General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRussia has changed their propaganda-warfare strategy in 2019:
About 1 or 2 months ago I noticed a change on RT. Their strategy used to be to kinda-sorta write news-articles, except they carefully omitted key-facts to promote a certain narrative.
Half-assed news, written with plausible deniability in mind. They told only half the story, but at least they told something.
Now they have abandoned all pretense: RT used to be split into opinion-articles credited to guest-contributors and news-articles which were not credited to any journalist.
But now even those uncredited "news"-articles have such emotional, biased, bitter, cynical, inflammatory language, they clearly are opinion and commentary masquerading as news. To emphasize: Biased opinion and commentary that is not credited to any journalist in particular.
For example:
https://www.rt.com/usa/454550-mueller-media-reactions-trump-indictment/
Ranting, name-calling, sarcasm, ad hominem-attacks, strawman-arguments... In what is supposed to be a news-article!!!
What does that tell us?
Russia is no longer trying to expand the reach of its propaganda, to influence as many people as possible.
Russia's new strategy is to focus on political extremists and to radicalize them even further.
Russia's new strategy is stochastic terrorism.
In 2020, Russia won't try a large-scale manipulation with as many "agents" as possible.
Because we now know that trick and would recognize it.
Instead they will try to influence the small number of extremists in the US to deal as much damage as possible with as few "agents" as possible.
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)That RT article is a joke, in regards to having any journalistic integrity.
certainot
(9,090 posts)to piggyback 1500 radio stations - which is basically what most of the social media operations were about
paleotn
(17,911 posts)They funded Baaderr Meinhof and the Red Brigade among others. I wouldn't be surprised if they're materially supporting right wing terrorists inside the US and Western Europe as I type this. And it will continue inside the US until it's again the common perception that Russia is an existential threat to liberal democracy. Instead of Soviet communism they're spreading malignant kleptocracy.
I've never trusted Russians and I never will.
yardwork
(61,588 posts)PatSeg
(47,370 posts)was they catered to the far left, people who often ended up supporting Bernie Sanders and later Jill Stein. They had some relatively well known progressives on their network, people who appeared to not know they were being used to divide Democrats. Thom Hartmann, Ed Schultz, Abby Martin, Chris Hedges, Max Keiser, and more did not seem to be undermining liberal voices, but more like they were amplifying them.
I remember trying to watch RT TV, as I had been a long time listener to Thom Hartmann on the radio, but I found the network barely watchable. This was before there was any hint that Russia was interfering in our politics and there was no glaring indication that RT was pushing a Putin agenda. But I don't think anyone expected to see a push from the left or far left. Putin was diabolically brilliant. He sowed seeds of discord and dissent throughout our political landscape, right and left. Then in the midst of the chaos, he installed his puppet in the White House.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)After WWII, and driven by the US imperialism in Vietnam, they were afraid that Germany would slide back into fascism.
They wanted to show the people that resistance is possible. They wanted to trigger an uprising against the fascists with their terror-attacks.
The movie does well at catching their frustration and confusion in the later years: No matter how many people they kill, the Germans still show no interest in rising up against the government...
In the end, the ringleaders commit suicide in jail.
----------------------------------------
The last members of the RAF went undercover after a bankrobbery and were never found.
modrepub
(3,493 posts)The Road to Unfreedom. Nice summary of Russian strategy. In a nut shell, create a false history, sexualize the opposition (as immoral), justify violence from your side by proclaiming your purity and innocence (based on a false history).
How it works in the US: "Make America Great Again" harkens to some unspecified time in the past when things were "great". Accuse the other side of immorality/pushing immoral sexual values (homosexuality/promiscuity). Any violence you stir up from your side is justified because of your innocence and purity (fake news/suppression of free speech). Sow chaos, false narratives and blame the other side for your predicament.
I fear the 2020 elections are going to mark a major event in our history. Will the "clash of civilization" side muck up democracy and replace it with a "big business/kleptocrocy" chaotic jumble or will the rule of law and democratic succession principles prevail? While concerned, I have faith that the majority of people will show up at the polls and turn these people away. What the defeated do afterwards will be interesting.
erronis
(15,222 posts)I'll add it to my to-read list (and pile).
First review from Amazon:
Snyder spends the first section of his book detailing the differences between the politics of inevitability, in which progress is believed to be unstoppable and democracy and capitalism the certain future for all; and the politics of eternity, in which progress is temporary and history is cyclical, favoring elites and abandoning any concern for the masses. He identifies the Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin as a high priest of the politics of eternity. An anti-Bolshevik who was exiled from Soviet Russia in 1922, Ilyin called for a Fascist counter-revolution and portrayed Russia as the innocent victim of foreign intriguers. Although Ilyin died in the 1950s his writings were to have enormous influence on the Russian politicians of the 2010s who oversaw their country's descent into kleptocracy, including Vladimir Putin himself. It was thanks to Ilyin's influence that Putin took steps to destabilize the regions he perceived to be Russia's enemies, primarily the European Union and the United States.
Snyder spends a great deal of time detailing the events of 2014-15 in Ukraine, which the Russians invaded while denying they were doing so, spreading confusion with the assistance of the government-controlled Russian media as well as more reputable Western outlets like the Guardian and the Nation. I found these chapters most eye-opening because like most Westerners I remember being extremely confused over what exactly was taking place between Ukraine and Russia. As I read, I realized that in many respects what happened to Ukraine in 2014 was a practice round for what was to occur in the European Union and the United States in 2016. Snyder goes on to expose Russian efforts to influence the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and the United States. Much of his material here has already been covered, but it's still important to reread it and be forewarned for the future. As I read, I found my memory returning again and again to an old TV mini-series from the 1980s called "Amerika," about a Soviet takeover of the United States. Reading of Kremlin conspiracies and conversations between Russian oligarchs and their European and American stooges making plans to defeat the West I realized that that old series has actually come to fruition thirty years after its broadcast.
The Road to Unfreedom ends bleakly, though the last lines from the epilogue does allow some hope: "If we see history as it is, we see our places in it, what we might change, and how we might do better. We halt our thoughtless journey from inevitability to eternity, and exit the road to unfreedom. We begin a politics of responsibility. To take part in its creation is to see a world for a second time. Students of the virtues that history reveals, we become the makers of a renewal that no one can foresee."
This is a brief work of less than 300 pages followed by an extensive End notes section. It is one of the most important works concerned Americans and Europeans can read in 2018.
Firestorm49
(4,030 posts)The un-nerving part is the continuous promotion of hatred. And for what purpose? Our alleged president is doing it, Putin is doing it, Bolsonaro is doing it.
So what do they want as end result, anarchy and civil unrest in order to bring about complete and total governmental control? Is this what white nationalists / supremists want? And to what gain? Total suppression of them as well once the final version is unveiled?
I just dont understand creating chaos for their own suppression because they sure as hell wont be elected governors. Or will they? Where will the radical right be once the dust settles?
jmbar2
(4,872 posts)I scan the daily clickbait headlines for Zerohedge articles when I checkout FinViz news. ZH is out of Bulgaria and targets stock market followers. They also send an interesting mix of propaganda to sway the rich (?) towards fears of economic collapse/fear of the government. Sometimes, it seems to be a testing ground for their messages.
They mostly aggregate from other weird websites, so you don't have to click on their articles, just check out the sources by hovering.
https://finviz.com/news.ashx