Forum Topic

@standardnews peddling Kremlin talking points

The Evening Standard has published a story today about what they call Joe Biden's 'latest gaffe' in which he said 'Falluja' when he should have read Kherson.The article doesn't mention that Biden was giving a press conference after the mid terms in which he answered questions for about half an hour. I watched it from start to finish. He addressed every question fully and articulately without notes making complex points in way we never see from British politicians. He did so with grace and good humour. This came at the end of what would have presumably been a gruelling few days.The Falluja mistake was the only substantive error duing all this time and he immediately corrected it. It is almost definitely the case that he made the reference because he would have recently received a briefing of the possibility of the Russians leaving units not wearing uniforms inside Kherson to bog the Ukrainians down in brutal urban warfare.Otherwise he spoke with a fluency and exactness that few of us would be capable and which certainly bears no comparison to the spluttering incoherence of Trump.It is obviously not ideal that the best candidate the democrats can put forward at this stage for President is a man in his eighties and no one can say what his condition will be in six years time when he would still be president if he got a second term but, right now he appears on top of his game.The false claim that Biden has dementia is a line that is being pushed aggressively by Russian troll farms and their bots on social media. The Kremlin wants Biden out because of his robust support for the Ukrainians. It therefore should be of profound concern to all of us that London's main newspaper is picking up and running with this. It is worth remembering that it is owned and operated by the Lebedevs. Lebedev senior is a former KGB agent and confident of Putin and his son, the preposterous Baron Siberia, is the one who subverted our government by compromising Boris Johnson at parties at his Italian villa.There should be no doubt that these agents of a hostile foreign power are hiding in plain site but still doing the bidding of their masters and funders in Moscow to manipulate democratic processes in the west. If the police aren't going to investigate them then a public inquiry should be held into their activities.

Mark Evans ● 975d3 Comments

I listened to the whole of Londongrad in a couple of days after someone recommended it on this forum. It was a real eye-opener and I would strongly endorse your view.Interestingly, I think you are right that this story has been pulled from the Standard's social media channels. It also has had an edit to make it read more like a piece of proper journalism including the context that Biden talked for some time and some comment from social media saying 'so what?.Earlier this month Yevgeny Prigozhin the head of the Wagner Mercenary Group, unveiled a massive headquarters in the centre of Moscow. So-called 'Putin's chef' boasted that his organisation had been interfering in the US elections and there is little doubt that they would also have been trying to get the results they wanted here in the UK. Commentators are struggling to find an alternative explanation for why his organisation would need so much office space unless it is for a huge expansion of his troll farms which is now Russia's only viable form of attack given the dire performance of its army including Prigozhin's 'elite' forces which are now made up of former prison inmates fighting in return for a pardon.

Mark Evans ● 975d

Few Londoners read the Standard, let alone American voters. However, that isn't how these things work and Mark is quite right to call it out.A 'reputable' mainstream news outlet is used to publish a story like this and the story is promoted on the internet by the troll farms run by the Russians through likes and shares. The algorithims that determine which content people are likely to see make the story become more prominent and there are always a few useful idiots who share this stuff so it doesn't look like a complete put up job.I couldn't find the story on the Evening Standard's social media feed although it does appear as a story in the news section of their web site. It was perhaps too crude in terms of misinformation for the Standard which tends to be a much more subtle tool of Kremlin soft power, for instance it will publish negative stories about Russia's military performance in Ukraine. This allows the more pernicious stuff to slip through unnoticed unless people on the ball call it out.If you think these fears are exaggerated I will repeat the recommendation to listen to the Londongrad podcast series by Tortoise - the investigative journalism group.

Francis Rowe ● 975d

I suppose the one good thing is that few American voters read the Evening Standard.

Richard Greenhough ● 975d