Propaganda
What is Ukraine’s history? Here is an 8 minute PBS video on the topic which is very interesting.
Several commentaries about Russian disinformation have come by recently. I invite you to read them. I have some personal comments at the end. This is not a simple topic.
A couple of days ago a long-time friend sent the following to two of us. We all generally agree on things political. The article is here, translated from the original Russian. The pull quote from the article is hers:
“Everything that Russia has done for the West, it has done at its own expense, by making the greatest sacrifices. The West ultimately rejected all these sacrifices, devalued Russia’s contribution to resolving the Western crisis, and decided to take revenge on Russia for the help that it had selflessly provided. From now on, Russia will follow its own way, not worrying about the fate of the West…”
A day later came another, a post in Politico, from an activist friend, about youth in Russia (if you’re 22 or less the only Russian President you’ve probably ever known is Putin, who’s been President all but four years, 2008-2012,` since 2000.)
Today, yet a third, from “The Weekly Sift”, a thought out commentary titled “Why the Russians did it”.
There are more, but let these suffice for now.
My comments:
My earlier posts on the topic are here (the first Feb. 16).
I was surprised that the Russians actually invaded Ukraine. I have not been surprised by the atrocities and the disinformation.
In my opinion, President Biden’s administration of the horrible situation has been admirable. Of course, there are endless opinions about that. The presidency is a lonely place. The restraint by the president, means we have so far avoided a broader and even deadlier war, notable after over a century of deadly wars. [April 11: Heather Cox Richardson has an excellent column about the press and Biden, here.]
It is easy to kick around the United Nations but the assorted coalitions which have evolved with the UN over the years have done and are doing yeoman service under awful conditions, and not only with respect to Ukraine. Without the UN and the abundance of other organizations, like WHO etc, the situation would be much worse.
My country, the United States of America, enters this conflict without clean hands – something easy to ignore when things are cast as good versus evil, and evil is always the other party.
The U.S. is given considerable credit for the perfection of propaganda, going way back to the yellow news media, Pulitzer, Hearst et al, and the campaign eliciting citizen support for World War I through the Creel Committee. One character on that committee staff has always fascinated me: Edward Bernays. His expertise in manipulating public opinion was copied by others, like Joseph Goebbels. We Americans are hypnotized by advertising, which is propaganda, pure and simple.
Most of the codes of conduct for war, like the Geneva Convention, and terms like “war crimes”, are largely inventions around the 20th century. Before 1900s, brute power ruled. So it was considered fair game to depopulate our country of its indigenous persons. That didn’t meet the definition of genocide, which came later.
The 20th century was the century of making war more and more deadly, especially to civilians.
We can’t avoid talking about our role in Vietnam, and later Afghanistan and Iraq. Etc. But these topics almost never come up in any context from any quarter these days. But they’re in the very near background – out of sight, but not out of mind.
And, of course, the United Nations was never designed to have united power. Five nations: the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Russia and China, have power of veto over most anything of substance. The rules do not apply to those five, the winners of WWII. This was intended at the start, and hard to change.
And when the 45th president of the United States took office, he clearly favored authoritarians like Putin. He ran for reelection and got 74,000,000 votes, and while he lost by 8,000,000 he will never admit it. And people are still covering for him. This says too much about our own citizenry.
There are lots of valid reasons for an American to be cynical about America at this point in our history.
I am an American, and I give a damn. I respect my country with all of its abundant faults, which I think we have to acknowledge and deal with.
I have long been active in an organization now called Citizens for Global Solutions which has a very long history. Both the State and National work at being a voice for positive change in our world. We are a small voice, but we are a voice. Take a look at both state and national and consider getting involved. see the most recent national newsletter which has some excellent commentaries. Some food for thought.
Putin and Russia are serious problems, but ‘we, the people’ are an even larger problem, and paradoxically the only solution to our current malaise.
Be on the court as an individual. It’s the only solution.
That’s my opinion. What’s yours?
COMMENTS (more at end of post):
from Carol: This is my 2 cents, and you likely won’t agree with me. It’s long – please free to share all, part, or none at all. I think we as a country have to get more involved – with overwhelming Ukrainian air support, not the “boots on the ground” stuff. The Ukrainians are doing an awesome job on the ground themselves. And I have now sent a message saying that to my senators, representative, and the White House.
from Terry and Andy to the Peacemakers group, meeting today (April 12):
The Left has to Recognize Russian Imperialism in Ukraine or it is Trapped in Americocentrism
It is tough for leftists to be on the same side as the mainstream. We can easily feel at those times that we’re missing something, that we’re letting down the struggle, that by ganging up even on an admittedly bad actor we’re helping strengthen the nemesis at home, allowing it to appear as the good guy.
I think the second worst problem we have is voter suppression. The first is shutting down carbon emissions in three years. But as to the second worst…
There is no significant vote fraud, but hundreds of thousands of people have been disenfranchised by new state laws that will still be in effect in ’24, even if eventually adjudged unconstitutional. If the Republicans win, that is unlikely ever to be tested. Not sure about the Democrats.
Republicans cannot win a free and fair election now, as they have said out loud and in public more than once. This is mainly because of their overt disdain for anyone who is not white, male, and obscenely rich; and the aforementioned voter suppression laws they enact when they get into offices of public trust.
But they still have the twelfth Amendment.
If Certification is delayed (it need not be stopped), a one-state-one-vote election in the House must be held. A simple majority will decide who moves into the White House. California will have one vote, just like Vermont, and every other state. 80% of the electorate will thus be disenfranchised.
The January 6th Insurrection was intended to force exactly that condition. It would have succeeded if our representatives had not immediately shaken off their real terror, and climbed back up on the horse to finish their sacred work.
That’s why all those Senatorial fanatics threw themselves so enthusiastically under the bus, long after the lynch-mob riot, beatings, attempted kidnappings, terroristic threats and mayhem had subsided. The declaimed on the House floor. They called for roll-calls. Anything to slow the process to a crawl.
But it was not the pathetic grandstanding it was made out to be. They still hoped, as a practical matter, to delay Certification at any cost, even their own re-election. Because they know the 12th Amendment’s one-state-one-vote would take them over the top.
This time, cooler heads—at the risk, they had reason to believe, of their very lives—resisted with decorum, courage, and extraordinary patience, to complete the peaceful transfer of power. This time. Will they be able to hold the line in 2024? There’s serious reason to doubt it.
The fanatics have been emboldened by the almost complete lack of consequences for an actual violent insurrection.
In 1966, as a conscientious objector, I was accused of being a Communist, by which they meant specifically: “advocating the overthrow of the U.S. Government by force and violence.” Kind of a stretch, when you think about it.
But times have changed. Now, people filmed participating in the January 6th operation are getting elected to public office. And it’s not just a loony few: their financial backing extends deep into the fertile soil of social fragmentation, most prominently manifest in the current world war.
And it is a world war. Dictatorships are proliferating, and finding material and financial support for violent repression of their own civil societies, on almost every continent. Ongoing conflicts are being linked into a network of horrific human disasters. Massive displacement and starvation are on the rise.
So, yes, I agree: it is going to take responsible engagement on the part of ordinary Americans. And considering the worst problem we have, the stakes have never been this high.
I’m an American too. And I’m not sure we’re up to the challenge. Because the challenge is to keep our American-ness, which consists of continual striving for effective democracy in the world. Just because we haven’t yet accomplished that since 1776 is no excuse to quit now.
Franklin put it best: “Democracy… if you can keep it.”
I truly wish we could do more to help Ukraine, but if we provide air support – a no-fly zone – we will, of necessity, engage in air battles with Russian planes. That would be an act of war, which would undoubtedly expand to a war between Russia and all of NATO; are we really ready to start WWIII? We need to supply more food, medical supplies, arms and other materiel to Ukraine, and we need to open our borders to Ukrainian refugees. We need to keep a strong military presence in Poland’s border, because Poland, the Baltic, and Balkan countries, are surely within Putin’s sight.