The revolt against reason

[TygrBright]

1. Mislik is missing a BIG thing...

...the influence of the Russian social media agitprop machine.

Russia is teetering on the brink of economic collapse (again) and political chaos. Putin, who is increasingly obvious as a classic authoritarian, is deeply threatened and perceives himself as virtually 'surrounded' by hostile states governed by non-authoritarian mechanisms.

Without the resources to wage any kind of effective political, economic, or military opposition to his long 'enemies' list, he turned very early, and very effectively, to a tool from the old KGB arsenal - subversive agitprop, concealed under a cloak of 'dissent from within' opponents' own back yards.

That tool, potentiated by the power of social media, which Putin grasped very early and exploited for all it's worth, has been part of all of the illiberal, divisive, anti-democratic, anti-science, anti-rationality conspiracies and movements throughout the nations he views as potential threats.

And it's shockingly effective, largely because most democratic forms of government haven't devised any effective way to grapple with it, as they struggle to avoid forms of censorship, regulation, or suppression seen as antithetical to democratic principles.

This isn't the only factor - Mislik identifies others and there are localized issues in all nations/states that contribute to the problem.

But it is a much larger and more potent part of the problem than most media sources want to admit.

observantly,
Bright