Active Measures, Disinfo, Propaganda

[Yuk 1532]

10 hours ago, bernorange said:

So i saw this posted on another forum:

I haven't been paying a lot of attention to the Trump theater so I've never heard of this guy.  But I did a search on Surly for the last name and found this:

Active measures abound, apparently.

Full video.  Other one cuts off right before he indicates he's not being serious.  Really, quite perfect for this thread.

[bernorange 8359]

10 hours ago, Yuk said:

Full video.  Other one cuts off right before he indicates he's not being serious.  Really, quite perfect for this thread.

Well damn.  I'll take your word for it since my old computer apparently doesn't have the hardware needed for viewing the H.264 protocol of HTML5 video (your video won't play for me on this computer).

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

The GRU must be the Eric Trump of Putin’s cyber warfare operations. 

[happyfunball 481]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[triplehorn 2664]

I mentioned this in another post: based on a graph of public vulnerability to Russian election interference via propaganda/fake news/ mass social media distortion, right now is the timing sweet spot.  The countermeasures undoubtedly have been ongoing, but measures just got stepped up hopefully to disrupt the active Russian attacks during this prime window.

example graph of effect of Russian attacks on Brexit vote:

Spoiler

WASHINGTON — The United States Cyber Command is targeting individual Russian operatives to try to deter them from spreading disinformation to interfere in elections, telling them that American operatives have identified them and are tracking their work, according to officials briefed on the operation. 

The campaign, which includes missions undertaken in recent days, is the first known overseas cyberoperation to protect American elections, including the November midterms. 

The operations come as the Justice Department outlined on Friday a campaign of “information warfare” by Russians aimed at influencing the midterm elections, highlighting the broad threat the American government sees from Moscow’s influence campaign. 

Defense officials would not say how many individuals they were targeting, and they would not describe the methods that Cyber Command has used to send the direct messages to the operatives behind the influence campaigns. It is not clear if the information was delivered in an email, a chat or some other electronic intervention. 

NYT

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Good

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Sad!

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[pyrohornIII 4814]

5 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

 

You have to wonder if this is another SDI bluff move.   I know a guy (used to be a friend) who is complete cocooned in Q.  He once told me that if the US turned on Q that it had the superior brain power to hack into whatever they wanted and do some serious cyber disruption.  I wonder what they would do if the US could show that Russia really has been duping these people with the Q hoax.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

21 minutes ago, pyrohornIII said:

You have to wonder if this is another SDI bluff move.   

It’s counter propaganda at the very least.  

Basically, telling the Kremlin to back the fuck off publicly.  It also tells those the 3rd party hackers working on behalf of the Kremlin “don’t even try it”.

Will it work? I doubt it but I don’t think the Kremlin is going to interfere too much in the midterms for a few reasons:

First, why would they?  What strategic objective would they accomplish that they already haven’t? This country is about to tear itself apart anyway after the election.  

You might be thinking they want the GOP to retain power but this makes little sense from the long term Kremlin perspective.  Keeping the GOP solidly in control allows the U.S. to exercise more power in any direction they want, including against Russia.  Gridlock, paralysis, and chaos in the US government is the preferable outcome IMO.  That doesn’t happen unless the democrats win something.

Second, it would behoove the Kremlin to save its strength for 2020 when they can inflict real damage.  They went all out in 2016, they threw everything they had at us.  That type of performance will be hard to top, if not impossible.  However, if they want to make a dent in the 2020 election, they should lay low during the midterms so we have a false sense of security and they can get away with more.

 

Edited November 2, 2018 by Hugo Stiglitz

[atomheartbevo 89618]

1 hour ago, pyrohornIII said:

You have to wonder if this is another SDI bluff move.   I know a guy (used to be a friend) who is complete cocooned in Q.  He once told me that if the US turned on Q that it had the superior brain power to hack into whatever they wanted and do some serious cyber disruption.  I wonder what they would do if the US could show that Russia really has been duping these people with the Q hoax.

There are a lot of disillusioned fans.  Reddit banning them probably lowered the engagement as well.

Edited November 2, 2018 by atomheartbevo

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

1 hour ago, pyrohornIII said:

I wonder what they would do if the US could show that Russia really has been duping these people with the Q hoax.

And how exactly could the US show that to these people?

Seems impossible and almost a counterproductive endeavor.

"Q must be real because the Deep State is taking him seriously and framing him as a Russian plant!" 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

1 hour ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

It’s counter propaganda at the very least.  

Basically, telling the Kremlin to back the fuck off publicly.  It also tells those the 3rd party hackers working on behalf of the Kremlin “don’t even try it”.

Will it work? I doubt it but I don’t think the Kremlin is going to interfere too much in the midterms for a few reasons:

First, why would they?  What strategic objective would they accomplish that they already haven’t? This country is about to tear itself apart anyway after the election.  

You might be thinking they want the GOP to retain power but this makes little sense from the long term Kremlin perspective.  Keeping the GOP solidly in control allows the U.S. to exercise more power in any direction they want, including against Russia.  Gridlock, paralysis, and chaos in the US government is the preferable outcome IMO.  That doesn’t happen unless the democrats win something.

Second, it would behoove the Kremlin to save its strength for 2020 when they can inflict real damage.  They went all out in 2016, they threw everything they had at us.  That type of performance will be hard to top, if not impossible.  However, if they want to make a dent in the 2020 election, they should lay low during the midterms so we have a false sense of security and they can get away with more.

 

Another take from someone much better versed on this stuff than me.

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

This is Russia trolling 

 

[bolverk 29644]

Nice but long write-up on the (maybe?) lack of Russian activity:

Quote

 

Mystery of the Midterm Elections: Where Are the Russians?

WASHINGTON — Shane Huntley has seen every form of state-sponsored cyberattack, first as an Australian intelligence officer and now as director of Google’s most advanced team of threat detectors.

So when he was asked what surprised him the most about the 2018 midterm elections, his response was a bit counterintuitive. “The answer is surprisingly little on the hacking front, at least compared to two years ago.” He paused, and added: “And that reassures some people, and it scares some people.”

He is right. From the cyberwar room that the Department of Homeland Security runs round the clock in a bland office building in Arlington, Va., to Microsoft’s threat-assessment center at the other end of the country, in Redmond, Wash., every form of digital radar is being focused on Russia, especially its military-intelligence unit, formerly known as the G.R.U.

The National Security Agency, which failed to respond when Russian hackers were first seen inside the Democratic National Committee’s computer systems in the summer of 2015, has now taken to sending messages directly to Russian hackers, reminding them that they are being watched.

 

2

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/business/midterm-election-russia-cyber.html

(friendly reminder to right-click and open in incognito)

[bolverk 29644]

The roll of the Russians in Brexit:

Quote

Russian Trolls Used Islamophobia To Whip Up Support For Brexit

Russian trolls have been focusing on stoking up anti-Islam sentiment in the UK, a study of nine million tweets has revealed.

Data released today by the Demos think tank showed that Russia's notorious Internet Research Agency (IRA) has generated far more tweets about Islam in the last couple of years than it has on more direct pro-Brexit propaganda.

The most widely-followed and visible troll account, @TEN_GOP, shared 109 Tweets related to the UK in the run-up to the vote, of which 60% were related to Islam.

Accounts managed to stay under the radar by starting off with tweets about health and fitness, many of which were garbled and appeared to be automatically generated.

"Sustained low-level engagement suggest those behind the accounts were not looking to push this content into the public domain," the researchers write. "Rather, this was an attempt to camouflage fake accounts and begin to infiltrate the wider conversation."

By the time of the Brexit referendum, though, the accounts were in full swing, sending 354 English-language tweets on the day itself. While most of these were general anti-EU messages, they included "Algerian illegally in Britain attacked 8 women in ten days! Send the Muslim back to EU!" and, purporting to be from a US account, "I hope UK after #BrexitVote will start to clean their land from muslim invasion!".

The most-retweeted tweet in the six months running up to the vote was "London: Muslims running a campaign stall for  Sharia law! Must be sponsored by @MayorofLondon!" Others claimed, completely falsely, that there were 'no-go' Sharia-run areas in the UK.

 

cont'd

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2018/11/01/russian-trolls-used-islamophobia-to-whip-up-support-for-brexit/#4487549e65f2

[pyrohornIII 4814]

This is a good synopsis of the russian interference measures. 

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Twitter accounts with a history a pushing Kremlin fake news are playing a disproportionate role in amplifying the call for African American voters to hop on the Trump Train

Tweets pushing the Blexit hashtag on Twitter gives the impression that African Americans are rejecting the Democratic party in droves. Over 15 hours Friday afternoon, The Daily Beast captured more than 250,000 tweets amplifying the Blexit movement

40,000, or 16%, of the #Blexit tweets we collected, however, came from accounts that had previously pushed Kremlin propaganda in one of two key Russian disinformation campaigns

[pyrohornIII 4814]

Hey Hugo, repost here that article about the Russian response to the House going blue.   That had a whole lot of meat in it and I think it got overshadowed too easy in the Trump thread.  

I am intrigued by what Russia will do next and we shouldn't lose sight of them. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Okay 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia-in-dismay-and-despair-as-democrats-take-the-house

 

Russian state media isn’t taking Wednesday’s news from America too well. 

On state TV, reports of U.S. Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives were described as a “very negative” outcome for the Kremlin, predicting “political chaos” in Washington and new sanctions on Russians now a certainty.

Across state-run media, experts pointed out that the new majority party’s control of Congress heightens the likelihood of new penalties being imposed. State-TV host Yuri Bogdanov emphasized that sanctions were hinging solely on the results of the midterms because “Trump himself does not want to impose them.” 

Indeed, Russians were bracing themselves for the promised “sanctions from hell.” State-media host Vladimir Soloviev summarized that by looking at President Donald Trump’s new economic penalties on Iran, Russians should now anticipate similar measures by the United States. He also noted that the narrow margins among many poll results demonstrate Americans’ widespread disappointment with Trump. 

State-media analysts also predicted that special counsel Robert Mueller will soon follow through with charges against Trump, members of his immediate family, or others within his administration.

“Expect a storm,” warned Victor Olevich, a leading expert at the Center for Actual Politics, in an appearance on Russian state television.

As Wednesday went on, the dismay in Russia was palpable, with state media reporting that—in light of the midterm results—recent meetings of Kremlin officials with National Security Adviser John Bolton were pointless and there is no longer any need for Vladimir Putin to meet with Trump in Paris during First World War commemoration ceremonies this week. TV host Soloviev remarked: “There’s nothing left to talk about,” as “the sanctions will never be canceled.”

The outcome didn’t come as a surprise. As the midterms drew near, the Kremlin’s apparent concern over potential Democratic victories spilled over into Russian media. With nail-biting intensity, pundits, politicians, and experts noted that Trump “is hanging by a hair” and the new majority will be inclined to cut the dangling thread by initiating the process of his impeachment. State-media outlet Rossiya-24 declared the midterms to be “no less fateful than the presidential election,” pointing out that the shakeup of the House of Representatives constitutes “a huge blow for Trump.”

Several Russian outlets aired live coverage of the voting, and pondered out loud whether Trump might soon be impeached. State-run TV reporters were dispatched across America, from McAllen, Texas, to Maryland and Washington, D.C., to cover what they described as a “historical moment.” Two Russian MPs traveled to the U.S. as election monitors as part of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly mission. State-TV correspondent Alexander Khristenko opined that the midterm results will determine the course America will take for years to come: “a choice between isolationism or globalism, defending the rights of minorities or protecting the white majority.” Back in Russia, state media repeatedly emphasized that the final outcome might cost Trump the White House.

Russians have plenty of selfish reasons to exhibit such an unusual interest in the American elections. As political analyst Evgeny Satanovsky said on Russia’s state-radio program Vesti FM, “For us, Trump is a wonderful president. To demolish trans-Atlantic unity the way he did was impossible to accomplish or predict.” He was quick to point out that in 2016, Russian parliamentarians were drinking Champagne “not because Trump won, but because Hillary [Clinton] didn’t.” 

More pointedly, some officials were publicly musing about an ominous “bright side” in the possibility of Trump’s impeachment. 

Appearing on Russian state-TV program Evening With Vladimir Soloviev, Vyacheslav Nikonov, the chairman of the State Duma Committee for Education and Science, pontificated that “Trump’s impeachment would lead to an armed uprising, a revolution, and a gigantic economic crisis... America might not survive this.” Previously on the program, Andrey Sidorov, deputy dean of World Politics at Moscow’s State University, caustically noted that “Unfortunately, Trump didn’t reach the level of Abraham Lincoln and didn’t drive the United States to civil war. That’s sad. Hopefully, he’ll become Herbert Hoover and at least drive them into a Great Depression.” 

 

 

[pyrohornIII 4814]

So I guess the question that raises in me is will Russia throw Trump to the wolves somehow, maybe by forcing him into some localized armed conflict that could bloom into something more significant?  Something so outrageous everyone would expect the US to counter, forcing Trump to waffle, thus brewing even more dissent in the US?  

Just seems to me they bet a lot on Trump getting the sanctions lifted and now they aren't.   It wouldn't surprise me if they threw him under the bus in a way that causes even more discord here at home.

Either way, the veil has been lifted, their long game using Trump has been outed.  Will be interesting to see their next move.  I just hope it won't be fatal to a lot of Americans. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

The Russians don’t want us in a significant armed conflict, they want us completely out of the Middle East and neutralized militarily so they can be more aggressive on the geopolitical battlefield. 

There’s a reason the alt-right fucks are isolationists that only want to be cruel to people here.  

I don’t think the Kremlin will be throwing Trump under the bus but they may squeeze him to do more crazy shit.  The concern I have is the relationships with our allies and trading partners.  Those fractures will take decades to repair.

[Biff Tannen 45661]

48 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The Russians don’t want us in a significant armed conflict, they want us completely out of the Middle East and neutralized militarily so they can be more aggressive on the geopolitical battlefield. 

There’s a reason the alt-right fucks are isolationists that only want to be cruel to people here.  

I don’t think the Kremlin will be throwing Trump under the bus but they may squeeze him to do more crazy shit.  The concern I have is the relationships with our allies and trading partners.  Those fractures will take decades to repair.

I don't care if you disagree with Hugo politically, but how can you rationally disagree with this take?

[pyrohornIII 4814]

8 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The Russians don’t want us in a significant armed conflict, they want us completely out of the Middle East and neutralized militarily so they can be more aggressive on the geopolitical battlefield. 

There’s a reason the alt-right fucks are isolationists that only want to be cruel to people here.  

I don’t think the Kremlin will be throwing Trump under the bus but they may squeeze him to do more crazy shit.  The concern I have is the relationships with our allies and trading partners.  Those fractures will take decades to repair.

Yeah, I agree they would not want to go head to head against us.   I was thinking armed conflict as in another Crimea or Georgia situation where our allies would expect us to step up and Trump would be in a position to choose.  Kind of like the Syria thing.  I agree, they will continue to keep up the divisive strategies, but I am not sure they won't sell Trump down the river to keep emotions high.    Almost like a "the king is naked" moment where Russia starts pushing their propaganda against Trump reinforcing the left's stance against Trump.   That would lead to a showdown between the fringes for sure and maybe even the more central on either side. 

The best thing for Russia is for us to be literally at each others' throats, ignoring the rest of the world.  I don't see how they are ever going to get their money out of trump now.   Realistically, unless he can run in 2020 successfully and recover the House, keep the Senate, he's a lame duck as far as Putin is concerned.   Better russian money would be what Hugo said, use him to further divide and isolate our country from the rest of the world, thus weakening it.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Undefeated 

[Grandioso 2592]

If James Bond taught us anything, it was that Russia has an endless supply of deadly honey traps.

[Brisketexan 105042]

On 11/9/2018 at 5:36 PM, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The Russians don’t want us in a significant armed conflict, they want us completely out of the Middle East and neutralized militarily so they can be more aggressive on the geopolitical battlefield. 

There’s a reason the alt-right fucks are isolationists that only want to be cruel to people here.  

I don’t think the Kremlin will be throwing Trump under the bus but they may squeeze him to do more crazy shit.  The concern I have is the relationships with our allies and trading partners.  Those fractures will take decades to repair.

 

On 11/9/2018 at 6:24 PM, Biff Tannen said:

I don't care if you disagree with Hugo politically, but how can you rationally disagree with this take?

These.  This is the chess game.  It's not even a complicated chess game.  Russia is executing it perfectly, and we're biting on every move completely and totally.  

They can't beat us in direct combat, so they just get us to remove ourselves from the arenas in which they want to play.

And as for dealing with alliances, "united we stand, divided we fall" has always been a good rule.  A fractured West is, at best, an opportunity for Russia, and at worst, not a threat to Russia and its ambitions.

The American Right has been and continues to be played by Russia, and the only response we get is louder and louder insistence that it was our own idea and it was a brilliant idea to take both of our knights and bishops out of the game and hold them in reserve here on our back line, behind the pawns.

[F250 28761]

3 hours ago, Grandioso said:

If James Bond taught us anything, it was that Russia has an endless supply of deadly honey traps.

I need to get one of those.

[Zavala 1384]

Hugo is mainsdream medior now

[Zavala 1384]

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

43 minutes ago, Zavala said:

Hugo is mainsdream medior now

Solid video.

 

[pyrohornIII 4814]

10 hours ago, Zavala said:

Hugo is mainsdream medior now

while i enjoy seth and maher and all the other pundits who run 15 minute "closer looks" or monologues, they should now and again chuck their own stuff and just post videos like this.  It would be the only way a lot of their audiences would get this sort of information. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[pyrohornIII 4814]

On 11/9/2018 at 5:02 PM, pyrohornIII said:

So I guess the question that raises in me is will Russia throw Trump to the wolves somehow, maybe by forcing him into some localized armed conflict that could bloom into something more significant?  Something so outrageous everyone would expect the US to counter, forcing Trump to waffle, thus brewing even more dissent in the US?  

Just seems to me they bet a lot on Trump getting the sanctions lifted and now they aren't.   It wouldn't surprise me if they threw him under the bus in a way that causes even more discord here at home.

Either way, the veil has been lifted, their long game using Trump has been outed.  Will be interesting to see their next move.  I just hope it won't be fatal to a lot of Americans. 

This whole Ukraine thing is what I was trying to explain might be a Putin move.  And I agree that the border shut down is a planned distraction from this aggressive move by Russia.  Dotard hopes we don't notice until it is too late to do anything, I guess?  He's going to say he doesn't have time to worry about Ukraine.  Let them take care of their own borders.  He has his hands full protecting our own borders from 500 of the bloodthirstiest migrants you ever saw!

[F250 28761]

This morning I came across two Twitter accounts that appeared to be Russian bots defending aggy regarding the attack on LSU's director of player personnel.  The accounts blamed LSU for having someone with a disability on the field. Most of their tweets were crazy Trump, nationalist and evangelical propaganda. They looked like bots but could have just been typical aggy. Hard to tell the difference with aggy.

 

 

[pyrohornIII 4814]

Pretty amazing how deeply they infiltrate.  But they can certainly identify a base to ignite.  Thing is is that from what Hugo says, Tigerdroppings is just as full blown trumpkin.  So curious to see the upside of two separate trumpkin clans infighting.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Pretty interesting history read.  Not sure if it goes in this thread or alt-Right thread of mockery 

 

Edited December 3, 2018 by Hugo Stiglitz

[pyrohornIII 4814]

Here is a good article about how a guy found his niche writing fake news articles and how it begat a whole new industry.   No apparent russian tie, but his clicks could have been easily upped by russian bots. 

It goes into both sides, the guy who lies and the fact checker halfway around the world from him.   I can't cut and paste it, because it's in a very splashy format, lots of movement.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_godfather_of_fake_news

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[bolverk 29644]

 

[bolverk 29644]

NYTimes is also running a story about the National Enquirer:

More Powerful Than a Russian Troll Army: The National Enquirer

The most powerful print publication in America might just be The National Enquirer. It functioned as a dirty-tricks shop for Donald J. Trump in 2016, which would have been the stuff of farce — the ultimate tabloid backs the ultimate tabloid candidate — if it hadn’t accomplished its goal.

The Enquirer’s power was fueled by its covers. For the better part of the campaign season, Enquirer front pages blared sensational headlines about Mr. Trump’s rivals from eye-level racks at supermarket checkout lanes across America. This stroke-of-genius distribution apparatus was dreamed up by the man who made The Enquirer the nation’s biggest gossip rag: its previous owner, Generoso Pope Jr.

The Enquirer’s racks, under the current chief, David J. Pecker, were given over to the Trump campaign. This was a political gift even more valuable than the $150,000 that The Enquirer paid in a “catch-and-kill” deal with the former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of an affair with Mr. Trump.

Wondering what The Enquirer’s covers were worth to the Trump campaign, I called Regis Maher, a co-founder of Do It Outdoors, the national mobile and digital billboard company. He said a campaign with that level of national prominence would cost $2.5 million to $3 million a month.

continued:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/business/media/national-enquirer-trump-mistresses.html