The Kremlin’s well-oiled disinformation machinery has been activated to create narratives both externally and internally about Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine: “It isn’t a war at all;” “Russia is liberating Ukraine from drug-addled Nazis;” “NATO is the aggressor and Ukraine and the United States are on the verge of chemical and bio warfare against Russia,” and “we must defend ourselves.” And, of course, the lazy dismissal of everything you hear in the West is “fake news.”
Here in America, commentators have expressed disbelief — sometimes marked by a tinge of superiority — that the Russian people are buying it. This demonstrates remarkably little self-awareness given our own ongoing vulnerability to bad information.