Thread by @_ipsumlorem

1/ Someone making up stuff i never said on the internet, shocker.

So here's context ; There's a concept within Russian Nationalism ( "Gayrope"/ "Gayropa") which explicitly attacks the western values such as tolerance & respect towards LGBTQ+ people...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayrope

2/ The Russian campaign to portray the west as morally decadent and corrupt are well documented. It is part of the Russian attempt to destablise the west ; it is also documented that Research Internet Agency started to use social media accounts and bot farms to influence the

3/ the western political landscape from 2014 or so, after the invasion of Crimea & the failure to capture the hearts and minds of people (Snyder, 2018) the Russian military from this date decided to open up a multi-front campaign;including digital campaigns to influence the west

4/ specifically including political opinions. The intention was to destabilise Western democracies and opponents using social media, botfarms, and astroturfing.

At the same time, it planned to delegitimise western opinions and liberal values within Russia.

5/ The actions of Russian social media accounts presenting themselves as "ordinary" people and real people in the west in order to sway political opinion are extremly well documented, in both influencing the outcome of the UK referendum on the EU in June 2016, and in the

6/ US election of Nov 2016. (Including, but not limited to, the RNC emails being sent to the Trump campaign from russian sources).

These campaigns began in 2014. Which is an important point. For reasons below.

7/ The rise of anti-trans hatred in the west has coincided with the rise of Russian internet propaganda.

This led directly left to anti-trans legislation in the US IMHO ;that "has increased in record amounts, from 79 bills in 2020 to 147 bills in 2021"

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

8. The frequency of anti-trans news articles has significantly increased from 2014 ; starting at the same time that the Russian campaign against Western liberal values of tolerance, respect, and equality began to gain traction.

This is not coincidence

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

9/ Nor is it correlation.

It is statistically verifiable that the anti-trans movement in the West (and the UK) increased in visibility, media coverage, and voracious venom correspondent to the Russian internet campaigns pushing the issue.

mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/exclusive…

10/ We're all aware of how the Internet Research Agency in Russia has attempted to negatively influence democratic institutions and values in the west ; Brexit, Trump, and others.





gov.uk/government/new…
isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/upl…
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cm…

11/ But are these people say i said "Stupid women are controlled by Russian Bot Farms" - I never said that

You might have influenced yourself by something you read on social media, that came from one the accounts run by the Inter Research Agency & Russian Web bridgades

12/ A decade later from 2014 when these started, you wouldn't have a clue it had ever happened.

But controlled? No. Influenced in the first place, and then left to go down their own rabbit hole? Possibly. IMHO, the latter is most likely.

13/ Controlled? No. You've still got free will.

But had the topic introduced to you by them? and by others influenced by them? shown the way? Without doubt.

mumsnet message boards are one example.



So influential, even the politicans turn up there.theguardian.com/politics/2010/…

14/ mumsnet message boards are notably, virulently, transphobic.

If influenced, You'd probably never know it. And you'd think of your belief as righteous, moral, and be indiginant at the thought of ever even being influenced by Russian bot farms.

15/ And resist that the very idea that Russian IRA & web brigades have ever had any influence on you, or your anti-trans beliefs, despite the statistical evidence supporting that the rise of Russian web brigades and transphobia in the UK / West are beyond any coincidental doubt

16/ linked.And continuing to these day.



Same as the Trump voters in 2016 and 2020, no one wants to dare imagine their free will has been manipulated by others to benefit the political aims of foreign regimes.

Russia is merely continuing this as it...economist.com/europe/2024/02…

17/ has done so in decades prior to the cold war. Putin, being a KGB Colonel in the 80's and working with as a liason for counterinsurgency groups then housed in East Germany such as the BaaderMeinhof group, would know all these techniques intimiately.

18/ In Short - the anti-trans movement in the UK has its growth attributable to Russian disinformation and propaganda campaigns designed to destablise western values.

The evidence is as i have presented it. "stupid women controlled by russian bot farms", it is not.

19/ Not is anyone who has been duped by Russian web brigades "stupid".

What they are is, as the NY Times said in 1948 is smeone who is being taken advantage of for politcal purposes. The word they used is "useful idiot", well meaning but misdirected by others.

20/

Doing their work oft unknowingly, but enthusiastically, ernestly and passionately.

I've laid enough evidence here to make it clear why i believe this is 100% the case.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_id…

21/ I believe that the anti-trans movement has been heavily influenced , without doubt and without their knowledge, by Russian anti-western media campaigns. And then - like a wind-up toy- left to its own devices to do the work unbiddingly and unknowingly. Without doubt.

22/ You don't gain more rights by reducing them from others. You don't make the world a better place by persecuting others for just existing.

None of us are equal until we are all equal.

Choose wisely, and bear in mind the above.

G x

23/ I studied Russian history and international relations for years, written papers of Russian Economic policy under stalin, paid a great deal of attention to geopolitics ever since.

(Tim Snyders "Road to unfreedom" is recommended on the anti-west campaigns in the Russia, fyi.)