So if I were an anti-immigrant nationalist, I’d like to think I’d be a bit taken aback to discover that Facebook page with all those cool cartoons and memes I shared with my friends turns out to have been put together by a Russian media group working for the Russian Government.
More likely, of course, I’d simply deny that was the case (having been trained by My President to distrust “Fake News”), or, even if I admitted it, just fall back on, “Well, whatever — what they say still makes sense!”
I could probably go along for quite some time without letting myself ask, “So, why would Russia want to be spreading this sort of sentiment in the United States? What’s their motive here? What’s their end-game? Is it to our benefit, or might there be something here that would actually weaken us, make us less of a challenge to them.”
Facebook said last week that the 470 “inauthentic accounts and pages” it had linked to Russia and removed had bought about 3,000 ads between June 2015 and May this year. Though some ads mentioned the presidential candidates or the election, most “appeared to focus on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum — touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights,” wrote Alex Stamos, the company’s chief security officer.
Again, this is not to say (sadly) that Russia invented this nativist sentiment, or an accusation that every meme or protest against Those Darned Furriner Illegals (and other similar causes) originated in the Kremlin. But, clearly, some of them did. And that really does make one wonder: on the assumption that Russia wasn’t doing this for giggles, or to lend a culturally purifying hand to America, why did they do it? Or, as they used to say in old murder mysteries, Cui bono? And once we figure out who benefits, should that cause us to consider those causes in a new, less attractive light?
Purged Facebook Page Tied to the Kremlin Spread Anti-Immigrant Bile – The New York Times
The page, posing as an activist group, was one of hundreds of fake accounts Russia used in an information campaign during the election, a revelation that has put Facebook on the defensive.
Amusing since Zuckerberg denied this for about a year.
It's not limited to the U.S., and it's not limited to promoting conservative politics. One of the groups promoting "Calexit" (withdrawal of California from the United States) is led by someone who just happens to be living in Russia at the moment. Yes, an independent California would be more blue than the remaining U.S., but from Russia's perspective the Disunited States would be weaker.
As to the thesis that Country A (in this case Russia) is better off if all of the other countries are destabilized, I'm not sure that's a good long-term proposition. As the USSR learned during World War II, sometimes you really really depend upon those other countries. "Hitler is not our concern, Poland is not our concern, the West is not our concern…wait a minute WHEN WILL THE UK AND THE US HELP US PEOPLE ARE DYING WHERE ARE YOU?"
And of course we can look at our own country's history of destabilizing enemies and propping up enemies to our enemies. We decided that the Shah was a bad guy, and we ended up with the Ayatollah. Then when the Ayatollah caused problems, we thought it best to prop up his neighbor Saddan Hussein. Meanwhile, we opposed the Soviets in Afghanistan by propping up the mujahideen. None of those moves helped the U.S. in future years…
CIA operation where they make it look like Russia did it?
+Donna F Or maybe it's the Chinese pretending to be the CIA framing the Russians for fomenting American nativism!
(I do love looking at folks' profiles before I block them and confirming that they are just as foul-mouthed, everythingphobic, and hateful as the comments they leave here that I then delete.)
+John E. Bredehoft Yes, you're correct that the US is not the only target of Russian tinkering, just the place where they appear to have had the most impact (from a global perspective).
And, yes, the US does not have a clean record over the the past decades (or century-plus) in this same regard. I'm happy to condemn that, too. But at the moment I'm more concerned in getting our own house in order.
+John E. Bredehoft CalExit as a plan by Russia to fan alt-right politics in America actually makes sense. 55 blue state electoral votes would disappear from the national election scene without California.
POLITICS
Flynn Promoted Nuclear-Plant Project While in White House
Then-Trump security adviser had his staff meet with those involved in Middle East proposal that once included Russian firms
One of the traditional American phobias became the law by the American President, in US. Who is it to blame? Of cause, Russia!
A simple advise in such situation is: Start working on population's education. The current population completely deserves current president.
The sad thing is once I considered the New York Times to be the "newspaper of record" but they've failed to measure up when it counts. I'm suspicious of any mention of Russia since the whole Russia-hacked-the-electiongate has been exposed for what it is. How can you trust the NYT when they've never even interviewed Dr. Judy Wood author of Where Did The Towers Go. The NYT is as suspect as the Washington Post.
+Randall Snyder, Jr. Sorry, it's difficult to discuss media "credibility" with a 911 Truther. Aloha.