As the Russian war on Ukraine grinds on, the Kremlin propaganda machine has turned its attention to the nation’s schools, making sure that every Russian students has the “correct” view of the war and sees Putin has a heroic figure.
Starting in first grade, students across Russia will soon sit through weekly classes featuring war movies and virtual tours through Crimea. They will be given a steady dose of lectures on topics like “the geopolitical situation” and “traditional values.” In addition to a regular flag-raising ceremony, they will be introduced to lessons celebrating Russia’s “rebirth” under President Vladimir V. Putin.
And, according to legislation signed into law by Mr. Putin on Thursday, all Russian children will be encouraged to join a new patriotic youth movement in the likeness of the Soviet Union’s red-cravatted “Pioneers” — presided over by the president himself.
Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian government’s attempts at imparting a state ideology to schoolchildren have proven unsuccessful, a senior Kremlin bureaucrat, Sergei Novikov, recently told thousands of Russian schoolteachers in an online workshop. But now, amid the war in Ukraine, Mr. Putin has made it clear that this needed to change, he said.
“We need to know how to infect them with our ideology,” Mr. Novikov said. “Our ideological work is aimed at changing consciousness.”
As the war in Ukraine approaches the five-month mark, the vast ambitions of his plans for the home front are coming into focus: a wholesale reprogramming of Russian society to end 30 years of openness to the West.
The Kremlin has already jailed or forced into exile just about all activists speaking out against the war; it has criminalized what remained of Russia’s independent journalism; it has cracked down on academics, bloggers and even a hockey player with suspect loyalties.
But nowhere are these ambitions clearer than in the Kremlin’s race to overhaul how children are taught at Russia’s 40,000 public schools.
The nationwide education initiatives, which start in September, are part of the Russian government’s scramble to indoctrinate children with Mr. Putin’s militarized and anti-Western version of patriotism, illustrating the reach of his campaign to use the war to further mobilize Russian society and eliminate any potential dissent.
While some experts are skeptical that the Kremlin’s grand plans will quickly bear fruit, even ahead of the new school year the potency of its propaganda in changing the minds of impressionable youngsters was already becoming apparent.
Putin sees his future as hero of the USSR in a new Cold War. How sad.
He started the war against Ukraine to stop NATO expansion, and the result so far has been a dramatic expansion of NATO, since Finland and Sweden asked to join NATO. They were spurred to do so by Putin’s aggression.
Putin claimed his profound love for Ukraine, which he wanted to restore to its rightful place in the Russian orbit, but he has spent five months obliterating Ukrainian cities, towns, villages, people, and cultural landmarks. He is creating a wasteland.
Negotiations are the only answer, say outside observers. But Putin has never shown any willingness to negotiate. None. He plans to spend Russian lives and treasure proving that he can destroy Ukraine.
We should worry more about the American Propaganda Machine.
This is the dumbest comment I have read in months. Babies, toddlers, children, elderly people are being MURDERED by the thousands in Ukraine. Women and girls of all ages are being raped by Russian thugs in uniform. A nuclear-armed power is doing cult-of-personality and imperialist nationalist propaganda in its schools. And you write this. Appalling. Disgusting. Clueless.
Really? And you know this because you went there and counted them, making sure all those deaths were cause exclusively by Russian savagery? Or, are you relying on numbers told to the press by ‘Ukrainian Authorities’?
Recently, a UN commission investigated the ‘nursing home’ event and concluded that it was occupied by Ukrainian military. Recently, the Russians bombed an ‘apartment building’ and 48 were killed. Only 10 were ‘civilians’. It is a war crime to use civilians as a ‘human shield’. Why aren’t you calling out the Ukrainian Gvt. for committing ‘war crimes’?
Also, Bob, calling someone’s comment ‘dumb’, as you know, is an ad-hominem attack. Not nice.
Unlike you, Daedalus, I do not have the benefit of magical vision that enables me, without any direct experience of this matter, to discount everything said by journalists who are there. However, I would direct you to Tzar Vladimir’s “On the Historical Unity of the Russian and Ukrainian Peoples,” where you can read for yourself his falsified history justifying a blatant imperialism. In other words, how does one know? Well, you can listen to the ass himself.
I think you are trapped in a whirlpool of Western propaganda. Only when a neutral International investigation is held will the true nature and number of deaths be known. Relying on ‘reports’ at this stage is foolish.
And, Bob, using terms like ‘tsarputin’ simply suggests you need to embellish because your argument is weak. Calling names may generate emotional support, however it suggests a weakness of logic.
And, BTW, I think ‘tzar’ was a hereditary thing (could be wrong).
No, I use the term Tzar to refer to Putin because of how he behaves–as an absolute ruler–and because of his imperialist ideology, as evinced by his own writing and speeches. I’m being quite literal in choosing that term. He behaves like an emperor. And btw, he is now promoting his daughter as his successor. So, Daedalus, you are wrong again on all counts.
And, how do you feel about MBS?
If Putin’s daughter becomes Supreme Leader, then he may be the first Tzar in his family line, but that’s not where is is, now. You are using the term as a pejorative, of course.
The US has been installing and backing nasty authoritarians for many decades. Somewhere you mentioned Pinochet as a villain, and guess who supported his coming to power? But, as you know, there are many, many more examples.
Daedalus,
I value your views on education.
On Ukraine, however, you baffle me.
Surely it does not require an international investigation to determine that Russia invaded Ukraine. Why is Russia there? Why does Russia continue to capture territory and send missiles to destroy cities and towns? The number of deaths and whether they were civilians or military seems to me of less consequence than wondering why Russia is waging this brutal war of attrition against Ukraine. If Putin’s goal was to stop the expansion of NATO, he has failed. Sweden and Finland, long neutral, asked to join NATO because of their fear of a Russian invasion.
Are the Swedes and Finns wrong?
The figure for the civilian deaths in the theatre is from an independent Associated Press investigation on the scene. The info about the shopping mall is from UN observers on the scene. But I understand why you discount these sources, Daedalus. They are independent observers on the scene, not a Russian propagandist speaking from the Moscow or from a Russian embassy somewhere, and those and the Russian assets posing as journalists in the extremist press are obviously the only voices you listen to. But, again, the propaganists whom you parrot don’t even try to make sense. The Ukrainian government run by a Jew is Nazi. The guy kicked out by a unanimous vote of the parliament was the rightful leader. These are idiotic statements, D.
Thank you so much for illustrating exactly what kind of nonsense the American Propaganda Machine is generating!
Yep.
Daedalus says “Recently, the Russians bombed an ‘apartment building’ and 48 were killed. Only 10 were ‘civilians’. It is a war crime to use civilians as a ‘human shield’.
WTH???!!!
Russia is not being attacked! Russia isn’t “defending” themselves — Russia made an unprovoked attack to take over Ukraine.
You can’t complain about “human shields” which is a term that is relevant when an AGGRESSOR is using human shields.
Were there terrorists launching attacks from that apartment building? Or just soldiers trying to protect the people who lived there from the Russian aggression?
Exactly, NYCPSP. Daedalus makes ZERO sense on this issue. Everything he says about it is completely wacko.
So, the UN has estimated that 12 million people will die this year because of Russian interruption of grain exports from Ukraine, most of them in Africa. Putin’s Holodomor. Mass murder. Genocide.
Hey, but that’s nothing. Remember when Obama wore a white suit before Memorial Day.
Wait a minute!
First, I understand that there’s been very little rain in Ukraine this year, hence a reduced yield.
Secondly, The US continues to send weapons. Why not harvesting machines?
Thirdly, I was told that the ‘Russian Navy’ had been ‘devastated’ by the Ukrainian forces, and no longer controlled the Black Sea. AND, the US Navy was setting up ‘lanes’ for export.
Now, you are asserting that Russia is actually controlling Black Sea exports, and is blockading the sale of Ukrainian grain?.
Look, if there’s one country that’s the world’s expert at blockading, it’s the US. If Africa doesn’t get it’s grain, it’s not because Russia is not allowing export from Ukraine. And, why doesn’t the US send grain (like oil) to fill the gap?
Com’on, Bob.
It’s kind of hard to harvest one’s grain when tanks are rolling over one’s fields and to export one’s grain when one’s export office has been blown up or to sail one’s grain to Africa if there is a warship in the harbor ready to blow one’s carrier up or if the grain has already been stolen and shipped to Russia. And yes, the US embargo of Cuba is obscene and stupid.
Most of the grain is grown in Western Ukraine, not the Donbass region. On the other hand, it’s pretty hard to tend the fields when the entire male population of Ukraine was drafted into the military.
Wrong again, Daedalus. Wheat is grown throughout Ukraine, but the primary growing areas are those under contention right now in central and south central Ukraine, bordering on the Donbass.
And gee, Daedalus, I wonder why Ukraine had to call up its citizens to defend it. Could it be BECUASE IT WAS FREAKING INVADED BY A MURDEROUS AGGRESSOR? Your comments are so just WEIRD, Daedalus. Ukraine didn’t invade Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine. I’m getting tired of answering this idiocy, this utter stupidity and falsehood. Repeating and amplifying Russia’s imperialist propaganda about its genocidal war is complicity in that. It’s evil and disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself.
One of the issues in this new phase of the war (we are weeks into it now) is that it isn’t close urban warfare but, rather, a lot of it is being conducted across open fields among scattered small towns, which gives an advantage to the murderous invaders. This is why it is important for the West to continue supplying and to ramp up its shipments of heavy artillery to the defenders. Slava ukraini.
Whole cities are being obliterated. Literally obliterated. Whole populations deported against their will in violation of the Crimes against Humanity provisions of the Rome Statute.
Biden is currently visiting two nations who are committing crimes against humanity based upon the Rome statute and have killed hundreds of thousands of people.They are our ‘buddies’. Come to think of it, how many people did we kill in Iraq and Iran, or Cambodia? And, how many people are we trying to kill with our ‘boycotts’, elsewhere?
The US won’t even admit the legitimacy of ‘International Law’ because it knows it’s the worst offender. To blame others of such violations is, therefore. the height of hypocrisy.
I agree that it is obscene that the US is an international scofflaw. That doesn’t make Putin’s genocide and crimes against humanity and crime of aggression the slightest bit better. You indulge in purest whataboutism. The only one reporting that the hospital was a military base is Russia, which did so based solely on the fact that there was a military vehicle on the street outside the hospital. The Mayor of Mariupol called this statement by Lavrov a lie, and Lavrov, ofc, is a liar who has been booed off the stage again and again in the United Nations because of the stream of lies he spews about Ukraine. And an Associated Press investigation says that 600 innocent civilians died in that theatre. But hey this is just journalists who are there reporting back. It doesn’t come from the Russian Secretary of State via the Russian propaganda offices, so I can see why you don’t believe it. You are going to believe whatever you read from the folks who work for little Vladimir the Great, Tzsar, in his diseased mind, of all the Russias, those he now controls and those who plans to bomb into submission in the future.
Biden is too old to be president. I say that as an elderly person myself. And he is really old school. He has been taking a lot of pressure lately about inflation, especially with regard to gas and food prices, but also with regard to rents. He doesn’t have a lot of options, so he is trying to play nice-nice with the Saudis and Venezuelans and other oil exporters to get prices down here. This is old-school political thinking, and it’s why Biden was my choice for president. In general, he’s turned out better than expected, but this Saudi visit is appalling. And he’s setting the Dems up for losing big time in 2024.
If Biden or Harris is the nominee in 2024, Dems lose. But the National Democratic Party doesn’t have a good record here of choosing wisely which candidates it gets behind.
The national convention doesn’t choose the candidate. The voters in the primaries choose. For years, readers have said here that the Dems should have picked Bernie in 2016 or 2020. The reason they didn’t is that Hilllary and Biden won more votes and delegates in the primaries. But you knew that.
Yes, I do know that, Diane. But the DNC was clearly behind Biden in 2019.
Here’s my worry, Diane. If we lose in November and again in 2024, we’re in for a long, extremely nasty period characterized by the dominant party’s fixing elections to keep themselves in power. And if Biden or Harris is the nominee, I’m not certain we shall win against DeSantis.
I agree. If the election were held now, Biden would lose. I doubt that he would win Democratic primaries if there were strong opposition. I’m watching Gavin Newsom right now.
He would be a great candidate. I don’t understand why Harris is so unpopular, but she is. A lot of that is just purest sexism, I think. But she would also lose.
You would think knowing what the Russians did to the German Nazis in WWII that the Ukrainian Nazis today would be smart enough not to pick a fight with Russia. But I guess Nazis never learn.
Yeah, the Ukrainian Nazis, led by their Jewish President. You people, scrub, don’t even try to make any sense. The propaganda coming from you is so blatantly, obviously absurd. Are there Nazis in Ukraine? Yes. There are Nazis in Chicago and Rome, Georgia. But that doesn’t mean that the Ukraine and the US are Nazi states. The very idea is completely ludicrous, and only a brainwashed ideologue would entertain it.
Hey, Scrub,
Ukraine did not invade Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine. Thought you might want to know.
cx: It’s why Biden WASN’T my choice for president.
We will get a similarly crafted nationalistic program imposed on American schools if DeSantis gets to the White House. He is a neofascist. While I am supportive of genuine patriotism, our young people should not be trained to believe in hollow jingoism that scapegoats certain people and teaches whitewashed history. Heaven help us if an unhinged Trump gets back in power. He will be looking for revenge.
Seems to me we’ve had a ‘crafted nationalistic program’ ever since I started First Grade.
Wow, I guess I will stop worrying about what the Republicans are doing to schools, since you imply that it will be no different than what we’ve had since you were in first grade. Nothing to worry about. I will remember that Daedalus says this is no big deal. Just defeat the Dems because that was such a good plan for 2016. Such a good plan if you are a gun-toting anti-abortion radical who wants a Christian nation of their dreams. Not such a good plan if you actually wanted a more progressive country.
I was simply pointing out that the ‘lower school’ curriculum has always been loaded with propaganda and constantly avoided criticizing our government’s actions. I don’t see how you can argue with that statement.
Of course, I’m almost 80 years old, but I was taught in my High school history book that Andrew Jackson fought the Battle of New Orleans (but not that he displace an entire Indian nation after he broke treaties). I had to learn about the bombing of Dresden from Vonnegut, not my History text. No mention of Wounded Knee, of course, and total hush about our role in the overthrow of so many foreign governments, or how we stole California from Mexico.
The History we learned was, very much, laced with propaganda. But, that was in the wake of Joe McCarthy’s shadow. Maybe things are different, now.
Daedalus,
The far right would be delighted with the curriculum you had when you were in school.
They are upset because it is not white supremacists’ version of history anymore.
The far right wants a return to the curriculum you had.
Neofascism in Italy-
A 1984 treaty between Italy and the Vatican gave the Catholic Church the “liberty” of teaching the Catholic religion in Italian schools and the possibility for Italians to “devolve part of their taxes to the Catholic Church.” In 2021, the Zan Bill attempted to criminalize hate speech. Both the Vatican and Giorgia Meloni, a far right Italian politician rising in power, opposed it. (Norwich Radical, 6-30-2021, “Vatican’s reactionary response to Italy’s anti-homophobia must not be tolerated”)
Both Trump and Senator Scott have explicitly called for a new 1776 nationalist, exceptionalist, Christian fundamentalist curriculum.
And that is the name of the exceptionalist, nationalist, fundamentalist Christian, reactionary conservative curriculum put together by the geniuses as fundie Hillsdale College.
cx: at fundie Hillsdale College
I’ve read that rasPutin is undergoing serious cancer treatment fighting an uphill battle with his cancer.
I wonder how much the surgery (?), radiation, and chemotherapy has affected his ability to think.
Is rasPutin’s war a result of this alleged cancer treatment? Now, to be clear, if it is, that doesn’t excuse the evil and destruction caused by this cancerous malignant narcisistic psychopath. He was a monster before the cancer and still is. It’s apparant that rasPutin’s goals have always been set on building an empire to rival Stalin’s Soviet Monster, but before the cancer he was taking it slower to avoid most of the world’s news media from noticing what he was up to.
“Exclusive: Putin Treated for Cancer in April, U.S. Intelligence Report Says”
https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-putin-treated-cancer-april-us-intelligence-report-says-1710357
How does cancer affect your thinking?
“Changes in thinking and memory. Some people diagnosed with cancer notice changes in the way they think and remember information. This is called cancer-related cognitive impairment, but people may also refer to it as “cancer fog”, “brain fog” or “chemo brain”.
https://www.cancercouncil.com.au/cancer-information/managing-cancer-side-effects/changes-in-thinking-and-memory/
Chemo brain is a real thing. Combined with the normal effects of aging, it can be worse. Steroids used to enhance the efficacy of cancer medications, like prednisone and dexamethasone, increase aggressiveness, the ability to sleep, and irritability. The most memorable line related to this for me was when a cancer patient said, “Dexamethasone is the drug that make everyone else stupid.”
!!!!!
That last line is a very funny joke to cancer patients.
!!!!
Makes sense, Lloyd. Also, though, the bottom line could be, “Well, of I’m going, everyone is going with me!” which is what seems to be an it45 mindset.
&–the obvious –why it’s so dangerous/unacceptable to have such sociopaths in positions of power.
I’m trying to figure out the qualitative difference between the education policies of Putin, privatizers, and ALEC-driven state policies. Not having much success and it’s giving me a headache.
Agreed. But, you see, Russia is ‘the Other’, so they must be worse, despite the evidence.
Biden is playing a very old game of setting up an enemy in order to rally support. Calling Putin names fits right in. Sadly, this latest trip to war-criminal nations is killing his own base, and won’t bring any support from Trumpies. Fist-bump, anyone?
Guess what? Biden is taking a LOT of heat in the US press from being cozy with the Saudi murderer. Putin would simply have the journalists who wrote such criticisms murdered or imprisoned.
Perhaps. However MBS clearly does the same (as well as Israel), and, yet, they’re the ‘good guys’. Why all this ‘Putin hatred’? Seems odd to me.
Because Putin is an extraordinarily dangerous war criminal who is in the process of subjugating his country and murdering millions. It is NOT, emphatically not, exaggeration to compare him to Salin, Mao, Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Pinochet. Get a freaking clue, Daedalus.
Why do you persist in insulting people, Bob?
Daedalus, I am frankly horrified that you would defend this mass murderer and thief of his country’s resources. I find this extraordinarily reprehensible. I’m frankly shocked.
Bob, Putin rose to power by killing many of his rivals. Just like MBS. I don’t find that a defense of Putin. I don’t know the man, nor do I know much about the situation in Russia. I’m simply pointing that Putin isn’t the only Bad Guy on the planet, and that he’s way over there. This focus on ‘Putin, Putin, Putin…’ is diverting attention from some rather big problems closer to home.
Putin didn’t rise to power by killing rivals. He rose to power by making a deal with Yeltsin, who was going to go down for corruption. Yeltsin saw how Putin protected his former criminal boss, the mayor of Saint Petersburg, and he needed a successor who would do the same for him–who would let him off Scott free after the crooked selling off of state assets. So, Yeltsin appointed Putin to take his place, but then Putin had to face an election and was a relative unknown. That’s when he started the campaign of murder to benefit his own political career, when he organized the apartment bombings and blamed those on Chechen rebels so that he could then position himself as a national hero for going after the Chechens. So, it wasn’t political rivals he was murdering then; it was innocent Russian civilians and then, in the war, Chechens. He is a foul creature, this one, as evil as they come.
When he is done in Ukraine, his death toll will be in the millions. A lot of blood on his tiny Chekist hands.
UN estimate of death toll from avoidable famine caused by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine: 12 million.
12 million people who will starve to death. A horrific way to go. Because of your buddy Tzar Vladimir the Great (in His Own Diseased Mind).
Even before this monstrous invasion, he had earned the hatred of the world because of his brutal repression at home of freedom of speech and assembly and of the press and of homosexuals and because of his systematic looting of the wealth of his country and because of his murder and torture and arbitrary imprisonment of perceived enemies. But to these horrific crimes he has now added mass murder.
History will prove this to have been the low point of the Biden administration. The sportswashing Saudi Arabia is engaging in with the purchase of Newcastle United and LIV Golf. The newly unveiled away jerseys for this season are practically copies of the Saudi national home jersey. And it is estimated that some golfers are making more than $125 million guaranteed for three years with more than half up front…when we ask what someone’s price is, we can actually answer it with these golfers.
But as bad as this is, it is an issue, but not one that affects my view of the overall situation. Biden will have my vote. At least then we can live to fight another day. As much as the [r]ight will crow about how bad Biden is on this, they or any administration would likely have done the same. Just like in past decades nations had to prostrate themselves before the military superpower the U.S., now the U.S. and others have to engage in ugly Realpolitik when it comes to oil and Saudi Arabia.
The naysayers on the Left confuse me. They seem not to understand the world we like in, that we don’t live in a parliamentary system, or that if they don’t like what the Dems are doing, they need to organize and raise their voices and impact in the party process. Doesn’t mean anyone need to give up, but it’s time to wake up and assess the situation for what it is. Bitching about it with snarky whataboutisms is as useless and potentially destructive path as possible.
I tried posting these songs a while ago, let’s see if WordPress allows it this time:
Somehow, Greg, I think Russia wants nothing to do with the racist West Ukrainians. They have made their goals clear, and it doesn’t include ‘taking over all of Ukraine’.
And, again, which ‘Ukraine’ are we talking about? The one that had it’s elected leader tossed out? The provinces that wanted to separate? The Roma?
Finally, a comment that leaves me speechless.
“The one that had it’s [sic] elected leader tossed out?”
By a 365 to 0 vote in the Ukrainian Rada.
I’ll forgive the apostrophe. WordPress often adds it when I don’t or takes it out when I put it in. Plus my typos are all over the place. But I guess that’s where my understanding ends. These and other comments like this are literally making me light-headed with confusion that anyone would make these arguments. Regardless of the politics and ideologies involved, millions of people are being displaced, traumatized, maimed and murdered for no other reason than for where they were living.
I think I’m safe in writing on behalf of Bob (apologize in advance if I assume too much) that if Ukraine made an unprovoked attack on Russia that did anything like that, we’d be just as condemning of them. I am baffled how anyone could make an argument that anything that is happening to these innocent people is in any way justified. And as a result of this, the deaths and suffering will be geometrically multiplied by man-made famine in Africa and potentially parts of Asia. The world economy is still reeling from the effects of Covid and this only exacerbates the tragedy. To argue that war and war crimes are justified because Nazis are being hunted is sociopathic, im- and amoral, weird, and wrong to the exponentially highest number one can imagine. This is not a war between governments. It is the arbitrary punishment and slaughter of innocent people and their future ability to recover something close to what they once had. I saw people walk into or out of four Ukrainian welcome centers, all seemingly carrying all they owned with them, in Europe a month ago. Have the guts to travel to one of them and spew that shit. (Sorry, my anger just kept rising as I was writing this. I can get much more profane if you let me.)
Amazing: I think you should go volunteer for Putin . I understand he is looking for help defending his borders from Finland and Sweden.
Be sure to hit CC on bottom of screen for translation.
Thank you for sharing these, Greg.
I don’t go through a week without watching both at least every other day. Both depressing and uplifting.
Coming to a country so near you that you can visit it by waking up in the morning.
Ooooh! So scary!
So, besides when we invited Russia to help defeat Hitler, when has Russia ever invaded Western Europe. And, you are inplying that ‘The Russians have Landed’? In fact, never has Russia tried to invade the United States. They have enough problems. It was Western Europe (as well as the US which sent some troops to help the ‘White Russians… yep, we were meddling in other countries even in those days) that invaded Russia over (Napoleon) and over (Germany).
And, I might point out, that the idea of ‘de-Nazification’ was an agreed-upon goal at the Potsdam conference (Harry Truman), so why is that suddenly a problem?
And, how many civilians did Truman kill with atomic bombs (both immediately and later)?
We live in the USA, Bob. It’s supposed to be a democracy. Yet we have huge problems. In theory, we can correct these much more easily than those in Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, we don’t even try.
Europeans remember Czechoslovakia and Hungry, Daedalus. And this is the THIRD recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is part of Europe.
“Why is that suddenly a problem?” OMG, D. It’s a problem because it is being used a hundred years after the Nazis were driving out of Ukraine, for the most part, as a phony pretext for a genocidal and imperialist war against the people of Ukraine. Duh.
And WTF does Truman and the bomb have to do with this? Yes, terrible. But more whataboutism.
Repeating the propaganda used to justify the murder and rape and mass starvation of peoples is complicity in these acts. Unacceptable.
Would you be speaking this way, Daedalus, if it were YOUR 9-year-old daughter or 90-year-old mother raped by Russian “soldiers” and then murdered for sport? Sickening.
https://mobile.twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1548762071738744835
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160518-what-does-the-trumpputin-kiss-really-mean
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-bans-image-of-vladimir-putin-in-makeup/
“when we invited Russia to help defeat Hitler”
Wrong again. Hitler invaded Russia in 1941 in operation Barbarossa. The US official entered the war months after this.
The US entered WW2 because of Pearl Harbor, not because of the Nazi invasion of Russia.
Exactly, Diane.
Putin has worked very hard to try to install his variety of fascism here in the United States. That’s why he poured billions of rubles into a disinformation campaign to get his dog Trump elected, why he sends agents here and cultivates assets to stoke right-wing extremism (Maria Butina and her involvement in the NRA is just the most high-profile example). And, of course, the extreme right-wing ideology promoted by Putin (which includes not only autocratic control but also Christian nationalism, imperialism, suppression of freedom, sexism, and homophobia) is shared by the Repugnicans whom he supports overtly and covertly. Given that Putin is an extreme right-winger–the sort who wants being overtly gay criminalized–it’s shocking that some people who style themselves leftists, here in the US, are all in when it comes to Putinist propaganda. So freaking bizarre. Such easy tools these people are.
Just as Hitler envisioned annexing neighboring lands to create Lebensraum, or “living space,” for an expanded Aryan race, so Putin envisions a mystical Greater Russia created by imperialist takeover of much of Asia (and retaking of Eastern Europe). He spelled this out completely in his imperialist tract called “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.” The man has made himself the wealthiest person in the world by systematically looting his country. He has surrounded himself by sycophantic yes men and adoring women. He has started believing his own bs and now sees himself as the new conquering Vladimir the Great, setting his country on course to create a “Greater Russia,” via military expansion. And he makes quite clear in that historically twisted screed that Ukraine is just the beginning.
This is another characteristic of fascists. They believe their own bs. They present themselves as godlike, take to themselves godlike powers, and then become mystical, self-worshiping adherents of their own cult.
The Putin propaganda trolls are out in force today. Here’s the thing about living in the US as opposed to living in Stalinist or Putinist Russia. Because we are an open society, agents and assets of the Russian government can easily operate here and spread lies, and both Stalin and Putin have spent enormously to that end. Has there been a single intelligence coup as significant as was Vlad’s placing his guy in the Oval Office for four year? I don’t thinks so.
cx: think so. Lol
So, there’s no shortage of Russian agents and assets here, and there are, of course, those wackjobs who so detest everything American that they are quite willing to believe any propaganda that the Russian intelligence services put out via people pretending to be left-wing journalists.
Bob Shepherd
Before NYCPSP hops in to slam the left. Right Wing and Russian disinformation (one and the same) is far more effective when the troll pretends to be what he is not. Far more effective to play what-a-boutism then defend a position. I see it on Trade Union FB pages constantly . “I am a Democrat but the party lost its way” Sure you or your father left back in 1965 when LBJ signed the voting rights act. The more they talk the more unhinged their assertions become and their true identity is revealed. Daedalus has reached that stage.
Sure, you or your father left back in 1965 when LBJ signed the voting rights act.
ROFLMAO!!!
Joel,
What are you talking about? I don’t “slam the left”. I simply call out when people who claim to be on the left are parroting right wing talking points and I point out that they are either right wing trolls or they are useful idiots who – regardless of what they believe – are acting to empower the far right and destroy the progressive movement in America.
Bernie Sanders is a REAL leftist, and so is AOC. Which is why they never spew the same right wing talking points that trolls and the far right’s useful idiots on here do. Bernie and AOC speak truth.
It is very easy to distinguish a real leftist from a faux one spewing right wing talking points. Are they speaking truth or lies?
NYC public school parent
” I simply call out when people who claim to be on the left are parroting right wing talking points and I point out that they are either right wing trolls or they are useful idiots who – regardless of what they believe – are acting to empower the far right and destroy the progressive movement in America.”
“The Black Matters Facebook page, created by Russian operatives, was meant to imitate the Black Lives Matters movement, which campaigned against racism. ”
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49987657?piano-modal
So we agree where’s the problem .
Which does not mean that Democrats should escape all criticism from the left . Being better than the Comet strike does not say much.
Being better than the Comet strike does not say much.
Well observed, Joel.
OMG Joel, stop accusing me of things I am not doing!
I am fine with criticism from the left. AOC criticizes from the left all the time. But she does it in such a way that makes it clear she WANTS a progressive future and her goal is not to destroy the Dems and empower the far right, but to empower the progressives!
Bernie criticizes from the left, too. He has never demonized the Dems, he criticizes the Dems to make them more progressive, not to empower the far right. That’s why I supported him!
I have no idea why you don’t agree with me that the way that AOC and Bernie criticize the Dems is GOOD, but the way that anonymous sources or Russia-friendly sources demonize and lie about Dems is bad.
AOC and Bernie believe in the truth. Those who specialize in dishonest attacks of the Dems do not.
I wish you agreed with me.
Re this post. This is, of course, what Fascist states do. No different from the Hitler-Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend (“Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth”) and
the Jungmädelbund (“Young Girls’ League”) and BDM-Werk Glaube und Schönheit (“Faith and Beauty Society”), collectively, the Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Maidens).
And make no mistake about it, Putin is a fascist. He is all about the cult of propaganda, the identity of the state and its leader, the mixing of state and business in support of looting of national wealth by the cronies of the leader, the brutal suppression of free speech and assembly and freedom of the press, the extensive use of secret police and propaganda, and the imperialist ambitions–the whole fascist package.
But this is not new. Yes, there is this new legislation and a renewed push for indoctrination in school, but Putin youth organizations with Putin cheerleaders, literally, running rallies have long been a thing in Russian schools.
There was also, in fascist German, the totally bizarre breeding program called Lebensborn, or Spring of Life, with the goals, at different times and places, of providing perfect Aryan wives for young SS officers so that they could produce the next generation of perfect Aryan children and of bringing up healthy, Aryan-featured, kidnapped babies from occupied areas to be good Nazis.
cx: Germany
That’s why Trump admired Putin. They are evil birds of a feather.
Russia has owned Trump since the Russian Ambassador and the KGB paid for Trump’s first visit to Moscow in 1987. Trump is a Russian asset and has been for a long, long time.
Trump got in deep with Russia as a source of funds after he ran his casino businesses into bankruptcy and no American bank would lend to him and he was facing ruin. So, he became a money launderer for Russian mob money. Russia is a Mafia state, and Putin is the big boss, or Krestniy Otets (“Capo di tutti capi, or Godfather”). The Trump Organization enabled Russian criminals around Putin to purchase property to launder their money, and Putin arranged for Deutsche Bank, where a lot of his cronies and surrogates had accounts, to give Putin a billion-dollar loan when no one else would loan to Trump. And stuff like the US withdrawal from Open Skies and the INF, Trump’s oft-repeated calls for the US to withdraw from NATO, Trump’s denial that there was any Russian interference in US elections was payback. The full extent to which the traitor Trump compromised the US is not known.
cx: the cult of personality
Can’t resist just because it’s one of the greatest rock and roll songs ever, in a category all its own. Google the lyrics if you can’t understand. Another one of those 30-plus year old songs that’s more timely today than when it was a hit.
Good stuff, Greg!
“Embittered rage…pissed off white America.”
We need artists to distill the noise into meaningful, accessible, graspable language people can process deeply and immediately.
This comment thread = yikes.
You should see a Trades Facebook page . It makes Daedalus look sane.
LOL. I bet, Joel!
Or the Facebook page of the Republican Party of Texas, which routinely runs with stuff about seceding from the union and attacking feds with citizens’ militias. Insane stuff.
Stuff that is literally criminal. Seditious and threatening.
Gee, Thanks, Joel.
Sanctions against Russia are beginning to produce dividends:
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/sanctions-against-russia-are-working_en
Great article, Greg. Thanks for sharing.
Read it carefully, Bob. This article was put out by the EU ‘State Department’ and talks about what’s GOING to happen (maybe). It also indicates that that another reason for the policy was to consolidate the EU (create ‘the Other’ to control their own people). Don’t you understand that concept? Did you ever read 1984? If you want a more researched source, read ‘The Beginning of Everything’ by Greaber and Wengrow.
Putin turned into The Other by threatening to invade his neighbors and then actually doing so. Europe has every right to protect itself. It is absurd, again, for you to read this completely backward. Orwell was no friend of fascist dictators like Putin. If a person whose house has been robbed three times in the last year puts up a fence and a security camera, he is not “Othering.” That’s a really weird reading. And yes, I know 1984 and almost all the rest of Orwell’s work extremely well. Here:
https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2019/03/17/my-candidate-for-the-most-important-book-you-could-ever-read/
Thanks for the recommendation of The Dawn of Everything. I’ll order a copy. Looks fascinating.
And this:
https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/stories/he-sees-you-when-youre-sleeping-a-short-story/
Vladimir Putin is the Mickey Donovan of dictators. Everything he touches…well, you know the rest.