You may remember the recent minor misunderstanding, which involved Putin’s army going into Crimea to look for phantom fascists but then accidentally holding a sham referendum and annexing the peninsula?
Well, I happened to come across a very telling piece of Russian propaganda from that time. It’s from February 25, shortly before Russian army went into Crimea. The army was allegedly there to protect ethnic Russians from rampaging neo-Nazis. Also, the army was allegedly not there at all, according to Putin. It’s all so very complicated.
In any case, here’s a small new segment from Russian TV (with English subtitles), intended to paint the Kremlin-preferred picture of utter chaos and Maidan extremists running loose. Pay attention to the moving images that set the dark tone behind the news anchor. The channel makes a live call to a deputy of Crimean parliament, who is supposed to corroborate the “fascist danger” story. However, he didn’t seem to get the memo, so he tells the truth instead:
Notice how he gets cut off due to “technical difficulties”? Notice the anchor’s shaky voice as she tries to sound genuine when describing said “difficulties”? That’s the funny part.
The not-so-funny part? It didn’t matter that the pretext was utter bullshit. Putin still went into Crimea. He still annexed it, without incurring too many costs. And now? Now he’s executing this same exact scenario in Ukraine’s south-east regions.
What’s the message here? “Fuck Putin,” I guess? Yup, that’s it. Fuck him very much, from the bottom of my heart. I hope his cynical, disgusting actions in Ukraine spell the eventual end of his authoritarian rule in Russia. It really is about damn time.
Nest Expressed 
Damn those live phone calls. Too hard to control the actual content that way.
Wonder what will happen when Putin finds out about the internet.
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He and his propaganda machine are apparently unaware that Internet exists.
On a serious note, his propaganda is a show mainly for the people inside Russia, who have few alternative channels available.
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I hadn’t thought about that. It’s hard to fathom.
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And yet it happens…more and more aggressively and ridiculously…and still it works.
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Nothing like a little censorship blamed on technical difficulties to keep a caller in line. I’ve been following the events in Ukraine, despite it being difficult considering CNN talks about the missing plane (flight 370) practically 24/7. You’d think the Ukraine injustice was all but over based on the little air time CNN was giving it as of late (at least our national CNN; hopefully there’s more coverage on the international channels). Today they finally reported on it in more detail. I hope your family remains well. I’m sure it’s frustrating and horrifying for those involved.
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They’re well so far, but Putin shows no signs of wanting to leave Ukraine alone. At this stage I seriously won’t be surprised by an eventual full-fledged invasion.
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I think world leaders are foolish to believe Putin is not planning any further takeover just because he says so. He’s shown his word is not to be trusted.
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