Media and political affairs experts spoke on the radio about the margins and currents resulted by the Iranian President's visit to Moscow, the causes and factors, and considered cooperation with Russia as a way to circumvent the sanctions.
According to Radio Goftogoo news site; "Waves of Doubt" program interviewed Dr. Mohammad Esmaili, the political and media expert, Dr. Mehdi Meshkini, political director of Tasnim News Agency and senior expert in social and media relations, and Seyed Ali Darabi, the IRI TV correspondent in Moscow regarding the targeted media attacks on our President's visit to Russia.
*** As we know, Hojjatoleslam Ra'isi's visit toMoscow has been accompanied by margins and media flow. How was the media coverage of this event in Russia?
Darabi: The media focused on the President's visit in a vast and even complex way. Two months ago, when Vladimir Putin raised the issue of President Ra'isi's visit at the beginning of the year, various media outlets were formed, and the Western media tried to influence this visit. As the time for the president's visit approached, the activity of these networks increased and the destruction intensified. The discrepancy between what the enemy media claimed and what actually happened was quite obvious to the reporters who were on the scene and could see the reality.
The content of the meeting published by the enemy media was more than speculation: fake news and creating a media atmosphere to convince the Iranian people that the president's visit to Moscow was insignificant and would not be successful. One of the goals pursued by the enemy media was to indicate that Iran is dependent on Russia and to strengthen Russophobia in society. While what happened in Moscow was a historic visit for both countries, and that's because the regional conditions are such that Iran and Russia can work together to strengthen unilateralism. The facts were clearly presented in the Russian and fair media, and in the face of the opposition and counter-revolutionary media, they tried to influence public opinion.
***Why did President Ra'isi's visit to Russia attract so much attention by the enemy media, and what is the reason for all these reactivity and attacks?
Ismaili: The opposition media's orientation towards this issue is commendable. The more they try to destroy, the clearer the importance of this visit, and the more it benefits us. In fact, this stumbling block of the enemy indicates that this visit is of excessive significance and broad dimensions that require a high cost and energy for destruction.
The region is experiencing a new approach in international relations, which is to move beyond unilateralism towards multilateralism. In other words, through this visit, preparations were made for a great alliance which is definitely not to the benefit of the Western bloc. If this alliance is formed and events such as the SCO Agreement, Erosia, etc., which are happening one after another, move forward, the hegemony of the West is to be broken and our media should pay more attention to this pleasant event.
***The most important issue that prevailed in the enemy and foreign media was the way the two presidents were welcomed and negotiated in Russia. As a reporter who was then present in Moscow, how do you assess this issue?
Darabi: At the beginning of the president's arrival, one of the main media attacks was "Why a minister was sent to greet President Ra'isi, and that with this behavior, the Iranian nation was humiliated at the Russian airport. They emphasized that one of the Russian ministers had greeted Dr. Ra'isi, while according to Russia's protocols, a deputy foreign minister usually and not Putin goes to the airport to greet high-ranking officials, including the president. Putin never appears at the airport. Similarly, the Russian President was welcomed by an Iranian minister when he arrived in Iran, and on all three previous occasions that Putin has visited Iran, our president has not been present at the airport. Despite Russia's protocol, due to the special respect that Russian officials had for the Iranian President, the Deputy Minister of Energy, who is also the head of the Iran-Russia Joint Economic Commission, was replaced by the Deputy Foreign Minister and a number of officials. They sent a welcome and the program was quite appropriate.
One of the issues raised by the enemy media was about the negotiating table of the two presidents. Huge attacks were made about the dimensions of this table, and the question arose as to why the negotiating table was that big and caused a distance between the two presidents. While the way the presidents were placed on both sides of the table was like scales and indicated the balance of the two countries. If we look at the photos of Vladimir Putin's meeting with the officials of other countries, understand that Putin's place of sitting is close to the wall and the guest's seat, which shows a state of solidarity for the Russian President. But in this case, the mode indicated equal conditions.
On the other hand, the issue of the Corona epidemic caused the two presidents to observe a certain distance, because according to reports released prior to President Ra'isi's visit, the outbreak of the virus in Russia is extremely worrying and nearly a hundred people die every day. The number of patients has reached more than 60,000. In such circumstances, this meeting lasted for more than 3 hours and various issues were raised, from bilateral relations to regional and international changes. Unfortunately, some media and networks are not aware of the important contents of this meeting, or they pretend to be ignorant. If we pay attention to the photos and the 20-minute report broadcast on the RT network, we find that Putin's behavior, manner of speaking, and respectful literature toward the Iranian president are clearly indicative of the dignity of the Iranian people. On the other hand, if we look at the programs produced by foreign media, it seems that they did not pay any attention to the meeting and its important issues, and did not even pay attention to these 20 minutes.
The next significant issue raised by the opposition media was Russo-phobia. They followed this scenario right after President Ra'isi's arrival in Moscow and expanded it to his to meeting with the Russian president, attending the Duma, and other meetings, including with academics and Iranians living in Russia. They were looking for an image, words, etc. in order to raise the Russo-phobia and humiliation of the Iranians and to suggest that Iran has fallen short of Russia and bowed its head.
The counter-revolutionary media tried to link the situation in Tsarist Russia to today and say that this is the Russia that wants to devour everything and bring Iran to its knees, while we all know that this country, since the time of the Tsar to the Soviet Union and then the formation of modern Russia and Putin's coming to power has had many ups and downs and changes.
*** What you are saying is that the negotiations were conducted with full respect and were of great success, and it was so comprehensive and complete that it ended with Mr. Ra'isi praying.
Darabi: The meeting started at 3 pm (by the local time), and since the Russian President knew that President Ra'isi was to pray on time, and despite the fact that the negotiations were not over, he told Mr. Ra'isi to perform his prayers and others were waiting until the end of the his prayers, and negotiations continued afterwards.
*** What is the most important goal pursued by the enemy media in ruining the president's visit to Moscow? And if our President traveled to a Western country, would he face this attack?
Mehdi Meshkini: The main problem in our country is that some groups are excessively influenced by the West. Prior to Mr. Ra'isi's visit to Moscow, I had an interview with Kazem Jalali, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow, and his concern was that some individuals would magnify trivial and insignificant matters and so that the achievements of this trip would be ignored. Unfortunately, there are people in our country who agree with the West at any conditions and at any president's time, and except for a few European countries and the United States, they as all approaches as negative. In the past, the president's visit to a third-level European country was magnified, but the crucial visit of President Ra'isi to a country like Russia which took place in Corona situation, the conclusion of a trade deal that frees the $ 10 billion credit line, and for that the first time in a long period, a president addresses the Duma etc., all become insignificant. Many people are worried that Iran's relations with Russia and China will replace the Vienna talks and that Iran will not need the West and their talks. We can use the powers of the East to increase oil exports, conduct our own financial transactions, and circumvent sanctions. All these are naturally to the detriment of those who only believe in the West support and know no other way but to negotiate and agree with them, and they naturally attack this visit. In fact, all the criticism and attacks against trivial matters such as the welcome protocol, the negotiating table, etc. show that this visit is not welcomed by the Westerners.
Who is behind this current and media controversy?
Ismaili: The United States considers itself the god of the global village, does its best to blur the relations between the countries, and as soon as the slightest connection is established between the two countries, it starts to get cautious. The same thing happened with the Iranian President's visit to Russia, and if it had been to China, the same thing would have happened again. The enemy does its job and all its analyzes and media productions are logical and based on the rules of the game and enmity with Iran, but what is unfortunate and unacceptable are the people who play in the enemy's field, that is, those writers, analysts and the directors of the domestic media who, instead of rejoicing and encouraging the establishment of a strong connection and open commercial atmosphere, display their hatred and resentment with all their might under the cover of logical and diplomatic analysis or fuss.
All these currents are related to the idea of "post-colonialism", that is, colonialism entered a new period, and the power seekers, instead of campaigning and trying to change the rulers, train individuals to speak to the people and advocate their ideas. The West supporters in Iran became agents of post-colonialism, pursuing exactly what the colonialists want and seeking the smallest loophole to connect with the West. While our cultural affinity and economic opportunities with the East are far greater than those with the West. Therefore, as the government of President Ra'isi has undertaken, we have to seek to develop relations with the East.
Since Iran and Russia are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, how can economic exchanges and the lifting of sanctions be promoted through relations between the two countries?
Meshkini: The region of Eurosia or the Caucasus has great economic potentials. Through our vast borders, we can export domestically produced goods to Russia at reasonable prices and meet our needs in the field of parent industries through Russia. Basically, our relationship with Russia creates a new platform for our economy. In some cases, we need a specific system that we can supply from Russia to circumvent sanctions, and Mr. Putin made it clear that he will work with Iran in this regard.
The general assessment of this visit is that the Russian President has great confidence in President Ra'isi and his government, and that the concerns that China and Russia had about some pro-Western supporters in Iran have been resolved, and the concerns that have been raised in the past through the wrong signals by the senior officials in the former government sent to the East have been eliminated, and they're now confident that Iran's agreement with the two countries will not be humiliated. When these powerful governments see Iran's determination to improve relations, they enter the field more seriously. Iran and Russia have worked together to defeat the United States in Syria, so if the same cooperation is formed on a large scale and in the economic field, US sanctions will certainly not work.
What media techniques were used to streamline the President's visit to Russia?
Meshkini: In a minimal study of domestic and foreign media coverings of President Ra'isi's visit, we'll see different approaches. The line followed by CNN and AP focused entirely on highlighting Iran-Russia relations with a focus on Orientalism or anti-Westernism. They stated that this orientation of Iran is in conflict with the slogan of "neither East nor West", and they do not see any way other than negotiation as for Iran.
The "big lie" technique was one of the ways the media were controversial about this visit. For example, things were said about the terms of the talks between Putin and our President that were not mentioned at all. Another lie was that President Ra'isi would buy a large number of Russian fighters, and when Mr. Ra'isi returned without them, they argued that negotiations had failed. In fact, they told a lie to use it to make the visit worthless.
*** Why don't the opposition media talk about the betrayal of Iran by the West, since the time of overthrowing Mossadegh government to the imposed war and sanctions? What is the duty of the domestic media in this regard?
Ismaili: Certainly these media never harm themselves. If we look at the bitter events of the last hundred years, from the nationalization of the oil industry to the constitutional revolution and the tobacco uprising, we see traces of a compromise line. The line of compromise is continuous and has its roots in our history, and one of the tasks of the media is to introduce the line of compromise to the people. In fact, this line has continued to this day and will continue to exist in the future. The media have to
We should make clear to people the nature of individuals, elements, and positions in order to enter the analysis with a deeper insight. The proliferation of media and social networks and media may cause people to become mentally disturbed, and when people are bombarded with messages, the responsibility of the internal media becomes heavier.
The media should also explain the East potentials to the people. Russia's annual imports are close to $ 270 billion. If we supply one percent of it, we will have significant trade. People will know how easily, with less costs and facilities they can communicate well and effectively, and they will distinguish between friends and foes.
By Zahra Jahanbakhsh
