Russia launches propaganda campaign in Europe “Russia is not my enemy”, aiming to undermine trust in the rule of law and democratic institutions
a year ago by randomname to c/europe
Stickers with the slogan "“Russia is not my enemy" have appeared in Romania, France, and Italy.
[...]
“Russia has launched the propaganda campaign ‘Russia is not my enemy,’ which has reached Romania. Stickers with this message are appearing in cities as part of the Kremlin’s hybrid campaign aimed at creating the illusion of a ‘peaceful partnership.’ Through such tools of influence, Russia seeks to portray itself as a peacemaker, downplay its own crimes, and sow discord within European societies,” the statement by the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said.
[...]
The Center added that the purpose of the campaign is to undermine citizens’ trust in the rule of law and democratic institutions in their countries, cast doubt on the Euro-Atlantic course, and discredit support for Ukraine.
[...]
Russia has significantly intensified hybrid attacks on the EU’s critical infrastructure since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russian mafia regime is Russia. Both its genocidal conquest policies and the tradition of subservience to a central authority predate the word “россия” and are consistent across governments and states.
The idea that wars of conquest and genocide Russia throws itself in since before we formulated the definition of a word „genocide” are somehow not about Russia would be the winner of every mental gymnastics competition for years to come.
This comment is just bigotry. Russia the country, the Russian people, the Russian history are no better or worse than, say, France or Germany or Britain. Any major European colonial power has a genocidal past. Any major European colonial power has a history of tension between tyranny and liberty.
There is nothing that is irredeemable about Russia, at least not any more than France, Britain, Germany, etc. The conflation of Russia with Putin's regime is precisely the Putinist Big Lie. In Putin's mind, the survival of his regime is THE SAME AS the survival of Russia. Don't buy the Big Lie. A free, democratic Russia is possible. And that is precisely Putin's worst nightmare.
When UK refuses to return the riches they stole, we just say it like that.
When Belgia refuse to acknowledge genocide in Congo, we just say it.
When we talk about France losing colonial wars in Vietnam and Algeria, we say it.
When Israel starves an entire population in openly advertised genocide, we say it.
When we talk about Japanese massacres in China, we just say it.
When we talk about Chinese genocide of Uighurs, we just say it.
When Canada systematically oppresses indigenous population, we just say it.
But when Russia commits genocide and openly promises hellfire on the heads of those who would resist, don’t we dare say it!
This is pure mental gymnastics.
The fact that you straight ignored the core of my argument doesn’t add it any credibility either.
I didn't give Russia a free pass. I said it deserves the exact same scrutiny as other big European colonial powers. And it is by those standards that their aggression is Ukraine, but also in Georgia, in Moldova, etc is despicable and condemnable.
But if I understanding correctly, the core of your argument is that the whole concept of "Russia" is inextricably connected to barbaric genocidal wars of expansion, that Putinism is essentially Russian and inextricable/inseparable from it. And I have a problem with that, because that's a condemnation of Russian-ness as such. Am I misreading your core argument?
Any major European colonial power has a history of tension between tyranny and liberty.
Big difference between European history and current Ruzz reality.
Their culture has never learned any Human Rights lesson, which is exactly the problem. For centuries their Gvment have been one or another form of Tsarism (autocracy) basically. There might have been a couple of years of reprieve, before Putin went fullmetal.
So though I believe a "Russian & Belarusian Spring" is definitely possible, the country needs to go full Fascist deprogramming first. #syntax
Unfortunately that is not the case anymore. Propaganda works, repression works. Putin has the overwhelming support of Russian people and they share his views, not only about the role of Russia in the world, but also about killing Ukrainians.
People are idiots and will do as they are propaganded. They can be propaganded in the other direction as well.
It would be hard to undue decades of indoctrination
Russia will be a candidate for EU membership
Don't think that will ever happen. At least while they still have large population and local production. Same with Turkiye.
Türkiye is a candidate. The process is frozen though because of their idiotic president.
But the EU should reform itself a bit before admitting new members, especially such large ones.
That's a mistake as well. Turkey still occupies half of cypruss which is part of EU. I wouldn't want an occupier of the EU to become part of it.
Not occupying Cyprus is a precondition to joining
I wouldn’t want an occupier of the EU to become part of it.
Well, majority of the western world that EU is part of is still bowing down to the occupier (and now genocider) that is Israel. So clearly there's room.
I bet it will be a candidate forever. I think the reasons are economical, politics just helps to stall it.
Cyprus will never, ever let Turkey ascend to the EU while they continue to illegally occupy 1/3 of Cyprus.
Ascension votes must be unanimous. I don't know why anyone at any time thought Turkey might join the EU.
russia is my enemy. Russia isn't. The country get to have a capital letter, the regime does not.
Not sure how common this way of distinguishing between the two is, but it's something I picked up from a Russian coworker of mine. He hates Putin as much as most decent humans do. He even lost a family member in the Kursk accident because of the regime.
They’re right. Russia is not my enemy. The Russian mafia regime is. Putler is. The oligarchs are
My god, disappointing to hear this sentiment from, I presume, the western people still in the year '25. Unless you're a kremlin bot. If so, carry on.
If I categorised people as enemies because a significant portion of them have been fooled by propaganda then the whole world would be my enemy. That would not be reasonable.
have been fooled by propaganda
Where exactly do you draw the line? Until very recently the whole state had access to outside info. My own country is infested with russians that have had freely available information for decades, yet so many bow down to their czar.
But sure, they're all good people wishing the best for me and ukrainians and all the other peoples russian empire has steamrolled over.
Same goes for any other groups of idiots like flat earthers, corona conspiratards... they all have access to the truth and yet
(..) then the whole world would be my enemy. That would not be reasonable.
I appreciate your positive approach, though a couple of these assumptions need closer examination imo:
not the" whole world" is fooled by propaganda, though many are.
you presume "they" are not your enemy, but you could be wrong. Specifically, history and recent events paint examples of how appeasement and naivety causes a situation to become worse.
what is "reasonable" depends on your life expectency and perceived threat to your mental, psychological and physical integrity.
It's not always beneficial to project your assessment of your life and situation to others, when your goal is to understand them or make a critical analysis. I mean, everybody has different situations and realities.
For me both are my enemy though against the active participents leathal force and any means are okay. Against the fooled and innocent no such thing. Force can not be crippling or lethal
Do you know why these are called "Molotov's cocktails"?
The name's origin came from the propaganda Molotov produced during the Winter War, mainly his declaration on Soviet state radio that incendiary bombing missions over Finland were actually "airborne humanitarian food deliveries" for their "starving" neighbours. As a result, the Finns sarcastically dubbed the Soviet incendiary cluster bombs "Molotov bread baskets" (Finnish: Molotovin leipäkori) in reference to Molotov's propaganda broadcasts. When the hand-held bottle firebomb was developed to attack and destroy Soviet tanks, the Finns called it the "Molotov cocktail", as "a drink to go with his food parcels".
Molotovin leipäkori
TIL
May their renewed humanitarian efforts be greeted with the same level of cynicism!
Again: cheaper than tanks and rockets and feeding your people. Hybrid War is real.
The Russia of today is my enemy.
Until the likes of Putin are dead and democracy has been established, I assume that Russia is not a good thing. Here's hoping that Ukraine can conquer or shatter Russia, so that it can be reformed into something that doesn't suck.
Come on, they only have tried (and failed) for 500 years! Let's give them the benefit of the doubt!
/s
Fuck Russia, fuck them today and tomorrow. For them to become normal they have to first cease to exist.
People not on lemmy.ml turn a blind eye to the donbass civil war, the nazi militias role in them and how the ukrainian government enabled them. Instead for them this war started in 2019 and its only motivation is that Russia wants to conquer all of europe. They then accuse lemmy.ml of being blindly loyal to russia because they cannot conceive of a different reason why someone might be more critical of ukraine than russia
Are you telling me the average opinion on .ml is in favor of Russia invading Ukraine?
And ... ugh I'm taking the bait but wtf, whatever nazi militia shit was stirring pre-invasion, Russia went directly for Kiev on day one. It's impossible to deny the imperialist, genocidal objective of Russia in prosecuting this war against Ukraine - the evidence for it is public, well established, and Russia doesn't even deny it, they claim it as their own!
I'm not one to stick my head in the sand, but I sure would like to hear someone else disagree with the assessment that I've joined a fully delusional instance.
Lemmy.ml, lemmygrad and hexbear are the big three tankie instances. ml is the most moderate of the three with a bigger portion of normal people because it's the most visible instance. But the core membership of all three are basically staunch anti-western to the point that any tinpot dictator can do no wrong as long as they oppose the US and its allies.
A Ukrainian civil war, fought with Russian weapons and Russian military personnel?
People hit on .ML for repeating the propaganda of an Imperialist war machine. Just as much as most sane (non US) people hit on idiots repeating the propaganda of the US Imperialist war machine. Or Israels, or whatever.
I am talking about the post-maidan civil war in donbass where the social order in east ukraine broke down, police abandoned their posts and the civilians looted the stations for weapons to defend themselves against the "right sector" banderites. basically everything before the invasion.
Hello patriot
YOU get a trump! And YOU get a trump! And EVERYBODY gets a trump!
Double. . . trump?
Bojler ?
Oh, dear, you haven't heard? European intelligence services are salivating at the chance to break encryption. While it's certainly a race to the bottom that the US and China are currently winning, Europe is absolutely making a sincere attempt at being in the authoritarian club. :-/
Can the EU also start lauching propaganda: The EU is not your enemy. Make posters of how it was before and after the EU. Make a campaign with The US, Russia and China being the enemies and how only a united EU can be strong enough to stay relevant in modern geopolitics?
The countries that escaped the clutches of Russian rule need no reminding. They know what a shitty failed state it was and is.
In my country, the part that escaped the clutches of Russian rule absolutely needs reminding, unfortunately.
Paradoxically, it is there where Russia is still heavily romanticised.
Ah there's your problem, the news always forgets to translate Kremlinese. The stickers all say "Russia is my enemy". Easy mistake to make, no harm done.
Ive personally seen (and removed) these in some places in Italy.
Am Russian. Russia is my enemy...
.. as well as US, Israel, Iran, and any other government currently commiting crimes against humanity.
You, personally, are not my enemy... unless you are a nazi then fuck you too. But, hopefully, you are not, and I am not your enemy either.
Russia is not my enemy.
The Russian government is my enemy.
(The US government is also my enemy.)
But you repeat yourself.
/s, although Putin has some kind of weird extra influence.
I mean its true. Russia is not my enemy. Just their leadership and those who support it are. Its pretty much the same with the us or north korea.
Im pretty sure with propaganda they are trying to not make a distinction.
Im betting its like the us. Some small amount totally behind and actively keeping it going. A large amount just accepting it. A large amount not accepting it but just trying to live their lives and not fighting that hard. A small amount actively fighting it in every way they can.
I might get downvoted for this, as I know the emotions are strong in this topic, but I'll try and voice my humble opinion once again:
The Russian PEOPLE are not my enemy, KREMLIN is! And I don't need stickers to tell me this. There are plenty of reports coming from independent journalists all over of not only the horrors that Kremlin motivates soldiers to commit in Ukraine, but what Kremlin is doing even towards civilians inside Russia! There's a reason for the mass emigration and protests across Russia when this conflict first broke out, and that is that most of the people do not want unnecessary conflict. The Russian people suffer more and more, and also want this to end.
As long as Kremlin and its supporters are allowed to abuse their power however, the suffering will continue, so no mercy for them.
I was born in russia, and the current behavior of russia is downstream of the political system that is dominant in russia, which itself is downstream of the russian culture (the sum total of the ideas in people's heads and their interplay). Things got this way because russian people let things get this way. https://vasily.cc/blog/the-russian-template/
I was born in russia
What was the intention behind this sentence? You're clearly not Russian, nor have lived in Russia for any considerate amount of time, as the blog post you've linked is full of markers of someone who has spent their entire life in Kiyv. Whom are you trying to fool here?
What do you mean by markers? Indicators?
Why does linking to an article by someone originally from kiyv indicate they're not Russian? What does it matter whom the article is from when it matches their experience as a Russian?
Linking to it doesn't indicate its their own article.
What do you mean by markers? Indicators?
Yes, usage of certain words, sentences, points one would only pick up by consuming local propaganda. One example of which would be the word "Muscovite", which is not even a word in any Russian's vocabulary.
Linking to it doesn’t indicate its their own article.
It is their own article. Just open their profile, ffs.
You're clearly not Russian
Thanks for recognizing this. Yes, most people in russia aren't "russian", they have just been assimilated into the amorphous imperial identity.
nor have lived in Russia for any considerate amount of time
Oh wow, something new to learn about myself I guess. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
While you refer to the Kremlin and Russian people, you don't refer to the Russian state. If the stickers are about Russia, not the Kremlin or the people, we should address Russia too.
The Russian state is both of them.
I remember the Cold War and the fall of the iron curtain. It was quite tiresome that every other American movie had the bad guys be Russian (with some older movies having Germans instead).
I feel we’re going back to that.
Expansion in Eastern Europe you say? Yes, it rather does feel like we're going back to that - and it appears quite justified
This is fucking sad, all gorbachev and putin wanted was to be accepted by the west but the supremacist views run so deep. I feel like this will be the last attempt at extending a branch of friendship to europe. No doubt it will be thrown back in their face and europe will remain more isolated, more beholden to the seppo empire than ever before.
I guess the west should just be more accepting towards dictators invading other countries.
no. it's an example of propaganda pushed by russian troll farms.
all gorbachev and putin was to be accepted by the west but the supremacist views run so deep
I'm sure Putin weeps tears of regret over the peaceful future that could have been had the "evil west" let him, when he sends deluge after deluge of shahed drones and missiles flying into people's homes every night so he can murder parents and children in their beds hundreds of kilometers away from the frontline.
Plot twist.
They did not.
Unfortunately for you, even Gorbachev wasn't as pro-West as many would like to think he is. He himself expressed concerns of NATO expansion after the collapse of the Soviet Union. One would think that the leader who warmed up and made overtures to the West, would want to join NATO after, but nope.
Putin asked to be invited to join NATO, and so did Stalin, but were refused. Knowing the two, it is their mind games to test if the alliance is indeed anti-Russia, without actually intending to join.
It was only under Yeltsin at Clinton's behest did Russia seriously considered joining, but Germany at the time refused. NATO is indeed an anti-Russia alliance. But that's not necessarily a damning fact, because much of the Russians are not pro-West anyway and they are jingoistic. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the anti-communist writer and was hailed by the West, was a jingoist and anti-West but the West deliberately put that aside. Even Putin's late rival, Alexei Navalny, was an ultranationalist who supported the annexation of Crimea (he recanted his views in the last election just before he died, but he was probably only saying the things that the West and others wants to hear to support him against Putin). Navalny was survived by his wife but she is also similarly ultranationalist.
What a lot of people miss on the discourse is the fact that Russians are first and foremost, nationalists and then whatever comes second.
It's a recent revelation after the records were made public by Germany. https://www.spiegel.de/...
ROFL The EU and russophobic "RusSiAN ProPAgAnDa" fearmongering name a more iconic duo 🤣
.ml account
Soz, but what does that have to do with anything?
Russia and territorial wars of aggression? (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0l0k4389g2o.amp)
No this is my first lemmy account
They wouldn't be such an iconic duo if Russia stopped shipping so much propaganda to the EU.
It is clear that pootin really is afraid of the united front that is the EU. It prevents him from the imperialist expansionism to get the USSR back.
Of course the stalinists support the autocrat Putin and call everyone who opposes him a rUsSoPhObE. You know russophobia is a hate or fear of all Russians and not a single one. Way to be a dishonest POS.
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They're right. Russia is not my enemy. The Russian mafia regime is. Putler is. The oligarchs are. Once their idiotic dictatorship is switched for a stable democratic rule of law, paying reparations to Ukraine and Georgia and then some, Russia will be a candidate for EU membership and eligible to be our friend.
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