Putin and Trump Bashing: When Fecklessness Became the New Black?

22.10.2018 Author: Grete Mautner

Putin and Trump Bashing: When Fecklessness Became the New Black?

Column: Politics

Region: Russia in the World

It won’t be an overstatement if one is to note that Donald Trump has repeatedly raised the topic of his talks with Vladimir Putin that took place during the Helsinki summit. The sitting US president would repeatedly stress that such meetings are extremely important for global stability and has gone as far as to announce his willingness to hold similar meetings in the future. However, every time Trump hears about the Democrats and the MSM that they happen to be in control of, he gets unusually irritated. And that’s hardly surprising as there seems to be no way for him to please those other than getting in a fist fight with Russia’s leader.

However, for the sake of objectivity, it should be noted that the Democrats are not the only ones that remain critical of Donald Trump at all times. It’s been pointed out that the global opinion of Trump and his office has sunk so low that the world now appears to have more confidence in the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as it’s been boldly stated by a new Pew Research Center survey across 25 countries.

According to the Foreign Policy, the survey showcases the sharp decline in America’s image and standing abroad since Trump took office nearly two years ago and began a series of unilateral trade wars and a campaign aimed at the undermining of global institutions. This media source is confident there’s no denying that US standing has taken hits across the world under his term.

It should be noted that the Pew Research Center describes itself as a nonpartisan fact tank that is completely independent and is only interested in presenting various geopolitical challenges and trends to the general public.

But it is obvious that by releasing a report, even if one is to assume that it is completely accurate, that states Donald Trump is the most unpopular international political figure in the world that is lagging behind Putin Vladimir, the victim of rampant Western propaganda aimed at demonizing all things Russian, the Pew Research Center will our perception of Donald Trump. This exercise in manipulation can hardly be called harmless in the run-up to midterm elections in the United States.

With various “fact tanks” doing their best to manipulate the general public, it’s no wonder that Trump’s own supporters would rather prefer to see his Russian counterpart in the White House rather than a Democrat, as it’s been stated by Ronald Reagan’s youngest son, Ron Reagan. According to the Washington Times,Ron Reagan told MSNBC host Chris Matthews that:

If it were were left just up to Donald Trump’s base, they would elect Vladimir Putin as president of the United States over virtually anybody with a ‘D’ after their name, and I’m not kidding you,” Ron Reagan told MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews.

Under these circumstances, one would have a hard time taking it as a joke that in late July, an unidentified person has replaced Trump’s portrait with the one of Vladimir Putin in the gallery of American presidents in the Colorado State Capitol Hall. This fact was reported by Senator Steve Fenberg on his twitter, where he spiced the picture he took with a #putinpotus hashtag.

Speaking at the recent meeting of Russia’s flagship international forum Valdai, Putin described the meetings he had with the sitting American president as a rather positive occurrence. He pointed out that it’s always better to speak with the opposing side even if it doesn’t yield any visible results, as it’s better than getting engaged in aggressive rhetorics. However, Putin noted that those meetings haven’t had a positive impact on the state of US-Russia bilateral relations. However, any chance of any real progress is being hampered by the rampant Russophobic hysteria unleashed in the Western media. Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov thinks that individual political figures in the West got so rapped up in this hysteria, that it may seem that they have a bad case of political rabies.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire examined this phenomenon in her article for Counter Punch, noting that the demonization of Russia is one of the most dangerous things that is happening in our world today. The scapegoating of Russia is an inexcusable game that the West is indulging in. It is time for political leaders and each individual to move us back from the brink of catastrophe to begin to build relationships with our Russian brothers and sisters.

That is why precisely why Donald Trump’s intention of holding yet another meeting with Russia’s leader is being supported by the majority of Americans, as evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by HarrisX research firm.

Demonization of Russia in a New Cold War Era

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

Demonization of Russia in a New Cold War Era

by MAIREAD MAGUIRE

 

In examining the future, we must look to the past.

As we watch the media today, we are spoon fed more and more propaganda and fear of the unknown, that we should be afraid of the unknown and have full faith that our government is keeping us safe from the unknown. But by looking at media today, those of us who are old enough will be reminded of the era of Cold War news articles, hysteria of how the Russians would invade and how we should duck and cover under tables in our kitchens for the ensuing nuclear war. Under this mass hysteria all Western governments were convinced that we should join Western allies to fight the unknown evil that lies to the east. Later through my travels in Russia during the height of the Cold War with a peace delegation, we were shocked by the poverty of the country, and questioned how we ever were led to believe that Russia was a force to be afraid of. We talked to the Russian students who were dismayed by their absolute poverty and showed anger against NATO for leading their country into an arms race that they could not win. Many years later, when speaking to young Americans in the US, I was in disbelief about the fear the students had of Russia and their talk of invasion. This is a good example of how the unknown can cause a deep rooted paranoia when manipulated by the right powers.

All military is expensive, and we can see in Europe that the countries are reluctant to expand their military spending and find it hard to justify this to their people. In looking at this scenario, we can ask ourselves what is beneficial about this hysteria and fear caused on both sides. All armies must have an enemy to deem them necessary. An enemy must be created, and the people must be convinced that there is need for action to safeguard the freedom of their country.  Right now, we can see a shifting of financial power from old Western powers to the rise of the Middle East and Asia. Do we honestly believe that the Western allies are going to give up their power? My suggestion is: not easily. The old dying empires will fight tooth and nail to protect their financial interests such as the petrol dollar and the many benefits that come through their power over poverty-stricken countries.

Firstly, I must say, that I personally believe that Russia is not by any means without faults. But the amount of anti-Russian propaganda in our media today is a throwback to the Cold War era. We must ask the question: Is this leading to more arms, a bigger NATO? Possibly to challenge large powers in the Middle East and Asia, as we see the US approaching the South China seas, and NATO Naval games taking place in the Black Sea. Missile compounds are being erected in Romania, Poland and other ex-Soviet countries, while military games are set up in Scandinavia close to the Russian border to practice for a cold climate war scenario. At the same time, we see the US President arriving in Europe asking for increased military spending. At the same time the USA has increased its budget by 300 billion in one year.