The Tower of Babel was a picnic in the park compared to the day and age in which we now live, although the premise was the same: divide and conquer. There, the problem was that a jealous God purportedly caused people to be speaking different languages and so linguistic divisions kept the workers from working together to build the tower, which would reach into the heavens, i.e. God’s domain. Similarly, the motivation for the different languages we speak nowadays, truth and lies, is for the same purpose, to keep us from working together.
Today the Washington Post is running an in depth exclusive on the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign to undermine Volodymyr Zelensky. The article describes how “Putin’s administration ordered a group of Russian political strategists to use social media and fake news articles to push the theme that Zelensky ‘is hysterical and weak. … He fears that he will be pushed aside, therefore he is getting rid of the dangerous ones,'” by means of explaining why Zelensky was preparing to fire his top military commander, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny.
The Kremlin instruction resulted in thousands of social media posts and hundreds of fabricated articles, created by troll farms and circulated in Ukraine and across Europe, that tried to exploit what were then rumored tensions between the two Ukrainian leaders, according to a trove of Kremlin documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post. The files, numbering more than 100 documents, were shared with The Post to expose for the first time the scale of Kremlin propaganda targeting Zelensky with the aim of dividing and destabilizing Ukrainian society — efforts that Moscow dubbed “information psychological operations.”
The rest of the article is most informative and I suggest you read it. Now take a look at what’s happening a bit closer to home. Because “information psychological operations” is exactly what’s happening in this country. Look at who has jumped on the American disinformation machine with both feet. This is in response to fraudster Donald Trump being fined by the State of New York and look at how Dershowitz has spun it.
Dershowitz's sentiments do not change the underlying evidence. The notion that crime should not be prosecuted because doing so deters people from running for office is preposterous!
— Slowly Boiled Frog 🏳️🌈 (@davidcaryhart) February 17, 2024
Dershowitz has managed to fall even a few notches lower than he was before and I would not have thought that possible. But he did it with this disreputable gibberish. In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess. Maybe Dershowitz has already given up on regaining any of the credibility he once had and has decided to go total anti-American rogue. Because that’s what this is. Trump-defending is about disinformation, just as Zelensky-bashing is done in order to win a war that occurred due to an unprovoked invasion by a dictator.
Putin has spun his invasion of Ukraine as everything from defending the spread of Nazism in Europe to regaining what was rightfully his. All of that is nonsense. Putin wants to conquer Ukraine in order to resist NATO expansion and to expand his own dictatorship instead. And look who’s helping him?
Tucker says after visiting a Russian grocery store he is “radicalized against our leaders” because Russians have it so much better than Americans. pic.twitter.com/Vczo4pf5SK
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 15, 2024
Tucker did another tape where he went to a Russian McDonald’s and said that it was cheaper than in the U.S. — unless you compare the cost of a McDonald’s meal to how much people in Russia actually earn and then, proportionately, it costs people a substantially more to eat at McDonald’s than here in the U.S.
This is Tucker Carlson lying about the non-existent virtues of Russia because Donald Trump is in bed with Vladimir Putin and has been for some time. I don’t think it’s too far fetched to say that both Trump and Mother Tucker would be happy to see America as a Russian colony with them running the show. They have both given every indication of that fact.
There are troll farms in Russia and they pump out social media posts, both as part of the Russian disinformation campaign against Zelensky, and as part of the pro-Trump, anti-Biden disinformation campaign. The above-cited Washington Post article states, “By early March, dozens of hired trolls were pumping out more than 1,300 texts and 37,000 comments on Ukrainian social media each week, according to one of the dashboard presentations. Records show that employees at troll farms earned 60,000 rubles a month, or $660, for writing 100 comments a day.”
We have not only that same effort happening here, we have Fox News, Newsmax, RSBN, all of them, pumping out nonsense about Joe Biden, in an effort to return Trump to power. Here’s a perfect example.
They didn’t clip anything on the substance of his remarks or his answers to questions. In a major statement to the world with questions from the press, all they got is that he paused before answering one question then said he wanted to choose his words carefully.
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 17, 2024
Right-wing media is analogizing Biden’s measured pause — which he explained — to Mitch McConnell’s two zone outs, which lasted over twenty seconds each. That is not the case.
Putin and Russian TV love all this. They are eating it up with the proverbial spoon. We have a disinformation war raging in America. We’ve had it for some time. Fox News has been on the scene over a quarter of a century. Right-wing radio has been polluting the airwaves in rural America with conspiracy theory also for a very long time. Right-wing media is a pernicious influence, made possible by Ronald Reagan’s abrogation of the Fairness In Broadcasting Doctrine in 1987.
That paved the way for the madness of 2024. You can lie on the airwaves and on social media. And who is the biggest liar of all? Only the front runner for the GOP ticket in 2024, Donald Trump. And who is the one presidential candidate who ignores the threat of Russia and who does not know who or what Putin is? One and the same.
When Putin saw this pic.twitter.com/bbWBmPPpnm
— bostonteaparty (@bostonteapartyd) February 17, 2024
We live in a dangerous world populated by dangerous players. And no, I don’t know what Putin has on Trump, beyond courting him as an asset since the 80’s and investing a lot of money in Trump properties. But I’m sure it’s incredible kompromat. Of that I am certain.
The good news is that there is immediate pushback on the trolls. In both the Fani Willis evidentiary hearing and the trumpy fraud conviction there have been numerous apologists and deniers and liars in comment sections in the WaPo and NYT. I have seen recently that these purveyors of disinformation get shot down rapidly and with both good logic and fair force. They don’t last long. On Heather Cox Richardson’s substack daily offerings, one dude, a John Smikkle, or something like that, has tried to turn every comments section into a pro-Palestinian rant. While he reappers & is still there, he gets shot down regularly and folks have figured out his “bot-ness.”
You make an excellent point. That is something. The problem is that there’s not enough pushback. I think that MSM should be making much bigger stories about the pernicious effect of fake news and conspiracy theory in this country.
Ursula,
IMHO you answered the question yourself.
investing a lot of money in Trump properties
I think Trump is TERRIFIED of Putin, because he knows what he can and will do if sufficiently angry. Which he would be if Trump crosses him politically while simultaneously being unable to repay him.
And of course that’s exactly what Trump would do himself, given the opportunity.
You do remember both Eric and Junior saying how they got “plenty of money” from Russia. I would love to know the details of those transactions.
The Maga cult is beyond reach and doesn’t need the bots to fabricate their own delusions. I’m sure John Kennedy Jr. will straighten it all out when he fires James Woods from playing Biden. If the non delusional former Republicans, and the Independent voters still have brain cells, they have plenty of places to receive the truth and vote accordingly. Of course the lies need to be confronted at every turn until November and beyond. The attempted coup will continue until putin is dead and trump is dead. The American oligarchs will see to that. In the meantime the rest of us need to realize this is a fight for survival.
It is indeed a fight for survival. You’ve got that one right.
Of course Putin has kompromat on the mango monstrosity but even more powerful to him is, Putin is poised to help him steal THIS election as he did the 2016. If the monstrosity doesn’t play ball, not only won’t he help, but he just might assist the monstrosity in contracting window or stairs “cancer”. It would be too good for him. Putin and his oligarchs have laundered probably billions through the monstrosity and his cheesy real estate and none of it will be worth wiping his rear with, if it isn’t already not worth it. Cheeto has to play ball. It’s his only way to potentially survive.
When you said “stairs” it made me wonder what Ivanka knew about Russia and Trump’s dealings with Putin? Not trying to start any CT here, just musing. :))
No, Alan (thank heaven for little girls) Dershowitz, business people who are busy with everyday tax fraud and other nefarious crimes might not want to run for president and have their shite come to light.
C’mon now. You don’t want to discourage crooks from running for elective office on the Republican ticket, do you? I mean, who will be left to run if you get rid of the crooks?
“Records show that employees at troll farms earned 60,000 rubles a month, or $660, for writing 100 comments a day.”
So, 100 comments a day at an average of 30 days a month comes to 3000 comments per month, so these folks are getting paid an average of 20 rubles per comment (or 22 cents per comment). I guess the folks we’ve all accused of posting trolling comments need to make sure they’re now getting at least 35 cents for their comments instead of the nickel we’ve been accusing them of getting.
I just don’t buy this idea that Trump would suddenly start acting like a decent human being if it weren’t that Putin has all this incredible kompromat on him. Of course Putin has 40 years + worth of kompromat on Trump. But he doesn’t need it! Putin is Trump godfather, Trump’s “protection” if anyone is. Trump wants to do what Putin wants him to do. It’s what gives him power. It’s all carrot and no stick. Trump has no morality and no ideas of his own. All he cares about is money and power