Disinformation has won in Russia

Russian Youth "buys-into" the State's genocidal language

In Russia, disinformation has won. The Kremlin's propaganda machine is working around the clock to convince the Russian people, including the Youth, that war in Ukraine is morally right. Russian youth is buying into the hate-speech "genocidal language" of the State, as flagged in this article by Chris Brown, CBC News, CBC News posted in May, 2023. Via other sources, I had already heard that Putin's propaganda machine was specifically targeting Youth, including through the action of the Nashi youth movement, strongly pro-Putin and similar the the Nazi youth movement from Hitler, but I do not know much about it, fortunately. 

Some common practices in Russia suggest children start being "groomed" for war from a very young age. It is common practice for kindergarten children to take-up in a mock-up military parade, where their educators are also wearing military uniforms, every year on the 9th of May, according to multiple posts in social media, including in youtube and twitter. Here is a piece on it published by the Mirror, UK.

In the following video, it even seems that children are taking part in a real parade, dressed-up in military outfits and marching - look at the left-hand side of the video, where men in uniforms, with medals on their chest, are saluting them.

An online piece by Allison Quinn, published on May. 31, 2023, says Russian children drew images Ukrainians being killed for a comic book contest sponsored by the Russian Presidential Grants Foundation. The final comic book includes stories on  World War II interwoven with stories on the war against Ukraine, in an attempt to link to two events. In a picture of the selected stories it reads "We can’t let the Ukrainian Nazis get away."

"There are historical precedents showing that hate speech can be a precursor to atrocity crimes.", the United Nations states. In this UN' webpage you will find information on how hate speech was used to promote genocide in different locations and situations, including towards the holocaust. Here is a testimony from a survivor of how hate speech triggered genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994.  

While the Russian State claims it wants to denazify Ukraine, it is Russia who is copying the genocidal-language that Adolph Hitler's Nazi regime used against Jews - Hitler's strategy was to eliminate their freedoms little by little over time, until it was too late to do anything against it. In the present time, several articles I have been reading suggest that many Russians do think that Russia's war of aggression is justified. They think it is ok to kill Ukrainian civilians and children, to destroy homes, hospitals, schools, water supplies, energy supplies, food and arable land, among other war crimes that the Russian army has been committing. How crazy is this?

If you can share other examples of the Russian State propaganda to dehumanize Ukrainians and justify the war, please share in the comments below. 

What comes after Putin's rule?

My cartoon above, with fictional characters Nate & Fedor, is me trying to digest all this information. So much of the strength of a people and of a nation rests on the freedom of speech, freedom of association and independent institutions that contribute to fight the abuse of power. Where does Russia stand on this scale? Apparently, all the capable people have fled the country, been imprisoned or been poisoned. 

My post today was prompted by reading of this interesting article on the role that KGB, and it successor entities, FSB and SVR, have played in choosing and protecting the ruler of the Russian State for decades. The article was authored by Calder Walton, a leading scholar of intelligence and national security, and published on June 2, 2023. 

I found the article's argument scary but very plausible, and a cause for great concern. These hidden powers cannot afford to loose face before the Russian people, this makes them desperate and thus even more dangerous. The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine just a few days ago illustrates how desperate Putin and the Kremlin are and how far they are willing to go. They show no moral and no ethics. I fear for the future of Europe and the world.

At the end of the 2nd world war, the Allies and Germany were fairly successful in denazifying Germany to a large extent, although not completely. If you have insights into the post-war "denazification" of Germany, feel free to share in the comments below. That expertise is needed once more. However,  fighting the use of genocidal hate speech by the Russian State should start now. Don't miss the next post for more on what can be done.