Geostrategic Media Political Commentary, Analysis, Security, Defense
Filip Styczynski
In addition to strengthening Ukraine’s military, President Donald Trump can fight Russia and China by strengthening the information outlets that won America the Cold War.
As President Donald Trump edges closer to greenlighting Tomahawk missile shipments to Ukraine—having “sort of made a decision” on the matter last week, with a range that could put Moscow in Kyiv’s crosshairs—the echoes of Ronald Reagan’s masterstroke in the 1980s grow louder.
At the nadir of the Cold War, Reagan didn’t merely arm Afghan mujahideen with Stingers to bleed the Soviet bear. Recognizing that a “hearts and minds” approach was needed beyond the mountains of Afghanistan, he paired lethal aid with a soft-power blitz. Radio Free Europe pierced the Iron Curtain, fueling Poland’s Solidarity movement and stoking a hunger for liberty. While hard power killed soldiers in proxy wars, soft power conquered hearts behind enemy lines. Ultimately, the “Evil Empire” fell not from missiles alone, but from the universal call of freedom.
Today, Trump’s lethal aid—long-range Tomahawks to shred Russia’s paper tiger military—is a Reagan-esque gut punch to Vladimir Putin. But it is only one hand swinging. Reagan understood the need to supplement missiles with microphones; to win the new Cold War against Russia and China, Trump must revive America’s soft-power arsenal, turning conscripts’ mothers and internal dissidents into allies of freedom.
Soft Power Wins Wars, Too
The president has his work cut out for him. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the Cold War’s great truth machine, is on life support. No clear reform plan on the horizon. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has imploded after DOGE-exposed scandals—$1.7 billion misspent on “democracy promotion” that undermined allies like Poland and Israel. In the view of Trump and his allies, “public diplomacy” has become a byword for corruption.
But closing information agencies and crippling one’s own media is self-sabotage—particularly as America’s adversaries ramp up their own efforts to dominate the information battlefield. In 2025, Russia’s propaganda budget swelled to $1.42 billion, up 13 percent from 2024, bankrolling RT’s gargantuan $320 million disinformation apparatus. Although China’s media efforts are more subtle, they are far stronger still; each year, Beijing pours tens of billions of dollars into CGTN, its answer to RT, and its more than 500 “Confucius Institutes” around the world. Qatar, which has sought close ties to the United States even as it bankrolls Hamas, has sunk $250 million into US lobbying since 2016, with its Al Jazeera network helping to sway public opinion around the world.
This matters because hybrid wars are fundamentally won in “hearts and minds,” not foxholes. In the 1980s, Stinger missiles could down helicopters and MiGs—but the Cold War was ultimately won by the RFE broadcasts that sowed doubt in Soviet barracks, whispering to conscripts that their fight was futile. When revolution tore through eastern Europe in 1989 and the Soviet Union began its path toward collapse, the soldiers that had come face to face with their system’s shortcomings proved unwilling to kill in order to save it.
What is past could be prologue. Today, Tomahawk missiles can crater Russian logistics, but a rebooted RFE/RL beaming the truth into Russian homes—exposés on oligarchs’ yachts and luxury villas amid slaughter in Ukraine and desperate poverty in the Russian interior—would help to turn public sentiment against Putin. In China, a revived Radio Free Asia could amplify independent voices from Xinjiang and Hong Kong, framing America as the champion of the freedoms that Beijing denies to its people.
America Has an Advantage over Its Adversaries: The Truth
Soft power has another advantage: it is cheap. A single Tomahawk missile costs $2 million. Prior to its recent downsizing, RFE/RL’s full operation cost around $150 million per year—roughly the cost of a single F-22 fighter jet. This is still a mere fraction of what adversary nations spend on their own sophisticated propaganda networks. Fundamentally, however, it is far more economical to tell simple truths than to concoct convoluted lies. For $1.42 billion, Russia can sow confusion and fear; for one-tenth that cost, RFE/RL can share the truth, provide clarity, and win loyalty.
Taxpayers rightly balk at USAID’s excesses over the past two decades, and it is reprehensible that the agency’s programs have been used to fund gender studies seminars in Kabul and DEI workshops in Kyiv. But that is fixable. A Marco Rubio-led USAID should bring a laser focus to public diplomacy: AI-driven counter-disinformation tools, tech partnerships for viral truth campaigns, and grants for investigative journalists within adversary nations. America cannot fight fake news with fake news—only facts exposing despotism and kindling self-determination.
Trump’s Tomahawk gamble tells Putin escalation has teeth. Now he should complete the play: restoring RFE/RL and Radio Free Asia with targeted funding, and pairing air strikes in Ukraine with an information offensive deep behind enemy lines—Russia’s heartland, China’s censored cities. Hearts turned today mean fewer missiles tomorrow.
As Reagan said, “We win, they lose.” It’s time to turn the volume up.
About the Author: Filip Styczynski
Filip Styczynski is correspondent-at-large for the Center for Intermarium Studies at the Institute of World Politics. He is the co-founder of TVP World, where he served as editor-in-chief, launching the region’s pioneering English-language media channel in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). His work has been featured in leading outlets like Israel Hayom, The Kyiv Post, and The Daily Signal, among others. His contributions to journalism and security discourse earned him the Polish Journalist Association’s Special Award. He also received Ukraine’s Stratcom Certificate of Appreciation for countering Russian propaganda. Filip co-founded the All Brothers Foundation, supporting Christian communities in Muslim-majority countries. His career bridges journalism, national security, and faith-driven advocacy, fostering dialogue across cultures and borders.
