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The Newest Russian Fairytale
The Kremlin proves to Trump how powerful it is to forbid critical analysis of events.
It was like watching a Christmas miracle happen before my eyes. I was chatting with a good friend’s mother, who had recently arrived from St. Petersburg, and she told me that many there are “preparing for war with NATO.” This woman does not support the war, but as a Russian and one who spent the first half of her life in the Soviet Union, she is not mentally capable of criticizing Putin. Her reaction to my comment showed me how amazingly effective Russia’s propaganda has been.
“For three years now, Russia can’t even defeat the Ukrainian army. Any conventional war with NATO will be over in a week,” I scoffed.
“Oh, I don’t know. My husband’s friend has served three times on the front for the money, and he says that if the army wanted to defeat Ukraine, it could in a day or two. It’s just that it’s too profitable for too many, so they don’t end the war. A war with NATO, though, would unite all Russians, and it would be a different story.”
Like most Russians, she was against the war in the beginning. Heartbroken because her daughter and grandkids left Russia, her former Putin-is-God attitude slowly changed into a silent disgust for the war — but never for Putin. Criticism was always…
