Russia affecting public opinion in France via representatives of French elite spreading Russian propaganda narratives.
Emmanuel Todd is a French historian, anthropologist, demographer, sociologist and political scientist at the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED) in Paris. His research examines the different types of families worldwide and how there are matching beliefs, ideologies and political systems, and the historical events involving these things.
Let’s analyze his recent interview for Le Figaro, published on YouTube channel on September 2, 2024.
Mr. Todd says that “Russia is winning the war, and Europe is going to collapse” (original “La Russie gagne la guerre et l’Europe implose”).
Crash of European Union and USA – this seems to be the biggest Russian dream and the classical Russian narrative having roots in the Soviet era, communists screaming throughout all their history that USA and the “capitalistic West” were about to break down. But the fact is that as of today we don’t have any reasons to talk about the collapse of the European Union. On the contrary, Russian aggression made European countries come together closer, strengthen their militaries, get rid of dependence on Russian natural resources, getting ready to face threats from Russia.
At the beginning of the invasion Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed that his goal was to “denazificate” and demilitarize Ukraine, which was possible only under one single scenario – to capture all Ukraine, then defeat her army, political and military command. None of these goals has been achieved, stating defeat for Russia.
In the next statement Emmanuel Todd sympathizes with the Russians: “I don’t like war. I’m sad for the Ukrainians. I’m sad for the Russians.” (original “J’aime pas la guerre, je suis triste pour les ukrainien, je suis triste pour les Russes…”).
He is sad for the Russians… The Russians who are killing Ukrainians every day, launching missiles on civilians, shelling Ukrainian cities, turning everything into ruins, supporting Putin’s regime and the war in Ukraine…
But then Mr. Todd goes further and compares Ukraine to nazi Germany of the WW2: “Ukrainian counteroffensive (author: invasion of Kursk oblast) is one of the desperate acts which accompany in general the global military collapses, which at the end of the Second world war were introduced by Germany”, then he mentions the battle of Ardennes – the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front.
(Original “la contreoffensive ukrainienne en Russie c’est-à-dire l’invasion de la Russie… elle m’a surpris en tant que fait mais… une fois qu’on reprend son calme d’historien ça fait partie de ces actes désespérés qui accompagnent en général les effondrements militaires globaux. A la fin de la deuxème guerre mondiale a fait apparaître l’Allemagne”).
But is it correct to compare Ukraine, that is defending herself from the aggressor, with Germany of WW2 – the aggressor? We are not talking about the scale, goals and outcomes of these two operations – battle of Ardennes and Kursk operation – they are totally different, and it is impossible to put them together. While Ukrainian Kursk operation is a success, the battle of Ardennes was a defeat for Germany.
Then he touches USA in his interview: “United States is a power doing a lot of harm. I am convinced that their current objective is not to win the war of Ukraine but to keep control of their vassals, that is to say, us”.
(original “États-Unis comme les États-Unis euh c’est-à-dire comme comme une puissance qui existe qui diminue qui fait beaucoup de mal dont je suis persuadé que l’objectif actuel n’est plus du tout de gagner la guerre d’Ukraine mais de garder le contrôle de ces vassaux c’est-à-dire nous”).
This is also the one of the classical Russian narratives – USA is the evil trying to control all the world and Russia is fighting against them and saving all victim-countries. He is convinced that France is the vassal of the USA.
And the last claim revealing Todd’s competency in the economy:
“We expected a policy of sanctions to bring Russia down. Well, the Russian economy is doing very well, they have very little unemployment, inequalities are falling in Russia, workers’ wages are increasing, the regime is stable”.
“On attendait d’une politique de sanctions qu’elle mette la Russie à bas. Bon, l’économie russe va très bien, ils ont très peu de chômage, les inégalités baissent en Russie, les salaires ouvriers augmentent, le régime est stable”.
Let’s look what statistics says: average salary in Russia in 2024 is 688$, minimum salary – 190$, unemployment rate – 6,1%.
Well, it is ridiculous even to talk about economic growth, financial wealth of citizens when their monthly salary is something like 688 US dollar. Just for comparison, torn by war, with ruined economy, lost territories and 8 million migrants Ukraine: average salary in Ukraine in 2024 is 640$, minimum salary – 250$, unemployment rate – 8,7%. Such claims are nothing more than a lie and pure propaganda.
As conclusion, he is not the only one representative of French elite spreading Russian propaganda on the citizens of France – there are dozens of them. And this seems to be a real challenge for France. Russian propaganda machine has made the whole country’s population obedient servants of Putin’s regime. Maybe, it’s time to take measures for French authorities to prevent their country from harmful Russian influence.