David Corn: Top Putin Propagandist Says the Ukraine War Is Just the Beginning

[babylonsister]

14 hours ago
Top Putin Propagandist Says the Ukraine War Is Just the Beginning
A pro-Kremlin TV host warns other nations are next.
David Corn


A key champion in the Russian media of Vladimir Putin’s illegal attack on Ukraine served up a troubling threat on Monday: This war will go beyond Ukraine.

State television host Vladimir Solovyov is well-known as a fanatical pro-Putin propagandist and a top cheerleader for the war with Ukraine. He claims the Russians are acting in self-defense and liberating a Ukraine that poses an existential threat to Russia. Last month he railed against sanctions imposed on Russia, perhaps because they affected his ownership of villas in the Lake Como region of Italy. This week, he said that the sanctions should be answered with nuclear strikes, exclaiming, “I still think that those who took our money should be told, you have 24 hours to unfreeze our funds, or else we’ll send you what you know we’ve got. Your choice. Tactical or strategic, take a pick. You took our money, you’re the thieves, our talk is short with you: a bullet to the head.”

Bluster is his style. And on his broadcast, The Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, he also recently proclaimed that the attempted conquest of Ukraine is only the beginning of Putin’s grand plan. In keeping with Putin’s brazen disinformation campaign, he depicted the Russian invasion as a crusade against Nazism. He compared recent events in Germany in which Ukrainian refugees have shouted, “Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes, death to enemies,” to Nazi rallies where Germans once yelled, “Heil Hitler.” He also told the West to stick the next round of sanctions “up your ass.”

He then turned to geostrategy. He reminded viewers that Putin has demanded that NATO return to its 1997 configuration—that is, before the Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Baltic states, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia joined the Western military alliance. He suggested that after that occurs, nuclear weapons—presumably under Russian control—would be deployed in former Soviet bloc nations. The goal is the restoration of Russia as a nuclear superpower that dominates much of Europe, far beyond its current borders. That is, this war is about far more than keeping Ukraine from aligning with the West.

Solovyov spelled it out: “And if you think we’re going to stop with Ukraine, think 300 times, I will remind you that Ukraine is merely an intermediate stage in the provision of the safety of the Russian Federation.”

more...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/03/top-putin-propagandist-says-the-ukraine-war-is-just-the-beginning/

[JHB]

1. Get that man some tissues

And I don't mean for crying, although he'll have enough left over for that too.

[BeyondGeography]

2. ...of the end for Russia

[Joinfortmill]

3. Words have consequences.

[anarch]

4. well that sounds reasonable

I mean all we have to do is have all Western nations dis-arm and dissolve, and turn over control of all wealth and resources of the entire planet to the oligarchs, or else die in a nuclear firestorm. Yes, a very reasonable way to open negotiations, and should be responded to with all due respect.

[smirkymonkey]

5. Yeah, whatever dude.

You guys are barely keeping your heads above water now, both in Ukraine and in your own country.

They have become delusional living in their own little bubble so long, just like most of the republicans.

[doc03]

6. If they are actually able to take Ukraine they won't have enough military left

to take Greenland without nukes.

[Irish_Dem]

7. Russia's goal is to dominate the West.

And they will use whatever force it takes.

I don't think this is just propaganda.

[calguy]

8. The poor guy sounds like he's "going through some things"

[bullwinkle428]

9. Time to start updating your resume, Baghdad Bob!

[Chainfire]

10. The real question is are Putin and his criminal coconspirators willing to commit suicide

over their lost of money and pride? I wonder it the Oligarchs think that they are so powerful as to resume the life of luxury after burning down the world? It really sounds like the bluff of an already defeated country.