A brief thread on war and distraction:
Today I was on @BBCRadioScot to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Idlib. It's a brief segment on @BBCWeekendGMS that starts at 1:38:00. I gave a bit of context and explained the scale of the catastrophe.
bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS The segment was retweeted among others by my department @stirjournalism. What happened next is a useful case study in how the Kremlin's troll network manufactures controversy, deflects attention, and annihilates the truth.
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS @stirjournalism Shortly after the tweet went out, a small but prolific troll network was activated. Some of the figures involved are familiar. They include a German fascist working for Sputnik news, and an American blogger who produces propaganda content for Russia Today.
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS @stirjournalism Both the lead trolls have a history of harassment. One of them came to my attention after he started harassing a student in my department and published a long and malicious piece about her, falsely accusing her of working as an agent of NATO.
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS @stirjournalism After this, the German troll started harassing student event organisers at @StirUni, threatening to disrupt their events. My colleagues and I made a point of standing with the students to make them feel safe (and being the weasel that he is, he never turned up).
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS @stirjournalism @StirUni The other is Max Blumenthal, an American blogger who changed his entire politics after a Kremlin-funded trip to Moscow in December 2015. His stock in trade is harassing children and journalists in combat zones. pulsemedia.org/2017/08/22/did…
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS @stirjournalism @StirUni Blumenthal is a dangerous propagandist, a racist, and an Islamophobe. He is currently the subject of lawsuit by journalist @SulomeAnderson whom he slandered. In other instances he has actually put the lives of journalist at risk. medium.com/@romancandle85…
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS @stirjournalism @StirUni @SulomeAnderson A smear campaign initiated by Blumenthal against journalist Carl David Goette-Luciak led to his arrest in Nicaragua and was condemned by @pressfreedom.
thedailybeast.com/in-nicaragua-t…
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS @stirjournalism @StirUni @SulomeAnderson @pressfreedom Blumenthal's shady blog "Grayzone Project" also published a story under a false byline that relied on the testimony of a Nicaraguan student extracted under torture, absolving Daniel Ortega of responsibility for his repression. Ortega rewarded Blumenthal with a florid tryst.
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS @stirjournalism @StirUni @SulomeAnderson @pressfreedom Blumenthal has slandered Syrian rescuers and doctors as "Al Qaeda"; he has endangered the lives of respected journalists like @clarissaward by accusing them of working with Al Qaeda; but he reached real depths when he harassed children and mocked survivors of chemical attacks.
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS @stirjournalism @StirUni @SulomeAnderson @pressfreedom @clarissaward Why does all of this matter? Because I am not supposed to be talking about this; I'm supposed to be talking about Idlib. 3 million civilians at risk; 576,000 displaced; over 500 killed, including 180 children. The aim of the trolls is to deflect attention, hijack the conversation
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS @stirjournalism @StirUni @SulomeAnderson @pressfreedom @clarissaward They bait and provoke in the hope of getting an intemperate reaction so that these genocide-denying lemmings can paint YOU as the irrational one. They slander, abuse, lie, harass. The aim is deflection, obfuscation, erasing the distinction between victim & perpetrator.
@BBCRadioScot @BBCWeekendGMS @stirjournalism @StirUni @SulomeAnderson @pressfreedom @clarissaward In their version, Assad is the liberator, the 3 million civilians in Idlib are "Al Qaeda", when Assad and Putin bomb hospitals, the aggressor is "the West". It's an almost pathological inversion of reality, a madness induced by ambition and resentments. Banality of evil.
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