The NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence (StratCom) is housed in the Latvian capital Riga, in a Soviet-era building behind the Ministry of Defence. The location is so ominously yet amusingly apt: NATO is bringing relations back to the spine-chilling days of the Cold War. A perfect setting that throws into stark relief the aims of this latest initiative: no doubt about it, it's war by ‘other means'.
The Independent quotes Elina Lange-Ionatamishvili, an expert at StratCom, one of the many Western voices complaining about Russia's alleged agenda:
"It's about expansion of Russian media abroad… and keeping Russian-speaking communities under one political umbrella so whenever you need to — for political or military reasons — you can just trigger the right sentiments in these societies."
The authorities in Latvia and other Baltic states with large Russian-speaking minorities say they are concerned that domestic audiences "are engrossed in the plot lines of slick soap operas on Russian TV channels".
Latvia, in particular, has gone on record as saying that it is threatened by Russian-speaking media. Not by Russophobia that permeates Latvian society, not by marches glorifying former Waffen SS troopers in the Baltic nation's capital. Nor the fact that 13 per cent of Latvia's population are discriminated against as non-citizens — mostly ethnic Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians. No, it is Russian newscasts and soap operas that are considered a threat.
Meanwhile, fear of the Russian narrative and a possible Ukraine-style 'intervention' into the Baltic countries is spreading. Lithuania, for instance, is publishing a 'war manual' in which it advises citizens on how to respond to a possible 'threat'. Lithuanians are urged to 'keep calm', however the manual also calls on citizens to launch cyber attacks and organise rallies opposing 'occupation' — or the lack thereof.
#Lithuania's now has a war manual to prepare citizens for a Russian invasion http://t.co/RiEaQonXxH pic.twitter.com/rs0nb00tDu
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) January 16, 2015
Independent Media?
The West's media effort is being spearheaded not only through NATO. In a separate development the Foreign Ministers of UK, Denmark, Lithuania and Estonia have warned that "Russia is rapidly increasing its disinformation and propaganda campaign", which allegedly seeks to secure support to "political and military aims of the Russian government".
In their letter to the EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, the four ministers — Linas Linkevicius, Philip Hammond, Martin Lidegaard and Keit Pentus-Rosimannus — called for "credible and competitive information alternatives for Russian-speaking populations and those using Russia's state-controlled media". But let's see what sort of response the West is actually looking for.
Elaborating on the four ministers' initiative Linas Linkevicius, the man behind the drive, talked about allowing people to get "alternative, free and impartial information. It should in no way be controlled by other ‘correct' administrations, as this would not be free information."
In the same breath the four ministers spearheading the initiative suggested encouraging "closer cooperation among EU media regulatory authorities". So no ‘correct' administrations, then, eh?
This line is further reiterated by the NATO StratCom expert Elina Lange-Ionatamishvili:
"The countries of the West are lagging behind Russia in this information [war] because of the lack of a single narrative."
A single narrative is what this drive is about. Not comprehensive and diverse information, not a variety of sources and points of view.
Crimea and the civil war in East Ukraine are or course invoked as evidence of Russia's generally aggressive intentions and as examples of how dangerous Russian media can be. This is a very different topic, of course, but one thing is hardly in doubt: the West's response in what it terms ‘information war' boils down to saddling audiences with a single NATO-approved narrative and pushing any alternative views out of the international media scene.
The term ‘information war' is officially no longer a figure of speech.
Will it be NATO generals swapping missiles for pens and cameras? Or pens and cameras turned into guns and missiles?
