Paul Robinson — The hunters become the hunted

UK Russiagate. More insanity. Paul Robinson takes it apart.

Irrussianality
The hunters become the hunted
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

Moon of Alabama — The "Russian Influence" Stories Promote Russia's Might - Is Putin Paying For Them?

Moon of Alabama explains how ridiculous, but dangerous for democracy nevertheless, the "Russian influence" media mania has become. He speculates felicitously that perhaps Putin is funding it to make the US look weak and Russia strong.

Looking from the outside the U.S. media have simply gone nuts. There seems to be no other way to explain the silliness of their "reporting".

Then again: Could they all be under Russian influence? Are Russian secret services paying for such stories?

Consider that all the "Russian hacking" and "Russian influence" stories are amplifying (the illusion of) Russian might.
Isn't that exactly what Putin wants?

I would say that there are several factors involved.

1. The gambit began as a scapegoat for an ignominious election loss.

2. Then it was picked up as fitting in to the deep state agenda of demonizing Russia in order to provide justification for increasing military expenditure and also occupying Europe.

3. The next step was the realization that it could be used to mount a campaign for censorship in order to permit TPTB to control the narrative.

Isn't this where the attack on democracy is coming from rather than "Russia."

"Russian influence" seems to have begun as a distraction and now it has become a rationale for military expansion and cover for extension of government control over the national discourse.

Moon of Alabama
The "Russian Influence" Stories Promote Russia's Might - Is Putin Paying For Them?

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Alexander Mercouris — On arms to Ukraine, Donald Trump simply follows Obama’s lead and Why the ‘Trump is a Russian agent’ theme won’t work

I am reminded of Aesop's fable about the boy who cried wolf. "Putin did it" is becoming a trope and soon a cliché.

The Duran
Alexander Mercouris: On arms to Ukraine, Donald Trump simply follows Obama’s lead

Why the ‘Trump is a Russian agent’ theme won’t work

Moon of Alabama — Will Preemptive Accusations Against Russia Cover Up Voting Fraud?

The Democratic Establishment sure hopes it will. The media and liberal* pundits are carrying out a furious disinformation campaign to distract from the cesspool.

The Clinton campaign and some pseudo experts assert that Russia is somehow guilty of hacking the Democratic National Committee and of revealing DNC emails via Wikileaks. There is zero hard evidence for that. The Clinton campaign also claims that Trump asked Russia to hack Clinton's emails. That is also not the case.
But two "liberal" computer experts, who are taken serious in the security scene, now build on those false assertions to say that Russia might manipulate voting machines in the November 9 elections. It would do so, presumably, to change the vote count in favor of Trump.

A Bruce Schneier op ed in today's Washington Post is headlined: By November, Russian hackers could target voting machines.

That headline alone is already dumb. ANY hacker could target and manipulate the easy to deceive voting machines - should those be connected to the Internet. Local administrators of such machines can manipulate them any time.

Moon of Alabama
Will Preemptive Accusations Against Russia Cover Up Voting Fraud?

* (in the sense of US politics)