“The main goal of the Russian propaganda and misinformation effort is to divide America by using our institutions, like free speech and social media, against us. It has stoked fear and hatred amongst Americans. It is working incredibly well. We are quite divided as a nation.”
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And the main goal of the MEDIA in this nation has been to destroy Trump and the electoral process.
Sounds like FB should do right by America and shut down
They are as much to blame for the divisions in the country as anybody, by giving the insane haters a platform and recruiting venue
It’s more open and mean now, but we’ve been divided for an awfully long time. Not only the Russians have exacerbated the situation. So, too, has the media, many elected officials, the plethora of “special interest” groups. It’s not a pretty sight.
If there were one incident in relatively recent memory that flamed the divisions, it would be IMHO the late Sen. Kennedy’s attack on the late, then-Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork. Not everyone has his name made into a verb to describe vicious attacks that seek to destroy the person and his reputation.
“The main goal of the Russian propaganda and misinformation effort is to divide America by using our institutions, like free speech and social media, against us. It has stoked fear and hatred amongst Americans. It is working incredibly well. We are quite divided as a nation.”
Remove the word “Russian” from the above sentence and it would also accurately describe the behavior of the ENTIRE “mainstream” (ie leftist) media in the USA over the past year and a half...
But dividing America wasn’t the Russians it was the democrats, starting in the 1960’s.
“Tell Vladimir that after the election I’ll have more flexibility” President Obama to Russian President Medvedev 03/2012
And we thought Obama was just referring to missile defense (ne: unilateral US disarmament).
“Obama’s response to Russian interference: He did his job. His cautious response to Russian interference protected our democracy.” — William Saletan “Slate” 06/23/17
Why didn’t Obama raise public alarms about Russian infiltration? Because that might have backfired.
“Trump was predicting that the election would be rigged,” says the Washington Post. “Obama officials feared providing fuel to such claims, playing into Russia’s efforts to discredit the outcome.”
According to the paper, Obama and his team “worried that any action they took would be perceived as political interference in an already volatile campaign.”
Rather than speak up when the CIA first warned him about Putin’s moves, Obama waited for “a high-confidence assessment from U.S. intelligence agencies on Russia’s role and intent.”
He asked congressional Republicans to join him in cautioning citizens and state election officials. You can argue that this was politically naïve.
BUT OBAMA WASN’T PLAYING POLITICS. HE WAS TRYING TO UNITE THE COUNTRY. (Emphasis mine)
Editor’s note: My B.S. meter just exploded!
I feel like I have been saying as much about Russia for the past few months that I have been on this boards. (I returned from living in Russia just before the election.)
Despite its glamorous 21st Century facades, Russian society is as insecure as ever, and experiencing a throwback to some of the worst elements of their Soviet and imperial past...or, it can be argued they never truly broke from the Soviet past: just had a costume change. Putin, at the end of the day, is former KGB. As are many of the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church for that matter. (For those Americans deceived into buying the false “Russia is more Christian than we are” propaganda.)
America, despite all our seeming chaos - is actually quite stronger than we may realize...in fact the fact that our debates are as alive and forceful as they are attest to the vitality of freedom and our founding principles...I missed it while abroad. I was happy to join in the chaos and experience the miracle of Trump’s victory - knowing that such an event can rarely be experienced elsewhere. Where there are no real elections, real freedoms...
The current generation of Russian propagandists didn't divide us. Their grandfathers did, when they infiltrated Communist ideals into this country.