Between Shit and Honor

The two poles of Russian self-conception and the fight for Ukraine

“Vintage Gun Dueling Pistol Weapons Edited 2020” by patwilson687 is marked with CC BY 2.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse

On the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I find myself wondering what could possibly make the largest country in the world change course. What could we possibly do to puncture the bubble of Russian self-delusion? How could we help Russians to understand that the present aggression does not in any way resemble the psychological terrain of World War II. That Bakhmut is not Stalingrad.

Trying to get Russians to think differently isn’t new to me. In the 1990s I ran a training program that sought to teach Russian journalists the basics of objective reporting. For a while it worked. At one point there were over 300 independent local television stations doing news all over the former Soviet Union. Now, all of them have been either shuttered or co-opted into mouthpieces for the Kremlin.

Russians now find themselves with respect to Ukraine, psychologically, between chest’ and chmo — between honor and abasement

So now I spitball alternative approaches. What about dropping 100,000 iPhones on Russian troops with satellite access that will allow soldiers the ability to see unfiltered news and perhaps even a way to dial home to…