U.S. Captives Surface in Russian Propaganda Videos

[babylonsister]

U.S. Captives Surface in Russian Propaganda Videos
ENEMY HANDS
Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, were looking worse for wear in videos shared by Russian state media on Friday.
Allison Quinn
News Editor
Updated Jun. 17, 2022 5:53PM ET / Published Jun. 17, 2022 5:42PM ET


Two of the American fighters thought to have been captured by Russian forces in Ukraine last week have suddenly surfaced in Russian propaganda videos, confirming their families’ worst fears that they’ve wound up in enemy hands.

Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, were seen looking worse for wear in videos shared by Russian state media on Friday. Though the two had officially joined Ukraine’s military as volunteers in the war, the Russian headlines described them as American “mercenaries.”

In what appears to be a heavily edited video released by Russia’s Izvestia newspaper, Huynh said he had been influenced by “propaganda” and “exaggerated facts” in the news before joining the war. He went on to deny reports of Russian troops killing civilians.

“When I came here, I discovered that that wasn’t the case,” he said.

more...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-captives-alexander-drueke-and-andy-huynh-surface-in-russian-propaganda-videos?ref=home

[DBoon]

1. "Brainwashing" again

As was claimed after the Korean War...

In the early 1950s, American troops were being killed and captured by the thousands in Korea. Panic spread that China’s Communists had learned how to penetrate and control the minds of American prisoners of war.

The technique was called “brainwashing.” And suddenly it’s worth recalling what brainwashing was about. Because now we know, from an article in The New York Times last week, that in a new time of anxiety America’s own interrogators drew lessons from China’s treatment of American prisoners of war for their treatment of prisoners in the war on terror.

The concept of brainwashing was the brainchild of Edward Hunter, a newspaperman born in 1902, who had covered the rise of fascism in Europe before joining the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency, during World War II. The Korean War had just begun in 1950 when The Miami News published his article, “ ‘Brain-Washing’ Tactics Force Chinese Into Ranks of Communist Party.”

He determined that “the Reds have specialists available on their brainwashing panels,” experts in the use of “drugs and hypnotism,” as he later told the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Their ultimate goal was conquering America.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/weekinreview/06weiner.html

[babylonsister]

3. Reminds me of VietNam, McCain specifically. nt

[BrightKnight]

2. I think the USSR would have been seen to follow the Geneva Conversation.

It makes them look weak and damages their reputation in the world when thy don’t. Apparently they have totally give up on influence and soft power. They don’t gain anything from this.

Ugly things happened in proxy conflicts but they could blame it on the other Country.