How does a Russian children's story illustrate Russian propaganda?  See for yourself.

How does Russia present its military?
Is the Russian war machine invincible?
Will Putin use nuclear weapons?
Are we unwisely poking the bear?
Who used to believe Soviet propaganda, and who believes Russian propaganda now?

Enjoy!

I've been trying to make a similar case on the Twitter machine, comrade. It amazes me how woefully uninformed many conservatives are about the situation over there. They listen to Tucker Carlson and who knows who else and don't really understand what the stakes are. It's difficult to try to inform them. You can't write an essay in 160 characters.

If you post this stuff to Twitter, follow me @theappocalypso. It will make it easier for me to retweet the videos.

Sorry I'm late for this, I've had an exchange on Twitter with over a hundred hateful and ignorant responses from seemingly nice folks.

Kapitan Kangaroo Kourt wrote: ↑

2/25/2023, 6:02 pm

If you post this stuff to Twitter, follow me @theappocalyso.

That didn't work. Looks misspelled. I tried @theapocalypso with correct spelling, and Twitter said the account was suspended.

I've done a lot of postings lately. Here are some of them, gathered in no particular order.

I'm not a military expert, but I know a few things about Russia and its official anti-Americanism. Russia has started every conflict in which Americans had to spill blood and treasure in the 20th century and into the 21st - starting with WW! by declaring war on Austro-Hungary, then WWII (in alliance with Hitler). followed by Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Afghanistan, the Middle East, etc. To keep America and the world safe, Russia needs to be stopped and defanged for good, and this war in Ukraine, coincidentally, is the cheapest way for the US to do it. Just give Ukrainians the arms, and they will spill their own blood for their land. If Ukraine is allowed to fail, a few years down the line more American soldiers will have to die in new conflicts that Russia will instigate. Russia continues to organize coup attempts around the world, most recently in Monte Negro, Moldova, and even Burkina Faso. So while Zelensky's choice of words may not have been ideal, his premise is right and clear: help Ukraine to stop Russia now, or more Americans will have to die later.

Let's remember US military casualties in post-WWII conflicts instigated or started by Russia:

Korea: 36,516 US dead
Vietnam: 58,220 dead
Afghanistan: 2,402 dead

These are just the largest wars. There have been dozens of smaller conflicts.

Russia doesn’t need to attack NATO directly. The concept of a hybrid warfare is to poison the internal public discourse in those countries to the extreme (they're now doing it in the US, too), then orchestrate disturbances and provocations, and then offer "international assistance." They may also do it in non-NATO nations with the result of NATO nations suffering big losses. They did it in the Baltic states, in Georgia, Afghanistan, Syria and the Middle East, etc. Look how they were able to hurt Israel by creating the whole concept of "oppressed Palestinians," which has inflamed the entire Middle East and is still causing deaths in Israel. It's not going to stop until Russia reforms itself, and the only way to achieve that right now is through a decisive military defeat, not more appeasement.

It's worth remembering that NATO itself was formed in response to the Russian threat to Europe and to the region. Without Russia, there'd be no need to have a NATO, no need to spend a fortune on the super-costly arms race. There'd still be other enemies for sure, but those would not necessitate the decades of miliary buildup and having to live in constant fear of a Russian attack.

We all thought that Russia had changed, including me. Well, I'll be the first to admit I was wrong.

Germans did change, it seems, but that took an occupation by the allied forces and de-Nazification. Russia was not occupied, but rather appeased and celebrated. America was sending tons of chicken quarters to Russia, to prevent food shortages, and today those shipments are being contemptuously referred to as "Bush's legs" (Nozhki Busha), just like the WWII lend-lease that saved them is being scoffed at as non-essential. America has saved Russia thrice from starvation with shipments of grain, starting with the 19th century, and in the 1920s as well (organized by none other than Herbert Hoover before his presidency). None of these gestures are ever mentioned or celebrated. Instead, there's a strong perception of an everlasting American "Russophobia" and a web of Western conspiracies to destroy Russia and steal its resources. I wish more Americans knew this when considering if maybe Russia is really the good guy here.

I used to attribute this Russian paranoia to the government propaganda until I met a successful Russian businessman from Siberia visiting in New York. He seemed friendly and smart, a worldly cosmopolitan with a beautiful wife. But towards the end, when we had consumed enough cognac, he opened up his paranoia-infested mind and I was terrified of the delusions and the hatred he had towards the West. He hated the communists, too, but he was convinced that communism was imposed on Russia by the West, so as to enslave the Russians and steal their natural resources. And this guy traveled the world a lot. I was in shock. You just can't win.

Some Russians believe that communism was good and Stalin was an effective manager. Others believe that communism was imposed by the West. There are some that believe both those things twice on the same day. They say they are Christians, but they usually know nothing about the Bible and believe in the occult, listen to the shamans, and carry small icons for personal protection. These three groups are Putin's strongest support base. They are usually the paranoid chauvinists, the supremacists who believe in their own right to dominate others, and they support this war. Their detractors call them the vatniki - "the cotton jackets."

Then there are the so-called liberals who idealize the West and believe it has answers to absolutely everything. They often fall for wokeness, albeit of a second-hand variety. They oppose the war. Their detractors call them liberasti - "the liberal pederasts."

A very small minority sees things as they really are without the rosy glasses. They are in a difficult situation because in any debate they'd be grouped with the wrong crowd - the liberals would accuse them of being "the cotton jackets" and the cotton jackets accuse them of being the liberal pederasts.

And then there's a group who are absolutely cynical about everything and don't give a damn about what's going on.

The percentages are hard to identify for lack of independent sociology in Russia, but you can get a rough estimate if you look at the shifting numbers of support for the war, however unreliable those are.

Oh, and the Russian anti-Putin opposition in the West consists mostly of the liberals (like Kasparov and Khodorkovsky) and the libertarian realists (like Illarionov). And those in between.

Just ask yourself, why most of the ex-Soviet Russian-speaking immigrants in the West support Ukraine and organize all kinds of donation drives to send help to Ukraine? They know what's true because they lived it. These keyboard warriors, on the other hand…

Russia had a long history of wars in Europe to suppress any anti-autocratic rebellion, earning the title of "Gendarme of Europe." The USSR only continued the tradition, invading independent Eastern European nations.

De jure WWI was declared by Austro-Hungary and Germany to pre-empt the Russian threat, was but de facto it was provoked by Russia's meddling in the Balkans, caused by its imperial ambitions. Russia had collected a large army at the borders, and its past wars of aggression made the threat credible.

The Soviet propaganda created a myth of "poor" Russia always being attacked and invaded, causing ignorant saps in the West to feel sorry for it. But just ask yourself, how did today's Russia become world's largest country after it started as a much smaller Muscovy? By conquest, of course - in every geographical direction.

Before it was called Russia, it was the aggressive Grand Duchy of Moscow, committing genocide on its neighbors (Ivan the Terrible exterminated the entire city of Novgorod and repopulated it with Muscovites).

Other Tsars mostly continued Ivan's legacy, so that by the 19th century Russia became a humongous oppressive empire by conquering hundreds of smaller nations. It was called "the prison of nations" for a reason, and Ukraine was one of those imprisoned nations.

Hello, Putin lovers! Looking forward to more of your heads exploding. You think Russian trolls appreciate you? They call you "Pindosi."

Red Square wrote: ↑

2/25/2023, 8:53 pm

Sorry I'm late for this, I've had an exchange on Twitter with over a hundred hateful and ignorant responses from seemingly nice folks.

Unfortunately, too many Americans don't know history and cannot think long term. I try to explain these dangers you have mentioned and they get dismissed or the turn to the non-sequitur of Ukrainian government corruption or the provocation of Russia from the Maidan Revolution or any other number of things. They don't want to know about the big picture.

At some point, the bully will have to be confronted. It's not going to be a choice. If the bully is not confronted when we choose to confront, then the bully will choose the time of confrontation. It's coming, one way or another.

Ans as you say, Oleg, this is the least expensive way to do it. $1.5 billion is a drop in the ocean compared to how much our federal government wastes on useless and ridiculous programs. It's a rounding error. Most of the equipment being sent over there was due to be decommissioned anyway. At least it's being put to good use, now.

And believe me, I've copped a lot of flak on Twitter for taking a pro-defeat Russia stand. I've had support from very few. But I know it's right and I will not waver.
 

Red Square wrote: ↑

2/25/2023, 8:56 pm

Kapitan Kangaroo Kourt wrote: ↑

2/25/2023, 6:02 pm

If you post this stuff to Twitter, follow me @theappocalyso.

That didn't work. Looks misspelled. I tried @theapocalypso with correct spelling, and Twitter said the account was suspended.

try this  @theappocalypso
 

Kapitan Kangaroo Kourt wrote: ↑

2/25/2023, 9:39 pm

try this  @theappocalypso
 

I checked - and it turns out that I was following you already.

Ok.

Kapitan Kangaroo Kourt wrote: ↑

2/25/2023, 6:02 pm

I've been trying to make a similar case on the Twitter machine, comrade. It amazes me how woefully uninformed many conservatives are about the situation over there. They listen to Tucker Carlson and who knows who else and don't really understand what the stakes are. It's difficult to try to inform them. You can't write an essay in 160 characters.

If you post this stuff to Twitter, follow me @theappocalyso. It will make it easier for me to retweet the videos.

It is true that Zelensky made some moves against the Eastern Orthodox Church because their priests were passing strategic information to the Russians. I don't know if it was an outright ban but certainly some kind of sanctions were levelled against them.

Of course, now it's the right believing everything Putin. Like you said, parallel universe, only a mirror image. Seems to me that the Left hates Russia because they believed the lies told about Trump and the right hates Ukraine because the Left supports them. The truth doesn't matter.

Zelensky made NO moves against the Eastern Orthodox Church per se. The Kremlin has made the issue complicated, and that's very convenient for those who don't know.

The claim is absurd because most Ukrainians are Eastern Orthodox Christians, same as most Russians are. The difference is mostly bureaucratic. Ukrainian Orthodox Church has recently been granted autocephaly by the Patriarch of Constantinople, so they can finally be independent from Moscow. But the Moscow Patriarchy continued to have a hold on a number of churches, and used them to insert the Kremlin's propaganda into the services, as well as to spy for the Kremlin.

It is that top Kremlin-aligned bureaucracy that Zelensky went against. The actual churches remained open and no parishioners are being denied service.

You can quote me if you engage in debates.

It's hard to tell the Russian trolls from the American useful idiots on social media, so for convenience I'm making the assumption it's 50/50.

Well, I am not sure when our illustrious military leaders, Austin and Milley, will administer rainbow bullets and pronouns to the conflict in Ukraine in order to show the world just how equity, inclusion, and diversity work in the field of battle. Besides, Austin will also have to decide where to install all of the safe places and whether East Slavic translations of American-appropriate gender reading materials and coloring books will be available in those safe spaces. The good news is that we never know when brave undocumented workers, who pick our fruit and clean our toilets in order that we can continue to show outwardly disdain for the U.S. at sports events, will be required to station themselves at Milley's safe spaces© or even be conscripted into service since gender transitioning requires lengthy hospital time. 

Red Square wrote: ↑

2/26/2023, 12:35 pm

Zelensky made NO moves against the Eastern Orthodox Church per se. The Kremlin has made the issue complicated, and that's very convenient for those who don't know.

The claim is absurd because most Ukrainians are Eastern Orthodox Christians, same as most Russians are. The difference is mostly bureaucratic. Ukrainian Orthodox Church has recently been granted autocephaly by the Patriarch of Constantinople, so they can finally be independent from Moscow. But the Moscow Patriarchy continued to have a hold on a number of churches, and used them to insert the Kremlin's propaganda into the services, as well as to spy for the Kremlin.

It is that top Kremlin-aligned bureaucracy that Zelensky went against. The actual churches remained open and no parishioners are being denied service.

You can quote me if you engage in debates.

It's hard to tell the Russian trolls from the American useful idiots on social media, so for convenience I'm making the assumption it's 50/50.

Ok. That makes a lot of sense. I didn't know much about it. That gives me a clearer picture. I keep hearing people saying Zelenky banned a religion. A lot of the anti-Ukraine voices are paying attention to Russian propaganda. I have different sources, mostly from within Ukraine.

Comrades,

Has anybody heard-- when Premier Cho Bai-Din went to Ukraine did he give Zelensky an iPod loaded with "Biden's Greatest Speeches"? That would make things happen, I bet.

And Bai-Din's Greatest Sniffing Moments. A picture is worth a thousand words.