CCTV FOLLIES 2.19 SINO-RUSSIAN SKY: WHERE'S THE LIMIT?
CCTV has a Russian accent today -Russian tanks liberate what's left of Avdiivka -Russia is crushing it -Putin's veiled threats -Russia bombs away! -Rudskoy says NATO soldiers in Ukraine -Nalvalny who?
Russia rockets in the air, Russian rockets everywhere. The Sino-Russian “sky’s the limit” friendship declared by Putin and Xi is proceeding apace despite facing strong headwinds from the rest of the world and reality itself.
CCTV’s flagship news program has more news footage from Russia than China today.
The domestic news, appended at the end of this summary, is all words and no pictures. Of course, being a nation in the throes of a militant personality cult, there’s no doubting whose words we’re talking about, but for once the adulatory cult imagery and Xi photo albums are omitted and it’s just text on screen.
With the courageous Alexey Navalny lying dead in an Arctic prison and the US decrying Russian plans to go nuclear in space, CCTV shows Putin to be calm, unruffled and carrying on business as usual.
Given the horror inherent in Putin’s crimes against humanity, the decidedly pro- Russian slant to today’s news is rather more disconcerting than usual.
As the two-year anniversary of Russia’s “Special Military Operation” approaches, China’s flagship TV news program has yet to break its in-house taboo on the words “war” and “invasion,” let alone sanction Russia for its Putin-directed war of invasion.
The “sky’s the limit” friendship Xi declared for Putin at the Beijing Winter Olympics two years ago seems to have weathered well and stood the test of time.
Does China’s diplomacy know no decency?
CCTV does more than broadcast Kremlin-curated footage; it repeats the Kremlin party line hook, line and sinker on almost every conceivable issue. China’s CCTV has variously and repeatedly blamed current woes on NATO, the US, and Ukrainian Nazis. CCTV repeats Russian conspiratorial claims about secret US bio-labs in Ukraine and blames the US for “fanning the flames” and “fueling the conflict” that it euphemistically calls the “Ukraine situation.”
Today’s report includes no less than five stories from Russia, starting with Russian diplomatic intervention in the Palestine question, Russia’s “liberation” of Avdiivka in Ukraine, Russia’s putative dominance of the skies over Ukraine, Putin’s interview complaining about unfair European trade policy, and Russian military officer Sergey Rudskoy’s complaint that Ukraine’s war effort is run by NATO soldiers in disguise.
Putin’s interview segment was laced with his trademark mix of shameless pride and vaguely worded threats:
“Apparently, they were expecting that if they don’t take our gas, we will fall apart faster than they face irreversible processes. But irreversible processes are effectively starting to happen.”
Russia invites Mohammad Ibrahim Shtayyeh, Prime Minister of Palestine, to an important meeting in Moscow.
Russia takes control of bombed-out Avdiivka, including a chemical plant.
Pockets of resistance were crushed and annihilated.
(Aerial footage courtesy of Russian media footage)
The usual “Russia rules the skies” segment, courtesy of Russian Ministry of Defense.
Russian Defense Ministry images assert with consistent arrogance and bluster that Russia still rules the skies over Ukraine despite Ukraine claims of a hit.
Tank proudly bearing the Russian flag rumbling into what’s left of Ukraine’s Avdiivka.
Victorious Russia troops peer cautiously out of the tank turrets as they roll into town.
Another historic conquest under the Russian tricolor!
Russian general staff Colonel General Sergey Rudskoy says that NATO troops control multiple launch rocket systems and air defense systems in Ukraine.
To put Monday’s Russia-heavy report in perspective, a look at some excerpts of CCTV’s weekend coverage.
On February 18 CCTV’s evening news aired its classic borderless map of Ukraine with a marker on Avdiivka. Footage of battle-scarred buildings are complimented by a few recent shots of the hapless Ukraine resistance around Avdiivka.
(Russian Defense footage aired by CCTV on February 17 )
(back to February 19 Xinwen Lianbo)
“It’s so unfair!”
Putin complains about Europe not buying Russian gas, noting that Russia can sell to Asia instead…“first of all, of course, the People’s Republic of China.”
Putin says Gazprom will thrive and Europe will pay the price for sanctioning Russia.
Europe’s patently unfair policy designed to hinder Russian development has not worked. Instead Europe itself is faced with a drop in industrial competitiveness.
Russia is doing just fine and the whole nation is so proud of Gazprom.
Europe is fast losing its industrial competitiveness!
In other world news, the US is stricken with a new round of natural disasters as heavy rains and heavy flooding hit California.
And that’s it for today. Zai jian!
The top domestic news story of the day ran ten minutes, entirely composed of text:
It opens thusly…
Chairman Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China, Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the following remarks when presiding over the fourth meeting of the central commission for deepening overall reform of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee, which he heads.
For the full transcript, see Xinhua which has a lengthy, turgid report on the matter.
In other news, there’s more talk about Xi and his ideas, but we don’t see his face.
XI EXPOUNDS ON PARTY HISTORY:
The regulations point out the need to develop an accurate understanding of the underlying trends and defining features of the Communist Party of China’s history of evolution, correctly understand the major events, meetings, and figures in Party history, properly address the mistakes and setbacks that have occurred on the Party's path forward, resolutely oppose and resist historical nihilism, and make official history the consensus of the entire Party and society.
BACK TO WHERE THE DREAM STARTED….
Xi is an avid reader of Marx, of course, but did you know he’s also a master of China’s ancient classics? He makes many witty and relevant quotes based on classic allusions.
CCTV is proud to announce today’s in-depth program about how Xi has brought his concentrated brilliance to shine and bear fruitfully upon the whole of China.
The whopper run-on speech attributed to Xi and the expanded foreign news is as good a sign as any that the New Year’s holidays have drawn to a close!