A Powerful Russian Weapon: The Spread of False Stories

[Independent voter]

Really, really long article at the link. I edited it down but left a lot out. Putin is former KGB, KGB once spread a rumor in Latin America that US citizens wanted to adopt Latin American babies to harvest their organs.





http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/29/wo...tion.html?_r=0

With a vigorous national debate underway on whether Sweden should enter a military partnership with NATO, officials in Stockholm suddenly encountered an unsettling problem: a flood of distorted and outright false information on social media, confusing public perceptions of the issue.

The claims were alarming: If Sweden, a non-NATO member, signed the deal, the alliance would stockpile secret nuclear weapons on Swedish soil; NATO could attack Russia from Sweden without government approval; NATO soldiers, immune from prosecution, could rape Swedish women without fear of criminal charges.

They were all false, but the disinformation had begun spilling into the traditional news media, and as the defense minister, Peter Hultqvist, traveled the country to promote the pact in speeches and town hall meetings, he was repeatedly grilled about the bogus stories.

“People were not used to it, and they got scared, asking what can be believed, what should be believed?” said Marinette Nyh Radebo, Mr. Hultqvist’s spokeswoman.

As often happens in such cases, Swedish officials were never able to pin down the source of the false reports. But they, numerous analysts and experts in American and European intelligence point to Russia as the prime suspect, noting that preventing NATO expansion is a centerpiece of the foreign policy of President Vladimir V. Putin, who invaded Georgia in 2008 largely to forestall that possibility.

In Crimea, eastern Ukraine and now Syria, Mr. Putin has flaunted a modernized and more muscular military. But he lacks the economic strength and overall might to openly confront NATO, the European Union or the United States. Instead, he has invested heavily in a program of “weaponized” information, using a variety of means to sow doubt and division. The goal is to weaken cohesion among member states, stir discord in their domestic politics and blunt opposition to Russia.

“Moscow views world affairs as a system of special operations, and very sincerely believes that it itself is an object of Western special operations,” said Gleb Pavlovsky, who helped establish the Kremlin’s information machine before 2008. “I am sure that there are a lot of centers, some linked to the state, that are involved in inventing these kinds of fake stories.”

Russia also made at least one overt attempt to influence the debate. During a seminar in the spring, Vladimir Kozin, a senior adviser to the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, a think tank linked to the Kremlin and Russian foreign intelligence, argued against any change in Sweden’s neutral status.

“Do they really need to lose their neutral status?” he said of the Swedes. “To permit fielding new U.S. military bases on their territory and to send their national troops to take part in dubious regional conflicts?”

Whatever the method or message, Russia clearly wants to win any information war, as Dmitry Kiselyev, Russia’s most famous television anchor and the director of the organization that runs Sputnik, made clear recently.

Speaking this summer on the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Information Bureau, Mr. Kiselyev said the age of neutral journalism was over. “If we do propaganda, then you do propaganda, too,” he said, directing his message to Western journalists.

“Today, it is much more costly to kill one enemy soldier than during World War II, World War I or in the Middle Ages,” he said in an interview on the state-run Rossiya 24 network. While the business of “persuasion” is more expensive now, too, he said, “if you can persuade a person, you don’t need to kill him.”

[Xtin]

Srsly , spreading misinformation for political agenda is a russian only thing now ? Like come on....

[Theodarzna]

America, notable for honesty and never interfering with others. /s

[Stelio Kontos]

I am getting so many reasons for using that J Jonah Jameson laughing gif today...

[callipygoustp]

Hardly a new tactic, by ANY country : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation

[Ausr]

Incoming Putinistas!

[Orbitus]

Incoming Putinistas!

Fully expecting Shalcker and his boner for Putin and Trump to be here any minute.

[Justpassing]

Yes beacuse America is the shining beacon of honesty.

[Schmittay]

Russia and it's President are one of the few who has the balls to stand up to the USA who is quite frankly turning the world into something I am not proud to be a part of.

I do believe Russia is posturing and exaggerating its capabilities but it's to maintain its position as a strong and independent country that is simply looking out for its own national interests. At least Russia respects international law which the US has blatantly ignored whenever it chooses.

Edit: And yeah as others have said, the US outright lies and is in control of the biggest propaganda machine in the world.

[Easo]

Yes beacuse America is the shining beacon of honesty.

Yes, because whataboutism is VERY popular in our dear, big eastern neighbour.

[May90]

Whataboutism is strong in these comments.

[Shibito]

Fully expecting Shalcker and his boner for Putin and Trump to be here any minute.

And Ulmita with his knowledge.

[Venant]

Whataboutism is strong in these comments.

It's amazing how willing people are to accept atrocities committed by those they are politically aligned with. How many people called Bush a Nazi, then said nothing when Obama did even worse things. Now these same people are going to vote for somebody who is about ten times worse than Bush and Obama combined. It leads me to question whether people really believe in anything, especially when I see somebody like Noam Chomsky endorsing Hillary Clinton.

[Netherspark]

Srsly , spreading misinformation for political agenda is a russian only thing now ? Like come on....

Few use it on such an industrial scale, nor with such intensity and frequency. Russia truly does "weaponize" misinformation on an unprecendented scale.

[Bollocks]

Russia and it's President are one of the few who has the balls to stand up to the USA who is quite frankly turning the world into something I am not proud to be a part of.

I do believe Russia is posturing and exaggerating its capabilities but it's to maintain its position as a strong and independent country that is simply looking out for its own national interests. At least Russia respects international law which the US has blatantly ignored whenever it chooses.

Edit: And yeah as others have said, the US outright lies and is in control of the biggest propaganda machine in the world.

What's the price of their sovereignity or their national interests? Their economy is literally based around one commodity and their leader is sucking the entire country dry of its resources. I feel that at this point Russia should instead focus on developing inclusive institutions instead of extractive ones that solely serve to further the objectives of their leader, like they did during the Soviet era.

EDIT: Yes I'm paraphrasing Daron Acemoglu.

[Schmittay]

What's the price of their sovereignity or their national interests? Their economy is literally based around one commodity and their leader is sucking the entire country dry of its resources. I feel that at this point Russia should instead focus on developing inclusive institutions instead of extractive ones that solely serve to further the objectives of their leader, like they did during the Soviet era.

EDIT: Yes I'm paraphrasing Daron Acemoglu.

Yeah how dare they recover their economy from absolute ruins by extracting their natural resources and selling it. Look at the state of Russia as late as the early 2000's! Their was doubt it would ever recover.

I repeat: At least Russia follows international law (yes even with Crimea) and doesn't impose it's way of life on others. It actively works with LEGITIMATE governments, not weaponise militant groups to overthrow governments it doesn't agree with only for those groups to become the next ISIL. The USA have done some absolutely shocking medieval and plain evil things to push it's global agenda. Can the same be said about Russia?

[Sunseeker]

I think stupidity in buying everything that comes out of Russian mouths is more dangerous.

[Machismo]

Yeah how dare they recover their economy from absolute ruins by extracting their natural resources and selling it. Look at the state of Russia as late as the early 2000's! Their was doubt it would ever recover.

I repeat: At least Russia follows international law (yes even with Crimea) and doesn't impose it's way of life on others. It actively works with LEGITIMATE governments, not weaponise militant groups to overthrow governments it doesn't agree with only for those groups to become the next ISIL. The USA have done some absolutely shocking medieval and plain evil things to push it's global agenda. Can the same be said about Russia?

Are you really saying that Russia doesn't try to undermine governments?

[Bollocks]

Yeah how dare they recover their economy from absolute ruins by extracting their natural resources and selling it. Look at the state of Russia as late as the early 2000's! Their was doubt it would ever recover.

I repeat: At least Russia follows international law (yes even with Crimea) and doesn't impose it's way of life on others. It actively works with LEGITIMATE governments, not weaponise militant groups to overthrow governments it doesn't agree with only for those groups to become the next ISIL. The USA have done some absolutely shocking medieval and plain evil things to push it's global agenda. Can the same be said about Russia?

But I never implied such, their economy is not doing well and is depending solely on one commodity. Instead of diversifying their economy and creating inclusive institutions, it seems that their leader is more interesting in draining the country for his personal gain and power hungry agenda.

[Deleted]

A US media outlet spreading false information about their enemies being the only ones spreading false information. the pot calling the kettle black.