Comments by "" (@DavidJ222) on "Reporter confronts Putin: 'What are you so afraid of?'" video.

  1. In 2018, 8 republican lawmakers decided to celebrated the 4th of July in Moscow: Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, who led the delegation, along with Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, John Neely Kennedy of Louisiana, Steve Daines of Montana, North Dakota’s John Hoeven, Jerry Moran of Kansas, South Dakota’s John Thune, and Rep. Kay Granger of the 12th District of Texas. The group celebrated America's Day of independence in Moscow laughing it up with a number of key Russians, including foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and former Russian ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak—the two same two who 14 months earlier were photographed by the Russian press laughing it up with Trump in the Oval Office, the day after Comey was fired. What's worse is that we have no way of knowing what was said during their meetings with Russian agents and officials, because the media was barred from the closed-door meetings, much to the delight of the gloating Russians. It may be a coincidence that two of the eight republicans who went to Moscow for some vague reason on the Fourth of July are now mouthpieces for the Kremlin. But fortunately for me, I don't believe in coincidences. These 8 republicans have all the signs of a GOP/GRU Russian sleeper cell. Consider: Eight Republican lawmakers—and, notably, not a single Democrat—journey halfway around the world to spend America's Independence Day with Putin’s coziest cronies. We don’t really know what happens once they get there, but we do know that the Russians are really good at both psy-ops and kompromat.  It would explain why republicans like Johnson, Kennedy and others have been regurgitating Russian propaganda almost word for word. It’s like the tv series, "The Americans" but with actual Americans.
    9
  2. The firehose of falsehood, or firehosing, is a Soviet era propaganda technique in which a large number of messages are broadcast rapidly, repetitively, and continuously over multiple channels without regard for truth or consistency This tactic was successfully used by Russia during its annexation of Crimea. The characteristics that distinguish this technique from Soviet Cold-War era propaganda techniques are a large number of messages and channels, and a "shameless" approach to disseminating falsehoods and contradictory messages. The immediate aim is to confuse, and overwhelm the audience. The "firehose" takes advantage of modern technology, such as the Internet and social media, and recent changes in the way people produce and consume news. Russia disseminates propaganda using dozens of proxy websites whose connection to RT is "disguised or downplayed. People are also more likely to believe a story when they think many others believe it, especially if those others belong to a group with which they identify. Thus, an army of trolls can influence a person's opinion by creating the false impression that a majority of that person's neighbors support a given view. Using the firehose model, the Russian government, along with Fox, have had some success in getting people to believe and spread falsehoods and disbelieve truthful reporting. Although the firehosing technique takes advantage of modern technology, it is informed by the thinking of Lenin. Lenin once explained that his heated language was "calculated not to convince, but to break up the ranks of the opponent, not to correct the mistake of the opponent, but to destroy him, to wipe his organization off the face of the earth." In his biography of Lenin, historian Victor Sebestyen described him as the "godfather" of "post-truth politics."
    5