The War of Nerves: Inside the Cold War Mind by Martin Sixsmith

IF 0.7 2区 历史学 Q1 HISTORY Journal of Cold War Studies Pub Date : 2022-12-01 DOI:10.1162/jcws_r_01114
D. W. Larson
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Abstract

intelligence or propaganda library and to set an agenda for multiple future research projects examining the U.S. role in anti-Communist resistance across Eastern Europe and the Baltics, as well as the CIA’s covert collaborations with Francisco Franco’s Spain and the Vatican. Issues of particular interest include excerpts from U.S.-Soviet negotiations in which the black propaganda stations are mentioned. The fact that Soviet leaders expressed concern about the stations suggests the CIA was achieving what it wanted. But the coincident U.S. abandonment of many of the stations suggests they were not successful enough to justify being retained. The exchanges suggest a kind of parallel process to arms control—information disarmament—by which the rougher edges were knocked off the propaganda war. Cummings ends with a rallying call to reconsider the value of broadcasting at a time when “some countries are slipping back into undemocratic governments.” In an era in which some leaders have sought to weaponize the mass media, this point is well made. Unfortunately, he goes on to dismiss social media as “basically impersonal with shorthand sentences and ‘selfie’ photographs that do not attempt to provoke the reader to action or contemplation.” If only this were the case. The last decade has surely shown that social media memes are well capable of provoking thoughts and actions around the world, too often to the detriment of international stability. Despite this cavil, Cummings’s book is a welcome addition to the literature of Cold War propaganda and a timely reminder that, whether through radio or the platforms of our digital age, engaging foreign audiences with news and argument in their own languages remains an important element of statecraft.
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《紧张的战争:冷战思维内部》,马丁·西克史密斯著
情报或宣传图书馆,并为未来多个研究项目制定议程,研究美国在东欧和波罗的海地区反共抵抗中的作用,以及中央情报局与弗朗西斯科·佛朗哥的西班牙和梵蒂冈的秘密合作。特别感兴趣的问题包括美苏谈判的摘录,其中提到了黑人宣传站。苏联领导人对这些电视台表示担忧,这表明中央情报局正在实现它想要的目标。但美国同时放弃了许多核电站,这表明它们不够成功,不足以证明被保留是合理的。这些交流表明,这是一种与军备控制类似的过程——信息裁军——通过这种过程,宣传战的粗糙边缘被消除了。在“一些国家正重新陷入不民主的政府”之际,卡明斯最后发出了重新考虑广播价值的号召。在一个一些领导人试图将大众媒体武器化的时代,这一点说得很好。不幸的是,他继续认为社交媒体“基本上是没有人情味的,有简短的句子和‘自拍’照片,不会试图激发读者的行动或思考。”如果真是这样就好了。过去十年无疑表明,社交媒体模因很有能力在世界各地引发思考和行动,而这往往会损害国际稳定。尽管如此,卡明斯的书是冷战宣传文学中一个受欢迎的补充,也是一个及时的提醒,无论是通过广播还是我们数字时代的平台,让外国观众用自己的语言参与新闻和辩论仍然是治国方略的重要元素。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
1.20
自引率
0.00%
发文量
44
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