OT subject but worth a main-stream read- OT News Feeds...

dbCooper

lousubcap said:

A long read regarding the news media (particularly Fox) in the US and the Russia leaning commentary:
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/03/putins-propaganda-machine-what-americas-far-right-wants/363083/  

@lousubcap

Good read there, thanks for sharing.

Tangentially related, expanding this behavior can/will be detrimental to freedoms in the USA.  I've found these folks to be objective in their on-going scorecards on world freedom in various countries... https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores  There are many points worth pondering in the comments on the US scores.

Our friends on here from Canada and the United Kingdom that suffer from occasional (good natured?) bashings can find some solace in their scores. 

Ozzie_Isaac

dbCooper said:

lousubcap said:

A long read regarding the news media (particularly Fox) in the US and the Russia leaning commentary:
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/03/putins-propaganda-machine-what-americas-far-right-wants/363083/  

@lousubcap

Good read there, thanks for sharing.

Tangentially related, expanding this behavior can/will be detrimental to freedoms in the USA.  I've found these folks to be objective in their on-going scorecards on world freedom in various countries... https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores  There are many points worth pondering in the comments on the US scores.

Our friends on here from Canada and the United Kingdom that suffer from occasional (good natured?) bashings can find some solace in their scores. 

China 9
Taiwan 94

Russia 19
Ukraine 61

I detect a theme.

lousubcap

@dbCooper - Lots to unpack in that report.  Thanks for the link.  
Wonder how various main-stream news feeds would score??  That's a  hypothetical as the politics would drive any outcomes.  

Canugghead

dbCooper said:

lousubcap said:

A long read regarding the news media (particularly Fox) in the US and the Russia leaning commentary:
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/03/putins-propaganda-machine-what-americas-far-right-wants/363083/  

@lousubcap

Good read there, thanks for sharing.

Tangentially related, expanding this behavior can/will be detrimental to freedoms in the USA.  I've found these folks to be objective in their on-going scorecards on world freedom in various countries... https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores  There are many points worth pondering in the comments on the US scores.

Our friends on here from Canada and the United Kingdom that suffer from occasional (good natured?) bashings can find some solace in their scores. 

Canada's 98 score is fake, just ask the truckers who are deprived of their god given freedom 🤣

HeavyG

Ozzie_Isaac said:

dbCooper said:

lousubcap said:

A long read regarding the news media (particularly Fox) in the US and the Russia leaning commentary:
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/03/putins-propaganda-machine-what-americas-far-right-wants/363083/  

@lousubcap

Good read there, thanks for sharing.

Tangentially related, expanding this behavior can/will be detrimental to freedoms in the USA.  I've found these folks to be objective in their on-going scorecards on world freedom in various countries... https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores  There are many points worth pondering in the comments on the US scores.

Our friends on here from Canada and the United Kingdom that suffer from occasional (good natured?) bashings can find some solace in their scores. 

China 9
Taiwan 94

Russia 19
Ukraine 61

I detect a theme.

Australia - 95

USA - 83

Something's wrong. Australia is MORE free than the USA???

I just learned moments ago that Australia was NOT free according to Trump endorsed GOP candidate for Guv of Arizona Kari Lake ( https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2636890/#Comment_2636890 ),

Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie, Oi, Oi, Oi!

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/0rgasmatr0nn/status/1503490843784667140?s=20&t=l1VXrQTk5LGMLrEzoY6jbA

@lousubcap @CTMike

lousubcap

Why do you think the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991??? Just read about how we held their strategic second strike ballistic missile submarines at risk and they knew it.  Never mind defense spending them into oblivion before we got there.  
We don't have that hammer here.  

nolaegghead

Tucker’s show is purely entertainment and editorial, he can say or lie all he wants, he doesn’t follow any tenets of news media.

Even though he’s not running, he does influence politicians at the highest level, this is well documented and well known and about as useful for me to state as saying “ water is wet”.

Any constructive criticism of Tucker is warranted.

fishlessman

even i cant watch tucker, how do you do it

nolaegghead

fishlessman said:

even i cant watch tucker, how do you do it

I don't.  Obviously I've watched some.  It doesn't take long to see this guy is sick.  Littlerascal69 has expressed his man-love enough that you can see he's been drinking the crazy koolaid.

nolaegghead

I don't understand how anyone can support the Russians especially in light of the scale of their war crimes.  War is obviously a messy ordeal and everyone gets bad intelligence or has rogue soldiers, or fires some bad shots.  That's normal.  But softening up civilian areas with no military targets through indiscriminate bombing, holy f*ck. 

Sure, we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki which were civilian targets, but Japan attacked us and there was a legitimate argument that ending the war early would save net lives.

I know this is a slippery slope.  All war is bad, m'kay. 

Some of the stanchest anti-war people I know are friends that have actually fought in them.

lousubcap

Some reading on the propaganda and far right media:

"If you haven't already noticed, Russia is pumping out a lot more disinformation lately, and a disturbingly large amount of it is being amplified by far-right personalities and media here in the states.
The latest on the "useful idiot" front: Russian state-run media reportedly ordered producers to use Tucker Carlson clips as much as possible, according to a 12-page memo obtained by the progressive outlet Mother Jones on Sunday. Those orders allegedly instruct Russia's propagandists that, "It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally."
More: On Sunday, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, called out U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Col. and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who has been pushing some of the same lies advanced by the Kremlin—including the ill-informed uproar over "Lugar labs," as it was known in a previous iteration (h/t Adam Rawnsley of The Daily Beast). Read Romney's warning, via Twitter, here; then feel free to review Gabbard's angry response (here) before pivoting to Tucker Carlson's newest enthusiastic embrace of Gabbard's fascination with "biolabs," via Fox entertainment on Monday evening, here.
By the way: Russia pushed fears over "biolabs" back when it invaded Georgia in 2008, as journalist Michael Weiss recalled and linked to via Twitter, here.

Let's be clear: "Biolabs" is an incredibly common focus of Russian disinformation that goes back many decades. Several of those 20th-century campaigns were quite successful, as the authors of "The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World" recount. Read over those passages via Twitter, here.
So, is the Russian effort working this time? In many ways, it appears that it is—certainly if you consider Tucker and Tusli above, as well as Google searches for "war crime" versus "biolab" over the past 30 days, as researcher John Scott-Railton noted Monday.
Worth noting: "'Biolabs'" weren't a talking point until Russia's first line of propaganda—about Zelenskyy being a 'nazi'—failed spectacularly," Ben Collins of NBC News reported Monday. He also shared a chart that tracked use of "biolabs" across 15 high-profile far-right social networks. There is a clear spike in the data the very day Russia's invasion began. What happened next involved several converging groups and conversations online, including QAnon followers, anti-vaccine activists, and the pro-Trump Reddit forum TheDonald, which had to change its name to PatriotsDotWin after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Once all that began to take off, Collins writes, Moscow realized that it had "finally found a pretext—well, posttext—for the Ukraine war, a gift from the American far-right."
The headline for that fascinating deep dive: "QAnon, Ukraine and 'biolabs': Russian propaganda efforts boosted by U.S. far right," via NBC News, reporting Monday.
Advice: U.S. defense policy officials need to understand the links between Russian propaganda and the American right wing, Defense One's Kevin Baron argued in an opinion piece Monday. "America's right-wing partisans wish they had what Putin has: control of the information and messages that flow to the body politic. That's not an accusation; it is their goal," Baron writes. More, here."

nolaegghead

From the Gabbards link: " The theory that dangerous American-funded labs exist in Ukraine has also become associated with the QAnon conspiracy theorists, who have said without evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin is invading Ukraine with the support of former President Donald Trump to destroy labs that are linked to Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, became a popular target among conspiracy theorists throughout the coronavirus pandemic, as people resisted protective measures like masks, lockdowns and vaccines.

U.S. officials have described the conspiracy theories as "laughable" and an attempt from Russia to justify its "own horrific actions" in Ukraine. "

JFC

nolaegghead

New Ukrainian stamp, shot the pic from the TV screen.

Canugghead

Should koolaid be shaken or stirred? Asking for a friend. 

nolaegghead

Canugghead said:

Should koolaid be shaken or stirred? Asking for a friend. 

Usually stirred.

lousubcap

I'm quite sure that stamp has the soldier giving the middle finger to that Russian cruiser, aka target.  

nolaegghead

lousubcap said:

I'm quite sure that stamp has the soldier giving the middle finger to that Russian cruiser, aka target.  

I don’t understand why the one fingered salute can’t be shown on broadcast TV.  Meanwhile you can watch actors get their guts eaten by zombies which is arguably more personal and offensive.

JohnInCarolina

nolaegghead said:

lousubcap said:

I'm quite sure that stamp has the soldier giving the middle finger to that Russian cruiser, aka target.  

I don’t understand why the one fingered salute can’t be shown on broadcast TV.  

Right?  It's just half a peace sign!

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1503744554444505093?s=20&t=awbEq4wn0drOhiYd7uu8Kg

Seems curious that one Donald J Trump did not make the cut here.  I mean, given how tough he was on Putin... right?

nolaegghead

JohnInCarolina said:

http://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1503744554444505093?s=20&t=awbEq4wn0drOhiYd7uu8Kg

Seems curious that one Donald J Trump did not make the cut here.  I mean, given how tough he was on Putin... right?

No.  Not really.

lousubcap

A few paragraphs about the Russia-Ukraine war and some diplomatic moves today:

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday that negotiations with Russia were heading in a “more realistic” direction. “The meetings continue, and I am informed that the positions during the negotiations already sound more realistic,” Zelenskyy said. Adela Suliman and Hannah Knowles report for the Washington Post. 

Russia's foreign minister has said today there is some hope of a breakthrough in talks with Ukraine and that neutrality for Ukrainian neutrality is being seriously discussed. Henry Austin reports for NBC News.

Mukhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymer Zelenskyy, has said that the country’s government rejected the idea floated by Russia that Ukraine should adopt a Swedish or Austrian model of neutrality.Time Lister and Julia Kesa report for CNN. 

Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, plans to meet Sergey Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, in Moscow today, before heading to Ukraine. “Turkey has been pushing for a bigger role in mediating an end to the war, including hosting Lavrov and Ukraine’s top diplomat last week,” Elif Ince reports for the New York Times.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted yesterday that Ukraine is unlikely to join NATO as he made a call for increased security commitments from the West. Brad Dress reports for The Hill. "

lousubcap

And some more Russia-Ukraine reading material:

"Ukrainian and Russian diplomats met today for the fourth time since Putin greenlit his invasion to "denazify" Ukraine's leaders. In a vague bit of optimism from Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters Wednesday: "The negotiations are difficult for obvious reasons, but nonetheless there is a certain hope for reaching a compromise." For Ukraine's part, President Volodymir Zelenskyy is reportedly signaling certain concessions, including some wiggle room on hopes of joining NATO. "For years, we have heard about the supposedly open door, but we have also heard that we should not enter, and this is true and we must admit it," he said Tuesday.
According to Zelenskyy's chief advisor, "Our position at the negotiations is quite specific—legally verified security guarantees; ceasefire; withdrawal of Russian troops," Mykhailo Podolyaktweeted Wednesday, linking to an interview with PBS Newshour. "This is possible only with a direct dialogue between the heads of Ukraine and the Russian Federation." Reuters has more on the diplomatic front.
Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan rang his Russian counterpart Wednesday, the White House announced. In the call, "Sullivan clearly laid out the United States' commitment to continue imposing costs on Russia, to support the defense of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to reinforce NATO's eastern flank, in continued full coordination with our allies and partners," National Security Council Spokesperson Emily Horne said. Sullivan also "warned [General Nikolay Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council] about the consequences and implications of any possible Russian decision to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine." More here.

Zelenskyy repeated his calls for a no-fly zone in remarks to Congress, but he also admitted he doesn't expect that to happen. "If this is too much to ask, we offer an alternative," he said, and referenced anti-tank and air-defense weapons. "Remember Pearl Harbor? Remember September 11?" Zelenzkyy said. "Our countries experience the same every day right now."

Stay healthy and safe out there-

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/1504106145341968384?s=20&t=9ip4FsvMwN2G-KNodQQRKA

Eoin

dbCooper said:

lousubcap said:

A long read regarding the news media (particularly Fox) in the US and the Russia leaning commentary:
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/03/putins-propaganda-machine-what-americas-far-right-wants/363083/  

@lousubcap

Good read there, thanks for sharing.

Tangentially related, expanding this behavior can/will be detrimental to freedoms in the USA.  I've found these folks to be objective in their on-going scorecards on world freedom in various countries... https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores  There are many points worth pondering in the comments on the US scores.

Our friends on here from Canada and the United Kingdom that suffer from occasional (good natured?) bashings can find some solace in their scores. 

We currently have legislation being passed to reduce the right to protest. We also have the unelected upper house being packed with cronies. Our politicians constantly try to bypass the process in Parliament by making executive decisions and making announcements outside the house to avoid scrutiny / awkward questions. We are on the downward path.

HighHeat

https://twitter.com/ClintEhrlich/status/1502797810030178305?s=20&t=EcoJDkQbS7NLpZkFS2J26Q

HighHeat

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1504140822828269568?s=20&t=EcoJDkQbS7NLpZkFS2J26Q

More dead Russians coming.  Bravo. 

HighHeat

This is a great listen.  I embedded it for those uncultured few unable click more than once.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQSIeD-x6dQ&t=5s

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/FridaGhitis/status/1504113410791047170

I'm sure Vlad will send his mega-yacht and share some fuel.

JohnInCarolina

HighHeat said:

This is a great listen.  I embedded it for those uncultured few unable click more than once.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQSIeD-x6dQ&t=5s

Are our trolls learning?  Amazing.