Posted on 10/10/2014 11:21:17 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Kremlin-backed Russia Today news network has rolled out a provocative ad campaign that takes a sharp poke at U.S. media and the U.S. decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
The pitch is aimed at convincing Americans of the merits of Russia Today - or RT - as an alternate news source to U.S. networks.
Featuring a stylized image of former U.S Secretary of State Colin Powell at the United Nations, one ad reads: "This is what happens when there is no second opinion. Iraq War: No WMDs. 141, 802 civilian deaths."
The campaign includes two other politicians - former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and former President George W. Bush - and is running until the end of the year in Washington, New York City, and London.
RT spokeswoman Anna Belkina denies the ads are critical of the U.S. or the U.K.
"We thought it was a critical juncture in world politics," she said of the decision to run the campaign, which she says is about drawing attention to the importance of having a diversity of voices in the news.
"They're not supporting or criticizing a government or political party per se," she said. "It is so much more than politics - it's about current affairs and global affairs."
Justin Logan, director of foreign policy with the libertarian CATO Institute think-tank in D.C., says on its merits the ad campaign is "very evocative."
He says RT has pinpointed an uncomfortable truth - a moment when U.S. news media was heavily and fairly criticized for failing to question the White House line that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
That line was used to justify the 2003 invasion but later proved false.
And Logan argues the ad will be seen differently by a different people: those who know RT is state-owned and those who aren't aware of the network's controversial relationship with the Kremlin.
"I know that RT is a Russia propaganda outfit - other people don't," he said.
The RT press office claims the global network is "editorially independent. What we do is present an alternative viewpoint on current events."
Tension between Russia and western nations is at high point following Russia's annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine.
In March, an American RT anchor Liz Wahl quit on air, saying "personally I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions (of Russian President Vladimir) Putin. I'm proud to be an American and believe in disseminating the truth."
RT has been available in Canada since 2009 and RT America began broadcasting out of D.C. in 2010.
R.T. or Al-Jazeera - equally despicable.
I’m sure it matters to all 75 people who watch this network
I'd throw in MSNBC for good measure.
This coming from the country that lied about Katyn.
“The following ad is brought to you by the Russian Ministry of Propaganda”
They blamed Katyn on the nazis. Today they blame MH17 on the nazis too.
Looks like a DNC ad circa 2004.
Kremlin playbook = DemocRAT playbook
It has been amazing the folks who fed into this idea over the years on both sides of the political spectrum.
ISIS itself claimed to have uncovered a large storage cache in Iraq, with Nerve Gas.
There was another find during the most recent war in Iraq too.
Sadly, many folks on the Left and not always the Left either, trashed Bush for going into Iraq on the promise of WMDs there.
Fact is, they were there. People looked away when the finds were reported, but they were there.
It’s pretty well accepted that a lot of weaponry was transferred to Syria also.
Now Poopin can claim whatever he wants, and actually quote some Conservatives also. Wonderful!
I have no problem with getting information from different sources, just recognize that each has its’ biases and the truth will probably be found somewhere in the middle. I don’t trust our media neither.
Might just as well toss in the followers of at least one kook, who bought into this and led many people astray, many of them Conservatives in most respects. Sad really.
I recognize propaganda when I see it, so I can’t exactly say I get my news from RT. I sometimes read what they have to say, but I almost never believe it, unless it’s anti Russian leadership. Even then I try to figure the angle.
Yes our own media is corrupt. It is even worse than Pravda, because everyone knew Pravda was lying it’s ass off “in the day”.
Our MSM today, has fooled a wide spectrum of the populace. Even traditional Conservatives who haven’t spent time following the issues as closely as we do, buy into it.
I have relatives that think FoxNews is fringe right, and they have been Conservatives their whole lives.
It’s sad the lack of actual solid news presentations from the right viewpoint.
Our nation is paying for it too.
RT can’t hate America any more than MSNBC or CNN.
And CNN, ABC, and CBS.
It’s pretty well accepted that a lot of weaponry was transferred to Syria also.
Yep, and the DemoRats knew it.
RT may be publishing anti American propaganda, but they are quoting the American DemoRat party and much of the Western MSM, both of which have been anti American since the 1960's.
RT is late to the party and quoting those DemoRats currently in power in the US government.
Weapons of Mass Destruction only exist when DemoRats say so, and are only used by those accused by DemoRats.
Now now, let’s not go Russian to judgment here...
Thanks Navy Patriot. I agree with your comments.
I expect the Left to act this way. It does bother me a lot when people who consider themselves to be on the right buy into the same arguments because they don’t want the U. S. to conduct military operations overseas.
I never want my comments to be fodder for the likes of the Left or Vladimir Putin.
C’mon, you anti-MSM cowboys, Putin via RT is doing you a favor. I don’t see any million dollar PR campaigns criticizing the media coming from conservative sources. How many Freepers 2nd opinion their opinions and pause before rubber stamping the Wall St. agenda? Maybe 3 or 4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq9yjt_JbWs
The Soviet sent their Communism to America in the form of the modern DemoRat party, and then collapsed, losing a great deal of their power in the collapse of the USSR, and the rise of the much less Communist Russian Federation.
It is not surprising that DemoRats and their MSM sycophants sound like the anti American traditional Soviet Communists, as does Obama considering his Communist grandparents and mother.
Communism, Socialism, Fascism and Islam are the enemies.
At the time the US projected power overseas, it was the necessary and most wise thing to do, but it cannot go on forever, while not protecting the integrity of the homeland. Further it is unwise to project power against a nation shedding Communism while succumbing to it at home, as that power will surely wane.
Nations fall because they no longer merit the support of their citizens, and others rise by the love of theirs.
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