War and mystification: Regarding the reissue of "Russia against Ukraine: Empires, peoples, energy", by Carlos Taibo

Abstract

Russia and Ukraine have shared some characteristics in their political lives before the Russian invasion of the latter state, which, however, have not been equally incorporated into the journalistic and political accounts that have spread in our society since the beginning of the war. For this reason, and while the dominant trend in the media has been the normal substitution of analysis for superficial or merely factual information, the majority of the population finds themselves with an unequal portrait of both States when trying to understand the recent past of the main political agents of the conflict. Starting from the contributions of Carlos Taibo, it is possible to reflect on the confusion between myth and reality that surrounds the description of the political protagonists involved in the current war in Ukraine. Taking their contributions, and resorting to different press media, we can conclude that, while the information is available, it is not incorporated into the most widely disseminated journalistic stories. The omissions, undervaluation or overvaluation of the facts based on Manichean or, at least, naive mystifications are having more utility for the convenient invocation of unity of thought than for public reflection and debate.