The Victims-of-Their-Own-Propaganda Paradox

“They [Russians] are victims of their own propaganda. I found a formula how the Russian [propaganda] really works. First he writes some crazy theories. Then they put this on TV. Then they watch their own TV and start to believe it. It’s like a cycle. It’s like it’s real. And when we’re talking to these people [Russian government negotiators sent to Istanbul in March 2022 to negotiate Ukraine’s surrender] they really believe that we [Ukraine] is full of Nazis killing people on the streets. 150 million people living in this country [Russia] and they are watching this TV and believing this thing… my biggest argument was ‘like how, do the Nazis elect a Jewish president?’ This put them in a bad position. But they answer, ‘this is a special UK operation.’ This is obviously such a good answer for any insane thing that you need to confirm.”

Source: Book Proposal (May 2024)

Ukraine’s chief negotiator at Istanbul describes the paradox loop: write, broadcast, watch, believe. Even the negotiators tasked with ending the war could not escape the paradox-loop their own system created. The Jewish president paradox — “how do Nazis elect a Jew?” — is met with the catch-all paradox-eraser: “special military operation.”

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