How Russia Targets the U.S. Military

Politico ^ | June 12, 2017 | Ben Schreckinger

[GoldenState_Rose]

Putin has made the creation of a pro-Russian “alternative media ecosystem” to, in his words, smash “the Anglo-Saxon monopoly on the information stream” a top priority of his foreign policy. A significant prong of those operations is aimed at the American military community, and the Russian activity has ramped up in recent years as tensions have increased over sanctions, the annexation of Crimea and the expansion of NATO.

In the 20th century, intelligence agencies looking to build ties with foreign soldiers might have gone through the trouble of sending agents out to watering holes near military bases, waiting for servicemen to show up and gaining their trust one drink at a time.

Now, social media makes it cheap and easy to target soldiers and veterans in their virtual hangouts for intelligence gathering and influence campaigns.

Veterans Today is a homegrown American site that was founded in 2003 in opposition to the invasion of Iraq ... Before it partnered with Russia’s New Eastern Outlook in 2013, it had forged ties with Iran’s state-backed PressTV and counted among its editorial board of directors a former head of Pakistan’s intelligence services, publishing headlines like, “Israeli death squads involved in Sandy Hook bloodbath” and “Water Terrorism by India to Overawe Pakistan.”

In October 2013, at the same time that Veterans Today began publishing content from New Eastern Outlook, its sister site Veterans News Now began publishing content from the Strategic Culture Foundation, a Moscow think tank run by Yuri Profokiev, a former head of Moscow’s Communist Party and member of the Soviet Politburo.

While the military and its contractors have long been the targets of cyberattacks from hostile foreign powers, the Russian campaign is noteworthy for its heightened intensity...

[NorseViking]

“” “” TV Channel 1 and Rossiya24. With former indie outlets like “Dozhd” (Rain in Russian) confined to the internet.

IF even that, as the internet is also heavily censored and monitored especially during election seasons.

Russians glued to the tube remain stuck on every this or that anti-USA taglines (some true no doubt, but with the conspiracies swallowing what little facts are revealed) - to distract you from all the problems and corruptions in the Kremlin and at home. Of which there are a-plenty times 10 compared to here.”” “”

LOL. Why did you singled out Dozhd channel? It is much more alike to CNN based on that since inception it is bashing the government the way CNN bashes Trump.
All its content is basically about how bad things are. Here a roof collapsed, there a drunk cop caught driving and in another place a city council woman fired for being gay. The end of the world is near and all of it is somehow Putin’s fault. And that is for 24/7 combined with occasional calls to riots.
I don’t know if government was involved but cables purged it for being unpopular in the first place. Sure, they have their fans but they are very few.

Also it would be correct to say most people are using their TVs only to stream movies these days and getting news online.

In that sense the Russians has the very same internet you have.