Russian Tyrant Vladimir Putin’s Pattern of False Labels and Ad Hominem Attacks

Russian Federation tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer intent on reconstituting the Soviet Union, is demonstrating again his pattern of false labels and ad hominem attacks. For example, the Chechens separatists were all labelled “terrorists;” all political opponents are dismissed as “criminals” and “foreign agents;” Syrians seeking freedom from the tyranny of the terrorist-sponsoring Bashar Assad regime were all called “terrorists,” while Ukrainians have been named “fascists,” “Nazis,” and now “nationalists.” Putin thus vilifies every opponent by completely denying their reasonableness. Often, his and his regime’s statements or innuendos are more accurately applicable to himself. His current claim, for example, that his aggression against Ukraine is justifiable as an exercise against “nationalism” is particularly farcical because it is an exercise in Russian nationalism. Putin continues to say these things because Russians, who mostly receive information through state-run media, and too many foreigners, who read or hear it from their professional media which always gives Putin’s side, believe these lies.