If we want to save our country and be a beacon for global democracies, we’ve got to neutralize Putin.
We have to stop Russia’s infiltration or we’ve stopped nothing at all. If we don’t beat ‘em back now, they may not topple us this time but they’ll get us the next time.
Thread
1/ We’ve been so focused on the Circus of Trump, like moths drawn to a horror flame, but there’s a bigger picture. For context, let’s go back a decade to Estonia, when it tried to relocate a statue.
@ForeignPolicyforeignpolicy.com/2017/04/27/10-…
2/ ”Since 2014, Russia has also focused cyber attacks on Poland, Germany, France, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Romania, Switzerland, Austria and Spain. In addition to information warfare, Russia is using economic and foreign direct investment.”-@dvgsecurity thehill.com/opinion/cybers…
3/ Con. “..plus funding and support for conservative and alt-right European political parties, to minimize the influence of Western-style democracy and convert the European powers to an authoritarian implementation of democratic principles.”-@dvgsecurity thehill.com/opinion/cybers…
4/ “We know they can use information warfare easily without having to put in too many resources because Russia is starting from a position of great economic weakness. Its economy is a tenth of the size of the economy of the United States”-@MishaGlenny
@NPRnpr.org/2018/07/15/629…
5/ “Putin has been likened to a mafia don running his homeland like a protection racket..allies are rewarded for loyalty. Enemies & rivals are ruthlessly extirpated..corruption, much of it officially facilitated and approved, sucks up 48% of GDP”
@guardianamp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
6/ “Russia takes advantage of the divisions within the West—and within the U.S.—by driving wedges between its opponents, using psychological warfare, propaganda, and cyberwar..Hacking the Democratic Party’s emails in 2016 hit that sweet spot.”
“Cyber warfare is no longer just about the technical details of computer ports and protocols. Rather, disinformation and social media are rapidly becoming the best hacking tools.”-@HowHackersThink
@FastCompanyfastcompany.com/90209667/what-…
11/ Con. “With social media, anyone–even Russian intelligence officers and professional trolls–can widely publish misleading content. As legendary hacker @kevinmitnick put it, ‘it’s easier to manipulate people rather than technology.’”-@HowHackersThink fastcompany.com/90209667/what-…
12/ “Russian interference undermined democracy in the West by destabilizing institutions and polarizing societies. Western democratic governments must strengthen their domestic institutions to protect against adversaries eager to exploit weaknesses.”
@FPRIfpri.org/article/2019/0…
13/ Contained in the Mueller Report is hard evidence of an illegitimate president* who benefited from dezinformatsiya, encouraged Russia’s criminal attacks and is doing nothing to prevent future attacks. Makes sense.
15/ Watch @ActMeasuresDoc to get the full backstory on Russia’s long game. If you don’t have access, here’s my review of the film. Even Trump’s catchphrases were recycled dezinformatsiya.
18/ Our illegitimate president* is doing a fantastic job for a marionette, a vulgarian against the world doing the bidding of his handler (see #14). Ergo, a global pariah’s emboldened.
“The troubling reality is that we lack a full picture of what is really happening in the social media (disinformation) sphere because the main platforms are not fully transparent."-@FabricePothier
22/ When the scope of the Russian cyber aggression was revealed in February 2018, it became very clear our democratic systems are fragile.
@TheJusticeDeptjustice.gov/file/1035477/d…
23/ Like a proper marionette, Trump has spent much as his presidency* obstructing justice.
25/ With Mueller’s stark warning on Russian cyber aggression still fresh in our minds, a Helsinki refresher is in order:
@BBCNewsbbc.com/news/world-eur…
29/ To understand recent Ukraine history, is to understand what we are dealing with in real time.
@politicopolitico.eu/article/ukrain…
30/ We need to create new words for a new war: “trolls” “hacks” and “meddling” must be thrown in the dustbin of history. These are benign words. They sound mischievous, rather than toxic, criminal. Nothing benign about losing your democracy to cyberwar.
31/ It will end badly for Trump, as it does for puppets. Maybe he’ll be impeached, indicted, and convicted. Or maybe he’ll grab the silver and run off to Russia. However it goes, we must stop Putin. We must thwart cyberwar. Or it’ll happen again. And again news.yahoo.com/nato-seeks-way…
ADDENDUM: A chilling reminder that all is not well, and all is not what it seems. h/t @Verba_et_Vertus
In my latest column for @BylineTimes I write that in this time of unprecedented peril, Americans desperately needs Joe Biden to rise from his slumber and help save democracy
In a Rose Garden photo op, President Joe Biden promised a peaceful transfer of power. By contrast, the incoming Trump regime is promising state-sponsored violence on day one.
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You can’t have a peaceful transfer of power to a regime that is promoting violence. Trump is promising to destroy America with a regime of pro-Kremlin sycophants. He has declared war on America. He is promising the initiation of mass deportations at 12:01 pm on January 20, 2025.
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Repairing a reality destroyed by Putin’s network — a reminder why truth and unity is paramount and why this is no longer about politics bettedangerous.com/p/a-house-unit…
“It is imperative to intensify criticizing Hillary Clinton.”—“Secured Borders Facebook Group”, a fake US page run from St. Petersburg, Russia, 9.14.2016
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“… (a) particular hype and hatred for Trump is misleading the people and forcing Blacks to vote for Killary. We cannot resort to the lesser of two devils. Then we’d surely be better off without voting AT ALL.”—“Woke Blacks,” St. Petersburg, Russia, a fake Black Instagram account, 10.16.2016
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@BylineTimes “There are men everywhere who would sell out humanity for their own personal profit. There are stupid and emotional masses everywhere who can be found to follow them, given a few slogans and some nice uniforms.”—Bella Fromm, Blood & Banquets, A Berlin Social Diary, 1943
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@BylineTimes I have spent the last eight years investigating the Trumpocene and Russian information warfare, and the last six months, deeply immersed in research on Weimar Germany.
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@BylineTimes The gravediggers didn’t have to triumph. In 1932, Hitler’s National Socialist party was fracturing, haemorrhaging members, and many in his orbit were showing him only a “performance of solidarity, imposed devotion.”—The Gravediggers: The Last Winter of the Weimar Republic.
It never made any sense, how the most religious people I knew in 2016 became the most virulently anti-Hillary Clinton. More shocking was how they became ardent Trumpists. Church on Sunday, and MAGA-hatted all week.
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We’ve told the story of how the Christian right embraced an amoral man many times on these pages, but we’ve never told the story of redemption.
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“The gravediggers didn’t have to triumph.”—Rüdiger Barth and Hauke Friederichs, The Making of, The Gravediggers
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I woke up Tuesday morning to a crime scene. My highlighter had bled all over my duvet cover, as I tried to work through the night to finish the final pages of The Gravediggers: The Last Winter of the Weimar Republic. I’ve been reading the book for a couple of months, but repeatedly pressing pause to read the reference books used to lay the foundation for The Gravediggers.