Tag: Russian President Vladimir Putin

The Russian Government’s War Against the Integrity Initiative: Putin’s Propaganda Machine Fights Back

Tony Wyman

by Kseniya Kirillova In late November, 2018, Russian news agencies, like state-sponsored RIA Novosti and Mint Press News, accused the Integrity Initiative, a U.K.-based group devoted to countering Russia’s use of the media to spread propaganda, of being “…engaged in highly deceptive covert propaganda campaigns funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), NATO, Facebook and hardline national security institutions.”  They claim in their reports, the Integrity Initiative “was used to interfere in the internal affairs of European countries and for the information war against Russia.” Citing documents stolen…

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Paul Whelan Isn’t an American Spy, but is He a Russian Tool?

Tony Wyman

by Kseniya Kirillova On December 28th of last year, Canadian-American Paul Whelan was detained in Moscow by police on suspicion of espionage after he was found in possession of classified information belonging to the Russian government.  The FSB (Russian federal security service) claims Mr. Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was involved in an American intelligence operation, but his friends and members of the American intelligence service say he was set up. According to Russian news agency Rosbalt, citing sources in the intelligence community, Mr. Whelan was detained after receiving a…

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What Does Putin Really Want?

Tony Wyman

by Tony Wyman “It is very difficult to predict with certainty what is going to happen. I am convinced, given not just the events of yesterday but the cumulative set of events that have taken place, that this change is real… The rapidity of change is mind-boggling. The quest for freedom is stronger than steel, more permanent than concrete.” – Pres. George H.W. Bush, Nov 12, 1989, three days after the Berlin Wall was opened, beginning the end of the Cold War Few people in 1989 would have argued with…

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Many Russian Christians Criticize the Putin Regime, But not Church Officials

Tony Wyman

by Kseniya Kirillova A new Russian “socio-political club” called The New Orthodoxy was announced in Moscow in October. Its founders assert that the name originates not in religion, but in the eponymous innovative model of economic development created in the 1930s in the USA which contributed to the country’s recovery from the Great Depression. However, the movement’s religious roots are still evident. According to the list of founders, it includes Lutherans, Old Catholics, the Party of the 10 Commandments, created by evangelical Christians, and other organizations associated with religion – along with…

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Russian State-Backed Media Strongly Supports Donald Trump

Tony Wyman

by Kseniya Kirillova Russia’s interference in the internal affairs of the United States has long ceased to be a “political card”, as it’s usually described in Kremlin discourse. The indictments that are being handed down one after another by both Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Department of Justice show in detail the mechanisms of Russian operations for organizing and financing influence campaigns to manipulate American society. Since tracking hacker attacks and other operations is law-enforcement work, I try here to give a brief overview of the themes in Kremlin attitudes towards the…

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Delusion of Freedom: The U.S. Far Right and the Kremlin

Tony Wyman
Fascist Alexander Dugin

by Kseniya Kirillova One of the pillars of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political system is confrontation with the outside world and the search for enemies. His regime conducts “information operations” against the West to try and undermine democracy. The operations are in many ways similar to the propaganda techniques used by the Kremlin inside Russia. They use lies, slander, selective use of facts, conspiracy theories and a multitude of contradictory versions of reality designed to destroy the notion of truth, as well as exploiting the slightest contradictions within Western societies. However, the…

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How Russian, American And European Information Warfare Persuades With Emotions

Tony Wyman
image pastiche of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin flanked by Peter the Great and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin

by Kseniya Kirillova As Russian propaganda and disinformation spread around the world, more and more initiatives  are being created to expose the lies and distortions emanating from the Kremlin: projects to expose fake news, analytical centres that review and monitor disinformation campaigns, and many private initiatives to observe Russian media. However, experts increasingly acknowledge that despite all these efforts, Kremlin propaganda remains a very effective tool of information warfare – much more effective than its Soviet predecessor. In many respects, this difference is explained by the fact that, unlike Communist propaganda, today’s Kremlin’s ‘information operations’ do not need…

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The Magnitsky Act – Why Vladimir Putin Wants To Get Bill Browder In His Clutches

Richard Cameron

by Richard Cameron   Editor’s Note:  Legal theory recognizes that there are three essential components to establishing that a person or organization has committed a crime and that must be established when prosecuting the defendants in court – means, motive and opportunity. Most articles have delved into the opportunity and means involved in the coordination and cooperation between members of Trump’s campaign, family members and likely, Trump himself, with a foreign power, Russia, to subvert our election process. Less examination and focus has centered on the motive behind it.  Although…

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The GOP Congress’ Disgraceful And Desperate Peter Strzok Hearing

Richard Cameron

by Richard Cameron   It’s indisputable that much of what takes place in congressional hearings have a partisan edge to them. It is essentially baked in the cake. That is to be expected. Seldom, however, will you see a hearing like the one conducted yesterday on Capitol Hill, in which a witness is subjected to scurrilous and indecent character attacks, the likes of which Donald Trump engages in on a daily basis and which the self same legislative thugs alternately excuse, deflect and remain silent on as frequently.  Spanning close…

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Why Did Justice Kennedy Retire Now? – The More Or Less Likely Answers

Tony Wyman
Donald Trump and outgoing Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy at public event

by Tony Wyman For the only perceived swing-vote justice on the United States Supreme Court to suddenly announce his retirement just months before the crucial November elections couldn’t be worse news for Democrats hoping a Blue Wave is going wash away Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Now, thanks to the opening Justice Anthony Kennedy has made, the GOP has an argument to make to get right-wing and center-right voters to the polls in November: turn out to vote so we can get a conservative judge on the Court.…

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