#russian propaganda

[5soswfttwtaf]

trump says zelenskyy is in the way of peace talks when russia is freezing both kyiv and kharkiv (two biggest cities of ukraine) in -15° for weeks by bombing all the power plants and critical infrastructure like that

not one power plant is intact in Ukraine anymore because of russian shelling

people spend days or even weeks without heating, electricity, and water

this is genocide

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

Finnish children learn media literacy at 3 years old. It’s protection against Russian propaganda

Finnish children learn media literacy at 3 years old. It's protection against Russian propaganda

Finland has been fighting fake news by teaching media literacy to children as young as 3. The Nordic nation includes this in its national cu

By  JAMES BROOKSUpdated 5:17 AM AEDT, January 6, 2026

HELSINKI (AP) — The battle against fake news in Finland starts in preschool classrooms.

For decades, the Nordic nation has woven media literacy, including the ability to analyse different kinds of media and recognise disinformation, into its national curriculum for students as young as 3 years old. The coursework is part of a robust anti-misinformation program to make Finns more resistant to propaganda and false claims, especially those crossing over the 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with neighbouring Russia.

Now, teachers are tasked with adding artificial intelligence literacy to their curriculum, especially after Russia stepped up its disinformation campaign across Europe following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago. Finland’s ascension into NATO in 2023 also provoked Moscow’s ire, though Russia has repeatedly denied it interferes in the internal affairs of other countries.

“We think that having good media literacy skills is a very big civic skill,” Kiia Hakkala, a pedagogical specialist for the City of Helsinki, told The Associated Press. “It’s very important to the nation’s safety and to the safety of our democracy.”

AI literacy becoming a vital skill

At Tapanila Primary School, in a quiet neighbourhood north of Helsinki, teacher Ville Vanhanen taught a group of fourth graders how to spot fake news. As a TV screen beamed a “Fact or Fiction?” banner, student Ilo Lindgren evaluated the prompt.

“It is a little bit hard,” the 10-year-old admitted.

Vanhanen said his students have been learning about fake news and disinformation for years, beginning with reading headlines and short texts. In a recent class, the fourth graders were tasked with coming up with five things to look out for when consuming online news to ensure it’s trustworthy. Now they are moving onto AI literacy, which is quickly becoming a vital skill.

“We’ve been studying how to recognise if a picture or a video is made by AI,” added Vanhanen, a teacher and vice principal at the school.

Finnish media also play a role, organising an annual “Newspaper Week,” where papers and other news are sent to young people to consume. In 2024, Helsinki-based Helsingin Sanomat collaborated on a new “ABC Book of Media Literacy,” distributed to every 15-year-old in the country as they began upper secondary school.

“It’s really important for us to be seen as a place where you can get information that’s been verified, that you can trust, and that’s done by people you know in a transparent way,” Jussi Pullinen, the daily newspaper’s managing editor, said.

Democracy is challenged through disinformation

Media literacy has been part of the Finnish educational curriculum since the 1990s, and additional courses are available for older adults who might be especially vulnerable to misinformation.

The skills are so ingrained into the culture that the Nordic nation of 5.6 million people regularly ranks at the top of the European Media Literacy Index. The index was compiled by the Open Society Institute in Sofia, Bulgaria, between 2017 and 2023.

“I don’t think we envisioned that the world would look like this,” Finnish Education Minister Anders Adlercreutz said. “That we would be bombarded with disinformation, that our institutions are challenged — our democracy really challenged — through disinformation.”

And with the rapid advancement of AI tools, educators and experts are rushing to teach students and the rest of the public how to tell what’s fact and what’s fake news.

“It already is much harder in the information space to spot what’s real and what’s not real,” Martha Turnbull, director of hybrid influence at the Helsinki-based European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, said. “It just so happens that right now, it’s reasonably easy to spot the AI-generated fakes because the quality of them isn’t as good as it could be.”

She added: “But as that technology develops, and particularly as we move toward things like agentic AI, I think that’s when it could become much more difficult for us to spot.”

[garbage-floof]

Taking a long shot and posting this since I haven't seen anyone talk about it. Which is weird...

A Russian-developed game, "Ukrainian Warfare: Gostomel Heroes" is planned to release on Steam on the 24th of March. A "real-time strategy game" portraying the 2022 Russian invasion in Ukraine as heroic and "brilliant".

It is beyond sickening to make a game glorifying war crimes that are still happening today, despite that everyone seems to have forgotten about them. I urge everyone reading this to report the game on Steam as "Defamatory" or "Legal Violation" (Suggested reasons: Hate speech and discrimination against Ukrainians, fascist Russian propaganda, manipulation of historical facts), and at the very least reblog this post to reach more people

[wordswithoutaworld]

I saw a video by some left-leaning western guy, where he spoke in the manner of a food review blogger about “why it is hard for him to support Ukraine”. The title alone already sounded absurd, as if Ukraine were some kind of football club or TV show. And yet, all of his points were about Palestine and Israel.

I wanted to talk about this, because posts like this are not new or rare. They have existed for a long time and have already turned into real political views that affect Ukraine, cause this type of leftist tends to see any genocide or war happening in the world right now only through this lens.

Comparing tragedies

Beyond that, such people often try to prevent Ukrainians from calling Russia’s actions genocide. For them, forced russification as the destruction of identity, the kidnapping of children, mass graves, and torture of both civilians and soldiers do not qualify as genocide, because, as they say:

Ukrainians and Russians are one people, or at least very similar — so what value does Ukrainian identity even have?

There is genocide in Palestine, so Russians probably cannot be committing one as well — as if there were some quota for genocides in the world, and all genocidal actions must be interpreted through the Israel–Palestine framework.

The first point can partly be explained by the fact that many such leftists have a soft spot for Russia as the “successor” of the Soviet Union (the fact that there were 14 other republics is treated as a detail), which they see as opposing the main evil of the world — the United States.

For them, the Holodomor was not a planned genocide either, which makes it even easier to frame Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a conflict between two empires on the territory of a colony (Ukraine), where “underdeveloped” Ukrainians are not educated enough to understand this.

This perspective not only reveals imperial thinking — just shifting depending on which “great power” one supports — but also a complete lack of knowledge about Ukrainian history. Moreover, similar imperial views existed among Russian communists themselves, so for Ukrainians this “coincidence” is not surprising.

Returning to the obsession with counting victims, these people fail to understand that what is happening in Ukraine is a different type of genocide—one taking place against a modern European state with its own army, statehood, and economy.

Ukraine is also the largest country fully located in Europe (Russia is larger, but partly in Asia).

I understand that for those who only heard about Ukraine after 2022, the country comes as something of a surprise—that it even exists—and based on this, instead of understanding that Ukraine’s attempts to represent itself internationally and to decolonize have long been perceived by Russia as a direct threat, to which we can already see how it responds (not to mention that Russia has continuously influenced Ukraine politically and through propaganda even after the collapse of the USSR), they simply assume that Ukraine is a “third world” country (a term that is problematic and, in general, awful in itself) and that this is precisely why they had heard so little about it before, or only in a negative light.

Therefore, in their view, genocide there must look like what they imagine in such countries.

And if it does not, then it is not genocide. Sometimes this even leads to claims that Russia is “careful”, “kind” and only strikes military targets while following the rules of war.

Because of this, under posts by English-language Ukrainian media or international news about deaths in Ukraine, you can often see comments like: “It’s worse in Palestine”, “What about Palestine?”, and so on. At the same time, Ukraine is blamed for choosing the “wrong path”.

Antisemitism in a new form

I would never have believed that antisemitism could affect not only Ukrainian Jews but Ukrainians in general. But just as the Soviet Union portrayed Ukrainian nationalists (which often meant anyone who wanted to preserve Ukrainian identity and statehood) and Jews as enemies working together, history seems to be rhyming again.

Under posts about Ukraine on social media, one can often see comments like these:

Where the main line of reasoning is that jews have taken power in Ukraine.

At the same time, Ukrainian jews are not even seen as existing—there are only “those same” jews, who supposedly have no real connection to Ukraine, yet somehow appeared there.

This may seem like a right-wing narrative, but it is also adopted by some leftists, who combine it with older views that Ukraine is a colony controlled from the outside.

At the same time, Ukrainians are portrayed as nazis who, without resistance, cooperate with these same jews and fight against “other whites” reducing it to a war of whites against whites.

War against colonization

Continuing this idea, many leftists of this type fail to see Ukraine’s struggle against Russia as a form of anti-colonial resistance, despite the fact that it clearly has all the characteristics of one and is not limited to the current invasion alone.

In reality, much of Ukraine’s history with Russia revolves around this dynamic.

Beyond what has already been mentioned, there are also facts such as Russia resettling its own citizens into the homes of Ukrainians in occupied territories, while those who remained could not even bury their relatives without obtaining Russian passports. Russian soldiers went door to door pressuring people to accept Russian citizenship, so that later it could be claimed that there is no Ukrainian population left—that these are “historically” Russian lands.

For many of these leftists, all white European nations are seen as having a colonial past.

Therefore, in the case of Israel–Palestine, where they believe it is easier to apply a framework that also includes race, Ukraine–Russia becomes harder to interpret and is reduced to a conflict between two equally privileged groups.

Because of this, I have heard multiple stories from Ukrainians who attended international discussions on decolonization and related topics, where activists would openly argue that Ukraine does not belong there, or say similar things in private conversations—effectively pushing Ukrainians out of such spaces.

As a result, Ukrainians often find understanding mainly among those who have had direct historical experience with Russia, while at the same time not being active participants in Western decolonial movements (with the exception of active support for the Iranian people against the Iranian government, but this is still a different case).

This leads to misunderstandings between Ukrainians and this type of leftist movement.

Many Ukrainians have noticed that even numerous left-leaning organizations either failed to take a pro-Ukrainian stance, or shifted to calls for “immediate peace” where no one is to blame except politicians, or simply stopped talking about Ukraine once it was no longer a trend.

Some even openly repeat Russian narratives framed as resistance to a dominant West claiming—after absorbing such propaganda—that Ukraine blindly admires America, rather than recognizing that Ukrainians have no illusions about either country’s history or present actions, and cooperate with the United States largely because it once guaranteed Ukraine’s security in exchange for giving up its own means of self-defense. Even this is often interpreted through an imperial lens, where Russia is seen as having “allies” (such as North Korea, Belarus, or the Iranian government), while Ukraine is portrayed as having only “masters”.

At the same time, these movements demand that Ukrainians actively participate in pro-Palestinian activism and maintain a kind of moral “purity” in every action—despite everything described above.

In other words, there is not even a real dialogue between Ukrainians and Palestinians where shared experiences could be understood. Instead, the entire discourse takes place between Ukrainians and Europeans and Americans, who consider themselves to be speaking on behalf of Palestinians and—importantly—have the privilege of political influence over Ukrainians’ lives, a privilege that Ukrainians do not have in return over them.

These dynamics are further complicated by Russian propaganda, which is highly effective at adapting to different political audiences.

For example, it is rarely mentioned that Ukraine delivered 1,000 tons of wheat flour to Palestine as humanitarian aid while being at war itself. Instead, statements by President Zelenskyy are selectively quoted—such as “Ukraine will become like Israel”—without the full context, where he spoke about strengthening defense while preserving Ukrainian identity and style, not about literally becoming Israel, and also mentioned other countries. Most importantly, that statement was made even before October 7.

While the history of Israel and Palestine goes back much further, many of the same people only heard about Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and did not study its history, or even recall the events starting in 2014. Nor do they mention that Ukraine recognizes Palestine as a separate state.

In the end, this results in comments like one I saw under that video, where a girl wrote that Ukrainians “barely post about Palestine” and only talk about Ukraine—even those who fled as refugees. There were also remarks that countries bordering Russia care too much about Ukraine and not enough about Palestine.

So this is what I want some people to finally understand:

Ukrainians exist and are fighting for their survival outside the context of Israel–Palestine—we are not like either of those countries; we are ourselves.

Whatever the outcome of relations between those two countries may be, it will not stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

And please, do not demand from Ukrainians a level of moral purity where, even while dying or protecting our loved ones, we are expected to think about someone else and take on a more active role in fighting for others than even people who are not living through any war.

[cheapnwild]

Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, under an ICC arrest warrant, openly described how she abducted a boy from Mariupol, forced him to stay in Russia, and broke his worldview.

She recounts how Philip sang Ukrainian songs, said he loved Ukraine, and didn’t want to live in Russia. Then she boasts about how she “gradually changed his attitude,” and now he “doesn’t want to return to Ukraine.”

It is a confession of a crime and clear evidence of the Kremlin’s systematic and cynical policy to destroy Ukrainian identity and erase a nation.

original post

bring kids back

[karparik]

I rarely ask for anything, but we (Ukrainians) need help! Please send complaints about this game from Russian Nazis. It should be completely removed, not just blocked in Ukraine and think we are blind!

A sample of what a complaint should contain:

The game was blocked ONLY in Ukraine, thinking that Ukrainians are blind. But we must achieve the complete removal of Russian crap from Steam!

[yellowcry]

I genuinely hate how russians are treated as innocent by half of the word. Once, I remember how someone said that even russians that ARE in favour of the war aren't to blame. Because 'they are poor babies that are brainwashed by propaganda'. Like listen, I grew in annexation since I was 8. And after that happened I had to constantly listen to how 'Great russia is' and 'how wonderful it is that they returned Crimea thank you putin'. From every corner

And SOMEHOW by the age of 12, I looked around and said "Hold up, this was actually illegal". Sure, I didn't understand the full picture of all russian atrocities, I barely even knew what was going on behind the facade. But being a fucking preteen I managed to figure out that you don't just take come and rip a part of another country??

But noo... apparently it's so hard to understand. Poor russians, someone, teach them😫/sark

[fuck-u-maga]