Whether in 2013, when Moscow successfully pressured the US not to launch an offensive against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, or in 2014, when Crimea reunited with Russia without any serious interference from the West, it is clear that in the world of media and PR Russian President Vladimir Putin "is without equal," Ronn Torossian, director of 5WPR PR agency, wrote in his article for Observer.
According to him, the US now is not prepared to face-off against the former Soviet Union.
"This Machiavellian genius is playing chess while America plays checkers," he wrote.
Comment: While stating Putin is 'Machiavellian' is completely off-base, it's true that America's playing some really bad checkers right now. But they've been lying so long their brains have obviously turned to mush:
US trying to score points: 'Jihadi John' hit by US drone strike, Pentagon says 'we're 99% sure we got him'
Recently, the US has been targeting RT, a Russian state-funded television network. David Kramer, a member of Senator John McCain's Institute for International Leadership, wrote an anti-Russian tirade entitled "The West should take on the Putin P.R. machine" in the Washington Post this week.
He advocated freezing RT's assets, having overlooked the fact that the network is not Russian state property.
He also confused RT with Rossiya Segodnya, a different and unrelated information agency, Torossian wrote.
"Mr. Kramer seeks to silence a critic by using prejudice and ignorance. He didn't bother checking his sights before he started shooting off his mouth. Facts matter in a war of words - particularly against a brilliant Russian opponent," the article read.
In her response to Kramer, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT, wrote: "Given that RT's property is not Russian state property, this (seizure) would be highly illegal... But why bother with facts or legality? When silencing RT and punishing Russia are at stake, anything goes."
"Ironically, calls to restrict RT often come from the same quarters that exalt the virtues of diversity and democracy. Now, they wish to silence a rare voice that dissents from their favored delineation," she continued.
Simonyan also explained that RT does not own any assets in the US.
"We predicted such a scenario and planned accordingly in advance," she stated in an interview with newspaper Izvestia.
"The simple, incontrovertible truth is that Mr. Putin has masterfully utilized the world's media in his rise to become Forbes' most powerful man in the world three years in a row," Torossian wrote. "President Obama rattles his saber; but Russia sends in tanks and warplanes."
"The American Emperor has no clothes, while Mr. Putin gallops about shirtless," he added.
Poor Misused Machiavelli - & Jesus Christ!
I agree with SOTT's addition of "While stating Putin is 'Machiavellian' is completely off-base" etc....
I could, but shall not, throw in many, many quotes from Machiavelli (from both "The Prince" and his "Discourses on Livy" - or such, as that latter work's name may be incorrect) where he comments on the best (bestest? :-) ) forms of government, as being representative, republican, et al. (He frankly come across as a Jeffersonian, yet pre-Jefferson.)
The best analogy that comes to mind is how Christ's name has been used in ways that are nothing save antitheses of what Christ taught, and yet "Onward 'Christian' Soldiers" still plays well at city hall.*
What Machiavelli wrote in The Prince" was provided as PRACTICAL and SPECIFIC advice to an acknowledged-as-omnipotent (as far as the already tortured, impoverished** and aware-that-he-was-lucky-to-be-alive Machiavelli was concerned) dictator. The phrase's modern 'meaning' is so far from what he wrote that even to this Western educated mind, it wonders about the role that The Reformation, Shakespeare, et al. still play in the negative aspersions nowadays inferred by the term "Machiavellian," and causes self to wonder if, perhaps, a translation error/ "untranslatable' phrase might be involved.
R.C.
*"Official" / Biblical story presumed here as true. (E.g., not going off on what the Council of Whoever / Whatever the Heck did or did not do or include, or exclude, circa 323? AD/CE- nor on issues of translation.)
** As relative to his former station.
RC