The Nation caught in crossfire of propaganda war

It is only natural that the Russian Ambassador to Thailand seeks to discredit The Nation’s recent editorial on Syria, and defend his country’s involvement there. No surprise also that His Excellency urges us not to rely on “biased” (presumably Western) media reports, and ignore Russian based media outlets such as Russia Today and Sputnik.
However, a word of caution is in order. In 2014, a referendum was held in my home country, Scotland, to decide whether it should seek independence from the United Kingdom. We voted to reject independence, but the leader of a Russian team of international observers claimed numerous instances of irregularities in the vote counting process. The UK and international media dropped the story when it became clear that the claims were complete nonsense, but not the Russian media, and in particular Russia Today, which gave the story credence and high priority. Well, of course it would! The UK has one of the most powerful armed forces in Nato after the United States, and its break-up would be a huge geopolitical gain for the Kremlin.
It is wise to take all media reports, wherever they come from, with a pinch of salt, but worth remembering also the many Russian journalists who have been murdered in recent years after failing to toe the Kremlin line on various issues.
Robin Grant