Moar fake news. Most people just read the headlines.
Here’s the thing. Some of these security professionals are the same ones who’ve been saying for months that the DNC hack can be reliably attributed to the Russian state. I mostly agree (though I’ve got some lingering doubts). And while those of us who follow this closely can distinguish the two different kind of analyses, the general public will not. And — having been alarmed off a premature report here that was not sufficiently researched before publicized — they will be utterly justified in believing the government is making baseless claims to generate fear among the public.
As I said, I mostly agree with reports attributing the DNC hack to the Russians. But seeing inflammatory shit like this peddled anonymously to the press makes me far more inclined to believe the government is blowing smoke.The boy who cried wolf.
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7 comments:
Fake news, yes, but the assumption is baseless as well.
How long ago was it we were caught tapping Angela Merkel's phone? And if that's what we do to allies, just imagine what we do to enemies. And don't forget STUXNET, the worm that crashed Iran's nuclear industry. Or that big leaks regularly come from domestic sources fed up with US shenanigans.
Pretty ugly and embarrassing to watch otherwise healthy people succumb to delusion and almost schizophrenic behavior. There were fringes of Republicans who went a bit crazy after Obama was elected but I don't remember it being this severe. The people then who rushed to gun stores to get ammo and guns thought Dems would push gun control and guns are their hunting and social recreation culture so it was grounded in reality but this Russian thing is really bizarre and crazy. Putin is some sort of nationalist effigy to the liberal ideologues. As if all nationalism must be inspired by and arise from Putin, some seriously insane stuff. The problem is that Russia supports nationalists so there is suspicion there and any link becomes magnified in their minds as being significant. It's similar as the US in central and south america, we had some activities there, but their size, scope and significance became way, way blown out of proportion to where every dictator sees every event as US hegemony. Before I figured the Dems would settle down and it would blow over, but progressives and mainstream are getting MORE wacky.
The interesting thing is that Putin makes a distinction between patriotism as love of country and nationalism as exceptionalism and jingoism. Putin is portrayed as the stooge of the nationalists led by Alexander Dugin but Putin as no connection with Dugan. Dugan is a traditional conservative and Putin is a traditional liberal although not a Westernizer after Tsar Peter I, known as "Peter the Great."
While it is true that Putin adopted a more conservative position in line with vast majority of Russia, moving away from the Moscow and St. Petersburg liberal elite, in order to better represent the overall mood in Russia, he is neither aligned with Russian nationalists or conservatives that advocate a return to Tsar and Orthodox Church as the pillars of Russian society. Western propagandists are attempting to conflate Putin with Russian nationalism and conservatism based on bits and pieces in the way that conspiracy theories are constructed.
Another key point is that nationalism is generally portrayed in the West as fascistic — a soft brand of fascism, at least. Russians in general are completely opposed to fascism after having lost tens of millions to defeat it in WWII. It was Russia that broke the spine of the Wehrmacht. Well before D-Day, Russia had already turned the tide at the Battle of Stalingrad.
There is also an attempt underway to equate Russian communism with German fascism. The similarities are superficial. It's a false equivalence. It's like portraying the US as fascistic for the ethic cleansing of the indigenous people. All these were different but involved mass killing. See .Genocides in history. It was not uncommon and is not all "fascism."
Oops. I slipped into writing "Dugan" for "Dugin."
Dugin is correct.
He is a bit of a firebrand. Below is a link to his blog.
https://4threvolutionarywar.wordpress.com
What I'm noticing is the mantras of "patriotism!" used by the liberals now to try to brand Russian sympathizers as treasonous traitors to the United States. I have family who have bought into this delusional "Russia!" narrative and now they look like the crazy uncle at the dinner table now. Never before have I ever seen paranoia on this massive scale and by the mainstream left of all people. The rhetoric is only going to get more intense and I'm not sure if these people will be able to grow out of this and actually focus on a clear agenda to build their protests around.
Right, false "patriotism" is nationalism in the pejorative sense wrapped in a flag.
The left is inherently internationalist but willing to use nationalism disguised as patriotism as a political tool, too.
I agree I have never seen anything like the present behavior of establishment left either. Completely unhinged.
Of course, American liberals are not real left. They are self-described "centrists," meaning that they don't really stand for anything but blow in the political wind.
Might be something in the water. Good thing that Canadian patriotism is more reserved.
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