On July 10, 2019, an online edition Georgia and World released an article headlined „ტრამპის „ხელიხელ საგოგმანები“ მარგალიტები“ (Trump’s pearls to roll from hand to hand). According to the article, during the event marking the Day of Independence on July 4, the United States showed off old and rusty military equipment to demonstrate its force. The article also notes that this year the United States carried out special preparations to mark the event and showed off its military hardware in response to Russia’s military parade held on the Red Square in Moscow.
The article released by Georgia and World echoes the message box spread by Russian media outlets regarding the Day of Independence marked in the United States. The issue of “rusty tanks” and demonstration of force in response to Russia was covered by NTV on July 4 and Sputnik-Ossetia on July 6.
Georgia and World echoes the Kremlin message box, which aims at demonstrating Russia’s dominance over the U.S. military strength that has been part of the Kremlin propaganda for years. According to the 2019 Military Strength Index of Global Firepower, the United States is ranked 1 of 137 countries, dominating in terms of human resources, aviation and military-naval forces. Although Russia has more tanks than the United States, most of Russian tanks are outdated and less effective than American tanks.
On July 4, 2019, the United States marked the Day of Independence. A military parade was held at the Lincoln Memorial, where two M1A2 Abrams, known as the most powerful and successful tanks currently in active military service, were showed off. The event also included two Bradley fighting vehicles, M88A2 armed vehicle and military aircrafts, including Air Force One naval aircraft, six Blue Angel F-18, etc.
Demonstrating Russia’s dominance over the U.S. military strength has been part of the Kremlin propaganda for years, promoted by Russian pro-governmental media outlets. Over the past years, NTV, Channel One and other pro-Kremlin media outlets had been actively covering news stories about the dominance of Russian armament, bringing Russian aviation’s achievements in Syria as an example.
According to the 2019 Military Strength Index of Global Firepower, the United States is ranked 1 of 137 countries, dominating in terms of human resources, aviation and military-naval forces. Although Russia has more tanks than the United States, most of Russian tanks are outdated and less effective than American tanks.
The Kremlin propaganda messages about dominance of Russia’s military strength have been reflected in the public opinion poll conducted by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in December 2017. According to the poll, 41% of respondents consider Russia more powerful than the United States (36%) in terms of military strength.
Andrew Harnik
Myth Detector Lab
