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Ежегодное послание Путина завершилось невнятными угрозами в адрес США.

В последние годы США проводят на российском направлении политику, которую вряд ли можно назвать дружественной. Законные интересы России игнорируются, постоянно организуются разного рода антироссийские акции, абсолютно не спровоцировано, хочу это подчеркнуть, не спровоцировано с нашей стороны, вводятся всё новые и новые незаконные с точки зрения международного права санкции. Практически полностью и в одностороннем порядке демонтируется сложившаяся за последние десятилетия договорно-правовая база международной безопасности, и при этом Россию же называют чуть ли не главной угрозой для США.
Скажу прямо: это неправда. Россия хочет иметь полноценные, равноправные и дружеские отношения с США. Россия никому не угрожает, а все наши действия в сфере безопасности носят исключительно ответный, а значит, оборонительный характер. Мы не заинтересованы в конфронтации и не хотим её, тем более с такой глобальной державой, как Соединённые Штаты Америки. Но, похоже, наши партнёры не замечают, как и какими темпами меняется мир, куда он движется. Они продолжают свою разрушительную и явно ошибочную политику. Вряд ли это соответствует интересам самих США. Но это не нам решать.
Мы видим, что имеем дело с деятельными, очень талантливыми людьми, однако среди правящего класса много и таких, кто излишне увлечён идеей своей исключительности и своего превосходства над всем остальным миром. Разумеется, их право думать так, как они хотят. Но считать-то они умеют? Умеют наверняка. Пусть посчитают дальность и скорость наших перспективных систем оружия. Мы просим только об этом: пусть сначала посчитают, а уже только после этого принимают решения, которые могут создать дополнительные серьёзные угрозы для нашей страны и, разумеется, приведут к ответным действиям со стороны России, безопасность которой будет надёжно и безусловно обеспечена.
http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/59863



Между тем понемногу разворачивается работа по "информационной войне" на президентских выборах 2020.

A wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already underway on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity.
The main targets appear to be Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), four of the most prominent announced or prospective candidates for president.
A POLITICO review of recent data extracted from Twitter and from other platforms, as well as interviews with data scientists and digital campaign strategists, suggests that the goal of the coordinated barrage appears to be undermining the nascent candidacies through the dissemination of memes, hashtags, misinformation and distortions of their positions. But the divisive nature of many of the posts also hints at a broader effort to sow discord and chaos within the Democratic presidential primary.
The cyber propaganda - which frequently picks at the rawest, most sensitive issues in public discourse - is being pushed across a variety of platforms and with a more insidious approach than in the 2016 presidential election, when online attacks designed to polarize and mislead voters first surfaced on a massive scale.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/2020-candidates-social-media-attack-1176018


Experiment: download the most recent 10 days' worth of tweets linking to Russia Today or Sputnik, and see how often various Democratic presidential hopefuls are mentioned.

Results are presented without comment.

cc: @ZellaQuixote pic.twitter.com/QpcsuoKEXS
- Conspirador Norteño (@conspirator0) February 4, 2019

Former KKK leader and avowed neo-Nazi David Duke has just endorsed Tulsi Gabbard for President. pic.twitter.com/v3GNBaabqc
- Oz Katerji (@OzKaterji) February 5, 2019

Если у Кремля есть любимый демократический кандидат, то это Тульси Габбард.

The Russian propaganda machine that tried to influence the 2016 U.S. election is now promoting the presidential aspirations of a controversial Hawaii Democrat who earlier this month declared her intention to run for president in 2020.
An NBC News analysis of the main English-language news sites employed by Russia in its 2016 election meddling shows Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who is set to make her formal announcement Saturday, has become a favorite of the sites Moscow used when it interfered in 2016.
Several experts who track websites and social media linked to the Kremlin have also seen what they believe may be the first stirrings of an upcoming Russian campaign of support for Gabbard.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/russia-s-propaganda-machine-discovers-2020-democratic-candidate-tulsi-gabbard-n964261

В США на ее защиту встают путинисты всех мастей.

"On behalf of the CIA and the DNC" 🤣 pic.twitter.com/gFm5holqw4
- Josh Russell (@josh_emerson) February 5, 2019

Габбард находится на радаре не первый год. В ноябре 2015 она ездила с другим путинским другом в Египет на поклон к Ас-Сиси.

Speaking of Rohrabacher, here’s a lovely photo of Tulsi Gabbard, Dana Rohrabacher and al-Sisi, the Dictator of Egypt pic.twitter.com/2jNPnlN1F8
- 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙆𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙣 ⚡️ (@Patrickesque) June 6, 2018

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was in Cairo yesterday with Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48), Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats. After conducting meetings in Paris with senior level government leaders in the wake of recent terrorist attacks there, they traveled to Cairo, Egypt to discuss the threat of ISIS and Islamic extremist groups, how to strengthen the U.S.-Egypt relationship to ensure stability in Egypt, and the importance of religious freedom.
https://gabbard.house.gov/news/press-releases/photos-rep-tulsi-gabbard-meets-egypt-president-el-sisi-and-other-leaders-cairo

Tulsi Gabbard for Secretary of State! An example of the need for political realignment https://t.co/4txsxtPU3N pic.twitter.com/GAafKNjbkB
- David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) November 24, 2016

В ноябре 2016, вскоре после выборов она приходила к Трампу в качестве кандидата в госсекретари.

TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): We've seen this parade of famous people coming in and out of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. We saw Mitt Romney coming, and we also saw amazingly Tulsi Gabbard, who represents the second district of Hawaii. She's only been there a couple of years. She met with Trump. Now I don't know what this is really about, but I do know that according to every website on the entire internet, she's the prettiest member of congress. And then we have the president-elect who of course ran beauty pageants. What are her qualifications? What is this about exactly? I think she's great, but I'm not --
MARIA BARTIROMO: She said after the meeting that she wanted to discuss her objection to a no-fly zone over Syria. She has real issues with the foreign policy as it relates to what's happening in Aleppo right now. That's what she said.
https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2016/11/21/tucker-carlson-tulsi-gabbard-prettiest-member-congress-what-are-her-qualifications/214594

На фоне более популярных кандидатов шансы у Габбард неважные, но ее можно использовать для нападок на других, подобно тому, как это делалось с Роном Полом и Рэндом Полом.



Между тем важное событие, почти не замеченное прессой, произошло в Великобритании - парламентская комиссия выпустила итоговый отчет расследования о дезинформации и "фейковых новостях". Много критики посвящено деятельности Фейсбука и Cambridge Analytica, но отмечено и влияние российской информационной войны.

“Democracy is at risk from the malicious and relentless targeting of citizens with disinformation and personalised ‘dark adverts’ from unidentifiable sources, delivered through the major social media platforms we use everyday. Much of this is directed from agencies working in foreign countries, including Russia. <...>
We also repeat our call to the Government to make a statement about how many investigations are currently being carried out into Russian interference in UK politics. We want to find out what was the impact of disinformation and voter manipulation on past elections including the UK Referendum in 2016 and are calling on the Government to launch an independent investigation.”
https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/digital-culture-media-and-sport-committee/news/fake-news-report-published-17-19/

The scale of the report - it drew from 170 written submissions and evidence from 73 witnesses who were asked more than 4,350 questions - is without precedent. And it’s what contributes to making its conclusions so damning: that the government must now act. That Facebook must be regulated. That Britain’s electoral laws must be re-written from the bottom up; the report is unequivocal, they are not “fit for purpose”. And that the government must now open an independent investigation into foreign interference in all British elections since 2014. <...>
At one extraordinary point, the report references the “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act”, or RICO, the tough US laws drawn up to tackle the mob and organied crime. Could Facebook’s actions towards developers be viewed as RICO offences, the committee asked a Facebook executive. He said no. The report holds the possibility open. Certainly, the emails between executives carry more than a whiff of extortion. “Communicate in one-go to all apps that don’t spend that those permission will be revoked,” says one email. “Communicate to the rest that they need to open on NEKO [mobile ads] $250k a year to maintain access to data.”
But it’s the sections concerning foreign interference that are perhaps the most damning. The report accuses Facebook’s chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, of giving a statement to parliament about Russian interference that “we now know … was simply not true”.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/18/a-digital-gangster-destroying-democracy-the-damning-verdict-on-facebook



Прямая связь между кампанией Брекзитом и кампанией Трампа проходит через компанию Cambridge Analytica. Эта связь не ускользнула от внимания Мюллера.

A director of the controversial data company Cambridge Analytica, who appeared with Arron Banks at the launch of the Leave.EU campaign, has been subpoenaed by the US investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
A spokesman for Brittany Kaiser, former business development director for Cambridge Analytica - which collapsed after the Observer revealed details of its misuse of Facebook data - confirmed that she had been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller, and was cooperating fully with his investigation.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/feb/17/brittany-kaiser-trump-russia-robert-mueller-cambridge-analytica



Еще более загадочна судьба другой компании похожего типа - израильской Psy Group. Расследование New Yorker рассказывает про встречу главы компании Джоела Замеля с Джорджем Надером на Петербургском экономическом форуме в июне 2016 (куда для встречи с Путиным и Медведевым должен быть приехать, но не приехал Майкл Коэн). Позже эта парочка появилась на встрече в Trump Tower в критический день 3 августа 2016, а после выборов Надер заплатил Замелю более $2 миллиона. До сих пор неизвестно, чьи это были деньги и за что именно они были заплачены.

In June, 2016, Nader was attending an international economic forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, when Zamel approached him and requested a meeting. According to a representative for Nader, Zamel told Nader that he was trying to raise money for a social-media campaign in support of Trump; he thought that Nader’s Gulf contacts might be interested in contributing financially. Nader listened to Zamel’s pitch but didn’t make any commitments, according to the Nader representative.
Zamel had another opportunity to pitch his services in early August, 2016, when Erik Prince, the founder of the Blackwater security firm, helped arrange a meeting at Trump Tower among Zamel, Nader, and Donald Trump, Jr. In the meeting, Zamel told Trump, Jr., that he supported his father’s campaign, and talked about Psy-Group’s influence operations.
Burstien said that his talks with the Trump campaign went nowhere; a representative for Zamel denied that his client engaged in any activity having to do with the election. But, according to the Nader representative, shortly after the election Zamel bragged to Nader that he had conducted a secret campaign that had been influential in Trump’s victory. Zamel agreed to brief Nader on how the operation had worked. During that conversation, Zamel showed Nader several analytical reports, including one that described the role of avatars, bots, fake news, and unattributed Web sites in assisting Trump. Zamel told Nader, “Here’s the work that we did to help get Trump elected,” according to the Nader representative. Nader paid Zamel more than two million dollars, but never received copies of the reports, that person said.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/02/18/private-mossad-for-hire