Deprograming MAGA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Clinton was interviewed yesterday and said those who follow Trump need to be 'deprogram'. What does that even mean?

There is an obvious need to deprogram Trump cult members who have been fed endless toxic mixes of misinformation.

Some Q Anon recoverees have described it being a long process.

I am not sure it is possible for a majority of them now that Russia and a China are both using online misinformation as a major strategic tool to destabilize Western democracies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — China has long been seen by the U.S. as a prolific source of anti-American propaganda but less aggressive in its influence operations than Russia, which has used cyberattacks and covert operations to disrupt U.S. elections and denigrate rivals.

But many in Washington now think China is increasingly adopting tactics associated with Russia — and there’s growing concern the U.S. isn’t doing enough to respond.

U.S. officials and outside experts cite recent examples of China-linked actors generating false news reports with artificial intelligence and posting large volumes of denigrating social media posts. While many of the discovered efforts are amateurish, experts think they signal an apparent willingness from Beijing to try more influence campaigns as part of a broader embrace of covert operations, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence

Deprogramming is sorely needed but is going to be hard to achieve without better regulation of internet. Google and Meta did take better measures this year to take down Russian and Chinese misinformation online operations but no where near enough.

There is a war on democratic hearts and minds going on.


Disinformation may be one of Russia and China’s greatest weapons
BY WILLIAM DANVERS, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR 04/05/23 07:00 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3932031-disinformation-may-be-one-of-russia-and-chinas-greatest-weapons/amp/

The United States has just completed its second Summit on Democracy. A warning from the State Department reinforces the reality that democracy is under threat globally and that public distrust is one reason for the threat. This distrust has various components, including concern about economic and political stability, but it is also driven and amplified by autocratic governments’ use of malign influence as a weapon against democracy.
Russia, in particular, uses disinformation and malign influence as part of its offensive national security strategy. In 2013, Russia’s military chief of general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, emphasized its importance in an essay he wrote, “The role of non-military means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness.” The government of the Soviet Union used what they called active measures — the strategy for the spreading of disinformation — for decades against the United States and the West. 


China and Russia are joining forces to spread disinformation

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/china-and-russia-are-joining-forces-to-spread-disinformation/

The deepening relationship between China and Russia is driven in part by a shared narrative that the United States and the European Union are constraining their interests and that they are using information and technology to exert leverage over their adversaries. Putin and the Chinese Communist Party have cracked down on free expression, independent media, and internet freedoms largely to counter what both perceive as the risk posed to their respective regimes by alternative sources of information reaching domestic audiences—and to legitimize these methods internationally.
Though Russian and Chinese interests diverge in important ways, they are increasingly collaborating on the narratives being supplied to domestic audiences, feeding similar disinformation and propaganda to a citizenry increasingly cut off from the global web. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has on the one hand avoided fully backing the incursion while on the other amplifying Kremlin propaganda on the issue. This week, for example, China’s foreign ministry repeated false Russian claims about the presence of U.S. biological weapons in Ukraine.
Against the backdrop of last month’s joint statement from Xi and Putin, this collaboration should be seen as part of a broader project to reshape the global information landscape to favor the Kremlin and Beijing’s authoritarian political projects.



How the People’s Republic of China Amplifies Russian Disinformation
FPC BRIEFING

https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation

So OP - there are now MAGA equivalents in most western countries. Russia and China are exploiting populist discontent to promote their own anti democratic narratives.


Reprogramming is only one part of counter initiatives needed .

We need more concerted efforts to prevent the misinformation and disinformation in the first place.

And, you probably call yourself a "liberal." You aren't. You are a leftist.
A true, classic liberal would NEVER condone any kind of "reprogramming" or "deprogramming."

On the contrary, classical liberals recognize that authoritarians represent an existential threat to all classical liberal values.

Then, you must truly fear Biden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Clinton was interviewed yesterday and said those who follow Trump need to be 'deprogram'. What does that even mean?

There is an obvious need to deprogram Trump cult members who have been fed endless toxic mixes of misinformation.

Some Q Anon recoverees have described it being a long process.

I am not sure it is possible for a majority of them now that Russia and a China are both using online misinformation as a major strategic tool to destabilize Western democracies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — China has long been seen by the U.S. as a prolific source of anti-American propaganda but less aggressive in its influence operations than Russia, which has used cyberattacks and covert operations to disrupt U.S. elections and denigrate rivals.

But many in Washington now think China is increasingly adopting tactics associated with Russia — and there’s growing concern the U.S. isn’t doing enough to respond.

U.S. officials and outside experts cite recent examples of China-linked actors generating false news reports with artificial intelligence and posting large volumes of denigrating social media posts. While many of the discovered efforts are amateurish, experts think they signal an apparent willingness from Beijing to try more influence campaigns as part of a broader embrace of covert operations, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence

Deprogramming is sorely needed but is going to be hard to achieve without better regulation of internet. Google and Meta did take better measures this year to take down Russian and Chinese misinformation online operations but no where near enough.

There is a war on democratic hearts and minds going on.


Disinformation may be one of Russia and China’s greatest weapons
BY WILLIAM DANVERS, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR 04/05/23 07:00 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3932031-disinformation-may-be-one-of-russia-and-chinas-greatest-weapons/amp/

The United States has just completed its second Summit on Democracy. A warning from the State Department reinforces the reality that democracy is under threat globally and that public distrust is one reason for the threat. This distrust has various components, including concern about economic and political stability, but it is also driven and amplified by autocratic governments’ use of malign influence as a weapon against democracy.
Russia, in particular, uses disinformation and malign influence as part of its offensive national security strategy. In 2013, Russia’s military chief of general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, emphasized its importance in an essay he wrote, “The role of non-military means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness.” The government of the Soviet Union used what they called active measures — the strategy for the spreading of disinformation — for decades against the United States and the West. 


China and Russia are joining forces to spread disinformation

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/china-and-russia-are-joining-forces-to-spread-disinformation/

The deepening relationship between China and Russia is driven in part by a shared narrative that the United States and the European Union are constraining their interests and that they are using information and technology to exert leverage over their adversaries. Putin and the Chinese Communist Party have cracked down on free expression, independent media, and internet freedoms largely to counter what both perceive as the risk posed to their respective regimes by alternative sources of information reaching domestic audiences—and to legitimize these methods internationally.
Though Russian and Chinese interests diverge in important ways, they are increasingly collaborating on the narratives being supplied to domestic audiences, feeding similar disinformation and propaganda to a citizenry increasingly cut off from the global web. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has on the one hand avoided fully backing the incursion while on the other amplifying Kremlin propaganda on the issue. This week, for example, China’s foreign ministry repeated false Russian claims about the presence of U.S. biological weapons in Ukraine.
Against the backdrop of last month’s joint statement from Xi and Putin, this collaboration should be seen as part of a broader project to reshape the global information landscape to favor the Kremlin and Beijing’s authoritarian political projects.



How the People’s Republic of China Amplifies Russian Disinformation
FPC BRIEFING

https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation

So OP - there are now MAGA equivalents in most western countries. Russia and China are exploiting populist discontent to promote their own anti democratic narratives.


Reprogramming is only one part of counter initiatives needed .

We need more concerted efforts to prevent the misinformation and disinformation in the first place.

And, you probably call yourself a "liberal." You aren't. You are a leftist.
A true, classic liberal would NEVER condone any kind of "reprogramming" or "deprogramming."

On the contrary, classical liberals recognize that authoritarians represent an existential threat to all classical liberal values.

Then, you must truly fear Biden.

No. We understand the big words we use because we understand history, comparative government, and we read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Clinton was interviewed yesterday and said those who follow Trump need to be 'deprogram'. What does that even mean?

There is an obvious need to deprogram Trump cult members who have been fed endless toxic mixes of misinformation.

Some Q Anon recoverees have described it being a long process.

I am not sure it is possible for a majority of them now that Russia and a China are both using online misinformation as a major strategic tool to destabilize Western democracies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — China has long been seen by the U.S. as a prolific source of anti-American propaganda but less aggressive in its influence operations than Russia, which has used cyberattacks and covert operations to disrupt U.S. elections and denigrate rivals.

But many in Washington now think China is increasingly adopting tactics associated with Russia — and there’s growing concern the U.S. isn’t doing enough to respond.

U.S. officials and outside experts cite recent examples of China-linked actors generating false news reports with artificial intelligence and posting large volumes of denigrating social media posts. While many of the discovered efforts are amateurish, experts think they signal an apparent willingness from Beijing to try more influence campaigns as part of a broader embrace of covert operations, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence

Deprogramming is sorely needed but is going to be hard to achieve without better regulation of internet. Google and Meta did take better measures this year to take down Russian and Chinese misinformation online operations but no where near enough.

There is a war on democratic hearts and minds going on.


Disinformation may be one of Russia and China’s greatest weapons
BY WILLIAM DANVERS, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR 04/05/23 07:00 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3932031-disinformation-may-be-one-of-russia-and-chinas-greatest-weapons/amp/

The United States has just completed its second Summit on Democracy. A warning from the State Department reinforces the reality that democracy is under threat globally and that public distrust is one reason for the threat. This distrust has various components, including concern about economic and political stability, but it is also driven and amplified by autocratic governments’ use of malign influence as a weapon against democracy.
Russia, in particular, uses disinformation and malign influence as part of its offensive national security strategy. In 2013, Russia’s military chief of general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, emphasized its importance in an essay he wrote, “The role of non-military means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness.” The government of the Soviet Union used what they called active measures — the strategy for the spreading of disinformation — for decades against the United States and the West. 


China and Russia are joining forces to spread disinformation

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/china-and-russia-are-joining-forces-to-spread-disinformation/

The deepening relationship between China and Russia is driven in part by a shared narrative that the United States and the European Union are constraining their interests and that they are using information and technology to exert leverage over their adversaries. Putin and the Chinese Communist Party have cracked down on free expression, independent media, and internet freedoms largely to counter what both perceive as the risk posed to their respective regimes by alternative sources of information reaching domestic audiences—and to legitimize these methods internationally.
Though Russian and Chinese interests diverge in important ways, they are increasingly collaborating on the narratives being supplied to domestic audiences, feeding similar disinformation and propaganda to a citizenry increasingly cut off from the global web. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has on the one hand avoided fully backing the incursion while on the other amplifying Kremlin propaganda on the issue. This week, for example, China’s foreign ministry repeated false Russian claims about the presence of U.S. biological weapons in Ukraine.
Against the backdrop of last month’s joint statement from Xi and Putin, this collaboration should be seen as part of a broader project to reshape the global information landscape to favor the Kremlin and Beijing’s authoritarian political projects.



How the People’s Republic of China Amplifies Russian Disinformation
FPC BRIEFING

https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation

So OP - there are now MAGA equivalents in most western countries. Russia and China are exploiting populist discontent to promote their own anti democratic narratives.


Reprogramming is only one part of counter initiatives needed .

We need more concerted efforts to prevent the misinformation and disinformation in the first place.

And, you probably call yourself a "liberal." You aren't. You are a leftist.
A true, classic liberal would NEVER condone any kind of "reprogramming" or "deprogramming."

On the contrary, classical liberals recognize that authoritarians represent an existential threat to all classical liberal values.

Then, you must truly fear Biden.

No. We understand the big words we use because we understand history, comparative government, and we read.

While at the same time ignoring the authoritarian actions your dear Leader makes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Clinton was interviewed yesterday and said those who follow Trump need to be 'deprogram'. What does that even mean?

There is an obvious need to deprogram Trump cult members who have been fed endless toxic mixes of misinformation.

Some Q Anon recoverees have described it being a long process.

I am not sure it is possible for a majority of them now that Russia and a China are both using online misinformation as a major strategic tool to destabilize Western democracies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — China has long been seen by the U.S. as a prolific source of anti-American propaganda but less aggressive in its influence operations than Russia, which has used cyberattacks and covert operations to disrupt U.S. elections and denigrate rivals.

But many in Washington now think China is increasingly adopting tactics associated with Russia — and there’s growing concern the U.S. isn’t doing enough to respond.

U.S. officials and outside experts cite recent examples of China-linked actors generating false news reports with artificial intelligence and posting large volumes of denigrating social media posts. While many of the discovered efforts are amateurish, experts think they signal an apparent willingness from Beijing to try more influence campaigns as part of a broader embrace of covert operations, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence

Deprogramming is sorely needed but is going to be hard to achieve without better regulation of internet. Google and Meta did take better measures this year to take down Russian and Chinese misinformation online operations but no where near enough.

There is a war on democratic hearts and minds going on.


Disinformation may be one of Russia and China’s greatest weapons
BY WILLIAM DANVERS, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR 04/05/23 07:00 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3932031-disinformation-may-be-one-of-russia-and-chinas-greatest-weapons/amp/

The United States has just completed its second Summit on Democracy. A warning from the State Department reinforces the reality that democracy is under threat globally and that public distrust is one reason for the threat. This distrust has various components, including concern about economic and political stability, but it is also driven and amplified by autocratic governments’ use of malign influence as a weapon against democracy.
Russia, in particular, uses disinformation and malign influence as part of its offensive national security strategy. In 2013, Russia’s military chief of general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, emphasized its importance in an essay he wrote, “The role of non-military means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness.” The government of the Soviet Union used what they called active measures — the strategy for the spreading of disinformation — for decades against the United States and the West. 


China and Russia are joining forces to spread disinformation

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/china-and-russia-are-joining-forces-to-spread-disinformation/

The deepening relationship between China and Russia is driven in part by a shared narrative that the United States and the European Union are constraining their interests and that they are using information and technology to exert leverage over their adversaries. Putin and the Chinese Communist Party have cracked down on free expression, independent media, and internet freedoms largely to counter what both perceive as the risk posed to their respective regimes by alternative sources of information reaching domestic audiences—and to legitimize these methods internationally.
Though Russian and Chinese interests diverge in important ways, they are increasingly collaborating on the narratives being supplied to domestic audiences, feeding similar disinformation and propaganda to a citizenry increasingly cut off from the global web. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has on the one hand avoided fully backing the incursion while on the other amplifying Kremlin propaganda on the issue. This week, for example, China’s foreign ministry repeated false Russian claims about the presence of U.S. biological weapons in Ukraine.
Against the backdrop of last month’s joint statement from Xi and Putin, this collaboration should be seen as part of a broader project to reshape the global information landscape to favor the Kremlin and Beijing’s authoritarian political projects.



How the People’s Republic of China Amplifies Russian Disinformation
FPC BRIEFING

https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation

So OP - there are now MAGA equivalents in most western countries. Russia and China are exploiting populist discontent to promote their own anti democratic narratives.


Reprogramming is only one part of counter initiatives needed .

We need more concerted efforts to prevent the misinformation and disinformation in the first place.

And, you probably call yourself a "liberal." You aren't. You are a leftist.
A true, classic liberal would NEVER condone any kind of "reprogramming" or "deprogramming."

On the contrary, classical liberals recognize that authoritarians represent an existential threat to all classical liberal values.

Then, you must truly fear Biden.

No. We understand the big words we use because we understand history, comparative government, and we read.

While at the same time ignoring the authoritarian actions your dear Leader makes.

Such as? And please don't call him our "dear Leader." Presidents as golden idols to be worshipped is something weird Republicans do, not us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Hillary for President! She's so much more articulate and intelligent than Biden.

She should have won ins 2016. She would have been a wonderful president. People are just so stupid, misogynistic and I dunno... afraid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Clinton was interviewed yesterday and said those who follow Trump need to be 'deprogram'. What does that even mean?

There is an obvious need to deprogram Trump cult members who have been fed endless toxic mixes of misinformation.

Some Q Anon recoverees have described it being a long process.

I am not sure it is possible for a majority of them now that Russia and a China are both using online misinformation as a major strategic tool to destabilize Western democracies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — China has long been seen by the U.S. as a prolific source of anti-American propaganda but less aggressive in its influence operations than Russia, which has used cyberattacks and covert operations to disrupt U.S. elections and denigrate rivals.

But many in Washington now think China is increasingly adopting tactics associated with Russia — and there’s growing concern the U.S. isn’t doing enough to respond.

U.S. officials and outside experts cite recent examples of China-linked actors generating false news reports with artificial intelligence and posting large volumes of denigrating social media posts. While many of the discovered efforts are amateurish, experts think they signal an apparent willingness from Beijing to try more influence campaigns as part of a broader embrace of covert operations, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence

Deprogramming is sorely needed but is going to be hard to achieve without better regulation of internet. Google and Meta did take better measures this year to take down Russian and Chinese misinformation online operations but no where near enough.

There is a war on democratic hearts and minds going on.


Disinformation may be one of Russia and China’s greatest weapons
BY WILLIAM DANVERS, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR 04/05/23 07:00 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3932031-disinformation-may-be-one-of-russia-and-chinas-greatest-weapons/amp/

The United States has just completed its second Summit on Democracy. A warning from the State Department reinforces the reality that democracy is under threat globally and that public distrust is one reason for the threat. This distrust has various components, including concern about economic and political stability, but it is also driven and amplified by autocratic governments’ use of malign influence as a weapon against democracy.
Russia, in particular, uses disinformation and malign influence as part of its offensive national security strategy. In 2013, Russia’s military chief of general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, emphasized its importance in an essay he wrote, “The role of non-military means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness.” The government of the Soviet Union used what they called active measures — the strategy for the spreading of disinformation — for decades against the United States and the West. 


China and Russia are joining forces to spread disinformation

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/china-and-russia-are-joining-forces-to-spread-disinformation/

The deepening relationship between China and Russia is driven in part by a shared narrative that the United States and the European Union are constraining their interests and that they are using information and technology to exert leverage over their adversaries. Putin and the Chinese Communist Party have cracked down on free expression, independent media, and internet freedoms largely to counter what both perceive as the risk posed to their respective regimes by alternative sources of information reaching domestic audiences—and to legitimize these methods internationally.
Though Russian and Chinese interests diverge in important ways, they are increasingly collaborating on the narratives being supplied to domestic audiences, feeding similar disinformation and propaganda to a citizenry increasingly cut off from the global web. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has on the one hand avoided fully backing the incursion while on the other amplifying Kremlin propaganda on the issue. This week, for example, China’s foreign ministry repeated false Russian claims about the presence of U.S. biological weapons in Ukraine.
Against the backdrop of last month’s joint statement from Xi and Putin, this collaboration should be seen as part of a broader project to reshape the global information landscape to favor the Kremlin and Beijing’s authoritarian political projects.



How the People’s Republic of China Amplifies Russian Disinformation
FPC BRIEFING

https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation

So OP - there are now MAGA equivalents in most western countries. Russia and China are exploiting populist discontent to promote their own anti democratic narratives.


Reprogramming is only one part of counter initiatives needed .

We need more concerted efforts to prevent the misinformation and disinformation in the first place.

And, you probably call yourself a "liberal." You aren't. You are a leftist.
A true, classic liberal would NEVER condone any kind of "reprogramming" or "deprogramming."

On the contrary, classical liberals recognize that authoritarians represent an existential threat to all classical liberal values.

Then, you must truly fear Biden.

No. We understand the big words we use because we understand history, comparative government, and we read.

While at the same time ignoring the authoritarian actions your dear Leader makes.

You use words you don’t understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Clinton was interviewed yesterday and said those who follow Trump need to be 'deprogram'. What does that even mean?

There is an obvious need to deprogram Trump cult members who have been fed endless toxic mixes of misinformation.

Some Q Anon recoverees have described it being a long process.

I am not sure it is possible for a majority of them now that Russia and a China are both using online misinformation as a major strategic tool to destabilize Western democracies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — China has long been seen by the U.S. as a prolific source of anti-American propaganda but less aggressive in its influence operations than Russia, which has used cyberattacks and covert operations to disrupt U.S. elections and denigrate rivals.

But many in Washington now think China is increasingly adopting tactics associated with Russia — and there’s growing concern the U.S. isn’t doing enough to respond.

U.S. officials and outside experts cite recent examples of China-linked actors generating false news reports with artificial intelligence and posting large volumes of denigrating social media posts. While many of the discovered efforts are amateurish, experts think they signal an apparent willingness from Beijing to try more influence campaigns as part of a broader embrace of covert operations, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence

Deprogramming is sorely needed but is going to be hard to achieve without better regulation of internet. Google and Meta did take better measures this year to take down Russian and Chinese misinformation online operations but no where near enough.

There is a war on democratic hearts and minds going on.


Disinformation may be one of Russia and China’s greatest weapons
BY WILLIAM DANVERS, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR 04/05/23 07:00 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3932031-disinformation-may-be-one-of-russia-and-chinas-greatest-weapons/amp/

The United States has just completed its second Summit on Democracy. A warning from the State Department reinforces the reality that democracy is under threat globally and that public distrust is one reason for the threat. This distrust has various components, including concern about economic and political stability, but it is also driven and amplified by autocratic governments’ use of malign influence as a weapon against democracy.
Russia, in particular, uses disinformation and malign influence as part of its offensive national security strategy. In 2013, Russia’s military chief of general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, emphasized its importance in an essay he wrote, “The role of non-military means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness.” The government of the Soviet Union used what they called active measures — the strategy for the spreading of disinformation — for decades against the United States and the West. 


China and Russia are joining forces to spread disinformation

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/china-and-russia-are-joining-forces-to-spread-disinformation/

The deepening relationship between China and Russia is driven in part by a shared narrative that the United States and the European Union are constraining their interests and that they are using information and technology to exert leverage over their adversaries. Putin and the Chinese Communist Party have cracked down on free expression, independent media, and internet freedoms largely to counter what both perceive as the risk posed to their respective regimes by alternative sources of information reaching domestic audiences—and to legitimize these methods internationally.
Though Russian and Chinese interests diverge in important ways, they are increasingly collaborating on the narratives being supplied to domestic audiences, feeding similar disinformation and propaganda to a citizenry increasingly cut off from the global web. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has on the one hand avoided fully backing the incursion while on the other amplifying Kremlin propaganda on the issue. This week, for example, China’s foreign ministry repeated false Russian claims about the presence of U.S. biological weapons in Ukraine.
Against the backdrop of last month’s joint statement from Xi and Putin, this collaboration should be seen as part of a broader project to reshape the global information landscape to favor the Kremlin and Beijing’s authoritarian political projects.



How the People’s Republic of China Amplifies Russian Disinformation
FPC BRIEFING

https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation

So OP - there are now MAGA equivalents in most western countries. Russia and China are exploiting populist discontent to promote their own anti democratic narratives.


Reprogramming is only one part of counter initiatives needed .

We need more concerted efforts to prevent the misinformation and disinformation in the first place.

And, you probably call yourself a "liberal." You aren't. You are a leftist.
A true, classic liberal would NEVER condone any kind of "reprogramming" or "deprogramming."

On the contrary, classical liberals recognize that authoritarians represent an existential threat to all classical liberal values.

Then, you must truly fear Biden.

No. We understand the big words we use because we understand history, comparative government, and we read.

While at the same time ignoring the authoritarian actions your dear Leader makes.

Such as? And please don't call him our "dear Leader." Presidents as golden idols to be worshipped is something weird Republicans do, not us.

This is just the beginning....

Biden and the Democrats use the spectre of Trump to assert their own brand of authoritarianism – a version less obvious and more sophisticated than Trump’s, but authoritarianism all the same.

The debate over ‘election denialism’ reveals how the Democrats’ criticisms of Trump do not mean they are principled defenders of democracy. In a speech at Union Station in Washington, DC in November, Biden warned that ‘extreme MAGA Republicans aim to question not only the legitimacy of past elections, but elections being held now and into the future’. Yes, casting doubt on elections does damage democracy. But Democrats are just as guilty of this as ‘MAGA Republicans’. Democrats claimed Trump’s election in 2016 was illegitimate due to Russian influence (and many still believe that). Leading party figures backed Stacey Abrams’ claims that the Georgia governor race was stolen from her in 2018. And Biden himself showed doubts about democracy when he described Georgia’s changes to its election laws as ‘Jim Crow 2.0’, adding that those laws could make the Midterm elections in Georgia ‘illegitimate’.

When it comes to elections, Democrats are just as conspiratorial and anti-democratic as the wackiest Trumpists. In October, Hillary Clinton popped up to pre-emptively question the legitimacy of the 2024 election. ‘Right-wing extremists already have a plan’, she says in a video, ‘to literally steal the next presidential election. And they’re not making a secret of it.’ Hillary and her friends call their cam

The Democrats’ denunciations of Trump and his followers are always a prelude to the censorship or repression of those who disagree with them. It’s a classic authoritarian move – ‘my enemies are so evil and dangerous that every illiberal action we take is justified and moral’.

The Democrats’ authoritarianism is more pervasive and censorious than anything Trump ever tried. In the Biden era, it is the Democrats who increasingly favour government and corporate control of political discourse, especially on social media. A Pew poll in 2021 found that 65 per cent of Democrats agreed that the US government should take steps to restrict false information online, even if it limits freedom of information. Only 28 per cent of Republicans shared that view.paign ‘Crush the Coup’, which sounds awfully similar to Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’. But not to worry – the Democrats’ election denialism is the good kind.

Biden and his team have pursued this speech-control mission with passion. Earlier this year, his administration set up a new Disinformation Governance Board to combat ‘misinformation, malinformation and disinformation that threatens the security of the homeland’. This would-be Ministry of Truth was soon disbanded after a backlash. But there are now reports that the board has re-emerged, continuing its monitoring of social media, only this time behind closed doors.

Attempts by Biden and the Democrats to limit speech go well beyond the clumsy and ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board. As the ‘Twitter Files’ have revealed, internal Twitter documents show the Biden 2020 campaign pressed Twitter and other social-media organisations to ban critics or remove damaging stories. Most notoriously, the Biden team sought to suppress the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story, joining former intelligence officials in calling it ‘Russian disinformation’. The Democrats then joined with the US security state in calling for Trump to be deplatformed from social media after the Capitol riot.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/12/27/joe-biden-and-the-rise-of-respectable-authoritarianism/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Clinton was interviewed yesterday and said those who follow Trump need to be 'deprogram'. What does that even mean?

There is an obvious need to deprogram Trump cult members who have been fed endless toxic mixes of misinformation.

Some Q Anon recoverees have described it being a long process.

I am not sure it is possible for a majority of them now that Russia and a China are both using online misinformation as a major strategic tool to destabilize Western democracies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — China has long been seen by the U.S. as a prolific source of anti-American propaganda but less aggressive in its influence operations than Russia, which has used cyberattacks and covert operations to disrupt U.S. elections and denigrate rivals.

But many in Washington now think China is increasingly adopting tactics associated with Russia — and there’s growing concern the U.S. isn’t doing enough to respond.

U.S. officials and outside experts cite recent examples of China-linked actors generating false news reports with artificial intelligence and posting large volumes of denigrating social media posts. While many of the discovered efforts are amateurish, experts think they signal an apparent willingness from Beijing to try more influence campaigns as part of a broader embrace of covert operations, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence

Deprogramming is sorely needed but is going to be hard to achieve without better regulation of internet. Google and Meta did take better measures this year to take down Russian and Chinese misinformation online operations but no where near enough.

There is a war on democratic hearts and minds going on.


Disinformation may be one of Russia and China’s greatest weapons
BY WILLIAM DANVERS, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR 04/05/23 07:00 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3932031-disinformation-may-be-one-of-russia-and-chinas-greatest-weapons/amp/

The United States has just completed its second Summit on Democracy. A warning from the State Department reinforces the reality that democracy is under threat globally and that public distrust is one reason for the threat. This distrust has various components, including concern about economic and political stability, but it is also driven and amplified by autocratic governments’ use of malign influence as a weapon against democracy.
Russia, in particular, uses disinformation and malign influence as part of its offensive national security strategy. In 2013, Russia’s military chief of general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, emphasized its importance in an essay he wrote, “The role of non-military means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness.” The government of the Soviet Union used what they called active measures — the strategy for the spreading of disinformation — for decades against the United States and the West. 


China and Russia are joining forces to spread disinformation

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/china-and-russia-are-joining-forces-to-spread-disinformation/

The deepening relationship between China and Russia is driven in part by a shared narrative that the United States and the European Union are constraining their interests and that they are using information and technology to exert leverage over their adversaries. Putin and the Chinese Communist Party have cracked down on free expression, independent media, and internet freedoms largely to counter what both perceive as the risk posed to their respective regimes by alternative sources of information reaching domestic audiences—and to legitimize these methods internationally.
Though Russian and Chinese interests diverge in important ways, they are increasingly collaborating on the narratives being supplied to domestic audiences, feeding similar disinformation and propaganda to a citizenry increasingly cut off from the global web. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has on the one hand avoided fully backing the incursion while on the other amplifying Kremlin propaganda on the issue. This week, for example, China’s foreign ministry repeated false Russian claims about the presence of U.S. biological weapons in Ukraine.
Against the backdrop of last month’s joint statement from Xi and Putin, this collaboration should be seen as part of a broader project to reshape the global information landscape to favor the Kremlin and Beijing’s authoritarian political projects.



How the People’s Republic of China Amplifies Russian Disinformation
FPC BRIEFING

https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation

So OP - there are now MAGA equivalents in most western countries. Russia and China are exploiting populist discontent to promote their own anti democratic narratives.


Reprogramming is only one part of counter initiatives needed .

We need more concerted efforts to prevent the misinformation and disinformation in the first place.

And, you probably call yourself a "liberal." You aren't. You are a leftist.
A true, classic liberal would NEVER condone any kind of "reprogramming" or "deprogramming."

On the contrary, classical liberals recognize that authoritarians represent an existential threat to all classical liberal values.

Then, you must truly fear Biden.

No. We understand the big words we use because we understand history, comparative government, and we read.

While at the same time ignoring the authoritarian actions your dear Leader makes.

Such as? And please don't call him our "dear Leader." Presidents as golden idols to be worshipped is something weird Republicans do, not us.

This is just the beginning....

Biden and the Democrats use the spectre of Trump to assert their own brand of authoritarianism – a version less obvious and more sophisticated than Trump’s, but authoritarianism all the same.

The debate over ‘election denialism’ reveals how the Democrats’ criticisms of Trump do not mean they are principled defenders of democracy. In a speech at Union Station in Washington, DC in November, Biden warned that ‘extreme MAGA Republicans aim to question not only the legitimacy of past elections, but elections being held now and into the future’. Yes, casting doubt on elections does damage democracy. But Democrats are just as guilty of this as ‘MAGA Republicans’. Democrats claimed Trump’s election in 2016 was illegitimate due to Russian influence (and many still believe that). Leading party figures backed Stacey Abrams’ claims that the Georgia governor race was stolen from her in 2018. And Biden himself showed doubts about democracy when he described Georgia’s changes to its election laws as ‘Jim Crow 2.0’, adding that those laws could make the Midterm elections in Georgia ‘illegitimate’.

When it comes to elections, Democrats are just as conspiratorial and anti-democratic as the wackiest Trumpists. In October, Hillary Clinton popped up to pre-emptively question the legitimacy of the 2024 election. ‘Right-wing extremists already have a plan’, she says in a video, ‘to literally steal the next presidential election. And they’re not making a secret of it.’ Hillary and her friends call their cam

The Democrats’ denunciations of Trump and his followers are always a prelude to the censorship or repression of those who disagree with them. It’s a classic authoritarian move – ‘my enemies are so evil and dangerous that every illiberal action we take is justified and moral’.

The Democrats’ authoritarianism is more pervasive and censorious than anything Trump ever tried. In the Biden era, it is the Democrats who increasingly favour government and corporate control of political discourse, especially on social media. A Pew poll in 2021 found that 65 per cent of Democrats agreed that the US government should take steps to restrict false information online, even if it limits freedom of information. Only 28 per cent of Republicans shared that view.paign ‘Crush the Coup’, which sounds awfully similar to Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’. But not to worry – the Democrats’ election denialism is the good kind.

Biden and his team have pursued this speech-control mission with passion. Earlier this year, his administration set up a new Disinformation Governance Board to combat ‘misinformation, malinformation and disinformation that threatens the security of the homeland’. This would-be Ministry of Truth was soon disbanded after a backlash. But there are now reports that the board has re-emerged, continuing its monitoring of social media, only this time behind closed doors.

Attempts by Biden and the Democrats to limit speech go well beyond the clumsy and ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board. As the ‘Twitter Files’ have revealed, internal Twitter documents show the Biden 2020 campaign pressed Twitter and other social-media organisations to ban critics or remove damaging stories. Most notoriously, the Biden team sought to suppress the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story, joining former intelligence officials in calling it ‘Russian disinformation’. The Democrats then joined with the US security state in calling for Trump to be deplatformed from social media after the Capitol riot.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/12/27/joe-biden-and-the-rise-of-respectable-authoritarianism/

I don't know what "spiked online" is, but that is a load of 100 percent bull sh!t crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This is just the beginning....

Biden and the Democrats use the spectre of Trump to assert their own brand of authoritarianism – a version less obvious and more sophisticated than Trump’s, but authoritarianism all the same.

The debate over ‘election denialism’ reveals how the Democrats’ criticisms of Trump do not mean they are principled defenders of democracy. In a speech at Union Station in Washington, DC in November, Biden warned that ‘extreme MAGA Republicans aim to question not only the legitimacy of past elections, but elections being held now and into the future’. Yes, casting doubt on elections does damage democracy. But Democrats are just as guilty of this as ‘MAGA Republicans’. Democrats claimed Trump’s election in 2016 was illegitimate due to Russian influence (and many still believe that). Leading party figures backed Stacey Abrams’ claims that the Georgia governor race was stolen from her in 2018. And Biden himself showed doubts about democracy when he described Georgia’s changes to its election laws as ‘Jim Crow 2.0’, adding that those laws could make the Midterm elections in Georgia ‘illegitimate’.

noting the actual Russia influence, which was acknowledged in the Rubio authored Senate Intel Report and the Mueller Report is not the same as statging an insurrection. I would note, both Rubio and Mueller are republicans.

When it comes to elections, Democrats are just as conspiratorial and anti-democratic as the wackiest Trumpists. In October, Hillary Clinton popped up to pre-emptively question the legitimacy of the 2024 election. ‘Right-wing extremists already have a plan’, she says in a video, ‘to literally steal the next presidential election. And they’re not making a secret of it.’ Hillary and her friends call their cam

This is fact, please research it... they aren't making a secret of it just like the attempt to steal the 2020 election was also done in plain sight

The Democrats’ denunciations of Trump and his followers are always a prelude to the censorship or repression of those who disagree with them. It’s a classic authoritarian move – ‘my enemies are so evil and dangerous that every illiberal action we take is justified and moral’.

Trump has done nothing but echo authoritarian rhetoric, very openly, but while in office and even more so, since he left. the author here simply chooses to ignore it completely

The Democrats’ authoritarianism is more pervasive and censorious than anything Trump ever tried. In the Biden era, it is the Democrats who increasingly favour government and corporate control of political discourse, especially on social media. A Pew poll in 2021 found that 65 per cent of Democrats agreed that the US government should take steps to restrict false information online, even if it limits freedom of information. Only 28 per cent of Republicans shared that view.paign ‘Crush the Coup’, which sounds awfully similar to Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’. But not to worry – the Democrats’ election denialism is the good kind.

The Russian and Chinese propaganda and gaslighting on social media is what needs to be controlled. It is a serious challenge in an open society how this happens, but the author ignores that this propaganda is real and THAT is what our intelligence community wants to throttle, but the right insists on calling it political discourse, because...it's a cult

Biden and his team have pursued this speech-control mission with passion. Earlier this year, his administration set up a new Disinformation Governance Board to combat ‘misinformation, malinformation and disinformation that threatens the security of the homeland’. This would-be Ministry of Truth was soon disbanded after a backlash. But there are now reports that the board has re-emerged, continuing its monitoring of social media, only this time behind closed doors.

Because we actually have disinformation and misinformation permeating through our discourse. The election in 2020 wasn't stolen, Obama is not a Muslim, Comet Pizza does not have a basement and the list goes on.

Attempts by Biden and the Democrats to limit speech go well beyond the clumsy and ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board. As the ‘Twitter Files’ have revealed, internal Twitter documents show the Biden 2020 campaign pressed Twitter and other social-media organisations to ban critics or remove damaging stories. Most notoriously, the Biden team sought to suppress the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story, joining former intelligence officials in calling it ‘Russian disinformation’. The Democrats then joined with the US security state in calling for Trump to be deplatformed from social media after the Capitol riot.

because Hunter Biden's laptop story is literally disinformation. Trump tried with it and got impeached because it was BS and now he and Putin have a significant portion of the US House of Representatives doing what Zelensky wouldn't do. This isn't the win the author thinks it is.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/12/27/joe-biden-and-the-rise-of-respectable-authoritarianism/

[Anonymous]

This is just the beginning....

Biden and the Democrats use the spectre of Trump to assert their own brand of authoritarianism – a version less obvious and more sophisticated than Trump’s, but authoritarianism all the same.

The debate over ‘election denialism’ reveals how the Democrats’ criticisms of Trump do not mean they are principled defenders of democracy. In a speech at Union Station in Washington, DC in November, Biden warned that ‘extreme MAGA Republicans aim to question not only the legitimacy of past elections, but elections being held now and into the future’. Yes, casting doubt on elections does damage democracy. But Democrats are just as guilty of this as ‘MAGA Republicans’. Democrats claimed Trump’s election in 2016 was illegitimate due to Russian influence (and many still believe that). Leading party figures backed Stacey Abrams’ claims that the Georgia governor race was stolen from her in 2018. And Biden himself showed doubts about democracy when he described Georgia’s changes to its election laws as ‘Jim Crow 2.0’, adding that those laws could make the Midterm elections in Georgia ‘illegitimate’.

noting the actual Russia influence, which was acknowledged in the Rubio authored Senate Intel Report and the Mueller Report is not the same as statging an insurrection. I would note, both Rubio and Mueller are republicans.

When it comes to elections, Democrats are just as conspiratorial and anti-democratic as the wackiest Trumpists. In October, Hillary Clinton popped up to pre-emptively question the legitimacy of the 2024 election. ‘Right-wing extremists already have a plan’, she says in a video, ‘to literally steal the next presidential election. And they’re not making a secret of it.’ Hillary and her friends call their cam

This is fact, please research it... they aren't making a secret of it just like the attempt to steal the 2020 election was also done in plain sight

The Democrats’ denunciations of Trump and his followers are always a prelude to the censorship or repression of those who disagree with them. It’s a classic authoritarian move – ‘my enemies are so evil and dangerous that every illiberal action we take is justified and moral’.

Trump has done nothing but echo authoritarian rhetoric, very openly, but while in office and even more so, since he left. the author here simply chooses to ignore it completely

The Democrats’ authoritarianism is more pervasive and censorious than anything Trump ever tried. In the Biden era, it is the Democrats who increasingly favour government and corporate control of political discourse, especially on social media. A Pew poll in 2021 found that 65 per cent of Democrats agreed that the US government should take steps to restrict false information online, even if it limits freedom of information. Only 28 per cent of Republicans shared that view.paign ‘Crush the Coup’, which sounds awfully similar to Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’. But not to worry – the Democrats’ election denialism is the good kind.

The Russian and Chinese propaganda and gaslighting on social media is what needs to be controlled. It is a serious challenge in an open society how this happens, but the author ignores that this propaganda is real and THAT is what our intelligence community wants to throttle, but the right insists on calling it political discourse, because...it's a cult

Biden and his team have pursued this speech-control mission with passion. Earlier this year, his administration set up a new Disinformation Governance Board to combat ‘misinformation, malinformation and disinformation that threatens the security of the homeland’. This would-be Ministry of Truth was soon disbanded after a backlash. But there are now reports that the board has re-emerged, continuing its monitoring of social media, only this time behind closed doors.

Because we actually have disinformation and misinformation permeating through our discourse. The election in 2020 wasn't stolen, Obama is not a Muslim, Comet Pizza does not have a basement and the list goes on.

Attempts by Biden and the Democrats to limit speech go well beyond the clumsy and ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board. As the ‘Twitter Files’ have revealed, internal Twitter documents show the Biden 2020 campaign pressed Twitter and other social-media organisations to ban critics or remove damaging stories. Most notoriously, the Biden team sought to suppress the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story, joining former intelligence officials in calling it ‘Russian disinformation’. The Democrats then joined with the US security state in calling for Trump to be deplatformed from social media after the Capitol riot.

because Hunter Biden's laptop story is literally disinformation. Trump tried with it and got impeached because it was BS and now he and Putin have a significant portion of the US House of Representatives doing what Zelensky wouldn't do. This isn't the win the author thinks it is.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/12/27/joe-biden-and-the-rise-of-respectable-authoritarianism/

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She isn't the only one. Judge Tanya Chutkan (July 2023) after sentencing a Trump supporter to 7 months in prison on 4 misdemeanors “I really encourage you in the time you have…to broaden your sources of information, to consider reading some viewpoints that are different from your own…to reconsider some of the positions you have taken and to understand that you may have been motivated by certain beliefs that may not have served you all that well.”

LOL. Telling a MAGA to "broaden your sources of information, to consider reading some viewpoints that are different from your own" is like telling Superman to consider trying kryptonite.

And the same exact thing can be said about the Far Left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Clinton was interviewed yesterday and said those who follow Trump need to be 'deprogram'. What does that even mean?

There is an obvious need to deprogram Trump cult members who have been fed endless toxic mixes of misinformation.

Some Q Anon recoverees have described it being a long process.

I am not sure it is possible for a majority of them now that Russia and a China are both using online misinformation as a major strategic tool to destabilize Western democracies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — China has long been seen by the U.S. as a prolific source of anti-American propaganda but less aggressive in its influence operations than Russia, which has used cyberattacks and covert operations to disrupt U.S. elections and denigrate rivals.

But many in Washington now think China is increasingly adopting tactics associated with Russia — and there’s growing concern the U.S. isn’t doing enough to respond.

U.S. officials and outside experts cite recent examples of China-linked actors generating false news reports with artificial intelligence and posting large volumes of denigrating social media posts. While many of the discovered efforts are amateurish, experts think they signal an apparent willingness from Beijing to try more influence campaigns as part of a broader embrace of covert operations, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence

Deprogramming is sorely needed but is going to be hard to achieve without better regulation of internet. Google and Meta did take better measures this year to take down Russian and Chinese misinformation online operations but no where near enough.

There is a war on democratic hearts and minds going on.


Disinformation may be one of Russia and China’s greatest weapons
BY WILLIAM DANVERS, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR 04/05/23 07:00 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3932031-disinformation-may-be-one-of-russia-and-chinas-greatest-weapons/amp/

The United States has just completed its second Summit on Democracy. A warning from the State Department reinforces the reality that democracy is under threat globally and that public distrust is one reason for the threat. This distrust has various components, including concern about economic and political stability, but it is also driven and amplified by autocratic governments’ use of malign influence as a weapon against democracy.
Russia, in particular, uses disinformation and malign influence as part of its offensive national security strategy. In 2013, Russia’s military chief of general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, emphasized its importance in an essay he wrote, “The role of non-military means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness.” The government of the Soviet Union used what they called active measures — the strategy for the spreading of disinformation — for decades against the United States and the West. 


China and Russia are joining forces to spread disinformation

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/china-and-russia-are-joining-forces-to-spread-disinformation/

The deepening relationship between China and Russia is driven in part by a shared narrative that the United States and the European Union are constraining their interests and that they are using information and technology to exert leverage over their adversaries. Putin and the Chinese Communist Party have cracked down on free expression, independent media, and internet freedoms largely to counter what both perceive as the risk posed to their respective regimes by alternative sources of information reaching domestic audiences—and to legitimize these methods internationally.
Though Russian and Chinese interests diverge in important ways, they are increasingly collaborating on the narratives being supplied to domestic audiences, feeding similar disinformation and propaganda to a citizenry increasingly cut off from the global web. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has on the one hand avoided fully backing the incursion while on the other amplifying Kremlin propaganda on the issue. This week, for example, China’s foreign ministry repeated false Russian claims about the presence of U.S. biological weapons in Ukraine.
Against the backdrop of last month’s joint statement from Xi and Putin, this collaboration should be seen as part of a broader project to reshape the global information landscape to favor the Kremlin and Beijing’s authoritarian political projects.



How the People’s Republic of China Amplifies Russian Disinformation
FPC BRIEFING

https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation

So OP - there are now MAGA equivalents in most western countries. Russia and China are exploiting populist discontent to promote their own anti democratic narratives.


Reprogramming is only one part of counter initiatives needed .

We need more concerted efforts to prevent the misinformation and disinformation in the first place.

And, you probably call yourself a "liberal." You aren't. You are a leftist.
A true, classic liberal would NEVER condone any kind of "reprogramming" or "deprogramming."

On the contrary, classical liberals recognize that authoritarians represent an existential threat to all classical liberal values.

Then, you must truly fear Biden.

No. We understand the big words we use because we understand history, comparative government, and we read.

While at the same time ignoring the authoritarian actions your dear Leader makes.

Such as? And please don't call him our "dear Leader." Presidents as golden idols to be worshipped is something weird Republicans do, not us.

This is just the beginning....

Biden and the Democrats use the spectre of Trump to assert their own brand of authoritarianism – a version less obvious and more sophisticated than Trump’s, but authoritarianism all the same.

The debate over ‘election denialism’ reveals how the Democrats’ criticisms of Trump do not mean they are principled defenders of democracy. In a speech at Union Station in Washington, DC in November, Biden warned that ‘extreme MAGA Republicans aim to question not only the legitimacy of past elections, but elections being held now and into the future’. Yes, casting doubt on elections does damage democracy. But Democrats are just as guilty of this as ‘MAGA Republicans’. Democrats claimed Trump’s election in 2016 was illegitimate due to Russian influence (and many still believe that). Leading party figures backed Stacey Abrams’ claims that the Georgia governor race was stolen from her in 2018. And Biden himself showed doubts about democracy when he described Georgia’s changes to its election laws as ‘Jim Crow 2.0’, adding that those laws could make the Midterm elections in Georgia ‘illegitimate’.

When it comes to elections, Democrats are just as conspiratorial and anti-democratic as the wackiest Trumpists. In October, Hillary Clinton popped up to pre-emptively question the legitimacy of the 2024 election. ‘Right-wing extremists already have a plan’, she says in a video, ‘to literally steal the next presidential election. And they’re not making a secret of it.’ Hillary and her friends call their cam

The Democrats’ denunciations of Trump and his followers are always a prelude to the censorship or repression of those who disagree with them. It’s a classic authoritarian move – ‘my enemies are so evil and dangerous that every illiberal action we take is justified and moral’.

The Democrats’ authoritarianism is more pervasive and censorious than anything Trump ever tried. In the Biden era, it is the Democrats who increasingly favour government and corporate control of political discourse, especially on social media. A Pew poll in 2021 found that 65 per cent of Democrats agreed that the US government should take steps to restrict false information online, even if it limits freedom of information. Only 28 per cent of Republicans shared that view.paign ‘Crush the Coup’, which sounds awfully similar to Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’. But not to worry – the Democrats’ election denialism is the good kind.

Biden and his team have pursued this speech-control mission with passion. Earlier this year, his administration set up a new Disinformation Governance Board to combat ‘misinformation, malinformation and disinformation that threatens the security of the homeland’. This would-be Ministry of Truth was soon disbanded after a backlash. But there are now reports that the board has re-emerged, continuing its monitoring of social media, only this time behind closed doors.

Attempts by Biden and the Democrats to limit speech go well beyond the clumsy and ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board. As the ‘Twitter Files’ have revealed, internal Twitter documents show the Biden 2020 campaign pressed Twitter and other social-media organisations to ban critics or remove damaging stories. Most notoriously, the Biden team sought to suppress the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story, joining former intelligence officials in calling it ‘Russian disinformation’. The Democrats then joined with the US security state in calling for Trump to be deplatformed from social media after the Capitol riot.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/12/27/joe-biden-and-the-rise-of-respectable-authoritarianism/

The article reflects the very problem. It is full of half truths and context-less statements intended to make the Biden Administration appear to be authoritarian. It requires a deeper nuance to understand what the Administration was trying to do vis a vis social media, but the right, that has an interest in keeping the propaganda flowing, pulled the "Biden authoritrian/free speech" crap that undermines the security of our country. Thank you for illustrating exactly the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She isn't the only one. Judge Tanya Chutkan (July 2023) after sentencing a Trump supporter to 7 months in prison on 4 misdemeanors “I really encourage you in the time you have…to broaden your sources of information, to consider reading some viewpoints that are different from your own…to reconsider some of the positions you have taken and to understand that you may have been motivated by certain beliefs that may not have served you all that well.”

LOL. Telling a MAGA to "broaden your sources of information, to consider reading some viewpoints that are different from your own" is like telling Superman to consider trying kryptonite.

And the same exact thing can be said about the Far Left.

More false equivalences

Stats speak for themselves regarding higher education and literacy levels of liberals versus MAGA voters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Clinton was interviewed yesterday and said those who follow Trump need to be 'deprogram'. What does that even mean?

There is an obvious need to deprogram Trump cult members who have been fed endless toxic mixes of misinformation.

Some Q Anon recoverees have described it being a long process.

I am not sure it is possible for a majority of them now that Russia and a China are both using online misinformation as a major strategic tool to destabilize Western democracies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — China has long been seen by the U.S. as a prolific source of anti-American propaganda but less aggressive in its influence operations than Russia, which has used cyberattacks and covert operations to disrupt U.S. elections and denigrate rivals.

But many in Washington now think China is increasingly adopting tactics associated with Russia — and there’s growing concern the U.S. isn’t doing enough to respond.

U.S. officials and outside experts cite recent examples of China-linked actors generating false news reports with artificial intelligence and posting large volumes of denigrating social media posts. While many of the discovered efforts are amateurish, experts think they signal an apparent willingness from Beijing to try more influence campaigns as part of a broader embrace of covert operations, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence

Deprogramming is sorely needed but is going to be hard to achieve without better regulation of internet. Google and Meta did take better measures this year to take down Russian and Chinese misinformation online operations but no where near enough.

There is a war on democratic hearts and minds going on.


Disinformation may be one of Russia and China’s greatest weapons
BY WILLIAM DANVERS, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR 04/05/23 07:00 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3932031-disinformation-may-be-one-of-russia-and-chinas-greatest-weapons/amp/

The United States has just completed its second Summit on Democracy. A warning from the State Department reinforces the reality that democracy is under threat globally and that public distrust is one reason for the threat. This distrust has various components, including concern about economic and political stability, but it is also driven and amplified by autocratic governments’ use of malign influence as a weapon against democracy.
Russia, in particular, uses disinformation and malign influence as part of its offensive national security strategy. In 2013, Russia’s military chief of general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, emphasized its importance in an essay he wrote, “The role of non-military means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness.” The government of the Soviet Union used what they called active measures — the strategy for the spreading of disinformation — for decades against the United States and the West. 


China and Russia are joining forces to spread disinformation

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/china-and-russia-are-joining-forces-to-spread-disinformation/

The deepening relationship between China and Russia is driven in part by a shared narrative that the United States and the European Union are constraining their interests and that they are using information and technology to exert leverage over their adversaries. Putin and the Chinese Communist Party have cracked down on free expression, independent media, and internet freedoms largely to counter what both perceive as the risk posed to their respective regimes by alternative sources of information reaching domestic audiences—and to legitimize these methods internationally.
Though Russian and Chinese interests diverge in important ways, they are increasingly collaborating on the narratives being supplied to domestic audiences, feeding similar disinformation and propaganda to a citizenry increasingly cut off from the global web. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has on the one hand avoided fully backing the incursion while on the other amplifying Kremlin propaganda on the issue. This week, for example, China’s foreign ministry repeated false Russian claims about the presence of U.S. biological weapons in Ukraine.
Against the backdrop of last month’s joint statement from Xi and Putin, this collaboration should be seen as part of a broader project to reshape the global information landscape to favor the Kremlin and Beijing’s authoritarian political projects.



How the People’s Republic of China Amplifies Russian Disinformation
FPC BRIEFING

https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation

So OP - there are now MAGA equivalents in most western countries. Russia and China are exploiting populist discontent to promote their own anti democratic narratives.


Reprogramming is only one part of counter initiatives needed .

We need more concerted efforts to prevent the misinformation and disinformation in the first place.

And, you probably call yourself a "liberal." You aren't. You are a leftist.
A true, classic liberal would NEVER condone any kind of "reprogramming" or "deprogramming."

On the contrary, classical liberals recognize that authoritarians represent an existential threat to all classical liberal values.

Then, you must truly fear Biden.

Only you watch Fox and believe it.

[Anonymous]

Poor MAGA. You don't like being called a cult. But Hillary's free to say it.

You could prove that you are not a cult by admitting that his clearly illegal actions are in fact illegal. Until you can do so, yes you deserve the cult label. Or for those of you who can but won't, you have the option of the "traitor" label.