Russian propaganda operations target the U.S.

By Cliff Kincaid

The Moscow-funded propaganda channel Russia Today (RT) is featuring a Ron Paul column titled "Leave Ukraine alone!", even while Russia threatens an invasion of the sovereign nation and former Soviet republic. "The usual interventionists in the US have long meddled in the internal affairs of Ukraine," Paul says, promoting the Kremlin line to an American audience.

Using an American to reinforce a policy favored by Moscow is a technique from old Soviet propaganda operations.

This isn't the first time the pro-Putin network, which is available in English in the U.S. on the Comcast and Time Warner Cable systems, has highlighted the former Congressman's "libertarian," or "non-interventionist," views benefiting Russia. It also recently featured his petition calling for clemency for Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contract employee who stole classified documents and leaked them to America's enemies. Snowden is under the control in Russia of the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency.

Direct attacks on the freedom fighters in Ukraine continue to come from the Alex Jones' Infowars.com website, which supported the Russians against Georgia back in 2008, and is now siding with the Russians against the Ukrainians. The show is syndicated by the Genesis Communication Network on over 60 AM and FM radio stations across the United States, and claims a large Internet-based audience.

An Alex Jones writer named Kurt Nimmo has said that those struggling for independence from Russia may well replace the Lenin statues being toppled "with statues of the man who worked behind the scenes to overthrow the country's democratically elected government – billionaire globalist George Soros."

The so-called "democratically elected" government opened fire on peaceful protesters and had a plan to blame more violence on the freedom fighters. The Financial Times reported that captured documents demonstrated that "The operation would have used as a pretext an alleged plot by Right Sector, a radical wing of the protests, to engage in terrorist acts, setting off bombs at government buildings." Documents also showed that snipers who killed dozens of protesters came from Ukraine's "Omega" special forces.

The smear of the protesters as Soros puppets, from the Alex Jones crowd, is a deliberate exaggeration designed to take the focus away from the Obama administration's failure to confront Russia's designs on the region. As AIM has reported, Soros and his foundations are involved in literally dozens of countries around the world, including Ukraine, but there is no evidence he has had anything to do with the anti-communist revolution in the country. In fact, Soros has called capitalism the major "threat" to the world today and has been soft on socialist and communist regimes.

AIM has been exposing Soros and his operations long before Jones put his peculiar spin on the subject.

In fact, on the matter of legalizing marijuana and other dangerous drugs, Jones and Soros are in striking agreement.

For his part, in regard to Ukraine, Soros has declared, "I established the Renaissance Foundation in Ukraine in 1990 – before the country achieved independence. The foundation did not participate in the recent uprising, but it did serve as a defender of those targeted by official repression. The foundation is now ready to support Ukrainians' strongly felt desire to establish resilient democratic institutions (above all, an independent and professional judiciary). But Ukraine will need outside assistance that only the EU can provide: management expertise and access to markets."

The anti-communist sentiments of most of the protesters run counter to the Soros agenda and the "progressive" and even Marxist groups he funds in the U.S. and various parts of the world. While an agreement of some kind with the EU is perhaps inevitable, and definitely preferable to subservience to Russia, it is likely the case that many in Ukraine will want to avoid economic entanglement with the European socialist bureaucracy. Indeed, Ukraine can and should develop independently.

In Ukraine, the new government is so anti-communist that it is threatening to outlaw the Communist Party. The communists had supported Viktor Yanukovych because of his determination to "strengthen international ties with Russia and countries of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization," notes the U.S. Communist Party newspaper, People's World. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization includes Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Echoing Moscow, the Communist Party of Ukraine is now claiming the new government is run by Nazis and fascists.

In his commentary, Soros urges German Chancellor Angela Merkel to "reach out to President Vladimir Putin to ensure that Russia is a partner, not an opponent, in the Ukrainian renaissance," a curious suggestion considering Putin's threats to the country and his announced desire to reconstitute the Soviet empire and put Ukraine under Kremlin control. This comment demonstrates that, in the end, Soros wants to accommodate, not confront, Putin. That would be suicide for Ukraine.

In addition to Ron Paul, RT has featured the views of a Russian senator who claimed that Ukrainian freedom fighters sound like the Taliban, the group which harbored the 9/11 terrorist plotters in Afghanistan.

Interestingly, however, Mikhail Margelov, a member of Putin's United Russia Party, did not want to associate his government with Viktor Yanukovych, the Putin puppet overthrown in the revolution and now on the run.

RT asked him about the "2 billion dollars" already sent by Moscow to Ukraine.

This exchange ensued:

MM: That's a good question. I think when Mr. Yanukovych finally shows up, we shall ask that question.

RT: Well, no one really knows where he is, but since you keep bringing him up, what if he asks Russia for asylum?

MM: I know for sure, he is not in Russia.

RT: So, Russia will under no circumstances give him asylum?

MM: Well, I know for sure that he is not in Russia.

RT: What if he asks for an asylum in Russia?

MM: I will not invite him to my home.

The hands-off approach, which did, in fact, leave open the possibility of asylum for him in Russia, undoubtedly has something to do with the fact that Ukrainian media, including bloggers using YouTube videos, have gained access to and exposed his opulent presidential compound since his overthrow. As a result of the international attention, RT has even been forced to cover the corrupt practices and lifestyle of the pro-Russian former president.

"Pictures show a luxurious estate with a private zoo, exotic gardens, ships, and a garage full of Rolls Royces," RT noted. "The luxurious home is located in Mezhyhirya, Kiev region. The 140-hectare property had previously never been seen by the public; only family members and a small number of others have ever had the privilege of being invited inside. The compound has always been heavily secured with high walls and security personnel."

Ukrainian journalists have also visited the "forbidden palace" of former Ukrainian attorney general Victor Pshonka, where they discovered and took film and photos of gold, holy relics, ancient icons, and stolen masterpieces. One photo depicted Pshonka, now on the new government's wanted list, as a Roman Emperor. He apparently had a picture of a Roman Emperor photoshopped, replacing one head with his own.

© Cliff Kincaid