A new website named after a Founding Father is tracking Russian propaganda in real time

A website launched on Wednesday by a former FBI special agent-turned disinformation expert claims to track Russian propaganda in near-real time, as it spreads via Twitter accounts that have been linked to Russian influence operations.

http://dashboard.securingdemocracy.org/

Tillerson spurns $80 million to counter ISIS, Russian propaganda

It is highly unusual for a Cabinet secretary to turn down money for his department. But more than five months into his tenure, Tillerson has not issued a simple request for the money earmarked for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, $60 million of which is now parked at the Pentagon. Another $19.8 million sits untouched at the State Department as Tillerson’s aides reject calls from career diplomats and members of Congress to put the money to work against America’s adversaries.

The $60 million will expire on Sept. 30 if not transferred to State by then, current and former State Department officials told POLITICO.

Trump Offers Putin Thanks, Not Critique, for Throwing Out U.S. Diplomats

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Trump offered gratitude rather than outrage on Thursday for Russia’s decision to force the United States Embassy in Moscow to slash its personnel by 755 people, despite earlier bipartisan condemnation from other American leaders who had protested the Cold War-style move.

...

Mr. Putin seized two American diplomatic properties and ordered the American diplomatic staff cut by more than half two weeks ago, retaliating for sanctions imposed by Congress because of Russia’s meddling in last year’s presidential election in the United States.

“I want to thank him, because we’re trying to cut down on payroll and as far as I’m concerned I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll,” Mr. Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.

“There’s no real reason for them to go back. So I greatly appreciate the fact that we’ve been able to cut our payroll of the United States. We’ll save a lot of money,” Mr. Trump said.

either:

puppet president
or
extremely weak on putin and only putin for unknown unexplained reasons

Ridiculous, right? Might as well throw this chart up for anyone who's curious:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/31/politi...ate/index.html

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...59806489591809

What's this called? Clowning one's way?

On the other hand it was January.

since there isn't a dedicated thread on "RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA", this one should be an all-encompassing Russia thread.

for articles like this one https://www.wired.com/story/a-guide-...-us-democracy/

and discussion of the upcoming Russian POTUSBOWL 20!8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia...election,_2018

as well as discussion of the great russian hope, Alexei Navalny
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei...campaign,_2018

if you are upset russia is meddling in western elections, you should go ahead and support Navalny to rattle Putin a bit.

the "election" of donald j trump:

Software Glitch or Russian Hackers? Election Problems Draw Little Scrutiny

The calls started flooding in from hundreds of irate North Carolina voters just after 7 a.m. on Election Day last November.

Dozens were told they were ineligible to vote and were turned away at the polls, even when they displayed current registration cards. Others were sent from one polling place to another, only to be rejected. Scores of voters were incorrectly told they had cast ballots days earlier. In one precinct, voting halted for two hours.

Susan Greenhalgh, a troubleshooter at a nonpartisan election monitoring group, was alarmed. Most of the complaints came from Durham, a blue-leaning county in a swing state. The problems involved electronic poll books — tablets and laptops, loaded with check-in software, that have increasingly replaced the thick binders of paper used to verify voters’ identities and registration status. She knew that the company that provided Durham’s software, VR Systems, had been penetrated by Russian hackers months before.

“It felt like tampering, or some kind of cyberattack,” Ms. Greenhalgh said about the voting troubles in Durham.

There are plenty of other reasons for such breakdowns — local officials blamed human error and software malfunctions — and no clear-cut evidence of digital sabotage has emerged, much less a Russian role in it. Despite the disruptions, a record number of votes were cast in Durham, following a pattern there of overwhelming support for Democratic presidential candidates, this time Hillary Clinton.

...

On Election Day, as the e-poll book problems continued, Ms. Greenhalgh urged an Election Protection colleague in North Carolina to warn the state Board of Elections of a cyberattack and suggest that it call in the F.B.I. and Department of Homeland Security. In an email, she also warned a Homeland Security election specialist of the problems. Later, the specialist told her Durham County had rejected the agency’s help.

When Ms. Greenhalgh, who works at Verified Voting, a nonprofit dedicated to election integrity, followed up with the North Carolina colleague, he reported that state officials said they would not require federal help.

“He said: ‘The state does not view this as a problem. There’s nothing we can do, so we’ve moved on to other things,’” Ms. Greenhalgh recalled. “Meanwhile, I’m thinking, ‘What could be more important to move on to?’”

The checks-and-balances philosophy behind the Constitution does not include the ability to pardon anyone and everyone including himself. He's delusional if he thinks he'll get away with that. There are clearly limits to all of these powers.

This is a pretty big deal for Trump that illustrates why I think he is worried about this Russian investigation.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...e_iOSApp_Other

He was in bed with some really shady characters from a former Soviet Republic. If you don't want to take the time to read the article or get confused by this stuff, the really important thing about it is that a major bank (Danske) was used to launder $3 billion out of Azerbaijan, and it was uncovered in 2014. But nothing was done, because banks never get in trouble for this kind of stuff. But it is hitting the fan now because someone leaked all the documents related to it.

Trump is involved because he was trying to build a hotel there and his local partner is tied to people who were laundering the money. There's also a fantastic connection with Unesco of all agencies, which is worth reading the article just for that tidbit.

For people who don't understand why Trump is really worried about the Russia investigation, here's my best guess.

For the last 20 years or so, the US and organizations such as the OECD have cracked down on money laundering through traditional sources. But one glaring thing they have missed is laundering money through real estate. So if you show up with a suitcase full of money at your local bank, they will make you answer a lot of questions about where it came from. But if you buy a bunch of apartments in Miami, no one cares.

What I imagine happened in Russia is that Trump took a lot of money from people on sanctions lists, and now he is worried that when the special prosecutor starts unwinding these deals he made, it's going to mean trouble for him.

meanwhile in russia:

https://www.reuters.com/article/russ...-idUSL8N1LM3FE

https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/...-to-fail-58839

Russia's biggest private bank has to be bailed out for essentially lying about its assets over at least several years. Central bank took over 75% of the bank's shares, while leaving its management in place. The bailout will essentially inject anywhere from 500b-1t rubles of new money into the russian economy, which is equivalent to almost 5-10% of all consumer debt in russia. that doesn't sound like a lot, but for a developing economy that's only starting to work on credit, it's huge.

the effect will be felt throughout russia. it's essentially a self-imposed round of inflation, that could threaten its entire lending industry. it is entirely possible that either 1) putin's government will need to institute price controls and kill growth even further, or more likely 2) bail out credit lenders in some fashion while letting the population absorb higher prices. #2 could be especially problematic because close to half of the population lives at or below poverty levels outside of a few urban centers. once the price of bread goes through inflation, revolutions happen.

Another problem for putin is Kadyrov's new statement on persecution of muslims in Myanmar. kadyrov is essentially a separatist who has bent the knee as long as he can do whatever he wants locally, but he is religious enough to speak out against Russia's veto of the UN Security Council resolution on Myanmar.

it isn't clear what putin might want from myanmar's military leadership, but it more likely than not has something to do with their military cooperation agreement, arms dealings, and possibly an alliance to stand up to China in southeast asia.

https://www.ft.com/content/f25212fa-...a-eda243196c2c

in other news, another regional official for Navalny's presidential campaign was arrested and put in jail for 10 days. The campaign now has over 100k volunteers and twice as many signatures it needs to officially make Navalny's candidacy legitimate, and they are still trying to get to 1,000,000. That's a huge number for a country like russia. protests during and after the election are likely, and if history is any indication

Although Navalny's made up conviction will probably be used to keep him out of the race, there is a backup plan. Putin's government also prevented a popular local mayor to run as an incumbent, causing Navalny and lots of other supporters to call for a wide-spread boycott. The mayor was somewhat controversial, he is not a member of Putin's party, and notoriously hard on drug policy, but if he is not on the ballot, a wide-spread boycott action is more likely than not. there will be

Facebook said hundreds of apparently fake Russian accounts bought political ads on its network during the U.S. presidential campaign

Hundreds of fake Facebook accounts and pages apparently operated out of Russia bought $100,000 in political ads on Facebook during the presidential campaign last year, the company disclosed on Wednesday.

...

Facebook officials said the fake accounts and pages had been connected to a shadowy Russian company called the Internet Research Agency, which is known for using “troll” accounts to post on social media and comment on news websites.

Most of the 3,000 ads did not refer to particular candidates but instead focused on divisive social issues such as race, gay rights, gun control and immigration, according to a Facebook post by Alex Stamos, the company’s chief security officer. The ads violated Facebook’s policies, and the company said it had shut down the 470 pages and accounts associated with them.

...

Facebook said that some of the ads linked to Russian accounts had targeted particular geographic areas, which may raise questions about whether anyone had helped direct such targeting.

JJ McNab is a great follow on Twitter for keeping up with far right anti-government stuff. Turns out a lot of the anti-government groups have ties to Russia and this has been going on for years. Good Twitter thread on it:

There is some hope that supporting opposition candidates in Russia may shake putin's grip on the country. Go forth and spread the word on social media to any and all russian friends you may have. The election turnout is usually so small (<15%) that any vote can become hugely important.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ncil-elections

Russia Used Facebook Events to Organize Anti-Immigrant Rallies on U.S. Soil

HRC warned us about this during 2016, and now the Clinton Fake News Network is warning us about in 2020.. We are going to need Facebook/twitter censorship, aren't we?

Russia bought BLM Facebook ads, because of course they did. watch this get spun into "russia was actually helping defeat trump"

I wonder at what point Twitter and FB become security threats.

we are past that

I meant to the Feds.

I fear we're past that, too.

i'll just leave this here for now. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/pau...er-found-dead/

The the Russian Times published a list of biggest russiaphobes.

1) John McCain
2) NATO
3) Louise Mensch
4) Hillary Clinton
5) Anne Applebaum
6) Edward Lucas
7) Morgan Freeman
8) Rob Reiner
9) Buzzfeed
10) Molly McKew

louise mensch is a russian plant i'm surprised they didn't rank her #1