Yesterday, it became official, Sweden, whose foreign policy since the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars has revolved around non-alignment and neutrality, joined NATO. This, no doubt came as a blow to Russians who see it as a further encroachment of Western military influence into its traditional sphere of influence. In fact, starting in the 12th Century, Russian and Swedes have been battling for supremacy in the Baltic region and from the Novgorod-Swedish Wars and the Livonian Crusade to the Muscovite-Swedish Wars of the 16th and 17th centuries and the Russo-Swedish War (1741-1743). During the Ingrian War (1610-1617), for example, Swedish troops under King Gustavus Adolphus, invaded Russia and captured the area that includes modern-day Saint Petersburg.
Sweden maintains a well-equipped, robust and capable military force, despite its long history neutrality (until yesterday). The Swedes invest significantly in defense capabilities to ensure its security and sovereignty and has a modern well-equipped army, navy, and air force with seriously well-trained personnel.
Yesterday, Steven Myers wrote about a powerful weapon Russia deploys, effectively, against its enemies, especially the United States. “Into the depleted field of journalism in America,” he wrote, “a handful of websites have appeared in recent weeks with names suggesting a focus on news close to home: D.C. Weekly, the New York News Daily, the Chicago Chronicle and a newer sister publication, the Miami Chronicle. In fact, they are not local news organizations at all. They are Russian creations, researchers and government officials say, meant to mimic actual news organizations to push Kremlin propaganda by interspersing it among an at-times odd mix of stories about crime, politics and culture. While Russia has long sought ways to influence public discourse in the United States, the fake news organizations— at least five, so far— represent a technological leap in its efforts to find new platforms to dupe unsuspecting American readers. The sites, the researchers and officials said, could well be the foundations of an online network primed to surface disinformation ahead of the American presidential election in November.”
The outlets have logos and names that evoke a bygone era of American journalism, an effort to create a semblance of authenticity. A Chicago Chronicle did operate from 1895 to 1907 before folding for a reason that would be all too familiar to struggling newspapers today: It was not profitable.
They also update regularly with major breaking news, creating at first glance the impression of topicality. An article about the Supreme Court’s ruling about Trump’s eligibility to remain on the primary ballot in Colorado appeared on the Miami Chronicle’s site within hours of the decision.
…The purpose is not to fool a discerning reader into diving deeper into the website, let alone subscribing… The goal instead is to lend an aura of credibility to posts on social media spreading the disinformation.
The effort follows a pattern the Kremlin has used before: laundering claims that first appear online through lesser news organizations. Those reports spread again online and appear in still more news organizations, including Russia’s state news agencies and television networks.
D.C. Weekly published a number of Kremlin narratives beginning in August, according to Clemson’s study. One included a false claim that the wife of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, bought more than $1.1 million worth of jewelry at the Cartier store in New York during his visit to the United Nations in September.
The site claims to have a staff of 17 journalists, but they seem to have been fabricated. The biography of that story’s author, called Jessica Devlin, used as a profile picture a photograph of Judy Batalion, the author of a best-selling book about Jewish women who fought the Nazis. Batalion said she had never heard of the site or the author until fact checkers reached out to her.
…The articles typically get hundreds of posts on a variety of platforms, including X, Facebook and Telegram, as well as Reddit, Gab and Truth Social, though it is difficult to measure the exact reach. Taken together, they could in theory reach thousands of readers, even millions.
“This is absolutely a prelude to the kind of interference we will see in the election cycle,” Mr. Linvill said. “It’s cheap, highly targeted and obviously effective.”
Earlier today we looked at the hysteria over TikTok. The House Commerce Committee voted 50-0 to begin the process of banning it. So why not ban the new Kremlin propaganda tools that are growing out of the remnants of Prigozhin’s Internet Research Agency like the New York News Daily, the Chicago Chronicle, DC Weekly and other Russian media sites created specifically to wage information war against the U.S.? You think Trump shills like MAGA Mike, Elise Stefanik, Steve Scalise, who are campaigning to ban TikTok, are going to move against Kremlin sites that are functioning as adjuncts to the Trump campaign?
Paul Kane noted yesterday that the MAGA-Putin wing of the GOP is becoming more and more dominant within the GOP. Super Tuesday confirmed the trend, dealing “another blow to the already shrinking bloc of House Republicans who prefer governance over political performance art, as several below-the-radar races delivered victories for the hard-right faction. In Alabama, after redistricting thrust two incumbent Republicans into the same district, Rep. Barry Moore defeated Rep. Jerry Carl despite getting outspent by a more than 2-to-1 margin, relying on his ultraconservative credentials to topple Carl’s establishment-backed campaign. In Texas, GOP primary voters nominated an election-denying first-time candidate who has promoted conspiracy theories to replace retiring Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), a genial doctor who is a member of the establishment-friendly Republican Governance Group. A state representative with overwhelming backing from local Fort Worth GOP leaders got forced into a runoff election against a little-known businessman touting the endorsement of the state’s controversial attorney general. And Rep. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R), who was censured last year by the Texas GOP for dabbling in bipartisan dealmaking in the Capitol, also got forced into a runoff against a firearms manufacturer who now runs a YouTube channel focused on far-right ideology.”
These are not the races that will determine whether Republicans or Democrats hold the majority, so little attention gets paid to them by political operatives and the media.
But, as the past 14 months has demonstrated, these races are very critical in determining whether House Republicans can build a majority that will actually be able to govern in a somewhat normal fashion.
Every time a reliable Republican ally of leadership retires, the door opens for someone to mount an insurgent campaign that has little to do with legislation and a lot to do with theatrical promises of kicking down doors in Congress.
As Republicans discovered in early January 2023, when it took 15 rounds of voting to craft enough unity to elect a House speaker, the party now has dozens of lawmakers who come from safe seats and will happily oppose must-pass bills to get attention from conservative media and social media sites for their ideological purity.
It’s left their conference virtually ungovernable, regularly relying on a vast number of Democrats to bail out House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) whenever he has to pass funding to keep the government open or avoid fiscal calamities such as defaulting on the national debt.
On Wednesday, Johnson could only deliver 132 votes from his side of the aisle and needed 207 Democrats to pass a massive $459 billion plan funding about 30 percent of the federal government.
The bill had to pass on a fast-track calendar that required a two-thirds majority— about 290 votes if all members vote— because a rump group of hard-right Republicans will not vote for the procedural step required to establish rules of debate for legislation that would allow a simple majority for passage.
With only two votes to spare from his side of the aisle, Johnson has been left almost powerless in negotiations as Democrats often know their votes will be decisive to passing something.
Imagine a raucous, insurrectionist, grievance-laden Republican conference filled with dozens of Matt Gaetzes, Lauren Boeberts, Marjorie Traitor Greenes, Andy Ogles, George Santos, Gym Jordans, Bob Goods, Scott Perrys, Matt Rosendales, Byron Donalds and Paul Gosars. It would make the country ungovernable. Who benefits? (5 letters, starts with P— ends with Señor Trumpanzee.)
