Donald Trump. Photo: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
November 2024.
As part of the program Regional Initiative for combating disinformation “Western Balkans Combatting disinformation Center: Exposing malicious influences through fact-checking and Analytical Journalism“, we present you a new analysis of fake news and disinformation narratives.
Geopolitical expert: Trump must understand that the Russian armed forces are the strongest in the world
https://lat.rt.rs/svet/117150-tramp-amerika-ruska-vojska-najjaca/
Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential elections is the key news of November across global media. The newly elected 47th President of the United States has announced initially ambitious plans for domestic policy, as well as changes in U.S. foreign policy. During his campaign, Trump insisted that he would use the foreign policy position of the U.S. to end conflict hotspots around the world, including the war in Ukraine.
The public is familiar with Trump’s (unrealistic) statements claiming that he would “resolve the conflict in Ukraine on his first day in office,” but it is a fact that negotiations for a ceasefire and political solutions to the war between Ukraine and Russia are expected to take place in 2025. It is crucial to take into account the diametrically opposing interests of the actors and the balance of power on the ground and in international relations generally. Finnish professor Tuomas Malinen has provided an overall assessment in this regard, which has since been widely reported by pro-Russian media.
RT Balkans published a headline in the domestic public with the title “Geopolitical expert: Trump must understand that the Russian armed forces are the strongest in the world.” The mentioned media outlet quoted Malinen’s post on the social media platform X, in which he states that “the most important thing Donald Trump needs to understand about Ukraine is that the Russian military is no longer what it was before 2022.” RT further emphasized Malinen’s words, stating that now the Russian army is “probably the most efficient military force in the world.”
The Finnish expert’s claim that “the US/NATO no longer have the advantage and this must be taken into account” was particularly highlighted by RT. The rest of the article referenced data from the American magazine US News and World Report, which ranked the strongest armies in the world, placing the Russian military in first place, ahead of the U.S. and Israel, while the Ukrainian armed forces were ranked eighth.
While reporting the Finnish expert’s statement, RT exaggerated the observations, adding special interpretations in the headline, as Malinen did not explicitly claim that the Russian military, overall, is the strongest in the world. On the other hand, it is a fact that it is difficult to fully objectively consider all the parameters, and there are different methods and attempts to rank the armed forces globally. However, most rankings place the U.S. military at the top, as the most dominant military power in today’s international relations. An illustrative example is the index created annually by the specialized portal GlobalFirePower, which is frequently cited. According to this index, the United States has been the undisputed leader for over two decades, while the position of the Russian armed forces fluctuates. In the most recent 2024 report, Russia is ranked second.
Author: Igor Mirosavljević
