I just spent about two weeks in a hospital. There was a TV set in my room, presenting about 40 different channels, including such news channels as CNN and MSNBC. Every day a copy of USA TODAY was brought to my bedside along with my breakfast. I was completely struck by the fact that during my stay in the hospital I never managed to find on TV nor in USA TODAY even one mention of Russia. It looked like no such country existed or nothing was happening in that country.
What was especially shocking to me was the contrast with Russian media. At my home I regularly watch Russian TV and read Russian papers. They always present a lot of material about the USA, very often more than about Russia. The USA is presented as the headquarters of the universal evil, hating Russia, permanently intriguing against Russia, planning to demolish Russia, fighting against Russia in Ukraine by hands of Ukrainian Nazis.
Of course unlike American TV or USA TODAY, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post do publish important information about events in Russia. But in Russia the torrents of the anti-American propaganda are generated not by the intellectual media, but by the media appealing to the masses.
According to many Russian recent publications, Russian attitudes have completely changed in the last months. It’s a new country now.
Even permanent reader of New York Times, though he/she will learn about most important Russian events, probably will never be aware of the distorted perception of Russian observers of events.
The popular Russian art dealer and organizer of cultural events, Marat Gelman, was practically expelled from Russia several months ago. He started a big new art project in Montenegro. This week Marat Gelman came back to Moscowfor a visit. On April 10 when interviewed by Radio station “Ekho Moskvy” (“Moscow echo”), he said:
“When I left, there was a feeling that we had a bad democracy. We had unfair elections, our courts were not independent from our government, our press was not free… And all that should be changed. Therefore we could struggle.
“Now, when I came back, nobody even speaks about such subjects. There is no longer any kind of democracy in Russia: neither bad nor good. I think the fundamental thing that happened over the last months is: Russian society has come to the conclusion that, in general, the obedience to laws need not be even considered if the violation of a law goes in the ‘right’ direction.”
To celebrate the anniversary of the March 21, 2014, annexation of Crimea, the state-run Rossiya 1 channel showed the two and a half hours long documentary “Homeward Bound”. In the documentary Vladimir Putin openly informed the World that annexation of Crimea was not a result of free choice of the Crimean population, as he had maintained earlier, but was a pre–planned Russian military operation. Even more, Putin said that he weighed a nuclear alert over Crimea. New York Times published a detailed article about this documentary.
What New York Times didn’t inform its readers about was the day after broadcast of “Homeward Bound”, a popular Russian journalist Sergei Dorenko asked listeners of his FM Moscow radio station (mostly popular among educated middle-class) what they thought about the documentary. 85% of the listeners loved what they learned from the film. 62% of listeners approved of possible use of nuclear weapons for the purpose of annexation of Crimea. These unexpectedly shocking figures were discussed in Russian Internet as much as the aggressive confessions of Putin in the documentary “Homeward Bound”.
A lot of sources present information suggesting that Putin is not planning to limit his aggressive actions to the annexation of Crimea. Here are a couple of quotes from American press:
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL , April 9, 2015: “Russia’s Next Target. A military drill in another breakaway region—this time in Moldova.”
WASHINGTON TIMES, April 9. 2015: “Putin’s next offensive. The Russian military has a choice of Ukrainian targets if the West remains spineless.”
“April 10, 2015 Defense ministers of Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland published a joint statement urging Northern Europe to be prepared for possible crises or incidents in connection with Russia.
“Russian leaders have demonstrated that they are willing to practice efficient use of military means to achieve their political goals, even if it involves a violation of the principles of international law.
“There is a strengthening of the military and intelligence operations in the Baltic countries and our northern territories. The Russian military challenges us on our borders, and there were several cases of violations of the borders of the Baltic States.”
The mood of the average Russian is reflects the raise of military sentiments in the country. The most thriving business in the country is a business of production of the goods containing portraits of Putin accompanied with aggressive quotations.
“Al Jazeera”, 3/20/2015:
“Sometimes the awesome desire of Russian citizens to express their love to the president leads to interesting curiosities.
“Employee of a beauty salon Galina Ivanova said that many of the girls who come to do manicure, asked for ‘Putin sticks’ on their nails. Galina says: ‘At first we did not provide such service, but then decided to meet the desires of our customers and especially for our salon ordered stickers with the image of the president.’ According to her, the age of the girls who so requested, range from 18 to 30 years.
“Vladimir Pavlov, a salesman of a souvenir shop, said: ‘We have covers for mobile phones, mugs, plates and medals with Putin.’ He explains the demand for such products by the rise in popularity of the Russian president: ‘The majority of Russians believe Putin’s the national hero, fiercely defending the national interests of Russia against all the encroachments of the West. West does not need a strong Russia, it wants to weaken and ruin Russia. Russians believe that Putin with his politics is the only possible answer to the West.’ ”
A popular T-shirt: “The one who would insult us, will not stay alive even three days.” V. Putin.
Car window sticker: “The real power is only in Putin. Those who have Putin are the most powerful in the world!”
