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[sluissa]

I wonder how much legions of american trolls could mess with russian election times. This is apparently how the cold war works in currentyear.

Doesn't really work when the votes aren't counted anyway.

[Strife26]

I wonder how much legions of american trolls could mess with russian election times. This is apparently how the cold war works in currentyear.

Doesn't really work when the votes aren't counted anyway.

The correct tack would be forcing additional integration of the Russian people with the rest of the world. Votes don't especially matter, but helping putinism along the road to its natural death is certainly something doable by non state actors.

[Egan_BW]

Getting someone elected may not have even been in the russian plan, though. The whole trolling campaign was successful BEFORE anyone started counting anything. It's more about getting people agitated and making the country look bad.

[Baffler]

You all joke but the Pentagon loves Twitter too. It provides at once a window into public opinion, a powerful propaganda and disinfo medium, a source of mud to sling, and a platform for astroturfing. Claiming "they're Russian agents don't listen to them" isn't exactly a new tactic in American politics, and for all the idea gets pushed I have yet to see any actual convincing proof.

[nenjin]

In other news, the FCC will be holding a meeting in December to start throwing shovel fulls of dirt on Net Neutrality. You may have already noticed banner ads regarding it on some of your favorite sites. Much of the work of the FCC up until now regarding ISPs has been to declassify them to the point they're no longer bound by regulations such as being considered public utilities.

[bloop_bleep]

^this^

Its been a constant irritation to Putin that the international community calls him out on controlling the press and that he gets shit for running an authoritarian government.  Also that people keep saying he doesn't really win elections.  Now the "leader of the free world" says shit that sounds exactly like what Putin does.  It gives him a sort of legitimacy; instead of making his own government look better he's made ours look worse.  And on top of that now people are talking about how Putin had the power to influence a USA election.  Putin's reputation is built on being a macho badass; he'd like to be seen as a scary guy trying to revive the Soviet Union because in that version of events he's powerful.  That's more useful to him than being seen as a "good" or "nice" leader.

Its also why the gay Putin memes are such a sore point for his government.  Putin riding a bear memes make him stronger.  Putin riding a unicorn memes make him weaker.  Gotta keep up appearances.

Putin is more pragmatic than you make him out to be. I may get you calling Trump an idiot (though I don't quite agree with that, if you recall), but Putin isn't one. He bashes on America not to seem like a "macho badass," but because it helps him retain his power as a dictator. If you take but a small glimpse at what airs on Russian TV (the channel by that name, but Russian TV in general too), you'll realize it's nothing but constant anti-American propaganda. He's doing this to make the terrible state of his country at the moment seem pretty good; it's possible to make anything seem perfect if you manage to lower peoples' standards enough.

Which may or not be Putin's motivation for supporting Trump as a presidential candidate. He might've reasoned that Trump would screw everything up almost immediately, making the former's job much easier.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Putin's machismo is part of what helps him keep power.

[smjjames]

I wonder how much legions of american trolls could mess with russian election times. This is apparently how the cold war works in currentyear.

Maybe we should give him a taste of his own medicine? Put the 4chan engine to work for us and put it on overdrive. BATTLE OF THE MEMES! Lol

Dunno if the best memers are American, but 4chan is definetly an incubator.

[RedKing]

I wonder how much legions of american trolls could mess with russian election times. This is apparently how the cold war works in currentyear.

Doesn't really work when the votes aren't counted anyway.

The correct tack would be forcing additional integration of the Russian people with the rest of the world. Votes don't especially matter, but helping putinism along the road to its natural death is certainly something doable by non state actors.

The correct tactic is:

A) Half the trolls support Pussy Riot and democracy protestors and make up cray-cray shit about Putin and his supporters
B) The other half support Putin, Cossacks and the Orthodox Church and make up cray-cray shit about group A.

We'll know we've succeeded when the Second Russian Civil War makes the first one look like a mild disagreement.

[smjjames]

I wonder how much legions of american trolls could mess with russian election times. This is apparently how the cold war works in currentyear.

Doesn't really work when the votes aren't counted anyway.

The correct tack would be forcing additional integration of the Russian people with the rest of the world. Votes don't especially matter, but helping putinism along the road to its natural death is certainly something doable by non state actors.

The correct tactic is:

A) Half the trolls support Pussy Riot and democracy protestors and make up cray-cray shit about Putin and his supporters
B) The other half support Putin, Cossacks and the Orthodox Church and make up cray-cray shit about group A.

We'll know we've succeeded when the Second Russian Civil War makes the first one look like a mild disagreement.

That's..... a really devious idea, I kind of like it.

The trick though is plausible deniability and making sure that such operations don't leak out, and hopefully our Russian looks better than their American English. It certainly does seem like we need to gear up for a second Cold War, instead of nuclear weapons, it'd be weaponized nuclear memes.

[Reelya]

You could also play up the gay rights thing heavily too. Basically you want it so that Russian media is bombard with as many conflicts as possible. "Putin secretly gay" would be a good rumor to spread, you need to make it prevalent enough that senior Russian people have to publicly make statements about Putin's sexuality, which can then be splice up into sound bites, hopefully completely distorting what was said.

[bloop_bleep]

You could also play up the gay rights thing heavily too. Basically you want it so that Russian media is bombard with as many conflicts as possible. "Putin secretly gay" would be a good rumor to spread.

There is no conflict and never will be any conflict in the Russian media because the Russian media exists only to serve the President's interest. If rumors started spreading around, the media would likely immediately shoot them down and any major public figures spreading the rumors might mysteriously disappear.

[RedKing]

Then you make it seem like Putin's closest allies are spreading them. If he disappears his inner circle, that's a win.

[Reelya]

Social media circumvents the mainstream media in Russia the same as it does with America, the same tactics would be effective, you don't need to spread this on state TV, you just need to make it spread on social media enough that they're forced to address it's untruth, and then you can do the thing where you say that because they referenced it, the story is legit.

EDIT: I think I recall some times that conspiracy theorists will make a big deal of the fact that e.g. a particular conspiracy theory was referenced on some TV show, omitting that the point was that it was a segment debunking said theory. Or in anti-game activist Jack Thompson's case he referenced a TV segment in support of his theories, omitting the fact that the segment in question was one where he was interviewed. It doesn't have to make any sense, you just have to have a vague reference to it on some legit media, spread that as supporting the story, and it's just extra fuel on the fire.

[Maximum Spin]

Or Putin is smart enough to stage a photo op where some "journalist" asks him if it's true and he just laughs.