Sputnik International — RT France Hires Former French Economic Intelligence Chief as New Host

"Russian interference."

Sputnik International
RT France Hires Former French Economic Intelligence Chief as New Host

Also

Sputnik International
How Dare You! Bernie Chastised by Twitter Users Over His Wife's Interview With "Russian TV"

Paul Robinson — Collusion

The investigation into suspected collusion between US President Donald Trump and the Russian government has claimed its first three victims: one (Paul Manafort) for completely unconnected money laundering charges, and two (George Papadopoulos and Michael Flynn) for lying to investigators about things which were not themselves criminal, and which are therefore crimes which would never have happened had there never been an investigation. To date, the evidence of direct collusion between Trump and the Russians is looking a little thin, to say the least. Now, into this maelstrom steps Guardian reporter Luke Harding with his book Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russian Helped Donald Trump Win.

Collusion spends over 300 pages insinuating that Trump is a long-standing agent of the Russian secret services, and hinting, without ever providing any firm evidence, that Trump and his team acted on orders from the Kremlin to subvert American democracy. I’ll be honest, and admit that I picked this book up expecting it to be a series of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, and to be utterly unbalanced in its analysis, and in that sense I’m not an unbiased reader. At the same time, I was interested to see if Harding had come up with anything that everybody else had not, and was willing to give him a chance. I needn’t have bothered. For alas, my worst suspicions proved to be true, and then some.…

This collusion narrative is now jumping the shark more than the birther narrative about Barack Obama's birth certificate. In that sense, DJT is just experiencing a dose of his own medicine.

Irrussianality
CollusionPaul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

Moon of Alabama — "Russian Ads" On Facebook? A Click-Bait Campaign

Moon of Alabama calls BS on the "Russian influence" ads on FaceBook.

"Lunacy."

Moon of Alabama
"Russian Ads" On Facebook? A Click-Bait Campaign

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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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Ramanan — Glenn Greenwald On The New Yorker‘s Admission

It was the effects of neoliberal globalization that disadvantaged the middle class economically while enriching the top of town rather than "Russian hacking" or RT propaganda. This is what brought Hillary Clinton down, drove Brexit, and is stoking the resurgence of formerly right and left European fringe parties into the mainstream. Immigration is a stub context to that as citizens see immigration as imported completion for employment along with the labor embedded in imports and exported factories. Even the refugee crisis is the result of neoliberal globalization's siblings, neo-imperialism and neocolonialism, whose parents are economic liberalism and transnational corporate capitalism.

The Case for Concerted Action
Glenn Greenwald On The New Yorker‘s Admission
V. Ramanan