The Putin Narrative
After all that has been published exposing the concerted effort by Russia to use disinformation to shape Western thought to Putin’s advantage, it’s still working…
Knowing that “theHill.com” occasionally publishes articles exceptionally skewed against democracy, I still check the headlines there just because I want to keep up with what they are providing to their large audience. On 24 May, they published an article by Douglas MacKinnon [ here ] that crossed my line for absolute BS from start to finish. I had to respond and the following is what I submitted to the Hill as an op/ed that I have no expectation they might publish, but someone there will have to read.
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A significant part of Russia’s hybrid war effort is the active dissemination of false narratives. Putin has a number of well financed offices working hard at undermining the West’s unified condemnation of his criminal conquests. The objective is to increase the chances of his success, while illegitimately reducing the effectiveness of righteous opposition and diminish, or induce the complete overlooking, of the horrendous atrocities he is responsible for. It’s working.
A number of supposedly credible authors and politicians are accepting and promoting unjustifiable Russian narratives that support the notion that Ukraine should simply accept Russian “peace” terms and capitulate “to stop the killing”.
The suggestion that Trump “peace” initiatives are reasonable or desirable is a perfect example of the success of Russia’s misdirection. Trump’s initiatives boil down to active support of Russia’s conquest at the expense of Ukraine - essentially promoting a surrender - supposedly for the purpose of “stopping the killing”, as he has repeated on many occasions.
Let’s review; Russia invaded Ukraine, with a full on assault, with the intention of eliminating the government of Ukraine and taking possession of the entire country. They did this simply because Putin wanted it - and had failed to subvert the country by infiltrating Ukraine’s political system and installing a government of his choice.
All, ALL, the killing in Ukraine is due to the war started by, and still perpetuated by the choice of Putin. Ukraine is fighting back, because the government, and the population don’t want to be subjugated and enslaved as a Russian possession. They have no choice. All the killing could stop if Putin were to stop perpetuating his war of criminal aggression. What could be simpler to understand?
It is more than a little infuriating to still encounter pro-Russian narratives that suggest that somehow the war in Ukraine is still going on because Western democracies are conducting a proxy war by choice, or that it’s a war that Ukraine should not have somehow caused, or that Ukraine should have ended it by accepting Russian occupation or dominance. [for example; How many more useless deaths before we admit Trump was always right on Ukraine? BY DOUGLAS MACKINNON, here]; All of these are centerpieces of Trump’s unfounded, unsupportable statements and policy initiatives related to the war. Trump has never been right. He has used all carrot on Putin and all stick on President Zelensky. His bias against Ukraine is blatant and not in America’s interest. Ukraine is the clear victim, who we should be energetically supporting.
There are still no tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Russia. The latest administration announcements in the media, relating to Russia’s behavior, is still devoid of admonishment for starting and perpetuating an unjust war; Trump is expressing only his concern that Putin is harming Russia’s future and economy by his actions. This is not a significant change of heart, it’s not a repudiation of Putin’s narrative. It’s almost a borderline expression of sympathy for Russia’s war not having been more successful !
The war could have been justly won by Ukraine, with adequate support from a unified West, but the disinformation undermining of that support has worked.
Judging by what is still showing up in the media, it’s still working.