “hidden hand” behind the Syrian conflict. In his overview of RT’s Syria coverage, the journalist Michael Moynihan observed:
"Conspiracy theorist Webster Tarpley, author of the book 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, told viewers that the current spasm of violence is a “joint production of the CIA, MI6, and Mossad.” British conspiracy theorist Peter Eyre predictably saw the hidden hand of international Zionism at work in Damascus, explaining that the current crisis “was planned back in 1997 by Paul Wolfowitz.” These deeply noxious claims are presented unopposed, and RT anchors repeat and amplify them."
RT and Voice of Russia43 also republished dubious “proof” that Syrian rebels were behind sarin attacks in East Ghouta, Damascus. Quoting Russian government sources, RT reported that the date stamps of YouTube videos with sarin victims showed that they were uploaded before the attacks took place, thus “proving” the videos were the work of rebels. As was quickly pointed out on fora such as Storify, YouTube videos are date-stamped with California time; thus, they had an date stamp prior to the events in Syria.44 Reporting on the same chemical attacks, RT took research by influential blogger Brown Moses (Eliot Higgins) and presented it in such a way as to show him arguing that rebel forces were responsible. In fact Higgins had argued the opposite: “Russia Today has clearly decided to use the credibility of my own blog to prop up highly dubious videos,” said Higgins in an interview.45 Rather than inform or persuade the audience of “Russia’s point of view,” a perfectly respectable public diplomacy aim, RT’s purpose appears to be to confuse, spreading forms of discourse that kill the possibility of debate and a reality-based politics, and abusing the ideal of freedom of information for the purpose of spreading disinformation.
*This story brought to you by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Russia's government newspaper.
...and did you read the article?
I did, really there was nothing there except "no one censors us because no one tells Putin jokes". Or maybe no one tells Putin jokes because of the possible repercussions... Honestly, this article is 100% fluff with no content. Why did you post it again?
Attached report: 'The weaponising of the media' = RT news bad. Yeh I get it.
I posted a Youtube video of an interview relevant to the terrorist problem. Whether you think RT news is credible was actually irrelevant up until this point. There were points made in that interview which I think were worth hearing.
I linked to the RBTH article because it's just another example of alternate perspective of Russian culture. Whether you think that article is written in context on cultural oppression, the article is still very relevant to that cultural distinction.
Therefore can't we say, well, actually if you look it this from that perspective they're aspiring and making progress in some sense? Considering the history.
Therefore can't we say, well, actually if you look it this from that perspective they're aspiring and making progress in some sense? Considering the history.
Not really, because using a bit of truth as a spoonful of sugar to make the propaganda medicine go down has been a thing since at least World War 2.
My cousin and his family live in Ankara, and it is interesting to see how careful he needs to be regarding his communication about the recent attacks. It is clear that he has much to say about Turkey's treatment and outright war against the Kurds and how this antagonization of the Kurds seemingly invited this sort of violence into Turkey's previously peaceful larger cities. It boggles my mind why the Turkish continue to fight against a force that has been incredibly effective in combating Isis/Isil/IS/Daesh. From everything I've read, Turkey continues to attack Kurdish fighters due to little more than bigotry and longstanding tribalism. I may be missing finer details. If that is the case, please set me straight. If not, then why isn't the US doing more to pressure Turkey into attacking Isis/Isil/IS/Daesh instead of the Kurds?
I still wish the US would just give a bunch of support to the Kurds. The US has supported some pretty sketchy rebel groups but won't support the people actually trying to create a secular democracy over there? I guess we learned nothing from helping the mujahedin fighting the Soviets.
I still wish the US would just give a bunch of support to the Kurds. The US has supported some pretty sketchy rebel groups but won't support the people actually trying to create a secular democracy over there? I guess we learned nothing from helping the mujahedin fighting the Soviets.
Sadly, if the Kurds ever get to the point where they could credibly set up a nation, Turkey would probably wipe them out.
There have been some big actions in Iraq's government this past weekend, including a peaceful storming of the parliament. However, the major actor in this storming has a pretty disturbing past.
Comments
Russia has blocked many universally beneficial UN resolutions/actions.
Russia's government is actively repressive of homosexuals, the press, and political dissidents. Deadly repressive in many cases.
Russia, like it or not, is acting like "the bad guy" from every modern perspective, in a way that no other industrialized nation even comes close to. China, while similarly troubled, is miles away from Russia's belligerence.
http://www.interpretermag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/The_Menace_of_Unreality_Final.pdf
I don't have any doubts about the evils of Russia. My actual point is no one looks at what good, if any, comes out of Russia. RT (albeit biased) provides that alternate perspective.
Russia must be doing something right?
tangent: https://rbth.com/arts/literature/2016/02/17/censors-would-starve-in-modern-russia_568533
I did, really there was nothing there except "no one censors us because no one tells Putin jokes". Or maybe no one tells Putin jokes because of the possible repercussions... Honestly, this article is 100% fluff with no content. Why did you post it again?
I posted a Youtube video of an interview relevant to the terrorist problem. Whether you think RT news is credible was actually irrelevant up until this point. There were points made in that interview which I think were worth hearing.
I linked to the RBTH article because it's just another example of alternate perspective of Russian culture. Whether you think that article is written in context on cultural oppression, the article is still very relevant to that cultural distinction.
Therefore can't we say, well, actually if you look it this from that perspective they're aspiring and making progress in some sense? Considering the history.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/1c1661cef71c4a1a93f3a1863d27a284/trains-400-fighters-attack-europe-wave-bloodshed
It's like that one dildonian who everyone kept yelling at to shut up and calm down.
http://spioenkop.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-islamic-state-going-diy-inside-diy.html
http://warontherocks.com/2016/05/is-muqtada-al-sadr-good-for-iraq/
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/04/al-qaeda-is-about-to-establish-an-emirate-in-northern-syria
I put good odds on it being religiously motivated.