When Propaganda Backfires: ‘Europeans Admire Putin, Rather Than Hate Him’

It looks like Western mainstream is on its way out now that its all-stops-out Russophobia has reached a scale where its swipes against Russia and, above all, its President Vladimir Putin, have started to backfire on its very authors, independent Italian journalist Giulietto Chiesa wrote in his column for Sputnik Italia.

A number of public opinion centers in the West register a growing degree of concern and discontent as the invisible army of western spin doctors is no longer able to intoxicate Europeans’ minds with their hate rhetoric about the Russian leader, whose growing popularity in the world is rendering useless all their efforts to discredit him, Giulietto Chiesa continued in an article carried by Sputnik Italia.

“It appears that more and more people in the West now begin to trust the information coming from the ‘other side.’ Just as Western media call Putin a potential aggressor, ordinary Europeans now tend to admire Putin, rather than hate him,” Chiesa emphasized.

More and more people in the West now acknowledge Russia’s decisive role in the destruction of Daesh terrorists in Iraq and Syria, which also contributed to the ongoing fight against terrorism in Europe itself.

“This means that Putin is a friend, not an enemy. None of the 'murder' charges brought against him have been proved and the oft-repeated mantra about the constant threat Russia allegedly poses to the Baltic countries and Poland now has little effect even on the people living in these countries and looks outright ridiculous to millions in Western Europe. Europeans feel no need for anti-Russian sanctions and many keep wondering why their leaders imposed them to the detriment of their countries’ own economic interests,” Giulietto Chiesa continued.

As prejudices give way to hard facts, all one can do is ramp up propaganda campaign, which often borders on persecution mania, like in the case of US Vice President Joe Biden, who accused Russia of trying to influence the outcome of the presidential elections in the United States.

“Well, this already looks like an own goal, showing America as a victim of hi-tech aggression by Russia. Charges like this simply hold no water especially when they come from a country that masterminded ‘color revolutions’ in a dozen countries,” Chiesa wrote.

“All social networks are American and favor the West, but even these are now spreading dissenting views. Add to these the RT and independent European minds and you will see the end of the longtime Western monopoly in the field of information and telecommunications.”

Aware of this, Western mainstream has decided to block the “Kremlin’s propaganda” by telling everyone that everything that is coming from “the other side” is sheer propaganda.

And also by gagging “enemy” channels of information through all kinds of technical, political, administrative and legal problems, by arresting “enemy” journalists (or killing them, like in Ukraine), by closing RT’s bank accounts in Britain and cancelling radio and  television broadcasts of “the Kremlin’s heresy.”

"What we see now is the introduction of censorship in the West, which has always been so proud of its freedom of speech and pluralism of opinions. The table has been turned now and competing ideas are making way for outright bans. We are also witnessing the emergence of the Orwellian Ministry of Truth where anyone who fails to fall into line must be stopped, sidelined and destroyed," Giulietto Chiesa wrote.

“This is the nature of the funerals we are partaking in now. The funerals of the very principles that made the West strong and which are now being discarded,” he added.