PUTIN'S WAR PROPAGANDA: A lie armed to the teeth

The editors of our reality noticed that some facts about the Kremlin regime managed to break through to our little corner, especially since the war in Ukraine began, so they were forced to increase the horse's dose of propaganda to the maximum. A company of translators from Putin's Russian was mobilized, so that the domestic audience would receive as much original propaganda as possible, directly from the dictator’s spring. Many internet addresses stand out in that effort, and among the most agile is the portal "Iskra", the electronic newspaper of Andrićgrad, under the firm baton of Emir Kusturica, the local spahi.

This portal regularly publishes the smartest works of loyal subjects of Vladimir Putin, which present us with original examples of new Russian military-political thought. One of the regular authors is Alexander Khodakovsky, commander of the “Vostok” Brigade, who, in the break between the destruction of Ukrainian cities, finds time to record his philosophical thoughts on life, the immortality of the soul, the Russian world and the reasons for killing innocent civilians. After lining up his thoughts and performing a regular morning review, the commander begins the text "The only true victory" with a deep philosophical question: "When we are already at war, dying and killing other people, I personally need a slightly more complete answer to the question: because of what? ”

Proud of killing

Such are the Slavic souls, wide, Dmitry Karamazov did not say in vain that they should be narrowed down a bit, one cannot just go around killing, but one wonders why all of this. Of course, there is an immediate answer - because of Greater Russia. But, what is its true greatness, the uniformed thinker wonders further. In need of those who kill to be "proud of their country". And what is the reflection of that pride that serves as an excuse for slaughter? Here is the answer: "Most often, this pride consists of a simple anecdotal formula: 'We… we will give everyone else a piece of…'" The commander of the thinking brigade did not finish his thought for understandable reasons, primarily out of decency. To bomb settlements, to level entire cities to the ground, to kill innocent civilians with whom you previously tied your hands, to bury them in improvised mass graves - all this is allowed, none of it is indecent, because of the mentioned pride. But swearing is not polite anymore. It was not in vain that swearing was prohibited by law in the Independent State…

Hodakovski further says that he also shares this opinion, that he also wants to feel "superiority over everyone and pride for his country". However, something happened to him, and it is not enough for him, his perception of Russia has changed "with age and in search of the meaning of life." He thought, the commander thought during the long nights by the campfire, and in the end, he came to his senses, he managed to trap the meaning and keep it in custody. Straining his brain to the point of breaking, he came to the axiom: "There is no other religion in Russia - only Orthodox."

Orthodox Valhalla

He does not know what he is saving, but he knows one thing, "the Russian soul will be saved only in Orthodoxy." And that is why the Orthodox faith should be preserved, "so that the saved Russian man would go to immortality", the after death destiny is what is most important, it is incomparably more important than the feeling of national pride. In order to preserve Orthodoxy, a strong country is needed. For centuries, the West has been attacking Russia precisely in order to destroy the Orthodox faith, because it knows what the greatest Russian force is. And that is why Russia must be strong so that Russians can go to the Orthodox paradise after death. So that Russian soldiers can peacefully continue the aggressor campaign. They kill women and children, loot Ukrainian homes and send loot home by courier services, burn houses, and demolish Orthodox churches - in order to preserve Orthodoxy. If you are already justifying your crimes with the so-called higher or holy idea, then it makes it as stupid and meaningless as possible.

The paradise described by Hodakovski has nothing to do with Christian eschatology, it is - Valhalla, a warrior's burial abode. And the so-called Orthodoxy is the complete opposite of Christianity, it is the religion of a warrior tribe, an obvious regression to some long-gone epochs and outdated forms of religious consciousness.That deviation has a name, it is called ethnophyletism, and it was condemned as a heresy in the 19th century. It has nothing to do with Christian universalism and charity. If these today's Orthodox people had found themselves in Jerusalem a few thousand years ago, Christ would not have ended up on the cross, but would have led the army in a conquest, plundering campaign.

The truth is in military force

One of the regular thinkers of the Russian world on the sparkling "Iskra" is German Sadulayev, a Russian writer of Chechen origin, and a political activist of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. He also cultivates a similar way of not thinking as Hodakovski, even though he is a man of feathers, not of a Kalashnikov. Here is how Sadualjev addresses those who are against the war: "Listen: if you take to the streets and demand that the war be stopped, that is very good. It shows that we live in a free country where a person has the right to freely express his point of view. " Police arrest thousands of anti-war protesters, arrest people carrying "Don't Kill" banners, arrest activists who share Orwell's novel "1984" on the street, arrest even those who do not carry any banners, and our writer speaks coldly about a free country in which everyone has the right to express their opinion. There is, but only in his cell.

The quoted statement is actually ironic, because Sadulayev accuses the protesters of supporting the enemy. If they want the war to stop, they should demand it from Zelenski, the writer thinks. In other words, it is only allowed to demand surrender from the one who is attacked, neither guilty nor indebted. And compare Russia with the United States. By that logic, the hundreds of thousands of Americans who demonstrated against the Vietnam War in front of the White House were actually supposed to jump to Saigon and ask the Viet Cong to stop the war.

Well, one should not expect too much from Sadulayev, the man himself says that it is normal for a wartime speciality a writer to be - an agitator-propagandist, which means that a writer should not report objectively from the battlefield, but lie fatly about his side, the aggressor. Then Sadulayev says that the truth will win, but he cannot do it alone. Fortunately, the truth has the armed forces of the Russian Federation beside them, so they will triumph with the help of heavy artillery. And the writer bases his understanding of the truth on the thesis that history is written by winners, which means that it does not matter what really happened, but that we should win, leave the defeated without a voice and testimonies, and the truth is what the stronger determine. It is not the facts that matter, what is correct and true, but military force and supremacy determine what is truth and reality.

It hasn't been thought like this for a long time, since the Middle Ages. And even then, the truth managed to break through, remember Procopius of Caesarea, who lived in the 6th century. The court historian wrote the official story of the Byzantine emperor Justinian, what the military force determined to be true, it was the history written by the victors, that is, the subjects who want to keep their heads on their shoulders. But he also wrote Procopius's "Secret History" in which he painted with a dark palette the real truth about the reign of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora. That book managed to survive for centuries and reach today's readers. And Sadulayev imagines that today, in the age of the Internet and new technologies, when nothing can be hidden, what was not feasible almost 15 centuries ago is possible.

Hatred of the logos

Although he declared himself an agitator-propagandist, Sadulayev did not really become famous in the newly elected role, just like his brother in false stories, Aleksandar Hodakovski. And so are all the other authors that "Iskra" is forcing, they seem to be writing Kremlin propaganda under the slogan from our region, which reads "Niđe veze". One author claims that Russia tried very hard not to provoke the Ukrainian aggressor, just as it tried not to provoke Nazi Germany at the time. It is as if the Ukrainian army invaded Russia, and not the other way around. And not a word about the pact between Hitler and Stalin, two brothers in totalitarianism and satire of innocent people. Nor about the division of Poland, the supply of the German army with Russian fuel, which enabled the conquests, the division of European territory into Soviet and German spheres of interest, or the Soviet conquest of neighbouring countries in agreement with the Nazis. That didn't even happen, because the truth is only what Putin says is true.

When you take a closer look, Kremlin propaganda is actually pure paparazzi, a mixture of everything, without any consistency, logic and meaning. It is no wonder that subjects and vassals write nonsense when their masters give them rhythm. Remember the spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zaharova, who calmly announced that Russia had attacked Ukraine because the Ukrainians did not want to share the recipe for borscht with anyone, which, in her opinion, is an obvious example of extremism, fascism and Nazism. It is difficult to think of anything more stupid, let alone say it, but that is the position of Russian officials. One of many similar in the series. Russian propaganda is published as a mixture of fabrications and nonsense that not even a dog with butter would eat, in which no one who has two screws in their brain could believe.

However, Putin's propaganda does not try to convince reasonable people of anything, it does not address those who care about the real truth, those who search for the real state of affairs. Putin's propaganda machinery appeals to another kind of people, the one who does not seek the truth in order to act in accordance with it, but only seeks the authority and force with which he will submit. In these various lies, however, there is a clear common line, and that is contempt for truth, facts, logic, and reality. It is an immeasurable hatred of the human ability to know, think, and understand the things of the world, hatred of reason, of the logos, of what makes a man a man. As Joseph Brodsky said in Venice in 1993: "It is about the fact that the basic tragedy of Russian political and social life is in the great disrespect of man towards man - in general, if you will, in contempt." Putin's quasi-thinkers are trying to sell us this contempt as good news, a specific Russian truth and an Orthodox version of Christianity.

(zurnal.info)