Media coverage of Putin's invasion of Ukraine and Russian public opinion

Ukraine’s Invasion

Ukraine’s Invasion

Some believe that Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine is a tremendous diplomatic strategy and will likely increase his global influence. Others are skeptical, as it appears that he has no good way out of this situation, and as a result, this situation scares them.

Research Background.

Public Opinion and Journalism

The media has been buzzing with the love that Putin’s actions are garnering from the Russian people. They see it; he is doing everything to make Russia great again. There is a clear message to those who dispute that: you have the right to your opinion, but Russia does not have to listen to you. Putin knows that his mission was to bring stability and prosperity back to Russia, and since he took office, one of his successes has been keeping food prices low and unemployment near zero. His approval ratings are astronomically high at the moment. So much so, there is a sense of frustration among many that he does what he does because he knows he has the country’s support. His actions speak for themselves.

Putin’s popularity in Russia is exponentially higher than Obama’s in the USA, Cameron’s in the UK, and Merkel’s in Germany and many other world leaders. Putin also knows that his mission is to restore Russia to its former glory as of the USSR and, eventually, world stature as an empire. And that isn’t going to happen without military force, i.e., war. Putin may not know that he is driven by a need to go to war as one of his top priorities. Keep in mind that he has at his disposal bombastic nationalism, fueled by decades of lying propaganda and opposition media being used in third world stories and morphed into reality (here’s an article showing how it happens). Therefore, the Russians are primed for war far better than even Germany during WWII. The average Russian person wants nothing more than for Putin to invade Ukraine, the USA, or the UK so their country can be great again. It doesn’t take much to provoke Putin if he thinks his honor is at stake. And in his mind, it is. And this led to the Invasion of Ukraine.

The New York Times and its audience.

The New York Times article “Putin Has No Good Way Out, and What Scares Me” has a pro-American tone. President Putin’s open support of Russian rebels fighting against Ukraine makes him a military aggressor (Not to mention his invasion of Crimea). It also makes Putin an existential threat to the stability of the U.S.-lead NATO alliance. The author THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN portrays this situation as hopeless, with no good choices on behalf of anyone involved. In addition, I suppose that the most significant issue here is that the times are being used as a boogeyman by people who wish to either reduce or eliminate democracy. Do they think that if the Times were to go away, there would be no need for human rights protections and democracy around the world or otherwise? Everything could be acceptable for all concerned because there would be no need for any oversight from outside sources.

The New York Times has always been a place for truth, for facts. Many people don’t like the truth. THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN’s article to be objective, it would have to reveal both sides of the argument so that the audience could develop an unbiased opinion on their own. Another way to read his article is that he believes there are only two sides to this issue: one hopes for a peaceful solution and Russia to exit Ukraine and for Ukraine and Russia to have good relations; the other wants war to continue until one side defeats the other side once and for all.

I see two possible scenarios where the New York Times might choose to publish an article like this. The first scenario would be to write an article with a pro-American tone; simultaneously, it would attempt to present both sides of the argument to make it seem as though both sides have equal merit.

The second scenario would be to write this article from a pro-Russian point of view; simultaneously, the paper would attempt to present both sides of the argument to make it seem like both sides have equal merit. The goal here is not to cause any side over another side; rather, if you read this article with unbiased eyes, you might come up with your own opinion about what is best for America and Ukraine. In this case, I think Friedman chose his opinions to provoke thought.

Hypothesis

In all the articles, Vladimir Putin has been unpredictable with his military interventions and Russia’s diplomatic intentions. He used the pretext of a popular uprising in Ukraine to intervene militarily on behalf of Russian-speaking ethnic Russian in Crimea. His forces have also supported insurgents fighting against Ukrainian national forces and civil society organizations in eastern Ukraine, where fighting is ongoing. Thus far, Putin has proved unable to secure a long-term political solution and has not established control over Ukraine or southeastern Europe. His foreign policy is incoherent and unpredictable, his diplomatic tactics are unclear, and he lacks credibility among his adversaries.

Public opinion

One of the many things that I noted from the public about this article “Putin Has No Good Way Out, and What Scares Me” is that it gives a brief history of three different leadership styles: autocrats, democrats, and tyrants. The author explains that Putin has been in power since and is ruled by fear. I understood that Putin is fearful as he sees himself surrounded by enemies in Ukraine or Syria and at home. The other I noted from the public is that they don’t agree that Putin takes part in a regime change strategy as some have suggested, but agrees with Friedman that speculation of doing so is plausible.

Methodology

Methods used for data collection came from the comments on the Twitter page and the articles “Putin Has No Good Way Out, and What Scares Me” and “I See Three Scenarios for How This War Ends” by Thomas L. Friedman. Measurements were based on the truth the data had as they were presented.

Expected contribution

Having a research question helps ensure you have been given enough time to read and think about each article by Thomas L. Friedman and has helped guide my reading of the literature. I have also found that answering questions help me write up long essays. By answering research questions, you can take what you learn from both sources and experiences and transform them into a cohesive argument for your argumentative essay, as Thomas L. Friedman did.

Expected challenges

You have to make sure that your sources are trustworthy and authoritative. You need to check all of the information carefully to be accurate and up-to-date from the Twitter pages, and they are true. You need to avoid using other people’s original work, words, or ideas without acknowledging them. In getting information from Twitter pages, sometimes a piece of information may be left out that is very important due to bias. It is common and can lead to the omission of important information.