2015: Politico published a fascinating article on Vladimir Putin’s efforts to burnish Russia’s battered image in America. Entitled Putin’s Washington, the article discussed the ways in which Putin paid the high-powered PR giant Ketchum sixty million dollars with no appreciable results according to polls of what Americans thought of Russia and Putin.

CNN reported in 2015 that Putin fired Ketchum due to Ukraine:

Ketchum, part of global marketing group Omnicom (OMC), worked for the Russian government for nine years. But that relationship is now over, apparently a victim of the growing hostility between Russia and the West triggered by the conflict in Ukraine.

“We decided not to renew the contract because of the anti-Russian hysteria, the information war that is going on,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNNMoney.

True to form, Putin ignored his violent annexation of Crimea and blamed “anti-Russian hysteria” for the problems he created by his own murderous conduct and treachery. This is the exact same tactic the Scientology Cult engages in when its brutal, and often criminal, conduct is exposed.

Scientology Dictator-for-Life David Miscavige is a wannabe Vladimir Putin and harbors delusions of world conquest. Miscavige is seen below in his Sea Org uniform standing in front of his etched-glass map of world domination. Miscavige is insane and violent. American law and the lack of an army prevent David Miscavige from engaging in the violence necessary to carry out L. Ron Hubbard’s diktat for a Scientology genocide.

Captain David Miscavige in his Scientology War Room

David Miscavige spent $100 million to build and launch Scientology TV in an attempt to bolster Scientology’s reputation which is equivalent to that of a radioactive slag heap.

Like Putin’s PR efforts in America, Scientology TV was a colossal and costly failure. David Miscavige personally went on camera to launch Scientology TV. Instead of projecting a leadership image, he came across as a creepy and sinister cult leader surrounded by a bizarre assemblage of bronze humanoid statues in the background:

The 2015 Politico article showed Putin to be in the same position as David Miscavige and the Church of Scientology: Spending a fortune can’t buy a heavy-handed and violent tyrant goodwill or respect:

In 2015, the PR agency Ketchum created a website called ThinkRUSSIA — which has since been taken down — to help Russia tell its story. We were struck by the visual similarity between ThinkRussia and Scientology.org homepages. Both pages feature large lighted buildings at night; are predominated by the color blue; and seek to show how Russia and Scientology are very conscientiously engaged with the world:

ThinkRUSSIA homepage:

Scientology.org homepage:

One wonders if Ketchum is now doing PR for the Church of Scientology.

Despite the enormous amounts of cash spent by Russia, PR giant Ketchum was not making as much progress in improving the country’s image as the Russians wanted. Politico Magazine noted a blindness in Vladimir Putin which bears an uncanny resemblance to Scientology dictator David Miscavige and his PR flacks in the notorious Office of Special Affairs.

In  terms of the Church of Scientology’s complete cultural ineptitude, of thinking that journalists and public opinion can be purchased by handing the right PR firm an envelope stuffed with cash, we need only to offer the Atlantic Magazine fiasco as evidence of David Miscavige being both clueless and self-aggrandizing — a dangerous combination for any dictator:

Above: In related dubious claims, the Church of Scientology still unequivocally maintains in its current What is Scientology? video that Scientology is based upon:

50,000 years of wisdom: The fact is that recorded history  goes back about 6,000 years and prehistorical pre-writing  goes back about 7,300 years. Thus, the Church of Scientology is lying once again. There are no “50,000 years of wisdom.” This is just a marketing phrase L. Ron Hubbard made up when he launched Dianetics in 1950.

Mathematics: Where? There are no equations, and certainly no science, in all of Scientology. Rather, the Church of Scientology is an autocracy buttressed by an intelligence agency and a set of coercive psycho-mechanics. This hellish machinery is purposely designed to control people and thereby extract as much of their money, obedience, and labor as possible. This system is concealed by Hubbard’s Space Opera cosmology populated by Xenu, body thetans, between-lives implanting stations, Marcabs, and so on.

Nuclear Physics: Incredibly, the Church of Scientology in 2022 is still promoting the lie that it is somehow based upon nuclear physics. This is absurd on its face.

The leaders of Russia and the Church of Scientology do not understand that good PR cannot be purchased and is earned. Furthermore, lies and violent behavior are easily exposed in the globally-connected social media landscape. Nevertheless, such obstacles do not stop PR firms from promising autocrats and tyrants great PR in exchange for huge sums of money. One of the best way to get rich these days is to be a PR firm catering to “challenging regimes” or a law firm which has the Church of Scientology for a client.