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Post by Admin on Jul 5, 2020 5:05:03 GMT
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday mocked the U.S. Embassy in Moscow for flying a rainbow flag in celebration of LGBTQ rights, suggesting it "revealed something about the people that work there," referencing their sexual orientation. Putin's statement follows Russia's nationwide vote for constitutional reforms enshrining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, according to Reuters. "It's no big deal though. We have spoken about this many times, and our position is clear," said Putin, who has centered the county's values in alignment with the Russian Orthodox Church as opposed to the more liberal Western values of the U.S. "Yes, we passed a law banning the propaganda of homosexuality among minors. So what? Let people grow up, become adults and then decide their own destinies," he said.
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Post by Admin on Jul 27, 2020 20:17:56 GMT
Will Facebook be used to subvert the 2020 US presidential election? Yes. Will Facebook be held to account? No. Are we looking at a system shock that will change America for ever? Yes. Because Trump will either win this election using Facebook or he will lose it using Facebook. Both ways spell disaster. On Sunday, interviewed by a Fox reporter, he refused to say if he would leave the White House if he lost the election.
America, the idea of America, is on the brink. And at the cold, dead heart of the suicide mission it has set itself on, is Facebook. Facebook and America are now indivisible. Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, these are now the bloodstream of American life and politics. A bloodstream that is sick.
And so the world is sick, because American capitalism has been the vector that has brought this infection across the globe. Algorithmically amplified “free speech” with no consequences. Lies spread at speed. Hate freely expressed, freely shared. Ethnic hatred, white supremacy, resurgent Nazism all spreading invisibly, by stealth beyond the naked eye.
For Trump 2020, the band is back together. The chief data scientist of Cambridge Analytica, Matt Oczkowski has launched a new firm, Data Propria, which is working with the digital director of Trump’s 2016 campaign Brad Parscale. And Trump is testing his limits. Can he place ads that feature Nazi symbols? Yes. (Taken down but only after accruing millions of views.) Can he spread lies about mail-in fraud? Yes. Can he threaten Black Lives Matter protesters with violence? Yes. Will be he be able to use Facebook to dispute the election? Watch this space.
In a world without consequences, the bad man will be king. And an aggressive multinational company whose business model is threatened by the bad man’s opponent is, at best, conflicted; at worst, complicit.
This week, Mark Zuckerberg was forced to deny he had a “secret deal” with Trump. “A ridiculous idea,” he said. It was an uncanny echo of the “pretty crazy idea” he cited in November 2016 when it was first suggested fake news on Facebook might have played a role in electing Trump.
It wasn’t crazy. It was true. We know this because of the painstaking work the FBI and congressional committees did in investigating foreign interference in the US election. Work that hasn’t even been begun in the UK. That was not an accident we discovered this week. It was because of another populist who didn’t want the truth to come out: Boris Johnson.
Facebook is at the centre of this too. It’s Facebook that enables hostile nation states like Russia to attack us in our homes. A geopolitical war being fought in front of our noses, in our pockets, on our phones.
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Post by Admin on Aug 8, 2020 19:30:30 GMT
Russia is trying to “undermine” presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s candidacy, while China and Iran are against President Donald Trump’s reelection, a leading U.S. intelligence official said Friday. The analysis of the three U.S. adversaries’ alleged interference efforts came in a statement from William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, who said he released the information to help Americans “play a critical role in safeguarding our election.” While many foreign actors have views on who should hold the White House, “We are primarily concerned about the ongoing and potential activity by China, Russia, and Iran,” Evanina said. He warned that “foreign states will continue to use covert and overt influence measures in their attempts to sway U.S. voters’ preferences and perspectives, shift U.S. policies, increase discord in the United States, and undermine the American people’s confidence in our democratic process” ahead of the Nov. 3 election. “We are all in this together as Americans,” Evanina said in the statement. “Our election should be our own. Foreign efforts to influence or interfere with our elections are a direct threat to the fabric of our democracy.” At a press conference Friday evening, Trump himself pushed back on the findings of his own intelligence agencies. “It could be,” Trump began when a reporter asked if he believed the assessment that Russia was attempting to meddle in the election against Biden. But he quickly added: “I think that the last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump.” When the reporter noted that the statement from U.S. intelligence in fact says the opposite, Trump shot back, “Well, I don’t care what anybody says.” “Nobody with any common sense would say” that Russia wanted him to win, Trump said. Asked what he planned to do about the alleged interference, Trump said, “Well, we’re going to look at it very closely.” The alleged preferences of Russia, China and Iran reflect how Trump and Biden have talked about them on the campaign trail. Trump in nearly every recent speaking appearance has criticized Beijing for its handling of the coronavirus, which first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The virus has since grown to a pandemic that has taken an immense toll on the United States: More than 4.88 million cases and at least 160,111 deaths from Covid-19 have been reported in the U.S., according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The Trump administration has also regularly condemned Iran and attacked it with punishing economic sanctions.
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Post by Admin on Dec 23, 2021 18:57:18 GMT
5,449 views • Dec 24, 2021 • Watch in this issue: Vladimir Putin's big press conference lasted almost four hours and became a big talk about the results of the year; the president answered questions about the country's development, the fight against COVID-19, international relations, state security and accusations of the gas crisis; a report on how you can become a magician and fulfill a child's dream as part of the "Wish tree" campaign; The Russian Figure Skating Championship started in St. Petersburg.
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Post by Admin on Dec 25, 2021 20:25:28 GMT
Thousands of Russian troops are reportedly withdrawing from the Ukrainian border after conducting drills for roughly a month.
Reuters reported on Saturday that more than 10,000 Russian troops were leaving a number of regions near Ukraine — including Crimea, Rostov and Kuban — and returning to permanent bases.
The news service pointed to reporting from the Interfax news agency, which cited the Russian military.
“A stage of combat coordination of divisions, combat crews, squads at motorized units... has been completed. More than 10,000 military servicemen... will march to their permanent deployment from the territory of the combined arms' area of drills,” the Russian army is quoted as saying in the Interfax report, according to Reuters.
Russia had amassed tens of thousands of troops in regions north, east and south of Ukraine, Reuters noted, which alarmed Kyiv and Western nations that Moscow may be planning an attack.
U.S. intelligence earlier this year revealed that Russia was planning a military offensive against Ukraine as early as next year that would involve the deployment of 175,000 troops near the border.
The intelligence document, which was obtained by The Washington Post, included satellite photos of the military buildup.
Russia, however, has denied having any plans of that kind. Instead, Moscow has called on NATO to promise that it will not extend the alliance in the direction of Russia’s borders, according to Reuters.
Russia has reportedly said that Ukraine’s increased association with NATO is presenting a threat to Moscow.
The Kremlin has also said it has the authority to deploy troops within its borders as it sees necessary, according to Reuters.
Ukraine president, US lawmakers huddle amid tensions with Russia Reports of Russian troops withdrawing from the Ukrainian border come more than two weeks after President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone for more than two hours.
The White House said Biden during the conversation warned Putin against inviting Ukraine, cautioning that Moscow would suffer economic consequences if it mobilized an offensive against Ukraine.
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