This is important: The purpose of a lot of Russian disinformation/lies is NOT to fool anyone but to act with impunity in violating the rules without purporting to change the rules. Under international law, wars of aggression are illegal. If one means to launch one...
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1482031077963280387
...one has to either (a) confront a problem under international rules and norms (b) or simply lie about what happened. Putin's innovation is that he has realized that it matters not at all if the lie is credible or even plausible. As long as you say it, it works.
@anneapplebaum has been pointing this out for years. It's a VERY important element of Russia's information strategy.
And it's a big through-line of a lot of aggressive Russian actions with respect to neighbors and other countries. Murdering dissidents with chemical weapons? Just deny it. Doesn't matter if everyone knows you're lying.
Interfering in US elections? Fuck it. Just lie about it.
Interfering in US elections? Fuck it. Just lie about it.
It doesn't matter either if nobody believes your allegations against @Billbrowder. Make them anyway in a hundred different forums.
The insistent assertion of falsehood as truth is a form of domination.
That's all I got.
That's all I got.
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