Ruth Ben-Ghiat: The Propaganda Points That Parallel Russia's Military Mobilization around Ukraine

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://lucid.substack.com/p/the-propaganda-points-that-parallel


"What sense does it make for Russia to attack anyone?...Russia throughout its history never attacked anyone...it is the last country in Europe to even utter the word war," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed on Feb. 20.

As Russia builds up its war machine around Ukraine, so have propaganda narratives meant to justify the invasion accumulated. Some of these stories were used to prepare the public to accept prior imperialist aggressions, by arguing that Russian interests and safety were imperiled.

Others, like Peskov's fairy tale of Russia's innocence and its victimization by the West, are key and ongoing Kremlin talking points. Russian President Vladimir Putin featured them in his Feb. 21 speech portraying Ukraine as an existential threat to Russia.

"Quantity does have a quality all its own," write the authors of a RAND study of Russian propaganda model they call the firehose of falsehood, which sends a continuous high-volume stream of untruths and rumors out to the public.

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