Russia's Insidious War Against the West Is Propaganda

OPINION

What's the most powerful weapon that Russia has in its anti-West arsenal?

For Russia, propaganda may be the most effective weapon they have, surpassing even nuclear bombs.

Propaganda costs only the tiniest fraction of what conventional weapons cost, and unlike nuclear weapons, there’s almost no penalty for using it.

Vadym Miskyi, Program Director, NGO "Detector Media" works to debunk Russian propaganda. He does this through daily radio programs and frequent YouTube episodes.

Why is he devoting his life to combating Russian disinformation?

Because he knows that Russian propaganda works, and it can influence people both in Ukraine and in the rest of the world. The goal of is to weaken global support for Ukraine.

What is the messaging they’re putting out?

A chilling example that Miskyi gives in his recent YouTube Episode number 36, involves kidnapping children. He shows on screen a clip from a Russian news outlet showing Anna Kuznetsova, Vice Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

She’s a beautiful woman, with long wavy dark hair, and a warm, gracious voice.

However, her message is chilling: "Kyiv inhumanely transports Ukrainian children abroad for pedophile adoption by LGBT families, and even for organ trafficking."

The lovely, cultured voice drones on, "Our Russian fighters liberating Sviatogorsk found commercial documents on the sale of children in orphanages. One of the customers was the Coca Cola Company. Seven percent of Ukraine’s budget revenues, or two billion dollars is income, from organ trafficking."

The presenter is so lovely, so graceful, so nicely groomed, her voice so sincere and pleasant, that in a hypnotic way, she almost makes you want to believe her.

However, the fact is, on March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted Putin for the war crime of abducting at least 16,000 Ukrainian children.

This followed an extensive ICC investigation.

Russia uses the standard tactics of authoritarians, accusing their opponents of what they themselves are doing. What are some of the other examples of Russian disinformation

Miskyi reels them off:

1.) Ukraine is a failed state. It’s so corrupt, incompetent, and toxic that it needs to be rescued by Russia. Supporting Ukraine is foolish, if not stupid.

2.) Ukraine is totally controlled by the West and Ukraine is fighting Russia because the Western military industrial complex makes money from this fight. Without the West’s toxic interference, the Ukrainian people would be happy to again be a part of Mother Russia.

After all, they have a common history and they are fellow Slavs and the real Ukrainians reject the decadent West.

3.) The Russians will react to any additional supply of Western weaponry with blistering escalations. This could mean anything up to nuclear war.

Miskyi sees the danger from Russian disinformation in a global context. "We know that failing here in Ukraine will launch a chain reaction.

"Dictators throughout the world will understand that ignoring international law will benefit them. We see this right now in Hamas attacking Israel. We see a new rise in North Korea cooperation with Russia.

"We see China being more tempted to seize Taiwan."

In the digital age, the battlegrounds extend far beyond physical territories, with information and perception shaping the realities of millions globally.

Russia's adept use of propaganda as a weapon against the West and its support for Ukraine reveals a strategic maneuvering that leverages misinformation to influence, manipulate, and divide.

Vadym Miskyi and others like him stand on the front lines of this information war.

Mitzi Perdue is a businesswoman, author, and anti-human trafficking advocate. She holds a bachelor of arts degree, with honors, from Harvard University and a master's degree from George Washington University. She is a past president of American Agri-Women, and was a U.S. delegate to the UN Conference on Women in Nairobi. Currently, she hosts "The Pen and the Planet" on EarthxTV. Mitzi founded the anti-trafficking organization, Win This Fight.