Vladimir Putin has a name for the West. He calls it an “empire of lies”.
The Russian leader peppered the announcement about the launch of his "special military operation" in Ukraine with an angry reminder of Western duplicity in Kosovo, Iraq, Libya and beyond. Putin's anger is genuine. As political analyst Ivan Krastev notes: "He became obsessed with the hypocrisy of the West." However, hypocrisy and lies are not the same. The difference may seem semantic, even insignificant - but it is nevertheless important.
The Russian government specializes in explicit lies, repeatedly insisting that it did not invade Ukraine, that it did not poison opposition leader Alexei Navalny, that it had nothing to do with the downing of MH17, and that its military did not commit war crimes.
On the other hand, the United States and its allies specialize in hypocrisy.
A characteristic vice of the West is to proclaim some ideal or policy and then inconsistently apply it. Thus, Western countries declare themselves defenders of human rights, but compete to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. They are for state sovereignty, but the USA, Great Britain and France supported the humanitarian intervention in Libya, which directly, and perhaps intentionally, led to the change of regime and the violent death of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Western countries claim to be firmly opposed to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, but make exceptions in the cases of Israel and India, though not Iran. The West is an “empire of hypocrisy”.
It is actually Russia that is the "empire of lies". And when there is a clash of forces between systems, hypocrisy works more effectively than lies. In the empire of hypocrisy, open debate and criticism are still possible. Mistakes and crimes happen. However, these crimes can be pointed out - either through official investigations or in the free media.
A characteristic vice of the West is to proclaim some ideal or policy and then inconsistently apply it.
The New York Times recently won a Pulitzer Prize for its exhaustive investigation into America's drone warfare and its appalling toll in civilian casualties. Pentragon responded by thanking the paper and promising change. Just more hypocrisy? Possibly - but there would be no possibility of reform without investigation and exposure.
No one in Russia will win any awards for investigating the war crimes committed in Bucha or the destruction of Mariupol. Any journalist brave enough to attempt such a thing would end up in jail or dead.
Instead, the Russian government is spewing lies - such as the claim that the corpses with their hands tied on the streets of Bucha were placed by Ukrainians. A society that can face painful truths is not only morally preferable. It is also more efficient.
The empire of lies rests on a state of constant cognitive dissonance.
There are some areas of social life under repressive systems where it is necessary to tell the truth: When does the train leave? Do I have cancer?
There are other areas where it is crucial to hide the truth: Are these elections rigged? How many Russians died in Ukraine?
Problems arise when politics requires a lie, but a functioning society requires the truth. The socially corrosive effects of lying are encapsulated in a famous Soviet saying: we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us”.
The danger of basing politics on lies has been amply demonstrated in Ukraine. Until the last moment, the Kremlin denied that it was planning an invasion. Even senior Russian officials seem to have learned the truth hours before the tanks rolled out.
Even now, a general war must be called a "special military operation".
However, Putin and Russia are now paying a high price for the lies the Kremlin has told the world and itself. It seems that the head of the Ukrainian government is not drugged neo-Nazis. The people in eastern Ukraine were not desperately waiting for the Russian army to "liberate" them.
The socially corrosive effects of lying are encapsulated in a famous Soviet saying: we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us
Putin's dreams of a quick victory came crashing down when he encountered reality.
However, even the West cannot boast of its ability to resist the policy of big lies. The invasion of Iraq was justified by the false claim that Saddam Hussein's regime was developing weapons of mass destruction. It seems the US has convinced itself that this is true. The director of the CIA is known to have told then-President George Bush that evidence of weapons of mass destruction was "a done deal." Political pressure to justify the invasion helped create a false narrative - with disastrous consequences.
Even more serious is that Donald Trump has introduced the policy of the "big lie" into the very heart of American domestic politics. Trump continues to insist that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Much of the Republican Party supports that lie. And Trump seems ready to run for president again in 2024, and he has a good chance of winning.
The clearest difference between the Russian empire of lies and the American empire of hypocrisy is often found not so much in their behavior outside their borders, but in the domestic systems they defend. Putin's system rests more than ever on lies and repression. The USA is still a free country. Freedom of speech is so entrenched in America that even a re-elected Trump could not insist - as Putin does - that every citizen of his country must accept his lie or face jail time.
However, if the politics of the big lie were to pour out of the White House again, it would degrade America and threaten the world.
The article is taken from "Financial Times"
Translation: N. Bogetić
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