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State Dept asks for budget to counter RT

RT | February 26, 2015

Citing RT’s influence, Secretary of State John Kerry asked US lawmakers for more money for propaganda and “democracy promotion” programs around the world.

“Russia Today (sic) can be heard in English, do we have an equivalent that can be heard in Russian? It’s a pretty expensive proposition. They are spending huge amounts of money,” Kerry said in the course of the budget hearing on Wednesday, apparently forgetting that Voice of America has been broadcasting in Russian since 1947.

Representative Ed Royce (R-CA), chairing the House Foreign Affairs Committee, opened the hearing with the allegation that “Russia’s military aggression is matched only by its propaganda.”

To Kerry’s approval, Royce went on to claim that “Russia is spending more than $500 million annually to mislead audiences, sow divisions, and push conspiracy out over RT television.”

Royce’s remarks echo the claim made by Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) chief Andrew Lack last month, when he listed “Russia Today” (sic) in the same breath as ISIS and Boko Haram as one of the challenges facing his agency.

In reality, RT’s budget for 2015 is less than half the amount cited by Representative Royce – $225 million, according to the current exchange rate, or 13.85 billion rubles. By contrast, the US government media receives $721 million. The BBC World Service, which complained about RT “winning the information war” in January, is funded to the tune of $375 million a year.

In the budget proposal submitted by Kerry, the Department of State is asking for “$639 million to help our friends in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova as they seek to strengthen their democracies, withstand pressure from Russia, and to integrate more closely into Europe.” [PDF] Washington is also requesting over $2 billion – described as “a significant increase” – for “democracy, human rights, and governance programs.”

Read more: More money, more problems?

February 25, 2015 - Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering | ,

4 Comments »

  1. With no video how can they beet out RT with videos to back up their statements, no matter the dollars thrown at it.

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    richard123456columbia's avatar Comment by richard123456columbia | February 25, 2015 | Reply

  2. Every day, I see the ravages of America’s elitist education system on its society. Who advises these politicians. Why do the policy makers think that the way to solve a problem is to throw more money at it. Look at how America decided to fight terrorism, not by solving its problems of poverty and wealth accumulation but to throw more money at its military complex. In order to solve what it perceived as dissent, it gutted the curriculum of its schools, dumbing down its population and putting education out of the reach of the masses. Today now, it has a literacy problem and believe that the problem can be solved through a propaganda war, that is, throw more lies at the population

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    ribeekah's avatar Comment by ribeekah | February 25, 2015 | Reply

  3. I’m very glad to have RT, which gives me information instead of public-relations material.

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    traducteur's avatar Comment by traducteur | February 26, 2015 | Reply

  4. The world has seen enough propaganda coming from governments and media and the horrific consequences. Leaders must become forced to speak only the truth backed up with credible evidence.

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    Jerry Alatalo's avatar Comment by Jerry "Peacemaker" | February 26, 2015 | Reply


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