Corcyraean Appeal to Athens (427 BCE) -

When the Corcyraeans presented their case to the Athenians, they did not emphasize how Athens owed them anything.

Instead, they argued that Athens would gain honor by continuing their tradition of helping worthy allies.

So, something like this:

"Americans should be very proud of themselves for being a beacon of freedom and showing the oppressed . . .

. . . people of the Soviet Union that freedom was not only possible, but that it was stronger than Russian-style tyranny.

America has historically stood up against many of the worst crimes in history. You should be very proud of this heritage. . .

. . . on behalf of the Ukrainian people, I want to tell you firstly, thank you for all you've done, and secondly, to convince you that Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine is another attempt at genocide by Russia . . .

. . . just listen to the rhetoric of Kremlin propagandists. <read a few quotes>

Yes, we want peace. More than anyone. Believe me. But we want to make sure that our grandchildren do not suffer what we are suffering . . .

. . . we want to make sure we will get peace, and not a tactical pause which allows Russia to regroup and try again, as they did in Chechnya, Georgia, and many other times in history."

Nine Lessons of Russian Propaganda (2016)
probably my best and most insightful essay

A Look at Russian Civilization: Power, Truth, Trust, and War

Early Writing

Putin's Libertarians (Trilogy)
This was my first shocking encounter with Russian propaganda, and these three essays went from attempting to convince people, to slowly realizing that they were deliberate propagandists completely uninterested in getting to the bottom of things.

The Conflicting National Myths of Russia and Ukraine

American Thinker - Writing to US Conservatives about Russian Propaganda (post 2022)

Why the Russians Cut Off a Moscow Bombing Suspect’s Ear and Made Him Eat It

Russia's anti-Ukraine propaganda targeting the West is pervasive and mendacious

My attempt at a Youtube Channel -

The TRUE STORY of how I was probably paid $35/month to promote Russian Propaganda + my thesis about their information operations.

1 hour compilation of Russian Threats and Belligerence

Russian Propaganda Tier List

TOTAL OBLITERATION of Russia's "NATO Expansion" Propaganda

Short Essays on my New Substack

Four Points of Reference for Trump's Ukraine Comments.

Russia in the Alt-Media - Finally some stories are getting out.

Putting Russian Talking Points into Perspective

This probably gets some traction with people who have no context. Here are four points of reference which I wish MAGA supporters would consider.

1. Using threats to take things has ALWAYS been a strategy of Moscow, as well as the absence of compromise and always demanding the maximum.

Here is Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas quoting an ex-Soviet Prime minister about this strategy. It is stated as explicitly as could be stated:

2. The Russians always press for “peace” when they are losing in order to regroup and attack again later.

The cultural difference between Russia and the West is underappreciated. The West regards war as an extremely costly and last-resort way to settle problems, and thus, consistent with Trump’s speech, attempts to find peace as soon as possible. Russian propagandist know this.

In Russia's paranoid worldview, war is constant and never-ending, and people speaking about long-term peace are either naive, or, more likely, attempting to trick the Russians who will refuse to be fooled and will prepare for war anyway.

In this video, one of the Kremlin’s propaganda chiefs has a rare candid moment where he says that Russia must invade as many countries as possible if and when there is a golden era of US withdrawal.

Here is Dudayev, leader of the Chechen separatist movement, talking about how Russia always sues for peace in order to regroup:

Russia pressed for peace after losing the First Chechen War, leaving the region with some autonomy, but one suspicious apartment bombing later, they launched the Second Chechen War.

People don’t appreciate that somewhere perhaps between 10% and 15% of the Chechen population was killed in the war. Atrocities were rampant, and several Russian journalists who attempted to cover them were murdered.

3. Part of the Russian mentality views treaties and their observance as an insult, which is why Russia often breaks treaties as flagrantly as possible.

Examples abound. The DAY AFTER a grain deal was reached in Ukraine, Russia bombed the Odesa port that handles grain. The DAY AFTER a ceasefire in Syria, Russia infamously bombed numerous hospitals.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, Foreign Minister Lavrov stated that Budapest Memorandum put no restriction on Russia’s use of conventional military force in Ukraine - a flagrant and laughable lie. That is not the type of lie to say to convince people of anything. It’s the type of lie designed to intimidate and demonstrate your lack of regard.

Before the Heritage Foundation’s creepy partnership with the Danube Institute and their 180 degree pivot on Russia coverage, they had this to say about Russia:

Russia has rarely, if ever, signed an arms control treaty that it did not violate. Russia is in violation of the Helsinki Final Act, the Istanbul Commitments of 1999, the Presidential Nuclear Initiatives, an agreement to remove its military from Georgia and Moldova, the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, the Budapest Memorandum, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). Russia is possibly in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as interpreted by the United States. The U.S. should itemize, publicize, and emphasize all of these violations and refuse to negotiate additional agreements or renew previous agreements until the original Russian violations are corrected.

In Russia, treaties are an insult to the idea of an all powerful and unconstrained Czar, who is viewed as a necessary protector.

4. Where the hell are the patriots?

Russia has never stopped threatening the West (or its East, or its South). This has been true for centuries. Here are some recent statements and old observations:

Unfortunately, this brutal, imperial mentality seems to permeate large parts of Russian Society. See this hour-long compilation.

So, WHERE THE HELL ARE THE AMERICAN PATRIOTS? It would be complete coherent and patriotic to respond harshly to Russia’s constant threats and claims to the sovereign territory, not to mention their lack of gratitude for always feeding them when they are starving, and supplying them when they were invaded by the Nazis.

Instead we get, albeit indirectly, calls for appeasement, exactly playing into Russia’s century old strategy.

Why don’t these self-described patriots favorably contrast American society with Russia’s, as Regan did?

Why doesn’t Trump use his infamous capacity for ridicule to ever target the genocidal little tyrant whose propagandist who so richly deserves it. One of many ripe targets would extent to which their propaganda attempts to create an alternate reality, including the reality of Putin’s height:

Conclusion

As former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov details in his famous interviews, Moscow takes a very studied approach to their propaganda.

I’ve heard one of their tenets described as “reflex control.” They begin by identifying the reaction they want a target society of have. Usually, it’s fear. And then they make ridiculous claims to ensure they achieve that reflex. Using a nuclear-bomb-triggered tsunami to destroy Istanbul, or a nuclear bomb to set off the Yellowstone volcano are among the more explicit examples of this. The statements, though dubious, are too interesting for journalists to ignore.

Similarly, they seem to have achieved the talking points they sought among many conservatives. Instead of pointing out the unmitigated disaster for Russia’s military, and the exposure of the many lies of their arms industry, conservatives simply echo the fear propaganda, even in the face of Russia’s persistent claims to US territory, and threats to the lives of millions of Americas.

Please scroll up and watch Estonian Prime Minister Kallas’s comments again to appreciate what is happening.

The true American patriotic reaction would be to respond indignantly and harshly instead of appeasing the mad little bully.

Yesterday, two Russian nationals were indicted for funneling about $10 million to Tennessee-based Tenet Media. Tenet Media funsd popular figures in the right-leaning alt media like Tim Pool, Lauren Southern, and David Rubin.

You can look at their twitter account to see the topics they're interested in.  I think it matches the interest of many “MAGA” people.  They tweet about Candace Owens, RFK Jr., and constant "own-the-libs" content.  I'm not entirely unsympathetic to it, but I know it is deeply corrupted by Russian influence.

Elon, unsurprisingly for me, but perhaps surprisingly for you, has a long history of promoting Tenet Media.  Here's are example:

And here is another compilation of Elon's long history of promoting Tenet: 
https://x.com/rcubed2003/status/1831473593345306884

Okay, so you may be saying "so what?"  I'm sorry about what Russia is doing to Ukraine, but here they are promoting issues and people that I agree with.

No they aren't.  They are working BOTH sides of hot button issues with the goal of creating a fractured society and ideally, a civil war.  They talk about this explicitly:

By the way, Civil War seems to be one of Tim Pool's favorite talking points:

I'm pretty Conservative.  I hate media censorship.  But a lot of the alternative platforms, as well as the stars that emerged on those platforms, are Russian puppets.

I wish Conservatives would realize that (1) they are being influenced by foreign actors and (2) Russians are operating on the other side of the political issues you find important too. In much of my work, I’ve attempted to get this across, for example, here and here.

The Kremlin works hard and invests billions in keeping America divided and angry.

“Western weapons won't make any difference”

“Ukraine will collapse within 72 hours”

“Kherson is Russia forever, and Ukraine better accept reality”

“Western air defense/missiles/tanks/jets are too complicated for Ukraine”

“Ukraine's resistance will trigger WWIII”

“HIMARS will have no effect on Russian logistics”

“Ukraine cannot challenge Russia in the Black Sea”

“Russia is about to take Kharkiv”

“Russia hasn't really started anything yet, it uses barely half of its power”

“Ukraine and Europe will freeze to death without Russia”

and now….