I find the March 2023 article in Wired on the Telegram short messaging system by Darren Loucaides puzzling. Either the author is utterly unself-aware and/or he views his readers as not very intelligent. I like to believe the average Wired reader is generally more sophisticated than the general American public when it comes to looking beyond the obvious wartime propaganda that is constantly being spewed 7/24 by all elements of the mainstream media and big tech. This article, at the very least, is a classic case of mirroring. Everything he accuses Telegram of doing our own government in collaboration with big tech has been doing for years. As the Twitter files has uncovered, there is a whole archipelago, an alphabet soup of agencies combing though our Tweets and other communications Aside from just banning individuals who harbor possible “wrong thinking” does the author not believe the FBI wouldn’t knock on the door of someone they found on social media and considered “dangerous”?
The crux of the matter is found in the middle of the article:
“Telegram now is the central backbone for Russian disinformation machinery,” says Janis Sarts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence (read propaganda bureau). “It’s also the way they overcome all the roadblocks built by Western platforms”.
In other words, the existence of Telegram prevents a total blackout of the Russian narrative. This should cause the author some ethical concerns. If one side of a narrative is completely blocked how can any rational person be sure that the propaganda they hear from one side only represents reality? Sure, I understand he wants to do everything to help his “side” succeed, but as anyone with a single brain cell knows, “truth is the first casualty in war”. Many, many times governments lie about the origin of a conflict, who benefits, and progress in the conflict.
Who remembers “The Ghost of Kiev”? Shot down six Russian fighters in the opening days of the war. Then the number jumped to almost 40! The story was spread in the MSM and social media without a shred of fact checking or simply resorting to common sense. When later the story turned out to be a total fabrication no one appeared to be chagrined for being taken as a fool. The narrative simply switched to what a great piece of information ops this was. If it gave the Ukrainians a bit of hope and pride that was a good thing in the eyes of the Mainstream Media. At the same time however, the incident destroyed whatever small bit of credibility their reporting still had. Abstract truth was irrelevant. But that means we really don’t have any idea what is really happening.
I’ll start with the obvious. It’s very difficult to get news about the war in Ukraine from a Russian perspective. Big tech’s iron grip on most of social media and the news it carries means that Russian news sources have been purged from the Internet. So where is a good place to look and what will you find?
The most important source is Telegram if only because it isn’t controlled by US based tech companies that are quite happy to toe the US/NATO/Ukrainian narrative of what is happening. Another source is the Indian web site defenceview.in which offers a very detailed look at the armed forces of both sides. Having no dog in the fight, it appears to be not biased towards either side. There are scattered videos on YouTube which slip through censorship and offer unbiased (as far as I can deduce) information. I just saw a briefing by an Austrian military spokesman which seemed balanced. These videos are hard to find so keep looking.
What does the Russian side look like? To an extent it mirrors the narrative of the Western side showing endless destroyed enemy fighting vehicles, tanks, artillery, and aircraft. It shows many small unit engagements and dialogs with captured Ukrainian soldiers who, not unsurprisingly (for prisoners) criticize their leadership, bemoan lack of ammunition, and desire for the war to end. Just as the Western news sources (read propaganda) also focus on. This is exactly what you would expect.
What news did I glean from watching this? Several things
There has been a wasteful transfer of weapons from NATO and other Western allies to Ukraine. The Russians have captured Javelin and other anti-tank weapons by the truckload. Every overrun Ukrainian position feature heaps of these weapons scattered all around and other small arms seeming beyond the capability of small units to use. (although of late this seems to be tapering off)
Weapons from all over the West are in active use not just from NATO countries but as far away as Australia. How they are going to service them in terms of spare parts and ammunition for this hodgepodge of equipment remains to be seen.
A real eye opener was the very prominent part Chechen forces are playing in the war. It is really strange to hear cries of “Allah Akbar” from the “Russian” troops as they destroy another Ukrainian position. The Russians are not hiding this participation rather they seem to be highlighting it.
The almost total absence of mainline Russian troops. Where are the 300,000 reservists that were called up? The Wagner group seems to be doing most of grinding close quarter combat.
Most importantly, the Russian viewpoint balances the perception in the West that most of the destruction to date has been to the Ukrainian side. It is also apparent that the Ukrainians are showing no hesitation in shelling the civilian side of Russian held territory in Donetsk, Donbas and elsewhere. Pictures of dead Russian civilians apparently have been banned.
The exuberant move of arrows on maps showing grand sweeps by the Russian side have disappeared. Even their propaganda can not hide the drift towards stalemate.
My advice to the reader and seeker of truth is to use simple common sense. Do not ever take one side’s reporting in a war that both sides see as existential. Work hard to find opposing and neutral points of view. Add up all the pieces and make your own opinion.