The Road To Unfreedom
On June 23 2014, MH17 bound for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam was crossing over southeastern Ukraine when a ground-to-air missile from a Russian warhead annihilated it into an explosion of flames
The force of the high-energy metal projectiles threw apart the aircraft ten kilometres above the earth’s surface and passengers scattered over a radius of 50 kilometres. Later, Russian commander Igor Girkin boasted that his people had shot down another plane from “our” sky.
When news hit the world, at least three versions of untruths were broadcasted to the public - An assassination attempt on Putin by Ukraine; Ukrainian forces shooting it down during exercises; and Ukrainian traffic controllers asking MH 17 to reduce their altitude. All claims that were incapable of evidence. Lies that were endorsed all the way from the top. Welcome to the oligarchy of Russia where political fiction is their way of life
In 2014, while most of us in the modern world wandered listlessly on Facebook, a war was happening in Ukraine. A real war. Battalion after battalion of Russians, many of them volunteers, sacrificed their life fighting a war that was concocted on fictional purposes. A fight the Russian government positioned as nationalism against the evil US. Propaganda is a dangerous thing but Russia are masters in fiction, achieved easily with a heavily controlled fibbing Russian TV. Young men left home thinking they were engaged in a war against US. Many died pointlessly and horribly. Parents received tragic news and when questioned the war in anger; were called traitors.
By the end of 2014, Russia had successfully created a myth in the eyes of its people, that US and Europe were evil, plotting against an innocent Russia, and that Russia was the one true untainted power of the world fighting against its enemies. Us against them. “The West are at work trying to separate what was essentially a single nation (Russia & Ukraine),” said Putin the master storyteller. “We are not at war with Ukraine,” he blithely said on TV, while hundreds of soldiers sat on the Russia-Ukraine border awaiting orders.
Why the fiction and lies?
Billionaires typically control 1-2% of the national wealth. In Russia, roughly 100 billionaires own about a third of the country with Putin and gang right on top. Russia was the most unequal (wealth) country in the world in 2016. Despicable?
Besides the beautiful women and the brutish testosterone, Russia could only dream about being like the US and Europe. It had neither the economic and technological clout. Nor could it pick a fight with China on whom it was dependent. But it could pick a fight with the arrogant US and Europe. If the world didn’t want to bow to Russia, Russia would make the world be like them. Causing chaos in other countries and blinding Russians from seeing the success of democracy in US and Europe allowed Russia’s oligarch to rule lawlessly and permanently. Making the US become authoritarian would make Russia’ despicable governance appear normal.
Russia had a historical Stalin whom it used as a tool for fascism. But above all, it had a lack of conscience and a superiority in technological warfare, an art which even the feigning-ignorance China picked up.
America Was Suffering
Donald Trump arrived in the Oval Office when levels of inequality in the US approached those of Russia. Globalization killed manufacturing jobs by about one third between 1980 and 2016 in the US. Families became poor and long-term unemployment set in for many. When the American dream of hope and promise is removed, what sets in is depression and fear. When there is no way for a better future, one spirals downward fast.
Instead, the era was for the Bobby Axelrods of Wall Street. For those in the finance and digital world, for the Buffets and Mobius, here was where wealth was made, the world your oyster! In short, a minority of people. Companies grew, stocks shot up and international expansions made headlines, yet what did it mean to the average American? Absolutely nothing. Globalization was just a word that came with no benefit. Worse, people began looking down on blue-collared workers. America is after all, the land of opportunity. If you are unsuccessful, you must be to blame. And If I am successful, I am therefore responsible. It is any wonder that suicide, drinking and addiction went up tremendously?
Visible inequality leads Americans to reject the American dream as impossible. Since 1980, 90% of the American population gained essentially nothing, either in wealth or income, all gains going to the top 10%. When economic inequality suppresses social advance, it is hard to imagine a future. Little surprise then, that when Trump campaigned for the Republican nomination, he did best in places where middle-aged while males were at greatest risk of death.
Donald Trump – The Fictional Character
As early as the 1980s, the Russians identified Trump as a candidate for their insidious plans. To the Russians, Trump was a failure and an asset to be used to wreak havoc in America.
The truth was that Trump was a failed businessman. By the late 1990s, he was considered bankrupt with most banks refusing to touch him. The image of him as a successful businessman prevailed because of the Russians. Trump Tower and his other properties were popular spots for international money laundering. Russia’s most notorious hitman stayed in Trump Tower. When Russians realized apartment complexes could be used to launder dirty money, they began using Trump’s name to build more buildings. 700 of Trump properties in South Florida were purchased by shell companies.
In 2006, citizens of the former Soviet Union financed the construction of Trump SoHo and gave Trump 18% of the profits – although he put no money himself. They organized the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and paid Trump 20 million to play the role of the American with money and power. In the half year between his nomination as the Republican candidate and his victory in the general election, some 70% of the units sold in his buildings were purchased not by human beings but by limited liability companies.
Trump was wholly in the pocket of Russians.
Down with America
By 2016, the average American spent more than 10 hours a day in front of their screens. Russia took full advantage of this and launched a cyberwar that crushed America. When Trump announced his candidacy in 2015, Russia’s Internet Research Agency expanded to include an American department deploying 90 new employees. Their boy was going to be President! Unlike Ukrainians, Americans were unaware that the internet was to be used against them. And therefore in 2015 and 2016, the American attack surface was Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Reddit, 9GAG and Google. BOOM!
Most Americans were unknowingly exposed to Russian propaganda. One of the most obvious Russian intervention was the 470 Facebook sites placed by Russia but purported to be those of American organisations. The Russian campaign also included at least 129 event pages which reach at least 336,300 people. Having already gained traction in France and Germany with Muslim terrorism, Russia’s ads targeted people who could be aroused to vote by anti-Muslim messages. Leaving no stone unturned, Russia hacked email accounts of the Democratic National Committee and created strife between supporters of Hillary Clinton and her rival Bernie Sanders. Havoc was well on its way!
#HillaryDown #CrookedHillary. Hillary was mercilessly and massively targeted. Twitter hashtags against her were retweeted and made to trend. Her emails were leaked and twisted to fit a dishonest narrative. Russian bots and trolls set out in huge numbers to the social media battlefield defending Trump and attacking detractors. Bloodshed and loss.
Trump filled his cabinet with people who were connected with Russia. He appointed a Russian adversary to be his national security advisor, one of the most sensitive positions in the federal government. If there is any doubt of Trump’s dealings with Russia, Trump had in fact convinced American intelligence specialties that he was a Russian Asset. Trump was indebted to a foreign adversary whose national interests were opposed to those of the US. Ah, painful.
And twas it went on. Sites like Breitbard and Next News were powered by Russia while certain Texan pages with millions of followers were creations of Russia. Politics became an addiction for Americans, the next hit either outrageous or grostesque. Facebook and Twitter took over newspapers as a source of news, but with no regulation and its founders too complacent to intervene, truth and lies became hard to distinguish. America became divided and the world laughed.
I was wrong about Trump. I was not wrong about the things he did for the US, but they pale in comparison to the almost treasonous damage he inflicted. We cannot afford a Stalinist Russia to ever arrive. It was Sam Harris who convinced me to recheck my facts. It’s not easy to change politics let me tell you. This incident showed me that changing minds requires not a maddening crowd to tell you so, but sometimes, just one person whom you respect and trust. Fast forward today, Trump has lost. Facebook and Twitter have de-platformed him. America will not go down without a fight. I am now glad Biden won the 2020 elections and that America is attempting to take back sovereignty from the Russians
I write this lengthy summary because I have to redeem and help make amends to the world. Consider this my Public Service Announcement. As John Maynard Keynes said “When facts change, I changed my mind.” Not easy to do, but goddamn essential.
Much respect to Timothy Snyder for this amazingly brilliant and in-depth book
