Vranyo

Some thoughts on the Russia-Ukraine War, in light of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's ill-fated meeting with American President Donald Trump. 

Very few self-styled experts on this situation, which proliferate in the alternative media these days, are saying anything about malevolent state actors like Russia. How many people naively thought that Russia would become a viable democracy after the collapse of the USSR in 1991? That will never happen now. 

These experts give Russia and President Vladimir Putin a free pass, but seem very concerned about corruption in Ukraine, Zelenskyy’s corruption, suppression of civil liberties, and its neo Nazism. They conveniently ignore that under Putin's 25 year rule, corruption, fascism, and suppression of individual freedoms are all massive problems in Russia. Freedom House, a think tank that monitors levels of freedom in countries around the world, rated Russia as not free in its 2024 annual report. 

If social media was a thing during the Second World War, there would be plenty of people unwittingly parroting Axis propaganda, like the radio propagandists Lord Haw-Haw, or Axis Sally.

The point is that those who pile on Zelenskyy, but condone Putin’s actions, like to make out that they are free thinkers, immune to brainwashing by what they see as the completely untrustworthy mainstream media. 

It pays to check the sources of the material you post, such as memes, articles, or videos. Who is the original author, and is it credible information? Someone with the time and inclination could do this work, tracing it to its original source. What if it was shown that they were uncritically and unwittingly parroting Kremlin propaganda? The Kremlin has a sophisticated online propaganda factory. It has the ability to underhandedly influence Western public opinion on the war. 

In the Second World War, the Axis powers paid people to spread propaganda for them. Now, Putin’s regime can use social media to instantly and rapidly spread its propaganda to millions of people around the world. Investigative journalists have looked into this, such as Shannon Bond of NPR. Her work, without access to intelligence agencies, who would be right across all this, would only scratch the surface of what Russia is doing. International relations think tanks, such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies, are also monitoring this activity. 

https://www.csis.org/analysis/cyber-operations-during-russo-ukrainian-war

https://freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/06/g-s1-2965/russia-propaganda-deepfakes-sham-websites-social-media-ukraine

Is Putin unfairly maligned?

On Russia by George Christensen

Nation First airs a Russian Orthodox priest's thoughts on Russia being the last Christian stronghold against Western decay

Read on Substack

He is if you ask former Australian federal politician, George Christensen, and the author of this blog article, Michael Wood, a Russian Orthodox priest.

Speaking of Putin, Wood writes:

“we can at the very least see that Putin is a man with a committed personal faith.” This drives him to build Russia as a strong Christian nation, protected from the moral degeneracy of the west. 

Perhaps Father Wood pictures Putin in deep conversation on spiritual matters with an Orthodox priest, consulting with him for a regular spiritual check up. Then, of an evening, before turning in for the night, curling up in bed in his private apartments in the Kremlin, he would be working his way through a devotional book, that has space for the reader to write their reflections on the excerpt of the Bible they have just read. Perhaps he subscribes to the Russian translation of the popular Our Daily Bread devotional.

Facetiousness aside, a blunt assessment of Putin's relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church is that he has it wrapped around his little finger. Like many a politician before him, far from being a sincere Christian believer, Putin uses Christianity as a political prop. Father Wood is too deceived to see through Putin's façade. You would expect a member of the clergy to have at least some measure of discernment in assessing someone's character. As for corruption, by all means accuse the President of Ukraine of corruption and demagoguery, but don't overlook Putin's.