Thread by @DietmarPichler1

Russian disinfo-machine works like a foxy criminal attorney, defending a gangster who did terrible crimes:

It is all about perverting the truth until people are so confused that they don't know what to believe anymore.(thread)🧵

Many of us Westerners want to believe Russian lies, cause the harsh reality of war crimes, torture and rape is too much for our calm European mind. Russian disinfo gives us an excuse not to think about it anymore, to care less, to lose empathy and to continue our normal life.

We go full #falseequivalence and #falsebalance and speak about "both parties" instead of aggressor against defender, attacker & victim...Russian disinfo gives us also a reason not to help Ukrainians, not to deliver more weapons, to justify our decision to appease the aggressor.

What I can hear more and more often are statements like:

"why should we risk our security for this country, Ukraine is not worth it" accompanied by some old fake-news story to prove the point

It is also very interesting that people have a short memory about the Kremlin's motives in Ukraine and Europe: It seems unbelievable, but I still hear the opinion that it Ukraine and the US failed on the negotiation table and it was only about NATO and Donbas...

Russian strategy did not change much since 2014: As long as they will spread dirt about Ukraine, people will constantly lose solidarity and empathy for Ukrainians.

We should ask ourselves: Why are these stories published now? What is their purpose? #victimblaming

The war is going on for months already, but I do not see any major changes in our strategy against Russian disinformation, for instance in Austria or Germany