Europe has been built on the liberal values of democracy, rule of law, liberty, tolerance, and free markets. Yet it seems Europeans are forgetting what these values mean. “Know thyself” is a famous ancient Greek maxim, which Europeans do not seem to take to heart. A series of aggressive actions from Russia over the past decade were not enough for the EU to properly distance itself from Russian energy, until it invaded Ukraine.
The X platform (formerly Twitter) might not be the most popular platform in the CEE region, but posts regarding a European Parliament committee’s visit to Hungary in May 2023 gained attention nevertheless. An analysis revealed that the posts about the visit were targeted by suspected inauthentic accounts in an attempt to discredit any perceived opponent of the Hungarian ruling party.
In recent weeks, a new disinformation narrative has become prevalent: sanctions against Russia are not working, Russia has become even stronger, and sanctions are essentially Europe’s economic suicide. This narrative is spread by pro-Kremlin disinformers.
In this episode of the Liberal Europe Podcast, Leszek Jażdżewski talks with Dr Péter Krekó about the forthcoming election to the National Assembly in Hungary, the possible outcomes in the current geopolitical situation, and their implications for the region.
Leszek Jażdżewski talks to Olha Konsevych, a Ukrainian journalist and researcher, the Editor-in-Chief of the Ukrainian newspaltform 24tv.ua, about the war in Ukraine.
Not only do we need guides through the jungle of manipulated and false news, we ourselves, as recipients, should also cultivate the ability to think critically and develop the ability to check the sources, quality, and credibility of the information we receive.
Despite overwhelming and publicly available evidence, pro-Kremlin media have denied large troop movements and continue to spread disinformation about their purely defensive motives and Ukrainian provocations.
Amid Russia’s growing military build-up along Ukraine’s borders, the Slovak pro-Kremlin media are increasingly turning to aggressive rhetoric directed against NATO and Ukraine.
Following the example of the Belarusian and Russian state-controlled media, Slovak disinformation websites also capitalize on the harrowing images of human suffering at the EU borders.
Disinformation narratives concerning the energy crisis took a back seat; the go-to topics for disinformation actors over the past two weeks were NATO and Russia, Polexit, “traditional values”, and the ever-present COVID-19 pandemic.
