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Where the Anti-Russian Moral Panic is Leading Us
Raimondo, Justin
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2017/03/26/where-the-anti-russian-moral-panic-is-leading-us/Date Written: 2017-03-27 Publisher: Antiwar Year Published: 2017 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX20535 This is how the smear campaign scores points: you don't have to be on the Russian payroll -- you can be a "useful idiot" just because of your political views, which condemn you as an "unwitting" agent, as former CIA director Mike Morell described Trump. This is how the parameters of "respectable" opinion are policed: this is how the War Party criminalizes those who think that the cold war is over and shouldn't be revived. Abstract: - Excerpt: Aside from sites run by the Russian government, like Russia Today and Sputnik, the targets of the investigation are Breitbart.com, the pro-Trump web site formerly managed by Steve Bannon - now an advisor to the President - and Infowars.com, the "conspiracy" site made famous by entertainer Alex Jones, although the purview of the witch hunt "investigation" is bound to broaden. Those "bots" -- automated programs that broadcast links, tweets, Facebook posts, etc. -- were supposedly launched at key times during the presidential campaign, and were disproportionately anti-Clinton -- are supposedly the key link in a Vast Russian Conspiracy. The FBI leakers tell McClatchy News that "investigators examining the bot attacks are exploring whether the far-right news operations took any actions to assist Russia's operatives. Their participation, however, wasn't necessary for the bots to amplify their news through Twitter and Facebook." So this is how the smear campaign scores points: you don't have to be on the Russian payroll -- you can be a "useful idiot" just because of your political views, which condemn you as an "unwitting" agent, as former CIA director Mike Morell described Trump. This is how the parameters of "respectable" opinion are policed: this is how the War Party criminalizes those who think that the cold war is over and shouldn't be revived. Subject Headings |