The Russian Conspiracy as RI subject

[streeb]

Was sobering to hear Michael Tracey thanking #Russiagate skeptics on a recent episode of Jimmy Dore for keeping each other "sane." The beating the above people took? Not a comfortable two years. The temptation to just jump off was great, I'm sure.

[alloneword]

Now THIS is fucking interesting...

Cheers, that was a fucking interesting read. A lot to absorb...

Funnily enough, the name of Stefan Halper cropped up in another article I stumbled across today:

A Russian-born academic accused of being a Kremlin operative claims she was "used" to smear former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn over an unplanned contact they had at a 2014 dinner at the University of Cambridge, England when Flynn was the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Obama.

38-year-old Svetlana Lokhova met Flynn at the February 2014 Cambridge dinner organized by Sir Richard Dearlove - a former head of MI6 who was launching an organization called the Cambridge Security Initiative, according to the BBC. Also part of the organizing group was alleged American spy Stefan Halper, a longtime spook and then-Cambridge professor emeritus widely reported to have infiltrated the Trump campaign and spied on several aides during the 2016 US election.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04- ... ournos-who

[Sounder]

Yasha Levine

The thing is that America’s media obsession with the Russian menace—this idea that Russia is the greatest threat to liberal civilization—predates the Mueller investigation. It predates the 2016 election, and it predates Trump. So this wasn’t a sudden mistake about a single investigation, but something that America’s been moving towards for over a decade. The Russian Menace has been a lucrative racket—paying the mortgages, car loans, kids’ college tuitions, for thousands of think-tankers, military contractors, academics and journalists.

After Trump, the Russia hysteria hit a new level of paranoia and bigotry. There was a need to blame America’s domestic political turmoil, and the failure of its political establishment, on someone or something—to deflect responsibility for what happened. So suddenly liberal media began to see “the Russians” everywhere—part of a shadowy foreign conspiracy to undermine America from within.

They weren’t just threatening Europe and NATO. They were in the White House, in American voting machines, in American electrical grids, in American children’s cartoons. They were hacking people’s minds. They were controlling both the international left and the international right—against the respectable political center. That’s how sneaky and devious and cynical they are. That’s how much they want to destroy America’s liberal democracy.

[JackRiddler]

Worth adding: be journalists and break with jingoistic convention/expectation and be unafraid to actually report on Trump/Israel/Kushner/Bibi as well as the Saudi family. If you liked Russiagate, you're going to love what you find.

Oh yeah, this was the dog that didn't even know how to bark. I mean, Mueller got Flynn to admit perjury on three points in the official statement of guilt, in which it's not clear if anything illegal was actually done except to lie about it. The only thing that could have been described as working with a foreign power to undermine US interests was Flynn's action on behalf of the Israeli government (as requested by Kushner, apparently), which was the failed January 2017 (pre-inauguration) effort to influence a Russian vote at the UN. Somehow the simple fact of saying "Russian" was sufficient to make "Russia" the protagonist in all the reporting about this, which often did not mention Israel.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-Qatar machinations around Kushner's 666!

.

[seemslikeadream]

If I may
Chiming in to correct the record or should I say add to what Jack conveniently left out (or does not know) of the story...when discussing "The Russian Conspiracy" facts should not be left out or ignored for expediency

Michael Flynn sentencing delayed as judge tells ex-Trump official: 'You sold your country out'

So the sentencing judge believes Flynn sold out his country for lying to Mueller? I think not ......there’s more to that story and it’s Bud McFarlane and Saudi Arabia ...it's what he lied about not that he lied ...what did he lie about?

In 2017 Team Trump worked to clinch a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia

(FACTS) In 1992, then-AG/current AG Bill Barr helped orchestrate a pardon of Bud McFarlane—co-founder of IP3, the outfit behind Trump's secret transfer of nuclear tech to MBS. McFarlane worked with Flynn on the latter plot; both men were at the Mayflower with Trump in

1/ Yes—I'm saying that McFarlane and Flynn were working with the Saudis beginning in '15, then Trump invited both men to his foreign policy rollout in April '16, then 60 days later a Saudi cutout came to Gates offering pre-election collusion, then in August Trump Jr. accepted it.

IP3—a firm that includes former top military officers, diplomats, and energy experts—had developed a proposal for Saudi Arabia that was simply “a scheme for these generals to make some money.” That report said former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had ties to the firm during his time working in the Trump administration

Bud McFarlane and Sergey Kislyak entering Trump's April 2016 Mayflower event—where Trump rolled out his foreign policy


GOP operative Paul Erickson (Butina) lobbied Trump *hard* to get K.T. (lie to Congress)McFarland named Mike Flynn's Deputy NSA.

The Countless Israeli Connections to Mueller’s Probe of Trump and Russia
The Israel-lobbyists, Netanyahu cronies, psyops manipulators and well-connected oligarchs — could it all be just one big coincidence?

SCHIFF: "You might think it's OK that [Flynn] secretly conferred with a Russian ambassador about undermining US sanctions & then lied about it to the FBI.
search.php?keywords=Flynn&t=40179&sf=msgonly

so the guy that wrote a book with Michael Ledeen just told a little white lie

it's all ok Barr (Bring ‘God’s Law’ To America) the Dominionist has got it all under control

[JackRiddler]

Was sobering to hear Michael Tracey thanking #Russiagate skeptics on a recent episode of Jimmy Dore for keeping each other "sane." The beating the above people took? Not a comfortable two years. The temptation to just jump off was great, I'm sure.

First of all, true. This board has served a similar function for many of us, I expect. But I don't know of anyone who started skeptical and jumped off. I think, as it wore on and on and on, the temptation grew in the other direction -- to jump on. Very, very media professionals had the guts to do so prior to recent months, after it was signaled that the Manafort and Cohen cases would be total duds regarding allegations about "Russians" rigging the 2016 election. But they started once it became self-evident to everyone who had not literally staked their fucking identity on this crap (like Marcy Wheeler), not only that there was never really a Russia election "collusion" case, but that Mueller would not bother constructing one.

So I think the pressure to conform was greatest at the beginning, and became less and less credible over time. I know that was my own feeling. At the beginning I worried about "friends" I'd lose -- and I did lose a couple, in real life -- by speaking plainly. And about being accused of helping Trump, hilariously. But my record is solid, if only in the form of posts on RI and "public" Facebook updates. I stopped giving any shit whatsoever once the corporate media got busy with sheer fabrications that would be debunked within hours and or day, and never stopped recycling the FB-memes crap as if this was ever evidence of anything, proving that they really had no actual evidence to use.

Still, it's hardly over. The Russophobic grand conspiracy theory is respectable and global.

Time magazine, this week, smoothly makes the shift to pimping for new imperialist wars of aggression (Venezuela, Iran, etc.) now that Trump and MIC are in harmony, and of course the sell is that the true enemy is... :

_TIME2019_april15intcover.jpg

Der Spiegel, this week, portrays the German petit-bourgeois fascist party, Alternative fuer Deutschland, not as a German problem, or as part of an EU-wide outbreak, but as "Putin's Puppets."

_Spiegel-April2019_Afd-Putin.jpeg

These two iconic propaganda vehicles have each done at least a half-dozen if not a dozen Evil Putin covers in the last few years.

Here is a Poroshenko campaign billboard in the Ukraine this week, portraying the runoff against Zelensky as a choice between Poroshenko and...

_Poroshenko-Poster-April2019.jpg

The Time mag cover is exceptionally evil. The pointers to the Putin-aligned "empire of rogue states" clearly include Cuba and Venezuela (where he holds the pointer in his hand), but see the other two in the Western hemisphere? Bolivia (which has not yet been added to Bolton's new Axis of Socialism) and... MEXICO!!! No doubt about that one. The shapes are obscure on the Old World side, but I'd guess these are supposed to be Ukraine/Donbass (or Russia itself), Turkey, Syria and Iran.

.

[liminalOyster]

Behemoth (Russian: кот Бегемот) is a character from the novel The Master and Margarita by the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov. He is an enormous (said to be as large as a hog) demonic black cat who speaks, walks on two legs, and can even transform to human shape for brief periods.

[stickdog99]

Well now, we don't want actual RUSSIANS commenting on how they are portrayed! No sir.

How can we trust them on anything when they are known to consort with Russians?

[BenDhyan]

Empire is readying to strike back...

[Grizzly]

just correcting the record

Correct the Record was a hybrid PAC/super PAC founded by David Brock.
The Front group for Killary? Are you part of that?


-----

[Wombaticus Rex]

Correct the Record was a hybrid PAC/super PAC founded by David Brock.
The Front group for Killary? Are you part of that?

C'mon bud, that is fucking ridiculous. SLAD is a real deal streetfighting granny.

In actual news, I'm clearly going to spend most of this spring laughing at the news in awe:

Former Obama White House Counsel Expects to Be Indicted
Legal heavyweight Greg Craig anticipates charge of making false statements to Justice Department unit checking into activities of foreign agents

WASHINGTON—Former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig expects to be indicted in the coming days on charges stemming from work he performed for Ukraine in 2012, Mr. Craig’s legal team said.

Mr. Craig has refused to accept a plea deal, and the matter could be presented to a grand jury for indictment as soon as Thursday, people familiar with the matter say. A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment.

The people familiar with the situation say they believe Mr. Craig will be charged with making false statements to the Justice Department unit that oversees the activities of foreign agents, though other charges are possible.

An indictment of Mr. Craig is likely to send shock waves through the U.S. legal community and is the latest fallout from an investigation into former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his years of work for the pro-Russia regime in power in Kiev.

The 74-year-old Mr. Craig is a legal heavyweight who served in senior legal roles for two Democratic presidents. He has also been a top State Department adviser and Capitol Hill aide.

“This case was thoroughly investigated by the SDNY and that office decided not to pursue charges against Mr. Craig. We expect an indictment by the DC US Attorney’s Office at the request of the National Security Division. Mr. Craig is not guilty of any charge and the government’s stubborn insistence on prosecuting Mr. Craig is a misguided abuse of prosecutorial discretion,” lawyers for Mr. Craig said in a statement.

The matters surrounding Mr. Craig have taken a winding path. It was first developed by special counsel Robert Mueller before being transferred to federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, known as SDNY, and then was transferred again to Washington. The national security division of the Justice Department—which has ramped up its enforcement of foreign lobbying laws—is heavily involved, the people say.

The possible charges stem from the Ukrainian government’s hiring of Mr. Craig and his then-law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in 2012 to evaluate the corruption trial of the former Ukrainian prime minister. Mr. Craig spoke to several reporters about the findings of the firm’s report, touching off a dispute with the Justice Department about whether that qualified as lobbying for a foreign government in the U.S.

Skadden Arps entered into a $4.6 million civil settlement with the Justice Department in January, acknowledging it misled the Justice Department about its Ukraine work. In the settlement, the firm blamed Mr. Craig for providing the government with the misleading information. Skadden Arps also belatedly registered as a foreign agent as part of the settlement.

I do hope someone leaks the unredacted report soon. The results would likely be a bipartisan bloodbath.

DC corruption is systemic and decades-old -- trying to frame Trump as a unique case, and breaking the law to do it, was pure hubris.

Then again, that's the Obama Administration in a nutshell: pure hubris.

[liminalOyster]

Russian trolls are weaponizing social media to spread misinformation in the US about vaccines

Katherine Kirk, Foreign Policy 3h
measles vaccine
A child is vaccinated for measles and mumps at No39 Children's Polyclinic (outpatient clinic). Artyom Geodakyan\TASS via Getty Images
Analysis banner

By April 4, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had already reported 465 cases of measles, more than the total for all of 2018.
While measles is concerning in its own right, an overlooked detail adds another layer to the threat, says Katherine Kirk, a Master of International Affairs candidate at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
In the US, there is an ongoing Russian disinformation campaign that could make Americans hesitant to vaccinate their children.
Moscow's goal, says Kirk, has never been to advantage Republicans or Democrats.
Instead, it seeks to exacerbate Americans' distrust of one another and, in turn, erode their confidence in society and the US government.
In recent weeks, public health officials and state legislators have scrambled to combat new cases of measles across the United States. By April 4, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had already reported 465 cases of the disease, more than the total for all of 2018.

Measles is concerning in its own right. Aside from the discomfort it causes, in 25% of cases people who get measles are hospitalized. But an overlooked detail adds another layer to the threat. In the United States, measles has a surprising booster: Russian trolls and bots.

The existence of a Russian disinformation campaign that could make Americans hesitant to vaccinate their children highlights something important about the Kremlin's information war on the United States. Moscow's goal has never been to advantage Republicans or Democrats.


Read more: From autism risks to mercury poisoning, here are 10 lies anti-vaxxers are spreading about the measles vaccine

Instead, it is after a far bigger prize: the exacerbation of Americans' distrust of one another and, in turn, the erosion of their confidence in society and the US government.

Thousands of Russian accounts spread disinformation and anti-vaccine messaging
A recent study from David Broniatowski, a professor at George Washington University, and his co-authors found that thousands of Russian accounts used to spread disinformation had seized on anti-vaccine messaging.

After combing through nearly 2 million tweets recorded between 2014 and 2017, the researchers found that Russian troll accounts were significantly more likely to tweet about vaccination than general Twitter users. They had turned to vaccines as a wedge issue in an effort to ramp up social discord, erode trust in public health institutions, and exacerbate fear and division in the United States.

Vaccines
Russian trolls and bots turned to vaccines as a wedge issue in an effort to ramp up social discord. Getty Imges/Joe Raedle
Three tweets from the study go a long way toward capturing the style of this disorienting campaign. In one round of keystrokes, a Russian-backed account lashed out: "#vaccines are a parent's choice. Choice of a color of a little coffin #VaccinateUS."
Another went with: "Did you know there was a secret government database of #vaccine-damaged children? #VaccinateUS."


Read more:Inside 'vaccine court,' where the US government pays millions to people who say they were harmed by vaccines

Moving toward the opposite pole of the discussion, a Russian troll account tweeted: "Do you still treat your kids with leaves? No? And why don't you #vaccinate them? Its medicine! #VaccinateUS." The study suggested that by giving the illusion of a grassroots debate, complete with content pushing both for and against vaccination, Russia could better tap into the fears and divisions among Americans — and exploit them.

A history of campaigns on US public health
This isn't the first time Russian information warfare campaigns have focused on US public health. One of the most successful Soviet disinformation efforts, codenamed Operation Infektion, set out to push a false narrative that the HIV virus had been created by the US government at Fort Detrick, Maryland, for the explicit purpose of targeting black and gay people in the United States and abroad.

Operation Infektion's first volley was a piece published in an English-language newspaper in India in July 1983. The arguments were then spread throughout the world through a series of KGB initiatives. By 1987, CBS News had covered the claim. Not only did this effort tarnish America's reputation abroad — and weaken the ability of the United States to work with foreign governments to address the HIV crisis — but it also attempted to stoke Americans' distrust in their own government.

measles vaccines 1963
In this Aug. 1963 photo, a technician working under sterile conditions stores trays of living cell tissue in an incubator at the virus laboratories of Chas. Pfizer & Co. in Terre Haute, Indiana. Cells are nurtured to serve as hosts for live virus needed for the measles vaccine. AP Photo
And that gambit worked. In 1992, 15% of Americans agreed that it was definitely or probably the case that HIV was "created deliberately in a government laboratory." The effect was particularly strong among one of the Soviets' key targets: African Americans. A 2005 study by the Rand Corp. and Oregon State University found that more than 25% of African Americans who were surveyed considered HIV to be the product of a government lab.
Russia's efforts to spread disinformation about vaccines have taken some pages out of that old playbook. Russian trolls' contemporary messages were crafted with key terms like "freedom" and "constitutional rights," which were often absent from other anti-vaccination tweets. One Russian disinformation account captured the style of this approach in just 13 words and two hashtags: "Apparently only the elite get 'clean' #vaccines. And what do we, normal ppl, get?! #VaccinateUS."


Read more:What every 2020 presidential candidate has said about vaccines

So far, Russia's vaccine-related disinformation efforts have had ambiguous results when it comes to measles vaccine uptake. As the journalist Daniel Engber recently emphasized, outbreaks remain isolated among pockets where community vaccination rates have fallen below protective levels.

Overall, though, vaccination rates for measles, mumps, and rubella have remained stable at around 91.5% for children aged 3 and under since 2005. Even with the panic and fear surrounding the current outbreaks, measles still remains under control in the United States at present.

Yet panic over the anti-vaxxer movement and its potential impact on public health remains. Russian disinformation activities, which have tried to amplify and intensify the debate between pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine activists, have contributed to the illusion of a growing anti-vaxxer movement while also sowing distrust among Americans.


In turn, although this information operation may not have changed US vaccination rates, it has successfully identified two critical vulnerabilities — inequality and distrust in the public health system.

Russian disinformation campaigns seek to target multiple US vulnerabilities
Another source of US vulnerabilities that Russian disinformation campaigns are looking to take advantage of centers on the country's foreign policy. Take Syria, for example. Researchers recently released a dataset of 3 million tweets from Russian trolls gathered and published by Clemson University in partnership with FiveThirtyEight.

The word "Syria" appeared in nearly 19,000 of them. A preliminary analysis revealed that Russian troll accounts frequently targeted audiences on both sides of the political spectrum to criticize US engagement in Syria. It wasn't uncommon for the same account to alternate between addressing audiences on the right and left.

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand in formation at a ceremony to mark their defeat of Islamic State militants in Baghouz, at al-Omar Oil Field base, Syria, Saturday, March 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand in formation at a ceremony to mark their defeat of Islamic State militants in Baghouz, at al-Omar Oil Field base, Syria, Saturday, March 23, 2019. Associated Press
Although the specific messaging used to engage different audiences varied, the overall Russian narrative appears to be one built around US incompetence and malfeasance. Its messaging aligned clearly with Russia's foreign-policy objective of limiting US involvement in Syria.
It is unclear whether Russian trolling has shaped public opinion along these lines, an issue on which the country remains highly divided. But Russian trolls' success covertly engaging with Americans of every political persuasion on this issue reveals a clear US vulnerability to foreign influence.


Despite evidence that the vaccine campaign and the Syria campaign targeted both Republicans and Democrats, Americans still believe that Russia's disinformation efforts are overwhelmingly partisan. In part, that is because of the Russian information warfare operations during the 2016 US presidential election, which supported the presidency of Donald Trump.

While the net effect was unambiguously pro-Trump, however, that had far less to do with Russian affinity for the Republican Party than it did with Russian policymakers' belief that, given the roster of candidates, a Trump victory would best suit their interests.

As the 2020 election approaches, Russia's approach may shift again.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council in the Cabinet room at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 4, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
Russian trolls' success covertly engaging with Americans of every political persuasion on this issue reveals a clear US vulnerability to foreign influence. Reuters
Indeed, some of the Kremlin's early propaganda efforts have promoted the candidacy of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, which likely stems from the belief that she supports the preservation of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria. Given Gabbard's divergence from the majority of Democrats on key social and foreign-policy issues, Russian support for her candidacy mimics its support of Trump in 2016 as a divisive outsider.
Russia isn't interested in the final outcome of US partisan struggles. It is interested in identifying, targeting, and amplifying any vulnerabilities of the United States. Efforts to use vaccination as a wedge issue demonstrates just how well Russian information operations can take any issue, identify how it may engage or divide Americans, and manipulate social media discourse to meet Russian ends.


Russia continues to employ a disparate network of people and technological tools in order to make Americans turn on one another, their political leaders, their democratic institutions, and even on foundational public health innovations.

To counter Russian information operations online in the long run, the United States should resist partisan approaches to the issue, which ultimately play into Russia's hands. Rather, it must make a credible attempt to address the fundamental divisions in its society that Russia has found it worthwhile to exploit. Only by mending its social cleavages can the United States develop long-term resilience against the machinations of Russian information warfare.

https://www.businessinsider.com/russian ... reddit.com

[Grizzly]

Don't "C'mon bud" , me Rex. She's screamed TrumpRussia for two years and wont stop. Besides she's feisty enough to answer for herself. So back off rap dude. After Pussy Willow's last post, I don't trust anyone here any-more. Nothing personal.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Don't "C'mon bud" , me Rex. She's screamed TrumpRussia for two years and wont stop. Besides she's feisty enough to answer for herself. So back off rap dude.

Fuck you. Start contributing more substance or I'll come back as moderator just to ban your stupid ass.

[Grizzly]

Do it censor-boy...C'mon bud Besides, who the fuck are you to say what's indeed, substantial? I'm going to hope this is all just a misunderstanding or miscommunication. And move on ... I've always had high regard for and your mc/rap shit, and intellect, but you, but you've jumped my shit needlessly more than once....don't fucking threaten me.