STATE MEDIA VILIFIES AMERICA, OFTEN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 MINSK 000173 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL BO SUBJECT: STATE MEDIA VILIFIES AMERICA, OFTEN REF: 05 MINSK 1538 Classified By: Classified by Ambassador George Krol for Reasons 1.4(B,D ) ¶1. (C) Summary: In recent months Belarusian state media has become increasingly venomous in its daily attacks against the U.S. and the West. Common themes include charges of espionage, of Western attempts to destabilize the country, and of attempts to overthrow the government in a forced "color" revolution. Comparisons between Nazi Germany and the U.S., which make the Nazis look good, are becoming more common. State media has even thrown out more bizarre charges, such as that the USG is behind the spread of SARS, bird flu and mad cow disease, and that the U.S. Embassy in Minsk is preparing to attack Belarus with nuclear weapons (a fuller compilation of state media attacks begins in para 7). Embassy Public Affairs staff agreed the volume of attacks is on the rise, but is no worse than in the 2001 elections. However, they noted that over the past year the state media has become much more vitriolic in its coverage of the West, and is more willing to depart fully from truth. The Presidential Administration actively guides such "reporting." End summary. Guide to State Media -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The main state media outlets involved in the propaganda campaign against the West, and the U.S. in particular, are: Belarusian Television (BT),the main state TV channel. Nationwide audience. ONT, the second state TV channel. Nationwide audience. 7 Dnei, paper of the pro-government Communist Party. Circulation 38,886. Sovietskaya Belarussia, the main state newspaper, founded by the Presidential Administration. Circulation 502,300. Respublika, founded by the Council of Ministers. Circulation 55,950. Vo Slavu Rodiny, the official paper of the Ministry of Defense. Circulation 24,441. Zvyazda, founded by the Council of Ministers. Circulation 41,059. -------------- How They Hate Us, Let's Count the Ways -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Poloff reviewed Belarusian state media reporting since January 1, and found that state TV and newspapers viciously attack America, and to a lesser extent other Western countries, on a daily basis. These attacks range from direct rebuttals of USG actions and statements, to paranoid claims the USG is funding a color revolution in Minsk, to the purely delusional, such as claims the USG is behind SARS, bird flu, and mad cow disease, or that the U.S. Embassy is preparing a nuclear strike against Belarus. Paranoid Self-Defense is the Best Offense -------------- ¶4. (SBU) In many cases, Belarusian state media begins with a kernel of truth from Western news and takes off running: --The U.S. military budget is rising because the Pentagon is planning new wars and revolutions. (Respublika, January 4); --Many Western journalists support Lukashenko and his policies. (Sovietskaya Belarussia, January 4); --The U.S. is suffering from severe social and political unrest, and will become a third world nation by 2015. (Vo Slavu Rodiny, January 10); --A secret CIA jail has been found in Ukraine. (BT, January 10); --The USG is spying on its citizens because it is afraid of MINSK 00000173 002 OF 005 growing discontent over Iraq. (Respublika, January 10); --Following a January press conference where Ambassador Krol discussed Belarus, several state media outlets went on the attack. Typical claims include: the Ambassador clearly does not know the Belarusian constitution or economy; he falsely claims to speak on behalf of the whole Western world; Secretary Rice condoned electoral falsification in Ukraine. SIPDIS (BT, January 11 and 17; Vo Slavu Rodiny, January 17); --The U.S. violates human rights by bombing countries; President Clinton issued a secret directive to destroy the former Soviet states; "The United States is implementing its satanic plan which brings us death, destruction, and poverty in the form of colored revolutions and coups;" the U.S. looks upon new democratic leaders as slaves; Clinton wanted to incite ethnic violence in Belarus; the Department of Homeland Security monitors all private correspondence, making Americans live in slavery; Bush views every American as another bin Laden. (BT, January 17); --Many high-level figures, including Al Gore, are rebelling against President Bush's "tyranny of power." (BT, January 18); --Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba have united into an "Axis of Good" to combat the U.S. in South America. (7 Dnei, January 19). --Information from abroad constitutes an attack. State media must counter this. (Lukashenko, quoted on all state TV channels, January 27); --American police regularly beat African-Americans. (BT, February 1); --Thousands protested outside Bush's State of the Union address; Hamas is not a terrorist organization; the U.S. economy is not the strongest in the world. (BT, February 2); --The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe issued a resolution on Belarus but ignored America's secret CIA jails because the EU is afraid of the U.S.. (Respublika, February 3); --Hollywood makes fake news stories for the Pentagon in exchange for cheap rental of military equipment. (Respublika, February 3); --The U.S. is raising its defense budget and cutting education funding, proving the USG is planning new wars and wants stupid soldiers. (BT, February 7); --The U.S. is facing a "massive collapse." (7 Dnei, February 9); --The USG has halted its educational exchanges with Belarus because they were not effective in misleading youth. (BT, February 14. Note: the GOB blocked students from participating in the FLEX program for high school in 2005). No Color Revolutions Here -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The GOB in particular tries to discredit democracy movements in Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia, portraying them as tools of the West. Any European country that supports democracy in Belarus is a pawn of the U.S. --Western attempts to support revolution during the presidential election will be unsuccessful. (Vo Slavu Rodiny, January 4); --The U.S. pays the Belarusian opposition to challenge Lukashenko (repeated daily, in all media outlets). In a twist on this theme, BT claimed the U.S. is trying to "save a few dollars" and is refusing to pay the opposition some of their promised money. (BT, January 9); --"Revolutionary countries such as Georgia and Ukraine cannot take a single step without guidance from Washington." (a common refrain, this quote from Respublika, January 9); --The U.S. and EU both want change in Belarus. The U.S. wants to follow "the Yugoslav path" while the EU wants to take "the Ukrainian path." This difference proves the U.S. and EU do not have the same policy to Belarus. (Sovietskaya Belarussia, January 11); MINSK 00000173 003 OF 005 --The opposition has received its money for the revolution from the U.S. and EU. (Respublika, January 17); --Poland wants to broadcast independent radio to Belarus with U.S. money as part of a U.S. plan for an orange revolution in Minsk. (Respublika, January 18); --The Belarusian opposition cannot unite because too many groups are competing for foreign grants. (Respublika, January 19). --"The drug usage level among Belarusian youth is higher, the closer they are to the opposition." (BT, January 23); --U.S. educational exchanges are propaganda tools meant to subvert Belarusian youth. (Vo Slavu Rodiny, January 25); --Opposition members are dropping out of the presidential campaign because they have nothing to offer the people. (Respublika, January 26); --The opposition are mercenaries; the West is funding street riots; foreign embassies are trying to destabilize Belarus. (Lukashenko, quoted on all state TV channels, January 30); --Opposition leaders are defrauding their supporters in order to keep Western grants for themselves. (Respublika, February 1); --The International Republican Institute is using Belarusian youth as "cannon fodder." (Zvyazda, February 7); --The International Republican Institute is working with radical youth groups to bring about revolution. The Fulbright program is designed to radicalize Belarusian youth. (Respublika, February 9). Western Diplomats, NGOs are Spies -------------- ¶6. (SBU) In another common theme, state media claims many foreign diplomats, particularly Americans and Poles, are spies. --U.S. diplomats are trying to overthrow the government, because they travel outside of Minsk to meet with people. (7 Dnei, January 19. This claim was often repeated in many state media outlets); --"It often happens that foreign embassies resort to spying, covering themselves with more decent types of activities." (BT and 7 Dnei, January 26); --Western NGOs, such as Freedom House and the American Councils for International Education (ACCELS) recruit youth to destabilize a country and for espionage. (BT and Sovietskaya Belarussia, January 27); --Foreign embassies use NGOs for espionage and to launder money. (BT, January 30); --Western embassies employee spies as diplomats/all human rights groups have been "bought" by the West. (BT, January 31); --As in Russia, the U.S. uses NGOs to destabilize countries. (BT, February 7); --The U.S. and other western countries (showing footage of the U.S., British and French ambassadors) are using their intelligence services (showing footage of Pol/Econ Chief) to dig up information to discredit Belarus internationally. (BT, February 8); --The State Department has hired Poland to help the U.S. Embassy destabilize Belarus. (Respublika, February 8); --The Polish Embassy is the headquarters for foreign spies trying to create scandals to discredit Belarus. (BT and ONT, February 8); --U.S. Embassy officers travel the country to guide the opposition and destabilize the country. (Respublika, February 8); --The USG pays Poland to conduct policies against Belarus. (7 Dnei, February 9). MINSK 00000173 004 OF 005 Nazi Comparisons -------------- ¶7. (SBU) In the past several years the GOB has occasionally compared the opposition to nationalist Nazi collaborators during WWII. In recent weeks, state media has expanded this comparison. --Western radio, such as VOA and Radio Liberty, are staffed by "former fascists and bloody revolutionaries." Several Radio Liberty staffers were named as having participated in Nazi atrocities. (7 Dnei, January 26); --The U.S. is a nation of killers/American leaders should be tried, as were the Nazis at Nuremberg, for starting wars "all over the world." (BT, February 3); --Angry veterans complain of U.S. pressure. Referring to current U.S. policy, the announcer said, "Hitler's ideas to bring a new world order didn't look too scary at first, but look how they ended." (BT, February 6); --The U.S. uses Nazi-style propaganda against Belarus, a country surrounded by neighbors "where SS soldiers are still honored and where NATO rules." (Respublika, February 10). The "Little Green Men" Category of Weirdness -------------- ¶8. (SBU) This category of truly bizarre and generally offensive accusations is mainly the purview of state newspaper Respublika, although BT television dips down to this level with frightening regularity. Typical examples of this sort of reporting include: --The USG used hypnosis to turn Gorbachev and Yeltsin into zombies in order to undermine the USSR. (Respublika, January 5); --The CIA initiated this winter's gas crisis between Ukraine and Russia to weaken Russia. (7 Dnei, January 5); --SARS, bird flu, and mad cow disease were created and are being spread by the USG to destroy European and Asian economies, which will be the pretext for U.S. invasion. (BT, January 10); --The EU created the "secret CIA jails" scandal to free EU territory of U.S. spies. (Respublika, January 11); --"The U.S. has become an open wound in the body of the Christian world. In that country, worshiping Satan has become an open cult." (BT, in a new series 'Spiritual War,' episode 'Empire of Satan,' February 6); --The U.S. Embassy is planning to attack Belarus, with conventional and nuclear weapons. The Embassy will refer to this bloodshed as "liberation from dictatorship." (BT, February 14). Frequency Same as in 2001, Vitriol Much Worse -------------- ¶9. (C) Poloff discussed the recent spate of state media attacks with three Embassy FSN Public Affairs Section (PAS) media analysts on February 10. They agreed that the number of media attacks was on the rise because of the March presidential elections, as well as a number of other recent events, namely the UK spy scandal in Russia, President Bush's State of the Union address, and accusations of secret CIA prisons in Europe. The group claimed that the volume of negative reporting was no worse than in the last presidential elections in 2001. However, over the past year Belarusian media has come to be as vitriolic as the Soviet media was during the height of the Cold War, willing to twist facts to bash the West. State television channel BT, state newspaper Respublika, and newspaper 7 Dnei are the most anti-American. State masthead newspaper Sovietskaya Belarussia, they claimed, attempts to be more respectable, but still covers Lukashenko's statements attacking the West. ¶10. (C) The PAS analysts claimed the Presidential Administration has regular meetings with state media officials where they give reporting guidance and taskings. The group pointed out that different state media organs regularly use the same key phrases and arguments, MINSK 00000173 005 OF 005 demonstrating they are all playing off a master plan. State media also follows Lukashenko's public statements closely. Whenever Lukashenko makes an accusation, state media reiterates it to "prove" what he says is true. As recent evidence, the FSNs mentioned that Belarusian state media is siding with the Muslim world against the West over the Danish cartoons. Claiming this goes against Belarusian national identity (which identifies itself with Europe, not the Middle East),the PAS group agreed the GOB ordered its media to defend its pariah state friends. ¶11. (C) The PAS group commented that since the GOB appointed new heads for the state TV channels (reftel) in late December, state TV has run several programs and commentaries accusing the West of vast conspiracies against the Slavic World. As part of this campaign, state media is comparing the West more frequently to Nazi Germany, and often claims NATO is preparing to attack Russia. The PAS analysts also argued that state media has targeted Ambassador Krol directly. Knowing Ambassador values his friendly contacts with many Belarusian veterans, state TV recently found several veterans to compare U.S. foreign policy with that of Nazi Germany. ¶12. (C) This group argued that, in their experience, state media employees generally feel no shame over such stories. One of the PAS FSNs was an announcer for a state TV morning show before being recently fired. He said that at state TV there is a core of true Lukashenko believers. The rest of the staff is either cynical older employees wanting to keep their jobs, or recent young hires from journalism school. (Comment: Poloffs have recently noticed that most state TV reporters at events and on air are very young. The experienced and professional reporters from a year ago can no longer be found.) Comment -------------- ¶13. (C) Lukashenko needs an external enemy to detract from internal problems and shore up his own support. The U.S. remains public enemy #1, but EU countries, Ukraine and Georgia are all victims of the regime's smear campaign. Post expects the level of media attacks to drop somewhat after the election, but a steady stream of false accusations and outrageous and offensive reporting about the U.S. and its policies will likely remain. While most Belarusians claim to distrust state media, Post has seen evidence that this flood of negative reporting is swaying the opinions of the Belarusian people against the West, even among some with exposure to Europe and the United States. Moreover, in the absence of objective information about the West and their own country, Belarusians have nothing but the state media upon which to build their worldview. End comment. Krol