A Scottish newspaper has channeled direct Kremlin messaging right on to its front, page, including key buzzwords. This is an absolutely fascinating case study in how - every now and again - propaganda talking points from authoritarian regimes break in to the mainstream. Thread. 
2. It's very unlikely that the Sunday Mail twigged that when it used "black ops' about the counter-propaganda campaign @InitIntegrity that it was echoing words used by Sputnik, which is one of the current Russian government's self-described "information weapons'
3. Sputnik first accused Integrity of being a 'UK covert op' a while back after some rather boring documents from the campaign were obtained after a hack. A hack followed by an expose in a Kremlin-run news source? Yup. Another one of those.
4. I have a slight interest in this. The Scottish-based editor of Sputnik accused me of "promoting this black op'. The basis of this? Tweeting about @InitIntegrity. I have also quoted the organization, but this went unnoticed, it appears.
5. So Sputnik thinks Integrity is a black op and so does, it seems, the Sunday Mail. They also use other buzzwords to suggest there is something clandestine or improper going on: secret, infowar, shadowy. Here is the full Sunday Mail story: dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/…
6. The Russian govt has been keen to respond with like-for-like accusation mirroring those levelled against them: that they have interfered in Western democracies, including the US, where their agents have been indicted for hacking the Democrats. edition.cnn.com/2018/07/13/pol…
7. Its attacks on Integrity are designed, therefore, to provide some whataboutery. It's crude stuff. But it has not broken in to mainstream discourse until now.
8. But here is the thing: Integrity must be the shittiest black op ever. Its a small charity, which has just secured some FCO funding to back its existing work, countering Kremlin messaging. Its one of a number of such initiatives in EU and Nato countries.
9. If Integrity really was MI6 or whatever, you'd like to think it would be rather hard to hack. If it really was shadowy and clandestine, you'd kind of expect it to behave rather differently. But I am not gonna pretend I know how an actual Black Op would behave.
10. So what we are really left with is that @InitIntegrity has a Twitter account. And it tweets away articles and thoughts about disinformation and Kremlin politics. I follow it. If you're interested in Russia, Trump. Brexit, #GiletsJaunes, you should too.
11. Now @InitIntegrity has tweeted or retweeted articles critical of some elements of the Labour left whose critique of imperialism can - to some ears - sound like apologism for regimes like those of Putin or Assad. Regimes that hurt real people in Russia or Syria.
12. If you are someone like Seamus Milne, Jeremy Corbyn's advisor who has appeared on RT and echoed Kremlin talking points om Ukraine, that must be annoying. I'm Mr Milne can defend himself. But is it credible to call this a 'black op'?
13. As it happens @InitIntegrity has tweeted a lot of stuff to a very small following. including criticism of Tories. Once we remove the Sputnikesque-language, that is story. Charity in receipt of govt funding RTs people in its area of interest who criticize politicians
14. Now I don't think the Sunday Mail or the Labour party actually have any sympathy with Putin. I think the Sunday Mail is a great campaigning newspaper in all the best traditions of public interest tabloid journalism.
15. That is why I think we have to be really careful about adopting the 'language' of Kremlin operators - even unwittingly. There is a context to stories attacking @InitIntegrity - and the really are, sorry, small fry, or @bellingcat. That context is playing out in Mueller.
16. None of this is to say the UK government - or other western govts - don't ever do bad things or have never interfered in other countries. Because they have. We should be vigilant of govts. But why suspend vigilence when it comes to regimes with terrible human rights? End rant
