'..twisted logic is typical of Putin’s KGB training — and in fact, deliberately spreading disinformation is a recognised KGB technique systematically taught to all officers..''Russian state TV has also convinced its viewers that the newly elected government in Kiev is dominated by ‘fascists’ (though far right parties polled around 4 per cent), and that the ‘self-defence forces’ in eastern Ukraine are preventing a ‘genocide’ of ethnic Russians by the Ukrainian army. Most bizarrely, they have convinced the Russian people that censorship itself is normal and good. In a recent poll by the Moscow-based FOM, 72 per cent of respondents in 42 Russian regions were ‘indifferent’ to the idea of media censorship, and 54 per cent said that the government had the ‘right to distort information for the good of the country’ — up from under 30 per cent a year ago..
..twisted logic is typical of Putin’s KGB training — and in fact, deliberately spreading disinformation is a recognised KGB technique systematically taught to all officers. Fill the information space with crazy conspiracy theories and lies and enough people will believe you that the real picture will never become clear.
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Burning the facts and changing definitions of the truth — to the Kremlin, those are perfectly legitimate weapons in a tooth-and-nail information war being fought both at home and abroad. The aim of this campaign is not just improved public relations but, in an updated version of Stalin’s dictum, to ‘engineer men’s souls’. Control what people believe, and you control how they behave.
Tragically, the empire of lies that Putin has created has real-world consequences. The rebels fighting in Donbass genuinely believe they are protecting their families from fascism..
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As the evidence about the downing of MH17 points more and more clearly to a tragic blunder by inexperienced pro-Russian separatists using deadly rockets supplied by Moscow, the Kremlin’s spin machine has gone into a different gear. Western Sovietologists used to call it ‘whataboutism’ — ask about the invasion of Afghanistan and the Soviets would reply, ‘What about Northern Ireland?’ The latest permutation of this is: what about the Iranian airliner shot down by the Americans in 1983? What about a Russian civilian airliner accidentally destroyed by bungling Ukrainian troops in 2001? And — to charges that Russian media have lied — what about Iraqi WMD? Don’t talk to us about lying: your leaders lied, and the western press parroted the lies. The message is: you’re just as dishonest as us, but just more hypocritical with your high-minded notions of a free press.'
- Owen Matthews,
Vladimir Putin’s empire of lies, July 16, 2014
'..the Russians actually were doing nothing to de-escalate the situation..'"We determined the Russians actually were doing nothing to de-escalate the situation," a German official said.
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"There was a growing sense that they showed no remorse, that they kept lying and that Putin betrayed all those with whom he was in contact," another EU foreign minister said.
EU Sanctions Mark Shift From Go-Slow Approach With Moscow, July 29, 2014
'Sanctions in the face of acts of war, as we are all seeing with regard to Putin’s actions in Ukraine now, are increasingly clearly not nearly enough.'
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Putin is Waging War While the West is Talking Sanctions, July 27, 2014
'Last week, lawyers from McCue & Partners, the London law firm, flew to Ukraine for discussions about how to bring the case and where it should be filed..'
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'..to prepare a class action against the Russian president on behalf of bereaved families.' July 24, 2014
Context'..the Putin Doctrine..' - Timothy Garton Ashjuly'..it will all come crashing down and he will go to jail..'“He looks emotionless, as if nothing really touches him,” the interpreter remembers. “As if he is hardly aware of what happens around him. As if he is paying little attention to these people. As if he is worn out... He has spent so long as an icon he is not used to anyone penetrating... He is not used to anything not being so perfectly controlled for him. He is isolated, trapped.”
“The impression... you get from being close to him is that he would have been quite happy to step down. But he knows he has failed to rule Russia in anything else but a feudal way. And the moment his grip falters... it will all come crashing down and he will go to jail... and Moscow will burn like Kiev.”
- Ben Judah,
Behind the Scenes in Putin's Court: The Private Habits of a Latter-Day Dictator, July 23, 2014