"Putin's lie machine now includes the White House."

[CousinIT]

Link to tweet

The threat to the West posed by Kremlin lies—what is properly termed disinformation—is something that I and a few other specialists have raised the alarm over for years. After 2016, when Moscow weaponized disinformation to influence our presidential election, this problem is finally getting the public attention it merits, not least because identical Russian espionage techniques are currently aimed at France and Germany, which have their own elections coming up.

. . .

Now this problem, which shows no signs of going away, has become even more dangerous, since the new administration has taken to parroting Russian disinformation when it suits their political needs. A propaganda loop has emerged with Kremlin lies emerging on Putin regime outlets like RT and Sputnik, then being pushed by far-right conspiracy websites such as Breitbart and InfoWars, and finally winding up on Fox News where they receive a mass audience.

. . .

On Putin’s dime, Johnson has denounced American spies at every opportunity, unmasking nefarious IC plots and assassinations which others have not been able to detect. In recent months, he has towed the Putin-and-Trump line on RT, spinning conspiracy theories about the downfall of Mike Flynn, the president’s ill-fated first National Security Advisor. Johnson also went on RT to denounce the IC’s conclusion that Russian operatives were behind the hacking of the Democrats in 2016.

Significantly, on March 5—the day after the president unleashed his “wiretapping” tweetstorm—Johnson went on RT to float his latest conspiracy theory, that President Obama illegally monitored Donald Trump and his entourage last year, co-opting IC leadership in secret efforts to derail the Republican nominee. On air, Johnson explicitly pointed the finger at British intelligence in this plot, repeatedly referring to GCHQ as the alleged culprit—though he laughably kept calling it “GHCQ.”

This, then, is the origin of the fact-free assertion that the Brits spied on Trump for Obama: a perfect example of the RT to Fox News to White House chain of lies. In other words, this was unfettered Kremlin disinformation, proffered by a notorious crank in Putin’s service. Johnson subsequently spoke to The New York Times, at Napolitano’s request, admitting he was the source for the “bombshell” story, asserting that the information came from unnamed IC officials.

http://observer.com/2017/03/donald-trump-wiretapping-kremlin-disinformation/

[Blue_Tires]

1. Yeah, Schindler has been killing it from the start...

He was also punching Grand Canyon-sized holes in the Snowden/Assange Hero myths long before it became cool (and was proven correct on both)...