Avoiding politcal posting, but...

[Hawnjigs]

Just found this, and think it should be shared. 

"A group of GOP lawmakers spent July 4 in Moscow after several days of meetings with Russian officials, according to NPR.

The group, which included seven Republican senators and one House member, was the first congressional delegation to visit Russia since the country’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The GOP lawmakers, Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), Steve Daines (Mont.), John Thune (S.D.), John Kennedy (La.), Jerry Moran (Kan.) and John Hoeven (N.D.), and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), spent July 4 in Moscow’s U.S. Embassy, NPR reported."

 

[Hawnjigs]

Researching further:

"A recent Gallup Poll showed some 40 percent of Republicans, a plurality of the self-identified category, now regard Russia as an ally or at least as a country friendly to the United States. That is double the percentage of Republicans who expressed that view to Gallup in 2014.

One need not go far to find enthusiasts at any Trump rally who say they have no problem with Russians helping elect or re-elect him — so long as he fulfills his campaign promises to Americans such as themselves."

 

[hookup]

Mountain made outta a mole hill

 

[Hawnjigs]

Support for Hitler was a mole hill that no one took seriously until it became a mountain. Then it was too late.

Don't you find it disconcerting that we're losing our former allies alliances in favor of our COMMUNIST former enemies? Heard the news today about the USA siding with Russia and China not cooperating with a multinational cybersecurity initiative?

Seriously, American politicians meeting with Russian officials with no oversight during the JULY 4 INDEPENDENCE DAY holiday isn't a red flag?

Online news articles commentary abound with Russian trolls. The ones making thousands of inflammatory statements designed to distract and divide. Clicking their IDs brings up the # of and a history of their posted comments.

Nothing being done, WTF is wrong with this picture?

 

[hookup]

So?  

Hillary met w/ Putin

And here's some food for thought about the Clintons

https://www.nationalreview.com/2017...l-hillary-sold-out-us-interests-putin-regime/

And so did BJ Billy



And Obama gave billions to the Iranians

 

[Bucho]

Researching further:

"A recent Gallup Poll showed some 40 percent of Republicans, a plurality of the self-identified category, now regard Russia as an ally or at least as a country friendly to the United States. That is double the percentage of Republicans who expressed that view to Gallup in 2014."

Interesting!

Over here, nobody but a 5% minority of repatriated russian Germans with ongoing ties to russian media has the slightest doubt that it lies in Putins vital strategic interest to divide both Nato and the EU and that both the U.S. presidential election and the brexit vote had been subject to substantial social media manipulation from Russian troll factories. Trumps ties to the russian mob are considered to be academic. 

Merkel and Macron have just recently expressed their will to form a european army that is able to act independently from the U.S. Two years of Trump administration have risen concern about American reliability. They see they have to rise military spending, but they want to do it their way. Cracks are starting to show.

 

[hookup]

Merkel and Macron have just recently expressed their will to form a european army that is able to act independently from the U.S.

France & Germany has excellent special forces in their police units but to go the route of establishing independent militaries would be expensive. Especially if they both want air, sea, and ground support. And would there be mandatory service? Or a draft?

And is Germany even allowed their own military after the WWII surrender agreements?

Two years of Trump administration have risen concern about American reliability.

This one has me scratching my head. Is Germany & France worried that if they are attacked, America would take a back seat? If so, what about NATO? And the North Atlantic Treaty?

Seems like France and Germany should also be worried about the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse on their on white, red, black, and pale horses if it comes to America violating the NATO agreement

 

[Bucho]

Two years of Trump administration have risen concern about American reliability.

This one has me scratching my head.  Is Germany & France worried that if they are attacked, America would take a back seat?  If so, what about NATO?  And the North Atlantic Treaty?

Pretty much, yeah. Not based on solid reason, but on his highly irritating, provocative behavior in general. When it comes to foreign politics, Trump puts EVERYTHING into question. I mean, 20 years ago Europeans were shaking their heads how Americans could damage their reputation getting all worked up over a silly bj with an intern, and today they elect a guy who brags about getting away with sexual assault because he`s rich. That is very irritating to watch from the outside. People ask themselves what`s going on over there.

Trump is a dealbreaker. Its how he rolls, its what he has been elected for. If he says that U.S. support can not be taken for granted, we get the message. That´s the one thing coming out of his mouth that is congruent with his overall appearence: Nothing can be taken for granted any more. 

The German military, as far as I am concerned it will function in a European context just as fine as it does in the Nato. Same goes for a European Army b.t.w. Nato has always been structured around single, independend countries. The nuclear powers France and the UK in particular have always kept their ability to independently carry out global missions. This has never been pointed against the U.S.

And the actual concern is not about a full-scale attack. Putin is very good at "hybrid" warfare, annecting a peninsula here, supporting an insurrection there etc. continiously testing his boundaries. There might be different opinions between a billonaire who -when in trouble- reportedly accepted millions from russian investors and the European rest of Nato about what a "red line" is.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Commenting about Pfizer Pharmaceuticals here's what a Russian troll post looks like in the USA:
"Freedomspeech? 24 min ago
Clinton trade deals helped prompt them to leave the USA"

In addition to deflecting and distracting they spin outright LIES !!! Here's reality:
"Pfizer Inc. is an American pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in New York City, with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut."

Typically, they avoid constructive comment by bashing Obama, Clinton, Liberals etc. And they are successful because many of us are conditioned to believe anything pushing our hot buttons, when I checked into the article commentary this LIE got 3 thumbs up and 0 thumbs down.

How does one distinguish a Russian troll from real American citizens? For starters "Freedomspeech?" has a history of over 92,000 comments.

 

[Bucho]

Pretty much all of the repatriated Russian Germans here have turned from moderate towards far right. They are not used to evaluate or question sources and tend to believe russian speaking media. They allow a very scary insight into where the downward spiral of distrust in established media and fake news leads to. For instance, we had massive protests from them because of a girl that was reported to be abducted and raped by muslim imigrants although it was long known that she just ran away and wound up at a friends house couple days later. The Russians are very good at this, and they make very good use of the whole micro-targeting and filter bubble technology on social media. Once you start showing interest into manipulative or even fake news, you end up to be surrounded by posts from friends who thing similar until you take it as a reality. This is not to be underestimated.

Btw reading through my last post, I am not sure if "dealbreaker" is the right word to discribe a person who steps out of an agreement or terminates it. I am trying very hard not to fall into Trump bashing like so many of my Countrymen and much of the private media here but this is not my fist language, sorry!

 

[Hawnjigs]

Perhaps "destroyer" - of previous administration's creative efforts and our relations with allies, among other things?

I refrain from any negative comments about our president, since there are enuf riled up Dems and Russian trolls doing that. Right, the Vladskis are selectively Trump bashing because they know angering his base strengthens their resolve to protect him, such that 7,000 lies in office are apparently irrelevant to our president's job performance.

Here's another Russian troll with 75,000 media article comments, on todays article about Jeff Flake supporting protecting the Mueller investigation:
"jack 21 hr ago
after that you will find Him in some Gay bar in Tombstone Arizona, demanding a recount....LOL"

Another total fabrication nonetheless with 10 thumbs up and only 4 down. The trolls are wising up tho & starting over, I noticed one such posting similar inflammatory false allegations "MikeG" with only a 14 post history yesterday. My point being don't we have the tech skills to trace the source(s) of these hostile intent troll factory posts and shut them down? Oh, right Republicans approve of media meddling if it helps our current adminitstration.

 

[hookup]

Both parties are guilty of media meddling

On tech skills - depends. I've seen some 14 year old do things on the internet that's unbelievable. Then I've seen IT "experts" who claim they are the best get hacked. I believe this is comparable to horse racing. IT guys don't have to win by a mile, just by a nose.

As far as the current and past POTUS - I've seen them do things I like and things I can't stand. But still believe that Trump becoming president was the lesser of two evils during the election.

 

[Bucho]

Cambridge Analytica alone has illegally gotten access to 87 million FB profiles, and that`s just the one that got caught. They use big data for micro targeting, means they track what sort of click bait you fall for and then send you tailored adds. This might end you up in an alternative reality where you believe all the "reasonable" people around you think in a certain way. BTW they don`t need people to do that. Even the trolling is done by "bots" these days.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Even back in the early days Facebook was getting hacked by personal data pirates, which is why I never joined . Some of us need to feel comforted by a nurturing hive, some don't.

Our gubmint can't even protect me from annoying robocalls, many of which are proven criminal scams. The next war will likely be won electornically - imagine the operating systems of power plants, transportation grid, communications networks, as well as data banks destroyed.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Hookup, my posting here isn't about partisan leaning media, its about a hostile foreign government disseminating distrust and resentment of OUR government officials and fellow citizens. Regardless of whether we "like" Hillary Clinton or not (I don't) continuing to treat her as currently relevant (she's not!) distracts from actually evaluating the performance of our current admininistration. ISSUES ! like verified documented Russain meddling.

Luckily, astute online commentors sometimes point out the Russian trolls, which led me to investigate distinguishing them by posting patterns and absurd #s of posts only possible by full time trolls. Where's our government's response? Public outcry? As Bucho points out this is a serious problem in the EU as well as the US, influencing citizenry attitudes & beliefs, maybe even elections?

So yah, no big deal that Republican politicians are meeting with Russian officials and our president with Putin SECRETLY. No this ain't about politics, but its curious that no Democrats were involved.

 

[Bucho]

Luckily, astute online commentors sometimes point out the Russian trolls, which led me to investigate distinguishing them by posting patterns and absurd #s of posts only possible by full time trolls.  Where's our government's response?  Public outcry?   As Bucho points out this is a serious problem in the EU as well as the US, influencing citizenry attitudes & beliefs, maybe even elections?

We are not talking about Randy "Skank Hunt" Marsh from South Park. These are "bots", computer generated artificial intelligences. Cheap, efficient, plentyfull, hard to trace. You do something on the net, they fllter it, respond, evaluate your respond and - if they find you responsive - they feed you more. Like an algorithm on Google, youtube, etc. Search and watch something naughty, they will show you more naughty! Same with political opinion or any other interest you take.

Minor disturbance > self reinforcing effect = the definiton of chaos.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Here's a view from the outside, in this case a UK publication The Register 2/27/18 :

"Despite repeated testimony from US intelligence officials stating that Russia has waged a years-long campaign to destabilize the US by spreading disinformation, discourse and divisive messaging online, very little action has been taken as President Trump maintains the issue is overblown. Congress voted for a serious crackdown on Russia with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, but so far the White House has chosen not to follow through and take punitive action."

 

[Hawnjigs]

Actually Bucho, think I got noticed by Russian troll persons or bots because some of my recent news article comment posts have gotten waves of thumbs downs disproportionate to the minimal reaction potential of the contents.

Is Germany reconsidering the USA as an ally due to our internal "chaos" ?

 

[Bucho]

Gemans connect +70 years of peace and prosperity with the Nato under American leadership. Nobody but a few die hard socialists in the east question the nature of the U.S. as an ally as such. They just re-evaluate the extend of reliability.

Background: While religious values are not an issue to politics here, humanistic values take a big place. That means, basically, every person is thought to be good to begin with and any mis-doing could only derive from poor insight/intelligence. In an nutshell, Germans believe that in order to be a good person or leader, one has to be smart enough to look through badness and deception. It is hard to find a high-class politician here without a phd, no matter what nonsense the thesis is about or how questionably it was earned.

Personly, working in finance, I have met highly antisocial individuals utilizing their exceptionanl intelligence to make it a habit to ruin the lifes of people without bystanders even realizing what ever hit them. But that is not the general perception. Germans commonly confuse smartness and education with goodness in a person.

Hence, the public and media alike just can`t handle stuff like this in the link below, and Trump just keeps them coming. A leader who doesn`t even try to appear smart or professional is undermining trust.  


https://www.is.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000...FlXIX6BQ4PX5oM7UCEPodUAhrJis5h6oe30ubVjbqfD9E

 

[hookup]

A leader who doesn`t even try to appear smart or professional

That's exactly how I feel about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

But she is easy on the eyes and knows it