U.S. indictment reveals far-right influencers bankrolled by Kremlin
September 6, 2024 7:57 AM Subscribe
Meet the right-wing Canadian influencers accused of collaborating with an alleged Russian propaganda scheme. A CBC investigation identified far-right media outlet Tenet Media, launched in November 2023, as the organization referred to in a September 4 indictment of two Russian nationals for disinformation and election interference.
The media outlet was unnamed in the indictment, but it was clear from details within that the charges referred to Tenet Media, founded in 2023 by the Canadian influencer known as Lauren Chen and her husband, Liam Donavan. [...] In the indictment, Chen appears to be referred to as Founder-1 and is said to have begun working for the parent company of RT — the Russian state-run news outlet — in the spring of 2021. [...]
Among the people they hired last year was Chen's longtime friend and occasional collaborator Lauren Southern, another Canadian far-right influencer with a massive social media following. [...] Southern was an early proponent of the "great replacement" conspiracy theory, which holds that white majority populations are being replaced by racialized migrants and has been been cited by several far-right terrorists. [...]
"If you think naively that the Russians don't care as much about influencing Canadian thought, penetrating the Canadian government at all levels — I'm here to tell you they care deeply about shaping how you think, how you vote and sowing chaos and discord," said Richard Fadden, former director of CSIS.
I suppose it's too much to hope for that the soi-disant "anti-imperalists" will start to ask how much of their worldview is built out of this kind of thing? (Please god let there be a Grayzone paper trail out there somewhere.)
posted by mittens at 8:09 AM on September 6 [4 favorites]
posted by mittens at 8:09 AM on September 6 [4 favorites]
Jay Kuo had a good piece about this yesterday: Russia Bought the Right. Some useful screen shots.
I remember, years ago, when Republicans saw Russia as the Evil Empire. I would never in a million years have predicted that so many right-wingers would become channels for Russian propaganda, but here we are.
Thank you for posting this, heatherlogan. It's solid reporting by organizations like the CBC that helps us see all the details of how this corruption is happening.
posted by kristi at 8:09 AM on September 6 [19 favorites]
I remember, years ago, when Republicans saw Russia as the Evil Empire. I would never in a million years have predicted that so many right-wingers would become channels for Russian propaganda, but here we are.
Thank you for posting this, heatherlogan. It's solid reporting by organizations like the CBC that helps us see all the details of how this corruption is happening.
posted by kristi at 8:09 AM on September 6 [19 favorites]
> I remember, years ago, when Republicans saw Russia as the Evil Empire.
That was when they sported Communism as their official ideology. Now that they're gangster capitalists instead, they're speaking the same language. Whether there's no functional difference between the two systems in practice is beside the point.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 8:14 AM on September 6 [49 favorites]
That was when they sported Communism as their official ideology. Now that they're gangster capitalists instead, they're speaking the same language. Whether there's no functional difference between the two systems in practice is beside the point.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 8:14 AM on September 6 [49 favorites]
It's entirely likely there are many more Russian assets active in Canadian media - Rebel Media and Postmedia beware.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 8:15 AM on September 6 [7 favorites]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 8:15 AM on September 6 [7 favorites]
This is an astounding story.
posted by bluesky43 at 8:25 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
posted by bluesky43 at 8:25 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
I just dislike this whole situation so much. Things I hate:
- there actually being this whole Russian scheme, because "it's the RUSSIANS persuading you to think that" is used to silence many perfectly legit criticisms of the US
- people being willfully stupid about the state of affairs in Russia both on the left and on the right. Things are a mess in Russia! "Wouldn't it be great if things were like Russia" is the old original watch-what-you-wish-for-you-might-get-it.
- the state of affairs in Russia! There's plenty of blame to go around, including the west's predatory behavior when the USSR collapsed, but one had so hoped that things would be better than the Cold War back in the nineties
- the state of affairs in Russia! At least during communism people got some benefits from communism, whereas now it just seems like all of the drawbacks and none of the health and education services.
- the sheer number of actually existing people on the left who appear genuinely to believe that an enemy of the US is their friend on those grounds alone.
- the sheer number of actually existing communists who think Russia is Good, Actually. As an anarchist, I happen to know a reasonable amount about protest, labor and media in Russia and it's not in fact Good, Actually.
- the state of affairs in Russia, again! It really grieves me that all this garbage conflict is still going on to the enormous detriment of actual regular people in both countries.
I got called a communist for years when I was a kid partly because I was an obnoxious nerd so I was going to be called something but fundamentally because I questioned the anti-Soviet propaganda we got in school, purely on the basis of naively thinking that it was unlikely that Russians were all slavering for American blood. This has given me a pro-Russia bias in a lot of ways just because....I suffered for Russia! I really hate that things are the way they are.
posted by Frowner at 8:32 AM on September 6 [53 favorites]
- there actually being this whole Russian scheme, because "it's the RUSSIANS persuading you to think that" is used to silence many perfectly legit criticisms of the US
- people being willfully stupid about the state of affairs in Russia both on the left and on the right. Things are a mess in Russia! "Wouldn't it be great if things were like Russia" is the old original watch-what-you-wish-for-you-might-get-it.
- the state of affairs in Russia! There's plenty of blame to go around, including the west's predatory behavior when the USSR collapsed, but one had so hoped that things would be better than the Cold War back in the nineties
- the state of affairs in Russia! At least during communism people got some benefits from communism, whereas now it just seems like all of the drawbacks and none of the health and education services.
- the sheer number of actually existing people on the left who appear genuinely to believe that an enemy of the US is their friend on those grounds alone.
- the sheer number of actually existing communists who think Russia is Good, Actually. As an anarchist, I happen to know a reasonable amount about protest, labor and media in Russia and it's not in fact Good, Actually.
- the state of affairs in Russia, again! It really grieves me that all this garbage conflict is still going on to the enormous detriment of actual regular people in both countries.
I got called a communist for years when I was a kid partly because I was an obnoxious nerd so I was going to be called something but fundamentally because I questioned the anti-Soviet propaganda we got in school, purely on the basis of naively thinking that it was unlikely that Russians were all slavering for American blood. This has given me a pro-Russia bias in a lot of ways just because....I suffered for Russia! I really hate that things are the way they are.
posted by Frowner at 8:32 AM on September 6 [53 favorites]
Jay Kuo had a good piece about this yesterday: Russia Bought the Right.
I thought the Benny Johnson guy seemed familiar. His show was broadcasting live from directly opposite the entry of the RNC this year in Milwaukee, closer than any other broadcast booth there. It was closer to the arena entry than Fox News! Haven't seen any mention of it since the Russia news came out, but the size of his operation and proximity to the center was notable. I was there covering the convention and had never heard of The Benny Show, but I decided to hang around since there was a constant stream of big names in the right wing extended universe (Trump kids, Huckabee Sanders, etc.) showing up on his stage.
posted by msbrauer at 8:36 AM on September 6 [4 favorites]
I thought the Benny Johnson guy seemed familiar. His show was broadcasting live from directly opposite the entry of the RNC this year in Milwaukee, closer than any other broadcast booth there. It was closer to the arena entry than Fox News! Haven't seen any mention of it since the Russia news came out, but the size of his operation and proximity to the center was notable. I was there covering the convention and had never heard of The Benny Show, but I decided to hang around since there was a constant stream of big names in the right wing extended universe (Trump kids, Huckabee Sanders, etc.) showing up on his stage.
posted by msbrauer at 8:36 AM on September 6 [4 favorites]
And Tenet has just announced that they've closed down. I'm sure that will make this story go away now!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:47 AM on September 6 [8 favorites]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:47 AM on September 6 [8 favorites]
Back when I was still active on Twitter, and to a lesser extent in other social media now, there was and is a vocal contingent of "leftists" calling "liberals" idiots for believing "Russiagate" was real. This has always seemed weird to me; there were documented and indictable connections between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. Like, if you read the Mueller report, and if you paid attention to credible journalism, there really was no question that at minimum some campaign finance laws were broken, and some justice was obstructed, and it's reasonable to conclude through adverse inference that things were quite a lot worse than that.
So anyway, these loud "leftists" seemed to kind of appear in my feeds all of a sudden some time in the last couple of years. It was a point of view that I just never encountered among vocal Trump opponents during his administration, and I still remember the first time I saw it because it was so jarring. Now I can't help but wonder if it was something similar going on in the "left" podcast sphere. After all, it's a historical fact that Russian intelligence likes to play both sides.
posted by dbx at 8:55 AM on September 6 [30 favorites]
So anyway, these loud "leftists" seemed to kind of appear in my feeds all of a sudden some time in the last couple of years. It was a point of view that I just never encountered among vocal Trump opponents during his administration, and I still remember the first time I saw it because it was so jarring. Now I can't help but wonder if it was something similar going on in the "left" podcast sphere. After all, it's a historical fact that Russian intelligence likes to play both sides.
posted by dbx at 8:55 AM on September 6 [30 favorites]
This is an astounding story.
When they get around to making a movie about it, they best call it USEFUL IDIOTS.
posted by philip-random at 8:56 AM on September 6 [7 favorites]
When they get around to making a movie about it, they best call it USEFUL IDIOTS.
posted by philip-random at 8:56 AM on September 6 [7 favorites]
There was a definite weird vocal left on Twitter supporting the "Ukrainians are Nazis" line right around the Russian invasion too. It was really strange.
posted by mazola at 9:04 AM on September 6 [15 favorites]
posted by mazola at 9:04 AM on September 6 [15 favorites]
After all, it's a historical fact that Russian intelligence likes to play both sides.
Yes, the objective is less to support a political side, than to destabilize by amplifying existing fear, uncertainty, doubt, distrust and despair.
It's extrapolating from Sun Tzu; it's "The Monsters Are Dueon Maple Street in Your Living Room" writ large. And it's far cheaper and more winnable than a 'hot' war.
posted by zaixfeep at 9:08 AM on September 6 [8 favorites]
Yes, the objective is less to support a political side, than to destabilize by amplifying existing fear, uncertainty, doubt, distrust and despair.
It's extrapolating from Sun Tzu; it's "The Monsters Are Due
posted by zaixfeep at 9:08 AM on September 6 [8 favorites]
Next do Taibbi and Greenwald.
posted by Lyme Drop at 9:09 AM on September 6 [29 favorites]
posted by Lyme Drop at 9:09 AM on September 6 [29 favorites]
These MAGA Idiots Fell for Obvious Russian Influence Scheme
a good breakdown (with Schadenfreudian chuckles) of the story so far. Less hyperbolic than its headline.
posted by philip-random at 9:11 AM on September 6 [3 favorites]
a good breakdown (with Schadenfreudian chuckles) of the story so far. Less hyperbolic than its headline.
posted by philip-random at 9:11 AM on September 6 [3 favorites]
pedantic, probably, but TFA correctly does not mention the initialism "KGB" of this post's title, which refers to a soviet government agency that has been defunct as long as the USSR has been defunct, except in a few places like belarus where the successor agencies retained the initialism (per wikipedia). the successor agencies in russia, in particular, do not use that name AFAICT.
should the title of the post be modified to refer to RT (the russian state media entity mentioned in the actual article) or whichever branch of the actual russian state is implicated?
(it's generally worth not confusing russia under putin with the USSR for a bunch of reasons (beyond just basic factuality), not least of which is the abuse of soviet history in modern russian propaganda [e.g. the nazis-in-ukraine line])
posted by busted_crayons at 9:13 AM on September 6 [13 favorites]
should the title of the post be modified to refer to RT (the russian state media entity mentioned in the actual article) or whichever branch of the actual russian state is implicated?
(it's generally worth not confusing russia under putin with the USSR for a bunch of reasons (beyond just basic factuality), not least of which is the abuse of soviet history in modern russian propaganda [e.g. the nazis-in-ukraine line])
posted by busted_crayons at 9:13 AM on September 6 [13 favorites]
- there actually being this whole Russian scheme, because "it's the RUSSIANS persuading you to think that" is used to silence many perfectly legit criticisms of the US
This is because it is standard tactics of disinformation campaigns and unrest sowing to amplify existing discontents within target countries. It is why the soviets made common cause with African American protest groups. They don't invent the fissures, they exploit and enlarge them.
It's a large part of why there were those inchoate and incoherent right wing protests during the pandemic. They literally whipped people up to protest with a crazy shopping list of grievances, often incompatible with each other, to protest together.
It's why so many people are unhappy with the economy. Everyone has a couple of reasons to dislike 'the economy' (I'm not thrilled by inflation or my shocking rent increases). Other people didn't get the raises that some did. Some people liked the financial support of the pandemic measures and are unhappy they were taken away. Some people have been jerked around on loan forgiveness.
You can then manipulate these complaints into a propaganda weapon of one big giant grievance about "The economy" and throw it at someone even though they are not really a single coherent issue that could somehow be solved. In fact the unsolvability of incoherent grievances is a huge part of their propaganda power because they are a bomb that cannot be defused. Once lit the emotional fuse will just keep burning.
posted by srboisvert at 9:28 AM on September 6 [18 favorites]
This is because it is standard tactics of disinformation campaigns and unrest sowing to amplify existing discontents within target countries. It is why the soviets made common cause with African American protest groups. They don't invent the fissures, they exploit and enlarge them.
It's a large part of why there were those inchoate and incoherent right wing protests during the pandemic. They literally whipped people up to protest with a crazy shopping list of grievances, often incompatible with each other, to protest together.
It's why so many people are unhappy with the economy. Everyone has a couple of reasons to dislike 'the economy' (I'm not thrilled by inflation or my shocking rent increases). Other people didn't get the raises that some did. Some people liked the financial support of the pandemic measures and are unhappy they were taken away. Some people have been jerked around on loan forgiveness.
You can then manipulate these complaints into a propaganda weapon of one big giant grievance about "The economy" and throw it at someone even though they are not really a single coherent issue that could somehow be solved. In fact the unsolvability of incoherent grievances is a huge part of their propaganda power because they are a bomb that cannot be defused. Once lit the emotional fuse will just keep burning.
posted by srboisvert at 9:28 AM on September 6 [18 favorites]
should the title of the post be modified to refer to RT (the russian state media entity mentioned in the actual article) or whichever branch of the actual russian state is implicated?
I wonder if just putting "KGB" in quotes would work.
I happen to live in a British Columbia, Canada, where the Big Tent right wing, free enterprise, definitely NOT socialist party keeps changing its name mainly because when it gets into power, it inevitably makes a powerful and enduring mess of things.
When I was a kid, they called themselves Social Credit but that all crashed and burned in the 1980s. So they gathered themselves up, never exactly lacking for cash, and basically evicted the Liberal Party, took the name, but kept all their old policies. Which yes, caused confusion, but the right kind (for them) because their past bullshit could be blamed on somebody else (now a ghost) ... and they ended up in power again for two decades, ultimately making a hash of things again, getting their asses handed to them at the polls.
But (long story short) they rebranded again as BC United but that hasn't worked, so just a few days ago, what the hell, they more or less dissolved again and now everyone's flocking together under the moniker Conservative Party of BC. Which is a hell of a trick when you think about it. From Liberal to Conservative in less than two years. It took my Uncle Garth at least a decade to pull off the same trick.
It's almost as if words don't mean anything anymore.
posted by philip-random at 9:33 AM on September 6 [12 favorites]
I wonder if just putting "KGB" in quotes would work.
I happen to live in a British Columbia, Canada, where the Big Tent right wing, free enterprise, definitely NOT socialist party keeps changing its name mainly because when it gets into power, it inevitably makes a powerful and enduring mess of things.
When I was a kid, they called themselves Social Credit but that all crashed and burned in the 1980s. So they gathered themselves up, never exactly lacking for cash, and basically evicted the Liberal Party, took the name, but kept all their old policies. Which yes, caused confusion, but the right kind (for them) because their past bullshit could be blamed on somebody else (now a ghost) ... and they ended up in power again for two decades, ultimately making a hash of things again, getting their asses handed to them at the polls.
But (long story short) they rebranded again as BC United but that hasn't worked, so just a few days ago, what the hell, they more or less dissolved again and now everyone's flocking together under the moniker Conservative Party of BC. Which is a hell of a trick when you think about it. From Liberal to Conservative in less than two years. It took my Uncle Garth at least a decade to pull off the same trick.
It's almost as if words don't mean anything anymore.
posted by philip-random at 9:33 AM on September 6 [12 favorites]
busted_crayons, good point! Moderators, can you please replace "... bankrolled by KGB" with "... bankrolled by Kremlin" in the title of this post?
posted by heatherlogan at 9:34 AM on September 6 [4 favorites]
posted by heatherlogan at 9:34 AM on September 6 [4 favorites]
Ugh.
If you want more “bizarre external influences on Canadians via media,” this Canadaland episode on anti-Trudeau videos from last year is really something.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:37 AM on September 6 [5 favorites]
If you want more “bizarre external influences on Canadians via media,” this Canadaland episode on anti-Trudeau videos from last year is really something.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:37 AM on September 6 [5 favorites]
What does the left have to do with Russian-funded right-wingers? How'd that synapse get miswired in your heads?
posted by jy4m at 9:48 AM on September 6 [4 favorites]
posted by jy4m at 9:48 AM on September 6 [4 favorites]
Eventually, the US, NATO, and its other allies will need to get their collective shit together and make it clear to Russia, China, Iran, and DPRK that they are going to start treating this sort of thing like the act of war that it is.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 9:54 AM on September 6 [5 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 9:54 AM on September 6 [5 favorites]
While it stretches credulity that these boneheads didn't have even the slightest inkling where this money was coming from, what I think this proves, apart from everything else, is that the majority of these right-wing influencers don't believe the crap they're selling as long as the checks clear. If there yet exists a right-wing ideology with any substance it's that money and money alone are the only things in the world worth fighting for. To even sit in the same room with the 1% will somehow shield them from the future they are rapidly creating.
posted by hairless ape at 9:55 AM on September 6 [14 favorites]
posted by hairless ape at 9:55 AM on September 6 [14 favorites]
Mod note: Title changed at OP’s request.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 9:55 AM on September 6 [4 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 9:55 AM on September 6 [4 favorites]
What does the left have to do with Russian-funded right-wingers? How'd that synapse get miswired in your heads?
As a check not to get too comfortable that this is a right-wing only tactic? A reminder to stay critical?
posted by mazola at 9:56 AM on September 6 [15 favorites]
As a check not to get too comfortable that this is a right-wing only tactic? A reminder to stay critical?
posted by mazola at 9:56 AM on September 6 [15 favorites]
"Russia Hoax" is definitely an odd, specific phrase that was never backed up by actual evidence. Right-wing grifters that were pretending to be left-leaning, like Taibbi and Greenwald, used it pretty often, and now I distrust anyone that utters it.
posted by ishmael at 10:02 AM on September 6 [9 favorites]
posted by ishmael at 10:02 AM on September 6 [9 favorites]
While it stretches credulity that these boneheads didn't have even the slightest inkling where this money was coming from, what I think this proves, apart from everything else, is that the majority of these right-wing influencers don't believe the crap they're selling as long as the checks clear.
Heard a theory recently that these particular Russian agents weren't trying to convince anyone of anything, but they found pundits that already kind of agreed with their talking points, like Tim Poole and Dave Rubin, and just gave them a lot more money to keep doing what they were doing.
Apparently Tim Poole has a compound now.
posted by ishmael at 10:06 AM on September 6 [6 favorites]
Heard a theory recently that these particular Russian agents weren't trying to convince anyone of anything, but they found pundits that already kind of agreed with their talking points, like Tim Poole and Dave Rubin, and just gave them a lot more money to keep doing what they were doing.
Apparently Tim Poole has a compound now.
posted by ishmael at 10:06 AM on September 6 [6 favorites]
Eventually, the US, NATO, and its other allies will need to get their collective shit together and make it clear to Russia, China, Iran, and DPRK that they are going to start treating this sort of thing like the act of war that it is.
Then perhaps the United States should stop doing similar things.
posted by drstrangelove at 10:23 AM on September 6 [7 favorites]
Then perhaps the United States should stop doing similar things.
posted by drstrangelove at 10:23 AM on September 6 [7 favorites]
Next do Taibbi and Greenwald.
Yeah, because everyone who says things we don't like to hear should be silenced using Russophobia as the justification.
posted by drstrangelove at 10:24 AM on September 6 [3 favorites]
Yeah, because everyone who says things we don't like to hear should be silenced using Russophobia as the justification.
posted by drstrangelove at 10:24 AM on September 6 [3 favorites]
I absolutely have no problem listening to actual journalists saying things I am uncomfortable with.
But I do not trust Taibbi or Greenwald one bit. "Twitter files" my ass.
posted by ishmael at 10:30 AM on September 6 [12 favorites]
But I do not trust Taibbi or Greenwald one bit. "Twitter files" my ass.
posted by ishmael at 10:30 AM on September 6 [12 favorites]
I am just so suspect of socials in general. I barely believe anything I read anymore. I suspect half the posts on Reddit are faked up posts to either make me as a Canadian hate immigration or to further incite gender wars (both trans and cis) by posting stupid “relationship” questions whereby one gender is behaving atrociously and trying to make me think this is how all people are and aren’t all men/women terrible.
It doesn’t help the “kernel of truth” (see recent FP on Canadian politics, and recent changes to the temp foreign worker rules which anyone with eyes could see was totally happening, or real estate bubble driven by external cash) and these things play right into that and then try to divide us.
It just makes me more mad how asleep at the wheel the government has been about this all honestly. Like anyone with vision can see what’s going on and lean in and be proactive. That’s what’s impressed me most about the Harris campaign so far honestly, someone is finally playing by the 2024 playbook instead of thinking it’s 2008 and “logical people will of course choose well.”
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:34 AM on September 6 [12 favorites]
It doesn’t help the “kernel of truth” (see recent FP on Canadian politics, and recent changes to the temp foreign worker rules which anyone with eyes could see was totally happening, or real estate bubble driven by external cash) and these things play right into that and then try to divide us.
It just makes me more mad how asleep at the wheel the government has been about this all honestly. Like anyone with vision can see what’s going on and lean in and be proactive. That’s what’s impressed me most about the Harris campaign so far honestly, someone is finally playing by the 2024 playbook instead of thinking it’s 2008 and “logical people will of course choose well.”
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:34 AM on September 6 [12 favorites]
Like we need to call it what it is already, a cyber-social Cold War.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:35 AM on September 6 [5 favorites]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:35 AM on September 6 [5 favorites]
Then perhaps the United States should stop doing similar things.
The US's official propaganda office runs operations at an industrial scale to destabilize regimes across dozens of countries? I'm sure you can dig up isolated examples of horrible things the US has done, (much fewer in the last 30 years, though), but what Russia is doing is orders of magnitude more intense.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:50 AM on September 6 [9 favorites]
The US's official propaganda office runs operations at an industrial scale to destabilize regimes across dozens of countries? I'm sure you can dig up isolated examples of horrible things the US has done, (much fewer in the last 30 years, though), but what Russia is doing is orders of magnitude more intense.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:50 AM on September 6 [9 favorites]
They'd look great "influencing" from a trench in Donbas.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:57 AM on September 6 [2 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:57 AM on September 6 [2 favorites]
but what Russia is doing is orders of magnitude more intense.
It seems fairly similar to what the US does in many countries (see for instance the antivax bullshit the US spread in the Philippines recently). I think it just feels different because we aren't used to having this kind of thing directed at us in the US and Canada (or at least we aren't used to having it made public that this sort of thing is being directed at us).
posted by ssg at 10:59 AM on September 6 [10 favorites]
It seems fairly similar to what the US does in many countries (see for instance the antivax bullshit the US spread in the Philippines recently). I think it just feels different because we aren't used to having this kind of thing directed at us in the US and Canada (or at least we aren't used to having it made public that this sort of thing is being directed at us).
posted by ssg at 10:59 AM on September 6 [10 favorites]
YouTube terminating Tenet Media channel after US indictment [Reuters]
posted by needled at 11:13 AM on September 6 [5 favorites]
posted by needled at 11:13 AM on September 6 [5 favorites]
The mention of Taibbi and Greenwald really underscores the fact that everybody involved was already a right-wing monster pushing antihuman garbage, and we've got our own billionaires throwing massive amounts of money at anybody able and willing to be a right-wing shill. (It's weird that nobody talks about Wingnut Welfare anymore!) It's very funny that these idiots got caught and I hope it's an avenue for bad things to happen to them but I think the Russians were definitely more enabling than causing.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:37 AM on September 6 [12 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:37 AM on September 6 [12 favorites]
Tim Pool is gonna have to take off that hat in court.
posted by ishmael at 11:53 AM on September 6 [15 favorites]
posted by ishmael at 11:53 AM on September 6 [15 favorites]
One major takeaway from this story, for me, is that if the Russian intelligence services have enough hard currency available to them to make spending $100,000 per month on Tim Poole a reasonable use of their foreign reserves, then sanctions are not working nearly well enough.
Beyond that aspect, my reactions to the story have mostly been:
Beyond that aspect, my reactions to the story have mostly been:
- I certainly hope that uncovering this one operation isn't the last we ever hear of this because I suspect (admittedly without any direct evidence) there's still a river of Russian cash flowing through parts of our political and media economies, including some organizations that are practically untouchable for partisan reasons (e.g. the NRA).
- I also hope that, having identified some recipients of Russian influence money that the DOJ goes hard on stripping them of their gains, not only because they are terrible people who have behaved terribly and deserve it but because I want others to worry about their security before making the same deal. I am not inclined to accept an "Oops, my bad," from these influencers while they walk away with their wheelbarrows full of cash.
- I would really like to know more about whether these operations give value for money, what they actually achieve, etc. I certainly hope someone on "our side" is paying attention to that because It doesn't feel like we have a robust and effective mechanism to defend against these sorts of operations and I expect we're going to face them for quite some time and obviously not only from Russia. Understanding what they accomplish, how they work, and how to identify them is pretty clearly going to be a national security interest in the 21st century. I don't like the implications of that in either direction, but just because I don't like it doesn't mean it can be dismissed from consideration.
then sanctions are not working nearly well enough.
The article linked above by kristi has a diagram of the 20 or so shell companies used to launder the payments.
Whoever holds the contract to sell red string to the FBI must be making a mint.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 12:02 PM on September 6 [8 favorites]
The article linked above by kristi has a diagram of the 20 or so shell companies used to launder the payments.
Whoever holds the contract to sell red string to the FBI must be making a mint.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 12:02 PM on September 6 [8 favorites]
Tim Pool is gonna have to take off that hat in court.
That's where he keeps the money.
posted by mittens at 12:11 PM on September 6 [7 favorites]
That's where he keeps the money.
posted by mittens at 12:11 PM on September 6 [7 favorites]
Mod note: A few comments deleted. Let's not bring Israel into this thread.
posted by loup (staff) at 12:27 PM on September 6 [4 favorites]
posted by loup (staff) at 12:27 PM on September 6 [4 favorites]
Wow that's almost as evil as the American billionaires who also finance them to say the exact same things.
posted by Space Coyote at 12:29 PM on September 6 [17 favorites]
posted by Space Coyote at 12:29 PM on September 6 [17 favorites]
I've been waiting for this news to hit MetaFilter, because:
███╗ ██╗ ██████╗ ██████╗ ██╗ ██╗██╗ ██╗██╗██╗ ████╗ ██║██╔═══██╗ ██╔══██╗██║ ██║██║ ██║██║██║ ██╔██╗ ██║██║ ██║ ██║ ██║██║ ██║███████║██║██║ ██║╚██╗██║██║ ██║ ██║ ██║██║ ██║██╔══██║╚═╝╚═╝ ██║ ╚████║╚██████╔╝ ██████╔╝╚██████╔╝██║ ██║██╗██╗ ╚═╝ ╚═══╝ ╚═════╝ ╚═════╝ ╚═════╝ ╚═╝ ╚═╝╚═╝╚═╝posted by loquacious at 12:43 PM on September 6 [20 favorites]
What does the left have to do with Russian-funded right-wingers? How'd that synapse get miswired in your heads?
As a check not to get too comfortable that this is a right-wing only tactic? A reminder to stay critical?
Cool as long as we're all doing the good and important work of keeping each other "in check" and staying critical in the thread about Russia Funded Conservative Influencers, I will wait patiently for liberals and centrists to keep themselves in check on the exponentially larger, wider-reaching, more "credible" mass media properties like CNN for doing their own puff pieces promoting violent and oppressive anti-democratic dictatorships. Can we demand to know who's funding them too, or do we have bigger fish to fry like rinky dink little bullshit fringe operations like The Gray Zone and their ~37k monthly unique visits? Compare this to TheBlaze.com which has ~1.7M monthly uniques; I'm not going to bother looking up CNN because we all know it's significantly more massive.
And people can say whatever they want, but pretty indisputable that cranks like Greenwald, Taibbi, Blumenthal etc at least remain divisive and widely disliked figures among those on "the left" - even if people were once fans, a pretty sizeable percentage have since turned against them as they've gone further and further down their obviously Thiel/Musk/Foreign-funded rabbitholes. The leftist curse of litmus tests and denouncing those who "go against the family" becomes a feature in these instances. I don't expect many conservatives to do the same to their own, and I also don't expect Smart Reasonable Liberals to do it to their own either.
So even if "leftists" are as susceptible to this stuff as anyone on the political spectrum, I'd argue they're also better, as a block, at abandoning those influencers on their own side than anyone. So the fixation on "leftists" in threads like these always reads as hugely disproportionate to what's actually happening not only on the right, but in the liberal center as well, where there's much higher mainstream reach and far more acceptance of "foreign influence" from human-rights violating countries - provided that they are the US-approved ones.
posted by windbox at 12:57 PM on September 6 [19 favorites]
As a check not to get too comfortable that this is a right-wing only tactic? A reminder to stay critical?
Cool as long as we're all doing the good and important work of keeping each other "in check" and staying critical in the thread about Russia Funded Conservative Influencers, I will wait patiently for liberals and centrists to keep themselves in check on the exponentially larger, wider-reaching, more "credible" mass media properties like CNN for doing their own puff pieces promoting violent and oppressive anti-democratic dictatorships. Can we demand to know who's funding them too, or do we have bigger fish to fry like rinky dink little bullshit fringe operations like The Gray Zone and their ~37k monthly unique visits? Compare this to TheBlaze.com which has ~1.7M monthly uniques; I'm not going to bother looking up CNN because we all know it's significantly more massive.
And people can say whatever they want, but pretty indisputable that cranks like Greenwald, Taibbi, Blumenthal etc at least remain divisive and widely disliked figures among those on "the left" - even if people were once fans, a pretty sizeable percentage have since turned against them as they've gone further and further down their obviously Thiel/Musk/Foreign-funded rabbitholes. The leftist curse of litmus tests and denouncing those who "go against the family" becomes a feature in these instances. I don't expect many conservatives to do the same to their own, and I also don't expect Smart Reasonable Liberals to do it to their own either.
So even if "leftists" are as susceptible to this stuff as anyone on the political spectrum, I'd argue they're also better, as a block, at abandoning those influencers on their own side than anyone. So the fixation on "leftists" in threads like these always reads as hugely disproportionate to what's actually happening not only on the right, but in the liberal center as well, where there's much higher mainstream reach and far more acceptance of "foreign influence" from human-rights violating countries - provided that they are the US-approved ones.
posted by windbox at 12:57 PM on September 6 [19 favorites]
Re: sanctions not working well
Russia has been making literally billions selling their oil and natural gas to other countries that give a flying fadoo about sanctions.
posted by grmpyprogrammer at 1:22 PM on September 6 [2 favorites]
Russia has been making literally billions selling their oil and natural gas to other countries that give a flying fadoo about sanctions.
posted by grmpyprogrammer at 1:22 PM on September 6 [2 favorites]
Wired: Right-Wing Influencer Network Tenet Media Allegedly Spread Russian Disinformation
The indictment claims that the founders were aware they were working with Russian nationals and did not register with the US attorney general “as an agent of a foreign principal, as required by law.” For example, the indictment claims the founders referred to the RT employees as “the Russians” in private messages with each other. When the company’s fake [Hungarian] backer, “Eduard Grigoriann,” did not reply to a message about money, one of the founders allegedly Googled “time in Moscow.”The DOJ exhibit documents go into far more detail, including this extremely on-the-nose strategic plan called "Good Old USA" (censoring of parties and candidates removed because, c'mon):
The information situation in the United States differs dramatically from that in all other Western countries. The key to this situation is the high level of polarization of American society, which is split between supporters of the Democratic and Republican parties. We believe that supporters of the Democratic Party are left-wing and far-left globalists who advocate for perversion of traditional moral and religious values, while supporters of the Republican Party are normal people whose priority is to preserve traditions of the American way of life. It is important that "Democrats" are also people of color and supporters of "affirmative action" and "reverse discrimination," i.e., infringement on the rights of the white population of the United States, while "Republicans" are the victims of discrimination by people of color.posted by Rhaomi at 1:26 PM on September 6 [6 favorites]
Moreover, although Joe Biden is an appointee of the most numerous and influential group in the leadership of the Democratic Party, he currently enjoys the approval of less than 40% of U.S. citizens. It is also important that Biden's likely rival in the next election, Donald Trump, is popular among the Republicans, primarily poor whites. However, he is not popular with the leadership of the Republican Party.
None of the significant American politicians, including those significantly opposed to the incumbent president, can be considered pro-Russian or pro-Putin. However, there is a widespread opinion among Democrats that Biden and his government are spending too much money on foreign policy, on confrontation with Russia, and on "Lend-Lease" to Ukraine. This is at the time when the United States is suffering from rising prices, primarily for gasoline, historically high inflation and the actual impoverishment of white taxpayers, a significant part of the middle class. Under these circumstances, the recipients of public assistance, unemployed people of color and residents of large cities end up being privileged groups of the population.
A key characteristic of the American media is its skew towards the Democratic influence. While society is split between supporters of "new globalist socialism" and supporters of traditional values, between a donkey and an elephant is roughly equal, the media is "Democratic" by over 75%. The situation for Republicans is made complicated by the censorship on social media and Republican-oriented "new media."
The DOJ exhibit documents go into far more detail
I've been reading through this for the past day or so since I saw it. That 277 pages of affidavit and supporting evidence may as well be a show bible for fringe right-wing radio and podcasts - down to the details of their statements about the Moscow terror attack, the memes they talk about, undermining trust in US elections, and the Putin-apologetics they employ to frame current news. It's not a surprise to learn that some people are Russian stooges, but I didn't think Russia was actually printing out handbooks with mission statements and decision trees and shit.
posted by Avelwood at 1:59 PM on September 6 [9 favorites]
I've been reading through this for the past day or so since I saw it. That 277 pages of affidavit and supporting evidence may as well be a show bible for fringe right-wing radio and podcasts - down to the details of their statements about the Moscow terror attack, the memes they talk about, undermining trust in US elections, and the Putin-apologetics they employ to frame current news. It's not a surprise to learn that some people are Russian stooges, but I didn't think Russia was actually printing out handbooks with mission statements and decision trees and shit.
posted by Avelwood at 1:59 PM on September 6 [9 favorites]
And people can say whatever they want, but pretty indisputable that cranks like Greenwald, Taibbi, Blumenthal etc at least remain divisive and widely disliked figures among those on "the left" - even if people were once fans, a pretty sizeable percentage have since turned against them as they've gone further and further down their obviously Thiel/Musk/Foreign-funded rabbitholes.
Think both Dave Rubin and Tim Pool are both from that same cohort, albeit without established reps as journalists- think Dave Rubin started as a staffer at TYT, and Tim Pool started as videographer for Occupy. Starting left/left-adjacent and then morphing into right-wing grifter.
posted by ishmael at 2:04 PM on September 6 [4 favorites]
Think both Dave Rubin and Tim Pool are both from that same cohort, albeit without established reps as journalists- think Dave Rubin started as a staffer at TYT, and Tim Pool started as videographer for Occupy. Starting left/left-adjacent and then morphing into right-wing grifter.
posted by ishmael at 2:04 PM on September 6 [4 favorites]
Just when you think the actual media are full of shit with their wildly biased reporting, this comes out?
I mean, loquacious was right, but what repercussions do you think there will be? What repercussions should there be? How many mainstream media sources quoted or sourced these guys? It's not like I needed another reason to distrust media in general.
posted by Sphinx at 2:08 PM on September 6 [1 favorite]
I mean, loquacious was right, but what repercussions do you think there will be? What repercussions should there be? How many mainstream media sources quoted or sourced these guys? It's not like I needed another reason to distrust media in general.
posted by Sphinx at 2:08 PM on September 6 [1 favorite]
We believe that supporters of the Democratic Party are left-wing and far-left globalists who advocate for perversion of traditional moral and religious values, while supporters of the Republican Party are normal people whose priority is to preserve traditions of the American way of life. [...] While society is split between supporters of "new globalist socialism" and supporters of traditional values [...]
(from Rhaomi's quotes from the DOJ exhibit documents)
Never forget that "globalist" is an antisemitic dog-whistle and code-word for Jews.
posted by heatherlogan at 2:18 PM on September 6 [15 favorites]
(from Rhaomi's quotes from the DOJ exhibit documents)
Never forget that "globalist" is an antisemitic dog-whistle and code-word for Jews.
posted by heatherlogan at 2:18 PM on September 6 [15 favorites]
The mention of Taibbi and Greenwald really underscores the fact that everybody involved was already a right-wing monster pushing antihuman garbage,
what's annoying about Taibbi (and he's gotten very f***ing annoying) is that he once did some solid journalism. Although one now wonders if he got recruited way back when while living and playing in freshly post-Iron Curtain Russia, and that his good reporting was seen by his masters as serving their greater cause -- whatever the hell it is.
Anyway, his is the full-on mea culpa driven tell-all memoir I'd like to read in a decade or so once he's finally no longer an active player in anything beyond maybe trying to do history a favour and helping sort some of the confusion he helped sew.
posted by philip-random at 2:19 PM on September 6 [6 favorites]
what's annoying about Taibbi (and he's gotten very f***ing annoying) is that he once did some solid journalism. Although one now wonders if he got recruited way back when while living and playing in freshly post-Iron Curtain Russia, and that his good reporting was seen by his masters as serving their greater cause -- whatever the hell it is.
Anyway, his is the full-on mea culpa driven tell-all memoir I'd like to read in a decade or so once he's finally no longer an active player in anything beyond maybe trying to do history a favour and helping sort some of the confusion he helped sew.
posted by philip-random at 2:19 PM on September 6 [6 favorites]
Honestly, I wouldn’t give Russia credit for N-dimensional thinking or long term planning. They have a lot of money and they are willing to spend it throwing shit at the wall to cause havoc. And, the US being the US, there is a lot of shit to throw and a lot of hail to be had.
Also, I’m a little surprised that Alex Jones isn’t caught up in this, although he’s maybe on another money trough.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:59 PM on September 6 [3 favorites]
Also, I’m a little surprised that Alex Jones isn’t caught up in this, although he’s maybe on another money trough.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:59 PM on September 6 [3 favorites]
I think he gets his funding direct from the Illuminati.
posted by philip-random at 3:10 PM on September 6 [1 favorite]
posted by philip-random at 3:10 PM on September 6 [1 favorite]
I think Jones’ Bircher soul just threw up in his mouth a little.
Oh, wait, that was the afternoon vodka.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:21 PM on September 6 [2 favorites]
Oh, wait, that was the afternoon vodka.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:21 PM on September 6 [2 favorites]
Also, I had a high school history teacher who I later realized was teaching straight-up John Birch memes. I once gave him a near aneurysm wearing a CCCP shirt to school (I’d taken Russian at the public school a year previously). I like to imagine him having an actual aneurysm at this news.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:27 PM on September 6 [5 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:27 PM on September 6 [5 favorites]
Pope Guilty, I think we stopped using the phrase Wingnut Welfare when the system started getting clogged up with all the cryptobros, wellness influencers and whatnot. I think we just straight up call them all grifters now. Rightwing grift. Crypto grift. Etc.
Alex Jones has a direct line to RT, having appeared on their programming and has interviewed the arms dealer that was released in exchange for getting Britney Griner back to the US.
Greenwald and Taibbi are journalists but in the "blogger got a bigger job" sense and not in the "went to journalism school" sense. Greenwald especially since he was first a lawyer so "committed" to free speech that he just had to defend white supremacists before turning to writing for a living.
posted by LostInUbe at 4:48 PM on September 6 [4 favorites]
Alex Jones has a direct line to RT, having appeared on their programming and has interviewed the arms dealer that was released in exchange for getting Britney Griner back to the US.
Greenwald and Taibbi are journalists but in the "blogger got a bigger job" sense and not in the "went to journalism school" sense. Greenwald especially since he was first a lawyer so "committed" to free speech that he just had to defend white supremacists before turning to writing for a living.
posted by LostInUbe at 4:48 PM on September 6 [4 favorites]
I did feel like the subtext of the prior Tim Pool article *was* "how did he get enough money to buy a goddamned skatepark?"
posted by Selena777 at 5:59 PM on September 6 [4 favorites]
posted by Selena777 at 5:59 PM on September 6 [4 favorites]
It's really interesting to me that some folks here are really, really invested in continuing to assert that "both sides" of the US culture war are being propagandized by Russia to foment controversy and polarize people, when the indictment is extremely clear that all the money they traced here is going to right-wing people and outlets. Do y'all really think leftist opsec is that much better, or is it motivated reasoning?
posted by adrienneleigh at 6:38 PM on September 6 [13 favorites]
posted by adrienneleigh at 6:38 PM on September 6 [13 favorites]
There is no evidence that Russia is in any way putting money into the American left (although Vladimir Putin did just endorse Kamala Harris for US president; I'm not sure how you say "for the lulz" in Russian), but there is a lot of evidence that he's putting money into the far right. That's actually the subject of this article!
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:06 PM on September 6 [8 favorites]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:06 PM on September 6 [8 favorites]
It's really interesting to me that some folks here are really, really invested in continuing to assert that "both sides" of the US culture war are being propagandized by Russia to foment controversy and polarize people, when the indictment is extremely clear that all the money they traced here is going to right-wing people and outlets. Do y'all really think leftist opsec is that much better, or is it motivated reasoning?
This is simultaneously saying that people here are fools for thinking that both sides of the culture war are being stoked by Russia, and also that people are fools for thinking that the left wing on the culture war could not be stoked by Russia. This is so confused I assume it's just designed to start a fight
which is exactly what KGB agent adrienneleigh wants, I've seen your posting history*
* please interpret this as a joke
posted by Merus at 7:08 PM on September 6
This is simultaneously saying that people here are fools for thinking that both sides of the culture war are being stoked by Russia, and also that people are fools for thinking that the left wing on the culture war could not be stoked by Russia. This is so confused I assume it's just designed to start a fight
which is exactly what KGB agent adrienneleigh wants, I've seen your posting history*
* please interpret this as a joke
posted by Merus at 7:08 PM on September 6
Let's us not forget that the left got caught up in infighting during HRC's campaign, spurred on by Russian internet trolling. Firehose propaganda means they're trying to hit all of us.
posted by es_de_bah at 7:49 PM on September 6 [5 favorites]
posted by es_de_bah at 7:49 PM on September 6 [5 favorites]
Exactly like that. ^^^^ Thanks for the example!
posted by adrienneleigh at 7:50 PM on September 6 [4 favorites]
posted by adrienneleigh at 7:50 PM on September 6 [4 favorites]
Imagine leftist influencers getting paid $100k a week, lmao.
posted by ryanrs at 8:04 PM on September 6 [8 favorites]
posted by ryanrs at 8:04 PM on September 6 [8 favorites]
Then perhaps the United States should stop doing similar things.
Yeah, because everyone who says things we don't like to hear should be silenced using Russophobia as the justification.
Talk about "both sides"-ing the issue...
posted by 2N2222 at 8:17 PM on September 6
Yeah, because everyone who says things we don't like to hear should be silenced using Russophobia as the justification.
Talk about "both sides"-ing the issue...
posted by 2N2222 at 8:17 PM on September 6
I haven't seen evidence of actual leftists being Russia shills, more people that present themselves as left/ish but are definitely not.
Tulsi Gabbard types.
posted by ishmael at 9:22 PM on September 6 [9 favorites]
Tulsi Gabbard types.
posted by ishmael at 9:22 PM on September 6 [9 favorites]
Emma Vigalund agreed to debate Tim Pool on his show, and when she mentioned his compound and how much money gets funneled to right-wing pundits by donors, he denied having donors and suggested that her podcast needed to get a COO to manage their finances better.
Apparently, this right around the time he was starting his contract w Tenet. $100,000 per video.
posted by ishmael at 9:30 PM on September 6
Apparently, this right around the time he was starting his contract w Tenet. $100,000 per video.
posted by ishmael at 9:30 PM on September 6
It seems wildly irresponsible to suggest that foreign interference is only an issue on the right. It doesn't even make sense, unless you think Russian operators are all lifelong subscribers to the Limbaugh Letter or something.
As far as I know, it's accepted-but-ignored that Russian interference regularly "played both sides" during the 2016 election cycle. Why would this change?
posted by polyhedron at 7:58 AM on September 7 [3 favorites]
As far as I know, it's accepted-but-ignored that Russian interference regularly "played both sides" during the 2016 election cycle. Why would this change?
posted by polyhedron at 7:58 AM on September 7 [3 favorites]
It makes sense that Russian influence ops would target both sides while only paying off the one that actually aligned with their societal goals. Like, if you were an establishment Dem in charge of an illicit strategy for dividing Republicans, you'd set up groups attacking the party from the center for kowtowing to Trump while also attacking them from the far right for not being openly racist and fascist enough, but in terms of paying IRL influencers you'd probably prefer focusing on the Lincoln Project types over the Groypers. There's a reason that domestic Russian propaganda is increasingly indistinguishable from anti-woke MAGA bullshit.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:34 AM on September 7 [4 favorites]
posted by Rhaomi at 8:34 AM on September 7 [4 favorites]
I haven't seen evidence of actual leftists being Russia shills, more people that present themselves as left/ish but are definitely not.
Russia supported Stein in 2016 with at least ads and bot farms.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:55 AM on September 7 [6 favorites]
Russia supported Stein in 2016 with at least ads and bot farms.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:55 AM on September 7 [6 favorites]
Also, why the hell was Stein at that dinner table with Putin and Flynn?
posted by ishmael at 10:04 AM on September 7 [1 favorite]
posted by ishmael at 10:04 AM on September 7 [1 favorite]
Mm, it all ties together. Surely this person who's been running as a spoiler for major candidates for over a decade is someone that no vastly wealthy opposing org has ever investigated, and we're all just waiting for someone to care enough to expose her ties to Russia, which are definitely real.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 2:44 PM on September 7 [3 favorites]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 2:44 PM on September 7 [3 favorites]
Tim Pool's Dad Calls In To Discuss Tim's ‘Russian Asset’ Drama
link is to The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder etc
and it turns out, Tim Pool's Dad has his own youtube channel
posted by philip-random at 6:36 PM on September 7 [1 favorite]
link is to The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder etc
and it turns out, Tim Pool's Dad has his own youtube channel
posted by philip-random at 6:36 PM on September 7 [1 favorite]
Wow that's almost as evil as the American billionaires who also finance them to say the exact same things.
This is one of the problems facing Canada. Even without specific targeting by American oligarchs so much culture slops over the border we end up influenced to our detriment (Canadian MAGAs, the sovereign citizens, the guys who think they have 2nd Amendment rights to bear arms (the Canadian 2nd amendment created the province of Manitoba)).
But of course these people with more money than they know what to do with and their minions are specifically targeting Canada. See for example Fox News and the other Meta's boosting of the Convoy jackoffs.
posted by Mitheral at 10:43 AM on September 8 [9 favorites]
This is one of the problems facing Canada. Even without specific targeting by American oligarchs so much culture slops over the border we end up influenced to our detriment (Canadian MAGAs, the sovereign citizens, the guys who think they have 2nd Amendment rights to bear arms (the Canadian 2nd amendment created the province of Manitoba)).
But of course these people with more money than they know what to do with and their minions are specifically targeting Canada. See for example Fox News and the other Meta's boosting of the Convoy jackoffs.
posted by Mitheral at 10:43 AM on September 8 [9 favorites]
Republicans after Eisenhower have all been sell-outs who negotiate with terrorits, back our adversaries in peace negotiations, send arms to our enemies, bring drugs into our country and declare war on the drugs and our cities. It is actually a relief that some of them were simply grifters on the take instead of stochastic psychotic wreckers.
But be warned. Any foreign intelligence service of an adversary or ally would be criminally incompetant if they didnt try this on all american parties/movements;
as the rich long realized: buy both parties, win all elections.
To be a republican before 2016 was foolish and selfish. To be a republican after 2020 is treasonus and sociopathic.
posted by No Climate - No Food, No Food - No Future. at 4:47 PM on September 8 [5 favorites]
But be warned. Any foreign intelligence service of an adversary or ally would be criminally incompetant if they didnt try this on all american parties/movements;
as the rich long realized: buy both parties, win all elections.
To be a republican before 2016 was foolish and selfish. To be a republican after 2020 is treasonus and sociopathic.
posted by No Climate - No Food, No Food - No Future. at 4:47 PM on September 8 [5 favorites]
looks like it may all officially be getting branded as GrifterGate
but no wikipedia page yet
posted by philip-random at 10:58 PM on September 8 [1 favorite]
but no wikipedia page yet
posted by philip-random at 10:58 PM on September 8 [1 favorite]
Vladimir Putin did just endorse Kamala Harris for US president
It was a joke. If you watch the segment on Russian TV you can see that Putin, the interviewer, and the audience are all laughing when he days that.
On another propaganda show they're laughing because "Americans will be dumb enough to believe it".
posted by HiroProtagonist at 7:16 PM on September 9 [2 favorites]
It was a joke. If you watch the segment on Russian TV you can see that Putin, the interviewer, and the audience are all laughing when he days that.
On another propaganda show they're laughing because "Americans will be dumb enough to believe it".
posted by HiroProtagonist at 7:16 PM on September 9 [2 favorites]
Is the Entire World Conspiring to Make It Look Like Trump Lost the Debate? An intriguing theory by Matt Taibbi.
So where a supermajority of the viewing public, investors, betting markets, numerous conservative pundits, and Trump advisers all saw the same thing, Taibbi discerned something totally different. The Donald Trump Taibbi watched was a lone voice of reason, much as Taibbi sees himselfposted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 12:10 PM on September 12 [3 favorites]
Taibbi has really lost the plot, right?
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:14 PM on September 12 [3 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:14 PM on September 12 [3 favorites]
Taibbi has really lost the plot, right?
I've not seen any indication that he ever had it.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:05 PM on September 12 [3 favorites]
I've not seen any indication that he ever had it.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:05 PM on September 12 [3 favorites]
Honestly, how much of the right-wing and republicans are compromised? All of them? I'm thinking nearly all of them. Awful lotta pro-Putin sentiment getting into all the nooks and crannies over there.
posted by ishmael at 7:47 PM on September 12 [1 favorite]
posted by ishmael at 7:47 PM on September 12 [1 favorite]
Recently, the Feds convicted Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, who along with your basic bribery charges, was also charged with being an agent of the Egyptian government. Then they just arrested a Democratic advisor to Kathy Hochul for being an agent of the PRC. And they’ve also been making noises around Mayor Eric Adams for allegedly taking payments from the Turkish government. Combined with the takedown of Tenet, I wonder if this is them cleaning house before they start making serious moves against Republican elected officials.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 6:52 AM on September 13 [1 favorite]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 6:52 AM on September 13 [1 favorite]
U.S. Citizens Convicted of Conspiring to Act as Illegal Agents of the Russian Government
A jury today convicted Omali Yeshitela, 82, Penny Hess, 78, Jesse Nevel, 34, all of St. Louis, and Augustus C. Romain Jr., 38, of Atlanta, of conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government. The defendants were charged in a superseding indictment on April 13, 2023.
According to evidence presented at trial, from at least May 2015 until July 2022, Yeshitela, Hess and Nevel agreed to act on behalf of the Russian government within the United States. Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a resident of Moscow, was the founder and president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), an organization headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and funded by the Russian government. Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel were leaders of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) or components thereof. Augustus C. Romain was a high-level leader of the APSP who, in November 2018, left and formed a Georgia-based group called the Black Hammer. Ionov’s influence efforts were directed and supervised by Moscow-based Federal Security Service (FSB) officers, including indicted defendants Aleksey Borisovich Sukhodolov and Yegor Sergeyevich Popov.
posted by ishmael at 7:42 AM on September 13
A jury today convicted Omali Yeshitela, 82, Penny Hess, 78, Jesse Nevel, 34, all of St. Louis, and Augustus C. Romain Jr., 38, of Atlanta, of conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government. The defendants were charged in a superseding indictment on April 13, 2023.
According to evidence presented at trial, from at least May 2015 until July 2022, Yeshitela, Hess and Nevel agreed to act on behalf of the Russian government within the United States. Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a resident of Moscow, was the founder and president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), an organization headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and funded by the Russian government. Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel were leaders of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) or components thereof. Augustus C. Romain was a high-level leader of the APSP who, in November 2018, left and formed a Georgia-based group called the Black Hammer. Ionov’s influence efforts were directed and supervised by Moscow-based Federal Security Service (FSB) officers, including indicted defendants Aleksey Borisovich Sukhodolov and Yegor Sergeyevich Popov.
posted by ishmael at 7:42 AM on September 13
From a quick search, one of the founding members of the Black Hammer, Gazi Kodzo (born Augustus Cornelius Romain Jr.), is yet another right-wing adjacent hate-merchant posing as a left-wing activist.
posted by ishmael at 7:51 AM on September 13 [1 favorite]
posted by ishmael at 7:51 AM on September 13 [1 favorite]
Jill Stein struggles to call Putin a "war criminal" in this Mehdi Hasan interview.
Relevant video clip near the bottom- sorry it's still a xitter link.
posted by ishmael at 6:30 PM on September 18 [1 favorite]
Relevant video clip near the bottom- sorry it's still a xitter link.
posted by ishmael at 6:30 PM on September 18 [1 favorite]
speaking of WTF Happened To Matt Taibbi ...
Sam Seder (a friend for twenty years) weighs in. He also touches on Glen Greenwald.
the short version: aggrievement is hell of a drug.
posted by philip-random at 5:23 PM on September 21 [1 favorite]
Sam Seder (a friend for twenty years) weighs in. He also touches on Glen Greenwald.
the short version: aggrievement is hell of a drug.
posted by philip-random at 5:23 PM on September 21 [1 favorite]
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posted by heatherlogan at 7:59 AM on September 6 [2 favorites]