Matt Zapotosky, Rachel Weiner, Ellen Nakashima, and Devlin Barrett report Justice Dept. charges Russian woman with interference in midterm elections: Elena Khusyaynova, 44, was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors said she managed the finances of “Project Lakhta,” a foreign influence operation they said was designed “to sow discord in the U.S. political system” by…
Russia
Elections, Mendacity, Propaganda, Putin, Russia, TrumpRussia
Russian disinformation campaigns
by JOHN ADAMS •
Alina Polyakova asks What do Russian disinformation campaigns look like, and how can we protect our elections?: As technological capabilities progress, the threat of political warfare is becoming an even more serious threat to democratic elections. David M. Rubenstein Fellow Alina Polyakova analyzes past disinformation campaigns and political warfare tools employed by hostile foreign actors…
Propaganda, Russia
Disinformation Still Rampant
by JOHN ADAMS •
Years have passed, and yet the infection of Russian propaganda to undermine America’s democratic order by spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt still persists. The Committee to Investigate Russia writes Disinformation Still Rampant Two Years Later A new report finds most Twitter accounts that spread disinformation online during the 2016 campaign are alive and well and continuing to share phony…
Propaganda, Putin, Russia
Hardly New
by JOHN ADAMS •
Hardly new. It was developed to combat the truth being available on the internet in Russia, instead of China-style censorship. Then it was exported against Russian-speaking neighbors and then used globally by 2015. https://t.co/qEohvkRDIy — Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) September 9, 2018
Documentary, Film, Putin, Russia, Trump, TrumpRussia
Review: Active Measures
by JOHN ADAMS •
Active Measures is a 2018 documentary describing Russian (derived from Soviet) techniques to undermine American democratic institutions, and those of our democratic allies. (Active measures: “A Soviet term for the actions of political warfare conducted by the Russian security services to influence the course of world events.”) The film is now in limited theatrical release,…
America, Fellow Traveler, Fifth Columnist, Putin, Russia, Trump, TrumpRussia
Another Fellow Traveler Heard From
by JOHN ADAMS •
A fellow traveler is someone who supports a group – typically used pejoratively as a group adversarial to one’s society – without being a member; a fifth columnist takes active, but hidden, steps to undermine one’s society on behalf of a foreign adversary. (Neither term, of course, applies merely to people who like to vacation abroad…
Fellow Traveler, Russia, TrumpRussia
Why Wait? Aeroflot Offers Flights to Moscow from Several American Cities
by JOHN ADAMS •
Annnnd they’re finally being completely honest: They’re not Americans anymore. pic.twitter.com/ab0zpScFQK — Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) August 5, 2018 I’m not a Democrat, and never will be, but then I’ve never been tempted to abandon America for any reason, let alone because there are Democrats here, or because somehow being a Democrat in America might be…
Crime, Russia
Foolishness of Vanity
by JOHN ADAMS •
Monica Hesse observes that Maria Butina was the ultimate NRA Cool Girl: Spend an hour or three scrolling through Butina’s prodigious social media presence, and certain themes emerge. Her Instagram is a series of strategic fitness selfies — a sculpted deltoid, a Lycra’d thigh — showcasing both strength and femininity. In photos snapped outside the…
America, Foreign Affairs, Putin, Russia, TrumpRussia
We Unhelpful Many
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at The Atlantic, Danielle Pletka of the conservative American Enterprise Institute scolds critics of Trump, as she believes The Anti-Trump Hysteria Isn’t Helping: President Donald Trump’s press conference with Russia’s Vladimir Putin was a debacle. The president went from an anodyne prepared statement to a question-and-answer session that ping-ponged between stunning and appalling (with…
Putin, Russia, Trump, TrumpRussia
Senate Panel Confirms the Obvious: Putin Tried to Help Trump
by JOHN ADAMS •
Via The Committee to Investigate Russia. Intel Committee Releases Unclassified Summary of Initial Findings on 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment Press Contact: Caitlin Carroll (Burr) (202) 228-1616 Rachel Cohen (Warner) (202) 228-6884 Intel Committee Releases Unclassified Summary of Initial Findings on 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment WASHINGTON – Today, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr…
America, Foreign Affairs, Military, Putin, Russia, Trump, TrumpRussia
The Return of the Second Fleet
by JOHN ADAMS •
Russia, ruled by a dictator and oligarchs friendly with Trump, has made herself a political and military adversary of the United States. One reads that The Navy is resurrecting a fleet to protect the East Coast and North Atlantic from Russia: The U.S. Navy has reactivated a fleet responsible for overseeing the East Coast and North…
America, Elections, Russia, TrumpRussia
How Russia Hacked America—And Why It Will Happen Again
by JOHN ADAMS •
Putin, Russia, Trump, TrumpRussia
The Definitive Timeline of the Trump-Russia Connections
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s the Definitive Timeline of the Trump-Russia Connections (at least as publicly known so far) — ?
Putin, Russia, TrumpRussia
Russian Journalist Yevgenia Albats on Putin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Concern about Putin’s interference in our elections springs from one’s love for American democracy. I’ve mentioned before the fine Frontline series on Putin, entitled Putin’s Revenge (Parts 1 and 2 are online). The series also includes the full interviews with those who appeared in the two-part program. In the interview above, Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats talks…