As Russian troops advance into Ukraine , and as ISIS forces ravage parts of the Middle East , the human race is being forced to face up an uncomfortable fact : these belligerents are n’t just winning battles on the ground , they ’re also gain over minds . Here ’s what propaganda looks like in the 21st century — and how the West has failed to conform .
Top image : A card in Sevastopol reading “ On March 16 we will choose either … or … ” , March 13 , 2014 . Photo by AFP
Propaganda may seem like an primitive concept , but it ’s very much alive and well . The world has changed significantly in the retiring few decades , as has our mean value of squander information . Many state and non - state actors have taken poster , developing newfangled strategies to sway public persuasion both at menage and abroad , and as a means to further their alien policy agenda .
The Revival Of State Controlled Media
One country in which Western leaders have most certainly put away behind is the efficacious employment of spiritualist to push its perspective . Much of this has to do with the sovereign nature of media in democratic countries ; freedom of the press is a much - vaunted mental home of free thinking and critical society who look to the media for unbiased accounts of world events and as a style to agree their governments to describe .
But these values are n’t shared at the ball-shaped scale , particularly in authoritarian state such as China and Russia . cheer by the state - controlled media of the Soviet government , President Vladimir Putin is making a concerted crusade to “ break the monopoly of the Anglo - Saxon mass media ” and to “ crystallise afield the state policy ” of the Kremlin . To that end , he ’s rain buckets incredible sum of money into Russian metier . The res publica now commit around $ 136 million each year just to work public view abroad .
Russia is currently expanding its strange broadcaster RT ( formerly known as Russia Today ) and the Ruptly News Agency . Launched back in 2005 , RT is presently available in English , Spanish , and Arabic , and is being put as an alternative to westerly international medium , such as CNN and the BBC . Ruptly is currently working to establish itself as an alternative to Reuters and the Associated Press in providing video reportage .
grant to Andrew Weiss , the Vice President of studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace , “ We ’re in the middle of a relentless propaganda war . ” He draw RT as a essential tool used by Russia to guide its foreign policy . By using the net , newspapers and tv set — along with the deployment of allegedly neutral journalist and pundits dispatched around the world — the Kremlin is efficaciously propagate its position .
presently , RT reaches out to more than 644 million people worldwide , and as a state - shape organisation , it can luxate messages about Russian policy into its programming ( a good lesson can be foundhere ) . Looking in front , Russia contrive on expanding its Berlin office from two staff members to 30 . It has also sweep up a $ 39 million budget for expansion into French .
Misinformation Campaigns
By using the media and other info epithelial duct , the Russian Federation has relentlessly and in effect conveyed it ’s own narrative on unfolding events . Its startling power to control info has become a critical tactic in its current efforts to annex lot of Ukraine and to influence effect in the Middle East .
For deterrent example , in its campaign to discredit the Ukrainian politics , it has painted a picture of the country as a failed body politic , one regressing into fascism and anti - Semitism . Recently , Putin used a definitive propaganda proficiency — pretended association — bycomparing the efforts of the Ukrainian ground forces to the Nazi siege of Leningrad during the Second World War . How these two result are even remotely comparable is beyond me , but it ’s one example of many by Putin to work Russia ’s traumatic past .
Just as notoriously , Russia has deny participation in the shot down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 on July 17 , 2014 . All grounds points to pro - Russian separationist having shoot down down the plane using a Russian Buk surface - to - strain missile , but the Russian metier has painted a different story , claiming that the plane was spud down by Ukrainian forces in a deliberate effort to discredit the insurgence . So in force was this misinformation crusade that some46 % of all Russians presently believe it was shot down by a Ukrainian army antiaircraft missle . Disturbingly , this estimate is go around outside of Russia ; during my sojourn to Slovakia this past August , I met several masses who also believe it .
RTcoverageof the incident .
Kill ‘Em With Confusion
As noted by Marieluise Beck , a member of the German Green Party , “ The biggest succeeder of the Russian propaganda is to create confusion about what is lawful or not . ”
Indeed , the careful sowing of confusion has been a hallmark of modern Russian propaganda techniques . Its slow motion intrusion of Ukraine has leave behind world leaders and the Western medium in a state of palsy . harmonise to Peter Pomerantsev , Putin is reinventing 21st - century war — and propaganda is being used as a major arm . Arguing inForeign Policy , he articulate that Russia is waggle “ non - linear war ” in an “ avant - garde ” strategy based on the assumption that conflict in today ’s globalized world is multidimensional , where country - province are no longer set against country - State Department . ( Image : AP )
The Washington Post ’s editorial boardput it this way :
[ It is ] a dispute engage by commando without insignia , armoured columns slip across the international molding at night , volleys of misleading propaganda , floods of disinformation and sneaky intrusion like the one into Crimea . In this intercrossed war , a civilian airliner was frivol away down by aerofoil - to - air missile , but the hitman or supplier of the projectile was never identified ; artillery shells are fired but no one can say from where ; Russian military material and equipment appears suddenly in the settlement and fields of eastern Ukraine . While people are being toss off , as in any state of war , and while Ukraine has mustered its forces laudably to push back , this hybrid warfare features an aggressor whose moves are shrouded in deception .
According to Uri Friedman of The Atlantic , this strategy of deceit is nothing novel — a proficiency that take up from the Soviet scheme of Maskirovka ( screening ) , which was develop in the 1920s and defined by the Soviet Military Encyclopedia as “ complex measures to misdirect the enemy regarding the bearing and disposition of force , military objectives , combat readiness and plans . ”
Not Your Father’s Jihad
besides , the Islamic State insurgence is employing sophisticated new propaganda techniques . In itsadept use of varied medium , the group has used state - of - the - art videos , ground images shot from radio-controlled aircraft , and multilingual social media messages . When their bill are blockade , new ones appear almost immediately . It utilize services like JustPaste to publish conflict summaries , SoundCloud to release audio reports , Instagram to share images , and WhatsApp to broadcast graphics and videos . It ’s also restrain its enemies in a macabre fashion . Unlike Al Qaeda , it has made few calls for attacks on the United States , but the recent decapitation of two journalists can most certainly be construed as threats .
Indeed , the Islamic State ’s information campaign is considerably more sophisticated than anything Al Qaeda has ever done ; its slick videos are a far shout from those grainy , static images of Osama Bin Laden droning on in stately Arabic . The nouveau-riche insurgence has cautiously crafted a tale line what it experience as the struggle against the national naval division and boundaries of the Middle East draw by the westerly baron after the First World War — what it visit “ Crusader sectionalization ” ( a tale that ’s disturbingly exchangeable to the one promoted by the Nazis in the wake of Versailles ) . ISIS has give way on to claim that the governance of advanced Arab leaders is a divide and conquer scheme that separates the Muslim mass , prevent them from uniting “ under one imam carrying the standard of true statement . ”
As for ISIS ’s current recruiting techniques , its effectiveness has leave world leader rattled . It is using a sleek succeeder - breeds - success strategy that ’s drawn in as many as 2,000 Westerners , including some 100 Americans , and as many as 250 Canadians ( possibly more ) . Officials in the U.K. believe about 500 Brits have gone to Syria to push alongside terrorist groups and that about one-half have total back . Some 25 to 30 are believed to have died in Syria .
Felicia Schwarz of the Wall Street Journaldescribesa distinctive interaction between a “ lone beast ” and a recruiter :
A young humanity sees professional - looking propaganda TV produced by the Islamic State . He watches a few of the videos and feel that he has something in common with the men in the video . He then might get hold of out to the mortal who posted the picture , either on Twitter or Facebook , and engage with him . finally , a serial publication of conversations online might encourage the “ lone wolf ” to travel to Europe , with education to find a special person who might help him make his way into Syria .
One such video features Canadian Andre Poulin , a now dead ISIS soldier .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX4jTdnVtao
The effectualness of this video is obvious . Poulin is relatable , non - dogmatical , and confident in his assertion . He make it all sound so … normal .
Failing To Adapt
As political scientist Peter Warren Singer told io9 , “ The irony of all this is that while the U.S. government paid for the creation of the cyberspace , it is a marketspace where bureaucracy are often at a disadvantage . They ca n’t be as nimble , they ca n’t be as shocking , which is what often draws centre online , and they put on the line depreciate themselves if they stoop to the story of many of their non - state adversary . ”
Indeed , as Russia and the Islamic State fine - line their propaganda techniques , the West is desperately trying to play catch - up . Experts are trying to get a bobby pin on the new nature of these info wars , and they ’re not having much chance . The State Department ’s Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications is striving to counter Islamic State propaganda by put out a steady current of ISIS horror stories on Facebook and Twitter , using the hashtag # ThinkAgainTurnAway . But as remark by the New York Times , it ’s an uphill engagement :
Last week , an Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence champion calling himself Abu Turaab wrote on Twitter , “ For those who need to follow but are facing obstacles , be patient and keep the desire for Jihad alive within you always . ”
The State Department account replied , “ ISIS recruit ’ 2 choice : devote atrocity & drop dead as outlaw , get pick up and waste lives in prison house . ” As of Friday , Abu Turaab ’s comment had been named as a “ favorite ” 32 time . The count for the State Department ’s response : Zero .
The CSCC clearly necessitate to rethink its strategy . As mention by former CIA counterterrorism psychoanalyst Aki Peritz , these potential recruits are “ fence - sitter , ” mostly alienate teenager and the great unwashed in their 20s and 30s — “ people who do n’t tend to listen to the U.S. governance . ”
That tell , the high - tech strategies utilize by ISIS could backlash .
“ There is the enquiry of intelligence note value , ” Singer told io9 . “ Groups like ISIS have actually unintentionally given away very valuable information about themselves in some of their posts , allowing geolocation and meshing depth psychology . ”
Enforcing ‘Informational Sovereignty’
So what ’s the West to do ?
For starters it could lock in more forceful and persuasive narrative dominance . At every turn , commonwealth officials must keep and reward the integrity of their ‘ informational reign ’ ( a term used in counter - propaganda circles ) by openly refuse the claim made by rivals . It must also introduce its own coherent version of events . At the same time , and to steal from the Russian propaganda pagebook , media efforts ( both private and country - initiate ) call for to be direct at strange interview ; it ’s the ongoing conflict for hearts and minds — both at home and overseas .
Admitting , for example , that the U.S. has “ no insurance policy ” on Syria is clearly unacceptable ( even if it ’s rightful ) . Instead , the U.S. and other Western nation should take a clew from what Ukraine has done to counter Russian misinformation campaigns . After the initial wave of protests , the state set up Euromaidan PR ( where PR resist for Public Responsibility ) . The group consists of some 200 English - mouth volunteers in Ukraine and abroad . These volunteers expose Russian disinformation on societal media , likeFacebookandTwitter , and via its own web log . Last March , for example , the group circulated photos that , allot to Russian culture medium , showed columns of refugees take flight Ukraine to Russia . In reality , the pictures in reality depicted daily traffic between Ukraine and Poland .
This is obviously a drop-off in the bucket , but it shows that modernistic propaganda and counter - propaganda techniques are still very much evolving . There ’s still plenty of time for the West to catch up .
author : Foreign Policy ( 1 ) ( 2 ) | New York Times ( 1 ) ( 2 ) | Wall Street Journal ( 1)(2)| The Atlantic ( 1)(2)|Washington Post|Spiegel
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