May 31: Dietmar Pichler on 'peace narratives' and Instructions from the Kremlin
Thread published on May 27, 2023 and Instructions from the Kremlin as published in Meduza on May 30, 2023
Who is Dietmar Pichler..
Dietmar Pichler is an Austrian disinformation expert, political expert, and a co-founder of the Vienna-based Center for Digital Media Literacy (Zentrum für Digitale Medienkompetenz).
“Today, disinformation is a global threat to democracy and public health. It was important to me to devote a separate awareness day to this topic, which should keep us busy throughout the year,” says Dietmar Pichler.
Dietmar Pichler: The peace narratives
The pattern of the discourse remains the same: denying as much as possible despite the evidence and shifting responsibility onto the West and Ukraine, attempting to make the audience believe it.
As I mentioned recently, what is almost always missing in the one-sided peace camp is the acknowledgment of the genocidal plans and rhetoric of Russian officials, as well as the dire situation in the occupied territories (torture, rape, deportations, executions).
They tend to reduce the reality of suffering to mere fights on the battlefield or rocket attacks:
"When there is no more fighting, the suffering ends";
"Fighting is always bad";
"Weapons don't solve anything" are some of their talking points.
With this perspective on the war, it becomes logical to advocate for surrender or peace negotiations, regardless of how much territory falls into Russian control or even accepting Ukraine's subjugation to Russia, simply because there are no more battles on the battlefield.
Occupation is not peace and entails significant suffering for Ukrainians.
Ukrainians have the right to maintain their democratically elected leadership.
If Russia succeeds in Ukraine, it would significantly jeopardize the safety of Europe.
Instructions to Russian media to deal with the drone strike
Meduza’s sources in Russian state and pro-government media outlets have described the instructions they received from the presidential administration to cover the drone attack on Moscow and the Moscow Region.
The media is "requested to use the following approaches":
pay attention to the "successful work of air defense";
indicate that the reaction of the “federal services” and the leadership of Moscow and the Moscow region was “instant”, and the work was “high-quality and concentrated”
emphasize that the goals of "provocation" have not been achieved;
to emphasize that the task of the attack was "psychological", but the inhabitants showed "calmness and endurance".