DISINFO: Western leaders need conflict in Ukraine for their ratings
SUMMARY
In face of his falling approval rates in the US, president Joe Biden resorts to an old strategy in his country to improve his image. It’s the Monica Lewinsky Syndrome: because when Bill Clinton had erotic and domestic difficulties, he waged a war in Yugoslavia and even dragged NATO to it. The conflict in Ukraine is convenient mostly to Western leaders who have seen their approval rates drop, such as Biden, Boris Johnson and Canada’s Justin Trudeau.
RESPONSE
The claim that Western leaders could be pushing for a conflict in Ukraine as a way to improve their popularity is baseless and not backed by any evidence. This disinformation narrative is part of a wider campaign aiming to deflect any Russian responsibility in the escalation of tensions as a result of Russia’s military buildup on the border, which ultimately resulted in the invasion of Ukraine two days after this disinformation story appeared.
As a response to Russia’s aggression, the European Union has further imposed comprehensive sanctions on Russian officials including President Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, and on some economic sectors.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that NATO floods Ukraine with modern weapons to push Kyiv for a military solution in Donbas, that Ukraine is a colony with a puppet regime, that Ukraine has no sustainable statehood, or that chemical weapons “provocations” are being prepared by the Ukrainian military.