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Granted, they look scary, especially on the battlefield. But they are lousy at US presidential politics.
Once you notice it, it drives you nuts. Every single news story about how the Russians are interfering with our 2020 election, or for that matter how they interfered with our 2016 election, shouts about what they plan to do, or attempted to do, or hope to do, or what someone fears they will do. You are not likely to see a single account of what they actually accomplished in 2016, or what they are actually capable of doing in 2020.
There’s a reason for that.
Moreover, dig just a little bit into the fables about Russian machinations worldwide — the poisoning of the Skripals in Britain, of the Russian opposition leader in Russia, the “bounties” offered for US soldiers in Afghanistan — and what you find, without exception, is an illogical, ignorant lash up that cannot withstand the simplest of logical questions.
There’s a reason for that, too.
A typical story, this one on CNN, headlines; “Russian meddling efforts intensifying as US election nears.” Note that, as always, the emphasis is on “effort” and not results. Okay, what then are the facts supporting the use of the verb “intensifying:”
- A Russian man was indicted in Northern Virginia for “working to steal” personal information that would allow him to open bank accounts. Note that even here he’s accused of trying to do it, not necessarily succeeding. Elsewhere, Lifshits (that is his name, I am NOT making this up. You CAN’T make Lifshits up.) was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for having worked for the Russian Internet Research Agency, a troll farm that, in 2016 and now, generates stupid political memes on social media.
- CNN quotes Microsoft (really? We’re getting our intel now from Microsoft?) as saying the same “hackers” who “hacked” the Democratic National Committee in 2016 have “recently targeted national and state parties in the US and consultants who work for Republicans and Democrats.” (The reason I put hacked in quotation marks is that the way they got John Podesta’s email password is they asked him for it, under some lame pretense. And he gave it to them. Not what I think of as a “hack.”) Note that the verb doing all the work in Microsoft’s statement above is, again, “targeted.”
- The CNN story refers to “evidence” revealed in Bob Woodward’s new book of the Russians planting malware of some kind in the election registration systems of two Florida counties. But the CIA and the NSA say the malware was never activated. Nor were we ever told what it would do if activated. And it was done in 2016, so has nothing to do with the headline on this story.
The reason this story and all the others like it are so vague and devoid of details on what the Russians have actually achieved? There is no there there. They are not meddling. They’re muddling. CNN says they are looking to duplicate their “wildly successful” 2016 campaign. For a more rational assessment of that campaign, see my post from two and a half years ago, The Russians are Not Coming.
As for the stories being spread about what the Russians are doing on the international stage — poisoning people they don’t like, offering bounties on American soldiers, and so on — few stand up to any critical examination any better than the wildly exaggerated election meddling. It’s as if someone set out to make a James Bond movie and ended up with Austin Powers.
Here is a totalitarian state led by a career officer of the vaunted KGB secret police that sets out to assassinate a retired spy (and double agent) Sergei Skripal and later an opposition political leader Alexie Navalny. The weapon — the world’s most advanced and deadliest nerve gas, get a drop of it on your little finger and you’re dead, instantly. Trained assassins move in, administer the poison — and all the victims survive! Where is Dr. Evil when you need him?
There are plenty of sources for the mind-blowing inadequacies of the Skripal and Navalny stories, the Russian bounties story and many others. But you have to burrow below the hundreds of Google hits you get from the fawning mainstream media. And you have to use the critical faculties that God gave the average goose. It’s worth it, though — to know that the Russians aren’t coming. Again.
Cheers Tom.
Let me offer y’all a short cut so you don’t need to burrow below the hundreds of Google hits you get from the fawning mainstream media.
This fella, Ricefarmer, from down-under runs a daily (almost) collapse related ‘news’ aggregator blog & he lists links under topic specfic subheadings. Under the subheading ”## Propaganda/censorship/fake news/alternative facts ##’ there’s always links to sites that have the meds to cure the Russian Flu.
You’ll be tempted to fire off the links to your left-wing friends & family, but I’m afraid it’ll have as much chance at waking them up as sending links of record smashing AGW disasters would have on waking up your right-wing, anti-vaxxing-N-masking, climate denying, ‘Plandemic uncle.
Political & religious extremists dogma is all but impenetrable. It’s like a one way trip. You can go decades as a moderate, but once the extremist line is crossed, few ever go back to being a moderate. Most of them take it to the grave.
https://ricefarmer.blogspot.com/
Right. Most on any part of the spectrum don’t think, don’t question. They watch, listen or (less often) read their favorite pundit or analyst and bob their heads.
I’ve noticed even people with critical thinking skills are prone to information bias and tend to employ those skills in service of the favorable information. My BF listens only to left-leaning mainstream news, but he perceives it as being unbiased. (To be fair I did too for a long time.) Of course this news fits neatly into his worldview, so he therefore believes he is correctly informed on the issues of the day. I tell him he should be open to other information, and he is in theory – but tends to dismiss the specific information I present, usually by attacking the source. I sent an RT link once (speaking of Russia) and was told the channel was “pure Russian propaganda”. Health news is dismissed because the writer (who draws no salary from the work) sells vitamins on the side. Inconvenient facts are not worth absorbing because they are “disputed” or “debunked.”
And when I ask too many questions about an official narrative, he jokingly says I am looking for a conspiracy theory.
I wish I could say smart people are not as prone to this sort of confirmation bias, but they are. Maybe more so, because they can defend their views better.
Well said. The reflex these days is to decide what one thinks, based on one’s brand, and then go looking for supporting evidence. Since the Internet offers an infinity of factoids, assembling a case is pretty easy. And the other reflex is not to defend the case when challenged, but to attack. It’s getting pretty hairy out there….
I admit I am not immune. My tendency is to believe the dissenter (especially if they have nothing to gain), and distrust the corporate media. (I used to be a weekly reporter, and I know how easy it is to get lazy.)
The BF does have one excuse – his mother was German and lived through WWII near the Russian border. She was no Hitler fan but no doubt disliked the Russians even more.
The only thing I can really say is, “Russia doesn’t need to destroy America – we’re doing a pretty good job of it on our own.”
The last paragraph is a keeper.
A point about the end of WWII for the German inhabitants. Reading “Underground In Berlin”, a memoir of a Jewish girl that went underground to avoid deportation (almost certain death), I was surprised to learn what the Berliners thought of the Russian forces. This is one opinion, but appeared to be shared, is they thought of the Russians as liberators.
It gets more extreme than that and I would save that for a side discussion. We cannot understand the depths of despair and desperation of those times. I.e. finally finding a sanctuary in an apartment, going out for the day to find food, and coming back to find half the building and all more meager possessions blown away.
So with Covid we haven’t even come close, so stop yer whining! I say that somewhat facetiously as we all face a new challenge, a new struggle daily and it is relative.
Thanks, Apneaman, Rice Farmer is the first site I go to every morning. Has been for years.
Rice Farmer! I thought he was in Japan. Mike Ruppert read him also, but I’ve never actually been to the blog.
Never heard of ricefarmer till now. I just checked it out – very kool! Thanks.
Weird post, Tom. Not your best.
I never bought into the Red Menace thing, even as a child. It was 1959, and my dad commanded a tank battalion out of a small fort perched on a hill above the idyllic German berg of Bad Hersfeld am Fulda – a mere 7 km from the East German border. He was tasked with the defense of his sector, should forces of the Warsaw Pact attack across the frontier.
However, it was common knowledge that, by conventional means of warfare, the Ruskies and East Germans would overwhelm our troops in a matter of hours! One can see why the US military was stationed there, but, under such dire potentialities, why would military families – wives and children – be allowed to live there as well?….Simple, because it was also common knowledge that such an invasion would never happen; tactical and strategic nukes on both sides had assured that the Cold War would ever remain just that – cold.
So, it’s been 3/4 of a century of silly posturing and chest-thumping benefiting the MI complex and propaganda mills in both the US and Russia. Nothing has come of it and nothing will – especially now that Putin apparently has Trump by the balls.
For more information on US – Russian buffoonery check out the following films: (1) “The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming!” – the 1966 comic masterpiece with Carl Reiner and directed by Norman Jewison. (2) “The Death of Stalin” – an odd 2018 docu-comedy directed by Armando Iannucci, with Steve Buscemi as Kruschev. (I know, it sounds implausible, but trust me. You’ll love it!)
Good stuff Mr. Lewis. I am glad you have found Craig Murray, I was going to alert you to him until I checked the links.
Perhaps the US should forget about Russia and just switch to branding China the Great Bogeyman instead. After all, she repeatedly spreads deadly diseases around the world, steals intellectual property from Western universities, detains foreigners as and when she likes, tramples on all human rights etc. (Yes, I really believe all this, though if anyone can show me serious evidence to the contrary I’m willing to look at it.)
CCP = Callous, Cannibalistic Psychopaths.
But at the end of the day, we all know who’s the greatest Bogeyman of all… don’t we?
I think the demonization of China is well under way — by Republicans. Democrats prefer to hate Russians. (Welcome back, I was wondering about you.)
Liz sez: “Russia doesn’t need to destroy America – we’re doing a pretty good job of it on our own.” Couldn’t agree more. Our self-destruction hardly gets a comment most of the places from which I gather news and opinion.
Your point about bias (particularly confirmation bias) is always at forefront in my thinking, as I’m also prone to it. Recognizing bias is often simple: no need to think or reconsider — already got everything figgered. Of course, if one is continuously forced back to the drawing board, that’s no good, either. Alan Jacobs’ book How to Think might be worth a look on this topic.