quote:

Originally posted by Anush:

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
So you're denying that under Obama, Victoria Nuland and the US State Department orchestrated the Maidan Protests, which led to a Coup in Ukraine.

It is a fact not a denial, Russian's are masters of truth distortion.
"The protests were sparked by President Viktor Yanukovych's sudden decision not to sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union."

Whichever Propaganda Comforts You...

I wonder how much USAID and NED money was spent in Ukraine to create a color revolution?

I'm sorry for Average Joe (Iosif?) Six-Pack Ukrainian who didn't want anything to do with this, as well as their history with Russia/Soviet Union (for some fun reading, look up the Holodomor), but It's! Not! Our! Affair!

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pm...unctuatedForEmphasis

Listen how Nuland admits that the U.S. was interfering in internal Russian politics soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union through NGOs.

How dare Putin be offended

Full interview.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9seyqBQ-P4&t=16s

Excerpt:

Europe keeps complaining about the Red menace, but won't fund their military and they allow their countries to be over run by migration. They can pay their own way and shut up about it. No more of our resources. They can learn the hard way

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
And according to Fox News radio, he will not agree to any terms that does not include continued US money and weapons.

Son, you only have a pair. You ain't bluffing anyone. More US money and weapons? LMAO.

quote:

Originally posted by oldbill123:
Europe keeps complaining about the Red menace, but won't fund their military and they allow their countries to be over run by migration. They can pay their own way and shut up about it. No more of our resources. They can learn the hard way

That's a pretty good summation.
I think that's the sentiment behind Trump talking directly with Putin, without involving Zelensky, at least until they have a preliminary mutual understanding.

Allowing countries into NATO is much like paying people to be your friend

quote:

Originally posted by oldbill123:
Allowing countries into NATO is much like paying people to be your friend

And then be willing to lose your future to bail them out no matter how wreck less or entitled they become.

Shawn Ryan Show interview with Mike Benz, where the guest sums up the U.S. involvement in meddling in Ukraine

“ Mike Benz is a former official with the U.S. Department of State, known for his work in international communications and digital freedom. He has played a significant role in advocating for internet freedom and the protection of online expression.

Benz is the founder of the Foundation for Freedom”

The interviewee begins by discussing how and why the U.S. government through several agencies had an interest in stifling discussion online, for reasons other than affecting our internal politics. Later in the interview (nearer the 2-hour mark

quote:

Strangely, President Zelensky is actually currently in the Gulf region, visiting UAE, and he's next traveling to Saudi Arabia—and yet he's not going to be part of the the US-Russia talks.

His office is stressing that his state visit to Saudi Arabia has nothing to do with the US talks, as it was planned in advance:

Days before Svyrydenko's announcement, Zelensky told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference that he intends to pay official visits to Saudia Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey, but has no plans to meet with any Russian or U.S. delegations in these countries.

"I will not meet with Russians, but then I will not meet with Americans there," he said.

Cancelled... Now everyone knows why he was "in the neighborhood".

Zelensky Abruptly Cancels Planned Saudi Visit After Being Sidelined From US-Russia Talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday he is cancelling his scheduled state visit to Saudi Arabia following the conclusion of US-Russia talks there.

He's been on a Middle East diplomatic tour to gain support for his country now three years in to the Russia-Ukraine war, which took him to the UAE, Turkey, and Wednesday he was supposed to be in Saudi Arabia to meet with the kingdom's leadership. The Saudi trip had been planned before it was known that the US-Russia talks would take place.

"Zelensky CANCELLING trip to Saudi Arabia following US/Russia talks. Zelensky will now return to Kyiv from Ankara, Turkey," Fox News has reported. He now says he plans to visit in March. Zelensky is clearly trying to lash out at Washington.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geop...ined-us-russia-talks

Zerohedge?

https://apnews.com/article/rus...cdc6adaf02313a85edd9

By NOMAAN MERCHANT
Published 12:27 PM CST, February 15, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials on Tuesday accused a conservative financial news website with a significant American readership of amplifying Kremlin propaganda and alleged five media outlets targeting Ukrainians have taken direction from Russian spies.

The officials said Zero Hedge, which has 1.2 million Twitter followers, published articles created by Moscow-controlled media that were then shared by outlets and people unaware of their nexus to Russian intelligence. The officials did not say whether they thought Zero Hedge knew of any links to spy agencies and did not allege direct links between the website and Russia.

Zero Hedge denied the claims and said it tries to “publish a wide spectrum of views that cover both sides of a given story.” In a response posted online Tuesday morning, the website said it “has never worked, collaborated or cooperated with Russia, nor are there any links to spy agencies.”

The officials briefed The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence sources. It was the latest effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to release U.S. intelligence findings about Russian activity involving Ukraine as part of a concerted push to expose and influence the moves of Russian President Vladimir Putin. U.S. officials previously accused Putin of planning a “false-flag” operation to create a pretext for a new invasion of Ukraine and detailed what they believe are final-stage Russian preparations for an assault.

It’s unclear whether U.S. efforts are changing Putin’s behavior. And without releasing more proof of its findings, Washington has been criticized and reminded of past intelligence failures such as the debunked allegations that pre-war Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.


Zero Hedge has been sharply critical of Biden and posted stories about allegations of wrongdoing by his son Hunter. While perhaps best known for its coverage of markets and finance, the website also covers politics with a conservative bent.

In its response online, the website accused the AP of publishing a “bizarre hit piece” and said government officials were trying to distract from “our views of the current dismal US economic situation.”

“The bottom line is that such hit piece accusations that we somehow work with or for the Kremlin are nothing new: we have repeatedly faced similar allegations over the years, and we can absolutely confirm that all of them are ‘errors,’” the website said.

In recent months, Zero Hedge has published numerous articles that accused the U.S. of fomenting panic about Ukraine, which now faces the possibility of an invasion by more than 130,000 Russian troops massed on several sides of the country. Some of those articles are listed as being written by people affiliated with the Strategic Culture Foundation.

The Biden administration sanctioned the foundation last year for allegedly taking part in Russia’s interference in the 2020 U.S. election. U.S. intelligence officials allege the foundation’s leaders ultimately take direction from the SVR, the Russian foreign intelligence service.

Recent articles listed as authored by the foundation and published by Zero Hedge include those with the headlines: “NATO Sliding Towards War Against Russia In Ukraine,” “Americans Need A Conspiracy Theory They Can All Agree On” and “Theater Of Absurd... Pentagon Demands Russia Explain Troops On Russian Soil.”

In an email sent prior to its online response, the website said there “is no relationship between Strategic Cultural Foundation (or the SVR) and Zero Hedge, and furthermore this is the first time we hear someone allege that the Foundation is linked to Russian propaganda.”

“They are one of our hundreds of contributors — unlike Mainstream Media, we try to publish a wide spectrum of views that cover both sides of a given story,” the website said.

Disinformation has long been used by Putin against adversaries, including the United States, and as one tool in regional conflicts to accompany cyberattacks and the movement of military forces. Washington and Kyiv have for months highlighted the issue of Russian influence in Ukrainian media.

Intelligence officials on Monday named two websites they said were directed by the Strategic Culture Foundation. Three other websites are alleged to have ties to the FSB, Russia’s federal security service.

“These sites enable the Russian government to secure support among the Russian and Ukrainian populations,” one official said. “This is the primary vector for how the Russian government will bolster support domestically for an invasion into Ukraine.”

Officials described for the first time what they say are direct communications between Russian spies and the editors or directors of the media outlets. They did not release records of the communications.

FSB officers had directed Konstantin Knyrik, the head of NewsFront, to write stories specifically damaging to Ukraine’s image, U.S. officials alleged. They said Knyrik has been praised by senior FSB officers for his work and requested derogatory information that he could use against the Caucasian Knot, a website that covers news in the mostly Muslim republics of southern Russia and neighboring countries such as Georgia.

The editor of PolitNavigator sent reports of published articles to the FSB, an official said. And the managing editor of Antifashist allegedly was directed at least once by the FSB to delete material from the site.

PolitNavigator’s editor, Sergey Stepanov, said Washington turns a blind eye to what he says are Ukraine’s anti-democratic actions and instead labels those who point them out “anti-Ukrainian propagandists” and “agents of the FSB.”

“I would like to believe that American journalism will rise above the hysteria provoked by officials,” he added.

The Strategic Culture Foundation is accused of controlling the websites Odna Rodyna and Fondsk. The foundation’s director, Vladimir Maximenko, has met with SVR handlers multiple times since 2014, officials alleged.

Several of the sites have small social media followings and may not appear influential at first glance, noted Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy. But falsehoods or propaganda narratives often start small before they’re amplified by larger actors, he said.

“You see the narrative enter the information space, and it’s very hard to see where it goes from there,” he said.

A manifesto published on Zero Hedge’s site defends its use of anonymous authors and proclaims its goal is “to liberate oppressed knowledge.” Many articles are published under the name Tyler Durden, also a character in the movie “Fight Club.”

The website was an early amplifier of conspiracy theories and misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. An Associated Press investigation determined the site played a pivotal role in advancing the unproven theory that China engineered the virus as a bioweapon. It’s also posted articles touting natural immunity to COVID-19 and unproven treatments.

Zero Hedge was also cited in a recent report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue that examined how far-right extremists are harnessing COVID-19 misinformation to expand their reach. Twitter briefly suspended Zero Hedge’s account in 2020 but reinstated it a few months later, saying it “made an error in our enforcement action in this case.”

The U.S. moving to name the website could inform some people who come across its content online, Schafer said.

“My guess is that most of the people who are loyal Zero Hedge followers naturally are inclined to mistrust the U.S. government anyway,” he said, “and so this announcement is probably not going to undermine most of Zero Hedge’s core support.”

___
Associated Press journalists Lynn Berry in Washington, Angela Charlton in Paris and David Klepper in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.

Sorry, I forgot

https://apnews.com/article/rus...cdc6adaf02313a85edd9

quote:

Originally posted by Anush:
Zerohedge?

I trust Zerohedge more than AP, NYT, WashPo, etc. nowadays.

A few snippets form the AP Article:

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials on Tuesday accused a conservative financial news website with a significant American readership of amplifying Kremlin propaganda...

The officials briefed The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence sources. It was the latest effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to release U.S. intelligence findings about Russian activity involving Ukraine as part of a concerted push to expose and influence the moves of Russian President Vladimir Putin. U.S. officials previously accused Putin of planning a “false-flag” operation...

Zero Hedge has been sharply critical of Biden and posted stories about allegations of wrongdoing by his son Hunter.

Disinformation has long been used by Putin against adversaries, including the United States...


Hmmm, sounds familiar; Anonymous sources, unnamed intelligence officials, 'False-flag' operation(s), Disinformation!

Where have I heard such things before? Oh yeah, from the 'Legacy State Media' seemingly acting at the behest of (AND in concert with!) deep state leftist operatives in the .gov! Perhaps it's not just the evil Russians that are 'masters of truth distortion'. One certainly needs suspend disbelief in order to ignore the capacity and actions of the US gov't in spreading and/or manufacturing propaganda in service of itself.

Like 'oddball', "I trust Zerohedge more than AP, NYT, WashPo, etc. nowadays." But that said, it's ALWAYS 'Trust but Verify' for any source, and NEVER let 'Confirmation Bias' allow you give a 'trusted' source a pass either, especially when there's a perception they're 'on our side'.

And allow me to highlight a bit more:

quote:

The officials briefed The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence sources. It was the latest effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to release U.S. intelligence findings about Russian activity involving Ukraine

This is the same administration who used 51 former intel officials to say the Hunter laptop was "Russian disinformation" to discredit a story which was true!
It's similar to all of the Covid "disinformation" the AP buried, much of which was legitimate and at least worthy of consideration.

quote:

The officials briefed The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence sources.

The Same AP whose credentials were removed from the White House and AF1........ hmm....

That article is three years old

quote:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday he is cancelling his scheduled state visit to Saudi Arabia following the conclusion of US-Russia talks there.

quote:

Zerohedge?

Would you prefer Barron's?
Zelensky Postpones Saudi Arabia Trip After US-Russia Talks
https://www.barrons.com/news/z...ussia-talks-ca8b7097

^^^^^^

Also Reuters.

https://www.reuters.com/world/...ivs-back-2025-02-18/