(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Ukraine Invasion Day 370: so much disinformation, so little time [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-27 The US state department released an interesting analysis of Russian disinformation that also reminds us how dissonant such messaging can be in a world that still remembers WMDs, aluminum tubes, and yellowcake uranium. It is obvious that any missiles and artillery of Russia will not succeed in breaking our unity and knocking us off our path. And it should be equally obvious that Ukrainian unity cannot be broken by lies or intimidation, fake information or conspiracy theories. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY JULY 16, 2022 False Narrative 5: “Defending Russia’s sovereignty” against the West As Putin’s plans for sham referenda and a military mobilization collided with Ukraine’s counter-offensive in September 2022, the Kremlin rhetorically turned its war of choice into a war of necessity “to defend Russia’s sovereignty .” Only a year since the Kremlin presented its “security demands” to allegedly avoid conflict, it has come full circle, returning to the original disinformation narrative that the West is the real aggressor and wants to destroy Russia through a proxy war in Ukraine. Losing ground to Ukraine itself — a UN member state Putin dismissed as “not a real country” — is inconceivable. [...] All of Russia’s rhetorical contortions serve one goal — to mask Russia’s apparent effort to erase the sovereign, independent state of Ukraine from the map and subjugate its people . Buried in the lies are tell-tale signs pointing to the Kremlin’s true neo-imperial ambitions . Putin’s July 2021 missive declaring Russians and Ukrainians “one people ” and his February 2022 call-to-war speeches , filled with historical revisionism and disinformation denying Ukraine’s statehood and sovereign agency, gave the world a glimpse of his goals. The same lines are frequently repeated by the faces of Kremlin’s propaganda, such as Margarita Simonyan , who recently reiterated the fictitious claim that Ukraine was built by Russia and owes its might to Russia’s gifts . Putin’s vision to fulfill the imperial expansionist ambitions of Peter I and “return lost territories ,” and Kremlin officials’ unvarnished commentary reveal their actual intent. Kremlin officials indicated Moscow may also retaliate against so-called “Russophobia” and non-existent “genocide against Russians” in places other than Ukraine it considers its historic lands. Kremlin pundits have already speculated that Russia may need to “denazify” Kazakhstan , Moldova , and any other country allegedly harboring “Russophobia.” Leaving little doubt about his vision of the future, in a January 2023 speech Putin stated: “The goal, as I have said many times, is primarily to protect people and protect Russia itself from the threats that they are trying to create in our own historical lands adjacent to us. We cannot let this happen.” No matter which narrative the Kremlin deploys at any given time in its losing game of disinformation roulette, Ukraine remains a sovereign, independent state recognized by the international community. Its brave people will remain steadfast in defense of their country and their democracy, and the United States will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. www.state.gov/... [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/27/2155304/-Ukraine-Invasion-Day-370-so-much-disinformation-so-little-time Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/