DOES THE PENTAGON THINK RUSSIAN MEDIA KILL PEOPLE?

In the following is our translation of an article from RIA FAN about the Great Russian Scare in America and the scare mongers in Congress who have spent billions to root out Russian “troll factories” that supposedly have stolen US “democracy,” which I have shown here does not even exist. The article below shows that the Pentagon has a division devoted to fighting Russian trolls, which as far as we know, do not carry guns. So how did opinion influencers come to be considered tantamount to a military threat worthy of a Pentagon division?
 
What many Americans fail to keep in mind is that any Russian propaganda or other efforts to influence elections in the US pale before the efforts of AIPAC, a foreign agent that not only influences US elections but in fact literally controls them, pushing them very hard, for example, into military conflicts not in the US interest, in two very important ways:
 
1—AIPAC, the foreign lobby that promotes the interests of Israel, donates millions to the campaigns of pro-Israel candidates, including presidential candidates. Thus if a candidate had ever constructively criticized an Israeli policy – such as the policy of allowing Israeli settlers to build in Palestine or the commonly implemented policy of shooting unarmed protesters in Gaza – AIPAC will not donate to that candidate but will donate to the opponent.
 
2—AIPAC issues press releases severely criticizing candidates who are less than wholeheartedly enthusiastic about the unjust policies of Israel toward the Palestinians – policies that the UN has condemned repeatedly. Thus if a candidate had constructively criticized an Israeli policy – such as the policy of allowing Israeli settlers to build in Palestine or the commonly implemented policy of shooting unarmed protesters in Gaza – AIPAC will issue press releases implying or stating that such a candidate is anti-Semitic.
 
Here is a must-view video that summarizes the untoward influence of AIPAC on American political life.
 
https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/aipac-the-israeli-lobby/
 
As a result, AIPAC not only influences opinion but actually forges US foreign policy and some internal policies relating to press freedom. For example, this lobby has already induced some states – and is attempting to induce the federal government – to adopt a blatantly unconstitutional law outlawing any boycott of products made in Israel or even in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine! I have written about this outrage here.
 
Yet we are supposed to believe that this kind of coercive and heavy-handed foreign influence on the part of AIPAC is just fine and dandy while a Russian company disseminating news slanted in favour of Russia – but with no coercion – is a grave violation of Americans’ rights and democracy! Are Americans that gullible? It would seem that a significant percentage of them are.
 
Sadly, many Evangelical Trump voters believe that any criticism of the secular apartheid homicidal state of Israel is a sin because of a verse in Genesis that says those who curse Israel will be cursed. But firstly, honest criticism is not cursing someone (in fact, constructive criticism is a blessing—which Genesis promises will be rewarded with a blessing), and secondly, there is no evidence at all that today’s Israel is the reincarnation of ancient Israel prophesied in Ezekiel, which Evangelicals take as the basis of their “Christian” Zionism. Indeed it does not meet the criteria spelled out in Ezekiel 37, which prophesies that the resurrected Israel will be “obedient to God’s decrees,” whereas a WIN/Gallup poll shows that a full 65% of Israelis profess no religion at all! Be sure to read what I wrote about “Christian” Zionism if you have not done so already. It is the only critique I have seen that is based on the Bible. America is facing the most massive intellectual deficit of its national life and it is way past time to start reducing that deficit. The only way to do that is to stop lying to ourselves and stop letting other people do our thinking for us.
 
Further, the accusations against Russian “propaganda” are, in the case of media aimed at the West, such as RT Sputnik, completely unfounded because most of the news they disseminate comes from Western sources. Nor is there any mention in such accusations of what reports from these agencies are false. I have been reading these publications for years and cannot think of a single such false or suspicious report. But their viewpoint is Eastern rather than stereotypically US-centred Western and therein lies the problem for the Establishment, which would ban all non-Western thought in a heartbeat if it could.
 
Influencing vs coercing
 
But the main problem here is the hypocrisy. The Establishment accusation is that these Russian news sources are aimed at influencing the minds of Americans regarding politics, and specifically, at tilting their thinking toward a more Russia-friendly mind set.
 
However, influencing, by use of cogent arguments and reasoning, is a far cry from coercing. And the hypocrisy lies in the fact that the American government goes much farther than merely influencing the attitudes and mind sets of the citizens of foreign countries. When a foreign leader, be it Maduro or Ghadaffi or whoever, refuses to be cowed into accepting the “American way,” notably, the US banking and monetary system, the US is very quick to invade, bomb, and massacre thousands of innocent civilians from the air, as they did in Iraq and Serbia, or support regime change as they did in Ukraine and Syria, or resort to killer sanctions that starve populations and deny needed medical care and medicines, to get a US-friendly regime in the country in question – Venezuela for instance. In this same vein, when internet publishers like Julian Assange or Bradley/Chelsea Manning dare to publish the true facts about the US Establishment that expose its crimes and misdeeds, they are in danger of being tried on phony charges and locked away. Coercion is the American way.
 
So are we supposed to believe that disseminating published materials in the US that merely influence opinion – but without coercion – in ways that conflict with the viewpoints accepted by the US Establishment is a danger to American liberties more grave than coercing people and governments to accept the US way of life?
 
As absurd as that proposition seems, it is precisely the premise on which the US Cyber Command operations to defend against “Russian trolls” is based.
 
BEGIN TRANSLATION
 
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Who will get the billions that Trump earmarks for fighting "Russian trolls"
 
12 March 2019
 
US President Donald Trump presented the draft budget for fiscal year 2020, which in the United States begins October 1, 2019. The document bears the pretentious title “Budget for a Better America” and, compared to 2019, provides for an increase of almost 5% of the total amount of all expenses.
 
There are many interesting articles, including those aimed at "deterring" Russia and China, primarily militarily. Among the significant amounts with which Trump plans to "contain" Russia, there is a very interesting expense item, including that of the Federal News Agency [ie, RIA FAN, the source of this article], which is in itself a great honour.
 
The US president is asking for $ 9.6 billion in US Cyber Command operations (the US Cyber ​​Command of the Pentagon), according to BBC News. Yes, the money is intended for the Pentagon’s cyber command, which recently trumpeted that it would conduct, during the mid-term American elections in 2018, an operation against the Russian Internet Research Agency which the United States refers to only as a “troll factory.”
 
However, as previously reported by the Federal News Agency [FAN], even in the United States, this operation was recognized as a failure, which led to the resignation of the deputy head of the US cyber command. Recall, after losing the war with “foreign hackers” and having suffered a defeat in a campaign concerning a fictitious “Russian interference in the elections,” US Deputy Cyber ​​Command Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart left his post.
 
According to Politico, this resignation was the result of the failure of a number of operations that the United States has been conducting in cyberspace. According to a FAN source, Stewart, in particular, suffered due to the total failure of a cyber attack on the Federal News Agency and the USA Really edition last November.
 
Pentagon baby talk
 
Politico reports that the reason for Stewart’s departure was the criticism of the activities of his department after the failed attack on FAN and USA Really. The US Cyber ​​Command, with great fanfare, reported blocking FAN and USA Really on November 6, 2018. However, in the publications themselves, which were quietly working that day, they did not notice any “blocking” - the resources worked normally and fully.
 
The failure of the attack was recognized even by American experts: for example, the publication ZDNet, part of CBS Corporation, called the operation a “failure” and “a waste of American taxpayers' money.” In addition, both FAN and USA Really were well aware of the impending attack, so the possible damage was reduced to zero from the outset.
 
As FAN previously reported, the entire “attack” was carried out on an absolutely unprofessional level. In addition, Stuart’s bosses were unpleasantly struck by another example of his "know-how": last October, the Pentagon’s digital division, like a bewildered schoolgirl, began to overwhelm FAN employees with strange SMS messages and meaningless threats.
 
In the opinion of FAN Director General Evgeny Zubarev, for this childish prattle of the Pentagon, on which billions of US taxpayer dollars were spent, ideally, all the leaders and so-called specialists of this division of the US military should have been dismissed.
 
“The attack of the Pentagon’s cyber division on FAN and USA Really was to end with the resignations of its leadership,” Zubarev said. - Sending ridiculous SMS messages and letters to the personal mail accounts of journalists - this, according to their plan, was supposed to have intimidated us! It made us laugh, yes, but it didn’t scare anyone. ”
 
The very same attack represented the distribution of viruses, for which the IT security services of FAN and USA Really were ready and with which they successfully coped, Zubarev stressed.
 
“But the very fact of the Pentagon’s billion-dollar expenditures on such criminal actions is surprising,” Zubarev stressed.
 
The “disconnect,” according to the Pentagon, allegedly took place on November 6, when the US held congressional elections.
 
“Of course, we did not interfere in the course of elections in the United States. But not because we were attacked by the Pentagon, but because we don’t have and never had such a mission,” said Yevgeny Zubarev.
 
To see how the so-called “attack” was organized minute by minute and what a resounding failure it was, read the article by the Federal News Agency: “6,200 mediocrities on officers’ payroll: the failed cyber attack on the Russian Federation cost the US millions of dollars.”
 
Despite the comic situation, Trump is asking Congress for well-defined goals, Professor of Moscow State University, Doctor of Political Sciences Andrei Manoilo said in a comment to the Federal News Agency.
 
“Yes, this is an absolutely meaningless waste of American taxpayers’ money, but once Trump asks to allocate these 9.6 billion, then he definitely has recipients for this money,” the expert said.” Trump is making this request for specific people.”
 
He is deliberately scaring the congress with the “Russian threat” in order to make sure he gets what he needs, the political analyst believes.
 
“Talking about ‘Russian trolls,’ who allegedly “travel in herds and poison everyone’s life” is only an excuse, and the upper limit of this amount is limited only by the tolerance of Congress, says Manoilo. “Trump perfectly understands how much can be squeezed out of Congress for this particular issue. And he will squeeze out this money.”
 
The operator will be the Pentagon, and this suits Trump. He willingly uses the Pentagon’s budget, considering it the most reliable. And then the money will go to the agency to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation, which is fighting with Russia and ISIS (organization banned in the Russian Federation. - FAN), and for which [former US Secretary of State Rex] Tillerson allocated 300 million shortly before his resignation. This money went to the effort to oppose so-called "Russian propaganda."
 
The expert doubts that the allocated funds will be effectively used.
 
“Apparently, those 300 million have been spent - now we need more. So there, these additional 9.6 billion will be gladly split and divided, and at the same time they will allocate about one and a half million to fight the trolls. So hold on, stock up with motherwort and valerian. You will not need anything stronger to survive their childish “cyber attacks,” Andrei Manoilo summarized with a laugh.
 
This is a financial scam, and this intra-American financial scam, like all actions conducted under the pretext of the mythical "Russian threat," is used to squeeze American taxpayers’ money out of Congress, the expert believes. In fact, this money goes to failed operations performed at an infantile level and to Pentagon PR, the FAN source pointed out.
 
END TRANSLATION