US accuses financial website of spreading Russian propaganda

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By NOMAAN MERCHANT

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.”

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.



In this photo taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, A Russian tank is loaded onto railway platforms after the end of military drills in South Russia. In what could be another sign that the Kremlin would like to lower the temperature, Russia's Defense Ministry announced Tuesday that some units participating in military exercises would begin returning to their bases. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-coronavirus-pandemic-health-moscow-media-ff4a56b7b08bcdc6adaf02313a85edd9

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Wow

Seems to me ZeroHedge has been around a long time. And yes when you find articles that are essentially radical libertarian in the investment world, they're against anything the government does. Who benefits from that? People and organizations who don't want to follow the law - polluters, terrorists, governments opposed to our system of laws and our ability to set standards around the world.

No surprise.

[ToxMarz]

2. Ridiculous that the media allows these right wing horror shows to hide behind innocuous labels

"a conservative financial news website"

Google bans ZeroHedge for ‘racist’ posts, gives The Federalist a warning

https://nypost.com/2020/06/16/google-bans-zerohedge-for-racist-posts-gives-the-federalist-warning/


Zero Hedge: Wall Street's daily dose of doom and gloom

https://money.cnn.com/2014/09/25/investing/zero-hedge-wall-street-blog-finance/index.html


Zero Hedge Permanently Suspended From Twitter for ‘Harassment’

https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/zero-hedge-permanently-suspended-from-twitter-for-harassment

Unmasking the Men Behind Zero Hedge, Wall Street's Renegade Blog

https://www.wealthmanagement.com/industry/unmasking-men-behind-zero-hedge-wall-streets-renegade-blog

[TheBlackAdder]

9. Yeah, they don't like laws unless it stops people from stealing their own shit.

[msfiddlestix]

3. I remember Zero Hedge during the 2016 campaign, evil bastards

if i recall accurately, they peddled a lot of photo shopped images of HRC during the campaign with false stories.

I'd forgotten all about them. I hope their asses are put through the effin wringer and bankrupted forever.

[pnwmom]

8. I hadn't forgotten them. They succeeded in duping a few DUers, who would post their garbage here. n/

[msfiddlestix]

13. I don't remember many of the specifics, just the general imagery stuff

and I do remember making a point of committing to memory the source: Zero Hedge.

Evil effers.

[Midnight Writer]

4. I wonder how much Putin and Co. have profited by churning the Western financial markets?

It strikes me that all the guy has to do is move troops around, rattle his sabre, act unhinged, and the markets around the world drop in price. What a great buying opportunity!

Then he pulls the troops back, signals for negotiations, has his media friends turn down the war talk, and all those cheap financial instruments immediately jump in value.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

[yaesu]

5. Glad the Biden Admin is open to reporting the deeds of the evil empire, we learned in '16 that

keeping this shit under raps leads to fascists being elected.

[Habitation]

6. This is fantastic news! & The Bulgarian Connection

I never had any hope that zero hedge would be held accountable. This is a very happy day indeed. The cream on top of Mazars-Trump!

You might find this interesting:
https://newrepublic.com/article/156788/zero-hedge-russian-trojan-horse

Among the various “crimes” of which I stood accused was posting publicly available information that revealed Zero Hedge’s ties to Bulgaria. While Ivandjiiski’s son, Daniel, lives in an affluent northern New Jersey suburb, Zero Hedge’s domain was registered not in the U.S., but in Sofia. Court records revealed that Zero Hedge was owned by a company called ABC Media Ltd, a Bulgarian company whose sole manager was Krassimir Ivandjiiski.

The Bulgarian connection intrigued me because Zero Hedge runs political news and commentary that “frequently echo the Kremlin line,” as a 2018 RAND Institute study put it. Among Zero Hedge’s most Russia-friendly fare were stories depicting the Mueller investigation as a hoax, pieces claiming that the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal was staged by British intelligence, and posts asserting that the Steele dossier was a work of “fanfiction” by internet trolls on 4chan. Andrew Weisburd, a private intelligence analyst who has done work for the U.S. intelligence community, has found that Zero Hedge is at the center of a web of conspiracy sites with spokes extending out into the darkest fringes of the internet.

[KS Toronado]

7. Does this mean they're packing up & going home?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Zero Hedge was an EARLY big spreader of virus & vax MISinformation. . . .nt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. The righties love them some Putin

[BootinUp]

12. Some good moves by Biden's team. Nt

[Sapient Donkey]

14. I don't think I've ever seen Zero Hedge put out anything that was balanced

The claim that they try to consider all sides is hilarious. That's actually one of the things I look for whenever I go to a site like that. I check to see if they do have content that explores other viewpoints. They do not. Places like Zero Hedge on the right and stuff like The GrayZone on the left are very one-sided. You'll never find any criticism of non-western countries/leaders on those sites. That's not saying all their criticisms of the west/US are wrong, but it does make me wonder how much I can trust them even if they do sometimes say things I agree with.