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Putin inventing new Cold War with US to deflect russian voters' attention away fro domestic problems
https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlins-world-war-iii-propaganda-meltdown-shows-putin-is-cornered?ref=home?ref=homeThe looming potential for World War III has become a regular topic on Russian state propaganda shows. Night after night, Vladimir Soloviev, who is often described as the Kremlin’s top propagandist, condemns the West’s “economically suffocating” strategy of imposing sanctions and suggest war is the logical outcome.
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The show, which is broadcast nightly on state channel 1, heats up quickly. This week, Sergei Kurginyan, a pro-Kremlin political expert close to the secret services, accused the West of tearing Russia apart by creating a fifth column in the Far East, where thousands of Russians have been marching in anti-Putin rallies for two months. Putin’s nemesis Alexei Navalny was out East bolstering the opposition rallies when he was poisoned with a deadly nerve agent.
...
A popular newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda announced in plain language on Friday that: “The world is under a threat of the Third World War over the Russian COVID-19 vaccine.”
The paper claimed the European Union and the U.S. were furious about Russia selling millions of doses of its vaccines to Brazil and Africa.
The Russian nationalist publication Tsargrad claimed an invented military victory on Friday. “NATO Exercises Failed: Russian Ships Scared Americans and Ukrainians Away.”
...
The age-old theme of a “conflict of civilizations” between East and West has been resurfacing on state media outlets. It is this undercurrent that is the at core of the West’s issues with Russia, the propaganda outlets insist.
...
The propaganda outlets portray Putin and his allies withdrawing from the world, as if in a besieged castle, to isolate and defend themselves.
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Nonetheless, Markov explains that Moscow is expecting incoming rhetorical fire during the height of the American election season: “Russian intelligence has informed Vladimir Putin earlier this year of rough attacks on him personally coming up,” he said. “That might happen during the U.S. elections, the conflict might enter a hot phase, so it is time to buy canned food.”
...
The show, which is broadcast nightly on state channel 1, heats up quickly. This week, Sergei Kurginyan, a pro-Kremlin political expert close to the secret services, accused the West of tearing Russia apart by creating a fifth column in the Far East, where thousands of Russians have been marching in anti-Putin rallies for two months. Putin’s nemesis Alexei Navalny was out East bolstering the opposition rallies when he was poisoned with a deadly nerve agent.
...
A popular newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda announced in plain language on Friday that: “The world is under a threat of the Third World War over the Russian COVID-19 vaccine.”
The paper claimed the European Union and the U.S. were furious about Russia selling millions of doses of its vaccines to Brazil and Africa.
The Russian nationalist publication Tsargrad claimed an invented military victory on Friday. “NATO Exercises Failed: Russian Ships Scared Americans and Ukrainians Away.”
...
The age-old theme of a “conflict of civilizations” between East and West has been resurfacing on state media outlets. It is this undercurrent that is the at core of the West’s issues with Russia, the propaganda outlets insist.
...
The propaganda outlets portray Putin and his allies withdrawing from the world, as if in a besieged castle, to isolate and defend themselves.
...
Nonetheless, Markov explains that Moscow is expecting incoming rhetorical fire during the height of the American election season: “Russian intelligence has informed Vladimir Putin earlier this year of rough attacks on him personally coming up,” he said. “That might happen during the U.S. elections, the conflict might enter a hot phase, so it is time to buy canned food.”
A few things:
- A few years ago, I read a russian article, boasting how the Magnitsky-sanctions of the West have absolutely no effect on the russian economy.
(Fun Fact: Sergej Magnitsky was an accountant who discovered a network of corrupt judges stealing millions from the russian government. These very same judges accused him of financial crimes and threw him in jail, where he was killed before he could be put on trial. Putin's administration refused to do anything about the embezzlement, despite the plethora of evidence, because then they would have had to admit that corrupt judges EXIST in Russia.)
- Russia has for many, many years now portrayed itself as a bastion of modesty, Christianity and peace, besieged by a decadent, liberal, war-hungry West.
- Russia is bleeding out from a massive brain-drain. For 20 years now there has been an on-going tradition for investors, for artists, for older intellectuals as well for fresh-faced scientists fresh from university, to leave Russia for the West because of economic and social reasons.
Russia used to lose half a million of these people per year. The latest available official number from Russia says 377,000 per year, and that is already sugar-coated, because the immigration-statistics of other countries for incoming Russians add up to way more.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/01/16/official-data-vastly-underestimates-russian-emigration-report-a64158
(I remember an article on Russia Today, boasting how Russians are emigrating from the West back to Russia. The article made no mention of how many Russians are leaving Russia in the first place or why.)
- I have spoken to several Russians and Putin is not popular in Russia. Corruption and mismanagement have held back Russia economically since the fall of the Soviet Union and the Magnitsky-sanctions aren't making things any better. The Russians know that Putin isn't actually a good politician, but they keep electing Putin anyways. Even the Russians who don't like Putin vote for Putin. And for a very simple reason: There is no alternative.
Putin has systematically ruined the careers and lives of everyone who opposes him, so there simply is no one serious available to run for President. That's why the roster of presidential candidates in russian elections consists of:
* Putin
* some liberal who has been demonized by russian media as a tool of the evil, evil West
* actual Nazis
* actual Communists
* D-list celebrities wanting the attention
In my opinion, the ongoing demonization of the West inside Russia is intented to radicalize the russian voters and to create an us-vs-them environment in Russia, where opposing Putin is considered identical to being a traitor against Russia.
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