Perennial Trolls: Characters That Won’t Die

Think of ‘Istanbul peace talks’ like a character in your favourite film or folktale, and you get closer to understanding Duncey Putin’s love of that linguistic formula. Russia planted a story in the Financial Times suggesting Ukraine would agree to such preposterous surrender terms, it was obviously a troll. Then like any self-respecting perennial troll, the Disinfolklore character ‘Istanbul Peace Talks’ has popped up again and again in Russian Disinfolklore and Duncey Putin’s rhetorical obsessions.

Source: Learning to See Abstract Concepts

Putin has fallen in love with his own troll.

Source: Learning to See Abstract Concepts

A perennial troll is a Disinfolklore character that recurs without development. “Istanbul Peace Talks” is one. It was never a peace proposal — it was a troll born in March 2022 that Russia revives whenever it needs to blame Ukraine for the war it started.

← Previous: Stock Characters as Bogeymen | Back to Tool 1: Archetypal Disinfolklore Literacy | Next: Druidey Don, Duncey Putin, The Comedian →