We are witnessing a masterpiece of Russian tradecraft.

[orangecrush]

It would make a chess Grandmaster weep for the level of strategy unfolding.

Aleksandr Dugin wrote the book on it.

"The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia is a geopolitical book by Aleksandr Dugin. It has had some influence within the Russian military, police, and foreign policy elites[1] and has been used as a textbook in the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian military.[1][2] Its publication in 1997 was well received in Russia. Powerful Russian political figures subsequently took an interest in Dugin,[3] a Russian eurasianist, fascist[4] and nationalist[5] who has developed a close relationship with Russia's Academy of the General Staff.[6]"
....

"The United Kingdom, merely described as an "extraterritorial floating base of the U.S.", should be cut off from Europe.[9"

.....

"The book emphasizes that Russia must spread anti-Americanism everywhere: "the main 'scapegoat' will be precisely the U.S."

"In the United States:

Russia should use its special services within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics".[9]
The Eurasian Project could be expanded to South and Central America.[9]"


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics



THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 1997.


The longer it takes us to pull our heads out of the sand, to develop anti psy-war methods against the conspiracists spreading their disinformation, to overcome the hesitance to take tough counter measures, the worse it is going to get.

We didn't get to this point by accident, it was by design.


Disclaimer - I am not by any stretch an expert in anything.

The opinion expressed is purely my own, and no doubt flawed in many ways.

[orangecrush]

11. I don't buy the useful idiot Trump theory

I think he had contact with Russian intelligence long before he ran, his inner circle knows about it, and he has followed instructions to the letter.

[niyad]

26. Seems that the murdering orange traitor has been a russian asset since mid '80's.

[orangecrush]

31. Yes.

[apnu]

2. There are Russian fingerprints here

QAnon and the Neo-Nazis are essentially the Cossacks of the Republican party. They have been stirred up by shadowy and unknown Internet accounts and sent to DC to show the peasants who is in power.

This is no different than Cossacks whipping people in Red Square.

[ananda]

3. Agree. It hurts my soul.

I think we should all have a conversation on the effectiveness of Russian tactics and propaganda. In large part, I see its impact in what is happening in America now. Our democratic system is pretty much broken; the white hate groups are literally at war with the legitiimately elected branches of government; and the instruments for delivering societal safety programs are in deep decline, resulting in way too much suffering and death for the people who live here.

The last four years have been such a horror for so many; and like good Nazis all we have sat back and tolerated it, perhaps hoping that the election would make a difference. Yet now here we are in a country where all non-trumpers and non-conspiracy nuts must fear for their lives. Even the halls of Congress and the Senate have been infiltrated by real traitors and seditionists.

We ignore or tolerate this at our peril in every possible way such danger can present. There will be no unity and healing without the enforcement of the rule of law and a decently functioning government. I would like to live to see that happen, but frankly I'm a bit pessimistic. I always hope things turn out for the best, though.

[orangecrush]

14. Great post.

Thank you!

[certainot]

30. dems and the left ignored talk radio while the russians increasingly took it over

destroying the talk radio monopoly is all this democracy needs to start functioning again

[ananda]

33. Not exactly all, but that would definitely be a good start.

IOW, take away all their media platforms!

I'm not sure that's possible, but it sure is a good idea!

[certainot]

55. there's a big difference between a 95% monopoly and social media, tv, print, internet

political talk radio should not be considered part of the free speech spectrum, like all those others are, unless they're calling for violence, etc.

RW radio makes fact-based discussions of any major issue impossible. whenever progress is threatened, such as media demonopolization, the think tanks yawn, design a PR campaign with as much lying and distortion as they want, and pump it out 1500 radio stations for as long as needed. when millions peacefully protest for justice and police reform 1500 radio stations yell to 50M /week that we destroyed whole cities and want to defund all police. the anti attack iraq protests should have gone to the radio stations that were lying into that war.

and if we want real progress on any issue and progress with biden we have to force the ad industry to democratize that monopoly. it's a very easy target for a massive boycott now.

[ananda]

56. I don't disagree, but I also think that..

fairness across the media and policing of hatespeech
is very important!

[doc03]

4. If these terrorists breach the US capitol or a state capitol what will the NG do?

If the shooting starts then what? I don't think they will crawl back in their rat hole. I am afraid we will have
an insurgency like in Iraq everyone and every thing will be a target.

[Johnny2X2X]

5. Russian propaganda is effective, except for in helping Russia

Russia has been able to successfully throw its enemies into upheaval, but to what end? Russia itself is circling the drain, it's barely holding together and is seeing little gain from all of this meddling.

[orangecrush]

7. Great point

[Hugin]

9. Maybe it's the Argentina/Falklands gambit.

Some individuals profit from chaos.

[uponit7771]

22. The oligarchs are gaining & that's truly only thing Russian leadership care about

[Lonestarblue]

25. And what should the US government do to help it go down the drain faster?

I’m thinking some disinformation campaigns of our own would be useful in turning Russians against Putin. Perhaps he needs some of his tactics used against him.

[Klaralven]

6. It is a natural reaction to the Yeltsin era, when our strategy was to isolate and pillage Russia

After the collapse of the USSR, Russia was deliberately excluded from integration with Europe.

"What induces the regime to seek a new ideology in Eurasianism?" journalist Dmitrii Radyshevskii, asked. He answered: "Here [in Dugin-style Eurasianism] there are ideas which meet the psychological needs of society: there is an alternative to the failed love affair with the West; there is the [Russian] tradition of messianism; and there is the proximity of Asia.... The regime stands in need of a new ideology, but of a traditional one, 'integral and great.' All of this is happily combined in Eurasianism."

https://tec.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/aleksandr-dugins-foundations-geopolitics

[orangecrush]

10. The question for us

Is do we just let it happen, or take counter measures?

The goal of any intelligence service is to further the interests of it's country by any means permitted by it's leaders.

The present covert actions of Russia are aggressive to the point of acts of war.

No country is going to tolerate what we are seeing now.

[Klaralven]

13. With Victoria Nuland as Under Secretary for Political Affairs, expect the covert war to heat up

Biden to name Sherman, Nuland to top diplomatic posts: sources

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-diplomats/biden-to-name-sherman-nuland-to-top-diplomatic-posts-sources-idUSKBN29A27G

[orangecrush]

15. Rebuilding what Trump destroyed

State Dept., etc., everything he could to weaken us.



"Victoria Jane Nuland (born July 1, 1961) is the former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State and current nominee to be Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs[2][3] She held the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest diplomatic rank in the United States Foreign Service.[4] She is the former CEO of the Center for a New American Security, (CNAS), serving from January 2018 until early 2019, and is also the Brady-Johnson Distinguished Practitioner in Grand Strategy at Yale University, and a Member of the Board of the National Endowment for Democracy."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Nuland

[Klaralven]

20. The Undiplomatic Diplomat

Russia hawks in Washington love Victoria Nuland, the State Department’s point person for the Ukraine crisis. Many Europeans can't stand her.

...

McCain’s gushing approval of Nuland is shared by many on Capitol Hill, including large numbers of Democrats. But there’s one place where Nuland is far more polarizing: Europe, the very continent where her job requires her to cultivate strong and trusting relationships.

In interviews with Foreign Policy, her European colleagues have described her as “brash,” “direct,” “forceful,” “blunt,” “crude,” and occasionally, “undiplomatic.” But they also stressed that genuine policy differences account for their frustrations with her — in particular, her support for sending arms to Ukraine as the country fends off a Russian-backed rebellion, a policy not supported by the White House.

“She doesn’t engage like most diplomats,” said a European official. “She comes off as rather ideological.”

The great irony of Victoria Nuland is that the same qualities that make her a superstar in Washington make her controversial in Europe at a time when transatlantic ties are under incredible strain.

Nuland, a career foreign service officer, is the State Department’s point person on the Ukrainian crisis and the boss of all 50 U.S. embassies in Europe and Eurasia. As the fighting in eastern Ukraine killed more than 6,400 people and plunged U.S.-Russia relations to levels unseen since the Cold War, Nuland has spent months shuttling across the Atlantic in an attempt to forge — and maintain — a united Western response to Moscow’s aggression.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/18/the-undiplomatic-diplomat/

[orangecrush]

34. This the one

That Guiliani smeared, isn't she?

[Klaralven]

51. But no one disputes her rather famous phone call, intercepted by the Russians.

Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call

Nuland: OK. He's now gotten both Serry and [UN Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon to agree that Serry could come in Monday or Tuesday. So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and to have the UN help glue it and, you know, Fuck the EU.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957

And after Brexit, our ability to influence the EU will be diminished anyway.

[orangecrush]

35. Really appreciate

Your comments.

Right to the heart of the matter.

[certainot]

40. the kremmlin has been using rw talk radio since at least 2008 when manafort

was mcccain campaign cochair and limbaugh withheld support until mccain picked palin, who was being wooed by russian oid and gas interests. the palin pick was announced minutes before the last limbaugh show before the convention and limbaugh used it to finally announce his support, without which mccain had no chance

limbaugh dying and artificial intelligence used for large scale transcription and analysis of rw radio means any significant move to boycott rw radio now will force the ad industry to democratize the monopoly - the russians most important and effective tool

[duforsure]

8. We heard during the last impeachment Republicans

Knowingly with trump promote Russian propaganda. Now after a attempted coup we see it again promoted by trump and the GOP with the claiming the election was stolen, knowing it wasn't.. Look how many people believe them now is proof it works. It shows me trump and the GOP are treasonous corrupt criminals trying to destroy our Democracy, and working for Putin.

[orangecrush]

12. Next week Joe Biden is CIC

I hope his first actions are ones that cut Russian actors in the U S. off at the knees, and send an unmistakable "cease and desist or else" message.

The disruption will make governing difficult to impossible unless that happens.

Just my opinion.

[Wicked Blue]

24. Sanctions, sanctions, sanctions and more sanctions nt

[orangecrush]

32. I had sonething

A little more emphatic in mind.

[bluecollar2]

16. Excellent post

Thank you so much for posting this.

[orangecrush]

42. Very welcome

I hope we can recover from this relatively quickly.

[bluecollar2]

52. It's going to be a rocky road.

And I'm glad we have rational individuals to help us negotiate it.

[orangecrush]

74. Agree

[Jon King]

17. True, Russian hacking must be at top of Biden's list...

We must go full bore vs Russian hacking and weaken them. In the end they are just a gas station pretending to be an international power.

[ewagner]

23. ...and one more thing...

Use the same techniques to create Russia as the common enemy and try to rally the majority behind that...reject extremists as Russian agents etc.

on edit...

I see the only path to defeat their propaganda is to give the American public a common enemy just as they have done to us by making our own government the common enemy.

[Turbineguy]

18. Nice find!

[orangecrush]

36. Thanks!

Posted it here before, but no one paid much attention.

[marble falls]

19. After all the destabilization the US authored all around the world it is remarkable how ...

... how thoroughly destabilized the US has become in four years.

[bucolic_frolic]

21. I read somewhere yesterday that this is what they did in some of their satellite States

It's like a sloppy rebellion, with leaders muddled or unclear, a ragtag revolt to all appearances non-military. A disruptive insurrection that undermines the state.

[orangecrush]

37. Yes

Definitely their m.o..

They aren't even trying to hide it.

[twodogsbarking]

27. Has Trump been laundering money for

Russia? Saudis? Others? I would bet on it.

[badboy67]

28. Can't overstate the importance of right wing media in helping perpetuate Russian disinformation

[orangecrush]

38. It boggles the mind

It is so obvious.

[Auggie]

39. A perfect storm -- media, government, zealots

[Duppers]

47. Amen!! Without Rupert Murdoch, Limbaugh, et al,

TRump & the rethugians would not have been able to accomplish they destruction they have.

[Auggie]

65. Social Media was a gift. Can you imagine Russian delight?

[keithbvadu2]

29. Another Trump legacy: the newer meme... "Russia is our friend."

Another Trump legacy: the newer meme...

"Russia is our friend."

[Kid Berwyn]

41. Guardians Of Putin

At Helsinki press conference:

Jeff Mason from Reuters: President Putin, did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that? [The words in italics were omitted from the White House transcript]

PUTIN: Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the US/Russia relationship back to normal.

Source: https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/18/heres-what-trump-and-putin-actually-said-in-helsinki/

[orangecrush]

44. Back to normal

Yes, this is quite "normal".

[JT99]

43. Wow, I have suspected this

...was their strategy for awhile but this confirms it in black and white. They have clearly been working on this for over twenty years and have been very successful so far.

I wonder how they have been so successful in isolating the UK without anyone being aware.

This needs to be shared far and wide. Nice find and thanks for sharing!

[orangecrush]

45. "I wonder how they have been so successful in isolating the UK without anyone being aware."

Because they are extremely good at getting kompromat on people in the necessary positions.

In more ways than one

[PatrickforO]

46. You know what is really interesting here, Orangecrush?

You cannot get Dugin's book in English, or even in Russian. Goodreads shows that it HAS been translated into English, but it is not available ANYWHERE that I can see.

Kind of shows you how effective Putin has been, doesn't it?

[orangecrush]

48. Wow

That IS interesting!

And the reason is obvious.

Wonder where Wiki got the excerpts?

[JT99]

50. I found a Russian version

...for download in several formats here:

https://archive.org/details/Dugin.Geopolitika

Of course it's not much help since it's in Russian. Maybe Google translate would work.

[bluecollar2]

53. There's a translation here

https://agdugintranslate.gitbook.io/foundations-of-geopolitics/

[orangecrush]

58. THANK YOU!

I will read this!

[Duppers]

60. Excellent! Thank you!

My hubby "used to" speak Russian but is probably too rusty to translate now.

When back in grad school, he attended a conference & invited a Russian physicist back to visit UT- this was in the early '70. Our next door neighbor, a reporter for the local paper, wrote about the visitor. So, 2 days later we had a visit from "the suits" - yep, the Feds! Ah, them were the days.

[orangecrush]

57. Thanks!

[Enoki33]

49. Putin has always played the geopolitical

long game. His suave thug oligarchs, using money stolen from the Russian people, are the tip of the spears that poke for vulnerable social, political and economic weak points of their targeted nations, Putin then grabs hold of the embrdded spear handles and expertly turns them. The business and political career of tRump is a perfect example. It is also his most spectacularly successful op, surpassing Ukraine and Brexit.

[Duppers]

54. "Current Political Chaos was planned more than 20 yrs ago."

Interesting DailyKoz post, Aug. 2019:

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/8/25/1881360/-The-Current-Political-Chaos-was-planned-more-than-20-years-ago

We are an ignorant, easily manipulated population.

[orangecrush]

59. They need easily manipulated

To keep us consuming, as in advertising.

Not so great when an enemy uses it to forment insurrection.

[themaguffin]

61. thank you for sharing

[Maru Kitteh]

62. GREAT post, bookmarking for later. nt

[JT99]

63. I would love to see this on the Greatest Threads page

It needs lots of attention!

[orangecrush]

71. Thanks

[dalton99a]

64. Kick

[Blue Owl]

66. K&R for exposure

[bluecollar2]

67. Kick for exposure...n/t

[AntiFascist]

68. A fascist influencing Russian policies, who'da thunk? n/t

[orangecrush]

70. The Communist party

Has been banned in Russia, if I'm not mistaken.

[AntiFascist]

72. Putin's control depends on violence...

https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/stealing-russia-blind/

Early on, they acquired their own bank. Bank Rossiya was incorporated in June 1990, with initial capital of $840 million from Nikolai Kruchina, who handled the Communist Party’s financial assets abroad. (Kruchina fell, jumped, or was pushed off a balcony shortly after the failed August 1991 Communist hard-liners’ coup attempt, a fate that also, a few months later, befell the man whom he had replaced.)...

“Putin’s ability to rule with a charm offensive has been largely exhausted . . . . maintaining control will more and more depend on coercion (p. 348).” Putin, she adds, “will not go gentle into the night.” Even his former public-relations aide “believes that Putin will never leave power and, indeed, is hampered by the idea that Russians will always decide matters by violence” (p. 349). Today’s Russia is Vladimir Putin’s handiwork, the expression of his will to power. As such, it is something profoundly disturbing to behold.

[orangecrush]

73. Thank you

This was a great read.

[ymetca]

75. Include evangelical alliances and Big Oil

When Putin embraced the Russian Orthodox Church and invited rich American evangelicals over to demonstrate his "piety", that dragged a lot of dupes along as well. Those folks are hell-bent on combining church and state. An "unholy alliance", if you will.

But, ultimately, isn't this all about oil? That's where all the true power in the world is right now. It keeps the lights on. Gonna take a lot of technological innovation to wrench our world out of the petrochemical era.