It's time to confront the Trump-Putin network

[kpete]

In 2014, the Putin regime invaded Ukraine’s Crimea. In 2016, the same regime invaded the United States. The former took place as a conventional military operation; the latter was a spectacular case of cyberwarfare, including disinformation that it was happening at all and promulgation of a lot of talking points still devoutly repeated by many. It was a vast social-media influencing project that took many forms as it sought to sow discord and confusion, even attempting to dissuade Black voters from voting.

Additionally, Russian intelligence targeted voter rolls in all 50 states, which is not thought to have had consequences, but demonstrated the reach and ambition of online interference. This weekend, British investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr said on Twitter, “We failed to acknowledge Russia had staged a military attack on the West. We called it ’meddling.’ We used words like ‘interference.’ It wasn’t. It was warfare. We’ve been under military attack for eight years now.”

MORE:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/time-to-confront-trump-putin-network

[Karadeniz]

1. Good article at link.

[Irish_Dem]

2. 100% correct. You knocked it out of the park w/ this post Kentuck.

You should get the Zelensky Truth Award.

Putin has waged a psy-ops war against the US for years.

He owns half of the US congress who are working to install an autocratic form of government.

Unless we fight back, we will lose our democracy.

[kpete]

3. Fiona Hill agrees:

But this is also a full-spectrum information war, and what happens in a Russian “all-of-society” war, you soften up the enemy. You get the Tucker Carlsons and Donald Trumps doing your job for you. The fact that Putin managed to persuade Trump that Ukraine belongs to Russia, and that Trump would be willing to give up Ukraine without any kind of fight, that’s a major success for Putin’s information war. I mean he has got swathes of the Republican Party — and not just them, some on the left, as well as on the right — masses of the U.S. public saying, “Good on you, Vladimir Putin,” or blaming NATO, or blaming the U.S. for this outcome. This is exactly what a Russian information war and psychological operation is geared towards. He’s been carefully seeding this terrain as well. We’ve been at war, for a very long time. I’ve been saying this for years.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/28/world-war-iii-already-there-00012340

[Irish_Dem]

4. I have been saying this for years.

And accused of hyperbole.

Now the world is finally catching up to reality.

[Frustratedlady]

5. That makes more sense than Trump wants to build a hotel in Moscow.

For years, we have been trying to figure out what Trump was getting out of his relationship/love for Putin. This explains the flood of conspiracy theories, fake (really fake) news/tweets, planted stories, etc.

We've said for years that the Repukes were naive. Well............