Today’s diary of Russian Stuff blowing up (www.dailykos.com/..._) contained something more than usual which Quaoar didn’t bring focus (emphasizing the humor in the bad translation as opposed to the content). No disrespect whatsoever to the original diary, I just want to bring attention and thought to a darker side of it.
I am referring to the tweet with the Babushkas. Of note, the word Babushka is used in both Russia and Ukraine as typical/common language. My partner is Ukrainian and we met in Kyiv and her mom is a Babushka. There is no disrespect and I will use that word through the diary.
I want to draw attention to the message that this video is presenting and then I will talk a but about the video in context.
Here are two frames from the video. My Discussion is below the images.
The full video from the Tweet is at the bottom but let me explain what is key.
The “Babushka Video” as a format of propaganda has emerged on Twitter recently. The videos are 100% staged, 100 scripted. They present a group of 4 or 5 babushkas like you see here and they have usually one “leader” speaking about some pro-Russia topic (for example about how ‘Ukrainian nazis’ need to be removed, or how ‘Ukrainian orphans are so happy’). The babushkas in the background nod in solidarity and occasionally say something.
They are anything but organic. While the women themselves are different people, they are always grouped on camera similarly. The look of the babushkas is perfectly staged. They are always perfectly dressed — while having a “put together” look is an important part of life in Russia but these videos are all sort of “Sunday best” which isn’t necessarily normal for a group of Babushkas getting together at the park. Altough I don’t think they are filmed in the same location, I think the producers have an idea about the visual impact of the nicely tree’d background.
Point of all that — as you would guess but maybe not entirely understand — nothing about this is, let's say — a street interview with a group of babushkas or perhaps a Tiktok that they decided to produce on their own.
This is machine manufactured propaganda. These videos promote Russia in the war and are created and produced by people who are working for the Kremlin somewhere along the food chain. These videos are manufactured in conjunction with the message of the Putinocracy.
And the message here is this — we want Republicans in Office in the United States. Literally. The video literally is speaking to Americans and telling us to vote out Democrats. Using those words.
It’s not important to speculate as to whether or not someone in Russia actually believes they can impact the American vote with this video. If they do it’s pretty laughable, but, the Russian propaganda machine is in the business of the “Firehose of Falsehoods” as well as just the general “Throw it at the wall and see if it sticks”. The budget for this video is nothing. Someone in the machine made it just in the same way they have thousands of trolls typing away on every form of social media possible.
For what it’s worth here is a link to a really interesting interview from last year with a guy who worked in a Russian troll farm that maybe helps get your head around the extent of this project and how it works but to the matter at hand — the following points are the critical ones:
- This video is the product of a machine built to express the views of the Putin regime and attempt to further it’s goals no matter how off base the method might seem
- The message of this video is in English and so it’s not intended for the Russian audience. However comical it’s target is Americans.
- The goal of this video (no matter how feeble or silly it may seem) is to specifically get Americans to vote against Democrats in 2024
And here is the takeaway. It can’t be said enough over and over and over.
The Russian Oligarchy/Putinocracy are strategic partners with the American Repulican party. They are advocates, they share some of the same goals and they have operations in sync.
It’s not a “conspiracy theory”, it’s a conspiracy. Our system is at grave threat and people don’t want to accept how deep the tentancles are.
Back in Russia, Social media producers got a task and made this laughable video. It’s one of millions of salvos that are countless to achieve the goal.
If you think that they aren’t applying every effort possible they can within and without of their country to achieve this goal you are missing the reality.
I will wrap with this. I am deeply connected to Russia through first my partner. Her family are refugees in Spain now, her babushka mother is an emotional wreck as a result of all of this and will never be the same.
But starting in 2019 I took it upon myself to learn some Russian (her family all speak Russian as do millions of Ukrainians) and the best way to do that for me was devouring Russian language content via Youtube and Russian news sources.
In this journey I learned so much about how the Russian propaganda system works — a lot of what I consumed and consume was either propanganda itself or YouTubers and podcasters who would speak about propaganda at times.
So it frustrates me that we don’t get it. We as Americans don’t actually understand the extent of what the end product of nearly a century of what is effectively Fox News without much or any competition has on a population and what scares me most is that it’s like the boiling frog. I’m the frog who jumped into the pot sitting on the stove next to ours, realized what boiling water actually is and then came back into our pot and keep hearing “Your idea about the ‘boling water thing’ is a bit over the top".
It’s not.
The American Republican party endorses the message brought to you by the babushkas below. It’s worth coming to an understanding that it’s both real, and what that really means.