The Democrats have gotten the band back together again in conducting an information warfare (dezinformatsiya) operation against President Trump. Their first such op was conducted in 2017 (now known as the thoroughly debunked Trump-Russia collusion hoax). Today’s ongoing op is focused on sabotaging President Trump’s excellent strategy to stop the Russo-Ukrainian war on terms favorable to all parties, especially the US.
The Democrat-media complex have been apoplectic in their efforts to blame President Trump for Zelenskyy’s disastrous performance in the Oval Office last Friday. The secret that they have suppressed is that they orchestrated the inevitable results in a pre-meeting meeting with Zelenskyy. As noted by the New York Post, Zelenskyy met with anti-Trump Democrats who advised him to reject the terms of the mineral deal proposed by President Trump.
The Democrats got just what they advocated for and were off to the races on yet another dezinformatsiya op. Serial liar Susan Rice rushed to a despicable MSNBC interview immediately after the meeting in which she accused President Trump and Vice President Vance of orchestrating a “set-up” of Zelenskyy. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) spun his own yarn on X claiming that Trump “ambushed” Zelenskyy while completely disregarding Zelenskyy’s outburst that actually blew up the meeting. [Note: Murphy himself admitted on X to being present at the Democrats’ pre-meeting meeting with Zelenskyy.] And the Sunday morning news programs (less Maria Bartiromo’s show) were all in on spinning the Democrat narrative. For example, Kristen Welker spent 20 minutes trying to ambush Speaker Mike Johnson about Ukraine on NBC’s Meet the Press.
And so it will go until this op is finally debunked, too.
THE DEMOCRATS’ ORIGINAL DEZINFORMATSIYA OP AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP
The Obama regime’s efforts to destroy the first Trump administration late 2016 onward was a classic dezinformatsiya operation. Let us examine that premise by defining dezinformatsiya and its purpose and objectives, as well as providing an historical perspective for good measure.
Over 40 years ago while the Cold War was raging, I read an excellent book on the subject written by Richard Shultz (a professor at Tufts and scholar of int’l security studies) and Roy Godson (professor emeritus at Georgetown and author of books on covert ops and intel). The book is entitled, Dezinformatsiya: The Strategy of Soviet Disinformation.
Here are a couple of definitions from the book:
Soviet leaders use the term “active measures” (activnyye meropriatia) to describe an array of overt and covert techniques for influencing events and behaviors in, and the actions of, foreign countries. Prior to the 1960s, the term dezinformatsia was used in some Soviet circles to describe these instruments. Active measures may entail influencing the policies of another government, undermining confidence in its leaders and institutions, disrupting relations between other nations, and discrediting and weakening governmental and non-governmental opponents. This frequently involves attempts to deceive the target (the governmental and non-governmental elites of mass audiences), and to distort the target’s perception of reality. Active measures may be conducted overtly through officially-sponsored foreign propaganda channels, diplomatic relations, and cultural diplomacy.
Covert political techniques include the use of covert propaganda, oral and written disinformation, agents of influence, clandestine radios, and international front organizations. Covert disinformation is non-attributed or falsely attributed communication, written or oral, containing intentionally false, incomplete, or misleading information (frequently combined with true information), which seeks to deceive, misinform, and/or mislead the target.
The book details historical examples of Soviet active measures and includes interviews of former Soviet intelligence officers, some of whom defected to the West. It is a highly recommended read!
The world has changed since this book was written in 1984:
- The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991.
- The KGB is now the FSB, and a former KGB officer who well understands the use of active measures is the Russian president (Vladimir Putin). Read about (some of) his career here: https://www.businessinsider.com/vladimir-putin-kgb-spy-2017-9
- The technical means for conducting dezinformatsiya operations have been greatly advanced with the advent of the internet, social media, and the “instantaneous 24-hour news cycle” via a myriad of cable news channels.
- Oh, and Americans’ collective guard against “Communism” has been effectively dropped partially thanks to overt actions of our own political class. Socialism is now increasingly viewed as “good” by younger Americans who are ignorant of its historical failure.
- For a time, the Russians were even considered our “friends” by the political class – until it became convenient to turn the Obama regime’s overt friendship with the Russian leadership (recall Hillary’s Russian reset button, and Obama’s promises to Medvedev in 2012) into something quite different in order to advance the Democrat political agenda, as noted by Reuters at the time!
The objectives of Russian (formerly Soviet) disinformation operations have shifted slightly since the fall of the Soviet Union. Previously, the objectives were focused on discrediting US foreign policy, separating the US from her allies (especially NATO), strategic deception, etc. In recent years, with the rise of the internet and social media, Russian disinformation has focused on seeding discontent and turmoil on the US domestic scene, including meddling in and seeking to sow discord during US election campaigns.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall, Russians have had an easier time emigrating to the US, as well as obtaining temporary visas for various reasons. Access to the US mainstream facilitates meddling and deception operations by the FSB and GRU (Russian military intelligence). In addition, the internet enables entities outside the US to access and influence Americans (Facebook, Twitter and other social medias are easily penetrated by Russian operatives, for example). Some of those “Russian bots” really are Russians!
It can never be repeated enough that the Russians have meddled in American internal affairs – including elections – for decades! 2016 was neither unique nor an aberration. The Russians seek to sow discord here CONTINUALLY. There has been an ongoing cyberwar for many years. And the Russians have meddled in other countries elections for years, too.
Let us now look at what the Mueller report stated about “Russian meddling” in the 2016 election. While the Russians did attempt to undermine the 2016 through disinformation practices, the special counsel found no underlying evidence of collusion with Russia by anyone in the Trump campaign or any other American. The first effort by the Russians was via the “Internet Research Agency” (IRA) with strong ties to the Russian gov’t to sow discord among American voters “through disinformation and social media operations.” The special counsel brought charges against several entities and Russian individuals for their roles in these schemes. Those charges are still pending and the defendants remain at large. But there was no evidence that anyone in the Trump campaign or any US person coordinated with this IRA operation.
The report also detailed efforts by Russian military officials associated with the GRU to hack into and steal information from individuals associated with the Democrat Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the purposes of eventually publicizing these documents. Charges were subsequently brought against several Russian military officers for their suspected roles in these illegal hacking operations. Those charges are still pending and the defendants remain at large. The special counsel found no evidence that anyone in the Trump campaign or any American conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in this hacking activity.
The special counsel also examined Russian efforts to publish stolen emails and documents on the internet. After the Russian government disseminated stolen information to entities that it controlled (DC Leaks and Guccifer 2.0), these entities transferred some information to Wikileaks for publication. Wikileaks then made a series of document dumps. The special counsel also investigated whether anyone in the Trump campaign was involved in these dissemination efforts. Under current law, publication of the material would not be illegal unless the person was also involved in the underlying hacking conspiracy. No person in the Trump campaign was found to have illegally disseminated any of the hacked materials.
The special counsel also investigated a number of contacts between Russians and Trump campaign personnel. After reviewing these contacts, the special counsel did not find any evidence of conspiracy to violate US law involving Russian-linked persons and anyone involved with the Trump campaign.
After nearly two years of investigation, thousands of subpoenas, and hundreds of warrants and interviews, the special counsel confirmed that the Russian government sponsored efforts to interfere with the 2016 elections but did not find that the Trump campaign or any Americans colluded in that effort.
In summary, the nation’s attention was diverted foolishly for two years by investigating a load of DEZINFORMATSIYA! There was no “Russian collusion there from the beginning although there was the standard and regular Russian election meddling. The Russian-run IRA ran a classic disinformation op. It was possibly the most successful such operation in KGB/FSB history – and it is ongoing in leftwing media!
Let us now revisit the dezinformatsiya description from the book I quoted above and prove my point:
From the book: Active measures may entail … undermining confidence in its leaders and institutions.
- Analysis: A large minority of Americans were CONVINCED by the legacy media and Democrats for two years that President Trump in fact a Putin stooge and a traitor! If that’s not “undermining confidence,” then nothing is. And there are STILL a lot of Democrats who believe that.
From the book: Active measures may entail … discrediting and weakening governmental and non-governmental opponents (of Russia).
- Analysis: What is your opinion of the CIA, DoJ, FBI, State Dept, and other US agencies these days after everything that has been exposed during the Biden regime? Answer: thoroughly discredited due to their politicization under Obama and Biden-Harris. I do not trust them at all – which weakens the institutions as the Russians love to see happen. On the non-governmental side, the legacy media are also completely discredited, and that undermines the US, too (they are, after all, the “fourth estate”). A Gallup poll last October showed Americans’ trust in the legal media at record lows – and that trust has only gotten worse since then, as more Americans trust President Trump than the media!
From the book: These measures involve attempts to deceive the target and to distort the target’s perception of reality.
- Analysis: Elected Democrats, Uniparty RINOs and the legacy media swallowed the Russian hoax hook, line and sinker and tried to orchestrate an impeachment on this basis.
From the book: Active measures may be conducted overtly through officially-sponsored foreign propaganda channels, diplomatic relations, and cultural diplomacy.
- Analysis: The Russians have sown discord about the “muh Russia hoax” through their controlled media like Russia Times and even public statements by Vladimir Putin back in 2017-2018. As part of the coordinated op, Western media picked up and repeated the disinformation whenever it furthered the anti-Trump narrative.
From the book: Covert political techniques include the use of covert propaganda, oral and written disinformation, agents of influence, clandestine radios, and international front organizations.
- Analysis: The IRA (admittedly a bit player) plus the GRU meddling was the epitome of covert political techniques employed to disrupt and confuse people. There were plenty of “agents of influence” at work in the US media who furthered the hoax narrative. Some even received Pulitzer prizes for their false reporting!
From the book: Covert disinformation is non-attributed or falsely attributed communication, written or oral, containing intentionally false, incomplete, or misleading information (frequently combined with true information), which seeks to deceive, misinform, and/or mislead the target.
- Analysis: Good grief! That is a perfect description of the FBI’s use of the fake Russian dossier that was seeded to trusted legacy media people at NBC News and elsewhere and then referenced as open source reporting as a justification for illegally obtaining FISA warrants against Trump campaign personnel. That’s dezinformatsiya!
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
The big lie is a key element of disinformation; when the lie/disinformation takes root, it is very difficult to expunge. Some unsuspecting Democrats and their paid legacy media accomplices will never acknowledge that they were hoodwinked and cruelly used (in some case willingly) by Democrat political operatives during Trump-Russia hoax. That rank-and-file Democrat voters haven’t done so is a clear example of the potentially powerful psychological impact of dezinformatsiya operations! Their Trump Derangement Syndrome is such that they will never admit they were lied to.
The Democrat-media complex is the early stages of yet another dezinformatsiya operation against President Trump. This time, the stakes are the outcome of a hot war in Eastern Europe that hangs in the balance, and the Democrats are playing with Russian nuclear fire. They’re also fighting hard to protect and hide their money-laundering grift in Ukraine at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian lives. Watch for the elements of dezinformatsiya discussed above as the gaslighting by the Democrat-media complex unfolds in the coming days.
Thankfully, independent media are already on the job exposing the Democrats’ pre-meeting meeting with Zelenskyy and the reality of what transpired in the Oval Office meeting last Friday. And all a person has to do is watch that meeting with your own two eyes to see through the B.S. Democrat narrative!
The end.
