Ethnicity, Religion and Disinformation

In this video, I discuss Russian disinformation referencing Anatoly Golitsyn's vital work, "New Lies for Old" as well as the work of others. Disinformation is the use of false narratives to serve strategic purposes and Putin has used disinformation especially in the area of ethnicity and religion. He targets populations of foreign countries to stir up discontent and division and he targets his own people to create disorder while deceiving them. Russian disinformation is responsible for much strife in the West and is very much being used against the USA.

Putin encourages a hyper nationalism and a messianism in Russian politics to justify the disorder he is bringing to the world. This is a violation of the ius gentium and hence of the moral order. His illegal and immoral war in Ukraine (the legal issues are summarized) has left about 1.2 million casualties and about 6 million displaced persons. That is for starters.

Russian disinformation falsely paints the USA as an evil, totalitarian empire (among other things) that advances degeneracy. Putin has falsely portrayed Russia as a Christian country with his use of religion and the use of disinformation to promote false narratives of Russia. The USA is far, far more Christian than Russia and we have greater freedoms than Russia despite the lies to the contrary. (You get 15 years in prison in Russia for criticizing the Ukraine war, or calling it a war.) One area that I may not have dwelt on sufficiently is the issue of abortion. Russian abortion rate is far higher than the USA. Statista reports that for 2022 Russia had about 500,000 abortions (out of a population of around 143 million) while the USA had about 615,000 (out of a population of around 330 million).

Aside from lying, Russian disinformation magnifies or amplifies disagreements, divisions, and complaints within societies. This amplification is also very dangerous. A special target of Russian disinformation is the religious communities, or traditional values people, who feel that they have been treated badly by some segments of the population. Putin uses anti-LGBTQ messages and pro "traditional values" messages to get this segment of the target populations to turn disloyal. As Koffler writes, the "strategic deception and ideological subversion strategy that Soviet defector Yuri Bezmenov warned us about" more than 40 years ago "took root in America."

The Russian goal is empire based on an exaggerated nationalism, and a Messianic vision, all of which cuts against morality and threatens the peace and safety of the world community. As Garry Kasparov says, one cannot deal with Putin who breaks so many agreements, and the Russian nation needs to be reformed.

Recorded 1/17/25