Unpicking Putin’s propaganda

Russia’s propagandists try to dupe Western leftists and American isolationists by claiming Putin’s invasion of Ukraine aims to defend Russia and Ukraine itself against US-led Western imperialism, while tapping into the patriotism which Putin and his communist predecessors weaponised to justify their own hegemony.

The Russia problem

Russia’s ‘all-out military aggression against Ukraine’ is the latest escalation in Russia’s long, clandestine war with the West and must be confronted on the battlefield, writes Keir Giles in his new book “Russia’s War on Everybody and What It Means for You”.

Russia’s new man in Ukraine

The appointment of Valery Gerasimov to command all Russian forces involved in the invasion of Ukraine is unlikely to bring Putin’s ‘special military operation’ to a successful conclusion after a year of bloodshed and destruction.

Russia must lose – and be seen to lose

Vladimir Putin moved to obliterate Ukraine assuming Western acquiescence after years of appeasement of his brutal regime. The failure of his ramshackle military has forced him into unconvincing diplomatic overtures but this should not blind other nations to his goal of undermining the liberal global order to restore imperial spheres of influence.

Russia’s aggression drives its allies away

Russia’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine is straining its relations with former Soviet states which have problems of their own and show no wish to be drawn into the conflict.

Alla dearest

Few prominent Russians have had the courage to oppose Putin or speak out against the war, but iconic singer Alla Pugacheva has posted a message decrying the conflict to her 3.5 million followers on Instagram.

The paranoid style of Putin’s politics

Russian propagandists – and their western apologists – claim that Putin’s calamitous invasion of Ukraine was forced by NATO expansion, but the truth is the only threat to peace in Europe is Russia itself.

Death of a dinosaur

Putin’s call-up of conscripts show he is determined to march Russia further into the abyss, regardless of growing protests at home and mounting losses in Ukraine.

Putin’s conscription call-up has already backfired

Putin’s call-up of reservists to fight in Ukraine underlines the weakness of his military, and is already sparking protests and exits as a population which broadly supports the war but has been isolated from its horror begins to confront its grim reality.

The mad dog’s last gamble

Russia’s tyrant has reacted to Ukraine’s gains in the war by conscripting 300,000 additional soldiers, announcing fake referendums and threatening the use of “lots of Russian weapons” but such bluster only reveals Putin’s weakness rather than demonstrating strength.

Putin plays the imperialist card

Russia’s plan to annex 15% of Ukraine’s territory in the East will allow it to pretend it is defending its own territory, rather than invading another nation, but the pantomime only digs Russia deeper into the mire of its own making.

Putin flounders in Asia

Western sanctions are degrading Russia’s basket case economy and Putin’s appeal to Asia does nothing to mask his military humiliation in Ukraine.