In the weird world of Russia’s Western-focused propaganda effort, the two big guns are Russia Today and Sputnik. But the Kremlin’s effort to spread disinformation, distraction, discord, and doubt runs far wider than those two alone.
It starts with RT and Sputnik, Vladimir Putin’s disinformation imperial guards. These skillful active measures outlets serve Putin’s narrative as it evolves each day. In their activity, they rely upon useful idiots in the West such as certain elements at the U.S.-based One America News Network. But there are a wide range of other pro-Putin western influence outlets beyond the imperial guard and the useful idiots. Many are funded by crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Patreon. I note this because both China and Russia use crowdfunding platforms to conceal their financial support to advocates abroad.
Still, Russia’s ambition to influence the West is truly significant. Consider a few of the pro-Putin English language outlets.
One that stands out is Russia Insider. Headed by the anti-Semitic American expatriate Charles Bausman, Russia Insider warns of American plots against Russia. It also operates a YouTube channel, Russia Insight, which offers various clips of Russian state television anchors insulting America, and Putin trolling various politicians and media figures. Russia Insider describes its team as a “crowdfunded” group of “fake news fighters.”
The Oriental Review website is much similar to Russia Insider, including in website design. The Strategic Culture Foundation offers an example of the shared narrative service. Its most recent article by Finian Cunningham on Wednesday, a frequent contributor to the RT and Sputnik big guns, explains how “The accelerating political implosion in the U.S. nails the lie to oft-repeated American proclamations about their nation being the paragon of ‘sacred’ democratic virtue and rule of law. And the people who are doing the damage to U.S. politics and its constitution are ‘patriotic’ Americans, not Russia or any other imagined foreign adversary.”
21st Century, echoed the Strategic Culture Foundation’s sentiment on Tuesday. An article by Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts instructor, Edward Curtin (a frequent poster for other pro-Putin outlets), explains that America’s greatest evils are the deep state intelligence services.
While writers like Cunningham and Curtin aren’t as nefarious as Russian influence-access agents like Nicholas Cobb, they are loyal servants to Putin’s ideological mission. And as in Russia’s 2016 U.S. election operation, their sustaining narrative is clear: Russia is no threat, America is corrupted.
Their allies are numerous. There’s Fort Russ, and the Duran, which sells shirts inscribed with titles such as “Russian bot.” There’s the Center for Research on Globalization, whose first topic header is “U.S. NATO War.” Or how about Eurasia Future, which features the British Kremlin sympathizer Adam Garrie, and pushes RT videos from that top prostitute for dictators, George Galloway.
The Putinistas cast a wide net in their effort to win hearts and minds. Russian Faith, for example, plays to Putin’s narrative on the corrupting influence of Western secularism, and the surety of Russia’s rebirth under the Orthodox Church (helpfully led by Putin serfs). But America-hatred always lurks close by: a major Russian Faith columnist is the Russian Orthodox priest Joseph Gleason, an American who moved his family to Russia in search of a more moral nation.
Where does this leave us?
Well, with a simple takeaway. While much of Putin’s propaganda is absurd, all it takes is for one post or poster to go viral: William Craddick of Disobedient Media, for example, has been retweeted by President Trump. The propagandists’ mission is no joke, it is Putin’s: A systemic campaign to weaken America and its allies by giving new life to the old KGB dezinformatsiya game.
