Sir Winston Churchill, it was said, mobilised the English language and sent it into battle. That was a reflection of the extent to which he skillfully wove a narrative, united his people and pumped them up to fight at a time when they were exhausted and almost on the point of surrender.
Language, effective storytelling and myth creation is the most potent weapon in a nation’s arsenal. Effective communication creates reality.
Even nations themselves are myths; they are created in our minds through the skillful and sustained use of language. But there is no sphere of life where language is employed more effectively than in war.
Vladimir Putin, the diminutive President of the Russian Federation, this past week stared down his mile-long dining table—not at the rather boyish countenance of French President Emmanuel Macron but—at 25,000 of some of the meanest, most vicious, most murderous fighters the earth has ever produced: Russian mercenaries.
His army, reputedly the second-finest on the planet, had abandoned their commander to the mercy of folks who have absolutely none. And Vladimir was reduced to bullying mayors along the highway from the east to bring out the backhoes and dig up the road to slow down the advancing mutineers.
Vladimir is himself quite mean too. Those who oppose him, or report things he does not want reported, or criticise him, tend to fall off the balconies of tall buildings. It is no coincidence, I think, that chief mutineer and Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is staying in the only hotel in Belarus without openable windows.
You will also have read in The New York Times by now that a former deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Gen Sergey Surovikin, might have known and, perhaps, assisted in the planning of the 600-kilometre so-called “march of justice” which brought the mercenary army to within 200km of the Kremlin, the Russian seat of power in Moscow.
The mercenaries also shot down six aircraft, including the four-engine Ilyushin Il-22M Coot aerial command post, which Forbes described as “priceless”. The Russian air force has only 30 of those planes and they are used to direct the war in Ukraine from the safety of Russian airspace.
You will also have read, no doubt, Vladimir’s opinion of who is behind all his problems—including the broader war in Ukraine. He says he is fighting for Mother Russia against enemies sworn to destroy her.
I have noticed that actions by America’s rivals have picked up pace in recent months. Russia, China and the broader umbrella of the BRICS—Brazil, India and South Africa included—have been a little bit more forceful in challenging the US and its allies diplomatically and economically.
In the Middle East, Syria and Iran are being dug out of the tomb of international isolation in an effort led by China and enthusiastically supported by Saudi Arabia.
Russia has troops and Wagner mercenaries in Syria fighting for the Bashar al-Assad regime and Iran is one of its main arms suppliers, particularly the Shaheed 136 suicide drones. At the same time, similar efforts are targeting the lifeblood of the global economic status quo—the US dollar.
When you challenge empires, they don’t give you a tight hug and a peck on the cheek. I don’t follow Russian and other anti-Western media keenly enough to get their full story on the war in Ukraine but it looks like the textbook type of proxy war.
I remember lots of US special forces landing in Poland just before the Russian invasion and wondering: Why do you need so many? To oversee the transfer of weapons, possibly train Ukrainian soldiers? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a freedom fighter—and a hero in the US, where he addressed an adoring joint session of Congress. Ukraine is funded by the US and its allies and also uses their weapons.
Vladimir cries that his war is not with Ukraine, which, in his view, is not even a country; it is with the ranged forces of Nato. In that story, he is not a cold-blooded KGB tyrant. He is a glory-soaked hero of the Russian people.
An army of 17,000 fanatics has woken up. I have in the past seen it plant land mines on Moi Avenue. I have seen it besiege an up-market shopping mall and slaughter 70 people in a siege that lasted days and ended with the shameful looting of shops by the military. I have seen it come back and kill 150 children as our police looked for a plane to take a SWAT team to the scene.
And I have seen it hit Dusit Hotel—only this time, it found forces that were a bit more prepared and a target that was a bit terror-proof. It still killed 20 people though.
We saw a graduation this week of 5,000 new jihadists that it has recruited and trained. Its target is clearly stated—re-occupying Somalia after the withdrawal of African Union forces—and Kenya.
I pray that we have our guns, and story, ready.
