Russian Disinformation Campaign Aims to Undermine Confidence in Pfizer, Other Covid-19 Vaccines, U.S

[swag]

Source: Wall Street Journal

By Michael R. Gordon and Dustin Volz
March 7, 2021 10:00 am ET

WASHINGTON—Russian intelligence agencies have mounted a campaign to undermine confidence in Pfizer Inc.’s and other Western vaccines, using online publications that in recent months have questioned the vaccines’ development and safety, U.S. officials said.

An official with the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which monitors foreign disinformation efforts, identified four publications that he said have served as fronts for Russian intelligence.

The websites played up the vaccines’ risk of side effects, questioned their efficacy, and said the U.S. had rushed the Pfizer vaccine through the approval process, among other false or misleading claims.

Though the outlets’ readership is small, U.S. officials say they inject false narratives that can be amplified by other Russian and international media.


Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-disinformation-campaign-aims-to-undermine-confidence-in-pfizer-other-covid-19-vaccines-u-s-officials-say-11615129200

[Dream Girl]

1. Don't they have shit else to do? Maybe look after their own people. nt

[Rebl2]

2. They

don’t care about their people

[Irish_Dem]

4. Russia is ruled by a group of criminal oligarchs held together by Putin.

It is not a country in the real sense. (Paraphrase of Rachel Maddow)

They are about power and money, and have siphoned off most of the Russian Treasury.
Putin is the richest man in the world, net worth probably at least $200 Billion.
And he is also one of the most powerful men in the world.

The Russian people are the last thing on Putin's mind.
He is about wealth and power gained at the expense of the people.

[Dream Girl]

10. Yes. But wat I don't get is how does this help them?

[Irish_Dem]

12. Putin and his oligarchs are some of the most powerful and wealthy people in the world.

That is what they want.

[Johnyawl]

19. It undermines the US...

...it chips away at American's confidence in our government, and the world's confidence in the US.

It's not a big thing, but every little thing they can do to reduce our power and prestige, they will do. Putin is a rich gangster/tinhorn dictator but he is standing in the rubble of the empire he spent his life serving, and he will never forget or forgive those who worked to destroy that empire.

[Irish_Dem]

39. I think the anti vac Russian campaign is a big thing.

Putin can kill a lot of Americans, and destroy the economy without firing a shot.
Embroil the US in further domestic chaos.

Yes it is certainly revenge, but also the weaker he makes the western democracies, the more he can
realize his dream of reuniting the eastern bloc countries with Russia, and be able to pull more gangster tricks and crimes.

Putin is the most evil genius of our lifetimes.
He is at war with the West and winning.

[Irish_Dem]

38. You mean the Russian anti-vac campaign?

It helps them a great deal in their quest for power.
Their goal is to create as much chaos as possible in the western democracies.
And to destroy these countries signficantly.

Putin is at war with the west, and hopes to kill, damage, create chaos without firing a shot.

If the American people do not get the vaccine, the pandemic will go on longer.
More people will die, the economy will get worse, social unrest in the form of white terrorism will increase.

Putin has wanted to break up the western alliance, America and Europe.
If these countries are embroiled in domestic problems, it makes the alliance weaker.
And they are less and able to fight Putin as he tries to annex the old eastern bloc countries.
And create chaos in the mideast.

[AZ8theist]

36. FUCK RUSSIA AND FUCK PUTIN.

[Swede]

32. Artemi Panarin the hockey player from Russia had some interesting thoughts.

Most of the wealth of the country goes to Moscow and St. Petersburgh. The rest of the country suffers.

Now Putin is lashing back at him. https://www.google.com/search?q=Artemi+Panarin&sxsrf=ALeKk016eebybTVHTjg_2V9kg05NXwXHdw:1615152624889&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi9pduzkJ_vAhWUrZ4KHYCMDJIQ_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=1088&bih=500

[jpak]

3. Too late Putin

I got my first Pfizer jab yesterday

No pain

No side effects

Fuck you

Yup

[Mike 03]

5. Here's a story about this that is not behind a paywall

Russian intelligence reportedly used fake news sites to spread misinformation about coronavirus vaccines

https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/7/22318113/russia-intelligence-fake-news-spread-misinformation-coronavirus-vaccines

Four online publications linked to Russian intelligence agencies have been spreading false or misleading information about coronavirus vaccines, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an official at the US Department of State’s Global Engagement Center.

The sites, identified as New Eastern Outlook, Oriental Review, News Front, and Rebel Inside, have emphasized the side effects of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine as well as other western pharma companies’ vaccines, stoking concerns about whether the vaccines are effective or had been rushed through the US approval process, the WSJ said.

The sites don’t have large audiences, but officials said their false stories are often picked up and circulated by international media. They typically focus on true news reports about rare side effects of the vaccines, but fail to provide accurate context that shows the vaccines are safe for most people. “Russian intelligence services bear direct responsibility for using these four platforms to spread propaganda and lies,” a State Department spokesman told the WSJ.

In addition to the campaign to discredit Western vaccines, Russia’s state media and Twitter accounts connected to the Russian government are also trying to boost the profile of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

I despise Putin.

[TomCADem]

8. Mother Jones - The Anti-Vax Movement's Radical Shift From Crunchy Granola Purists to Far-Right

With so many Republicans drinking the Trump Kool Aid, is it any wonder that the right wing has embraced this Russian disinformation?

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/06/the-anti-vax-movements-radical-shift-from-crunchy-granola-purists-to-far-right-crusaders/

When the pandemic hit, many American parents found themselves muddling through homeschooling for the first time—but Elizabeth Beall is an old pro: She’s been teaching her 13-year-old daughter from home since kindergarten. Over the years, Beall, who lives in California, has learned that homeschooling works best when it doesn’t just happen at home, so she slowly built up a network of parents—mostly moms—who share ideas in Facebook groups and sometimes get the kids together in person for educational and social activities. Beall has formed tight bonds with many of the moms—and they’ve found that the Facebook groups are handy places to swap tips and information. So in late April, when Beall noticed that a few of the moms had posted a video of two physicians talking about the coronavirus, she gamely clicked.

The two doctors, emergency medicine specialists from Bakersfield, California, said that social distancing to stop the spread of the virus could dangerously weaken the immune system. A former epidemiologist, Beall noticed right away that something was off: The doctors seemed to be cherry-picking data about how many people had contracted the disease and recovered, and their math just didn’t make sense. She was shocked to hear them advise parents to intentionally expose children to the coronavirus to achieve herd immunity—it seemed reckless, maybe even deadly. So, she waded into the comments and calmly pointed out the flaws.

Beall was pretty sure she knew where the video came from: Many of the roughly 200 moms in her groups, she said, also belonged to Facebook groups that opposed vaccines, and occasionally, the moms cross-posted memes or information. Recently, the anti-vaccine groups had taken up the cause of opposing states’ shelter-in-place orders, claiming the lockdown violated their personal freedoms.

In the past, Beall, a strong believer in vaccines, would often respectfully challenge any inaccurate information the other members shared. In pre-pandemic days, her friends had thanked her for her perspective and moved on. This was how things went for homeschool moms: Even when they disagreed, they were still a tribe.

[mpcamb]

37. "...is it any wonder that the right wing has embraced this Russian disinformation?"

It's how they plan to win elections from now on-
Keep people fearful, hostile and misinformed with red meat issues.
They're devoid of plans or a program.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. 'New Eastern Outlook' - used to push Russian propaganda about Ukraine and Syria, too

which some posters here passed on.

eg https://www.democraticunderground.com/10027526049
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6256451
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016187005
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10026252363

[Initech]

6. Can we please ban Russia from the internet already?

They've done enough damage.

[TomCADem]

7. Right Wing Media Is Working Hand In Glove With Russian Disinformation

Russia and Republicans have been pushing vaccine disinformation with Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi end mask mandates even as positivity rates soar over 10 percent because they want to undermine the success of U.S. efforts to combat the spread of the pandemic. Republicans just want the U.S. to fail as they did in 2009 when there primary goal was to try to make President Obama a one term President. Russia, of course, just wants to generate division and chaos in the United States.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/16/maga-coronavirus-vaccine-446022

MAGA-world may resist the vaccine, but it still wants Trump to get credit

Across the far-right, and especially in the conspiratorial corners of MAGA world, Trump’s supporters are finding novel ways to both lavish the president with praise for speeding a Covid vaccine, while arguing against taking the vaccine itself.

Some explanations focus on limiting vaccinations — only high-risk individuals and health care workers should get it, while the rest should simply resume our pre-pandemic lives. Others are reflexively anti-establishment — a vaccine is needed, but the government shouldn’t dictate what we put in our bodies. Others are fantastical — the vaccine is somehow part of an elitist conspiracy to control the world. And increasingly, the loudest anti-vaccine advocates are high-profile MAGA supporters.

Emerald Robinson, White House correspondent for the pro-Trump television network Newsmax, tweeted this month that people don’t need vaccines, but “the politicians want it for control.” The Gateway Pundit, a pro-Trump news organization that has prompted untrue conspiracy theories, called the prospect of widespread immunizations “creepy.” Senate Republicans allowed a Covid vaccine skeptic to testify last week, and Fox News host Tucker Carlson called the possibility of mandatory Covid vaccination — even though no such dictate is on the table — “a legitimate crisis.”

“You know, Trump, probably 80 percent of your base does not want that vaccine,” said DeAnna Lorraine, a high-profile influencer among the QAnon set, during her Infowars program last week. “They are not willing to take a foreign, rushed substance and jab it into our arms. I don’t care who takes it. I don’t care if Jesus takes it, I’m not taking the vaccine.”

[Locrian]

24. naturally

the right wing sees putin / russia as the perfect example of what they want to accomplish

[TomCADem]

26. This is a loophole to campaign finance. Russia can devote unlimited resources...

...to simply amplifying right wing conspiracies about election fraud, antifa or anti-vax memes. Russia gets to destabilize the US and Republicans get free campaign support that is unrestricted.

[zentrum]

9. Their goal is to strengthen Q

....which is anti-vaccine. And their other goal is to allow Covid to keep destroying our people and our economy.

They want America to fail. They want Democracies to fail.

He's thinking like the head of the KGB.

[rockfordfile]

25. true

[Catch2.2]

11. Am I the only one

who thinks that Russia is also behind Q Anon?

[SharonAnn]

15. No. I assumed that from the beginning. Russia loves to sow dissension.

[Warpy]

33. No, you're not

but whoever it is, it's some game theorist who wants to see the world burn.

A top priority for cybersecurity has got to be tracking this stuff down, the theories are utterly insane but the way people are led into putting the wrong pieces to the crazy puzzle together is incredibly slick.

The ease with which so many 0people were manipulated into going crazy is astonishing.

[Catch2.2]

35. Agree 100%

It is crazy how easily people are manipulted.

[groundloop]

13. I'm guessing this is where the bullshit about the vaccine causing infertility has come from

My wife's dental hygienist has stated that she's not going to get vaccinated because the vaccines cause infertility in women. I told my wife she should inform the dentist that either the hygienist goes or we find a new dentist. I've heard that same lie from a couple of different people, so whoever is spreading it is doing a good job.

[SharonAnn]

16. Hygienist should not be talking about this to her patients. Inform the Dentist!

[niyad]

17. My current favourite piece of bs on the vaccines is that they alter DNA. Nobody who expresses

this drivel can tell me how they do it. Then I ask them to tell me what DNA stands for,? It is a very short conversation.

[Hekate]

18. KnR

[mysteryowl]

20. Russia has been at war with the world for a very long time.

Germany has a high vaccination refusal rate, because of misinformation.

This is probably what happened to the J&J that fundamentalists won't take it for some reason.

[LisaL]

30. J&J is produced using cell lines.

That came from abortion cells decades ago.

[SouthBayDem]

22. Non paywalled link

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-disinformation-campaign-aims-to-undermine-confidence-in-pfizer-other-covid-19-vaccines-u-s-officials-say-11615129200?st=k18d7rhwdtbxn0n

[Blasphemer]

23. Cold War Part Deux

This is like an updated version of the nuclear war threat during the Cold War. Instead of bombs, the threat is disinformation. At the end of the day, its a problem that will doom the entire world. Putin needs to be dealt with somehow.

[KT2000]

29. Agree!

Media is in the swamp of carrying the disinformation instead of investigating where it came from and discussing that. I hate to say it but Putin is unraveling this country successfully. To me, this is all so incredible that we have politicians who are supportive of Putin.

[paleotn]

34. Russian power brokers up to their same old tricks...

Back in the day, the USSR funded and supported actual terrorists in the West. Baader Meinhof and Red Brigade come to mind.

[DSandra]

27. Fuck these Russians, they want to destroy America

And disinformation is their main weapon. I wouldn’t put it past them that this war against stupidity is being funded and aided by them primarily, especially since Trump. They want to ruin the economy enough to both help Trump in 2024 and undermine the strength of the west since America is the biggest defender of the west.

[DonCoquixote]

28. another article about this

https://www.politico.eu/article/covid-vaccine-disinformation-russia/

[PSPS]

31. Zuckerberg plays a role in this, allowing users to freely post/link to this disinformation

[lagomorph777]

40. This is a continuation of the Putin/Trump pandemicide.

Trump's "failure" to deal with COVID was actually a tremendous success on behalf of his boss. They managed to kill half a million Americans (so far).