The Strange Paradox of Propaganda in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

In today’s Explorations interview, I talk with a former educator and entrepreneur who still lives in Russia. Our topic is the war Russia is waging against Ukraine. It was a rare insight into the complexities of propaganda, our notions about democracy and freedom, and our naivete here in the West and especially in the United States about the impact we can have on the outcome of the war and what happens inside of Russia. It was also a profound mirror reflecting many of the insidious forces at play here in our own country. To understand the current war, we must understand the long reach of Russian history and delve into the confounding nature of propaganda that Putin and his leadership are deploying in Russia and here in the United States to create apathy and uncertainty in the face of facts and truth. Putin and political leaders here in this country know all too well that if they can tell a lie enough times, they can enforce their will over reason and rationality. Such is the dark underbelly of the power of storytelling.  

There were also some invaluable lessons about what it means to create an educated, thinking electorate. Whereas we spend enormous amounts of our time educating young people about algebra, a topic that few of us will ever practically use in our lives, we do not teach children logic and how to think critically. This is true both in Russia and the United States. And perhaps the biggest failure in the early days of the fall of the Soviet Union was the assumption that Russians would embrace democratic norms and practices because they could now speak freely, and their economy was converting over to a capitalistic model. Without being educated in democratic norms, how to create democratic institutions, and what it means to be an educated electorate, Russia put on the veneer of democracy but underneath, the corrupt practices of the Soviet-era persisted. The great irony is that the teaching of democratic civics has fallen by the wayside in this country, and we all should be concerned about the consequences. It’s no wonder that people are so ready to scrap democratic principles and reject the peaceful transfer of power after an election. It would seem that Putin and Trump are working from the same playbook.   

Needless to say, simple stories are inadequate to explain the complexity of what is occurring in Russia today. Still, we can learn much about ourselves and the trajectory of our own country by looking closely at Russia’s shortcomings and failures.  

Note that we have maintained our guest's anonymity due to the draconian laws that have been passed by Putin to punish free and open discussion of the war.