The United States on Friday released a U.S. intelligence assessment sent to more than 100 countries that found Moscow is using spies, social media and Russian state-run media to erode public faith in the integrity of democratic elections worldwide.
“This is a global phenomenon,” said the assessment. “Our information indicates that senior Russian government officials, including the Kremlin, see value in this type of influence operation and perceive it to be effective.”
A senior State Department official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said that Russia was encouraged to intensify its election influence operations by its success in amplifying disinformation about the 2020 U.S. election and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Says the person falling completely for Russian propaganda.
Do you think propaganda is one sided? That only one viewpoint has a government backing it? It is not enough to recognize propaganda and then support the opposite. You have to critically evaluate what’s going on.
With Ukraine, it’s pretty fucking clear that Ukrainians wanted closer relations to the West, not to Russia. Was it a “color revolution” then, funded by the West to overthrow Russian order? Or was it an uprising of the people to take back their government and make it represent their wishes, and the US provided support to them? Was the Ukrainian president’s sudden reversal on enacting a pro Western referendum after meeting with Putin a totally organic, sensible realization by him? Or, did Putin threaten him?
Given how the country has voted and responded to Putin’s invasion, I’m inclined to think that reality is closer to an actual uprising of the people, versus a Western funded color revolution to put a Western friendly figure in power. I think the evidence strongly suggests this, in fact.
So have I fallen for Western propaganda in my analysis of Ukraine? Or have you fallen for Russian propaganda in your analysis? More importantly, if you do recognize that the reality of an “American coup to install a pro Western leader” doesn’t match up at all with the war in Ukraine, will you admit that you have been duped?
If so, I genuinely applaud you. A wise person will freely admit they’ve been tricked and endeavor to not let that happen again.
No, I don’t think propaganda is one sided, which is why I’m bringing up the US. Duh. Talking about “what the people want” is tricky because it can appear strongly one way or another depending on how it’s portrayed. I’m sure quite a few thought that Jan 6th was “an uprising of the people” too. With enough media power, foreign countries could’ve been told a tale of the US government crushing “what the people want”. In the link I posted, it shows an active effort by the US to fund and support groups pushing for policies that are favorable to the US and the west in general. Does this count as election interference or is it only election interference when Russia does it?
It’s election interference either way. The question is how they’re doing so.