Slashdot Mirror
Russian Online Trolls Resist The Light
Rick Zeman writes: Since the beginning of the public Internet on Usenet and now following on comment boards worldwide, live the trolls, the online creatures dedicated to stirring up trouble with their versions of online flaming, fact-twisting, and overall being a menace to online society. Russia, by paying state-sponsored trolls, has elevated the troll to the level of professional propagandists spewing the party line. In neighboring Finland, a country again precariously balanced between Europe and the Russian bear, Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro's investigations have opened a new front in the (dis)information war (Warning: source may be paywalled) where "'There are so many layers of fakery you get lost,' said Ms. Aro, who was awarded the Finnish Grand Prize for Journalism in March," reports the NYT. All because "A member of the European Union with an 830-mile-long border with Russia, Finland has stayed outside the United States-led military alliance but, unnerved by Russian military actions in Ukraine and its saber-rattling in the Baltic Sea, has expanded cooperation with NATO and debated whether to apply for full membership." The NYT article explores many of the actions that the Russian propagandists use to keep Finland out of NATO, and some of the more indefensible ones directed personally at Aro. She says, "They get inside your head, and you start thinking: If I do this, what will the trolls do next?"
The US employs a large supercomputer AI to perform trolling, as well as human resources too. Millions of social media account, blogs and website, all spewing US gov propaganda and disinformation. Its orders of magnitude larger than any other nation.
NATO is the only hope for the world. Finnland should definitely join NATO. Just a few more cuntries are needed, and then they will be strong enough to move forward. You don't start WW3 unless you're sure you can win it. NATO is smart about things like this, you see. After the fallout clears and Russia is destroyed, then we can take their oil. And the troops can come home to their SUVs and fat American wives. Death to Putin!
The truth is not nearly as simple as you think it is.
First of all, Russia hasn't invaded Ukraine. If it actually had, the whole Ukraine would have been occupied long ago - you cannot even imagine how badly Ukrainian army is equipped and how many people there try to dodge the draft nowadays. It is telling that two thirds of Ukrainian soldiers stationed on Crimea have joined the Russian army.
What Russia does is supporting the separatists in Donbass with hardware and manpower so they can continue keeping Ukraine destabilised, because NATO treaty basically says that countries with ethnic or territorial disputes cannot join until these issues are resolved.
Second, "stealing" businesses is, in fact, business as usual in Ukraine. Every time a regime change happens there, the oligarchs of the new regime steal from the oligarchs of the old one. That was basically the reason for the latest coup (a.k.a Euromaidan) - Poroshenko has profited quite handsomely from being a president.
And as for the takeover of Crimea being expensive, well, duh. I've been in Ukraine a few times, it is not far away from being sort of European Zimbabwe. For the last 25 years Ukraine has sold basically everything they have inherited from the USSR and never invested in the country's infrastructure. Hence the expenses.
And before you call me a Putin troll - I've been on Slashdot even before Putin became a president of Russia. I just have some perspective by the fact of having actually visited Ukraine and by the fact of speaking several Slavic languages - being originally from the other Germany has its bonuses, you know.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap