Russian troll factories

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abc123
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by abc123 »

I presume that late senator Joseph MaCarthy would be really proud these days...
:roll:
Fortune favors brave sir, said Carrot cheerfully.
What's her position about heavily armed, well prepared and overmanned armies?
Oh, noone's ever heard of Fortune favoring them, sir.
According to General Tacticus, it's because they favor themselves…

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Information war intensifies: this site that has been enrolling readers with good, quoted (but selected for a purpose) content has now inserted worms "for its faithful readership" to enjoy:
"Harmful web site blocked

www.worldaffairsjournal.org

This web site has been reported as harmful. We recommend that you do not visit this web site."

It is no secret who is behind it, but such underhand tactics are deplorable.
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

express.co.uk (ehhrm :angel: ) has printed the Boris Akunin interpretation of what is behind the Salisbury attack:

"The aim is to scare “big and mid-size Russian oligarchs” so that return with the families and fortunes to Moscow, he said.

“Many, almost the majority, of ruling businessmen have one foot on foreign soil, primarily in England,” he said.

“The fact that they keep here families and capital, and that at any moment if they feel themselves under attack (at home), they are ready to run (to London) is one of the weakest and most vulnerable points of the regime.

“So creating a situation that will force the whole group with their chests and households to move back to Kremlin-controlled territory is useful and beneficial for Putin.”["]

The source is much more respected than the channel (hence I am quoting). The bad news for the trolls is that this is all "above their pay grade". Though St. Pete is not a bad place to be - the winter is almost over, after all!

What lends credence to the theory is the scale of capital flight that Russia experienced when the Crimea "clinical" operation turned, from the walk-over that it was on the ground, into a crisis; The Telegraph wrote at the time
"
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

5:41PM BST 08 May 2014

The European Central Bank says capital flight from Russia since the Ukraine crisis erupted may be four times higher than admitted by the Kremlin, a clear sign that sanctions pressure is inflicting serious damage on the Russian economy.

Mario Draghi, the ECB’s president, said the outflows from Russia have been large enough over recent weeks to push up the euro exchange rate, complicating monetary policy for the ECB.

“We had very significant outflows that have been estimated by some to be in the order of €160bn out of Russia,” he said, without specifying where the information came from.

This is equivalent to $222bn"
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

FuNsTeR
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by FuNsTeR »

the whole thing is a joke, tories refuse to gives samples to the UN by blocking it in the UN , and the OPCW it's as if we have something to hide, i've got a funny feeling this will blow up on our face like iraq and the wmd, you have to ask why would they do it before the presidential election and a couple of months before the world cup

Caribbean
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by Caribbean »

Did you actually watch the UN session, because from your comment I doubt it - the UK clearly stated that they were providing the OPCW with samples, so far from blocking it, they are actually doing it. They also quoted the actual legal reasoning (which the UK is in a good position to know, because they were involved in defining the terms of the treaty) - Russia has no right to access to the samples, because they failed to declare the biological weapons program that produced it to the OPCW. The UK is also conducting a criminal investigation, not complaining about the use of illegal weapons in warfare, which again means that Russia has no right to samples. The Russian ambassador was flailing around with a prepared statement, making points that the UK ambassador had already dismissed as irrelevant in his opening statement (and, from the looks on the faces of the rest of the Russian delegation, they clearly knew that). Then the Russian ambassador went off into the realms of fantasy and tried to insult the UK police by comparing them to Inspector Lestrade, when a Sherlock Holmes was required. Of course, what the Russians forgot is that Holmes has a smarter, older brother, Mycroft - who worked for the British Government. :lol:
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill

abc123
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by abc123 »

A man would expect that Russian government and their vaunted SVR/FSB/GRU etc. would be a bit smarter than to use exclusively Russian-produced nerve agent against theirs allmost forgotten ( and exchanged for their own agents ) ex-traitor ( and so jeopardising any future prospects for such swaps ). :think:
Fortune favors brave sir, said Carrot cheerfully.
What's her position about heavily armed, well prepared and overmanned armies?
Oh, noone's ever heard of Fortune favoring them, sir.
According to General Tacticus, it's because they favor themselves…

andrew98
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by andrew98 »

A man wants others to know they'll be killed for betraying him :shh:

Caribbean
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by Caribbean »

They want it to be known that they did it, but retain plausible deniability. Witness the Russian ambassador coming up with the defence (I paraphrase) "we never worked on anything like this - it must have been produced in x, y or z countries, because we know that where all the russian scientists who were working on our projects went" - both denying it and at the same time claiming that it could only have been done with Russian knowledge. They screwed up last time, with the polonium, because it left a track literally all the way to and from Moscow - they are much happier at the moment, because there is a missing link in the chain of evidence, namely the method of delivery. I suspect that it will be found eventually, but that the UK authorities are going to have to test literally everything that the various victims (including those that were only mildly affected) came into contact with. More than likely it was on something that the daughter unwittingly brought with her from Russia.
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill

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Cooper
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by Cooper »

Caribbean wrote:More than likely it was on something that the daughter unwittingly brought with her from Russia.
Well that's why they took away the taxi she used from the airport to Salisbury, if there are traces of it in that, she must have brought it with her.

abc123
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by abc123 »

Caribbean wrote:They want it to be known that they did it, but retain plausible deniability. Witness the Russian ambassador coming up with the defence (I paraphrase) "we never worked on anything like this - it must have been produced in x, y or z countries, because we know that where all the russian scientists who were working on our projects went" - both denying it and at the same time claiming that it could only have been done with Russian knowledge. They screwed up last time, with the polonium, because it left a track literally all the way to and from Moscow - they are much happier at the moment, because there is a missing link in the chain of evidence, namely the method of delivery. I suspect that it will be found eventually, but that the UK authorities are going to have to test literally everything that the various victims (including those that were only mildly affected) came into contact with. More than likely it was on something that the daughter unwittingly brought with her from Russia.
Yeah, the Russians are so stooopid that they couldn't figure out 10 years ago that polonium can be traced back to them... :yawn:
Fortune favors brave sir, said Carrot cheerfully.
What's her position about heavily armed, well prepared and overmanned armies?
Oh, noone's ever heard of Fortune favoring them, sir.
According to General Tacticus, it's because they favor themselves…

Caribbean
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by Caribbean »

abc123 wrote:Yeah, the Russians are so stooopid that they couldn't figure out 10 years ago that polonium can be traced back to them...
Their intention then was to do exactly what they have tried this time, to conduct a hit that left everybody in no doubt as to who was behind it, but without leaving any trail of evidence as to how it was actually done and the identity of the agents involved. I doubt that it was part of the plan that the hitmen bungle the job and contaminate themselves, (and then contaminate everything that they touched, leaving a trail of radioactive breadcrumbs pointing directly to Moscow). This time it appears that they have minimised the risk of that happening by doing all the preparatory work in Russia and using the daughter as the unwitting "hit man".
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill

Caribbean
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by Caribbean »

US Steps up sanctions against Russian individuals and companies

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/libr ... ag8%2e22vd
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Looks like I can close my "crusade" on this thread
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... cf2364ce9d
as even the main stream media showing signs of having woken up by now, quoting stats, like
"60-80 % of likes" for stories on certain topics driven by Russian sponsored interests.

Greetings to all the good people in St. Pete...
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

With the benefit of hindsight, we seem to have been much honoured by the hand crafted posts:
"A fresh Whitehall analysis yesterday revealed that Russian misinformation had increased by 4,000%, mainly through automated social media bots. "
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

abc123
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by abc123 »

ArmChairCivvy wrote:Looks like I can close my "crusade" on this thread
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... cf2364ce9d
as even the main stream media showing signs of having woken up by now, quoting stats, like
"60-80 % of likes" for stories on certain topics driven by Russian sponsored interests.

Greetings to all the good people in St. Pete...

I wonder, when will you forgive poor Mr. Zuckerberg for having Trump elected? :think:
Fortune favors brave sir, said Carrot cheerfully.
What's her position about heavily armed, well prepared and overmanned armies?
Oh, noone's ever heard of Fortune favoring them, sir.
According to General Tacticus, it's because they favor themselves…

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2HeadsBetter
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by 2HeadsBetter »

"...mainly through automated social media bots." How disappointing. The phrase "Russian troll factories" conjured up an image in my mind of thousands of Russians seated at booths typing away at all hours. At least that would keep them off the streets. And the cheap vodka.

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Words can't hurt you (as long as you can recognise the intent behind them). However, this is more hard edged:

"An analysis by Talos, the threat intelligence division for the tech giant Cisco, estimated that at least 500,000 routers in at least 54 countries had been infected by the malware, which the F.B.I. and cybersecurity researchers are calling VPNFilter. Among the affected networking equipment it found during its research were devices from manufacturers including Linksys, MikroTik, Netgear and TP-Link.

To disrupt the Sofacy network, the Justice Department sought and received permission to seize the web domain toknowall.com, which it said was a critical part of the malware’s “command-and-control infrastructure.” Now that the domain is under F.B.I. control, any attempts by the malware to reinfect a compromised router will be bounced to an F.B.I. server that can record the I.P. address of the affected device."

and

"The analysis by Talos noted significant similarities between VPNFilter’s computer code and “versions of the BlackEnergy malware — which was responsible for multiple large-scale attacks that targeted devices in Ukraine.”["]
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

Lord Jim
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by Lord Jim »

Are the US and other nations that have been subjected to Russian Cyber attacks responded in kind. Would be interesting to see as the Russian public seem to lap up everything their Government puts out so could they differentiate input from outside?

Lord Jim
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by Lord Jim »

Interestingly I made a few comments on You Tube yesterday regarding the content of some videos. My comments were basically calling out the contributors who were basically peddling lies etc. with a very pro Russian viewpoint. Within a few hours my computer detected almost a dozen attempts in infect my PC with Malware, mainly through bogus emails who claimed to be from publishers of games I play.

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

ArmChairCivvy wrote: Now that the domain is under F.B.I. control, any attempts by the malware to reinfect a compromised router will be bounced to an F.B.I. server that can record the I.P. address of the affected device."
See how they had go back to the old fashioned ways, when they can't send the "payloads" direct - anymore.
Lord Jim wrote: Within a few hours my computer detected almost a dozen attempts in infect my PC with Malware, mainly through bogus emails
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Facebook trying to pull themselves out of the [political news] ditch:
"Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg will move to Silicon Valley in January to take up a post as head of Facebook’s global affairs and communications team"

I welcome this, on the part of both of the parties to the agreement
... over to my "friends" in St. Pete (and is there enough snow on the ground yet :) ... I would be over, in a "flash"?).
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

About the long arm of the law (and slow wheels of justice ;) ):
https://news.sky.com/story/facebook-doc ... t-11562952
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

That was quick, from Hinge of Fate to Grand Alliance:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/face ... -t-n940476

Politicians and other top officials from at least seven countries will grill Richard Allan, the social media giant’s vice president of policy solutions, at the House of Commons in London.

Representatives from the U.K., Canada, Australia, Ireland, Argentina, Brazil, Singapore and Latvia invited Zuckerberg to give evidence, even by video link, but he declined.

The event is billed as the inaugural "Grand Committee on Disinformation.”
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

abc123
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by abc123 »

ArmChairCivvy wrote:That was quick, from Hinge of Fate to Grand Alliance:
Another Kirov-saga fan? :?:
Fortune favors brave sir, said Carrot cheerfully.
What's her position about heavily armed, well prepared and overmanned armies?
Oh, noone's ever heard of Fortune favoring them, sir.
According to General Tacticus, it's because they favor themselves…

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

abc123 wrote:Kirov-saga
Took the liberty to do reverse order between III and IV in Churchill's 'epic'.
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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