Russian Propaganda Faults
I know, another post about me talking about failures of Russian propaganda and diplomacy. I thought I'd add to a point Mr Mercouris made in one of their recent videos. Before I say this, I want to make it clear I am going to be using generalized terms a lot, simply because trawling for every single figure just for a post like this is unnecessary.
Russia, and likely Putin particularly, seems to believe if they throw a lot of figures, a lot of (in the Russian perspective) facts, a ton of numbers and show some pictures, that the 'self evident' truth will be so obvious that Trump and others will accept it. So their version of the "Propaganda War" is to merely spout out a bunch of figures and reports.
But what they don't seem to understand, is that NATO isn't merely a set of protectorates. Alex is not totally correct calling them vassals. They're protectorates in a protection racket. But what NATO has, is ideological unity. It's a key weakness in BRICS, is that they lack the cohesion of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Certainly, one was coerced, but the reality was, that's why both alliances could stay together (minus France being weird and Romania being ruled by a nutjob).
Ideological Unions like NATO is in reality, do not care about what their 'enemies' say. The 'other', the 'outsider' is wrong.
Russia invaded Ukraine. (going from their perspective, don't freak out)
Therefore: Russia lies and is evil.
Russia doesn't have the same 'liberal democratic' order NATO + Friends have.
Therefore: Russia cannot be trusted.
America created a system to perpetuate it's control in Europe and abroad, by a simple, dumbed down statement: USA is the Bastion of Democracy and Leader of the Free World.
Therefore - Democracies and Liberal, Free countries must follow it. Anyone else = Tyrant/Dictator.
Why is this important?
Because these simple statements are believed by the public. How many people call America the "Leader of the Free World"? How many people view those who wish to shake up the "Liberal World Order" as Autocrats and Dictators?
It's on Russia-China to aim at the fringes of Western Society, to find the disaffected, and convince them that they are right. Then you have a toe in the door, and can slowly creep into the mind of the public.
Iran did this very well. They understood that they were viewed as a Theocratic, Jihadi state by the West and the Western Publics. So they decided that instead of trying to change that perspective, they aimed to play the victim card, and to mock. Not the people, but the leaders.
Most Westerners actually bag their leaders pretty frequently. Because we've got such a Peanut Gallery of leaders. So not targeting the country/people, instead targeting the leadership, is 'relatable'. Being viewed as the poor victim, the little guy fighting the massive behemoth, is a boon.
A lot of Russia's propaganda is for domestic audiences. If Russia wants to strangle off support for Ukraine, it needs to quietly get memesters and online influences to start doing what Iran did. The leaders and upper strata are ideologically possessed. They need to look to those angry with the system and use it. If they want to win the propaganda war.
