On ‘Tik-Tok’ Boris Johnson told the world that NATO can’t afford to lose Ukraine, since it would be the end of western ‘Hegemony’. Did he really say that, or was that some kind of ‘Deep Fake’ production? Western ‘Hegemony? Really? Increasingly we need to question stuff presented to us on the internet, considering the possibilities of faking everything. I suppose that if someone is alerted to doctored material misrepresenting them, or a situation ‘on the ground’, they will take appropriate action to get it removed. But by then the damage is done. People recall what they saw and heard, and if it did look genuine, they will accept it as a true account.
Though I try to find out if stuff presented to me is for real, my options to verify images and narratives are limited. Sure, if you come across a picture which claims to prove that Iranian missiles which did make it past the ‘Iron Dome’ did no damage, and only succeeded in producing a hole in the Negev desert, while you see the pile of dirt from that hole neatly formed a small hill next to it, you know someone is trying to mislead you. If an image of air defense missiles being fired at incoming warheads is said to be from Israel, and the video surfaces from the archives, originating from the Donbas, you can discard it. Pictures and video of mass demonstrations can be doctored to increase the number of participants. Ukrainian and western sources, including Israel, are often unreliable at best. I’m not claiming the Russians are ‘above’ that, but they are apparently taking a different approach to propaganda, which requires them to be trustworthy. I assume this is both for practical reasons, as well as philosophical considerations.
On the practical side of the argument there is a sincere risk that falsified information will not only fool those you want to fool, but also those on your side requiring reliable information for decision making, leading to confused and undesirable outcomes. If you tell the public that Ukraine is winning, and the Russians are being butchered, running away, while they are already out of ammo and burned up half their inventory, you are also telling the politicians that they can cool it, while preparing for celebrations as victory is around the corner. That will come to haunt you by the time the Russians flex their muscles, leave their defensive positions after exhausting Ukraine in a war of attrition, and pulverize the remaining Ukrainian forces.
On the philosophical side telling the truth will give you credit, so that when you need to lie about something to win the war, you may do so effectively. But consider the fact that if people understand how fake their world has become, that they cannot trust anyone, and not even their own eyes and ears, that they will long to find a person who is telling them the truth, even if they don’t like that truth at all. I contend that an increasing number of Ukrainians who hate the Russians are now reaching the conclusion that the Russians may be horrible people, but at least they don’t lie to you 24/7. If you insist that I’m delusional and that the Russians are lying too, you will most likely be able to present a valid example, because every now and then the conduct of war does demand obfuscation. But from my own observations I conclude that they tend to keep silent, and say nothing, rather than lie. Clearly I’m aware of the fact that various statements by the Russians are at odds with what ‘reliable’ western sources are telling us, and if you insist that those western sources are indeed ‘reliable’, and the Russians are not, without proof, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Where I previously drew your attention to this derogatory remark in that story Ron Suskind published about ‘realists’, most likely citing Karl Rove, Bush’ spin doctor, pointing out to Suskind that the US became an Empire after the fall of the Soviet Union, and that it allowed him and the US government to push a narrative regardless of whether it was true, or not, because the US was the only game in town, I wanted to illustrate that this is true short-term, but that reality wins big in the longer run. Short-term everyone wants to be on the side of the winner, but there is no real gain in siding with a lying SOB long term. Long term you will lack ammo, and lack weapon systems which perform as you would expected them too, and not only in the folder, because some lying SOB paid more attention to the narrative then to reality. Great gun on ‘Tik Tok’, but it sucks in Ukraine. And Boris Johnson sounds great on tv, but don’t let him run the country, do errands for NATO promising ‘for as long as it takes’, or command the troops!