Mythologising The Russia-Ukraine War
How Myths and Fairy Tales Propagated By Big Media Have Shaped Public Perception Of War
At the start of mobilisation of Russian troops in February, there was a widely accepted media narrative that Russia was going to carry out the invasion of Ukraine in a similar manner to American led war efforts. To be precise: The indiscriminate bombing and shelling of infrastructure whether civilian or military (dubbed dual use infrastructure in pro-War propaganda parlance during the shock and awe campaign in Iraq). In fact, one widely disseminated talking point was that the capital Kiev would fall in 72 hours. As a reminder, it took weeks of indiscriminate and unrelenting shelling for Baghdad to fall. I’m willing to posit, the 72 hour window narrative thread was a hoax. This was an unobtainable goal even under intense shelling but served to set the narrative that “the plucky Ukrainians” had successfully pushed back the Russian offensive. Weirdly enough, to those who ventured outside the corridors of mainstream pro-war propaganda, it was evident that the Russians were being slow and deliberate in their approach taking care not to damage civilian infrastructure. A move that seems to have been highly criticised by some within Russia. While Amnesty international has reported that in Kharkiv and Mariupol the Russians committed war crimes during their forward March through the Ukrainian territories, the reality of war tells a different story. On March 28th, the Washington Post reported that the Ukrainian army was specifically using civilian infrastructure to wage their counter offensive strikes. The theory here is that if and when Russian troops returned fire civilian infrastructure would be damaged along with any unfortunate civilians caught in the crossfire. To international onlookers, most of us whom happen to be laymen, the assumption would be that the Russians were indiscriminately targeting civilians. The Mariupol theatre bombing hoax seems to have been a false flag event that served to cement this narrative amongst western observers. It is interesting to note that Russia has the highest influx of refugees from this war seconded by Poland. It seems to be an often forgotten fact that many Russians have Ukrainian family and vice versa. On par for the course, the Ukrainian government has claimed that significant numbers of these refugees have actually been kidnapped.
The mythical “Putin’s Playbook” seems to have been widely distributed amongst media houses and analysts. Us mere mortals are yet to be privy to its contents. We can only but trust the orators who read excerpts of passages from it. Perhaps, much like Wikileaks and Clinton’s emails, it might be illegal for anyone but CNN to read from it.
Keli.
There have been great efforts to dehumanise Russian troops and Russians in general by propagating the lie that the two countries have very little in common. Some have even gone as far as to state that Russians are more horrific than anything in Stephen King’s novels. In reality, the Ukrainian army has been shelling civilians in the Donbass region for the last 8 years as they have done for the duration of this war. According to journalists on the ground, they have used cluster munitions which often appear as innocuous every day items but have maimed many. In fact, these munitions are banned in conflicts. It is worth noting though that both Russia and Ukraine are not signatories to this treaty. These dehumanising efforts have thus far been successful as Russia’s legitimate concerns are treated with nonchalance and every possible hoax attributed to them. Recently, Bloomberg pondered why President Putin remains very popular in Russia. In fact, internal polls in Russia show that more than 70% of the populace support President Putin and the war effort. The same has been repeated in the Kyiv Independent, a NATO propaganda cut out masquerading as independent media. Either the Russians are an incarnation of the Vikings of old or there’s a lot more to this war that is deliberately being obfuscated. On the international stage, there’s an almost near even split amongst western audiences on the perception of this war. In my opinion, where this sort of splits exist, there is a preponderance of propaganda. As an example, per Rasmussen polling half of Americans think that President Trump should be jailed. This is an ideological divide as President Trump is yet to be convicted of any crime. In order to sustain pro-war sentiment among western populaces, it is necessary to dehumanise the opposition. This makes unconscionable decisions palatable to the masses as even extreme measures are deemed necessary to destroy perceived enemies. Media houses have been pitching the war in Ukraine as a fight between good and evil and democracy’s last stand. Where was this fight during the American led 2014 maidan coup that deposed a democratically elected, albeit very corrupt, Ukrainian government and installed a puppet regime in Kiev?
Preceding this war, it was widely acknowledged that Ukraine has a neo-Nazi problem. The New York Times amongst many other big media outlets had explored this as Ukraine was and is a recipient of American foreign aid. Of late, this is all forgiven and forgotten as the New York Times has pointed out that the Azov neo-Nazi thugs are now “celebrated.” There has been great effort amongst many media houses to rehabilitate the image of these Nazis and whitewash their history. Of course, it’s a bit redundant when they keep showing up at award ceremonies, congress and other places decked out in Nazi symbols. Nothing to be alarmed about of course as these are nothing more but ancient Hindi markings. To be fair, there is some truth to this. However, I have doubts as to whether Hinduism took such firm a root in Eastern Europe. While the Swastika may have roots in Eastern mysticism, modern usage is symbolic of Nazi ideology and its adherents. Neo-Nazi Azov thugs are openly bragging about how they are weeding out pro-Russian collaborators and disappearing them. This is yet to be condemned in any way shape or form.
Either the Russians are an incarnation of the Vikings of old or there’s a lot more to this war that is deliberately being obfuscated…Naturally, the creators of the Ghost of Kiev are the most upright of truth tellers.
Keli.
Fake stories and rumours abound about Russia’s ageing military infrastructure. A myth that many, even seeming intellectuals, have clung on to. Stories about the depletion of Russia’s stockpiles of munitions have been proliferated on the main stream circuits. America’s secretary of commerce, Gina Raimodo, went as far as to declare that the Russians are using chips from microwaves to build new weapons. Of course there has been no evidence adduced other than Ukrainian hearsay. Naturally, the creators of the Ghost of Kiev are the most upright of truth tellers. There have even been rumours that the world’s second largest manufacture of weapons, albeit a distant second from America, has been begging for weapons from China, North Korea and Iran to sustain their war efforts. Some have even posited that the depletion of resources is why the Russians have had slow but steady progress throughout the duration of the war. To some it is unthinkable that perhaps the Russians have been very methodical and tactical in their war effort. In fact, it does seem that there has been great care to avoid civilian casualties. However, this flies in the face of the narrative of blood thirsty and incompetent nincompoops the general public has been fed. Of course, the lack of munitions narrative was shattered into a billion and one pieces with the recent barrage of missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure over the past two days. Something Russia has avoided from the start. To cover for this break in the matrix, the New York Times has declared that Russia’s missiles are imprecise. This is why there have been minimal civilian casualties per the paper of record. After all, having weapons that are precise and possibly leagues ahead of their NATO adversaries is impossible for dumb orcs.
The tragedy of these fake narratives is that many the world over are cheerleading a war that was lost the day it started. In reality, we are all losers. The mythical “Putin’s Playbook” seems to have been widely distributed amongst media houses and analysts. Us mere mortals are yet to be privy to its contents. We can only but trust the orators who read excerpts of passages from it. Perhaps, much like Wikileaks and Clinton’s emails, it might be illegal for anyone but CNN to read from it. Unless it really is just hogwash in the make believe world of pro-War propaganda disseminated by the media. The greatest victors of this war are those in the military industrial complex who’ve bagged lucrative contracts to produce more munitions. It does seem that some Ukrainians have fallen wholesale for propaganda about their own military capabilities and have believed a lie that is leading them to the very precipice of total destruction. This was exemplified when some celebrated the terrorist attacks on the Crimean land bridge that left three dead and possibly turned an unwitting driver into a suicide bomber. No sympathy or empathy extended. Just glee and jubilation. Egged on by their western counterparts, some in Ukraine even those in leadership gleefully took on full responsibility for the largely ineffective terror attack. The Russian riposte has been brutal. This may have been just a mere pretext to launch the next phase of their war but the results have been devastating. Many have been quick to forget that in conventional warfare, the first facilities targeted are often key pieces of infrastructure such as power stations. Something Russia only begun doing this week. During NATO’s attack on Yugoslavia this was done within the first two months of the conflict. We are now seven months into the Russia-Ukraine war. NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, has finally admitted what was verboten to say at the start of this war. This war has nothing to do with Ukraine. It was always a proxy war between NATO, or more precisely, America’s foreign policy class and Russia. The rest of us be damned. As world economies crater the media placates us peasants with the distractions of petty feel good propaganda. Meanwhile, the reality of this war is decimating not just Ukraine but the world.
Image credits in order of appearance: Image par Gordon Johnson de Pixabay; Image par OpenClipart-Vectors de Pixabay