Author Archives: RomanInUkraine

THING I WISH ZELENSKY WOULD SAY EPISODE #2 – China Also has a Horrible Neighbor

The Chinese of all people should know what it means to have an aggressor neighbor who will exploit any perceived weakness. It was during China’s century of humiliation, that Russia threatened China into giving up its city of Haishen. I ask Chinese citizens and historians to compare Russia’s action against China 150 years ago, to their actions against Ukraine today. Their approach to their neighbors has not changed.

THING I WISH ZELENSKY WOULD SAY EPISODE #1 – Framing Ukraine’s case using an Ancient Greek example

What Zelensky’s communication team could learn from Ancient Greece…

(fyi @dmtrltvn
, @DrozdaAndriy
)

Corcyraean Appeal to Athens (427 BCE) –

When the Corcyraeans presented their case to the Athenians, they did not emphasize how Athens owed them anything.

Instead, they argued that Athens would gain honor by continuing their tradition of helping worthy allies.

So, something like this:

“Americans should be very proud of themselves for being a beacon of freedom and showing the oppressed . . .

. . . people of the Soviet Union that freedom was not only possible, but that it was stronger than Russian-style tyranny.

America has historically stood up against many of the worst crimes in history. You should be very proud of this heritage. . .

. . . on behalf of the Ukrainian people, I want to tell you firstly, thank you for all you’ve done, and secondly, to convince you that Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine is another attempt at genocide by Russia . . .

. . . just listen to the rhetoric of Kremlin propagandists.

Yes, we want peace. More than anyone. Believe me. But we want to make sure that our grandchildren do not suffer what we are suffering . . .

. . . we want to make sure we will get peace, and not a tactical pause which allows Russia to regroup and try again, as they did in Chechnya, Georgia, and many other times in history.”

Ukrainian vs Russian languages point to profound philosophical differences

https://x.com/JPLindsley/status/1867278118806831415

1) Victory

For Ukrainians, victory is перемога (peremoha), meaning “beyond ability.” It’s about doing the impossible, like an Olympian feat. Hell, victory feels impossible at times, but you keep going, overcome barriers, and find new possibilities. This is exactly what I see Ukrainians doing with Russia’s “red lines.”

In Russian, victory is победа (pobeda), meaning “after misery.” Victory is just surviving suffering. Imagine how this mindset shapes everything else.

Imagine the difference in toasting “after misery” verses “beyond our abilities!”

2) Hospital

In Ukrainian, the word for hospital is лікарня (likarnya), meaning “a place of healing.”

In Russian, it’s больница (bolnitsa), meaning “a place of pain.” Think of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

3) Crime

Perhaps more than any other example, the contrasting visions of the idea of crime reveal that Ukraine and Russia just might be the polar opposites of how to live on planet earth. Read on to see the two competing concepts …

For Russians, crime is преступление (prestuplyeniye), meaning “stepping over a line.” But who draws the line? Always the Kremlin, from the time of the Tsars to the Soviet century to the Putin period. Russian culture enforces obedience. You become a criminal when you cross those lines.

It doesn’t matter if the line is just, or if the Kremlin asks you do something you think is wrong. You just do it.

For Ukrainians, crime is злочин (zlochin), meaning “evil-doing.” It’s not about lines drawn by human authorities but following your conscious: don’t bomb children’s hospitals, don’t invade neighbors.

Ukrainians are perfectly willing to cross lines and break arbitrary government rules. But there’s a wide societal sense that you should strive for an ideal of goodness, often in defiance of the government.

Ukraine’s horizontal society reflects this mindset. Families, churches, and local groups take initiative. It’s chaotic but effective. I saw this first hand during the pandemic time when quietly Ukraine was one of the freest countries in the world. Quietly is the key! You just do your thing, escaping notice of Political Mordor.

Now in the war, with Moscow sending ballistic missiles, it’s a little harder to escape notice, but I see the horiztonal society flourishing, especially in those first days of invasion when the government was chaotic but even now when so many are so tired. People figure stuff out together; they don’t wait for orders. The horizontal society is the glue and real “stuff that works,” to borrow from Texas musician Guy Clark.

Russia’s top-down vertical mentality revolves around centralized power. Ordinary people wait for decisions from the top, with little personal agency. They stop believing they can change things. This is the perfect breeding ground for tyranny.

The BEST of my Writing / Videos about Russian Propaganda (so far)

Small Wars Journal

Nine Lessons of Russian Propaganda (2016)
probably my best and most insightful essay

A Look at Russian Civilization: Power, Truth, Trust, and War

Early Writing

Putin’s Libertarians (Trilogy)
This was my first shocking encounter with Russian propaganda, and these three essays went from attempting to convince people, to slowly realizing that they were deliberate propagandists completely uninterested in getting to the bottom of things.

The Conflicting National Myths of Russia and Ukraine

American Thinker – Writing to US Conservatives about Russian Propaganda (post 2022)

Why the Russians Cut Off a Moscow Bombing Suspect’s Ear and Made Him Eat It

Russia’s anti-Ukraine propaganda targeting the West is pervasive and mendacious

My attempt at a Youtube Channel –

The TRUE STORY of how I was probably paid $35/month to promote Russian Propaganda + my thesis about their information operations.

1 hour compilation of Russian Threats and Belligerence

Russian Propaganda Tier List

TOTAL OBLITERATION of Russia’s “NATO Expansion” Propaganda

Short Essays on my New Substack

Four Points of Reference for Trump’s Ukraine Comments.

Russia in the Alt-Media – Finally some stories are getting out.

Putting Russian Talking Points into Perspective

My New Substack: Four Points of Reference for Trump’s Ukraine Comments.

https://substack.com/home/post/p-149527804

 

In the early months of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, Trump acknowledged that it was a genocide, or attempt at genocide. He was pressed by a reports.

Unfortunately, Trump’s more recent comments have been following a pattern of never blaming Russia, never acknowledging their ubiquitous genocidal rhetoric, always exaggerating Russia’s strength, and referring to the war as a tragedy only in general terms.

This probably gets some traction with people who have no context. Here are four points of reference which I wish MAGA supporters would consider.
1. Using threats to take things has ALWAYS been a strategy of Moscow, as well as the absence of compromise and always demanding the maximum.

Here is Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas quoting an ex-Soviet Prime minister about this strategy. It is stated as explicitly as could be stated:

Continue reading →

My New Substack: Russia in the alt-media

https://substack.com/home/post/p-148540008

I’ve been writing about Russian Propaganda in dissident groups since 2015. Here’s one of the essays that best summarized my findings: Nine Lessons of Russian Propaganda.

Yesterday, two Russian nationals were indicted for funneling about $10 million to Tennessee-based Tenet Media. Tenet Media funsd popular figures in the right-leaning alt media like Tim Pool, Lauren Southern, and David Rubin.

You can look at their twitter account to see the topics they’re interested in. I think it matches the interest of many “MAGA” people. They tweet about Candace Owens, RFK Jr., and constant “own-the-libs” content. I’m not entirely unsympathetic to it, but I know it is deeply corrupted by Russian influence.

Elon, unsurprisingly for me, but perhaps surprisingly for you, has a long history of promoting Tenet Media. Here’s are example:

Continue reading →

My new Substack: Putting Russian Talking Points into Perspective

https://substack.com/home/post/p-148285682

I’ve met some American political commentators who’ve described themselves as “paleo conservatives”. This includes Paul Gottfried and Peter Brimelow. They were active in the 70s and 80s. One comment they made in passing stuck with me. At the time, the victory of communism over the relatively free West seemed inevitable. They thought they were putting up a good fight out of obligation, but would eventually lose to the rising tide of communism.

Continue reading →

X’s / Twitter’s Russian backers are Petr Aven and Vadim Moshkovich

https://x.com/DenisDanilovL/status/1827282706574537013

Elon Musk has complied after all and provided a list of X Holding Corp shareholders who helped the billionaire buy Twitter. And who do you think turned out to be the investors of the X platform? That’s right, Petr Aven and Vadim Moshkovich. Now it is absolutely obvious where Musk got such love for Russia and where the roots of “filters” due to anti-Russian publications grow from. Let me remind you who Aven and Moshkovich are.

Petr Aven is a Russian billionaire, founder of Alfa Group, which is one of the main wallets for Putin. This man is controlled by the Kremlin as much as possible, for example, in 2018 he traveled to Washington with his colleague Fridman to lobby on behalf of the Russian government to lift international sanctions on Russia. Aven is one of Putin’s oldest friends. In general, without Peter’s interference, Putin would be in jail rather than becoming president. After all, Aven covered for Vladimir Putin in 1992, when he organized the illegal trade in export licenses. Aven promptly approved him as an authorized representative of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Affairs with the right of foreign economic activity, thus saving the future dictator from prison. Aven also attended a meeting with Putin on February 24, 2022 to mark the start of the invasion of Ukraine. He did not express any protest, started the special military operation and silently supported Putin. By the way, he along with Friedman is trying to get sanctions lifted, just yesterday he received another rejection in this matter.
Twitter is represented in the purchase by 8VC Opportunities Fund II, L.P., a company in which his son Denis works.

Vadim Moshkovich is a sub-sanctioned Russian agrarian billionaire who was a member of the “Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation”. In other words, he was officially part of Putin’s closest circle. Moshkovich owns Russia’s largest agricultural holding Rusagro. Naturally, he also attended the meeting with Putin on February 24, 2022 and, like Aven, did not express any protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Twitter is represented in the purchase by 8VC Opportunities Fund II, L.P., a company in which his son Jack (Eugene) works.

Also an interesting personality is Al-Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, who both personally and through his Kingdom Holding Company is represented in the list of investors as many as three times. This man continues his investment business in Russia and does not publicly support Hamas in the war against Israel. He regularly works with Rosneft, Lukoil and Gazprom on investments in Russia.

Knowing all of this, how can there even be a discussion about Elon Musk’s bias? Everyone was thinking how is it possible that Twitter (X)’s stock is plummeting, advertisers are breaking contracts, and no one is doing anything about it. I mean, that’s a direct loss to investors. But what everyone overlooked was the fact that investors didn’t care about profits, they needed a platform to promote their narratives, such as: supporting Putin and Russia; lobbying to freeze the war in Ukraine; taking the Ukrainian agenda out of the top news; the righteousness of Hamas, etc.

It is now obvious that all the changes to Twitter that are ruining this beautiful platform are a consequence of Elon Musk’s collaboration with people like Moshkovich and Aven.

“Russia must invade as many countries as possible.”

In a candid moment, Russian propaganda chief points out that in this golden era in which the US absolutely refuses to stand up for allies, Russia must invade as many countries as possible.