RT's global reach makes it an enemy in the eyes of the West, historian Alexander Markovics said
The latest US sanctions against RT are a panicked reaction to the weakening Western control over the narrative in the global news arena, according to Alexander Markovics, director of the Suworow Institute in Vienna.
The Austrian historian and publicist spoke to RT in an interview on Friday, just hours after the US announced it had sanctioned the news organisation. James Rubin, the State Department's head of propaganda and intelligence, accused RT earlier in the day of hampering support for Ukraine around the world.
“One of the reasons… why much of the world has not supported Ukraine as fully as one might expect… is because of RT’s broad reach,” Rubin said.
Markovics said that the United States accuses Russia of what Washington itself is doing: “spread propaganda and disinformation” worldwide. Meanwhile, RT offers people in Europe, Africa and Latin America “a second opinion.”
“If you only listened to European and American news about the war in Ukraine, you would believe that Ukraine is winning and that sooner or later Russia will collapse under the weight of Western sanctions.” said.
Markovics believes the latest crackdown on RT is “just a panic reaction” driven by the West's fear of “lose the game.”
It is losing the information war game, and that is why it is censoring any kind of opposition that is still available.
“RT, with its wide global reach, is seen as an enemy by Western propaganda,” he added.
Markovics dismissed the claim that Western media better serve democracy than their Russian counterparts, noting that American media have been caught lying repeatedly. He cited false claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which led to the deaths of more than a million people during the US-led invasion of the country. “They lied about Afghanistan, they lied about Libya; their actions led to the deaths of millions of people.”
The different message that RT offers resonates in the Global South, Markovics said. Many people in Africa and Latin America “appreciate this variety and difference in the news,” Without which they would be subject to the Western media monopoly, he added.
Watch the full interview here:
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