January 2023
As part of the program Regional Initiative to Combat Disinformation, we present you a new analyses of fake news and disinformation narratives.
AMERICAN POLITICIAN SHOCKED EVERYONE There is no way that Russia will lose this war, nor that Ukraine and NATO will win it
With the war in Ukraine approaching its one-year anniversary, one of the narratives presented in the Serbian media is that there is no chance that Ukraine will, with the help of Western allies (NATO, EU and USA), win the war against Russia, which is a nuclear power. One of the articles that fall into this narrative is an article on the portal of the daily newspaper Alo.rs, which conveys some parts of the author’s text of the American politician Geoffrey Young, a member of the American Democrats who does not hold any position in the current administration.
Alo conveys the tweet of American politician who wrote that Ukraine and NATO are still losing decisively, and Russia is still decisively winning. “This has been true from the beginning of March 2022 until today. There is no way Russia can lose this war and no way Ukraine and NATO can possibly win it,” Young believes.
The portal of this daily newspaper did not go into the details of the author’s article and the opinion of this American politician. However, in the text that Alo.rs refers to, Young comments on the news about the liberation of the city of Soledar. Furthermore, he criticizes the tactics of NATO and Ukrainian forces, recalling that at the beginning of the war, Ukrainian counterattacks involved several brigades, while now only smaller battalions are engaged in counterattacks. He believes that such engagements are pointless and ineffective both tactically and operationally.
In the article of the daily newspaper Alo.rs, it is not mentioned that this American politician criticizes the current actions of Ukraine, because he believes that there are more effective ways to fight against Russia, which announced a new large-scale offensives and whose further moves are unknown. Geoffrey Young presents his analysis of the military situation in Ukraine, focusing on the tactics and strategy of both sides and what effect the liberation of Soledar and Artemivsk (Bakhmut) by Russian forces has on the supply lines of Ukrainian forces.
The American politician in no way claims in his text that Russia is significantly stronger in the conflict, as the Alo.rs text implies. He only points to the tactical problems of Ukraine’s defense that could potentially be exploited by Russian forces.
This text reported by the Alo.rs portal is not fake news because the text refers to the opinion of an American politician. However, the text manipulates the facts and main points of the aforementioned author’s text, with a “clickbait” title that fits into the narrative that Russia is an invincible nuclear power, which is very present in the Serbian media. Also, the portal does not state that the American politician has no role in the current administration.