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.
The Third World War becomes the “new normal”: Defending Western hegemony – until the end of days
The question of the future of the international order and the configuration of international relations is something that attracts the attention not only of the academic community and top state officials but also of the media and the broader public. In recent years, especially after Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the concept of a “multipolar world” has been extremely prevalent in the domestic Serbian public discourse.
Often, through leading pro-government but primarily pro-Russian media, discussions are held about the decline of Western dominance and/or hegemony and the potential rise of a multipolar world, where both Russia and China, along with other actors, will be important poles of power. While the transformation of international relations and the erosion of the postulates and pillars on which they were based for nearly three decades is an undeniable fact, these media often promote specific anti-Western narratives that emphasize the escalatory role of the so-called collective West – a term that has also been popularized in recent years – in efforts to prevent the emergence of a multipolar world.
In this context, the text published by the domestic Russian state news service Sputnik under the title “The Third World War becomes the ‘new normal’: Defending Western hegemony – until the end of days” is quite suggestive. The central claim of the text is that “the inability of the collective West to accept a new, multipolar world has led to a situation where preparations for World War III have become the new normal.”
Sputnik Serbia bases its argument on selectively chosen and interpreted examples from Scandinavian countries, which have shared regular guidelines with citizens in case of war and other potential threats, news about allegedly increased demand for so-called doomsday bunkers in the United States, or standard military reports from Germany, which for the first time now explicitly mention the Russian war threat. All of this is presented as evidence to support the claim that the population in the so-called collective West is preparing for (World War III), and that this is allegedly becoming the “new normal.” The text emphasizes that this situation is a result of a “transitional phase between the previous international relations and those yet to come… from a unipolar to a multipolar world.”
Sources in Sputnik Serbia state that instead of a world with absolute Western dominance, led by the United States, “serious global powers have emerged that present a serious challenge to the collective West and are aiming for a different world.” It continues by stating that “the key problem is that power relations have changed,” and that these changes lead to conflicts, as “the West refuses to relinquish hegemony.” Sputnik Serbia stresses in the article the alleged future dangers of regional and even global conflicts that the so-called collective West might “ignite” to “remain hegemonic.”
The article concludes by stating that the activities of these “Western centers of power” have not only international repercussions but also an internal function, which is reflected in the creation of a “war psychosis” in order to keep the current elites, predominantly liberal elites in Western Europe, in power.
Through this article, Sputnik Serbia echoes long-promoted anti-Western narratives about the manipulations of liberal Western elites and the aggressive policies of the U.S. and the EU on the international stage, aimed at preventing the creation of a “fair international order,” while disregarding the activities of other actors and their destabilizing role in different regions around the world, as well as Russia’s responsibility for imposing an aggressive war on the European continent.
Author: Igor Mirosavljević
