RADPOD 96: ‘Russia Has Become a Death Cult’ with Paul Niland
Our latest interview with Paul Niland, a reporter in Kyiv, Ukraine, and the founder of the nation’s first suicide hotline, Lifeline Ukraine
“As a result of propaganda, Russia has become a death cult.”
—Paul Niland, Ep96 RadPod
Those who watch and support my podcast, RADICALIZED Truth Survives, with Jim Stewartson and High Fidelity, know that we consistently interview the greatest minds in the information war, despite being under heavy fire ever since our launch nearly three years ago.
With my background as a broadcast news producer and investigative reporter, Jim’s experience in gaming innovations, and High Fidelity’s career as a Silicon Valley technologist and his youth experience as a Something Awful troll, we make a pretty formidable team. Initially, the guys didn’t know that among the hats I wore in broadcast news was booking talent.
In 2009, as local news emerged post-Great Recession, those who survived brutal cutbacks had to become utility players, and I did it all.
For RadPod, we have managed to get the finest, most wide-ranging talent of any grassroots podcast, and I often ask key guests to return with periodic updates.
When I brought back reporter Paul Niland for Ep96, I knew it would be an important interview but it still blew me away when he described Russia as a death cult.
When High Fidelity asked him why Russians don’t seem to care about the massive amounts of casualties they’ve absorbed in the past two years in Ukraine and what role propaganda may be playing, Niland said:
“The UK Defense Ministry said the number is 465,000 dead and wounded Russians… they don’t do medevac, they don’t take people off the battlefield… it’s even worse than that, they not only leave their own to bleed out on the battlefield, anyone who is retreating is shot by the Russian side.
“As a result of propaganda, Russia has become a death cult. The way that the supposed heroism of fighting and dying for your country is portrayed in Russia has become a fundamental part of their national identity. And one of the things that leads to that is the militarization of their society — we’ve seen that in the ten years since Russia has been at war with Ukraine.”
As he talks about how Russia denied the war in Donbas a decade ago, I think about how Stalin denied that he was starving Ukrainians. Instead, he ran a propaganda campaign to pin the blame on starving peasants and not his failed collectivization. Poland ran its own propaganda campaign, putting up posters of Stalin calling him the “Hunger Tsar”.
As I think about this, Ukraine should be demanding reparations from that old decrepit empire of Russia, rather than being forced to defend itself in another cruel war on its people.
“The domestic propaganda has not only turned Russia into a fascist state, but it’s also a death cult, it’s a place where people are indoctrinated into believing the lies about the reasons for this war.”—Paul Niland, Ep96 RadPod
In our conversation with Niland, he explains the reality on the ground and how he believes that “Russia is done, Russia is busted, militarily.”
We sure hope he’s right.
Please have a listen, and Bette members, please mark your calendar for Niland’s visit on Tuesday at noon, May 14. I will send out the invite Friday.
We’re going to put our heads together to see if we can help him secure donors for LifelineUkraine.com. Ukraine’s first national suicide hotline that he founded a decade ago to help prevent veteran suicides after Russia’s first invasion is now in demand for the entire country. The group has been surviving on small grants, and needless to say, it’s a struggle.
Thank you to everyone who supports my work, and the work of many vital pro-democracy voices in this global fight for truth and humanity,
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More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
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Begin each day with a grateful heart.
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