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Russia didn't hide their military buildup, they just lied and gaslit the world via their various disinformation channels into believing that Putin would have to

Russia didn't hide their military buildup, they just lied and gaslit the world via their various disinformation channels into believing that Putin would have to be insane to actually invade.

Eupolemos 5y ago
As it has indeed turned out to be. It is very worrying to me that China tones down the invasion in their media (if that is indeed true, I don't follow Chinese media myself). Better to let people know what war really is. Unless you want it.
- Lio 5y ago
  What's more worrying still is if they start toning it down in the West's media. This weekend China has refused to show Premiership Football because of protests at matches against the Russian invasion[1]. Right now the English FA and clubs are just ignoring that but it's a big market. How long will they ignore that revenue stream? Already the way Disney, Netflix, Apple, NBA and Hollywood cozy up to the CCP is pretty worrying. 1. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/china-blocks-broadcast-of-aston-villa-and-wolves-matches/ar-AAUBWGS https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/china-blocks-broadc...
daniel-cussen 5y ago
Yeah he puts these videos on Youtube designed to make him look bad on first blush, but then you think it over and what he responds to crappy questions makes perfect sense, so because it occurs to you the viewer "spontaneously" it makes these thoughts more convincing. But that's a double-bluff you see, in some cases quadruple-bluffs, I think I even saw one sextuple-bluff, even-numbered bluffs.
askura 5y ago
https://blog.windscribe.com/top-r-russia-mod-admits-to-owning-a-marketing-agency-in-east-russia/ https://blog.windscribe.com/top-r-russia-mod-admits-to-ownin... Yup. It's crazy how many of these are out in the wild. I mostly notice Chinese ones from my time there or ones highlighted by friends. But the Russian disinfo coming out in the lead up was insane. I'm all for freedom of press but state sanctioned media is such a fucking blight.
sremani 5y ago
The most vociferous against Russia today are the ones that predicted Putin is not a gambler and would not attack. These are not Putin's puppets. These are the people considered well respected International relations people. To call everything and everyone Putin's propaganda and disinformation is simplistic. Hindsight is 2020, it always feels like we missed the obvious signs.
- ipaddr 5y ago
  Being an willing or unwilling participate in propaganda makes you a tool regardless.
mrighele 5y ago
To be fair, many experts too believed that it was madness to invade Ukraine. And, judging by the faces on the videos that I saw, many members of his cabinet and top generals were thinking the same.
- axiosgunnar 5y ago
  And judging by the embarrassments of the last 10 days, it probably was indeed madness to invade.
- baybal2 5y ago
  [dead]
jmull 5y ago
Were there very many people who didn’t think Russia’s buildup was almost certainly a precursor to an invasion? I hadn’t heard of that before.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  There are still people who believe that today. It all depends on what you want to believe. People believe that Russia was forced into this, people believe that Ukranians secretly long to be liberated and saved. People will believe the most crazy stuff.
- AutumnCurtain 5y ago
  Absolutely, feel free to peruse my comment history for examples right here on this site.
- FpUser 5y ago
  I originally thought that Putin was trolling Ukraine and West with this buildup for the sake of winning some concessions.
  - jmull 5y ago
    I knew it wasn’t just trolling because there are much, much easier ways to do that than moving tens of thousands of troops into a new arena. For trolling you’d do something flashier but much easier, like fighter flyovers or a missile launch.
- tejohnso 5y ago
  Zelenskyy himself was telling people to calm down with the invasion rhetoric, indicating that there is no evidence of an imminent invasion, and that the rhetoric is counter productive. Personally, I thought Putin would establish a stronghold in the Donbas and gradually improve position from there. This full on assault of the entire country is shocking and seems wildly aggressive and overly ambitious.

Russia didn't hide their military buildup, they just lied and gaslit the world via their various disinformation channels into believing that Putin would have to be insane to actually invade.

Eupolemos 5y ago

As it has indeed turned out to be. It is very worrying to me that China tones down the invasion in their media (if that is indeed true, I don't follow Chinese media myself). Better to let people know what war really is. Unless you want it.

Lio 5y ago
What's more worrying still is if they start toning it down in the West's media. This weekend China has refused to show Premiership Football because of protests at matches against the Russian invasion[1]. Right now the English FA and clubs are just ignoring that but it's a big market. How long will they ignore that revenue stream? Already the way Disney, Netflix, Apple, NBA and Hollywood cozy up to the CCP is pretty worrying. 1. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/china-blocks-broadcast-of-aston-villa-and-wolves-matches/ar-AAUBWGS https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/china-blocks-broadc...

daniel-cussen 5y ago

Yeah he puts these videos on Youtube designed to make him look bad on first blush, but then you think it over and what he responds to crappy questions makes perfect sense, so because it occurs to you the viewer "spontaneously" it makes these thoughts more convincing. But that's a double-bluff you see, in some cases quadruple-bluffs, I think I even saw one sextuple-bluff, even-numbered bluffs.

askura 5y ago

https://blog.windscribe.com/top-r-russia-mod-admits-to-owning-a-marketing-agency-in-east-russia/ https://blog.windscribe.com/top-r-russia-mod-admits-to-ownin... Yup. It's crazy how many of these are out in the wild. I mostly notice Chinese ones from my time there or ones highlighted by friends. But the Russian disinfo coming out in the lead up was insane. I'm all for freedom of press but state sanctioned media is such a fucking blight.

sremani 5y ago

The most vociferous against Russia today are the ones that predicted Putin is not a gambler and would not attack. These are not Putin's puppets. These are the people considered well respected International relations people. To call everything and everyone Putin's propaganda and disinformation is simplistic. Hindsight is 2020, it always feels like we missed the obvious signs.

ipaddr 5y ago
Being an willing or unwilling participate in propaganda makes you a tool regardless.

mrighele 5y ago

To be fair, many experts too believed that it was madness to invade Ukraine. And, judging by the faces on the videos that I saw, many members of his cabinet and top generals were thinking the same.

axiosgunnar 5y ago
And judging by the embarrassments of the last 10 days, it probably was indeed madness to invade.
baybal2 5y ago
[dead]

jmull 5y ago

Were there very many people who didn’t think Russia’s buildup was almost certainly a precursor to an invasion? I hadn’t heard of that before.

jacquesm 5y ago
There are still people who believe that today. It all depends on what you want to believe. People believe that Russia was forced into this, people believe that Ukranians secretly long to be liberated and saved. People will believe the most crazy stuff.
AutumnCurtain 5y ago
Absolutely, feel free to peruse my comment history for examples right here on this site.
FpUser 5y ago
I originally thought that Putin was trolling Ukraine and West with this buildup for the sake of winning some concessions.
- jmull 5y ago
  I knew it wasn’t just trolling because there are much, much easier ways to do that than moving tens of thousands of troops into a new arena. For trolling you’d do something flashier but much easier, like fighter flyovers or a missile launch.
tejohnso 5y ago
Zelenskyy himself was telling people to calm down with the invasion rhetoric, indicating that there is no evidence of an imminent invasion, and that the rhetoric is counter productive. Personally, I thought Putin would establish a stronghold in the Donbas and gradually improve position from there. This full on assault of the entire country is shocking and seems wildly aggressive and overly ambitious.