[WITI No. 67]Slava Ukraini, Disinfo war - who is winning it? What's the future look like in Europe?
Hello друзів (friends in Ukranian, pronouced Drusiv which is darn similar to my last name…) , George here. Welcome to my weekly newsletter called What is the Information? where I share with you with what I’m reading, writing, thinking about. Thanks for reading, hope you are all doing fine!
ласкаво просимо! (Welcome in Ukranian, pronouced laskavo prosymo)
I’m migrating this newsletter to a different platform - too many spam subscriptions. I have not done this yet but have heard from the people who will remain. Thanks for that.
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I guess you can see that Russia’s been involved in a long-term online argument with the west. As arguments extend longer and longer, eventually they devolve into one group calling the other a Nazi. Godwin’s law applied in real life.
We just arrived there.
I naively dismissed information warfare, disinformation as something that shouldn’t affect me. I thought I could think critically and try to tease apart each strand of convincing arguments about fake news about election fraud, immigration or other nuanced topics that defy simple explanation.
Up is down. War is Peace. We have always been at war with East Asia. The Jewish democraticaly elected president of Ukraine is a Nazi. George Orwell is rolling in his grave at All Saints Church in Sutton Courtenay, Abingdon UK.
Who would have thought that by mentioning Sophie Scholl that we’d be talking about Nazism. Say Beetlejuice three times, and he’ll appear…
Yet here we are.
The Russians have announced a military invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine for the purpose of denazification. Fascists have become Antifa. To say that’s it taken up too much of my bandwidth is understatement. While I feel like the possibility of nuclear annihilation is low, it’s not zero and threat of WWIII becomes a closer possibility - all my plans for my children become dust.
Man plans, God laughs.
Needless to say, I’ve been glued to Twitter. Cheering every abandoned or destroyed tank. I want the Ukranians to prevail. Slava Ukraini! As such, I’m prey to their information warfare too.
Grandma in her babushka telling Russian soldiers to put sunflower seeds in their pockets so that when they are killed in action(KIA) sunflower, Ukraine’s national flower, will grow.
Farmers stealing abandoned Russian tanks with tractors
Ukrainians filming POWs, young men Russia sent to war, who call their mothers, confessing they had no idea why they were in Ukraine
We’re headed to Europe in two weeks - not Ukraine but there’s an uneasiness about the future where previously I was fooled by the inertia of peace in the US and Europe. I thought I wouldn’t see something like this in my own life.
At this point, I’m left wondering about the future. I don’t think nukes are imminent but will war spill over into the rest of Europe? And is that a risk I want to take with my children should they decide they want to study there? I haven’t thought too deeply about that yet.
Word of the week: Irredentist Saw this word used in describing Putin and his ambitions in Ukraine.
Find of the Week
Slight antidote to the heaviness of talking about war, though obliquely related to China…
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I’m waiting on a book recommendation from someone… Expert in doublespeak? Defender of fascism ? Hate my writing? Smash that button below…
And think someone might be interested to hear the opinions of a husband, father, tax debt studier, voracious readers, and continuous writer?
That’s all for now…see you a week
-George