
Top Secret Russian Unit Seeks to Destabilize Europe, Security Officials Say - tysone
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/world/europe/unit-29155-russia-gru.html
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opwieurposiu
Russia has had a siege mentality for quite a while now. Napoleon, the Kizer,
Hitler, these events each shaped the russian Psyche. This is why Russia
misbehaves, they are paranoid of invasion. They want to keep the west weak and
divided so as to limit the threat.

To improve the situation we must find a way to bring them in to the fold. The
more we isolate Russia, the more we play in to this narrative where the only
winners are the military industrial complex.

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Mirioron
I think that there will be a lot of push back towards bringing Russia into the
fold considering how much suffering their past actions have caused. Poland in
particular will probably never be happy with it. (Are the Polish still mad
about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?) This push-back could fracture the
West by itself. We already saw some cracks appear due to Nord Stream, where
Western Europe wanted the pipeline, but Eastern Europe didn't. Eastern Europe
got overruled, so they sought help from the US. This showed cracks in the
cooperation of Europe and the US.

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algaeontoast
Yeah, but Russia has pennies in comparison to the U.S. regarding the amount of
money and resources to throw at these kinds of subversive offensives...

I doubt Russia could really pull this kind of thing off if they can't even
manage to operate a single aircraft carrier from the 80's, led alone design
anything new other than the S400 AA missile.

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ciupicri
That's why they're fighting a hybrid warfare — a blend of propaganda, hacking
attacks and disinformation — as well as open military confrontation. They
don't have the resources for a conventional war like it was in Korea or
Vietnam.

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joelx
I think the Russian war on the west is far larger than even this article
shows. I think Putin is treating this like a total war and directing massive
resources of money and people to destabilize every country around the world he
can. Russia had a major hand in supporting dictators in Venezuela and Syria,
Putin has murdered indiscriminately around the globe without consequences. He
purposely made public examples of some of the people murdered, but I am sure
he has the ability to secretly murder people in make it look like heart
attacks or something like that. I bet in 50 years we will discover Putin has
had thousands of people killed overseas to go with the hundreds of thousands
murdered in his own country. I work in PR and every day I see traces of the
largest PR campaign I've ever seen. Just look in the comments of any newspaper
and you will start to discover this.

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pnongrata
The US has 800 military bases spread across the globe and is currently
involved in many "destabilization" efforts (not to mention actual armed
conflicts), all funded by billions and billions of dollars.

And the media is demonizing Russia. Talk about a PR campaign.

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altec3
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism)

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pnongrata
It is not a matter of whatabaoutism, it's a direct attempt to divert attention
from wrongdoings, building a narrative that justifies imperialist actions by
the USA.

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wahern
The media has been very critical about U.S. policy regarding Saudi Arabia and
Yemen. It's been very critical about both Obama's and Trump's decisions
regarding Syria. It's been split, largely along partisan lines, about the Iran
nuclear deal.

Yes, in far too many circumstances the media seemingly toes the line. But the
U.S. media has _manifestly_ shown significant independence. Independence isn't
synonymous with being contrary or critical, and it certainly doesn't mean
agreeing with your personal perspective. U.S. foreign policy isn't invented
out of thin air; it emerges from the same political and cultural dynamics that
shape the news and popular opinion, so it's entirely unsurprising that the
popular media would agree more often than not.

