https://sputniknews.in/20250521/yes-you-can-win-information-wars-the-remarkable-story-of-russia-and-malaysia-growing-closer-9170885.html
Yes, You Can Win Information Wars: The Remarkable Story of Russia and Malaysia Growing Closer
Yes, You Can Win Information Wars: The Remarkable Story of Russia and Malaysia Growing Closer
Sputnik India
You are most certainly acquainted with that incongruous reality, when one and the same event, especially a conflict, is been portrayed in two completely... 21.05.2025, Sputnik India
2025-05-21T16:56+0530
2025-05-21T16:56+0530
2025-05-21T16:56+0530
world news
vladimir putin
malaysia
russia
moscow
defense sector
ministry of defence (mod)
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Simply speaking, the people here and there seem to live in two totally different worlds, if not universes, the worlds with different sets of facts and convictions.Sounds familiar, right? And it’s frustrating like hell. We call that thing, as described above, information wars. But you can win such wars, and nothing proves it better than the recent visit of the Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim to Moscow.The story is truly spectacular, if you keep in mind that Russia was supposed to be blamed for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014, in which 43 Malaysians (all in all, 298 people) lost their lives. That happened over East Ukraine, known as Donbass, where a civil war erupted due to Kiev’s decision to launch a massive military operation against the Eastern part of Ukraine, that had previously seceded due to the coup of 2014 in Kiev.Flight MH17, carrying mostly Dutch and Australian passengers to Europe, have been shot down by a missile and crushed in the fields of Donbass. Russia was designated guilty almost before the plane hit the ground. Several versions of the catastrophe have been listed one after another. One blamed the Ukrainian rebels of the East, aided by the Russian volunteers. Another painted a dramatic story of a big Russian BUK missile, transported from the Russian territory secretly over hundreds of miles to waylay West Ukrainian transport planes, carrying troops to the East. There were other versions, too, with blame inevitably laid on Moscow, directly or not.And now for my shocking statement about the net result of that information war. This is it: downing of the Malaysian liner has, gradually and inexorably, brought together not only governments, but also societies of Russia and Malaysia.Let us look at the results of that recent visit of the Prime Minister Anwar to Moscow. “We have now embarked on collaboration in trade, investment, in digital, in energy transition, food, technology, even nuclear, military”, Anwar said before starting the talks with Vladimir Putin in Kremlin.He also added that he invited the Russian leader to attend the East Asia Summit, which will be hosted by Malaysia later this year. “I can assure you that your presence in Malaysia would be a major breakthrough, not only in our bilateral relationship, but also for the region, because I believe many people in this part of the world have great respect for, and high expectations of your leadership,” Anwar said.Against the background of trade turnover going up, the Malaysian media tells us that the visit marked a shift in how Malaysia positions itself in a post-pandemic world shaped by fractured supply chains, energy insecurity, and shifting geopolitical alliances. As Malaysia continues to uphold its principle of non-alignment, its strategic outreach to Russia demonstrates a confident pivot towards diversified cooperation… For Malaysia, this relationship offers not just trade possibilities, but access to a complementary industrial base especially in high-tech manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI), and agritech. Initiatives such as the proposed Malaysia-Russia Innovation Council, the Halal Excellence Certification Corridor, and alternative trade mechanisms (including digital currencies or barter systems) to bypass sanctions are examples of the imaginative, real-world problem-solving Malaysia is advocating internationally.Regarding the MH 17 case, the Prime Minister said that “Malaysia remains resolute in ensuring accountability and a just resolution for the victims and their families who continue to bear the weight of this tragedy.” Exactly what this might mean in practice is unclear, grimly adds The Diplomat.Here I have to say that Malaysia is the country I love, and where I live in my flat as many months per year as I may afford. I also enjoy the status called Malaysia My Second Home, the name that says it all. And, finally, I have many friends there, most of them having nothing to do with political or military affairs.And this is what they say: the West has laid blame on Russia for the downing of MH 17 too soon for comfort. Then all kind of investigations began, conducted by Westerners, whose bias towards Russia was all too apparent even at that time. But how about Malaysians investigating it, after all, it was their plane that had crushed?That nation has military and other technical experts, who immediately began to ask questions to their Western colleagues, those conducting the probes. And with every question they asked, they were getting more and more sidelined from participation. Russia has been blocked from it from the start. But Ukrainians, the prime suspects in the case, have always been on board.Now, you have to know what kind of people Malaysians, and especially the title nation – the Malays, are. They hate conflicts. They resent direct confrontation. But they quietly make their conclusions.There might have been about 20-30 top Malaysian experts, capable of asking all the right questions about missile’s trajectories or the shape of splinters found. And all these people were bound to secrecy by their position. But they have friends and relatives, and they obviously talked to them, sometimes dropping only a word or two. That’s how all the Malaysian nation has formed, gradually, a firm conviction that the investigation conducted by the Westerners was smelling fish, to put it mildly.But then, the same local experts were asking questions to their Russian colleagues, and were learning that a BUK missile simply could not hit a plane from a position designated on the map by the Western investigators. But it could do it from a position, hold at the time by Ukrainian troops. To add, that kind of missile has been long decommissioned from the Russian army, anyway, but was still in possession of Ukrainians.And all these facts have been corroborated by satellite observations and computer simulations, not to mention a very strange appearance of two different sets of splinters, suddenly “discovered” at the site. Two missiles, or a simple case of planting evidence?That parallel investigation by Malaysians was long, and the net result is a firm public opinion about Russia and Russians. I feel that opinion literally every day in all parts of the country, which I traverse by car quite often. Three month ago I’ve dropped a cigarette butt in the street of Kuala Lumpur and was supposed to be fined 500 ringgits, but that sum has shrunk to 50 ringgits the moment the cops learned about my country of origin. (And, no, I don’t drop butts anywhere anymore). To sum it up, all Russians are very welcome in that land. And that’s the base for remarkable results of the Anwar visit to Russia.Speaking about the information wars, it looked like Internet and the informational space were firmly in the hands of the West. But that was so in the 1990-s, when that creation of false realities on global scale have only begun. Now we know that nobody has a monopoly on information. And, yes – to repeat, you can win an information war, if you are firm and resilient.Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.com
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Yes, You Can Win Information Wars: The Remarkable Story of Russia and Malaysia Growing Closer
You are most certainly acquainted with that incongruous reality, when one and the same event, especially a conflict, is been portrayed in two completely different ways in two conflicting nations, or groups of nations.
Simply speaking, the people here and there seem to live in two totally different worlds, if not universes, the worlds with different sets of facts and convictions.
Sounds familiar, right? And it’s frustrating like hell. We call that thing, as described above, information wars. But you can win such wars, and nothing proves it better than the recent visit of the Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim to Moscow.
The story is truly spectacular, if you keep in mind that Russia was supposed to be blamed for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014, in which 43 Malaysians (all in all, 298 people) lost their lives. That happened over East Ukraine, known as Donbass, where a civil war erupted due to Kiev’s decision to launch a massive military operation against the Eastern part of Ukraine, that had previously seceded due to the coup of 2014 in Kiev.
Flight MH17, carrying mostly Dutch and Australian passengers to Europe, have been shot down by a missile and crushed in the fields of Donbass. Russia was designated guilty almost before the plane hit the ground. Several versions of the catastrophe have been listed one after another. One blamed the Ukrainian rebels of the East, aided by the Russian volunteers. Another painted a dramatic story of a big Russian BUK missile, transported from the Russian territory secretly over hundreds of miles to waylay West Ukrainian transport planes, carrying troops to the East. There were other versions, too, with blame inevitably laid on Moscow, directly or not.
And now for my shocking statement about the net result of that information war. This is it: downing of the Malaysian liner has, gradually and inexorably, brought together not only governments, but also societies of Russia and Malaysia.
Let us look at the results of that recent visit of the Prime Minister Anwar to Moscow. “We have now embarked on collaboration in trade, investment, in digital, in energy transition, food, technology, even nuclear, military”, Anwar
said before starting the talks with Vladimir Putin in Kremlin.
He also added that he invited the Russian leader to attend the East Asia Summit, which will be hosted by Malaysia later this year. “I can assure you that your presence in Malaysia would be a major breakthrough, not only in our bilateral relationship, but also for the region, because I believe many people in this part of the world have great respect for, and high expectations of your leadership,” Anwar said.
Against the background of trade turnover going up, the Malaysian media
tells us that the visit marked a shift in how Malaysia positions itself in a post-pandemic world shaped by fractured supply chains, energy insecurity, and shifting geopolitical alliances. As Malaysia continues to uphold its principle of non-alignment, its strategic outreach to Russia demonstrates a confident pivot towards diversified cooperation… For Malaysia, this relationship offers not just trade possibilities, but access to a complementary industrial base especially in high-tech manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI), and agritech. Initiatives such as the proposed Malaysia-Russia Innovation Council, the Halal Excellence Certification Corridor, and alternative trade mechanisms (including digital currencies or barter systems) to bypass sanctions are examples of the imaginative, real-world problem-solving Malaysia is advocating internationally.
Regarding the MH 17 case, the Prime Minister said that “Malaysia remains resolute in ensuring accountability and a just resolution for the victims and their families who continue to bear the weight of this tragedy.” Exactly what this might mean in practice is unclear,
grimly adds The Diplomat.
Here I have to say that Malaysia is the country I love, and where I live in my flat as many months per year as I may afford. I also enjoy the status called Malaysia My Second Home, the name that says it all. And, finally, I have many friends there, most of them having nothing to do with political or military affairs.
And this is what they say: the West has laid blame on Russia for the downing of MH 17 too soon for comfort. Then all kind of investigations began, conducted by Westerners, whose bias towards Russia was all too apparent even at that time. But how about Malaysians investigating it, after all, it was their plane that had crushed?
That nation has military and other technical experts, who immediately began to ask questions to their Western colleagues, those conducting the probes. And with every question they asked, they were getting more and more sidelined from participation. Russia has been blocked from it from the start. But Ukrainians, the prime suspects in the case, have always been on board.
Now, you have to know what kind of people Malaysians, and especially the title nation – the Malays, are. They hate conflicts. They resent direct confrontation. But they quietly make their conclusions.
There might have been about 20-30 top Malaysian experts, capable of asking all the right questions about missile’s trajectories or the shape of splinters found. And all these people were bound to secrecy by their position. But they have friends and relatives, and they obviously talked to them, sometimes dropping only a word or two. That’s how all the Malaysian nation has formed, gradually, a firm conviction that the investigation conducted by the Westerners was smelling fish, to put it mildly.
But then, the same local experts were asking questions to their Russian colleagues, and were learning that a BUK missile simply could not hit a plane from a position designated on the map by the Western investigators. But it could do it from a position, hold at the time by Ukrainian troops. To add, that kind of missile has been long decommissioned from the Russian army, anyway, but was still in possession of Ukrainians.
And all these facts have been corroborated by satellite observations and computer simulations, not to mention a very strange appearance of two different sets of splinters, suddenly “discovered” at the site. Two missiles, or a simple case of planting evidence?
That parallel investigation by Malaysians was long, and the net result is a firm public opinion about Russia and Russians. I feel that opinion literally every day in all parts of the country, which I traverse by car quite often. Three month ago I’ve dropped a cigarette butt in the street of Kuala Lumpur and was supposed to be fined 500 ringgits, but that sum has shrunk to 50 ringgits the moment the cops learned about my country of origin. (And, no, I don’t drop butts anywhere anymore). To sum it up, all Russians are very welcome in that land. And that’s the base for remarkable results of the Anwar visit to Russia.
Speaking about the information wars, it looked like Internet and the informational space were firmly in the hands of the West. But that was so in the 1990-s, when that creation of false realities on global scale have only begun. Now we know that nobody has a monopoly on information. And, yes – to repeat, you can win an information war, if you are firm and resilient.
Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.com
