I was talking to my sister a few weeks ago and she couldn't believe the comments around the place and how obvious it was since the new year or so, to tech savvy people at least.
Here's the thing, people like to go on as if it needs to be a whole grand plan. It doesn't. How long in total man hours does it take the PutinBots here to post? An hour a day, maybe? You could have a handful of trolls covering sites like here and any other message boards that are left.
Twitter can be almost automated for the spamming. I can't think of the site a few years ago that actually tracked the propaganda coming from St Petersberg? It was gas and from paying a little attention you knew exactly what was going to be in the latest update.
Facebook, ffs the bots might be outnumbered by the homeopathy-loving anti-vaxxers who hate liberals at this point. 😂
Reddit tends to work like an echo chamber in a lot of cases so certain subreddits will have all kind of **** posted on them. Again it just takes a couple of people an hour a day (and a few useful idiots or contrarians) to tip the scales hugely.
As far as The Daily Mail itself goes, consider the Russian money in London. They're all up their fuckin eyeballs in it, just about anyone with stock and links to print media. Along with their general right-wing-ness and anti-Europeness. They're not too worried about the comments online, they likely just draw an occasional smirk, they care about "engagement".
EDIT: I really can't strongly enough suggest to anyone with the slightest interest to subscribe to Private Eye. It's fortnightly and tbh there's not that much reading in it (3 hours maybe) but the amount of times the same names come up, linked differently, or the same patterns of collusion and association is just beyond belief. They've been running stories on Russian money in London since I can remember (maybe 2007) and had been for a while before that. It's one of the few bits of journalism still going.
EDIT EDIT: Ah FFS, they've changed their prices, used to only be an extra couple of quid compared to UK, think I paid under €40 for a year back in the day but it's around 100 a year now. It's still well worth it IMO but a harder sell obviously. 😅 I'll still say though if you see it next to that awfully rubbish Phoenix on a news stand once in a while then pick it up. :D
There are no winners here....
Yeah, I'd be worried about Finland in the event that Russia was allowed to do what it wants with Ukraine. Still, there are some mitigating factors with Finland like it lacking a significant minority of ethnic Russians who 'yearn to be with the motherland' and Finns not being very pro-Russia at all, but that just means Putin (or Putin's successor) would have to be more naked in their ambition, and maybe they'd be emboldened to be just that if they're allowed to overrun Ukraine.
Also, I'd have to think that the more Russia pushes things, the bigger noises get made in Finland about becoming a part of NATO, dropping their neutrality, and then the more sabre-rattling you hear out of Moscow about what Finland are proposing to do.
That's brilliant, ha!
Well the Mail has a history of backing lunatic Authoritarians.
So after pulling all their staff out of the country, the US embassy to Ukraine is now posting memes on twitter....
It really does say it all
Says it all, really!
The Daily Mail comments section has always been rapidly pro-Putin. While I've always thought that no self respecting Russian trolls would target a small site like boards.ie they very much would target the Daily Mail - It is one of the most visited sites in the world so would be very much worth their while.
They could also be actual real people too. Lots of British right-wingers love Putin. He fits the mould of what they think a leader should be like: Throw his weight around, talk incessantly about patriotism, glorify WW2, put the gays and feminists in their place, colonise weaker neighbours, demonise immigrants, literally kills members of the media, locks up opponents. They'd love a bit of that!
finland and sweden should join Nato
Putins speech to the nation last night seems to have spooked a lot of Russians. He didn't appear to be like a leader who has grasped the full reality of where he is leading his people. If I was Vladimir I'd be checking my dindins for traces of novichok from now on!
He backed all eu sanctions
All 27 members backed them.
There's accounts trying to deny the truth on these threqds, they're everywhere and have been for years. Take every opinion or comment you see online with a pinch of salt.
Haven't read them, but I can imagine, those making comments may have two tabs open on their browser for well informed opinion, Daily Mail and Boards, joking aside, but it's the Daily Mail, does it need anything more said about it.....
Yes I agree, a full military defence of Ukraine will be very bloody, Ukraine will not be able to hold out long against the might of Russia. Thats why I think in order to save bloodshed their may be some kind of surrender to let Russia take control and put in their own pupet government.
But I agree the guerrilla warfare that will come after this is going to hurt Russia more and they will need to keep significant forces on the ground to keep down any insurgency.
What the hell is going on with the comments for the DailyMail articles?
Do the people in the U.K. really think like that?
What invasion? There's no invasion! Ah that's all scaremongering by the media! Why would Putin want to invade Ukraine?
There's genocide in Ukraine, blahblahblahblah.
Yawn.
Oh, are sure about that Blue,?
It'll be a testing ground for new weapon's. Russian drones Tech needs work so this is a good time to test it out.
Re Orban: There's a general election in Hungary in 6 weeks or so. Unlike in previous elections, the opposition is not completely divided, so it is not a foregone conclusion that he will win. He'll likely take whatever decision is going to be the most popular with the electorate.
Ukraine is one of the most, if not the most, strategic and geographically important country in Europe. A country of nearly 50 million people. It's also a massively important bread basket.
For Russia the invasion is the easy part. Holding on to the territory while incurring persistent losses from an unfriendly and well-armed local population will be were it gets tricky.
If this is really Putin on a solo run, then unless he can personally launch nukes and pick their targets, he may not get very far with the nukem option. That said, I don't believe he's that crazy, but just if he were, there are a whole lot of other people in Russia who don't feel like they've nothing to lose.
is this the new approach now that your "western media are warmongers" approach died a death?
No offense to Georgia, places like Romania, Sweden but Ukraine has been globally strategic for centuries.
There is nearly a billion people in the world who depend on the Ukraine for calories, from 10% to well over half.
I reckon he's on the way out, and is having one last stab at USSR 2.0 and if it fails, giving the big nuke button a press
The west's Pearl Harbour? LOL
Nobody gives a sh*te about Ukraine. It will be off the front pages in due course, similar to Georgia.
I'd say all of that is about to change Josey....Remember when the Japanese Military leader, Yamamoto was being praised for the success of the attack on Pearl Harbour, and being called "A Genius", he replied, " A real genius would have achieved that victory without war. And now, for 6 or 12 mths, we will run rampant throughout this part of the world. Then the US will have mobilized against us, and our easy run will come to an end, and the final outcome is not guaranteed. How true were his word's. So in effect, this is the west's Pearl Harbour,
The Ukraine will need to be wary of reacting as that is exactly what Russia wants to give Putin an excuse for an outright invasion. Things are not at the moment going Putin's way as Bidan has been savvy enough to call out Russia from day one limiting Russia and its plans. If Putin gets stroppy he could do something totally nuts altogether so hopefully, Russian army generals will be smart enough not to listen to every word Putin says. It could all go the way of a certain German Chancellor from 1934 and we know how that went! Russia needs to stand up to Putin.
I’ll get my legal rep, Ciara Ruschitzko, to look over the contract first 😉
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