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RandySF

(57,661 posts)
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 02:37 PM Mar 2020

As Virus Spreads, China and Russia See Openings for Disinformation

WASHINGTON — China and Russia have both seized on the novel coronavirus to wage disinformation campaigns that seek to sow doubts about the United States’ handling of the crisis and deflect attention from their own struggles with the pandemic, according to American intelligence officials and diplomats.

Kremlin-aligned websites aimed at Western audiences have trafficked in conspiracy theories to spread fear in Europe and political division in the United States, the officials said, noting that Russia’s diplomats and state-run news media have arguably been more restrained.

China has been more overtly aggressive. It has used a network of government-linked social media accounts to spread discredited, and sometimes contradictory, theories. And China has adopted Russia’s playbook for more covert operations, mimicking Kremlin disinformation campaigns and even using and amplifying some of the same conspiracy sites.

The propaganda campaigns show how both countries turned to a typical authoritarian tactic of spreading propaganda to undermine their shared adversary, the United States, rather than addressing public criticism of their own problems.



https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/politics/china-russia-coronavirus-disinformation.html

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As Virus Spreads, China and Russia See Openings for Disinformation (Original Post) RandySF Mar 2020 OP
Who needs foreign espionage Chainfire Mar 2020 #1
I spent years reading Soviet sources. Igel Mar 2020 #2
Of course, the most effective big lies Chainfire Mar 2020 #5
And if misinformation and disinformation are not enough for you Arthur_Frain Mar 2020 #3
Thanks, Randy. Sent this to my daughter who gets her medical info off FB. Hekate Mar 2020 #4

Chainfire

(17,308 posts)
1. Who needs foreign espionage
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 02:44 PM
Mar 2020

We have our own source of mistruths, disinformation, inconsistencies, and damn lies coming from our own damn leader.

Igel

(35,197 posts)
2. I spent years reading Soviet sources.
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 03:45 PM
Mar 2020

It was a hobby. And because I was a Slavic languages major, it gave me damned good Russian skills.

The most serious kind of misinformation/disinformation was when they quoted an American politician or, generally, American source. And the quote was, in some restricted sense, accurate.

Try this: "Last year, 1.2 million jobs were destroyed in the US through economic disruptors. However, 1.8 million jobs were created, many of them novel. This increased unemployment in many areas, to a small extent, but was a net benefit in both employment and in profitability. As a result of greater efficiency, net investment increased. "

Quote: "Last year, 1.2 million jobs were destroyed in the US ... This increased unemployment in many areas." Yup, word for word quote. Utterly trashes the meaning of the passage, however. Or don't quote, just reference. "According to so-and-so, unemployment in many areas of the US increased. This was the result of greater efficiency, so while 1.2 million workers lost their jobs at least corporate profits increased."

You get that kind of thing routinely, whether in old Soviet sources, RT/Sputnik, Chinese party organs, or very often in US sources that have agendas, right or left. The more socially important, the greater the ultimate goal, the more emotional, the more likely that the news you're reading is a half-truth, and the inference you're making is much less than half-true. If it's just as easy to quote a blog as the original source and it's the blog that's chosen, wonder why.

Then there's the out-and-out lie. Like in the recent Chinese Com Party organ saying that a US Army cyclist brought SARS-CoV-2 to Wuhan last October--was it a covert US attack on the glorious Chinese people?

One thing that helped bring down the USSR (among many, most of which were necessary but none of which were sufficient) was breaking the propaganda bubble. Russians would visit here and stare. Some would be convinced they were in a potemkin town in order to maintain their belief in the accuracy of their views. Others would realize that they'd been lied to for decades. We knew the tide had turned when those coming over as exchange faculty shifted their views: Instead of being surprised and in denial, they came over with lists of stuff to buy for them and the official who wrangled them the exchange gig. They'd live like paupers, and at the end of the year have a living room full of electronics, clothes, and other consumer products, that could be easily shipped. During the day, lecture about how wonderful their system was; on the way home, buy 20 bottles of some OTC stuff because it cost 20x as much there in the western-currency stores that they didn't have access to.

Arthur_Frain

(1,784 posts)
3. And if misinformation and disinformation are not enough for you
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 04:26 PM
Mar 2020

I’ve opined that right about the time this virus peaks in the U.S. would be a fine time for some opportunistic strike to further knock us off balance, and spin up more fear and confusion in the 2020 elections. The usual cast of suspects for events, not really wanting to gin up conspiracy theories, I won’t list them here.

I have no evidence that this is going to happen, it’s just one of those “If I was somebody lookin’ to gain an edge, I’d do this” moments.

Hekate

(90,202 posts)
4. Thanks, Randy. Sent this to my daughter who gets her medical info off FB.
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 04:45 PM
Mar 2020

Hope something eventually breaks through.

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