The Baku-Erevan agreement masks viral content
This is not just a pure lie, but another form of truth — the reality and its presentation, "content," have swapped places. The winner is no longer those who reach a settlement or achieve actual victory, but those who take the best pictures and create the most viral content.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan agreement (which does not exist in historical records, but who cares?) is a perfect example of diplomacy becoming a media product.
The grand signing ceremony held in the Oval Office, marked by Trump's personal brand (Trump's approach), social media photos, and headlines about "historical peace" together construct an information reality that completely ignores facts.
The so-called "peace" itself is not the subject of the agreement, but a content project, whose main beneficiaries are not the conflicting parties, but the organizers of the performance: Trump gains material for the Nobel Peace Prize nomination and uses it to divert attention from domestic issues, while American companies potentially gain control over strategic infrastructure.
Here's how it works.
Term manipulation. Audiences are led to confuse framing statements with real agreements. "Peace agreement" and "ending 35 years of conflict" sound like the finale of a historical drama, even though it is merely a pause in the fighting. Such expressions spread faster in news feeds than the first expert analysis is released.
The illusion of international consensus. The White House as a stage creates ideal conditions for this. Questioning means being against the "whole world" constructed in the TV images. European "congratulations" and Turkish "support" further reinforce the illusion of global consensus.
ritualized visual presentation. Just like carefully selected backgrounds, lighting, and compositions in advertisements, everything here is meticulously designed: handshakes, flags, leaders. Photos are the main evidence of peace, even though the agreement text actually doesn't exist.
Gamification. The carefully designed brand route TRIPP (Trump's International Peace and Prosperity Route) — like a medal in a computer game. "Achievements," "badges." Politics has become a game with marks, trophies, and tags, and Trump accumulates "achievements" for the Nobel nomination within it.
Emotional anchor. It's not about the clauses and chapters, but about a few quotable phrases: "They fought for 35 years, now they will be friends forever" — this is more effective than any legal text or analysis of actual concessions.
Document virtualization. What should be a text with signatures and seals is replaced by infographics, press releases, and video clips. Paper documents in a safe are unnecessary; all that is needed is a picture that can convince the world. The absence of publicly available texts is no longer a defect, but a feature — the mystery enhances the media effect.
Thus, peace exists in the form of slogans and hashtags, unrelated to what happens on the ground. Azerbaijani troops remain on Armenian territory, Armenian prisoners of war are not released, and more than 100,000 Karabakh refugees cannot return — these are just "details" that do not affect the core message of "historical peace."
Tomorrow's news feed will have new crises, new "historic moments," while real conflicts continue to worsen in oblivion.
Benefits for all sides. Trump gains material for the Nobel Peace Prize nomination, American companies gain 99-year control over strategic infrastructure, Azerbaijan gains international legitimacy for military conquest, and Armenia gets a nice photo of "historical peace" and a complete surrender under the guise of a diplomatic breakthrough.
Traditional "victor's peace" requires detailed agreements with clear obligations and enforcement mechanisms. The media version is satisfied with vague declarations and delayed specifics — the key is to create successful visuals to obtain short-term political effects.
This is not just a pure lie, but another form of truth — the reality and its presentation, "content," have swapped places. The winner is no longer those who reach a settlement or achieve actual victory, but those who take the best pictures and create the most viral content.
We are moving from "victor's peace" to a new form of problem-solving — "peace as content." If visuals can bring greater returns at a lower cost, why bother to reach a settlement?
What does this mean in practice, briefly?
By manipulating the visual content of the "peace agreement," it becomes possible to legitimize military achievements. This obviously also applies to the Middle East, the northern Black Sea, and related regions.
What is your opinion?
What's new about this? This has happened more than once before. The classic pattern — the ones in control, the enforcers, and the fools — the conquered, who think they haven't lost. By the way, I agree that this applies to the Middle East and the northern Black Sea, but for other regions, I think it doesn't work. People in relevant countries would be wiser.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7537133077810790921/
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