The Golden Script of TV Novosti

I'm not amongst the crowd that is overly concerned about Russia's resumption of nuclear bomber flights along Cold War patterns. When it comes right down it to it, if Russia hasn't figured out the soft power it wields over Europe now is greater than the nuclear power it flaunted not so long ago, then they are further off base than one thinks. I'm far more concerned over nukes being flown over the United States, for whatever reason. Whether you buy it's a domestic feint at Iran, or a fuckup of colossal proportions doesn't much matter.
Nonetheless, I couldn't help but be struck by what seemed to be an inordinate amount of reporting on Russia in the Daily News, the English language paper distributed by the International Herald Tribune in conjunction with the Daily Star of Lebanon.
The first tidbit gleaned from the ongoing coverage of Syria's now seemingly credible-looking allegations of incursions by the Israeli Air Force discussed the possibility of a Russian military base in the north of Syria. This came up in quotes came from American University Professor Walid Kazziha, who postulated that this posturing by Israel might contain something of a message about the Russian role in Syria. It wasn't clear however whether the military base would be simply Russian constructed and then used and maintained by the Syrians, or whether the base would actually house Russian soldiers. This later option doesn't appear to make much sense, but Russian military thinking does appear to have changed of late. Israel has been completely silent on the matter, leading to much speculation amongst observers domestically within Israel and abroad.
The second interesting bit of information in the Daily News is in regards to a newly launched satellite television channel “Al Russiya al-Youm” or Russia Today. This channel is designed to mirror the success of a parallel English language channel on Russia. Russiya al-Youm is no minor undertaking, employing more than 500 people, and purportedly drawing its correspondents from local sources. It is interesting to see this kind of expansion of foreign correspondents at a time when US media sources, particularly papers are scaling back foreign coverage. The Egyptian correspondent is a well known veteran reporter who has worked for papers like al-Ahram, which if I understand correctly is the leading daily mouthpiece of the Egyptian government. .
The statements by Sergey Frolov, the director of the parent company that controls Rusiya al-Youm make it clear that it is little more than a thinly veiled propaganda push. Citing Russia's strong ties to the Middle East, he goes on to explain that this is a chance for Russia to explain its policies and international developments to the Arab world. The question though is to what purpose, and to whom the explanations are targeted. Television news consumers are of course not policy makers.
As for TV-Novosti, they are listed as an autonomous nonprofit organization, and were founded by the Russian media giant RIA-Novosti. RIA-Novosti just so happens to be a state news agency. RIA-Novosti has its history rooted in Soviet Information Bureau, all the way back in 1941.
Connecting the dots, it makes this all look like a pretty substantial propaganda push by the Russian government into the Middle East market. Given its current soft-power control of gas resources over Europe, could this be a Russian push to create sympathy amongst the people of the Middle East in preparation for a future diplomatic push? It is possible, given the role Russia is taking in APEC. Not surprisingly the Russian ambassador to Egypt was on hand in Egypt to the channel's official launch. Also worth noting that Russia has been on a diplomatic push in Jordan, as noted by Petra, the official news agency in Jordan.
Interesting developments. We'll see where it goes. I wonder what position Russia will be able to take, given that Jordan, Egypt, and to some debatable extent, Saudi Arabia too, are client states of the United States. The extension into Syria in that regard makes sense, but it would seem like it might be difficult to make diplomatic inroads, unless the oil card is played heavily by Russia. Perhaps if they present themselves as the more logical allies than the United States then they could have some success.