Behind the EU's push to counter Russian disinformation | DW News Russia has been trying to flood social media with false narratives and fake accounts. The EU has set up a special unit called the East Stratcom Task Force to counter disinformation from Moscow. DW's Teri Schultz got a look inside the operation. Site link: euvsdisinfo.eu There are interesting articles posted there, for instance: Guest content Five myths that helped Russian colonialism remain hidden in plain sight By Maksym Eristavi | November 10, 2023 Several days before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and the genocide(opens in a new tab) of my people started, I was in deep agony. Here I was, a Ukrainian journalist, who had spent a decade trying to raise global awareness about Russian colonial behavior. Yet again, the world would talk about the impending mass slaughter as something unprecedented, new and perplexing. Converting my anxieties into journalism, I started an X thread(opens in a new tab) listing cases of Russian invasions over the past 111 years. It wasn’t an academic or nuanced analysis, but rather connected the dots between separate, seemingly unrelated events. Under different regimes and rulers, Russia has used the same formula to consolidate its colonial domination in the near-Russian space — manipulation, invasion, extermination. Since then, the post has gone viral and I turned it into a guidebook illustrated by Ukrainian wartime artists(opens in a new tab). Exposing Russia as a colonial fascist(opens in a new tab) empire with a history of organized terrorism following a well-established formula is first and foremost about justice. But it’s also about stopping the popular talk that ‘this is Putin’s war and Russians are victims too.’ It’s about exposing that Russia has always been like this and will remain so unless it faces accountability. But, to quote Shuhada’ Sadaqat (originally known as Sinéad O’Connor – a legend of anti-colonial art), before there’s justice, there must be knowledge and understanding. Until the world stops ignoring the problem of Russian colonialism, regimes and generations in Russia will keep changing, but Russian fascism will keep terrorizing neighboring societies, like mine. In lots of ways, my mission of curating and amplifying storytelling and research(opens in a new tab) about Russian colonialism is shaped by my life-long work of addressing Russian disinformation. Moreover, the fact that this phenomenon remained ignored and marginalized worldwide for this long is the biggest success story of Russian propaganda myth making. In a tribute to the stellar work that my colleagues at EUvsDisinfo do, I want to zero-in on five key myths that prevent us from seeing Russia as a colonizer. ... https://euvsdisinfo.eu/five-myths-that-helped-russian-colonialism-remain-hidden-in-plain-sight/ I have to admire the EU for being able to take action where we in the US fail. Very cool effort, this.
