Rediscovering America’s Voice
Anne R. Pierce – The Washington Times
Ideas matter. They matter so much that they cause seismic shifts in history. Extremist ideas foster revolutionary fanatics so beholden to ideology that attempting to contain them can be like placing a Band-Aid on an open wound …
Words matter. They matter so much that enemies of freedom use words as weapons and rely upon propaganda to consolidate power …
The Voice of America is, literally and figuratively, as essential today as when Cold War presidents from Truman to Kennedy to Reagan relied upon it.
Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee Ed Royce is proposing legislation to reverse the post-Cold War “hollowing out” of the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. In an April 15 Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Mr. Royce noted that these services “helped Russians, Eastern Europeans and countless others shed tyranny by providing the truth about events in their own countries, and showed them a world outside the prison of Soviet propaganda.”
- VOA journalists shown working in the central programming services division of Voice of America in New York on Feb. 27, 1953. (AP Photo/John Rooney)
Taking the High Road in the Propaganda War
Josh Machleder – Foreign Policy
For Ukrainians and observers of the crisis, the Kremlin’s steady campaign of misinformation is a cause of serious concern. Michael Weiss and Peter Pomerantsev have convincingly argued that the Kremlin “weaponizes” information by disseminating outlandish lies, seeking to sow confusion and manipulate public opinion. Initiatives in Europe and the U.S. seek to counter the influence of RT, the well-funded Russian international TV channel that has proven a highly effective disseminator of Kremlin propaganda, with expanded Russian-language reporting from government-run broadcasters such as Voice of America.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Information recently announced plans to respond to RT’s international broadcasts with a channel they will call Ukraine Tomorrow. They also plan to combat Russia’s online trolling campaigns with its own “iArmy,” all on the ministry’s modest annual budget of $184,000. By comparison, RT’s 2015 budget is roughly $247 million.
If You Want to Arm Ukraine, Arm it with Economic Progress
Todd Wood – The Washington Times
In a rare moment of agreement with the Obama administration, I have never been in the camp that says the United States should overtly provide offensive arms to the Ukrainian government in its fight with Russia. To me, this is just not a well thought-out strategy. As someone who has visited Russia often, America arming Ukraine will just play into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy of making the United States the enemy.
So what should America do? Nothing? That’s not what I am saying. We are supposed to be an enlightened, smart people. So why not be really smart and cunning about this problem?