#russian troll energy

[greymantledlady]

actually maybe let people be disappointed about the dropped ball of the thasmin storyline without making a million posts saying 'IT'S NOT QUEERBAIT'?? ...very tone deaf imo.

like no maybe it's technically not queerbait but it sure is erasure of a complete wlw plotline... which is kind of worse? and it's not like 'queerbait' is a term with a solidly defined meaning even. people are allowed to be disappointed and be vocal about it.

[hermit-frog]

got a feeling that the writers are trolling us but anyway

the size of that Ukrainian/Russian dude

Rashid

this is how ukr/ru dude walks after Louis took his blood for less than 1min

and this is Rashid (even tho Louis took his sweet time)

not only he’s walking fine but also got energy to argue with Daniel

[lexygabe]

tora aikawa / twisting tiger headcanons/rewriting/etc.

(march/11/1990)

pisces sun | virgo moon | aquarius rising

INFP - 9w8 - sx/so - 974 - ESI - RLUAI - EFVL - Melancholic-Phlegmatic

general headcanons:

• trans masc, he/him, gayace,

• nobody cares but his sexuality headcanons were made by me when i was mad at wattpad bitches infantalizing him and making him their uwu japanese anime boyfriend,

• also he is little gremlin man before anybody start treating him as omg so cute trans boy hahaha gay baby. nah, he will kick you directly in the balls (even if you don't have them) and he will do this with pleasure,

• as a kid he was creepypasta enjoyer (he tortured miko with them when he was trying to sleep),

• philosophy nerd, not only into "asian philosophy", but philosophy in general. marxism, stoicism, nihilism, epicureanism, etc. everything,

• he reads this big fucking books weighing tons and they are always the craziest shit ever like "the idiot" by fyodor dostoevsky,

• i think he is russian literature fan in general,

• i think he had something that we could describe as depressive episodes, but he was never diagnosed with it til adulthood. and to be honesg tiger himself thought that everyone have felt something like that from time to time,

• probably has light ptsd,

• his friendships with nakama players (besides his and miko bond) aren't that strong like they used to. this is "when both of you start to distancing from each other and you become strangers to each other" situation, (he misses them)

• he self expressing himself very often in form of his new tricks, but also in his writing (he has a lot of notebooks with multiple essays),

• loves cartoons,

• <energy drinks3,

• he has keyhole top surgery type of scars,

• he become strika member after his whole transition journey,

• when doc got his medical results he was a little bit confused bcs birth certificate said that tiger is afab, so he informed coach about it,

• some day after training coach took tiger aside and told him that if anybody's gonna have problem with his identity, he will talk to them and he also asked tiger if he was capable of informing him or doc about his problems/health,

• rasta was first to know, bcs he and tiger went out for a beer together once and tiger started pointing out on his chest and telling a whole story totally drunk. the next day rasta walked up to him and asked in friendly-jokingly way is it safe for him to remove his muscle breasts, to which tiger replied with laugh,

• besides rasta, coach and doc. shakes, klaus and probably whole reserve players bench know about him,

• y'all will eat me (for speaking the truth) but matador, joe and north don't know about the fact that he is trans. bcs north definitely says f/aggot at least once a day, el is this cis lgb+ stereotype in tigers eyes (even tho matador doesn't care about gender identity, if you are hot, then you are hot and you will have to deal with his interest in you) and joe may perceive tiger differently when he would come out (again, this is how tiger feels about him),

• he is very critical of the sigma male trend and whole "sigma" idea in general, he even done a research and watched and read american psycho and fight club (yeah ik this is so random),

• idealist. he is close with his feelings and morality, so he assumes very often that everyone controls their own emotions like him,

• he is both idealist and skeptic,

• texts >>>>>>> voice messages/video calls,

• had religion crisis,

• he develops his trust to people very slowly,

• has mulitple accounts on twitter and makes the best trolling posts out there,

• he has decent knowledge about politics,

• watches kdramas when bored,

• he was wearing brackets in the past,

• has a lot of collections (like gadgets from chips' wrappers, TALISMANS, jewelry, figurines), but he is not obsessed about them,

• has tattoos like this:

• DEFINITELY HAS SOMETHINGG FROM HYPERMOBILITY SPECTRUM. that's why he is so flexible.

throught the series (og tv show, rewriting):

• [—] is waiting to be completed.

relationship with:

• miko: ik a lot of you ships them, but they are platonic to me.

they are like brothers. sometimes they fight for dear life and the other time they send each other funny memes at 3 am. in my head, both of them didn't have a great family dynamic, so they stayed together late at night.

miko was more easy going, so he was always worried about tiger when something happened to him. they aren't ashamed to show their love to each other.

• inyo: when they were kiddos she truly loved him in the most sisterly way you can think of. both of them are very careful when it comes to developing relations so they become very important to each other. it hurt when they had no contact with each other for years and then they become super league enemies (they never even have a talk after this).

• rasta: tiger is welcomed in rasta's house and tiger is always open to do something for rasta in return. buddies.

• cool joe: its complicated. on the one hand they are good friends and joe considers tiger as one of the most normal mates in their team, but they still have that unresolved tension that prevents them from deepening their relationship further.

• others: ?

fashion headcanons:

• smokey eye makeup supremacy,

• TW SCARYASS PRINTED SHIRT. he wears t-shirts with the most obscure shit on them

.

.

.

.

.

• his style is something between grunge, gothic and alt,

• he wears platform shoes to look taller than he actually is,

• some examples of his fits:

music headcanons:

• soft rock!! (car seat headrest is his beloved), j-pop, mcr & bôa.

NSFW:

• had a tdick at the time when he was playing for nakama,

• is into t4t relationships, bcs every cis gay guy he had thing for were super weird about him and either have had internalized transphobia or specific fantasies that crossed his boundaries of comfort,

• tldr give this man a trans bf so he could have the most non sexual intercourse.

[daydream-the-demon]

Sexyman criteria I go into (from the Sexypedia):

Some are either I am "___-coded", have hints of some of these tropes, or I am related to things here (due to me being an actual person and not a character).

Androgynous: Characters who are either genderless, or partly male and partly female in appearance.

Animal Theming: A strong association or connection to an animal. (I'm a moth therian.)

Artsy: Sexymen who appeal to the theater kid in us: whether they paint, make music, or perform, they’ve got a flair for the arts for sure.

Bait: Some sexymen emerge organically. Others are created by design. The creators of these characters are aware of this phenomenon, and deliberately design characters to be picked up by sexyman culture. (I wanted to look and act like a sexyman.)

European: A sort of broader variation of the British trope, for Sexymen that are Russian, Italian, French, etc. (I'm Russian.)

Chaoslord: Characters who are strongly associated with themes of chaos, are nearly always trolls, and almost certainly rely heavily on random/quirky style humor (hey, nothing wrong with that!).

Deadpan Snarker: Sexymen that use a lot of deadpan humor, are snippy with others, or both.

Distinctive Voice: In many cases sexymen have extremely distinctive vocal performances that are virtually always considered by the fandom to be a major component of their sex appeal.

Quotable Catchphrase(s): Many sexymen say something quotable that the fandom picks up on. (I say shiz all the time and I have a slogan.)

Distinctive Speech Patterns: Characters that speak in easily recognizable ways - using slang from certain decades, unusually posh wording, archaic or simple grammar, overusing abbreviations or barely using them... Especially common in media without voice acting, or depending on exaggeration. (I talk more eloquently and old-timey.)

Distinctive Laugh: Characters who have a tendency to laugh frequently and/or have a distinctive, iconic laugh.

Duality: Think Jekyll and Hyde. Sometimes the character has an existing evil side, sometimes the fans make it happen.

Egotistical: Characters who think they are hot shit, basically. Expect them to brag about their accomplishments and act like they are the next coming. Might have a real "would date their clone" energy, which... might explain some things.

Gay: Characters who are canonically LGBTQ+. (I'm transmasc xenogender aroace.)

Questionable LGBT Rep: A character that embodies a negative LGBTQ+ trope or stereotype such as predatory gay man/lesbian, gay-coded villain, etc. (I kind of embody "AroAces are evil and narcissistic and not human".)

Intelligence: A common trait of sexymen, whether canonically present or added/accentuated by the fandom, is marked intelligence, especially of the clever calculating manipulative chessmaster kind. especially common in chaoslords and anyone with "well-dressed class British tophat twink" vibes. (I can usually manipulate people into doing things for me.)

Smartdumb: Characters that are both intelligent and stupid at the same time, usually being "book smart yet street dumb" - for example, being an expert in their field, but lacking common sense or basic knowledge of the world they live in. (I have problems with social skills and I am more old-timey and a bunch of modern things just do not make sense to me.)

Knifemurder: Characters who like to kill people, usually by stabbing. (I talk about murder a lot and act like I've killed people before.)

Magnificent Bastard: As per TV Tropes, a Magnificent Bastard is a "villain (or morally gray character at best) portrayed as confident, charming schemers who thinks on their feet, outsmarts their competitors with style and grace, and remains graceful even in the event of defeat".

Neurodivergent: For characters that are canonically neurodivergent in some way, usually autistic/anxiety but it can be anything. (I might have autism, generalized anxiety disorder. I'm a maladaptive daydreamer and a plural system)

Neurodivergent Coded: For when a character has really strong HINTS at being neurodivergent, but nothing is ever confirmed in canon. (I'm not diagnosed but I'm basically neurodivergent.)

Pale Twink: Skinny young pale dudes. Usually taller than average. Not much facial or body hair. Doesn't have to be white, just pale; this is an archetype of many Japanese anime characters. (I barely go outside.)

Parental Issues: Character who have serious conflict with their parents and/or were abused by them

Demonic: Characters that are either demons or associated with occult/satanic imagery (I'm the Daydream Demon for Hell's sake-)

Retro: Sexymen that are heavily associated with "retro" things, such as old 1920s style cartoon animation, radios, and 8-bit arcade games. (I'm a 1920s type of guy!)

Villain: Characters who are the bad guys of their stories. (I am very villain-coded.)

Morally Grey: Characters who aren't necessarily evil, but aren't exactly good either.

Villain Protagonist: A villain who is the protagonist or main character. It's fairly self-explanatory.

Well-Dressed: Sexypeople who wear overly intricate or fanciful outfits.

Suitguy: Characters who typically wear formalwear, specifically suits. Often includes waistcoats, top hats, bowties, and pinstripes. Other neckwear may also be worn.

Hatguy: Characters that wear fancy hats like top hats and fedoras as prominent part of their design (I wear a fedora a lot.)

I get called a tumblr sexyman by my friends so I'm genuinely wondering what you all think.

[mariacallous]

In the summer of 2018, a little-known Russian journalist arrived in Washington with a bold plan to test the limits of U.S. freedom of speech. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election was in full swing, and the media pulsated with stories of alleged Russian spies, collusion, and plots to undermine U.S. democracy.

Alexander Malkevich was the latest emissary of Russia’s hopes for poisoning U.S. political discourse, this time using a news site called USA Really, tied to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the wealthy ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin behind the infamous social media “troll factory” and sponsor of the mercenary outfit Wagner Group. Unlike previous Russian influence efforts, Malkevich spoke openly about his plans, which included opening an office a block from the White House. “I want to make this media interesting and very much involved in the everyday life of Americans,” he told Foreign Policy in an interview at the time. “And maybe, in some years I can be a Pulitzer Prize winner.”

His lofty ambitions were short-lived. Malkevich was ejected from his office—a WeWork—just hours after he arrived. Facebook shuttered the publication’s page within a day of its launch, and his attempts to hold a protest in front of the White House sputtered out. After being sanctioned by the Treasury Department later that same year, his days of headline-grabbing sojourns to the United States were over.

It is tempting to write Malkevich off as a bumbling provocateur. But his career trajectory is a microcosm of Russia’s move-fast-and-break-things approach to its overseas influence operations. Despite his inauspicious start, Malkevich was back in the headlines a year later after founding the Foundation for National Values Protection, which the State Department has described as seeking to “facilitate global influence operations on behalf of Yevgeniy Prigozhin.” Malkevich trained his sights on Africa, where political instability, suspicion of former colonial powers, and a lack of oversight from social media giants provided an opening for Moscow to expand its reach through official and unofficial means. The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program now offers a $10 million bounty for information about Malkevich and his activities.

Malkevich is just a single node in a worldwide influence network engineered by the Kremlin and its allies over the past decade, as Russia has assiduously sought to reestablish itself as a player of consequence on the world stage and undermine the West. The end goal has been clear from the start: “To end American primacy in world affairs,” said Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow with the Washington Institute. The toolkit has spanned conventional statecraft such as diplomacy, espionage, and the leveraging of natural resources to more shadowy means including covert political interference, cozying up to the far right, and the use of mercenary groups.

It’s always been tough to determine just how successful Moscow has been as it claws at countries’ weak seams, be it racial tensions, inequality, or xenophobia. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put these influence efforts to the test as Moscow seeks to undermine support for Kyiv, advance its own narrative about the war, and bolster its relationships in the global south in search of new markets to shore up its heavily sanctioned economy.

The question of whether it has worked will likely be answered in the coming months as the war drags into winter and Kyiv’s Western partners grapple with spiraling energy prices, stiff economic headwinds, and an uphill battle to win hearts and minds in the developing world. It will have profound implications for Ukraine and the rest of the world.

“What we’re seeing now play out are all these strands coming together,” said Angela Stent, author of Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest. “Given the situation Russia is in, in terms of its poor performance in this war, it’s quite remarkable that they still maintain all of these partnerships and relationships with different countries and groups.”

Toward the end of his second term as Russian president, Putin took to the stage in the ballroom of the resplendent Hotel Bayerischer Hof at the 2007 Munich security conference to deliver a speech that would reverberate for years. Taking aim directly at the United States, he decried a world where “there is one master, one sovereign.” It was the clearest iteration at that time of the Russian leader’s darkening worldview, but it wasn’t until he returned to the presidency in 2012 that he began in earnest to try to reshape the global order.

While the overarching goal of Russia’s foreign policy has remained steadfast over the past decade, its means have been marked by flexibility, relentlessness, and at times a sadistic creativity. Earlier this year in Mali, the French military captured drone footage of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group staging a mass grave using real bodies at the site of a former French military base before attempting to use social media to pin the blame on Paris.

In the West, as diplomatic ties soured in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Moscow has relied on a spectrum of underhanded tactics to curry favor and sow division, from attempting to overthrow the government of Montenegro in 2016 to leaking thousands of emails from French President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign on the eve of his election in 2017.

“Across the board, there have been different wake-up calls,” said Kyllike Sillaste-Elling, undersecretary for political affairs at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Since 2014, Russia has spent more than $300 million in covert financing of political parties across four continents, according to a U.S. intelligence assessment released earlier this year. Such sums are a drop in the ocean by the multibillion-dollar standards of U.S. elections, but they have the potential to go a lot further amid comparatively lean election spending elsewhere. In Europe, Moscow has sought to inflame political sore spots from Catalonia’s independence aspirations to tensions over immigration, all while courting fringe political figures on the far left and right. Before they were banned by the European Union in March in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s state-backed broadcasters RT and Sputnik put out a steady drumbeat of disinformation, amplified by constellations of fake social media accounts.

The shadowy nature of Russia’s exploits makes it difficult for Western countries to respond in kind. “The activities themselves are often not serious enough for you to respond in any sort of major way, if you don’t want to risk a really dangerous escalation, but it’s also not so insignificant that you can do nothing,” said Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

In Germany, the cozy relationship between the Kremlin and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder gave rise to a new word—“Schröderization”—which has been used by analysts to describe the Kremlin’s efforts to win over European elites. As one of his last acts as chancellor in 2005, Schröder signed a deal giving the green light for the construction of the first Nord Stream gas pipeline, which runs from Russia to Germany, bypassing Ukraine and the Baltic states. Shortly after leaving office, Schröder received a call from Putin himself asking him to become chairman of the company overseeing the pipeline’s construction, and he later went on to work as a lobbyist for the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

The project would go on to become a lightning rod within Europe and in Germany’s relationship with the United States, where successive administrations argued that the pipeline would leave Europe dangerously dependent on Russian gas while depriving Ukraine of much-needed transit revenues. After years of fraught diplomacy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suspended completion of the pipeline in February when it became clear that Putin was on a war footing. But even as the pipeline lay unused, it was still utilized to send a message to Europe when a series of explosions ripped through both Nord Stream 1 and 2 in September, underscoring the vulnerability of the continent’s critical infrastructure in its northern seas. Although investigations are ongoing, suspicion quickly fell on Moscow.

“There’s one thing to bear in mind, and that’s that the Russians are opportunistic,” Braw said. “It’s highly unlikely that eight, 10, 12 years ago they thought, ‘We’ll build a pipeline, and then in the year 2022, we’ll sabotage it.’”

As tensions rose with the West following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Moscow sought to deepen its relationships with countries beyond the West, using a hybrid approach that included more conventional diplomacy as well as a suite of shadowy tactics. Facing Western sanctions, Moscow bolstered its ties with China while the Russian military’s intervention in the Syrian civil war in support of embattled President Bashar al-Assad in 2015 heralded Russia’s return to the chess board of the Middle East. “Putin was determined not to let the United States topple another dictator,” Borshchevskaya said.

Analysts will often describe Putin’s approach to his overseas exploits as playing a weak hand well, a maxim best exemplified by Russia’s decadelong effort to make inroads in Africa. By conventional metrics such as trade, investment, or foreign aid, Russia’s presence on the continent pales in comparison to those of the United States, China, and Europe. But by lending out its Wagner mercenaries and its expertise on political interference, Moscow has made itself indispensable to authoritarian regimes and power players from Libya to the Central African Republic, giving Russia outsized influence. In Africa’s Sahel region, which has experienced seven coups in just over two years, Russian disinformation networks tied to Prigozhin have sought to co-opt conversations about decolonization to stoke animosity toward France, the former colonial power in the region, while simultaneously calling for a greater Russian presence.

“It’s very cheap, and it’s a very good return on investment,” said a French official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

There was a moment in the spring, as Russia pounded Ukrainian cities with missile strikes, when it seemed like the Kremlin’s years of trying to weave a global web of influence had amounted to nothing. In a rare display of global unity, 141 countries voted to condemn the Russian invasion at an emergency meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, while Europe underwent in months the kind of shifts that usually take a generation. Germany halted completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and vowed to ramp up its defense spending. Sweden and Finland abandoned their long-standing policies of nonalignment and applied to join NATO, while the EU put on a unified front to impose a series of increasingly punitive sanctions on Moscow and welcome millions of Ukrainian refugees.

“If the [General Assembly] vote tells you anything, and if the state of European policy tells you anything, it seems like in the end you can have all the influence networks you want, [but] if you do something so egregious, that network isn’t going to be able to deliver because it’s so beyond the pale,” said Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist with the Rand Corporation.

Perhaps the single most glaring failure of Moscow’s efforts to bend a country to its will is Ukraine itself. With extensive shared historical, linguistic, and cultural ties, Ukraine, in theory, should have been the easiest country for Moscow to woo. For decades, Russia invested heavily in maintaining a network of proxies at all levels of Ukrainian society, while the country’s intelligence agencies were widely reported to be infiltrated by Moscow’s spies. But the more stifling the Kremlin’s embrace became, the more Ukrainians pulled away, leading Russia to resort to an all-out invasion in a bid to permanently bring Kyiv to heel.

“If you have to keep invading your neighbor to get them to do what you want, it’s a sign of the weakness of your other means of statecraft,” Charap said. Not only did Russia fail to keep Ukraine within its orbit using a whole suite of influence and coercion tactics, it catastrophically misread how the country would respond to an invasion, as the opening phase of Russia’s military campaign appears to have been predicated on the assumption that Kyiv would fold within a matter of days.

Heading into the winter, Europe faces spiking energy prices, high inflation, and the possibility of a recession. Protesters have already taken to the streets across Europe in response to the spiraling cost of living. Many analysts fear that such tensions could provide an inroad for Russia to sow discord and undermine European support for Ukraine.

The election of a far-right coalition government in Italy, composed of parties with a history of being sympathetic toward Moscow, served as a stark reminder of how the consensus-based decision-making style of the EU and NATO could be easily disrupted by just one member, although new Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vociferously supported Ukraine. For now, at least, current and former European officials are bullish about the fractious bloc’s ability to hang together.

“Actually, I’m quite optimistic,” said Mikk Marran, the former head of Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service. “I’m quite optimistic. I think that the West has been considerably or quite united.”

When it comes to the rest of the world, current and former Western officials see an uphill battle in efforts to isolate Putin as the global south contends with rising food and energy prices sparked by a war in which they have no immediate stake. While Biden called for Russia to be expelled from the G-20 group of the world’s leading economies in March, Putin received a standing invitation to the group’s meeting in Bali this week as its host, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, tried to tamp down tensions over the war.

“It seems like a lot of this so far has worked out,” Stent said. “What it hasn’t done is help their military performance, but it has enabled them to maintain a global influence and a global presence, which is not necessarily warranted by the nature of their economy and their form of government.”

While few countries beyond the global gallery of rogues—Belarus, Iran, North Korea—have openly sided with Moscow, many have proven willing to compartmentalize the war from their wider relationship with Russia. India and China abstained from both U.N. General Assembly votes condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine, while Beijing’s diplomats and state media have echoed the Kremlin’s talking points about the war. As Western nations have frantically sought to cut their dependence on Russian oil, Asian economies, most notably India, have capitalized on heavy resource discounts by Moscow to feed their refineries.

In the Middle East and North Africa, where rising grain and oil prices have been most acutely felt, governments have by and large sought to refrain from taking sides. “The region wanted to stay neutral, even American allies,” Borshchevskaya said. This was most glaring in the decision of the oil cartel OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, to cut oil production, driving prices higher and blunting the impact of sanctions on Russia’s economy. “You can also see that other American allies were simply too nervous or too afraid to anger Russia,” she said.

In Africa, where Russia has sought to expand its reach in recent years, Moscow’s narrative that the war in Ukraine is a conflict between East and West has prevailed, said Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. After being ousted from Europe in the wake of the war, Russia’s overseas state broadcaster, RT, announced plans to set up its first African bureau in South Africa.

Just over half of the countries in Africa voted to condemn the invasion at the United Nations. For those that didn’t, there is a spectrum of considerations at play. “There’s the obvious reality that you have some regimes that are actively colluding with the Russians, like in the Central African Republic or Mali, and they’re highly indebted to and compromised by Russia,” Siegle said, while others, from Uganda to Guinea, would likely welcome a greater Russian presence.

And then there are the countries that see little gain in crossing one of the world’s more disruptive powers. “From the perspective of many African leaders, they don’t gain a lot from condemning Russia. But if they condemn Russia, there is a cost to that, and Russia has been clear that it will hold a grudge with those who vote against it,” Siegle said.

[musemash]

ASSANGE BLEW THE WHISTLE ON DEMOCRACY – gallery by Aeon 999 / rant by the Canuck Crank

WIKILEAKS may have done some worthwhile work in its early years. But founder JULIAN ASSANGE has basically become an ANARCHISTIC TROLL, not a legitimate journalist. I assume that those who call him a FREE SPEECH MARTYR are well meaning people. But they have evidently forgotten how this misguided man helped the Russians get PRECEDENT TRUMPERY elected, by releasing the notorious CLINTON EMAILS. If he'd had any genuine integrity, he would also have released dirt on the MANCHURIAN CANTALOUPE.

Now, partly thanks to Assange's machinations, it is entirely possible that the GASLIGHTER IN CHIEF may get put back into power in the upcoming election. So I would suggest that, rather than squandering their energies attempting to save this USEFUL IDIOT from the consequences of his own folly, SAINT JULIAN's supporters could much better spend their energies taking a stand against the PUTIN INSURGENCY, represented by MAGA MOSES Mike Johnson and his delusional CHRISTO-FASCIST cronies. Remember, remember, the Fifth of November.

[creationfathers]

Misha is not related to a fascist Ukrainian soldier. His family tree goes back six generations in Canada. That's well over 150 years. His family connection to Ukraine is older than the term "fascism" itself (which was an Italian word that rose to prominence in the early part of the 20th century, circa WW1.) Misha's family from Ukraine lived much longer ago than that. So no, it's not true. It sounds like someone trying to spread anti-Ukraine propaganda (Russian trolls like to try to paint Ukrainians as fascists or modern day nazis. It's how they villainize Ukraine and justify their invasion.) Both anti-Ukraine Russians and anti-Israel Palestinians are trying to reframe their enemies as nazis. Yet THEY are the ones who attacked and invaded. They try to call their attacks on Ukraine and Israel "liberation" (from fascist regimes) but the truth is THEY are the aggressors and the invaders. Neither can accept that they lost wars decades ago. Both claim that Ukraine and Israel are "illegitimate" and "not real" countries. But the truth is Kiev was around many centuries before Moscow, and Jerusalem has been the home of the Israelites and Jews since the 10th century BC.) Attempting to re-write history is something actual fascists do. (See: Putin and Hamas.)

Thank you anon!

I'm sick, so I have no energy to do research.

[yurivanetikinternational]

WHY IS MEDIA STOKING DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGNS?

Americans Need to Insist That Legacy Media Be Held to Account as a Treacherous Culprit in the Mass Deception Campaigns Attributed to Politicians, Shady Public Relations Operatives, and Foreign Powers. Disinformation Media Campaigns Operated by the Russians and the Chinese May Also Have a Domestic Origin. It Is Not What One Would Think. They Don’t Come from Sleeper Cells. Instead, the American Legacy Media, by Way of Its Greed and Lack of Accountability, Is Responsible for the Deception. 

Stealth Public Relations Operatives Drive Conspiracy Theories and Smear Campaigns Using the Complicit Media of Record as Their Echo Chamber. Whether You Are a Supporter of President Trump or You Consider Him to Be a Lawless Authoritarian Is Irrelevant Because All Americans Should Be Concerned That What Is Presented as News May Actually Be Part of a Paid Public Relations Campaign or a Sensation-Oriented Spin That Is Not Newsworthy at All. 

Often the Media Is Doing the Dirty Bidding of Fringe Groups and Paid Reputation Assassins Solely to Maximize Profits, Knowing That Their Malfeasance Is Relegated to That of a Protected Class of Free Speech and Free Press. Media Today Is Like the Clergy in the Middle Ages-Their Profession Considered Sacred and Their Actions Above the Law.

Yochai Benkler, a Harvard Law Professor, Led a Team of Researchers That Dissected the Way Information Is Amplified. Benkler’s Team Just Published Its Study, Which Examines President Trump’s Alleged “Disinformation” Campaign Against Mail-In Voting and Details the Techniques the Trump World Used to Share Trump’s Opinions on the Election. Benkler and His Team Began from the Biased Position That a Difference of Opinion on Policy Questions Qualifies as Disinformation, Nevertheless, the Findings Inadvertently Run Contrary to the Popular Idea on the Left That It Is the Russian and Chinese Foreign Troll Factories That Are Interfering with Our Elections with “Disinformation.”

The Research Examined 55,000 Media Stories, 5 Million Tweets, and 75,000 Facebook Posts. the Researchers Mapped the Campaign Out, Showing a Clear Origin: Trump-Whether on TV or Twitter or by Close Proxy. Yet, the Legacy Media Insists That the Russians Manipulated Trump’s Election, That Trump Is Working for the Russians, and That Now-Again the Russians-Foreign Influencers Are Pushing Misinformation to Keep Trump in Control or Return Him to the White House.

The American Press Magnifies This Dramatically Because News Platforms Cannot Resist Giving Attention to the Trump White House. Calling His Actions a Disinformation Campaign Would Be Challenging for Journalists Who Are Desperate to Project Balance as If It Is the Same Thing as Fairness. More Importantly, It Is Easier to Get Readers (And Advertising Dollars) If You Advance a Monolithic Notion That Foreign Villains Are Sabotaging Our Elections. 

Media Disinformation Has Real Consequences and Calling It “Fake News” Does Not Deter Dishonest Journalists or Capture the Depth of Their Betrayal of the Trust Our Republic Has Bestowed Upon Them.

But Whether the President Tweets or Goes on TV, the Study Says, It Is Media Coverage of the Tweets That Amplifies the Message-Often Uncritically-Far Beyond What the Account Accomplishes Alone. Yet the American Legacy Media Clings Desperately to the Distortions It Publishes-Like the Theory That the Trump Campaign Conspired with the Russians.

Whatever Happened Was Most Likely Not Much More Than Intelligence Jousting Between Competing Countries. to Claim Otherwise Gives President Trump Too Much Credit. the Media, Undaunted, Amplifies the Narrative Even More, Fulfilling Einstein’s Definition of Insanity.

We See This Everywhere. the New York Post Recently Had a Compelling Scoop on How Joe Biden, When He Was Vice President, Met with a Top Executive of a Shady Ukrainian Energy Company, Burisma, at the Request of His Son, Hunter. Burisma Was Paying Biden’s Son $80,000 a Month for His Connections. Hunter’s Emails Show That He Told People He Was Handing 10 Percent to 50 Percent of the Foreign Windfall to “The Big Guy”-President-Elect Joe Biden Himself.

The Rest of the Media Ignored It-And Focused, Instead, on the Possibility That This Latest Scoop Somehow Was the Work of Russian Operatives. Never Mind Whether the Emails Were Authentic-They Were. the Media Did This Even After Twitter and Facebook Brazenly Muzzled the New York Post and Blocked Users from Being Able to Retweet or Open the Online Link to Read the Story.

The Media Continues This Behavior Despite a Stunning Revelation in Late September: the Cia Knew in July 2016 That Russian Intelligence Believed-Or Was Pretending to Believe-The Hillary Clinton Campaign Was Plotting to Smear Candidate Donald Trump.

This News Came Not from an Anonymous and Illegal Leak, as Did So Many Headlines in the Russiagate Investigation. This News Came on the Record from the U.s. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, Who Declassified Secret Information and Released It to Congress.

It Follows, Therefore, That the Fbi and the Cia Waged a Full-Scale Investigation of the Newly Elected Trump Administration Based on Allegations They Knew to Be Questionable, and Possibly Fabricated by the Clinton Campaign or Russian Spies.

Then, the Mueller Team Investigated This Farce: 675 Days, 2,800 Subpoenas, 500 Search Warrants, 500 Witnesses, 19 Lawyers and 40 Fbi Agents. Cost: $25 Million for a 488-Page Report That Cited “No Evidence” That “Any American” Had Colluded with the Russians.

The Mainstream Media Outlets That Spread This Scandal Have Never Explained How They Got It So Wrong. nor Did They Explain Why They Became Useful Idiots for Russian Spies. Unfazed by the Knowledge of the Lies They Were Spinning, Some Journalists and Their Editors Continued to Pursue a False, but Politically Useful, Narrative. To continue reading, visit our official website & know more about other topics like Finance Tips for Long-Term Financial Success, Tom Sachs Boombox, Business Startup Mistakes, Effective Leadership Styles, Latest Business News Etc...

[chanelfunnell]

tiny cheerful mail

A) no idea how and when NHLers celebrate Christmas. A lot of them show it on Insta.. we celebrate today, a lot of Swedes celebrated yesterday and Russians celebrate in January around 3 kings. Elina has spent a decade in USA since her 20, it influences you in US way but they celebrated yesterday. I guess a lot of Europe celebrated on Christmas Eve. No idea how it is with Auston Matthews as he comes from mixed family but many people do or are born abroad. His mother is Mexican so maybe they celebrated, maybe not . Maybe twice lol. There is nhl pause

The Rakkells are Swedish celebrated yesterday but posed in US PJ way. It also means Emmeli is expecting and Daisy will have a sibling. The oven means app Trouba lol

B) yes we have frosty slippery sidewalks and huge winter snow blankets with frost. White Christmas lol

C) lol UK has no idea what an ice hockey and a (puck) bunny boiler is when I mention M as an owner of Sandringham/Balmoral and a witch step mother/aunt as a bunny boiler . They go about the boiler and a heating as they have no clue. But calling the press as stupid folks, 🤠🤠😀😀😀😀😀😀 Bunny boiler is a crazy chaser of men and after them getting money and power, trashing other women and almost stalking men. I don't bother what central.ir eco heating they have and a huge mansion like non eco Al Gore . We are not Commonwealth like these in the article of North America lol

Merry Christmas or Seasonal greetings.

D) A Matthews is a goldmine for my likes and a traffic. No Cray trolls fainting from his real or fictional gf's yet. But he has a real claim to fame and a Cray fashion style to dish about and spill the tea.

[almondfeather]

So here are some thoughts on Putin’s war on Ukraine. I have been following the news for a while now and will try to keep this as accurate as possible. Please make sure to only trust credible sources and watch out for trolls. Also remember that politics are always very complicated and I won’t cover everything here.  

Absolutely disgusting!

Also really scary when I happen to live in Finland. We share a long border with Russia and were under their rule until 1917. I’m safe for now but that might change depending on Putin’s mood.

Ukraine is not a part of EU or NATO. Putin has done everything in his power to stop them from joining. This means that unfortunately Ukraine has to fight this war alone. BUT! EU will be taking in Ukrainian refugees. EU will be sending money and goods. NATO will be supplying weapons. Europe agrees that this will not be tolerated. The amount of sanctions imposed against Russia in such a short time has been impressive. But it will take some time for the sanctions to have an effect.   

Ukraine has been somewhat divided for years now. 17% (about 6-8 million) of Ukrainian people are Russian and few (but not all!) of those people would prefer to be ruled by Russian government. This is why in 2014 Russia along with separatist troops managed to invade Crimea. This inner divide further complicates giving military aid.   

I have seen estimates that Ukraine has somewhere between 175 000 - 900 000 soldiers. They are now more well prepared than in 2014 but they need more and better weapons fast. Especially air defense equipment. Ukrainian people are defending their country and are motivated to do so.    

Russian army attacking Ukraine is estimated to be about 200 000 men. Some of those people are rumored to be young and forced to fight. According to some estimates Russia is using 70% of it’s military resources to fight this war. Fortunately they shouldn’t be able to start more wars while this is still going on. It's likely that the goal of this war is to place a puppet government in Ukraine.

Many Russian people are against this war. There is a lot of propaganda going on to make it seem this invasion was justified. Some brave Russian people have been protesting even though they know they will be punished. So remember that even protests with 100 people are a huge thing.

Right now it seems Putin is very scared and frustrated. He is getting old and feels the need to do something big. He has surrounded himself with yes-men. He hopes getting Ukraine “back” will increase his popularity and help him stay in power. This invasion hasn’t been as easy as he expected. Europe is getting more united. NATO is preparing. Europe wants more renewable energy and to be less dependent on Russian oil and gas. This might finally push Sweden and Finland to join NATO and I’m sure there’s more.

[alex51324]

And on a less dire, but still important note,

keep in mind that, much as there are no good choices to make regarding the international response to the Ukraine invasion, there are also no good choices for President Biden to make regarding energy prices and Russian oil.  

With the mid-term elections coming up, Biden has a choice of being attacked for,

A.  Continuing to allow imports of Russian fossil fuels, or

B. Restricting imports of Russian fossil fuels, but relaxing sanctions on fossil fuels from other dubious regimes, like Venezuela and Iran, or

C. Letting gasoline & other energy prices skyrocket on his watch.  

And he’ll be lucky if he can keep it to just one; it’s fairly likely he’s going to have to pick two.  Even with sanctions on Russian oil just being discussed, gas (AKA petrol) prices have hit historic highs*, according to multiple news outlets.

(*The national average, as of the evening of 3/7/22, is $4.14 a gallon.  I know that number makes Europeans laugh, but bear in mind that huge swaths of the US have essentially nothing in the way of public transportation infrastructure**, and the average American commute to work is almost 28 miles each way***--or, to put it another way, a gallon of gas to get there, and another gallon to get home again.  If the gas price goes up over minimum wage, there will be people who literally cannot afford to go to work.)

(**Guess which party is to blame for that.  Go on, guess.)

(***And many Americans do not have a realistic option for living closer to work or working closer to home.  It would take approximately a medium-sized book to explain why; suffice it to say that the reasons are complicated and structural. {And, this being America, of course there is racism involved, did you even have to ask?})

So anyway, this is just to say, be prepared for right-wing trolls and purity ponies alike start screeching about how Biden is the worst president ever because he failed to pull massive reserves of free, ethically sourced oil and natural gas out of his asshole.  (You will be able to tell which is which because one group will be claiming that Trump would have been able to pull off this trick; let’s take the obvious “gas” joke as read.)  

[taggedmemes]

SENTENCE MEME ⟶ SPACE FORCE / 1.02 + 1.03 tenses and wording have been slightly altered for ease of sending. always feel free to tweak the sentence to fit your muse!

'wait, are you okay to drive?’

‘acts of foreign aggression really sober me up.’

‘anyway, my father wouldn’t approve.’

‘are we sure that the nips will be exposed?’

‘oh! this is a fun sleepover kind of energy, huh?’

‘okay, what have we here? this says... ‘bomb’. i don’t know if that’s a noun, a verb, or an adjective describing my outfit.’

‘alright, a big fuckin’ bomb. that was my first instinct anyway.’

‘soon, everybody will be out of a job, except scientists.’

‘why do you distrust scientists?’

‘what about duty? is that not enough of a treat anymore?’

‘this is absolutely disgusting. look.’

‘sometimes you have to lie to people in order to motivate them.’

‘hey, did those kidnappers get the money i wired them?’

‘you have got to stop wiring money to scammers.’

‘i won’t even open it. never click on a link with the word ‘scam’ in it.’

‘my heart beats so slow lately i don’t even really sleep.’

‘in my experience there’s ‘fired’ and then there’s fired. this one felt more like a ‘fired’ type thing.’

‘okay, well, he was gonna die anyway.’

‘this... did not go as planned.’

‘don’t be a sore loser.’

‘i took over the rescue efforts personally, and it all pretty much went sideways.’

‘did anyone try to bomb anything?’

‘hey, thanks for the pineapple.’

‘that chimp better keep his fuckin’ mouth shut.’

‘you need to know math, kiddo. you could invent the thing that saves the world.’

‘i’m being as real as a cinder block.’

‘i would like to know why my science budget pales in comparison to the riches devoted to turning space into an orgy of death.’

‘will you tell this prepubescent killing machine who i am?’

‘oh, wow. they should not have allowed that.’

‘the project where i grow fur on plants is gone.’

‘nobody’s gonna say that.’

‘i wouldn’t be doing my job if i didn’t prepare you for the worst.’

‘is it okay if i still call you in case anything...’

‘do you also own a van, you fucking creep?’

‘as a scientist, you have a loyalty to reason.’

‘got suspended. gave a teacher the finger.’

‘and now he lives under a bridge like a troll.’

‘you know, since you’re responsible for moving us to this hellhole and ruining my life.’

‘jesus, just let him fly the fucking thing!’

‘what do you mean, ‘whoops’?’

‘i bet you wish you didn’t flip off your teacher now, huh?’

‘sometimes i dake my lunch over there and watch them build rocket engines.’

‘isn’t any thinking to you ‘overthinking’?’

‘he is just a pain in the ass.’

‘get your junk out of my face, please.’

‘i always thought that you were a tampon.’

‘acknowledge my gender again, and i will fuck you in the ass.’

‘i can’t believe this is how you spend your free time.’

‘see any joints laying around that we could smoke?’

‘i even pretended to like hunting. but they asked ‘hunting what?’ and then i panicked and said ‘whales’.’

‘i’m not sure we should be having this conversation.’

‘i’ve seen you taking a bath.’

‘and, uh, ‘my age’? too young for me.’

‘he doesn’t know how to hug.’

‘he’s gotta be the nicest of all the creepy older russian dudes that you could be ruining your life with, right?’

‘look, if i could get some super snappy-dressing foreign guy to like me because of my proximity to classified information, i would totally jump at it.’

‘since when did you and him start hanging out and talking about women’s underwear?’

‘what the fuck am i supposed to do?’

‘with your skinny butt, you’re probably gonna make more selling soft serve.’

‘sometimes it’s just not about saving money.’

‘you cannot make an orange out of powder and urine, no matter how hard we try.’

[windynebula]

It’s only September 4th and I’ve already lost count of the times I’ve burned my mouth on hot beverages. This winter is going to kill me.

Oh, did I ever mention that the electricity shortage is getting so bad in Finland that the government is planning to do blackouts during winter to save electricity? Yeah. That’s going to happen. Finland’s winters are already cold and dark and now we can’t even have the lights or heating on. All because Putin invaded Ukraine. It also gets my goat that are people seeing all this horsepiss happen and they’re like “hurr durr it’s because we’re trying to move to green energy” like jesus fucking christ dude read the fucking room and stop believing Russian trolls spewing propaganda on twitter. How’s that Russian boot taste.

I’m just. Angry. Times are happening. Putin should personally pay my electricity and groceries because it’s his fucking fault that the prices of EVERYTHING are skyrocketing.

[secret-engima]

Just, putting this out there because brainrot yet knowing I will be unable to care for the plot bunny. Genshin Impact × FF15 AU were do to the Scourge apparently being connected to the Abyss instead of being sealed inside a large room, Ardyne was thrown into Teyvat. Many years later and he has made a name for himself in being a unrepentant troll, the Traveler has found him and is trying to heal him from the Scourge in his body, and everyone else has apparently decided for those two that the Traveler has made Ardyne their dad now. Even Paimon.

That could either be hilariously crack or terribly angsty, but I shall choose humor and laugh.

Just- Ardyn has no idea how he got here, or what is going on, but arguably he feels saner than he has in years since the Scourge here acts differently than it did in Eos. He's probably given multiple Adepti and other magical beings heart attacks. He's a walking bundle of mortal soul and Abyssal Energy wrapped up in one trolling bundle of terrible fashion sense.

And then he meets the Traveler, who *cures* him and Ardyn is grateful and just- well I guess I follow you everywhere now. Do you wish me to slaughter your enemies?

Traveler: ...thanks but I have it handled.

And yes, adding ensues. Arguably this would be funniest if the Traveler in question was Lumine, who is low-key equally feral and in this AU dating either Childe or Albedo. Childe because Feral Russian meeting Ardyn. Albedo because Albedo meeting the Walking Scientific Impossibility.

[mariacallous]

The collapse in the hitherto close Polish-Hungarian relations has been collateral damage of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Warsaw expects serious gestures from Budapest to repair ties, but Orban hopes the estrangement is just a temporary blip.

For years, Russia has been the elephant in the room during talks between Poland and Hungary, with both parties keen to sweep any controversies under the rug to concentrate on mutual interests, such as most recently standing up to the European Commission in its attempts to force both populist governments to back down in their attempts to undermine democratic norms.

“Poland has been looking at Russia as a security threat ever since 2008; Hungary, however, still sees it as partner – this is the key difference,” Miklos Mitrovits, an historian and Central Europe expert at Hungary’s University of Public Service, tells BIRN.

But with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that became no longer possible. Hungarian diplomacy missed the momentum to adapt and change tack and, as a result, has put not only the Polish-Hungarian ‘special relationship’ at risk, but also the very future of Visegrad Group (V4) cooperation.

“If we differ on the most existential of issues, it will be hard to cooperate on other fronts,” summarises Andrzej Sadecki, head of the Central Europe team and a Hungary specialist at OSW, the Warsaw-based Center for Eastern Studies.

The “most existential of issues” is clearly the war in Ukraine. While Warsaw has gone all out in supporting Kyiv, including delivering weapons and lobbying other countries to do so, Budapest’s position has been – at best – ambivalent.

Although Hungary has voted for all ten EU sanction packages (some significantly watered down), the country’s prime minister and Putin’s last remaining ally in the EU, Viktor Orban, vocally criticises these measures for “doing more harm to the EU than to Russia”.

Hungary still maintains energy cooperation with Russia’s Gazprom and Rosatom – it has signed an expanded gas supply agreement and officially still insists that Russia will build the Paks 2 nuclear power plant – arguing that it is an “economic necessity”.

At the same time, the Hungarian government remains unwilling to participate in deliveries of weapons to Ukraine or the training of its soldiers, and has a fractious relationship with Kyiv’s leadership. Government trolls openly disseminate Russian propaganda and hold Ukraine at least as responsible as Russia for the war.

The blocking of Russian Orthodox bishop Patriarch Kirill of Moscow (and war supporter) from being added to the EU sanctions list and Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto’s high-profile visits to Moscow and Minsk were seen – even by many Hungarian diplomatic experts – as unnecessary and provocative steps.

Diverging paths

“In the beginning, people in Poland thought Orban is facing re-election and he can’t admit to having made a mistake by previously investing in the relationship with Russia,” OSW’s Sadecki tells BIRN, referring to the April 2022 Hungarian parliamentary elections won in a landslide by Orban’s Fidesz party. “Many people were waiting, thinking this was a temporary thing.”

“But after the elections, the first thing we saw was that Foreign Minister Szijjarto stayed in his post, and he is the most symbolic figure in terms of Hungarian-Russian ties,” Sadecki says. “And then we gradually understood that our paths are really diverging.”

Bilateral relations hit rock bottom last summer when Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, after Orban had remarked on differences between the two capitals over the war in Ukraine during his key annual speech at Baile Tusnad in Romania, told the press: “I confirm Prime Minister Orban’s words that Poland and Hungary have parted ways.”

Since then, the previously intense rhythm of high-level meetings has given way to a series of low-level meetings mostly between mid-level bureaucrats rather than government politicians.

And it’s not just in political circles that the change is being felt; Polish society, too, has become increasingly disillusioned. In a recent poll by CBOS, the popularity of Hungarians among Poles has plummeted by 21 per cent and is at its lowest level for 30 years, just hovering above that for the Germans.

Sadecki points out that “while Poles and Hungarians always thought of themselves as close, now we’ve had protests in front of the Hungarian embassy, for example.”

The Hungarian government is aware that notable political gestures are needed to restore Polish relations, which are considered crucial for Hungary’s national interests in the EU, especially to block rule-of-law and Article 7 procedures, which seek to suspend funds or certain rights of member states.

The visit of the just-inaugurated Hungarian President Katalin Novak to Warsaw in May or her train journey to Kyiv in November were intended as such, but there was little follow-up. “Warsaw expects major gestures, like Orban visiting Kyiv or Hungary participating in the training of Ukrainian soldiers or sending weapons,” Hungarian expert Mitrovits says. “The very minimum would have been the fast-track approval of Finland and Sweden’s NATO application.”

But even there, Orban managed to sacrifice long-term diplomatic relations for short-term domestic gains. Despite having promised Morawiecki last November that Hungary would ratify the accession of both countries “during the first parliamentary session in 2023 in February”, Finland’s accession was approved only at the end of March, while Sweden is still being kept waiting.

“For Poland, NATO enlargement is a guarantee of regional security,” Mitrovits underlines. “By blocking NATO enlargement, Hungary is damaging vital Polish interests.”

[sophsun1]

hello! one more WWDITS fun fact, I heard in an interview with Harvey Guillen that Mark Proksch will just do the Colin Robinson to them on set, and because Colin doesn't have an accent it's just Mark's real voice, they won't realize he's trolling them for a long time till they're like "oh my god you're doing it aren't you!"

also have I recommended Russian Doll yet? if not! I should have! "Tuesday! what a concept!"

Hey!

I love Colin Robinson the whole energy vampire joke is great and a lot of fun. Though ngl I am still kinda freaked out by baby Colin Robinson with adult Colin's head lmao.

Good for Mark lol they seem like a fun cast.

I've read the synopsis for Russian Doll - time travel, murder and comedy definitely seems to be my jam added to the list.