Earlier this month, the US administration sounded the alarm on Russia's alleged attempts to sway the upcoming presidential election through fake accounts spreading propaganda and disinformation. In the US, the move is understood to be Russia's broader strategy to undermine American democracy, with US intelligence officials labelling Moscow as the "primary threat to elections".
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also investigating Iran's involvement in targeting the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. However, US officials assert that Russia is the more formidable foe, with a clear preference for Donald Trump as their candidate of choice. The US government has seized 32 internet domains connected to the influencers, who were allegedly paid by Moscow to spread fake news. It has also sanctioned 10 individuals and two entities allegedly linked to these efforts
Russia Facing Allegations Since 2016
This is the third consecutive presidential election in which American officials have accused Russia and President Vladimir Putin of attempting to influence outcomes. It was a huge issue during the 2016 election too. The FBI still lists 12 Russian military officers as "most wanted" for their role in hacking and meddling in that election. These officers, members of Russian military intelligence, were indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team in 2018. The indictments allege that they hacked Democratic Party emails and systems and leaked information to influence the election in favour of Donald Trump. Subsequently, hundreds of documents were leaked to Wikileaks. A federal arrest warrant was issued for these 12 officers after a grand jury in a US District Court found them responsible for conspiracy to interfere with the election. Their presence on the FBI's "most wanted" list underscores the ongoing tensions between the US and Russia regarding election interference and cyber-espionage.
Moscow has consistently refuted these allegations, with President Vladimir Putin personally denying the claims in various interviews and press conferences. Even Donald Trump came to Putin's defence, as he once told reporters, "He [Putin] said he didn't meddle. Every time he sees me he says, 'I didn't do that', and I really believe that when he tells me that he means it."
Western Hypocrisy
The Kremlin accuses the US and other Western powers of hypocrisy, citing numerous examples across decades in which America was accused of meddling in the elections of so many countries. Indeed, the West - particularly the US - has a long-standing track record of influencing elections, backing military coups, providing covert financial support and disseminating political propaganda in foreign countries to advance its own geopolitical interests. The Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) long history of alleged involvement in elections and regime changes in other countries is well-documented, with many declassified documents serving as evidence.
Prof Dov H. Levin's research for Carnegie-Mellon University involved looking at the election meddling by both the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He claims that both countries were found to have interfered in 117 elections between WWll and 2000; the US was involved in two-thirds of them. According to him, in more recent times, 21 election interventions took place between 1990 and 2000, of which 18 were by the US. The alleged meddling by the USSR (later Russia) remained shrouded in secrecy, while the US had been more transparent in some cases.
The declassified CIA documents highlight the role of US operations in the overthrow of Iran's Mohammed Mossadegh's government in 1953, Chile's Salvador Allende in 1973, and, more recently, its efforts towards regime changes in Venezuela as well as in Ukraine in 2014, when the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych's government was overthrown.
In the most recent example, Sheikh Hasina, after resigning from office on August 5 and fleeing the country, suggested that the US had a hand in her political downfall. This wasn't the first time she had made such claims - in 2022, she had accused the US of attempting to undermine her rule. Her allegations have been echoed by some non-Western leaders, who accuse the US and other powerful nations, such as France and Britain, of using their influence to destabilise their governments.
Propaganda And Fake News
The truth is that the ongoing allegations and counter-allegations of election interference are just one front in a larger information war between the West and Russia. It's a battle of narratives, with Western media largely backing the West and Russian media championing Putin's perspective. Interestingly, Russian media has historically been dismissed by the West because of the Kremlin''s tight control over it. But the Western media, long proud of its impartiality, faces accusations of spreading propaganda and even fake news to further Western interests. For example, a few weeks after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Western media carried fake news about Putin's health. It suggested Putin was suffering from a mystery illness and may not survive for long. All mainstream Western media carried this lie. And no apologies were offered when it was found to be unfounded.
Janusz Bugajski, a renowned expert on Eastern European and Russian affairs and author of many scholarly books, is a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, D.C. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Bugajski wrote a book titled Failed State: A Guide to Russia's Rupture. In that, he explored the potential disintegration of Russia. Last year, he told me that the Russian Federation's disintegration was inevitable. "I would say it would be a long process, a rolling process, it would be different in different parts of the country. I would say the war in Ukraine would certainly accelerate the process because you have an increasing number of casualties, particularly from poorer parts of Russia and particularly from ethnic parts of Russia who are usually discriminated against in Russia anyway," he said. Many in the West buy into his claim. Putin has often moaned about how the West was working to break up his country.
No One Is Equipped To Challenge Western Media's Dominance
In the ongoing information war, Russia appears to be at a disadvantage, with many believing it's already losing or will ultimately lose. This perspective is rooted in history, as Western media has consistently dominated the narrative, often to the detriment of regional media outlets.
Consider the example of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where Western media spread the now-infamous claim that Saddam Hussein possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Despite the lack of evidence, this narrative persisted, and regional media, including Al Jazeera Arabic (Al Jazeera English came into being in 2006), struggled to counter the misinformation.
This phenomenon isn't isolated to the Middle East. Dutch Investigative journalist Bette Dam, whose work focuses on Afghanistan and how the Western media reported on the conflict, argues that Western media often promotes war by presenting one-sided stories, failing to explore underlying reasons for conflicts.
During the Cold War, Western media played a key role in promoting narratives that aligned with its governments' anti-communist stances. Media outlets were used as instruments of soft power, designed to promote liberal democratic values and present the Soviet bloc as an ideological enemy. These strategies were openly acknowledged by governments, often justified as necessary to counter Soviet disinformation.
The West-East Flow
Historically, ever since professional journalism came into being, the flow of information and news has always happened from the West to the East. It is the Western media that consistently shapes the narrative and influences public opinion by setting the global agenda every day. Of course, there are now disruptions to this flow, but countering the Western media narrative has proven hard. This dominance was evident, say, in the difference in coverage of the January 2014 attacks in France and Nigeria, where the former received extensive international attention while the latter was largely overlooked. The Westernisation of media perpetuates cultural imperialism, spreading Western ideals and values.
Ultimately, many people, especially young, have lost trust in mainstream media and have been switching over to social platforms to get their news and other information, including about the latest allegations and counter-allegations for election meddling in the US. This erosion of trust should be a wake-up call for traditional Western media.
(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based senior Indian journalist with three decades of experience with the Western media)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author