War propaganda - good and bad
Military propaganda is one of the important types of support for combat operations, it is aimed at maintaining the population and personnel of faith in the strength of their country and the capabilities of the Armed Forces, in the ability of the military-political leadership and commanders of units and formations to achieve victory over the enemy.
This is definitely a necessary activity. And it must be. If there is no propaganda of its own, then there will be propaganda on the part of the enemy, which may turn out to be corrupting even for a victorious army and demoralizing for the population in conditions when there are no objective reasons for demoralization.
However, this is all true with a few caveats.
First, propaganda should not instill in people exaggerated ideas about our capabilities.
Second, propaganda should not portray the enemy as weaker than he is - under no circumstances.
Thirdly, the customers of propaganda (in the Russian Federation it is the Ministry of Defense) should never, under any circumstances, believe in it themselves and substitute propaganda efforts for real military development.
All these reservations arose for a reason - they are the result of the negative experience of the past, mistakes that were previously made and cost very, very expensive.
Unfortunately, Russian military propaganda is carried out without taking into account both of these clauses, and this has already become chronic. This approach is potentially fraught with big problems for our country. Let us examine the issue related to military propaganda in the Russian Federation in more detail.
The structure of military propaganda bodies in the Russian Federation
In our country, the propaganda system is multilevel.
The highest, highest level of it is the statements of authoritative politicians who do not leave any individual in the street any doubts about our omnipotence. For example, the multiple statements of V.V. Putin that now that we have hypersonic weapon, everyone else can only catch up. At the same time, the fact that no, even the most effective weapon can reduce the military threat to zero, remains behind the scenes, for which there are many examples in history.
Continuous work starts at a lower level, and leads it Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation - DIMK MO.
The head of DIMK MO is Major General I.E. Konashenkov.
With the outbreak of the war in Syria, everyone saw how this structure provides information on behalf of the Ministry of Defense - the coverage of the Syrian events was, although not ideal, but quite high quality. I must say that mistakes in the activities of DIMK MO, when its employees themselves publish information, do happen, but they are not regular.
A recent example is lighting of the sea part of the command and control squadron "Caucasus-2020", where DIMK MO completely disgraced himself (reference to shame). But, and there are a lot of positive moments in their work when they publish something on behalf of the RF Ministry of Defense. There are still more of them than failures. Nevertheless, there is already something to criticize for.
However, the publication of various materials by DIMK MO itself is one story, but the work of the press is another. A huge number of private publications work "on the field" of military propaganda, collecting attendance, user traffic and gaining popularity among ordinary people.
These non-state, private "players" form the third, penultimate level of propaganda in our country. And this is where the "quiet horror" occurs - the work is completely contrary to those fundamental reservations that were listed above. Here is just one of many examples.
Izvestia: Hour "Bykov": the robot ship has successfully completed the Arctic voyage.
The patrol ship (PC) "Vasily Bykov" has completed a test cycle in the Arctic. During the campaign, various weapons and life support systems of the newest corvette were tested. Although it was previously believed that the patrol ships of Project 22160 are not very suitable for the Arctic, "Bykov" coped with all the tasks. This means that, if necessary, these corvettes can be sent to the northern seas to counter submarines. On navy they are called "ships"robots».
The ship spent almost two months in the polar latitudes. After that, it became clear that, if necessary, the patrol ships of Project 22160 could be sent to the northern seas to counter submarines, the former chief of the main headquarters of the Navy, Admiral Valentin Selivanov, told Izvestia.
“It was the container systems that were tested during the campaign to the North,” says military historian Dmitry Boltenkov.
“First of all, we tested containers with missile systems,” he explained to Izvestia. - But after the launches, it is possible that they were replaced by modules with other equipment. In general, the White Sea is best suited for conducting rocket launches, there is a well-equipped range for this. In addition to weapons, we tested all the systems of the ship - we watched how life support systems, air conditioning and others behave in difficult climatic conditions.
Now they are actively testing new modules - both with weapons and with various auxiliary equipment. Among them are anti-aircraft complexes "Redut" and "Pantsir-M" in sea performance. "
“First of all, we tested containers with missile systems,” he explained to Izvestia. - But after the launches, it is possible that they were replaced by modules with other equipment. In general, the White Sea is best suited for conducting rocket launches, there is a well-equipped range for this. In addition to weapons, we tested all the systems of the ship - we watched how life support systems, air conditioning and others behave in difficult climatic conditions.
Now they are actively testing new modules - both with weapons and with various auxiliary equipment. Among them are anti-aircraft complexes "Redut" and "Pantsir-M" in sea performance. "
In the real world, no container weapons exist, the design of the container deck of launch loads may not withstand, in order to launch a rocket from a TPK standing by a "candle", absolute calm and zero pitching are needed, this ship does not have systems for obtaining a control center, with any submarines cannot fight due to the absence of both hydroacoustic weapons and anti-submarine weapons, as well as low speed (it will always be late with a change in the search area), and it does not have a cellar for a helicopter aviation means of destruction, that is, there is nowhere to store depth charges and torpedoes, the helicopter can only be on board without weapons. This miracle of technology does not correspond to military requirements for survivability, which in all seriousness allows the Navy to define it as "non-combat", despite the presence of a three-inch cannon. Appreciate, as they say, the difference between propaganda and reality.
Hundreds of such enthusiastic articles that do not have a single point of contact with reality create the very, extremely exaggerated idea of the capabilities of the RF Armed Forces, which are actually absent. Just for the sake of formality - Rossiyskaya Gazeta (a state-owned media outlet!) Writes that MRK "Karakurt" can "disable the aircraft carrier", keeping silent about how much should coincide for the MRK to be at the range of a salvo from the aircraft carrier, and would not be destroyed at the same time, and on the way of its missiles there would not be a single missile ship capable of protecting the aircraft carrier. Comments are simply unnecessary here. At the same time, in the Navy, no one in their right mind would ever say that, here the press distinguished itself.
This is superimposed on the effect of "fakes" such as the mass dismissal of sailors from the US Navy destroyer "Donald Cook", allegedly frightened by Russian electronic warfare systems, or the inability of the American infantry to fight without diapers. And now in the mass consciousness there appears an idea of the enemy as a bunch of dullards, for the fight against which one does not even need to strain, he, in general, will run away from the battlefield himself, one does not need to train or worry about anything.
Even the military-bureaucratic factor is included in the action - if the people applaud our military power, if the enemy at all levels is assessed as inept and not dangerous, then the military leaders, for various reasons, have lost awareness of the importance of their work and refer to the service as a sinecure. the opportunity to report to the political leadership that it seems like everyone knows, to get some kind of encouragement, and as a result - instead of full-fledged military organizational development, limit ourselves to pumping propaganda.
At the very bottom of the propaganda pyramid are the jingoistic patriots themselves. Not being capable of critical thinking and understanding that their ideas about reality may differ from it, these people, communicating in various forums and online platforms, create for themselves a psychologically comfortable information environment, in which we have only a couple of days left before the storming of Washington. This is how public opinion is formed, which, alas, is sometimes the starting point for high-ranking leaders when making decisions.
Then it turns out that the enemy is not at all what they thought about him, and his capabilities are not at all what they thought about them, but it will be too late.
What is DIMK MO's fault here? The fact that in its work it does not give the society a real picture. Advocacy may well be successful, even if it does not hide flaws, you just need to be able to do it. Moreover, such propaganda, while increasing people's confidence in the military institutions of society, at the same time forms in their midst a demand for changes for the better, which then influences both political decisions and the military development itself. The tasks of DIMK MO is not only propaganda, it is the entire spectrum of information support for the Ministry of Defense and the formation of a healthy and useful information policy for the Defense Ministry, of which propaganda efforts are a part.
Competent propaganda enhances military power in reality, not virtually.
And the illiterate - see our harsh realities.
And we have not yet touched on such an issue as rumors about the links between DIMK MO and the non-state press, which is mainly responsible for the production of "hurray-patriots". We will not point the finger at the structure of the Ministry of Defense, we will only say that if the rumors about the "nurturing" of both the aforementioned and other, unnamed private publications from the DIMK MO are confirmed, this will mean that the Department's employees are de facto working to deteriorate the defense Russia, albeit unintentionally. Although this, of course, requires verification, we will not say anything like that.
There is one more structure that bears some responsibility - the revived political administration. But their influence is still very specific, and we will not touch this topic. While.
Now consider how misguided propaganda strikes at a country's military capabilities.
Examples of disasters
One of the most striking examples of how military propaganda harmed Russia as a result of its divergence with reality is the Russian-Japanese war. Today it's no secret to anyone that the largely unfavorable course of hostilities and the first defeats in this war spurred revolutionary sentiments in Russia, although they were not their primary cause. To a large extent, the fatal course of events in our history that followed later was due precisely to this defeat.
The 1902 show is "PR" in our current understanding, an analogue of the Main Naval Parade. A propaganda event of the Russian Imperial Navy.
The reality is somewhat later in Port Arthur.
Alas, in those years it was only possible to adequately assess all the risks in a professional environment, but even there it was very difficult. The results are known. But if then both the enemy and the conditions in which one would have to fight had been adequately assessed in advance, then everything could have been different.
But the combination of the numerical superiority of the Russian army and navy over the Japanese, together with the mood prevailing in society, made an adequate assessment of the state of affairs impossible at any level.
Now let's take a fresh example - the Karabakh war. Few people know about this, but Armenia is incredibly similar to Russia in its military propaganda and its consequences (although there are differences.
From recent interview of Armenian politician Andrias Ghukasyan to Novaya Gazeta:
In 2008, I happened to visit one of the military units in Artsakh, in the Martakert fortified area.
I was shocked: there was not the line of defense that we were told about: it was supposedly very powerful and almost insurmountable.
- What did you see instead of her?
- There were no serious fortifications along the entire almost XNUMX-kilometer length of the line from the Araks River to the Mrava mountain range. Trenches were simply dug, there were dugouts and firing points, which were very clearly visible, not only from the air, but even from the ground - from both sides. Even then, this could not but cause concern. I periodically returned to this topic, but it was then impossible to promote it in Armenia.
- Почему?
— There was a tenacious myth about an invincible army, to criticize the army is to pour water on the enemy's mill, such thoughts only defeatists can speak. So it was believed.
I was shocked: there was not the line of defense that we were told about: it was supposedly very powerful and almost insurmountable.
- What did you see instead of her?
- There were no serious fortifications along the entire almost XNUMX-kilometer length of the line from the Araks River to the Mrava mountain range. Trenches were simply dug, there were dugouts and firing points, which were very clearly visible, not only from the air, but even from the ground - from both sides. Even then, this could not but cause concern. I periodically returned to this topic, but it was then impossible to promote it in Armenia.
- Почему?
— There was a tenacious myth about an invincible army, to criticize the army is to pour water on the enemy's mill, such thoughts only defeatists can speak. So it was believed.
Self-deception of the Armenian society had irreversible consequences for it. But this, by and large, is their fault and their problems.
Examples of good propaganda
It is worth paying attention to positive examples of our propaganda, they exist. For example, this flyer:
Is it what she tunes (how it happened) a soldier of the Soviet Army? The fact that he will have to deal with a high-class, morale and ready to fight for his cause, a trained assassin.
Let us ask ourselves a question - if we assume that these leaflets influenced the attitude of fighters to combat training, then wouldn't it be better to write in them that NATO members do not fight without Coca-Cola? Wouldn't it be better to be like the modern "hurray-patriots" who are sure that Americans do not fight without diapers? And if so, how would such propaganda then affect the desire of soldiers to master their military specialties: for the better, or for the worse? Wouldn't it have happened: the soldiers would have said to themselves, "Oh well, what's the point of learning to fight, we knock these spitting off their feet, we won't even have to send cartridges into the chamber"? Would that be good for the country?
What would happen if the promoted fighters in this way met with real (and not imaginary) NATO soldiers?
Alas, letting the activities of the near-war press take its course, DIMK MO directed our propaganda in a very bad way.
You should not blame the Department for this indiscriminately - they, like all military men, are servants. But it would be worthwhile to pose a question to the leadership about the correspondence of the direction of propaganda to the real state of affairs and how the divergence between them could end.
And, of course, it would be worth not to make mistakes ourselves - in the end, you can simply not talk about problematic moments, in extreme cases. Well, there are no sea mines or minesweepers in nature. No, that's all, it doesn't exist. And then those interested would have turned to the materials of specialists and would have understood something from them. And so they jump and clap their hands, sincerely believing that everything is fine with us. And here in mine action - like the Armenians in the air defense, if not worse ...
As a final illustration, we will give an example of a high-quality advertising and propaganda product, though not ours, but Chinese. The video below was ordered by AVIC, a China Aircraft Corporation. And he was filming "about" the first Chinese flights from the deck of an aircraft carrier. What's so interesting? And the fact that, promoting their achievements (from sewing sneakers to aircraft carriers), the Chinese are not lying about anything.
They do not call their "Varyag-Liaoning" "the killer of the Nimitz", they do not lie about the fact that America is looking in fear at the new Chinese aircraft carrier (and she looked then, though the fear was not of that aircraft carrier, but of future new ones - he is now is), they do not lie at all and show strictly the truth - the first step has been taken, all achievements are still ahead, but we are moving forward. In the meantime, five pilots and several planes, and a ship built in the USSR, not ours, and there is nothing else yet, but we are working on a sequel.
At the same time, proof of work - in the form of brand new "flying sharks" and deck crews organized according to the American model were presented. Here's what happened in the end.
Looking at this, one must understand that at that moment China simply did not have carrier-based aircraft, and was nothing in this regard, even against the background of Russia. Now they already have two fully equipped and trained carrier-based air groups and two aircraft carriers, then they had only ambitions - well, they beat them.
Then the Chinese propaganda was able to "kindle hearts" and not lie about anything. Had a war happened then, in which the Liaoning, unprepared for combat use, would have been lost, not a single person in China with a minimum of common sense would have any complaints about the leadership that they told him that there was an aircraft carrier, and his no fact.
Because even in this video it is clear that there is actually no aircraft carrier, it was not hidden. But it seemed that work was going on. A video about the fact that the aircraft carrier is not yet, but it is almost there. And it was so.
Inspirational propaganda without lies and omissions in its purest form. Will we ever learn to do the same?
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