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Jed Anderson
Contributor

hile US Secretary of State John

Kerry was outraged at Russia's
refusal to condone military action
against Syria in September, many in
the United States breathed a sigh of
relief. American taxpayers, stressed
after 12 years of war and thousands
of dead soldiers, were hesitant to jump
into a civil war with no clear endgame.

The

In a strange reversal of the 2003
decision, the British Conservative-
dominated parliament voted against

a strike on Syria while Franée’s leftist
government stood shoulder-tésshoulder
with the United States ifsdjperting
punitive bombardment of Syria for the
Assad regime's alleged use of chemical
weapons on its own citizens.

How bombing Syria would ease

the suffering of its people or send

a message fo an already cornered
dictator remains unclear, yet Obama's
decision to shelve plans for a unilateral
strike on Syria came largely due to the
deft manquvering of Russian president

Vladimir Putin.

Putin's ncbasng ability to use soft
power on the global stage, presenting
Russian interests de rational and limiting
American influence, marks a shift in

the global power dynamie. Russia is
pouring money into its media in an
attempt to sway a global conversation
traditionally dominated by western
VOICES.

In an article.6y Benjamin Bidder in the
German publication Spiegel Online, he
explained héw the Russian government
has created an English language 24/7
news nétwork. Russia Today, also
known as RT, has offices in Washington,
DC. While American conservatives
fight to keep Al Jazeera English off
the airwaves, RT is already on the air
broadéasting Moscow's perspective of
news to. American audiences.

According t@ Spiegel Online, the
Russian government has increased
RT's budget from $3Q0smillion to over
$300 milion since 2005. The channel
employs over 2500 employees, with
100 in Washington alone. Putin has
forbidden his finance minister from
cutting the channel's budget. In effect,
the Russian government is building

its own version of BBC World News.
It is difficult to criticize the obvious
pro-Moscow spin of RT when it airs

alongside channels such as Fox News,
CNN, or MSNBC, each with their own

explicit biases.

Bidder explained that Russia decided
to boost RT’s funding atter Russia's
invasion of Georgia was portrayed
in such a negative light by CNN and
other western media sources. Its
legitimacy has been strengthened

in the eyes of some_Americans after
Larry King,jothed the pay roll. With a
pro-Moscow 24/7 news channel on
airwaves around the world, Russia is
ready to fight the long ps the

minds of citizens.

fpr
F,

Instead of firing shots over the bows
of American ships preparing fora
strike on Syria, Putin chosé to t USS
the press. On 11 September 2013, a

date which reminds Americans of the

“a

international security threats they face,
the New York Times printed a column
by Vladimir Putin. Under the title, “A
Plea for Caution from Russia,” Putin
used a conciliatory tone to pressure
American citizens not to support
intervention in Syria. Buried in his letter
were warnings and threats that the
United Nations would be rendered
illegitimate by US unilateral action, that
a strike would result in increased global
terrorism, that Iran might find new
reason fo seek nuclear weapons, and
that international law would become
illegitimate.

“It is alarming that military intervention
in internal conflicts in foreign countries
has become commonplace for the
United States. |s it in

America's long-term

interest? | doubt it.
Millions around the

world increasingly
see America not
as a model of
democracy but as
relying solely
on brute
foree,”
Putin

wrote.

With words, Putin managed fo paint
his government as peaceful and
conciliatory, while casting the United

- /

States in the guise of an unchecked
violent aggressor. "We must stop using
the language of force and return to
the path of civilized diplomatic and
political settlement,” Putin added.

Using a column to speak directly to

the American people is an interesting
tactic for Putin. Instead of threatening a
nuclear strike or a proxy war, he yrote
a column to speak directly tovthe fears,
concerns, and,epini6hs of the public.

In his column, Putin presents Russia

as a patient, caring nation. This is a
significant shift from the typical Western
media portrayal of Russia's government
as a cold calculating regime, bent on
shoring up allied dictatorships around
the world.

-
.

In his closing Paragraph, Putin casts

himself and Russia as Christian,

and breaks the image of a singular
American superpower. Using the
media, Putin resurrects a multipolar
world, “a,

lt is extremely dangerous to
encourage people to see themselves
as exceptional, whatever the
motivation. There are big countries
and small countries, rich and poor,
those with long democratic traditions
and those still finding their way to
democracy. Their policies differ, too.
We are all different, but when we ask
for the Lord's blessings, we must not
forget that God created us equally” he
writes. ‘

10

The Rise of Russian Soft Power

By telling Americans they are equals
with Russia and Syria, and that they
are not special, Putin is unraveling the
notion that the United States has an
obligation to spread democracy, even
by force, and to intervene wherever i
chooses in the world.

Although many expected China to be

the nation that would check the United
States’ international power, it appears
that it is Russia - the familiar adversary
of American influence.

While Putin claimed/he was writing in
the New York Times due to “a time of
insufficient communication between
our societies,” it is equally possible his
actions represent aishift in Russia's use
of power. Soft power, has traditionally
been one of the United States’
strongest weapons abroad. But with
the waning of its ecahomic clout and
the rise in global media options, a new
window has opened up for actors like
Russia which seek to shift opinions.

\ The pen, the television, the smartphone

- Moscow may have discovered that
these are often more powerful than
the sword. Whether Russia's growing
soft power will prove to be a positive
change remains to be seen. Hopefully
op-ed columns and television channels
will replaeé Bay of Pigs style standoffs
and international assassinations,
because for too long there has indeed
been ‘insufficient communication
between our

~ ™& societies.”

Meanwhile, Syria burns
and bleeds.