Eastern Europe: Olivier's sphere of influence

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Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Paging Brown Moses to the TRUMP/Pence 2016 thread

# ¿ Jul 27, 2016 17:43

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 10:56

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

I feel the best lever for getting folks who have gone into Amerikkka useful idiot territory is to give them, in detail, how press freedom works in the fascistic dictatorship they've chosen. I don't lead with the programmatic killing of dissenting journalists- that comes toward the end. If you lead with the killings, the morons will think that Snowden or Assange or Greenwald is a meaningful counterargument. I usually start with a litany of state-run media operations, specifically the ones targeted within the country. I only tell them these are the internally facing ones at the end of the list. Then I give them the ones targeting outside countries-at that point they start recognizing the names they've been relying on. Emphasizing the government agencies that run the propaganda shops is useful here- you don't want to let them convince themselves that this is a "free state-run press". I try to move to the killings before they get all tu quoque, and I try to use aggregate numbers (X dissident journalists dead in X years). I emphasize the individual cases that occur outside their country.

If I get some buy-in, I can then follow up in the Russia case with a description of Russia's history of loving with US politics over time.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2016 04:54

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

OddObserver posted:

A bit of metanews from Ukraine that likely won't result in much due to optics: either hack or accidental leak of "DPR" internal documents suggested that a couple of a bit.... Russia-friendly channels were running their "news reports" by DPR "security officials" before running them.

Which channels? What's your source? I'm having fun making rudimentary sketches of the different Russian propaganda efforts/entities.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2016 16:39

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

slavatuvs posted:

Igor Plotnitsky, head of the LNR, is in critical condition after his car was blown up this morning.

I guess he pissed off his masters.

Let's be fair- that could be the US.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2016 18:34

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

A major motivation would be to serve as a lesson to other countries that are considering NATO. "This is what we'll do to you."

# ¿ Aug 10, 2016 18:52

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

"Kremlin-aligned"

I'm still having to remind people not to cite RT as a source.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2016 17:33

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Dave Weigel (our own Joementum) had a great article (linked to an even better one, iirc) about how RT successfully infiltrated the press corps for a time, and was eventually outed. Let me see if I can find it.

Here's Weigel piece 1,
from 2011 when some media folks still trusted the company and politicians from the mainstream were leveraging it. He visited their studios.

An excellent overview of internal politics at the organization from CJR. Read it. It's great, and illustrates the weirdness of Russia's not entirely top-down propaganda system.

Weigel piece 2, from 2014, describing the disenchantment with the company as folks realized what was going on, and importantly, a concise summary of the goals of the organization.

The excellent Buzzfeed article, How The Truth Is Made At Russia Today. This is worth reading, the article that summarizes the final implosion of the network's credibility (and did a lot to sink it) in media circles. An extended interview with the anchor who left mid-recording, and a discussion of how they preyed on journalism graduates.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2016 18:50

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Young Freud posted:

If you want to know the real turning point and the tl;dr of those articles, it was Euromaidan. RT would cover Occupy and other American protests, but something major happening right next door and involving protests and the fall of the Russian-backed government was met with silence and then slander. Then when Yanukovych was overthrown and the little green men start showing up in Crimea and Donbass and a bunch of folks just couldn't support them anymore.

I don't think that's accurate on the media side. While renewed public interest in response to the annexation produced a new wave of articles and refutations, the first two articles I cite are from 2011 and 2010. By that point, RT stopped being cited in the mainstream US press, and the Pauls had started backing away from the channel as they realized the platform could become a political liability.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2016 19:40

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Pellisworth posted:

Eastern Europe: Putin' on the Ritz

I think we already did "Putin on a Blitz".

# ¿ Aug 19, 2016 23:49

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

"Polish Death Camps" sounds like some kind of unpleasant traditional, regional fermented meat product. Or maybe a mixed drink.

Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Aug 25, 2016

# ¿ Aug 25, 2016 00:36

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Could someone give me a rundown on Uzbekistan's current political status? I'm particularly ignorant of that country's setting and background.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2016 20:34

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Thanks, y'all! Why has Uzbekistan remained stable- is it part of Russia's Sphere of ~~Doom~~ ~~Dystop~~ Influence, serving as a buffer?

# ¿ Aug 29, 2016 21:04

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

cinci zoo sniper posted:

Browns Moses is yet again being accused of curating a facade for publication of anti-Russian malarkey, as per words of Major-general Konashenkov, chair of public affairs department of Russia's MoD.

Stay safe Francis Bacon Ghost

# ¿ Sep 9, 2016 15:41

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Brown Moses posted:

I should send him a bouquet for all the traffic he drove to our site.

Flowers are so old school

# ¿ Sep 9, 2016 16:09

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Man, that would be a lot more credible/effective/plausible if the fact that the company was fully nationalized wasn't public knowledge.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2016 00:33

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

mobby_6kl posted:

At first I thought it was some sort of Russia stronk thing but it's just a world of tanks tie-in.

Those are very much not mutually exclusive.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2016 19:51

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Cat Mattress posted:

How can you look at that map and say "yes, this would make sense as an independent country".

Racism.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2016 17:33

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Disco Infiva posted:

What?

The roots of the conflict are ethnic/racial. They continue to motivate parties to the conflict, including the viability of separatism.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2016 20:21

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

steinrokkan posted:

It's bog standard nationalism.

That's a form of racism. Radovan wasn't convicted of national cleansing.

Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Sep 21, 2016

# ¿ Sep 21, 2016 20:33

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Ethnicity is at root a form of race- a social construct, used for the purpose of division, built in this case and in many others partially, but incompletely, along lines of lineage and geography. "ethnic nationalism" is racism.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2016 20:57

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Isn't that just the IMF reserve? Russia's other reserves are pretty extensive and flexible.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2016 23:49

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Doctor Malaver posted:

That Ben Franklin thought Swedes were swarthy doesn't prove your point in any way. If anything it goes against it because you brought up an example of a famous and influential person who was concerned with differences in complexion.

Groups of people hate and kill each other for variety of reasons. I'm sure you can come up with plenty of examples but it again doesn't prove your claim that "racism is always about something else than biological race". Always? C'mon.

"biological race" isn't a thing in humans. Race is a social construct. It's always a social construct.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2016 00:34

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Brown Moses posted:

And ahead of the press conference, which should start in 20 minutes, I made a video about the last press conference

https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/780370204043911169

What music is that?

# ¿ Sep 26, 2016 16:25

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Brown Moses posted:

As I'm not already dying of exhaustion, I'm doing another event tonight on MH17, which will be livestreamed. It'll include the MH17 lawyer Jerry Skinner who has taken Russian to the ECHR, so he should have an interesting reaction to yesterday's news

https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/781466686390169600

BM, who do you want to play you in the movie?

# ¿ Sep 29, 2016 16:38

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Go with Mr. Tumble. Highest credibility of the names mentioned so far.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2016 21:44

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Rust Martialis posted:

Clearly the natural choice is Elliot Higgins.

I don't know, I've read online that he's not a credible crisis actor.

Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Sep 30, 2016

# ¿ Sep 29, 2016 22:11

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

I read a headline today about how the total abortion ban failed?

# ¿ Oct 6, 2016 01:02

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

The Apprentice: Chechen Edition

quote:

Donald Trump may have used his gig hosting The Apprentice as a stepping stone toward his bid to become president, but Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, a Russian republic in the Northern Caucasus, has done him one better: turning his own presidency into an Apprentice-style reality show.

...

On the show, called Komanda or �The Team,� 16 candidates have been chosen from all corners of Russia and beyond to compete for a position as his new assistant. The first episode was broadcast by the state-owned channel Rossiya 1 on Kadyrov�s 40th birthday this month. The contestants had been forewarned to expect a rough ride. In the show�s trailer, Kadyrov hassled a TV presenter through a military obstacle course, bragging that only �the best of the best would become an aide to the republic.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2016 01:01

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Flavahbeast posted:

Are people from all over Russia really falling over themselves to be Kadyrov's assistant? seems like a dangerous gig

It's propaganda.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2016 07:25

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Russia's Putin grants Russian citizenship to U.S. actor Seagal.

That's not an exaggeration. Putin personally signed an order. Cripes.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2016 21:58

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

AceRimmer posted:

I can't comment on the last part but the large wheat crop claim is true according to the UN.

It appears to be based on Russia-reported numbers, so I'm not sure how meaningful that is.

# ¿ Dec 1, 2016 19:09

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Ghost of Mussolini posted:

The UN/FAO is not fronting Russian claims. If you actually read the release firstly it notes that production and stocks have been increasing year on year. It also notes other factors such as more favorable weather. The whole release contains negative and positive statements about several different countries and its nothing more than a technical summary. If you really want to read more then knock yourselves out: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home (also available in Russian http://www.fao.org/faostat/ru/#home )

I read the release. It doesn't state its sources and appears to be taking the reports of member countries for its calculations. The dataset is actually just a copy of the figures from the release.

edit: reading through their Programme of Research appears to confirm, at page 47, that their primary method of collecting ag commodity information is to ask the country government- in Russia's case, probably by electronic questionnaire or contacting the relevant statistical office, which is going to be a government entity.

Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Dec 2, 2016

# ¿ Dec 2, 2016 04:12

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Dwesa posted:

Hah, other popular stories are funny too. Something about Russian kid adopted into USA killed by parents and then some article about discrimination against Russian media by the West. That's like neo-nazi with swastika on his forehead complaining about being called racist.

The adoption one's likely related to actual findings of abuse of adoption programs operating out of Russia from a couple years ago.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2016 20:07

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

AceRimmer posted:

Brown Moses is our Nate Silver really, mock all you want folks

Can't be, too much hair/not shook enough.

More generally, do people not get that that was stated that way as a joke line?

# ¿ Dec 9, 2016 22:21

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

There needs to be a version of Papers Please for internet shitposting.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2016 03:01

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Just so I'm clear on this, your starting point for it is deserving preferential medical treatment due to past government and military connections? And you want access to the military medical hospital's resources, during the current military state of the country? Doesn't the bed earmarking situation seem perfectly reasonable?

# ¿ Dec 20, 2016 19:35

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

https://twitter.com/RussianEmbassy/status/818439246214262784

# ¿ Jan 9, 2017 20:21

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

The unclassified version of the DNI report on the Russian effect on the US election is out- no real surprises, but it does appear their bag of tricks for the US matches that used for members of their Orb of Power. People who watch their social media proxy efforts say that they've actually just activated a bunch of phony groups/accounts that were previously dormant.

Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 21:37 on Jan 9, 2017

# ¿ Jan 9, 2017 21:16

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Maybe we should revert to my previous thread title suggestion.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2017 14:17

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 10:56

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

I can't get over it. They're literally called INFOWARS.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2017 05:40

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