Posted on 02/16/2018 2:06:33 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
Russia is now experiencing its own end of history, but it has turned out to be not liberal democracy but a new turn back to the enslavement of Russian society, the consequences of which will be its further degradation with prospects that are dangerous both for the country itself and for the entire world.
The West generally and the US in particular need to display both wisdom and political will to effectively oppose the political challenge the Kremlin now presents.
It has been an unwelcome surprise for Western publics how well the Kremlin and its information forces have studied the weakness of Western leaders and how capably they are using this in their propaganda.
Western analysts have not yet been up to this task because they are wedded to the idea that Russia was on the right path after 1991 until recently...
In fact, the Russian problem now has much deeper roots. Few Western specialists on Russia are prepared to acknowledge that perestroika was a KGB-planned operation directed at seizing power with the goal of privatizing state property or that in August 1991 there was no liberal let alone a democratic revolution but rather a carefully planned operation to channel mass enthusiasm in the direction the organs needed.
Today, all real policies of the Kremlin are a collection of covert special operations, she writes. In order to understand this, one must do what Western specialists do not want to do: recognize the way in which what the Kremlin is doing is reproducing the Stalinist mechanism of power.
They are united in their goal of fundamentally weakening the West and in the first instance the US, to extend the borders of their influence in the world, and to make Russia an assembly point for all the anti-Western forces of the world."
(Excerpt) Read more at interpretermag.com ...
Thank you for sharing!
Bill Kristol/John McCain approve of all GoldenRose’s postings. All pro-NeoCon & anti-Russia.
Assad/Putin/Hezbollah/Hamas all approve of Trumpisourlastchance’s posts. Alongside Kim Jong Un, who has both Syria and Russia in his corner. Quite the fan club to be sure...
Wonderful write-up, but given you STILL call people who disagree with you, DESPITE THEIR POSTING HISTORY, “Russian Trolls” makes me wonder if you’re even fit for this forum.
Thanks Mariner, see above. She’s close to crossing the line between discourse and personal attacks on people who happen to disagree (if not there already). Most people don’t stay too long on this site when the cross that line.
“Got it. I see: well, yes I have referred to people touting pro-Putin narratives here as Putinbots and Russiabots, but they are to be distinguished from ACTUAL online trolls based out of Russia.”
Thanks, that’s a start (I’m reading the posts backwards in time). Would you mind naming a few of those ACTUAL Putin trolls, so I can check their posting history to verify - or, since all we hear is “The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!” and thus their MUST BE Putin trolls...without being able to name any?
Hey, why don’t you Putin cultists pick on me instead of a woman,
You want names of Putin Trolls, because they certainly don’t care about the Russian people, try Navy Patriot, Desert Rhino, McGruff.
This is a forum, why don’t Mariner, TrumpIsOurLastChance and BobL go whine to the moderators if they don’t like free speech discussion.
You and these others are warned per this “shaming” of others per posts, you can really see per Mariner asserting “one is trying to sew discord” and “you’re even fit for this forum” that it is you all who are trying to defend the indefensible and somehow, you all are using this same tactic of trying to shame others.
Admin is pinged here, you take it up with them instead of using profanity, which is listed as flagrantly against the rules here, since you are telling others they may not fit in and telling others they don’t fit in.
Sorry, but calling people who disagree with you PUTIN TROLLS here without any justification (which is what some do to me) is also outside of the rules and it’s a bit sickening to have people here name call, rather than discuss things. And it is NOT “free speech” here to call people who disagree over Russia “Putin Trolls”.
But I do appreciate you mentioning people by name. I’ll look at their posting history and decide for myself - and perhaps they are trolls...but NOT just because they happen to see things differently.
And no, I don’t need to whine to the moderators, yet.
Don't Be Fooled: Russia Attacked U.S. Troops in Syria (Op-ed)
Mattis gave Putin "plausible deniability" for a military assault that went badly awry
AP / TASS
(Bloomberg) If you've been listening just to the Kremlin and the Pentagon, you probably didn't know that Russia attacked American forces and their allies in Syria last week, suffering heavy casualties.
Yes, all sides admit that there was an incident at a U.S. base in Deir Ezzor. And that elements of the Syrian regime and Shiite militias participated in the assault. The Pentagon and Kremlin both acknowledge that Russian "mercenaries" participated, too. But the line for now is that those contractors had gone rogue, and Moscow didn't know anything about it.
Read more at: Moscow Times
If people fussed every time, Russian propaganda was tossed in by some folks, hence, they earn that name of Russian troll even if they may not be Russian, we would be here for a very long time. We've heard all the lies and half truths and exaggerations, Ukraine full of Nazis and so on and so on.
I did scan the people you’ve named. They all post here a huge amount. One of them only rarely touches on Russia, so definitely not a troll, as us trolls are only paid for posts that are PERTINENT to defending Putin, so he would be wasting a huge amount of time trying to maintain his cover. The others do tend to be more Russia-heavy in their postings, but their Russia postings over the past few years are still a small part of their overall postings, and they have been here a long time, and posted for a long time. Even Rose admits to being very interested in Russia with heavy postings in that area...be we don’t claim she’s on McCain’s payroll either.
Anything’s possible, but I’d say it’s just as likely that they (and I) see the same set of data as you do and conclude differently. That certainly is the case between McCain and Trump (or Cruz), and even within Trump’s administration, regarding the Russians.
Anyway, the name-calling of people who disagree is ridiculous doesn’t belong on the forum, unless someone has material evidence to prove their claims. Russia happens to be a very controversial topic, which is why people don’t get booted here for taking one side or the other (whereas call for gun-grabbing and you won’t be here long). But name-calling by either side is not a good thing.
One more thing re: John McCain. I am no fan of his, but I am of Sarah Palin. She predicted Putin’s future aggressions looong before anyone else did. And was mocked for it!
“Sarah Palin predicted Putin would invade Ukraine if Obama was elected.”
PING: Excuse the commentary i added and just read this original article by Irina Pavlova. She gives a long-range understanding into Russia’s thinking...
The problem is at this point our own Deep State and Russia’s intentions are rather aligned: which is to undermine and destablize America.
Reasonisfaith: yes China colludes/infiltrates American fabric but in different, less reckless ways - unlike Russia, they have a strong economy to guard...
But more than anything, the Russia narrative rings phony.
Notice how they’re trying to say the Russians were basically Trump voters.
Yes the narrative has been twisted by the liberals who are just upset that GOD and the American people (especially in swing states) disrupted their plans.
To play devil’s advocate though: Trump made himself vulnerable during early debates when he explained his hope to improve relations with Russia and in complimenting Putin’s leadership.
Objectively speaking its only right that we have a leader who wants to better relations with them!
But talks of “reset” “peace” is unfortunately interpreted as a weakness by Russian elites and gave fodder for American media to pin Trump as a Putin-sympathizer or enthusiast.
In actuality, the corrupt interests of Russian elites were far better served under Clinton/Obama than under Trump...
And to be frank: it may have taken Trump sometime to see what Russia is really about.
I even went to Russia with a far more favorable impression of its govt...changed my mind after living there LoL.
Hi regulator! I am pinging you to this interesting piece written by a former historian of the Novosibirsk Academy of Sciences. It shows the futility of blaming the West for the 1990s Russia stuff...
Krosan, good to read this thesis to understand what happened to Russia in the 1990s.
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