Russiagate Revisited: The Aftermath of a Hoax

NY : Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.

Academic editor: O. J. Boyd-Barrett, S. Marmura

This volume provides a comprehensive, scholarly re-examination of the events and developments collectively referred to as Russiagate. In 2016 a consensus emerged within American and British intelligence, political, and news media establishments that Russia was interfering in the United States federal election vis-à-vis an “influence campaign,” in support of the candidacy of Donald Trump. This narrative monopolized western media attention for over five years but has proven poorly founded in fact.  

Russiagate Revisited examines the authenticity of official Russiagate claims, the role of mainstream and alternative media as both observers of and participants in the drama, what Russiagate reveals about the state of mainstream journalism, the gambits of professional propagandists within a long-established campaign of demonization of Russia, how Russiagate narratives were perceived in Russia, and the grave implications - of both Russiagate and the decline of trust in public information - for sustainable western democracy. 

Chapters

The 2014 Ukraine Coup and the Demonization of Russia

Baysha O., , in: Russiagate Revisited: The Aftermath of a Hoax.: NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023. P. 225–247.

As is evident from statistical data, a worldwide collapse of positive attitudes toward Russia occurred in 2014—the year Russia annexed Crimea and supported rebels in eastern Ukraine who allegedly shot down the passenger plane MH17 using the Russian Buk missile system. As this chapter argues, an understanding of what happened in Ukraine in 2013–14 and ...

Added: July 31, 2023

Keywords: propaganda, political crisis, Donald Trump, conspiracy theories, electoral interference, Mueller Report, Russiagate