Putin's War

And the online battle for hearts and minds ... Coleman Hughes'on COVID messaging ... the Profiteers of Pandemic

This is Vladimir Putin’s war. 

We’re all involved, however circumspect. Or at least we share emotion and compassion for the innocents of Ukraine. 

Putin is a psychopath. Pretty much everyone agrees. 

That’s where the consensus ends. 

Courtesy of CNN

The world breathlessly hangs on every byte of news – military, political and humanitarian – reported about the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. Global moods swing moment-by-moment with every image of destruction, every cry of anguish, every act of courage. These are the universal signets of war.  

First, the positive. The flood of global sympathy and humanity is genuine and heartfelt. The blue and gold colors of the Ukrainian flag light the universe. But there’s so much more documented on television news, radio and social media. Emotions spill and scatter like thick rainwater. 

Unfortunately, a lot of the war correspondence is not so authentic or organic. 

New Media: Truth is rarer than gold

“In the Wild West of online, where I graze widely, it feels like there are as many assessments and explanations of the situation as there are people with keyboards and phones. What I do know is Truth is rarer than gold – and therefore harder to find.” 

– Neil Oliver, Scottish television presenter. 

Since I consign only to Twitter and Facebook, I am limited in summarizing the width and breadth of online opinion. Twitter is famous (or infamous) for being the anus of social media. I understand that Reddit is approximately 10 miles farther north up the colon. But I don’t belong to Reddit.  

Responses to Putin’s war vary … from the visceral to the sublime … from the stirring to the stupid. Keep in mind that many of the searing images are dated, doctored or completely dishonest, manufactured to manipulate the narrative. See ”The Ghost of Kyiv” below … 

Anyway, you know the saying about opinions and anuses. Everybody has one. Therefore, Twitter Wars are generalized in the following categories … 

• Cynicism 

• Misinformation

• Performance outrage

• “Then/Now” harpoon

… and the ever present … 

• #Propaganda

First, the cynical. Also maybe the most realistic. I assume Bradford is referencing the Golden Rule … he who has the gold rules. 

Then there’s the “that was then, this is now” contrast post, intended to expose an opponent’s time-lapsed hypocrisy.

Somehow I doubt Mr. Workman is slinking in shame. 

Misinformation. Then there’s the first day's story about the Alamo-style stand of 13 Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island. When confronted by a Russian ship to surrender, defiant words of the baker’s dozen rang around the world … 

Then later, the dreaded communique … the 13 Ukrainians were reported killed in the Russian attack. Around the world, news anchors solemnly hung their heads as they delivered the bulletin. 

Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) got sucked in…

But  … 24 hours later the truth emerged. All 13 Ukrainians had surrendered. 

Kinzinger and everyone else suddenly had a Jussie Smollett flashback. 

Performance Outrage … Matt Walsh, conservative commentator and contributor to The Daily Wire, had a churlish moment while reflecting on the sudden popularity of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky. 

Journalist Noam Blum took exception … 

Moreover, Walsh’s take apparently was not shared by starry-eyed American women …

#Propaganda: “The Ghost of Kyiv” … this might be the most epic example of Internet malarkey since the “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful” meme of 2020 from the chyron geniuses of CNN. 

On the second day of the invasion came a “BREAKING” report from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry that became instant legend. “The Ghost of Kyiv” … a Ukrainian pilot reportedly downed six Russian Su-35 jet fighters above the capital city. There’s even live action footage of the airborne ferocity. 

One problem. It’s fake. In fact, the live footage was a captured CGI sequence from the  2008 video game “Digital Combat Simulator World.” Later, it was discovered that dramatic silhouettes of the Ukrainian “Maverick” were actually repurposed images of a Brazilian insurance salesman. 

“The Ghost of Kyiv” may be a myth, but he’s lethal for war morale.

Russian Nuclear Alert: Echoes of the Cold War

The Russian nuclear alert issued over last weekend hearkens back to the Cold War for frames of reference. 

First is President John F. Kennedy’s admonition during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. In the midst of the two week crisis, JFK recalls Barbara Tuchman’s 1958 book The Guns of August detailing the cataclysmic start of World War I. 

JFK tells his Ex-Comm¹ advisors of the reckless sequence of ''miscalculations and misunderstandings” committed by traditional European alliances that triggered The Great War. He openly worries that similar blunders with the Kremlin and miscommunications within his own administration could lead to history repeating itself. 

Ex-Comm chief Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General and JFK’s younger brother, documented the crisis in his personal memoir Thirteen Days.² 

Second, the 1964 apocalyptic film Fail Safe, Sidney Lumet's dark portrayal of a technical failure of a nuclear deterrence system that leads to the accidental nuclear bombing of Moscow and subsequent self-annihilation of New York City. 

Of course, applied science in the 60s was neolithic compared to today’s God-like technology.

Nothing can go wrong with the multifarious security measures embedded in our modern systems. The Nuclear Football is hack proof.

Right?

Finally, there’s Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 satirical counterpoint to Fail Safe. In Strangelove, a sexually-frustrated general (Jack D. Ripper), fearing the Communists are covertly robbing him of “his precious bodily fluids,” goes mad and orders a nuclear attack on Moscow. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Gen. Jack D. Ripper (R) from Dr. Strangelove

Could Putin, whose mental health has been openly questioned by the media, be a modern personification of Strangelove’s Ripper? Just not as funny? 

Conversations With Coleman: COVID messaging

Coleman Hughes

Coleman Hughes is a writer, podcaster and social commentator – and more recently an aspiring jazz-hip hop recording artist. He is bright, cerebral and immensely articulate. His is an emerging voice in the world of intelligentsia. 

And he just turned 27. 

Hughes cannot and should not be pigeonholed by labels. In a recent edition of Conversations with Coleman podcast with guest journalist Matt Tiabbi, Hughes offers this astute observation about controversies surrounding conventional wisdom and COVID messaging…. 

“(The) intelligence of the population seems to be the wrong metric to be looking at here. The ‘conformism’ of the population is the right metric. You have people (conformists) who are more likely just to do what the crowd is telling them and to trust the ‘common wisdom.’ And you have people (non-conformists) who are less likely to do that.”

Hughes goes on to explain the driving forces behind vax vs. unvax arguments and mandates vs. no mandates philosophy. 

“There is a problem with the elite messaging system in this country.”

“People at conformist institutions assume more people think like them … They think most people nod along … and a lot of people do. But a lot of people don’t. 

“There is a problem with the elite messaging system in this country. There isn’t a lot of interplay between the people in Washington and New York – the elite decision-makers in all institutions – and the rest of the country.”

Coleman Hughes is a very bright young man.  

Profiting from a Pandemic

Just an FYI … 

Top 5 Companies that profited during COVID …

Company ………………………………………. Market Cap Added (1Q 2020 to 4Q 2021)

Apple, Inc. (USA) Electronic devices, services: $1.032 trillion (now worth $2.5 trillion)

Amazon.com Inc. (USA) e-Commerce: $718 billion (now worth $1.63 trillion)

Tesla (USA) Electric Vehicle maker: $606 billion (up 784%)

Alphabet Inc. (USA) Parent company for Google: $262 billion (now over $1 trillion)

Tencent Holdings LTD (China) Internet Company: $230.4 billion (up 50%)

Source: Yahoo! Insider Monkey

Big Pharma Revenues (Pfizer, Moderna, BioNTech SE) in billions

Source: reliefweb.int

1

Ex-Comm was the internal administration group of advisors commenced and led by Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General, to deal with the crisis. 

Thirteen Days was later made into a docudrama featuring star Kevin Costner.

2. ###

James Geschke has been Inducted into the Prestigious Marquis Who's Who Registry

Jim Geschke