The war propaganda is in full swing
Delusional – “Ready for war against Russia” (Part 3)
by Robert Seidel*
(29 August 2025) In February 2025, Europe officially set its course for “war” against Russia. Leading the way are EU politicians and the governments of Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the Baltic states. Now, a barrage of manipulation and propaganda is pouring out of official bodies, cross-financed NGOs and the mainstream media across almost the whole of Europe – very sharply in the Baltic states, Germany and the United Kingdom, sharply in Denmark and Sweden, more moderately in Switzerland and less strongly in Hungary.
(Picture Wikipedia)
Over the past 100 years, the repertoire of war propaganda has been considerably expanded, making it possible to manipulate democracies into wars. For 20 years, the image of Russia as an enemy has been deliberately reactivated. The techniques and processes of PR campaigns were described in the first two articles.1,2 The following section deals with their implementation.
In order to make the population in Europe mentally “ready for war” against Russia, the goal has long been to portray the Russian population (it could also be any other) and its leaders as “stupid”, “corrupt”, “rotten”, “deceitful”, “evil”, etc. In recent years, they have been constantly accused of having bad intentions. Political events involving Russia are interpreted negatively and hostile. This phase of war propaganda began around 2004. To this end, the usual repertoire of propaganda techniques was deployed: creating identification patterns (good – evil), generating an opinion conformity, building up fears, etc. (see part 2).2 The stigmatisation (“evil Russians”) is constantly kept alive with new “evidence”. – Basically, a psychotic perception filter is created: every action of the other side is filtered negatively. In this way, a hostile atmosphere has been systematically created in Europe. This has led to the implementation of the “evil Russians” narrative, which is constantly being reactivated. As soon as a PR campaign is suspended – for example, because the political wind has changed – an “enemy” can quickly become a normal person again. But just as quickly, prejudices and resentments can be reactivated.
“The Russians are at Potsdam’s gates”
The West never seriously pursued peace efforts worthy of the name, as the admissions of François Hollande and Angela Merkel regarding the internationally binding Minsk agreements made clear. Boris Johnson’s torpedoing of the 2022 Istanbul peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia confirmed this line.
Since the change of government in Germany in February 2025, leading politicians and military leaders have been stirring up sentiments against Russia with unprecedented vehemence. In Germany, the impression is being created that the Russian army is on the verge of a military attack on Europe, or rather the Federal Republic of Germany, while at the same time the US intelligence services are stating that the Russian government has no intention of attacking the European NATO states and that the Russian army is not in a position to do so.
(Picture Plakate der Bundeswehr)
If you don’t howl with the wolves...
Nevertheless, moral inhibitions are falling, not only among the well-known German agitators, but also among government officials such as Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and his Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD). Incendiary and often false statements are accepted unquestioningly by the mainstream media. The mood is polarised. Anyone who does not howl with the wolves is now suspected in some quarters of “working for Putin”. Any public discussion about the sense or nonsense of the current war policy is thus nipped in the bud. A fearful, fatalistic mood prevails, with many reacting with resignation, which is perhaps also the intention.
War propaganda can only be maintained as long as it does not allow other views to be given equal weight. The fact that a majority still rejects the preparations for war is hardly reflected in the published opinion.
The war lies
What could come next? The enemy image has been created; the mood is heated. A “trigger event” is the catalyst for military escalation. It initiates a propaganda shift and serves as moral justification for military action, which is then sold as “defence” or “retaliation”. Examples include “false flag operations” such as the fabricated incident in the Gulf of Tonkin (in August 1964, Vietnamese forces allegedly attacked a US warship, prompting the US to bomb North Vietnam) or lies such as the “incubator lie” in the Iraq War in August 1990 (Iraqi soldiers allegedly ripped Kuwaiti babies from their incubators).
The “enemy” is increasingly dehumanised, so that military force appears morally possible and “sensible”. War propaganda provides “reasons” for military action. Examples include fabricated events staged for the media, such as inhumane and criminal acts by the “enemy”, for example barbaric torture or the murder of civilians, preferably elderly people, children or young girls. The cruel killing of babies often represents the peak of a wave of propaganda (e.g. the wars in Yugoslavia and Iraq). Fake videos and images are distributed to reinforce the message. The news must be deeply disturbing and trigger strong feelings of hatred. This makes the population willing to support their governments’ acts of war to “finally stand up to the evil enemy”.
The ultimate – “cognitive warfare”
In June 2025, it became known that NATO had concluded secret agreements with individual European governments in which the governments undertook to comply with certain requirements. This was made public by the Dutch government. The German government refuses to provide any information on this matter.4 The extent to which the Swiss administration feels bound by the PFP-NATO agreement is not known.
Since the 2020s, there has been a threatening shift in psychological warfare. NATO’s cognitive warfare now perceives all (!) actions of the “enemy” as attempts to deliberately cause harm in all (!) areas. This course of action not only destroys any possibility of understanding from the outset but also instils a psychotic bias in the population.
Delusional world view
But far more serious: it can be assumed that NATO strategists of Cognitive Warfare – from their point of view – are imposing their delusional world view on the population: the enemy is so “evil” that this “maliciousness” can no longer be recognised by the general public. Therefore, the population must be “helped” to interpret the world “correctly” to arrive at the “right” conclusions. In Orwell’s “Newspeak”, this means that “resilience” must be created among the population.
Anyone who does not affiliate to this pathological NATO view in future runs the risk of being regarded as an “enemy” themselves (similar to the National Socialist “undermining of military morale”, which was sentenced at the time by Freisler’s People’s Court).
PR can be punishable by law
This means that lies, prejudices and stigmatisation are used to create an enemy image to mobilise for war. Aversions and feelings of hatred are activated, and violent fantasies are promoted. In a modern mass society, this task falls to propaganda. It specifically addresses the emotional states that make military operations possible – but also pogrom-like “incidents” within the country.
Propaganda does not target responsible citizens; for propaganda, individuals are merely part of a manipulable mass. Since propaganda may constitute aiding and abetting crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity, its actions have been subject to legal prosecution since the Nuremberg trials.
Lies don’t travel far
As we know, lies don’t travel far. If you take a closer look, you can already see the contradictions and false statements today. A glance at everyday life reveals a frightening reality: the rapid disintegration of social systems and increasing impoverishment in Europe. There is a lack of money, and yet it is being thrown out the window with both hands. Since February 2025, hundreds of billions of euros have been spent on additional weapons (“special funds”). Debts that future generations will have to pay off – mind you, money that is already lacking today.
Billions in tax revenue flow to creditors, arms suppliers, war profiteers and future “reconstruction companies”. The pressing issues are simply ignored: pension gaps, poverty, mass migration, lack of medical care, lawless areas, rising energy prices, job losses, etc. Once again, things must move quickly to lead the populations into war and distract them from the real problems.
But “Europe” is no longer hermetically sealed off from the rest of the world. Reports from around the world can be compared with the local conformity of opinions. The different reports can have a corrective effect. Even in the USA, the repression of freedom of expression in Europe is viewed critically. Even today, most of the European population still wants genuine peace initiatives.
who could not be identified after the Battle of Verdun (1916). (Julian Nyča.
wikimedia.org/w/index.phpcurid=44017084)
Lies take the escalator, truth takes the stairs
Every war comes to an end. The time that follows is a time of mourning, disillusionment and reflection: the dead, the wounded, the maimed, the missing, the traumatised, the displaced, the refugees. Destruction, impoverishment, neglect, brutalisation, radiation, contamination, poisoning, debt.
Once again, we are forced to conclude that war is a business for the few who are hungry for power and money, as the highly decorated US general Smedley Butler described as early as 1936. Incidentally, he did not fail to mention that the “decision-makers” themselves never go to war but conduct their business from the comfort of their warm offices.
Make peace today!
It is much easier to take the path of reason and humanity today than to knowingly spread suffering and misery throughout the world. Opportunities still exist today. The majority still supports constructive negotiations and opposes armament and war!
For the future, the only goal can be to guarantee a peaceful life for all. There will be no way around further developing and enforcing international law.
| *Robert Seidel writes as an independent author for the “Swiss Standpoint”. |
(Translation “Swiss Standpoint”)
1 https://www.schweizer-standpunkt.ch/news-detailansicht-en-gesellschaft/how-war-propaganda-works.html
3 https://www.wuv.de/Themen/Kreation-Design/Castenow-mit-neuer-Employer-Kampagne-fuer-die-Bundeswehr
4 cf. https://multipolar-magazin.de/meldungen/0286
Manipulation
Hannes Hofbauer. Feindbild Russland. 2016
Romain Rolland. Clerambault: the story of an independent spirit during the war
Jonas Tögel. Kognitive Kriegsführung. Neueste Manipulationstechniken als Waffengattung der NATO. 2023
ders. Alles “Desinformation”? Wie der Staat in die Meinungs- und Pressefreiheit eingreift. In “Berliner Zeitung”, 22 February 2025
What is war? (selection)
Henri Barbusse. Under Fire. Original “Le feu”. Paris 1916
Smedley D. Butler. “War is a Racket”. New York 1935. German edition with a new preface by Erich Vad, retired brigadier General of the German Armed Forces. Cologne 2025.
Ernst Friedrich. War against war. Berlin 1924.
Erich Maria Remarque. In the West nothing new. Berlin 1928
Ernst Toller. A Youth in Germany. Querido Verlag. Amsterdam 1933