I want to ask, do you even bother to read any newspapers that are not originally written in English?
The thing is, I've been to Russia so I got a firsthand view to see the just how false most of the news media in America spits out concerning Russia.
Do you ever listen to Putin speak? Then do you ever listen to the way the news twists his words after the fact? That alone should be enough to tell you what's what.
It's bothersome to waste time with someone, especially when they, in this case you, yourself know that you haven't done your due diligence.
What's also funny is your choice of selective conspiracy. Apparently Russia can conspire to keep their people blind, but America (the entire rest of the globe' - this is definitely not correct) could not do the same? So your reason for believing that your primary sources of news are true is not because it's factual but because you've heard it repeated many times? That's utterly stupid and you should be ashamed for even trying to lean on that reasoning for support. You can do better than that.
I think that you are truly scared to look behind the curtain. Actually, I know you are.
I'm not even posting from an English-speaking country, if that matters to you. And I've got Russian-speaking acquaintances who have cleared out major shyt for me on this.
As far as "selective conspiracy", Kremlin control of news in Russia isn't a conspiracy, it's a known, open fact. The Kremlin owns or controls all five major television stations, some of the most important radio stations and newspapers, and about 60% of distributed press overall. And they have closed down non-obedient stations whenever they want. They don't have the same freedom of speech laws, so journalists and even bloggers are in prison simply for posting news or even their mere opinions. Tens of thousands of websites are banned because they tell things Russia doesn't want the public to know. A large number of independent media have been forcibly closed or taken over by pro-active operators.
None of that requires "conspiracy". The fact that state-controlled media is dominant in Russia is a basic fact.
Of course, get to the 56 journalists murdered in the last twenty years for not toeing the State line, with most of those "umsolved"...
The American government doesn't own media. Rather than a single man on top, political control actually passes around. Freedom of press is in the Constitution. Stations aren't getting shut down for posting independent news, and journalists aren't getting killed/imprisoned left and right for reporting inconvenient facts.
Not to mention that we're talking way outside simply America, across most other global media as well. Everyone except Russians knew Russian soldiers were in Crimea. Everyone except Russians knows that the are Russians involved in the Ukraine war right now. Everyone except Russians knows that Russian-backed rebels shot down MH-17. And the economy sucks, journalists die, opposition politicians die, Putin elections are a joke, Chechnya was a mess and is still scary, Syria is just an excuse to keep Assad propped up and hold that base... No one in the globe doubts any of that unless they listen to Russian state media or really want to impress the people who do.
Find any independent organization in the world that rates American press freedom as lower than Russia, then get back to me.
yeah.. two oceans
Of course. With a navy as powerful as everyone else's combined to boot. It's idiocy to think of Russia or anyone else taking on America's military on American soil - they can't even get there.