The Propaganda Machine

A Recipe for War

4 years ago

Pro-Russian militiamen triumphantly ride through the streets of Mariupol, having “freed” its Russian-speaking population from the Ukrainian “genocide.”

Categories:

A Recipe for War, Analysis of History, Current Events, Disinformation, Military History, Political Divide in the US, Russo-Ukrainian War

Tags:

Connections to the Past, Understanding the Past, Weaponizing History, Repercussions of Events, Propaganda, #A Recipe for War, #Ukraine, #War

April 28, 2022

Just yesterday, I was watching a Russian singing competition broadcast 12 years ago, a usually innocent and very non-political venue. In this particular competition, contestants were supposed to put a new spin on original songs. Halfway in, a new contestant emerged and proceeded to sing the opening lines to a popular song from the classic Soviet children’s series Cheburashka. She then went on to change several lines entirely, filling them with references to how the US should expect nuclear war and bombing by China, and how the train Cheburashka was riding on would go to Washington to pick up the rubble of the United States. In almost every other country in the world, this contestant would probably be forcibly removed from the stage. But here, the audience was clapping while the judges sat in silence, stunned for all the wrong reasons.

In the past 12 years, Russian propaganda has managed to permeate every single aspect of society. Most of my Russian peers have not yet fully understood the scale of this propaganda war of disinformation which permeates almost every aspect of life, from the evening news to the “Z” signs painted on building facades and sold on t-shirts and hats in every souvenir shop around the country. However, because I speak Russian, I have been able to watch some of this propaganda on my own TV screen. There is a saying that the world would be a much more peaceful place if the Ostankino Tower, the main broadcast center for Russian channels based in Moscow, was destroyed. However, Ostankino still stands, and fake news streams from it in every direction. These broadcasts are mostly ignored in the West, but Russians watch them just as much as we would watch the BBC or CNN, and trust its journalists like we would trust Walter Cronkite. Their response to this and other forms of propaganda plays a major role in today’s Russian society, heavily influencing the popularity of the “special operation” based on an existential threat that the West and “Nazified” Ukraine pose to Russian national security.

One thing that gets me every time I watch some of this propaganda, mostly on Russia’s state-owned Channel One or Rossiya One, as most antigovernmental private news channels have been shut down, is the sheer outlandishness and patent absurdity of the claims being made and the lies being told. From reports of cows being poisoned by Ukrainian agents near the border to exposés revealing the extent of the power of the junta that secretly controls Ukraine’s government, and from the virtues of traveling domestically in Russia while avoiding international destinations to the eagerness of refugees from Ukraine to “escape” the “genocide” of Russian speakers there, the propaganda never ceases to both fascinate and horrify with its never-ending litany of false narratives and pseudo-historical justifications for Russia’s actions.

Refugees fleeing from Ukraine to Russia. Many like these have been used by Russian propaganda to justify their claims of “genocide” in Ukraine.

Russia’s news media doesn’t always have to lie, though. Various news outlets have discussed the relatively peaceful occupation of Ukraine’s southern territories, such as the city of Kherson. In fact, Western media has reported that Russian soldiers there have largely left the city’s inhabitants to themselves: the atrocities of Bucha haven’t been repeated here. However, it’s clear that Russia’s propaganda machine and its armed forces are teaming up to create a repeat of the 2014 Crimea scenario, in which Russian troops occupied the whole region and peacefully launched a referendum. The likely purpose of Russia’s actions in Kherson is a future referendum in the occupied parts of that region, with the objective of uniting Russia with that, in their view, much maligned and beleaguered Russian-speaking enclave. The official result of the 2014 referendum was that 97% of Crimea’s voters demanded the unification of Crimea with Russia. A similar referendum could easily be held in Kherson, resulting in the annexation of Kherson by Russia, or the creation of a new “people’s republic” like those created by separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in 2014. The referendum would surely legitimize Russia’s occupation of the region, and the fact that Russia’s soldiers have been largely peaceful in Kherson shows that the government plans to integrate it with Russia in some way: it is even reported that rubles are already being circulated there. Thus, Russia’s propaganda can be expected to promote the narrative of “saving and liberating” the Russian-speaking population in Kherson Oblast, as well as in other occupied territories of Ukraine. Whether or not it tells a “sweet truth” or propagates “bitter lies”, we can expect Russia’s propaganda machine to work hard in the coming months to try to help with the integration process of the occupied territories in Ukraine with Russia itself.

Russian propaganda often portrays Russia as a united nation facing a group of disunited ones. Russia’s news outlets have capitalized on internal divisions in the United States and emphasize them heavily, to show that their main opponent is weak. Watching Russia’s state-owned new outlets, one finds that images of the George Floyd Protests and the events of January Sixth are not uncommon. Russians themselves need to look further than American social media to see just how much people in one Party hate those in the other. This is not without past parallels. During the 1930s, the United States seemed to be falling apart. The Great Depression led to mass poverty as tensions rose due to the government’s inability to mend the socio-economic fabric of a nation in deep crisis. During this time, extremists on both the Left, like Huey P. Long, Jr., who promised to redistribute the nation’s wealth equally, and on the Right, like Father Calhoun whose anti-Semitic radio broadcasts were not unpopular, gained mass audiences. Meanwhile, gangsters got rich by defying the law, which was unable to stop them. In a famous 1931 incident that showed the disunity of the times, Texas and Oklahoma fought a “war” that was, in fact, little more than a dispute over a bridge crossing at their border that ended up being akin to a Wild West-style standoff between armed men from both states. The fallout from particular episodes like this was heavily publicized all over the world, leading German Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler to believe that the United States was falling apart, its capitalist system and democracy impotent in the face of a new global reality. Of course, despite all this chaos, we now know that the US wasn’t even close to actually falling apart. However, the Nazis and Fascists of Europe did use this incident in their own propaganda, as well as the other events of the tumultuous 30s, to show that their enemy, the United States, was weak. Today, we can clearly see that Russia is doing exactly the same thing.

By feeding its people propaganda, Russia’s government is able to control their opinions of what’s actually happening in Ukraine. However, it can’t stop them from receiving all outside information. Russians can easily use VPNs(virtual private networks) to access Western media, and many have done so. Some, appalled by what they have seen, have protested their government’s actions. However, if people choose to not accept Russia’s official narrative and protest its actions, then Russia’s government does what it has always done with dissidents: arrest them. Thousands of protesters have been arrested already. The very real threat of arrest is what keeps those Russians who aren’t deceived by their government’s propaganda from protesting. This combination of propaganda and fear will almost certainly keep Russia’s population under control, so that its government may continue the War in Ukraine. Some American congressmen have asked if there is a “Brutus” in Russia that might try to overthrow the nation’s government. The government may not have the full support of its people, but Russia’s propaganda and the threat of arrest make it highly unlikely that President Vladimir Putin will say “Et Tu” to anyone, anytime soon.