Coordinated Response to Russian Covert Manipulations

[Bookman 4,764]

7 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

What's Sack handle now? Zero chance that he has stayed away since he stopped posted under that name.

Look for the guy carrying a Bible and gratuitously mentioning how rich his family is. 

[atomheartbevo 90,663]

46 minutes ago, Parliament said:

I remember a better time, when our bad guys were competent and interesting.  Now all we get are idiots.  Sad

 

[F250 29,203]

1 hour ago, Ted Lange said:

I wonder how much that guy/gal who posted non-stop in the run into the 2016 election got paid, some TCU related username, then just disappeared once the election was over.  

It was TCUFan or some shit. Yeah, he spouted nonsense nonstop on Shaggy. At one point, I asked him to name the last 3 starting quarterbacks for TCU and he fucked up his answer then went back to spamming the board.

Edited September 6 by F250

[Rex Kramer 1,538]

8 hours ago, Foosters said:

 

You repeatedly admit you have no idea what he posts, but are comfortable attacking posters who criticize what he posts.

That's why I'm mocking you, anyway.

False. I know exactly what he posts in the one thread in which I’m involved. Videos. I watch the videos. I support what he posts. 

8 hours ago, aggie08 said:

And let me add that we're all fucking guilty of this, to some extent. 

But the sources that prong horn routinely amplifies are from the dumbest and most obvious of the dumbest and most obvious. Some are probably a few rungs below Tim Pool.

I ignored your first post because it’s dumb. I’ll respond to this one by simply saying I watch the videos he posts. Period. They’re indefensible yet here you and Foosters are. 

[Biff Tannen 46,177]

Just now, Rex Kramer said:

I support what he posts. 

[aggie08 21,839]

Your inability to think critically never ceases to amaze.

[Foosters 18,286]

4 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said:

False. I know exactly what he posts in the one thread in which I’m involved. Videos. I watch the videos. I support what he posts. 

I ignored your first post because it’s dumb. I’ll respond to this one by simply saying I watch the videos he posts. Period. They’re indefensible yet here you and Foosters are. 

Lmao

Would you like a shovel?

[Rex Kramer 1,538]

3 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

Your inability to think critically never ceases to amaze.

 

3 minutes ago, Foosters said:

Lmao

Would you like a shovel?

Guys, what am I missing?  I view posts of idiot Hamas supporters. Blatant shit. And I suspect Prong has an anti-Hamas agenda. I do too. So fucking tell me what I am missing, in that specific thread, which is my very limited interaction with Prong. 

[Biff Tannen 46,177]

12 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said:

Out of context faggotry. 

[Bender Bending Rodriguez 1,708]

7 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

I find only contextual faggotry to be acceptable.

New motto?

[Armybrat 41,420]

13 minutes ago, Bender Bending Rodriguez said:

New motto?

Elton John’s new band?

[B00M 6,735]

On 9/4/2024 at 11:07 PM, Sawbonz said:

Fuck Merrick Garland

[atomheartbevo 90,663]

Our way of letting the Russians know they are fucking around.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/06/politics/us-sees-increasing-risk-of-russian-sabotage-undersea-cables/index.html

The US has detected increased Russian military activity around key undersea cables, and believes Russia may now be more likely to carry out potential sabotage operations aimed at disabling a critical piece of the world’s communications infrastructure, two US officials told CNN.

Russia has put increasing emphasis on building up a dedicated military unit, which deploys a formidable fleet of surface ships, submarines and naval drones, according to one of the officials. The unit, the “General Staff Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research,” is known by its Russian acronym GUGI.

“We are concerned about heightened Russian naval activity worldwide and that Russia’s decision calculus for damaging US and allied undersea critical infrastructure may be changing,” a US official told CNN. “Russia is continuing to develop naval capabilities for undersea sabotage mainly thru GUGI, a closely guarded unit that operates surface vessels, submarines and naval drones.”

The US regularly tracks Russian ships that patrol close to critical maritime infrastructure and undersea cables often far from Russian shores, the official said. US concern about the secretive Russian unit’s undersea operations has not been previously reported. CNN has requested comment from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Undersea cables form a critical backbone of internet and telecommunications traffic around the world. Most communications and internet traffic travels across a vast network of high-speed fiber-optic cables installed along the ocean floor. A coordinated attack could significantly disrupt private, government and military communications along such cables as well as industries that rely on such communications, including financial markets and energy suppliers.

Undersea cables also carry vast amounts of electricity among several European countries.

The US and its allies closely monitor Russian naval activity over key undersea cables around the world. Commanders aboard a NATO patrol vessel in April 2023 told CNN they had witnessed an increase of such activity over undersea cables in the Baltic Sea in recent years.

The seas around Northern Europe are a focus of such Russian military surveillance and activity. Last year, a joint investigation by the public broadcasters of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland found that Russia has a fleet of suspected spy ships operating in northern European waters for potential sabotage of both undersea cables and wind farms.

Using data analysis, intercepted radio communications and intelligence sources, the broadcasters tracked over several years some fifty ships operating in the area, using underwater surveillance to map sites for potential attacks.

[DigglerontheHoof 21,557]

If Russia's army is a big pile of steaming shit vs. western weaponry and tactics.  I can't imagine how shitty their navy would be vs. NATO.  FAFO, you borsch eating cunts. 

[NotActuallyALonghorn 5,005]

I wonder if Telegram homeboy's arrest ties helped put the last few pieces together. 

[aggie08 21,839]

10 hours ago, Rex Kramer said:

 

Guys, what am I missing?  I view posts of idiot Hamas supporters. Blatant shit. And I suspect Prong has an anti-Hamas agenda. I do too. So fucking tell me what I am missing, in that specific thread, which is my very limited interaction with Prong. 

Yeah, I refuse to continue beating my head against the wall explaining the naivete (and stupidity) of amplifying legitimately anti-American, paid discord actors just because they briefly align with the "right" perspective on one particular subject (you know, as long as you only watch the video and completely ignore their words, framing, implications/accusations, and entire histories). This is not difficult.

Edited September 6 by aggie08

[Rex Kramer 1,538]

10 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

Yeah, I refuse to continue beating my head against the wall explaining the naivete (and stupidity) of amplifying legitimately anti-American, paid discord actors just because they briefly align with the "right" perspective on one particular subject (you know, as long as you only watch the video and completely ignore their words, framing, implications/accusations, and entire histories). This is not difficult.

Fair enough. Maybe I need to pay closer attention. Again, I don’t watch any other videos in posts other than his protest videos.  

[atomheartbevo 90,663]

1 hour ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

I wonder if Telegram homeboy's arrest ties helped put the last few pieces together. 

[SquishMitten 10,497]

3 hours ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

If Russia's army is a big pile of steaming shit vs. western weaponry and tactics.  I can't imagine how shitty their navy would be vs. NATO.  FAFO, you borsch eating cunts. 

Well, they've lost much of their naval fleet to a country without a navy. Don't have to think very hard to imagine how it would hold up against ours.

[Jameslaw121 4,498]

4 hours ago, Rex Kramer said:

Fair enough. Maybe I need to pay closer attention. Again, I don’t watch any other videos in posts other than his protest videos.  

Put it another way. If you only watched highlight videos for football on TexAgs, you would probably think they've won a NC more recently than 30 years before Pringles were invented.

Videos can be just as easily cast into a certain point a view as any other medium.

 

[Jameslaw121 4,498]

Without reading the indictments, could someone tell me or explain which laws were actually broken?

[Gatorubet 30,749]

6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Our way of letting the Russians know they are fucking around.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/06/politics/us-sees-increasing-risk-of-russian-sabotage-undersea-cables/index.html

The US has detected increased Russian military activity around key undersea cables, and believes Russia may now be more likely to carry out potential sabotage operations aimed at disabling a critical piece of the world’s communications infrastructure, two US officials told CNN.

Russia has put increasing emphasis on building up a dedicated military unit, which deploys a formidable fleet of surface ships, submarines and naval drones, according to one of the officials. The unit, the “General Staff Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research,” is known by its Russian acronym GUGI.

“We are concerned about heightened Russian naval activity worldwide and that Russia’s decision calculus for damaging US and allied undersea critical infrastructure may be changing,” a US official told CNN. “Russia is continuing to develop naval capabilities for undersea sabotage mainly thru GUGI, a closely guarded unit that operates surface vessels, submarines and naval drones.”

The US regularly tracks Russian ships that patrol close to critical maritime infrastructure and undersea cables often far from Russian shores, the official said. US concern about the secretive Russian unit’s undersea operations has not been previously reported. CNN has requested comment from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Undersea cables form a critical backbone of internet and telecommunications traffic around the world. Most communications and internet traffic travels across a vast network of high-speed fiber-optic cables installed along the ocean floor. A coordinated attack could significantly disrupt private, government and military communications along such cables as well as industries that rely on such communications, including financial markets and energy suppliers.

Undersea cables also carry vast amounts of electricity among several European countries.

The US and its allies closely monitor Russian naval activity over key undersea cables around the world. Commanders aboard a NATO patrol vessel in April 2023 told CNN they had witnessed an increase of such activity over undersea cables in the Baltic Sea in recent years.

The seas around Northern Europe are a focus of such Russian military surveillance and activity. Last year, a joint investigation by the public broadcasters of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland found that Russia has a fleet of suspected spy ships operating in northern European waters for potential sabotage of both undersea cables and wind farms.

Using data analysis, intercepted radio communications and intelligence sources, the broadcasters tracked over several years some fifty ships operating in the area, using underwater surveillance to map sites for potential attacks.

When many of them just suddenly disappear, our government should send them a Xerox copy of the Bermuda triangle map if they complain.

[Gatorubet 30,749]

4 hours ago, aggie08 said:

 This is not difficult.

And yet, it seems to be. 

Edited September 6 by Gatorubet

[bschoolprof 6,347]

15 minutes ago, Jameslaw121 said:

Without reading the indictments, could someone tell me or explain which laws were actually broken?

Two foreign nationals who work for RT were indicted for money laundering and operating as unregistered foreign agents.  

[B00M 6,735]

8 hours ago, Rex Kramer said:

Fair enough. Maybe I need to pay closer attention. Again, I don’t watch any other videos in posts other than his protest videos.  

Maybe?! 

if you can’t be bothered to give a fuck about source and context in today’s footage, you have zero hope in the next 1-5 years as AI generated video becomes indistinguishable from real. Put in a tiny bit of effort before arguing with people or just retire to Facebook for fuck sake.  

Edited September 7 by B00M

[atomheartbevo 90,663]

1 hour ago, B00M said:

if you can’t be bothered to give a fuck about source and context in today’s footage, you have zero hope in the next 1-5 years as AI generated video becomes indistinguishable from real. 

I will make so much money selling Sela Ward porn to Brisketexan....

Brisket when I tell him about it.

[atomheartbevo 90,663]

Quote

YouTube has removed five channels linked to Tenet Media following a Justice Department indictment that tied the company to the Russian government. The now defunct Tenet Media channel hosted hundreds of videos from right-wing influencers like Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, and Benny Johnson.

[Rex Kramer 1,538]

5 hours ago, B00M said:

Maybe?! 

if you can’t be bothered to give a fuck about source and context in today’s footage, you have zero hope in the next 1-5 years as AI generated video becomes indistinguishable from real. Put in a tiny bit of effort before arguing with people or just retire to Facebook for fuck sake.  

Never been on Facebook. I’m a skeptic generally about everything. I don’t think you watch the videos in the protest thread. My historical view of his posts is limited to that singular thread. I’ll watch even more skeptically now. As previously stated. 

[fattyflattie 4,640]

19 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said:

Never been on Facebook. I’m a skeptic generally about everything. I don’t think you watch the videos in the protest thread. My historical view of his posts is limited to that singular thread. I’ll watch even more skeptically now. As previously stated. 

You’re not understanding. Due to who posts it, the context of the video is meaningless.  It needs to be posted by someone who aligns politically, or it’s disinformation. Don’t believe your lying eyes. 

[aggie08 21,839]

33 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

You’re not understanding. Due to who posts it, the context of the video is meaningless.  It needs to be posted by someone who aligns politically, or it’s disinformation. Don’t believe your lying eyes. 

[fattyflattie 4,640]

Just now, aggie08 said:

Lazy. Be best. 

[B00M 6,735]

4 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

You’re not understanding. Due to who posts it, the context of the video is meaningless.  It needs to be posted by someone who aligns politically, or it’s disinformation. Don’t believe your lying eyes. 

Are you a Tim Pool subscriber or what

 

[KYHorn 17,617]

 

[Viper 12,221]

 

 

[KYHorn 17,617]

 

[Post Oak 20,570]

At my kids 8U football game this AM.  There's a guy in the stands about 5 feet from me with an FKH (like FJB) shirt on.  He said and I quote " they're using their own propaganda to make us believe that Russia is a bad place" among other nonsense.  He's also got some thoughts on the DOJ trying to railroad Tim Pool. 

 

[B00M 6,735]

1 hour ago, Post Oak said:

At my kids 8U football game this AM.  There's a guy in the stands about 5 feet from me with an FKH (like FJB) shirt on.  He said and I quote " they're using their own propaganda to make us believe that Russia is a bad place" among other nonsense.  He's also got some thoughts on the DOJ trying to railroad Tim Pool. 

 

[fattyflattie 4,640]

7 hours ago, B00M said:

Are you a Tim Pool subscriber or what

 

I don’t subscribe to any political pundits or bloggers.   Videos can be manipulated to show less than the whole truth, and they can also be clear as day no matter who’s posting them.  Posting something that’s actually bad that happened to align with your view on it isn’t out of bounds 

Edited September 7 by fattyflattie

[aggie08 21,839]

18 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

I don’t subscribe to any political pundits or bloggers.   Videos can be manipulated to show less than the whole truth, and they can also be clear as day no matter who’s posting them.  Posting something that’s actually bad that happened to align with your view on it isn’t out of bounds 

This isn't a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation. 

It's a "these fucks don't give two shits about the actual issue at hand and are actively trying to do everything they can to spark a civil war through outrage porn because it helps their likely Russian-padded bank account, fuck them" situation.

Yes, obviously also fuck the non-peaceful protesters who have given them the opportunity.

[Sawbonz 28,234]

Please don’t quote that dipshit

[Captainant 28,574]

New Republic had some good reporting on the depth of what DOJ found 

https://newrepublic.com/post/185668/fbi-document-influencers-russian-disinformation

The Doppelganger program and its “Good Old USA Project” aimed to mimic mainstream media outlets to push pro-Russian policies through fake social media accounts. Documents show that the Kremlin specifically targeted Trump supporters, minorities, gamers, and swing-state voters by spreading far-right conspiracies and capitalizing on existing divisions in U.S. politics.

”They are afraid of losing the American way of life and the ‘American dream,’” Ilya Gambashidze, an architect of the project, wrote, outlining his scheme. “It is these sentiments that should be exploited in the course of an information campaign in/for the United States.” To do so, the Russian government would emphasize that Republicans are “victims of discrimination of people of color” and promote conspiracies that white middle-class people are being discriminated against.

The “guerrilla media” plan needed to not only plant falsehoods, but also spread them far and wide. They targeted gamers and chatroom users, who they described as the “backbone of the right-wing trends in the US segment of the Internet,” and monitored social media influencers. The Russians planned to build relationships with prolific posters who were “proponents of traditional values, who stand up for ending the war in Ukraine and peaceful relations between the US and Russia, and who are ready to get involved in the promotion of the project narratives.”

[atomheartbevo 90,663]

3 hours ago, Captainant said:

Documents show that the Kremlin specifically targeted.......gamers

[Macanudo 13,328]

6 hours ago, Sawbonz said:

Please don’t quote that dipshit

You're going to need to be a little more specific.

[BearSchlong 8,248]

What's Sack handle now? Zero chance that he has stayed away since he stopped posted under that name.

Frank Drebin.

[aggie08 21,839]

With this Springfield, Ohio shit, you would think that people would be growing tired of being blatantly lied to for political gain. But, nah, they're all in. 

"But don't call us racist!"

[956 Worldwide 35,598]

Russian state media goes well beyond U.S. interference.  It is a de facto arm of Kremlin intelligence working to destabilize and interfere globally and assists in procuring arms for the war against Ukraine. 
 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/13/us/politics/russia-sanctions-disinformation-rt.html

Quote

The United States, Canada and Britain on Friday accused Russia’s global television network, RT, of acting as an arm of that country’s intelligence agencies, announcing new sanctions meant to cut off international financing for disinformation operations around the world.

The action came days after the Justice Department indicted two employees of the network for funneling at least $9.7 million to bankroll American podcasters on Tenet Media, a video-streaming site in Tennessee, in hopes of pushing the Kremlin’s propaganda and undermining the American democratic political process.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, appearing at the State Department, said that RT no longer acted simply as a state-owned news organization. Instead, it now actively carries out covert operations not only in the United States, but also in several other countries at the direction of intelligence officials reporting directly to the Kremlin.

“Today, we’re exposing how Russia deploys similar tactics around the world,” Mr. Blinken said. “Russian weaponization of disinformation to subvert and polarize free and open societies extends to every part of the world.”

 

“We urge every ally, every partner, to start by treating RT’s activities as they do other intelligence activities by Russia within their borders,” he added.

Those operations have included disinformation campaigns, like the one using Tenet Media, but also cyberespionage, fund-raising for Russia’s war in Ukraine and the laundering of funds to covertly purchase light matériel, including sniper rifles, drones and night-vision goggles from China and other countries.

The announcement on Friday, along with a series of recent investigations by the Justice Department and the F.B.I., signaled an intensifying effort by the Biden administration to thwart Russia’s influence operations before the presidential election in November.

U.S. intelligence officials have said that the Kremlin is seeking to bolster former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign, angered by the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine. The announcement on Friday was meant to spotlight RT’s global activities, U.S. officials said.

 

The officials have tracked similar efforts involving RT to interfere in other countries, such as Argentina, France and Moldova, which goes to the polls next month and has become a particular target of the Kremlin’s interference. RT covertly operates an English-language news outlet in Germany called Red., and another that covers Africa, called African Stream, Mr. Blinken said.

The sanctions announced on Friday are an effort to undercut RT by making it difficult for the organization to conduct global business in dollars, which officials hope will curtail its ability to work outside Russia.

The campaign is not unlike the one the Trump administration began, with mixed results, against Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant that officials feared posed a threat to U.S. national security interests. The United States, under the Trump and Biden administrations, has sought to warn countries about relying on Huawei for critical infrastructure.

“We’re exposing what they do in country after country around the world,” said James P. Rubin, the coordinator of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which focuses on foreign propaganda and disinformation efforts.

 

RT, with broadcast and streaming channels in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and other languages, has long been an irritant to the United States. It has for years pushed a Kremlin view of the world, one increasingly shaped by hostility toward American political and diplomatic power under Republican and Democratic presidents.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, however, U.S. officials have grown increasingly concerned that RT’s activities extend beyond providing news. They have cited the network’s cooperation with Russia’s intelligence apparatus, including the Federal Security Service, the domestic successor of the Soviet K.G.B.

In the spring of 2023, the officials said, the Russian government created a cell within RT to carry out cyberespionage.

In July, the Justice Department, the F.B.I. and the Pentagon’s Cyber National Mission Force accused an editor at RT of working with an F.S.B. officer to oversee the creation of hundreds of fake accounts on X that spread the network’s content.

 

The U.S. agencies were assisted by the police and intelligence in Canada and the Netherlands, jointly issuing an advisorycalling on social media companies to identify fictitious accounts on their platforms “to reduce Russian malign foreign influence activity.” (X, formerly known as Twitter, took down nearly 1,000 accounts after officials notified the platform.)

Among the steps the Biden administration took last week, the Treasury Department announced that it had extended sanctions that were imposed because of the war in Ukraine to include several officials at RT. They included Margarita S. Simonyan, the editor in chief, and two deputies.

Ms. Simonyan ridiculed the State Department’s accusations in a series of posts on Telegram, specifically the allegation that RT helped raise money to support Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. “We’re doing it openly, idiots,” she wrote.

She also embraced the core accusation from Mr. Blinken and Mr. Rubin that RT was influencing world opinion about the war. “I have not lived my life in vain,” she wrote.

Red. and African Stream did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The State Department accused one of the deputies, Anton S. Anisimov, of conducting “activities on behalf of the Russian Federal Security Service.” Officials said Mr. Anisimov administered an online crowdfunding platform in Russia that ostensibly supported the country’s troops but was covertly used to buy weapons around the world, including from China, which has denied that it provides lethal arms or military assistance to Russia.

Mr. Blinken imposed sanctions on Friday to RT as a whole. Any transactions conducted in dollars could now be subject to freezing or seizure by Treasury.

Canada and Britain also made simultaneous announcements warning about RT’s covert activities. 

The goal of the sanctions and diplomacy is to alert countries where RT remains a popular source of global news — including in many parts of Africa, the Middle East and South America — to the potential for Russian influence campaigns against governments that fall out of the Kremlin’s favor.

“We will not stand by as RT and other actors carry out covert activities in support of Russia’s nefarious activities,” Mr. Blinken said. “And we’ll continue to respond forcefully to Moscow’s playbook of aggression and subversion, one that includes invading sovereign nations, fomenting coups, weaponizing corruption, carrying out assassinations, meddling in elections and unjustly detaining foreign nationals.”

 

Last year, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center disclosed a covert information operation to push Kremlin-friendly content in Central and South America by producing articles that appeared to originate with local media organizations, not the Russian government.

That campaign involved two companies, the Social Design Agency and Structura, that were cited in last week’s indictment. Both report to Sergei V. Kiriyenko, a former prime minister who is now a senior adviser to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

 

[Viper 12,221]

 

 

[atomheartbevo 90,663]

[Chooky 13,340]

On 9/5/2024 at 11:31 PM, Rex Kramer said:

 

Guys, what am I missing?  I view posts of idiot Hamas supporters. Blatant shit. And I suspect Prong has an anti-Hamas agenda. I do too. So fucking tell me what I am missing, in that specific thread, which is my very limited interaction with Prong. 

How do you square finding blind alignment with other people who are anti Hamas who are simultaneously super cuddly cozy with Saudi? It's like saying you don't do dairy while you drink straight from the udder.

[Willfully Horn 8,268]

On 9/7/2024 at 9:03 AM, Post Oak said:

At my kids 8U football game this AM.  There's a guy in the stands about 5 feet from me with an FKH (like FJB) shirt on.  He said and I quote " they're using their own propaganda to make us believe that Russia is a bad place" among other nonsense.  He's also got some thoughts on the DOJ trying to railroad Tim Pool. 

 

Wearing that shirt to an eight and under league football game?

Geez Louise.