RT Is Being Scapegoated For The US’ Global Soft Power Failures

Andrew Korybko
Andrew Korybko's Newsletter

The US simply cannot accept that it lost the battle for hearts and minds across the Global South and even among a growing segment of the Western population itself.

The US’ sanctions against RT on the basis of it supposedly functioning as an undeclared intelligence agency “engaged in covert influence operations” are the continuation of its liberal-globalist elite’s efforts to revive the Russiagate conspiracy theory ahead of the November elections. Elements thereof earlier smeared Jill Stein as “a useful idiot for Russia” and then RT was accused of financing some top conservative influencers, who weren’t even aware of these alleged ties, all of which was explained here:

● 4 September: “The Democrats’ Attacks Against Jill Stein Show How Desperate They’re Getting”
● 5 September: “The Latest Russiagate Scandal Aims To Discredit Alt-Media & Trump”
● 7 September: “Russia’s Tenet Media Operation Was A Total Flop If The Reports Are True”

The intent was to discredit third-party candidates, Alt-Media, Trump, and top conservative influencers in the hopes of manipulating more voters into casting their ballots for Kamala. It remains to be seen whether this will succeed, but the complementary goal being advanced by the latest move is to scapegoat RT for the US’ global soft power failures. RT has proudly informed their audience of “inconvenient truths” about US foreign policy, however, so there’s nothing conspiratorial about that.

The same goes for the crowdfunding that it’s carried out in support of the Russian Armed Forces, which was done openly and regularly boasted about by editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan. These are the only two accusations that have any weight to them, but as was shown, there’s nothing conspiratorial about them since they’re not a secret. The other one about RT engaging in “intelligence” work is totally dishonest though and nothing but an attempt to discredit Russia’s global media flagship.

The State Department alleged that RT passes information to Russian spy agencies and also takes orders from them in creating content about other countries like Moldova, whose upcoming elections it claims will be meddled with by Russia, which also plans to organize unrest if they don’t go its way. This is a long-standing accusation though, but no proof has ever been shared in support of it. It’s also ironic since leading Western media outlets have been accused of doing the same across the world over the decades.

The same standard that’s being employed by the US in branding RT with the scarlet letter of being an undeclared intelligence agency, sanctioning it on that pretext, and then launching a global campaign to pressure all countries into following suit is therefore the height of chutzpah but par for the course. The US simply cannot accept that it lost the battle for hearts and minds across the Global South and even among a growing segment of the Western population itself.

Despite allocating almost $900 million for the “US Agency for Global Media” this year and requesting $950 million for the next, the US has little of tangible significance to show for it as proven by the State Department blaming RT for the global erosion of support for Ukraine. Public opinion on this issue can influence policy, which the US expected wouldn’t just result in countries symbolically voting against Russia at the UN but also sanctioning it and arming Ukraine too.

Their respective leadership’s strategic calculations played the greatest role in this regard since few leaders wanted to be accused of being Western puppets, let alone worsen their economy by boycotting Russian agricultural and energy products, but it also helped that this aligned with public opinion. The latter was in turn informed to a large degree by what folks learned about this conflict from RT, whose information products they sought out to hear Russia’s side, after which they made up their own minds.

The US is therefore behaving in a very intellectually insulting way by implying that billions of people were duped by a foreign spy agency just because they ultimately reached conclusions that it doesn’t approve of. Simply put, the facts don’t support the US’ side, which withheld crucial information about the lead-up to this conflict and the larger context in which it’s occurring in order to manipulate global perceptions. Upon discovering this, most people naturally resented the US and enthusiastically embraced Russia.

It’s also important to point out that Russia has articulated a clear vision of the emerging world order, which it conceives as multipolar and thus giving smaller- and medium-sized states – especially those in the Global South – a greater say over global affairs, ergo another reason for why their people support it. By contrast, the US pushed the so-called “rules-based order” as its preferred worldview, which was exposed as a hypocritical and self-interested ploy to retain Western dominance.

All that RT did was draw attention to “inconvenient truths” about American foreign policy and amplified hitherto largely unknown truths about Russia’s in order to get around the Western-controlled global Mainstream Media’s information blockade. Precisely because nobody had ever presented a non-Western worldview at the scale that RT has done is why it’s become so popular, but it was always every information consumer’s right to decide for themselves what to believe.

It's appropriate to end by quoting the late President Kennedy, who RT’s deputy editor-in-chief Anna Belkina cited in her response to this latest faux scandal:

💬 “We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” As she noted, the US’ claims about RT prove that it’s now “terrified of any dissenting voice.”

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Image: © N/A. AWIP: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2024/09/14/rt-is-being-scapegoated-for