While a fellow traveler – however detestable – is merely someone who sympathizes with an adversarial foreign power, a fifth columnist is someone who actively cooperates – colludes, one might say – with a hostile foreign state. For all the talk of no collusion (styled as NO COLLUSION in a bigoted authoritarian’s tweets), Trump at…
Russia
Propaganda, Russia, Social Media, Twitter
The Ongoing Battle Against Russian Trolls
by JOHN ADAMS •
In The trolls are winning, says Russian troll hunter, Charles Maynes reports on the long – and sometimes inside – struggle against online Russian trolls: The journalist and 33-year-old mother of two, [Lyudmila] Savchuk started noticing websites and social media accounts attacking local opposition activists in her hometown of Saint Petersburg with a frequency she…
America, City, Federal Government, Fellow Traveler, Fifth Columnist, Local Government, Never Trump, Russia, Trump, Trump-Russia, Unfit
Trump-Russia Roundup
by JOHN ADAMS •
While the proper focus against Trumpism involves a zealous lawful effort against Trump and his leading operatives, there is also a problem of Trumpism down to the local level. In both cases, officials advancing Trumpism ignore the overwhelming evidence of his betrayal of our own people to the benefit of a hostile foreign power. As…
Russia, Trump, Trump-Russia
The Room Where It Happens
by JOHN ADAMS •
This weekend, Greg Miller reported on the lengths to which Donald Trump has gone to hide the contents of his discussions with Putin from his — Trump’s own — administration. See Trump has concealed details of his face-to-face encounters with Putin from senior officials in administration. Normally – in a properly functioning federal administration – a…
America, Never Trump, Putin, Russia, Trump, Trump-Russia
On Trump-Russia, Right from the Very Beginning
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embed from Getty Images Virginia Heffernan reports Early on, Trump-Russia obsessives were marginalized; they’re prophets now: “I felt like the guy in ‘Rear Window,’ ” David Corn, the coauthor of “Russian Roulette,” told me this week. Corn was referring to his affinity for James Stewart’s character, L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies, in Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece film. Jeff witnesses…
Corruption Probe, Crime, Misconduct, Russia, Sanctions, Trump, Trump-Russia
Lifting Russian sanctions key to Trump deal exposed by Cohen
by JOHN ADAMS •
Rachel Maddow shows how the Trump Organization’s continued pursuit of a Trump Tower Moscow deal into the 2016 campaign, exposed by Michael Cohen this week, explains Donald Trump’s soft stance on sanctioning Russian entities, including the bank that would finance the Trump Tower deal. Trump has survived dozens of political or financial acts that would…
America, Mendacity, Propaganda, Putin, Russia, Trump
Operation InfeKtion: The Worldwide War on Truth (Part 3 of 3)
by JOHN ADAMS •
? Russia’s meddling in the United States’ elections is not a hoax. It’s the culmination of Moscow’s decades-long campaign to tear the West apart. “Operation InfeKtion” reveals the ways in which one of the Soviets’ central tactics — the promulgation of lies about America — continues today, from Pizzagate to George Soros conspiracies. Meet the KGB…
Crime, Elections, Law, Russia
Justice Department Charges Russian National for 2018 Election Meddling
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
Elections, Mendacity, Propaganda, Putin, Russia, Trump-Russia
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, Trump-Russia
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, Trump-Russia
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, Trump-Russia
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…