Paul
Goble
Staunton, April 11 – Valery Solovey,
an MGIMO professor and commentator, says on his Facebook page (facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2056077931329249&id=100007811864378) that in this
week’s rapidly changing environment, the five most important messages Russian propaganda
is delivering are the following:
1.
The West has
unleashed economic war against Russia and Russia will respond by moving toward
a mobilization economy.
2.
The West supports
terrorists in Syria and provokes and exacerbates military tensions on Russia’s
borders. Russia must intensively prepare a military response.
3.
This prewar
situation requires the patriotic unification of the nation. Ideological
vacillations and the political opposition are becoming treason to the
Motherland.
4.
The West is cowardly,
morally dissolute, and psychologically weak. In a critical situation, it will
retreat in the face of our toughness and of the first-class Russian military
machine.
5.
They have lied to
us about nuclear war. British scholars have shown that it will not lead to the
end of humanity and that in it a winning side is possible.
To the extent that Solovey has summarized
the Kremlin’s current messages, the world is far closer to war than anyone
could have thought possible only weeks ago. And it has only become more so
because neither the top leaders of the Russian Federation nor those in the
United States have direct experience with war.
As a result, each side is more likely to
rush up to the brink for various reasons foreign and domestic and be unwilling
to back down lest it appear weak, a recipe for disaster if neither Vladimir
Putin nor Donald Trump understands just how easily a conflict could get out of
hand and how truly horrific a nuclear war would be.
Despite what the Kremlin is messaging and
despite what some may be inclined to believe, there will not be any winners in
a nuclear war, only those who have died and those who are yet to.
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