‘NATO’s stewards of public purse burning money studying Russian jokes’

Russian comedy deserves a wider airing around the world, but that is not something US taxpayers should be paying NATO's professors to “study.” It is a ridiculous project, says investor and writer Charles Ortel.

NATO's Strategic Communications Center has published a report into Russian comedy programs. According to researchers, humor is being used as a tool of propaganda aimed at national and international audiences.

One of the conclusions is that Russian comics depict leaders in a negative light to discredit them. The investigation claims George W. Bush is often portrayed as unintelligent and widely hated, while the current US president is depicted as a madman and French President Francois Hollande as "dim-witted."

Investor and writer Charles Ortel told RT that this is “absolutely outrageous” NATO spends its resources on “this ridiculous project."

“If we recall, it was last week that Secretary of State Tillerson informed the NATO countries that they are going to have to shoulder their fair share of military expenditure which many have not done over more than a decade funding NATO. And now we find out that NATO gets together and decides to spend our scarce resources on this ridiculous project,” Ortel said.

“I am sure Russian comedy deserves a wider airing around the world, but that is not something the US taxpayers should be paying professors and others to “study,” he added. 

“When you look behind the public figures of NATO, what you discover is that historically when you go way back, it is the UK and the US that provide the bulk of the military force and the bulk of the money toward NATO,” Ortel told RT.

“And now with Brexit in process over the next two years and with global economic slowdown and problems around the world,” Ortel said he would hope “these profligate governments, the EU and the UN…would take a hard look at how our money is spent because, after a while, you run out of money.”

“Why are the stewards of the public purse burning money?” asks Ortel.

He says he would hope that Donald Trump and the federal branch of the US government “is serious about making sure that NATO and the UN and US branches of government spend taxpayers’ money wisely only on services that are really worthwhile.”