Russia Report

[JohnL]

The report into Russian Interference in UK politics is released today at 10:30 but leaks claim the report found there was NO interference in the Brexit referendum but there was in the Scottish Independence referendum.

Nobody really believes that - it's worrying that they didn't seem to find equivalent levels of interference in both - Gives the impression that someone isn't very good at doing cover stories.

Lets see.

[keano77]

Maybe the Ruskies thought it wasn?t worth their while as they couldn?t compete with US interference - Back of the Queue and all that

[JohnL]

LOL and the Chinese.

One of my few favorite parts of "space force" is where the huge Chinese craft snips the wings of the small US one and the Chinese crew laugh about it.

[malumbu]

I've worked loosely in the security field but don't have any state secrets to give away.

There are more Russian spies operating now than Soviets during the cold war. In my time this was as much about economic spying.

In the day when we relied more the voice messages (ie phone calls) the Chinese listened in.

Countries like Ukraine are bombarded with negative social media from the Russians, in particular there is a move to stop them joining the EU and isolating Russia further.

Pretty common knowledge before the report came out.

Separately it is not a case that the report states that there was no interference by Russia over the Brexit vote, rather that they have kept their head under the covers, with their fingers in their ears chanting "we are not listening, we cannot hear you"

[diable rouge]

So the hot take seems to be that there's no Russian interference to report as there was no investigation into Russian interference. Rightyho, back to the troll farms comrades...

[JohnL]

We're not functioning properly are we - It's like people are told to look the other way.

"Committee members said they could not definitively conclude whether the Kremlin had or had not successfully interfered in the Brexit vote because no effort had been made to find out."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/21/russia-report-reveals-uk-government-failed-to-address-kremlin-interference-scottish-referendum-brexit

[JohnL]

"the job of maintaining the integrity of British democracy nominally fell to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport"

Fair enough - sort of fits.

[JohnL]

Unbelievable - Former Russian Government member explains Russian policy on Sky News whilst defending Russia.

UK is a junior partner of USA and US uses it to influence EU. Therefore removing UK from the EU allows the EU to be more independent.

[Blah Blah]

The various Russian and Chinese government shills appearing on our news channels at the moment are laughable. No one in their right mind takes them seriously.

Now why did the government not bother to look for Russian interference in the EU ref but did in the Scottish independence one. Confirmation bias all over this government. Look for it if it serves to discredit the opposition. Ignore it if it doesn't. No wonder they didn't want to release it before the election.

[SpringTime]

Any Russians on the forum care to comment? I love Russian people - like to hear it from the Bear's mouth. Or mouths if possible.

[diable rouge]

''Coca Cola...Levi's...The Beatles''

[JohnL]

Sir Kier Starmer sat on his hands (although apparently he didn't).

Seriously - PMQ's is almost unwatchable in it's current format - it's like 3rd form debating club sometimes.

[Blah Blah]

It is also clear that Boris is going to continue pitting leavers against remainers too. So much for seeking to unify the country.

The Labour Party meanwhile, has the embarrassment of Corbyn refusing to acknowledge the court settlement for defamation against his leadership, and shows that faction are going to cause all the trouble they accused the centrists of doing.

Both parties are pathetic right now.

[tomdhu]

Just to go back to the OP, if one wants to get a real insight into malevolence of the Russian regime/system I would highly recommend reading a book entitled "Red Notice" by Bill Browder.

Totally fascinating read and the best book I've read in the last 20 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Browder