Consider the news last week that authorities in several European countries had uncovered a vast corruption network, in which European politicians were paid to spread anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia propaganda. The network, according to intelligence sources cited by Czech media and confirmed by the country’s prime minister, was orchestrated by pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk. Politicians from Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Hungary were allegedly paid directly with cash or through cryptocurrency exchanges.

The idea is to push narratives and policies that help Russia but to mask them behind a local face. (In the aforementioned case, the popular website Voice of Europe was allegedly used to push the propaganda and to facilitate payments.) This provides Russia plausible deniability, but it also makes it more likely that audiences will trust the messages. It serves a purpose within Russia too, as domestic propaganda purportedly showing that people in other countries agree with the Kremlin’s positions.

    • pelespiritOPM
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      7 months ago

      Oh for sure, but it’s primarily the republican party right now. We need to start at the worst and work our way back.

      Edit to add: I can’t really think of a single Dem in office right now in the upper fields that might be in bed with Russia. Definitely money issues and that kind of thing, but not the russia connections. Can you name anyone?

      • ɔiƚoxɘup
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        7 months ago

        I definitely cannot name anyone. If Russia is clever enough to turn a good portion of the Republican party, they are definitely 100% clever enough to subtly flip a good number of Democrats too.

        The fact that I can’t name anyone probably says more about what my biases are than anything else.

        Here’s what I found: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/18/politics/hillary-clinton-tulsi-gabbard/index.html

        If Hillary can spot it… I dunno. Seems like they’d be up to something.

        If I were Russia, I’d definitely play both sides against the middle!

        • pelespiritOPM
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          7 months ago

          I agree that Russia would try, but I just think they’d have a harder time getting the d’s to be traitors instead of just corrupt. Don’t get me wrong, corruption is terrible in your political leaders, but apparently traitors are a step too far for most of them. Of course you’re going to get a couple here and there, it’s just not a fully saturated thing like the GOP is right now and has been for at least a decade.

          • ɔiƚoxɘup
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            7 months ago

            I agree with that. My concern is that Democrats have been similarly corrupted or otherwise turned and we just haven’t seen it yet because they’ve got to put forward a certain public face.

            I think it’s just coincidence that the Republicans general ideology kind of lines up with a lot of the ideologies of Russia and that makes it easier for them to fully saturate as you put it.

            Paranoia ain’t no fun.

            • pelespiritOPM
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              7 months ago

              I think it’s just coincidence that the Republicans general ideology kind of lines up with a lot of the ideologies of Russia and that makes it easier for them to fully saturate as you put it.

              I would put together a list of actual things the r’s have done with russia, but it would take too long, lol. Start with a bunch of them going to russia on the 4th of July and anything those main people did and the people who went along with it. It’s most of them.

              • ɔiƚoxɘup
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                7 months ago

                Correct. But they weren’t always that way. That’s the point that I was trying to make; that their socially conservative ideology has been an alignment with Russia’s for quite some time. At least the past 40 years I would say.