There is an interesting
twist to the ongoing war of words with Russia over its actions in Ukraine that
is little discussed in the mainstream media. The United States State
Department is using its Russian language UkrProgress
Twitter account with the hashtag #UnitedforUkraine to counter
what the United States considers to be Russian propaganda on its activities in
Ukraine. While most of the tweets are in Russian, here are some of the
more interesting English language posts by the State Department:
If you follow the links
listed on the tweets, many of them take you to stories on the ShareAmerica
website. What is ShareAmerica? It is the Department of
State's "...platform for sharing compelling stories and images that spark
discussion and debate on important topics like democracy, freedom of
expression, innovation, entrepreneurship, education and the role of civil
society." In other words, propaganda from a State
Department/Washington viewpoint.
And, as though it really
matters, the State Department seems to feel that voting on a new design for police cars in Kyiv
is a positive sign of democratic reform in Ukraine:
And, just so it doesn't
appear that the United States stands alone, here is a tweet showing that Canada
stands behind Ukraine:
To close, here are two interesting tweets showing the high cost of the Russian takeover of Crimea when
it comes to buying groceries and the high economic cost of the "illegal
referendum":
The use of a social media
account permits the U.S. Department of State to take a much harsher and
unrestricted stand against Russia than normal official diplomatic statements
would allow.
Posts
Just so your readers have an idea about the cost of potatoes in the US according to http://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/data/AverageRetailFoodAndEnergyPrices_USandMidwest_Table.htm
ReplyDeleteThe average us cost of 2.2 pounds of potatoes is $1.42.
So let me be the first to both Kiev and Sevastopol pay of heck of lot less then we in the US do either way you look at it. Maybe the can propagandize up a reason for that!
I would like to point out that if the news in America seems to be more skewed lately it may be the government is more involved it writing it. For decades a so-called anti-propaganda law prevented the U.S. government's mammoth broadcasting arm from delivering programming to American audiences.
ReplyDeleteOn July 2, 2013 that taboo came silently to an end with the implementation of a new law passed in January. This unleashes thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption. This "reform" was criticized by many human rights activist as a green light for U.S. domestic propaganda efforts. More on the implications of this new law in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/07/when-propaganda-and-surveillance.html