We're already in a world war

A new world war has already begun. It is not yet, thankfully, a war of bombs and bullets, but of information.

- STEPHEN DAVIS

Because precision Russian missiles are hitting maternity wards, ordin yet queuing up at army recruitment centres in Idaho or Lyon or Manchester (although they are queuing up in Syria, to join the Russian side). But we are in a war over reality, the outcome of which will have huge consequences for us all.

It is easy to get lost in the tens of millions of words and images we see and hear about Russia's war on Ukraine and to become depressed and exhausted. But it is far too important to ignore.

This month, President Vladimir Putin warned he would cleanse Russia of the "scum and traitors" and “simply spit them out like a midge that accidentally flew into their mouths”. He was talking about fellow Russians who oppose his war.

Putin is a shameless liar, and demonisation of opponents is his stock-in-trade, but the insect reference, watched by millions on state TV, is still chilling.

In Rwanda, the word was inyenzi (cockroach) - Hutu politicians and radio stations started using it to describe Tutsis. Soon enough, the massacres started and there were 800,000 dead.