Russia Airs Its Ultimate ‘Revenge Plan’ for America

[Stevicus]

Russian State Media Airs Its Ultimate ‘Revenge Plan’ for 2024 U.S. Presidential Elections (thedailybeast.com)

As Russia’s war of aggression continues to ravage its neighbor, the Kremlin’s propaganda apparatus has been more blatant than ever in outlining the country’s goals for its biggest nemesis: the U.S.

Last week, American intelligence officials reportedly assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin may use the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine as a pretext to order a new campaign to interfere in U.S. elections. Though AP reported that “it is not yet clear which candidates Russia might try to promote or what methods it might use,” Russian state media seem to be in agreement that former U.S. President Donald Trump remains Moscow’s candidate of choice.

I guess they have plans to stir up trouble in the U.S. Of course, they won't succeed, because we Americans are intelligent, clear-headed, strong-willed, free-thinking individuals who refuse to allow the media to tell us what to think. Right?

The time is coming “to again help our partner Trump to become president,” state TV host Evgeny Popov recently declared. On Thursday’s edition of the state television show The Evening With Vladimir Soloviev, Putin’s pet pundits offered an update on plans for 2024.

“We’re trying to feel our way, figuring out the first steps. What can we do in 2023, 2024?,” Russian “Americanist” Malek Dudakov, a political scientist specializing in the U.S., said. He suggested that Russia’s interference in the upcoming elections is still in its early stages, and that more will be accomplished after the war is over and frosty relations between the U.S. and Russia start to warm up. “When things thaw out and the presidential race for 2024 is firmly on the agenda, there’ll be moments we can use,” he added. “The most banal approach I can think of is to invite Trump—before he announces he’s running for President—to some future summit in liberated Mariupol.”

Dmitry Drobnitsky, an omnipresent “Americanist” on Soloviev’s show, suggested that Tulsi Gabbard should be invited along with Trump. Dudakov agreed: “Tulsi Gabbard would also be great. Maybe Trump will take her as his vice-president?” Gabbard has recently become a fixture of state television for her pro-Russian talking points, and has even been described as a “Russian agent” by the Kremlin’s propaganda machine.

If state television is any indication, the real agenda of the Kremlin’s operatives was never limited to boosting any particular candidates, but rather aimed to harm America as a whole. Dudakov stressed: “With Europe, economic wars should take priority. With America, we should be working to amplify the divisions and—in light of our limited abilities—to deepen the polarization of American society.”

He went on: “There is a horrific polarization of society in the United States, very serious conflicts between the Democrats and Republicans that keep expanding. You’ve already mentioned that America is a dying empire—and most empires weren’t conquered, they were destroyed from within. The same fate likely awaits America in the near decade. That’s why, when all the processes are thawed, Russia might get the chance to play on that.”

Dudakov’s Twitter feed, which he maintains despite the service being blocked in Russia, offers a glimpse into his own propaganda efforts. Tweeting as “Duderman67,” Dudakov focuses on criticizing U.S. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Hillary Clinton—while boosting Trump.

On his Thursday show, host Soloviev argued that Russia wasn’t fighting against the United States with full competency just yet, and griped about losing the main weapon behind enemy lines: “the brilliantly working structure of RT,” the Kremlin-funded state TV network that was banished from U.S. cable stations last month.

He then offered up his own ideas about how to influence American voters without the help of RT: “I would act through various diasporas. For example, I would work with the Spanish-speaking media—since America is becoming predominantly Spanish-speaking, with the colossal influence of Latin America, I would work through their press, through those narratives, moving in that direction… they aren’t allowing us to work with American media directly, but we have many opportunities that we aren’t using thus far.”

Appearing on Soloviev’s show two days earlier, Vitaly Tretyakov, dean of the Moscow State University's School of Television, complained that Russia: “had military hypersonic weapons, but we don’t have informational hypersonic weapons… all of our forces need to be dedicated to that. We don’t have info-weapons equal in strength to our hypersonic weapons... as opposed to what they have. You can’t survive in this world without winning an info-war. That is out of the question.”

It is true that most empires were destroyed from within, and there does appear to be that going on within America. It's just hard to tell if it's something that Americans are doing to themselves or whether it's being goaded by outside forces.

Pundit Karen Shakhnazarov suggested: “I would find it useful to break diplomatic relations with the United States. I don’t see any point in maintaining them. And that would deliver a crushing blow to Biden. There are plenty of people in the U.S. who say that he is bringing us all to the edge of nuclear war. That will be a strong signal.”

That wasn’t the only talk of nuclear war on Soloviev’s show this week. On Thursday, Soloviev confirmed a well-known concept frequently aired on state media when he acknowledged: “De facto, we aren’t fighting a campaign against Ukraine, but against the entire West.” A parade of pundits recounted various ways U.S. sanctions are affecting the Russian economy, and the limited avenues for Russian retaliation. Soloviev resorted to pulling out his beloved trump card designed to intimidate the West: the threat of nuclear war. He asked: “Maybe it’s time we strike them? Since we’re already a pariah state, a war criminal, if everything is so bad.”

Short of nuclear holocaust, it is now clear that Russia is focusing its efforts on distracting America from its foreign policy objectives by threatening to meddle in U.S. internal affairs. Speaking about the upcoming midterm elections on Soloviev’s show last week, Konstantin Dolgov, the deputy chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy of Russia’s Federation Council, predicted that “the results will apparently not be good for the Democrats,” because of rising gas prices in the U.S. But the midterms, he emphasized, are “just a rehearsal. The main elections are further ahead and preparations for those are already underway.”

I don't know how much the Russian-Ukraine war will affect US politics or the elections this fall or in 2024. I think Americans will vote largely on issues facing America itself. It's also interesting that the Russians are talking about infiltrating the Spanish-speaking networks, as we have a somewhat checkered past with our neighbors to the south. But I can't see them getting very far with a pro-Trump message.

If our internal weaknesses are our greatest Achilles' Heel here, then what can realistically be done to shore up those weaknesses? What can be done to bring Americans back together? Are we a "dying empire" being destroyed from within? Is this just a result of collective inertia and complacency that no one is actively causing? Or is someone actually doing this on purpose?

I honestly don't know how some of this happens, where a certain narrative gets into the political consciousness. But sometimes when I post here or elsewhere, I get the feeling that a lot of people are just repeating a prepared statement, like it's not their own words. (Notwithstanding my sarcasm on this point earlier in this post.)

It seems that our system is set up in such a way as to make us vulnerable to mischief-makers who would want to interfere in an election. It's happened before, and it will likely happen again. It's one of the major pitfalls of democracy.

The only thing that can be done is to have a more intelligent electorate, one that can think for itself and doesn't get suckered in to the kind of BS that keeps floating around out there.

One thing that seems to cloud people's reasoning is too much fear. The Democrats fear Trump, while the Republicans seem to fear everything and everyone else except Trump.

 

[Revoltingest]

Putin has already inspired a "revenge plan"
(poetically speaking) against him.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/a...-set-to-join-nato-as-soon-as-summer-the-times
The west gears up for war, ie, another invasion by Russia.
I expect other woes to be visited upon Russia, eg, less
business, no lending (especially after their default),
hackers inspired to cause havoc for Putin & buddies.

 

[Nakosis]

Well, the laugh is on Putin if he thinks he can screw up US politics any more than it already is.

 

[joe1776]

...The only thing that can be done is to have a more intelligent electorate, one that can think for itself and doesn't get suckered in to the kind of BS that keeps floating around out there...

Think of the government as a decision-making system. In the USA, the electorate is governed by a 1789-vintage stagecoach, mired hub-deep in a swamp. Every four years, it can change the driver to change direction; but it isn't going very far, very fast no matter who is in the driver's seat.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Russian State Media Airs Its Ultimate ‘Revenge Plan’ for 2024 U.S. Presidential Elections (thedailybeast.com)



I guess they have plans to stir up trouble in the U.S. Of course, they won't succeed, because we Americans are intelligent, clear-headed, strong-willed, free-thinking individuals who refuse to allow the media to tell us what to think. Right?







It is true that most empires were destroyed from within, and there does appear to be that going on within America. It's just hard to tell if it's something that Americans are doing to themselves or whether it's being goaded by outside forces.



I don't know how much the Russian-Ukraine war will affect US politics or the elections this fall or in 2024. I think Americans will vote largely on issues facing America itself. It's also interesting that the Russians are talking about infiltrating the Spanish-speaking networks, as we have a somewhat checkered past with our neighbors to the south. But I can't see them getting very far with a pro-Trump message.

If our internal weaknesses are our greatest Achilles' Heel here, then what can realistically be done to shore up those weaknesses? What can be done to bring Americans back together? Are we a "dying empire" being destroyed from within? Is this just a result of collective inertia and complacency that no one is actively causing? Or is someone actually doing this on purpose?

I honestly don't know how some of this happens, where a certain narrative gets into the political consciousness. But sometimes when I post here or elsewhere, I get the feeling that a lot of people are just repeating a prepared statement, like it's not their own words. (Notwithstanding my sarcasm on this point earlier in this post.)

It seems that our system is set up in such a way as to make us vulnerable to mischief-makers who would want to interfere in an election. It's happened before, and it will likely happen again. It's one of the major pitfalls of democracy.

The only thing that can be done is to have a more intelligent electorate, one that can think for itself and doesn't get suckered in to the kind of BS that keeps floating around out there.

One thing that seems to cloud people's reasoning is too much fear. The Democrats fear Trump, while the Republicans seem to fear everything and everyone else except Trump.

There really is no way to answer the complex underlying question in your post, but I think it comes down to the fact that as the world becomes more and more complex -- seemingly by the hour, these days -- ordinary folks, who used to be able to listen to both sides of the political spectrum, are now tuning out one side or the other altogether. Add to that our fears -- instilled as much by political disinformation as anything else -- about "others" among us (you know, different colours, religions, clothing) who are creating most of our problems, which will go away so long as we close the borders and have ethnicity scanners at airports. (I do not say that in "fun.")

 

[Brickjectivity]

It seems that our system is set up in such a way as to make us vulnerable to mischief-makers who would want to interfere in an election. It's happened before, and it will likely happen again. It's one of the major pitfalls of democracy.

It is not set up to run the world or its economy. We can't handle this, and that is why it is corrosive to our country.

Are we a "dying empire" being destroyed from within?

No. We are a country that should not be an empire and which is not set up to properly run an empire.

It is true that most empires were destroyed from within, and there does appear to be that going on within America.

Empires are always destroyed either from within or from whatever, because they are unmanageable and cannot change to keep up with events. They eventually buckle under the stresses of changing environment. An empire is like rocks piled on the the side of a stream. At first the pile diverts water in a predictable fashion controlling the stream, and at first an empire is what it seems. It is not long, however, before the stream changes and makes the pile irrelevant. The pile has not moved, but the stream has. An empire has the same problem. People react to the empire and change their behavior, eventually making it irrelevant. The same goes for holding onto a stock for too long. The same goes for trusting in a steel bridge. Its great for a time, but it rusts and has to be replaced.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Russian State Media Airs Its Ultimate ‘Revenge Plan’ for 2024 U.S. Presidential Elections (thedailybeast.com)



I guess they have plans to stir up trouble in the U.S. Of course, they won't succeed, because we Americans are intelligent, clear-headed, strong-willed, free-thinking individuals who refuse to allow the media to tell us what to think. Right?







It is true that most empires were destroyed from within, and there does appear to be that going on within America. It's just hard to tell if it's something that Americans are doing to themselves or whether it's being goaded by outside forces.



I don't know how much the Russian-Ukraine war will affect US politics or the elections this fall or in 2024. I think Americans will vote largely on issues facing America itself. It's also interesting that the Russians are talking about infiltrating the Spanish-speaking networks, as we have a somewhat checkered past with our neighbors to the south. But I can't see them getting very far with a pro-Trump message.

If our internal weaknesses are our greatest Achilles' Heel here, then what can realistically be done to shore up those weaknesses? What can be done to bring Americans back together? Are we a "dying empire" being destroyed from within? Is this just a result of collective inertia and complacency that no one is actively causing? Or is someone actually doing this on purpose?

I honestly don't know how some of this happens, where a certain narrative gets into the political consciousness. But sometimes when I post here or elsewhere, I get the feeling that a lot of people are just repeating a prepared statement, like it's not their own words. (Notwithstanding my sarcasm on this point earlier in this post.)

It seems that our system is set up in such a way as to make us vulnerable to mischief-makers who would want to interfere in an election. It's happened before, and it will likely happen again. It's one of the major pitfalls of democracy.

The only thing that can be done is to have a more intelligent electorate, one that can think for itself and doesn't get suckered in to the kind of BS that keeps floating around out there.

One thing that seems to cloud people's reasoning is too much fear. The Democrats fear Trump, while the Republicans seem to fear everything and everyone else except Trump.

It's scary on how so much reliance is put on media to choose our leaders.

 

[Shaul]

Oh, please. If this really was their plan then why would they announce it like this? It would make any genuine attempt to undermine the election process less likely to work.

 

[Revoltingest]

Oh, please. If this really was their plan then why would they announce it like this?

Some people just don't know when to shut the **** up.
Even high ranking politicians.

 

[Stevicus]

Oh, please. If this really was their plan then why would they announce it like this? It would make any genuine attempt to undermine the election process less likely to work.

I don't think they really care if they can really undermine the election process as much as they just want to stir the pot and get Americans to fight among themselves. People will get accused of being either Russian agents or Chinese agents. Actually, that's already happening to some degree.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Oh, please. If this really was their plan then why would they announce it like this? It would make any genuine attempt to undermine the election process less likely to work.

You noticed that too.

Sometimes I think I'm watching an episode of super villains announcing their evil plans in advance to the superheros where they go "curses foiled again"!

 

[Stevicus]

You noticed that too.

Sometimes I think I'm watching an episode of super villains announcing their evil plans in advance to the superheros where they go "curses foiled again"!

 

[Sedim Haba]

"...more will be accomplished after the war is over and frosty relations between the U.S. and Russia start to warm up."

Are they dreaming? Not gonna happen so long as Putin is in power, and that's likely to be decades.
EU on the other hand, will try to patch things up to get oil pretty quick.

 

[exchemist]

Russian State Media Airs Its Ultimate ‘Revenge Plan’ for 2024 U.S. Presidential Elections (thedailybeast.com)



I guess they have plans to stir up trouble in the U.S. Of course, they won't succeed, because we Americans are intelligent, clear-headed, strong-willed, free-thinking individuals who refuse to allow the media to tell us what to think. Right?







It is true that most empires were destroyed from within, and there does appear to be that going on within America. It's just hard to tell if it's something that Americans are doing to themselves or whether it's being goaded by outside forces.



I don't know how much the Russian-Ukraine war will affect US politics or the elections this fall or in 2024. I think Americans will vote largely on issues facing America itself. It's also interesting that the Russians are talking about infiltrating the Spanish-speaking networks, as we have a somewhat checkered past with our neighbors to the south. But I can't see them getting very far with a pro-Trump message.

If our internal weaknesses are our greatest Achilles' Heel here, then what can realistically be done to shore up those weaknesses? What can be done to bring Americans back together? Are we a "dying empire" being destroyed from within? Is this just a result of collective inertia and complacency that no one is actively causing? Or is someone actually doing this on purpose?

I honestly don't know how some of this happens, where a certain narrative gets into the political consciousness. But sometimes when I post here or elsewhere, I get the feeling that a lot of people are just repeating a prepared statement, like it's not their own words. (Notwithstanding my sarcasm on this point earlier in this post.)

It seems that our system is set up in such a way as to make us vulnerable to mischief-makers who would want to interfere in an election. It's happened before, and it will likely happen again. It's one of the major pitfalls of democracy.

The only thing that can be done is to have a more intelligent electorate, one that can think for itself and doesn't get suckered in to the kind of BS that keeps floating around out there.

One thing that seems to cloud people's reasoning is too much fear. The Democrats fear Trump, while the Republicans seem to fear everything and everyone else except Trump.

This is just a way to give the Russian people the illusion of some kind of superpower parity with the USA, mimicking all the discussion and analysis in the Western press about pressuring the Putin regime over Ukraine. The commentary about an "empire", "collapsing from within" is transparently intended to create the idea of a mirror image of what actually happened to the USSR. So it helps Russians feel better about themselves, maybe.

No doubt they will try, again, to interfere on social media to help the anti-democratic strands of thinking in US politics gain as much traction as possible. The ground is certainly fertile, now that the Republican party has abandoned respect for the democratic process and is attacking it.

But there is some truth in what they say. The USA risks ceasing to be a functioning democracy, now that one party has given up defending the concept.

 

[Revoltingest]

The USA risks ceasing to be a functioning democracy, now that one party has given up defending the concept.

Chicken Little...is that you?

 

[Stevicus]

The ground is certainly fertile, now that the Republican party has abandoned respect for the democratic process and is attacking it.

But there is some truth in what they say. The USA risks ceasing to be a functioning democracy, now that one party has given up defending the concept.

Or it could be that people get suckered in by divisive rhetoric which condemns "the other" as being permanently irredeemable. I notice you use phrases like "has abandoned" and "has given up," which imply finality and that there's no going back or patching things up. It's similar to Hillary's proclamation of "basket of deplorables," which implies permanent condemnation (and that was even before Trump was elected).

It seems that both sides have become irrevocably entrenched, and they're so stubborn, there's no talking sense to either of them.

 

[exchemist]

Or it could be that people get suckered in by divisive rhetoric which condemns "the other" as being permanently irredeemable. I notice you use phrases like "has abandoned" and "has given up," which imply finality and that there's no going back or patching things up. It's similar to Hillary's proclamation of "basket of deplorables," which implies permanent condemnation (and that was even before Trump was elected).

It seems that both sides have become irrevocably entrenched, and they're so stubborn, there's no talking sense to either of them.

I simply read the papers and see the degree to which the Republican party now overwhelmingly endorses Trump's Big Lie about the election, and has cynically used that to pass state level legislation to make it harder for people liable to have Democrat sympathies to vote - even, quite preposterously, to the extent of making it illegal in some places now to offer food and drink to people waiting to cast their vote!

So you have one of the two main political parties deliberately spreading lies that undermine trust in the electoral system itself, in order to manipulate it for its own advantage. This is going on all over the country. Election officials are being intimidated and all manner of games are being played.

There may be a way back from this, but I find it hard to see it at this point without a total change of leadership of the Republican party and a complete repudiation - from the top of the party - of these pernicious lies which undermine democracy itself.

 

[Stevicus]

I simply read the papers and see the degree to which the Republican party now overwhelmingly endorses Trump's Big Lie about the election, and has cynically used that to pass state level legislation to make it harder for people liable to have Democrat sympathies to vote - even, quite preposterously, to the extent of making it illegal in some places now to offer food and drink to people waiting to cast their vote!

So you have one of the two main political parties deliberately spreading lies that undermine trust in the electoral system itself, in order to manipulate it for its own advantage. This is going on all over the country. Election officials are being intimidated and all manner of games are being played.

There may be a way back from this, but I find it hard to see it at this point without a total change of leadership of the Republican party and a complete repudiation - from the top of the party - of these pernicious lies which undermine democracy itself.

We've had some serious issues with how democracy has been conducted in US history. For most of our history, I would say both parties were pretty anti-democratic, although even then, I can't say that they abandoned it entirely. When this country started, only white men who owned property could vote. Then Andrew Jackson changed that so that all white men could vote, whether they owned property or not, so that's kind of "liberal" in its own way. Then the 15th Amendment was passed which allowed men of all races to vote, but that's when they came up with all the business about "grandfather clauses" and "literacy tests" to prevent black people from voting, even though the Constitution guaranteed the right. That didn't really change until the 1950s and 60s.

And even since that time, there have been plenty of misgivings and questions about the electoral process coming from both sides - and this had been going on long before 2016 or 2020.

It's not like any of this just started in the last couple of years, despite whatever the newspapers might say about it. The news media are the biggest contributors to the short attention-span of the U.S. public to the point where nobody can remember what happened in the past.

 

[exchemist]

We've had some serious issues with how democracy has been conducted in US history. For most of our history, I would say both parties were pretty anti-democratic, although even then, I can't say that they abandoned it entirely. When this country started, only white men who owned property could vote. Then Andrew Jackson changed that so that all white men could vote, whether they owned property or not, so that's kind of "liberal" in its own way. Then the 15th Amendment was passed which allowed men of all races to vote, but that's when they came up with all the business about "grandfather clauses" and "literacy tests" to prevent black people from voting, even though the Constitution guaranteed the right. That didn't really change until the 1950s and 60s.

And even since that time, there have been plenty of misgivings and questions about the electoral process coming from both sides - and this had been going on long before 2016 or 2020.

It's not like any of this just started in the last couple of years, despite whatever the newspapers might say about it. The news media are the biggest contributors to the short attention-span of the U.S. public to the point where nobody can remember what happened in the past.

I don't buy the idea that this is nothing new.

There have been over 50 (or is it 70 even?) court cases alleging all manner of improprieties at the last election, brought by Republicans. All of them have been thrown out by the courts. That is unequivocal evidence that the processes were robust AND that they were subject to an unprecedented level of attack. Since then, there has been a rash of these new vote-suppressing laws. And we - still- see numerous Republicans recycling the myth that the election was somehow stolen, the 50 or 70 failed court challenges notwithstanding. The Republican party is trying to either bend the electoral system to its will or to bring it down.

 

[metis]

There have been over 50 (or is it 70 even?) court cases alleging all manner of improprieties at the last election, brought by Republicans. All of them have been thrown out by the courts.

62, and that doesn't even include the recounts that decided what we already knew-- Biden won. Even Trump slipped and admitted Biden won.