Putin's Propaganda Machine Soft Power and Russian Foreign Policy [Hardcover]

The disinformation campaign that accompanied Russia's invasion of Ukraine was unprecedented in the post-Soviet era, provoking the US Department of State to assume the role of fact checker!? Beginning with Moscow's soft power campaign, which morphed into the Kremlin's information war, Van Herpen (director, Cicero Foundation, Maastricht and Paris) analyzes Russia's propaganda machine in terms of its tools and methods, effectiveness, and limitations.? Following a comprehensive account of the evolution of the Kremlin's use of domestic and foreign media, Van Herpen focuses on the role of the Russian Orthodox Church as a case study of Russia's secret weapon.? The last third of his book is an insightful analysis of the Kremlin's success, if not to entirely deceive, then to create confusion among Western countries generally but Germany in particular and France most recently.? He concludes with an inventory of Kremlin successes and failures.? Viewing the Russian propaganda machine as a crucial aspect of Moscow's reimperialization of the postSoviet space, Van Herpen argues that the West needs to stop tolerating Moscow's media presence.? It should also make?a greater?effort to counter Russian propaganda.? The book is strongly recommended to scholars as well as specialists on Russia and international affairs. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels except community college.Marcel Van Herpen has written a sobering book chronicling the exponential rise of Russias soft-power capabilities which, he argues, are much more effective than old-fashioned Soviet propaganda techniques, and whose negative implications for Western democracy the Euro-Atlantic community has been too slow to comprehend.A valuable resource when trying to understand the geopolitical developments between Russia and the West. . . .Van Herpens research puts together a convincing picture to help the reader understand the lengths to which Russia is willing to go with its propaganda abroad. Sl£]