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Comment by darebak | Hacker News Reader

Ukraine has won the narrative in the West because Western countries wanted it that way, it's actually pretty easy to do when you cut out opposing propaganda.

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It's also much easier to do when you're not the one doing the invading.

Not really, that doesn't seem to have that much bearing. I still remember Western news about Serbia during the Kosovo conflict where Serbia was doing basically what Ukraine is doing now.

Serbia was an aggressor in the Yugoslavian Wars. Ukraine is just defending from an invasion.

You really think the only reason that Ukraine won the narrative is that no one listens to Russian lies?

Mostly yes. That's certainly why the Russian narrative won in Russia and Belarus.

Propaganda/media is one of the most useful ways to steer a population, it even doesn't have to be particularly good propaganda if its voluminous and exclusive.

>> Mostly yes. That's certainly why the Russian narrative won in Russia and Belarus.

There is no more Belarus as a country. It is Russian puppet state with an appointed governor Lukashenko. Occupied by the Russian army at the moment. Those who were against are either in prisons or fled the country. The country is North Korea basically at the moment. Most of the people (~60%) hate Lukashenko and Putin.

There most certainly is a country of Belarus, just like there's the country of North Korea.

And 60% is not that much to be honest.

I didn't say the rest are pro-Russian. Many people just follow whatever they say on TV.

There was no official Russian "social media" propaganda videos of the invasion until yesterday. The whole invasion was a limited operation, you know.

It was very obvoius. They released a video of helicopter hits, high res artsy photos of destroyed armor, some dude flying a drone over a disabled UA tank zooming out to the Russian tank column and the Snake Island POWs calling home.

Yes, it was either that or the the dictator of a superpower going on live TV to read off a long prepared "Soviet Union 2.0 manifesto". I wonder which!

Let's not slander the USSR this way. Putin's speech was almost word for word the same as Hitler's Sudetenland speech

Ukraine is being invaded and will come under occupation. Ukrainians are being killed. There is no way Russian propaganda would have held any sway.

And yet when US military killed hundred thousand Iraqi civilians, much fewer people cared...

Propaganda works and CAN justify aggression in eyes of the people.

The US military killed nowhere near that many. It was mostly internecine warfare.

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