Zelensky is clearly feeling the heat after the Western narrative about the Ukrainian Conflict decisively shifted in the aftermath of summer’s failed counteroffensive, which is why he just demanded that intelligence agencies censor the media to fight what he alleges is “Russian disinformation”. Here’s exactly what he said on Sunday at the Swedish “Society and Defense” conference according to his official website:
“Answering a question from the moderator, the President noted that global information policy would be crucial in the near future.
‘Today, unfortunately, Russia controls a large percentage of the information space. And I’m not talking about Ukraine here, but about social media everywhere in the civilized world: Europe, the United States, the UK, the African continent and Latin America. Russia invests a lot of money in various media in other countries, as well as in social networks,’ Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
According to the President, the independent media of these countries pick up Russian narratives spread by propagandists and present them not as someone’s opinion, but as reality. Therefore, the Head of State is convinced that one of the most difficult challenges today is to combat Russian disinformation in the world.
‘It is up to professionals, from intelligence to independent journalists, to monitor it and clean it up,’ the President said.”
Picking apart what he said, the first point that stands out is his admission that Russia has won more hearts and minds across the world than the West, including within his own country. His reference to its supposed “control of a large percentage of the information space” in Ukraine is likely an allusion to what he warned about in late November regarding its supposed plans to orchestrate a “Maidan 3”. In reality, however, he’s just trying to preemptively discredit any forthcoming protests organized by his rivals.
The next part to opine on concerns his conspicuous omission of Asia from what he described as “the civilized world”. Zelensky is likely enraged that heavyweights like China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye refused to sacrifice their objective national interests by emulating the West’s anti-Russian sanctions. No African or Latin American country has emulated them either, but Ukraine has lately attempted a diplomatic push in those parts of the world, hence why he didn’t want to smear them as “uncivilized”.
Moving along, Zelensky makes it seem like Russia has invested more money in its foreign soft power operations than anyone else, even though the truth is that the “US Agency for Global Media” received $840 million in funding last year while RT received just $288 million according to today’s exchange rate. The first fact is found on page 68 of the State Department’s Congressional Budget Justification report for 2023 while the second is from an anti-Russian website’s report that analyzed federal soft power funding.
The fourth point is that the Ukrainian leader conflates the multipolar worldview, which is this era’s zeitgeist, with so-called “Russian propaganda”. This is a common narrative tactic that’s done to discredit the ongoing global systemic transition even though it’s much more difficult to pull off nowadays after UN Secretary-General Guterres officially acknowledged this process last summer. Without intending to, Guterres extended credence to the observations of Russian-friendly experts, thus incensing Zelensky.
And finally, because the Global South and a growing number of folks within the West and even Ukraine are embracing the multipolar paradigm that Russia has championed despite the US investing much more in foreign soft power operations, Zelensky demanded that intelligence agencies censor the media. His patrons are already doing so to a great extent, however, and it’s actually with their blessing that the Western narrative on the Ukrainian Conflict has decisively shifted after summer’s failed counteroffensive.
He hasn’t yet realized that they’re souring on him even though an expert from the influential Atlantic Council think tank demanded in a piece for Politico last month that he form a “government of national unity” as soon as possible in order to effectively manage newly exacerbated domestic problems. The Western media’s attempts to spin any ceasefire as a victory for Ukraine and their subsequent promotion of peace talks with Russia are intended to send him the message that it’s time to compromise.
To add insult to injury, “The New York Times Just Discredited Ukraine’s State-Financed News Program” several days before Zelensky implied that anyone in the world who doesn’t support his messianic delusions of maximalist victory over Russia has been duped by that country’s propaganda. The reality is that his side is the one that’s spewing such propaganda that even one of his own patrons’ leading media outlets had to tell him to turn it down pronto if he wants to save what little credibility he has left.
With this in mind, his demand for intelligence agencies to censor the media won’t be complied with since the Western narrative’s decisive shift in coverage of the conflict couldn’t have happened at the level of coordination that it did without some involvement from that shadowy community. That’s not to say that they won’t crack down even more on the Alt-Media Community, but just that whatever they might do won’t change the latest trend among the Mainstream Media that he’s so concerned about.
