Putin is smiling wide this week as his “…propaganda machine describes the hasty and disorganized withdrawal of the United States and allied forces from Afghanistan, along with the collapse of their Afghan allies, as a turning point, signaling the decline of US regional and global power and credibility,” says Pavel Felgenhauer of the Jamestown Foundation. Earlier this week the Russian publication RG.RU called out President Biden saying, “Perhaps the 78-year-old US president has already forgotten, or perhaps does not want to remember, what he promised the Afghans and the whole world 20 years ago, when he supported the invasion of Afghanistan. But to his misfortune, the American archives and the vastness of the Internet store all of his statements. It is not surprising that Biden limited himself to a statement and did not accept questions from the press – too much in his words was anti-history.” Another Russian publication depicted side-by-side quotes from Biden in which he earlier supported US troops in Afghanistan and then later on “changed his shoes” [smenil obuv’] and spoke against it. Russian publications across the board mocked the President.
They quoted his 2000-2001 speeches, including one before the US Senate in which he said: “Security is a basic issue for Afghanistan. We must do it at all costs. History will judge us harshly if we let the hopes of the freed Afghans evaporate as we go astray.” Russian writers also used quotes from American publications against Biden, including a 2010 Business Insider article which quoted Biden as saying “To hell with this, there is no need to worry about it. We did this in Vietnam, Nixon and Kissinger got away with it.” Propaganda with a twist of truth is effective and this week Moscow was at work at home and abroad.
The Russian propaganda machine was in full swing this week taking advantage of every perceived US weakness and contradictory statement made by President Biden to show the world the Washington is a changeable partner when it comes to foreign policy. The Russian government pushed the idea that Washington will be a fair-weather friend should Putin decide to move in the Ukraine and suggested it would be better for Kiev to align with Moscow over Washington.
Felgenhauer says that the speaker of the State Duma (lower chamber of the Russian parliament), Vyacheslav Volodin, “has written that the entire US foreign policy is collapsing.” He points out that Volodin accuses Washington of facilitating an increase of opiate production in Afghanistan “hundreds of times” while impoverishing the Afghan people. The US and its Western allies have been spending staggering amounts of money to “promote democracy,” but the results have been of little value.” Nikolai Patrushev, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Russian counterpart in US-Russian consultations, also was active this week accusing the US military of “misappropriating billions of taxpayers’ dollars designated to arm and train the Afghan security forces that melted away as the Taliban swept in.”
Patrushev, Putin’s go to, right-hand man claimed the Americans were involved in Afghan opioid production and trade and the US military-industrial complex profiteered on procurement connected with the war. In the Russian publication Izvestia, Alexey Zabrodin wrote that Patrushev called Ukrainian leaders US lackeys and suggested to abandon the US. The Secretary of the Russian Security Council pointed out to Ukrainians that the US set Afghanistan back decades and suggested that is what will happen to them if they side the United States.
He had viagra 25mg online more energy and a better body language for delivering. The proper knowledge about the drug patterns can lead his viagra uk sale way to choose the affective one among them. Prior, this subject india cheap cialis was taboo due to its deficiency. A new user is recommended to start the treatment from the issue and is helpful in making you to be what you think the other men expect Constantly choosing the “wrong” people for dating or have a relationship with, knowing that it shall lead nowhere Serial dating or having just casual sex Frequent breakups with too involved and romantic partners Creating emotional distance that comprises levitra 20mg australia of cool or aloof behaviors Issues.According to Zabrodin, “The confidence of the military and political leadership of the United States and its allies that they fully controlled the situation in Afghanistan led to ignorance and underestimation of the real situation… This is partly the result of the incompetence of the intelligence services of the United States, Britain and other NATO countries, which, apparently, did not sufficiently purposefully approach the collection and analysis of information or did not work well with it.”
Effective propaganda contains a bit of the truth. It encourages the reader to accept that the story is plausible, perhaps probable, and this week certainly unforgettable. With Russia’s assistance, the Ukraine and America’s allies will have a difficult time erasing this week in history from their memories.
DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Thursday, she presents key updates on Russia.
Photo: Vladimir Putin (Russian government site)