Caltrops - Balance of Power





	[quote name="blackwater"][quote name="laudablepuss"][quote name="blackwater"]For example, the CEO of Twitter <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/10/22/twitter-jack-dorsey-russian-troll/">retweeted some fake news generated by the Russians</a> promoting the "black lives matter' (BLM) movement. So ironically, when Twitter <a href="https://nypost.com/2018/01/20/twitter-will-alert-users-exposed-to-russian-propaganda/">sent condescending letters</a> to everyone who retweeted Russian clickbait, he had to send one to himself. ... [/quote] I think this has been well reported, and Russia's work was overwhelming directed at influencing people to vote for Trump or against Clinton. Were the letters condescending? Sorry I guess.[/quote] There's no reason to apologize. I don't use Twitter. What makes you think that this has been "well reported"? Were you aware that the Russians supported BLM before I mentioned it? [quote name="laudablepuss"][quote name="blackwater"]Do you want to talk about other countries illegally influencing US politics? How about that time China <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_United_States_campaign_finance_controversy">gave the Clintons cash.</a> The same Clintons who cleared the path for massive Chinese imports in the 1990s and 2000s. Seems a little more important than hiring some shitposters on Twitter, eh?[/quote] Right, infowars is real news.[/quote] Infowars literally didn't exist when Chinagate occurred. Infowars was founded in 1999. Chinagate happened in 1996. Here is a quick description: [quote]China's alleged role in the affair first gained public attention when Bob Woodward and Brian Duffy of The Washington Post published a story stating that a United States Department of Justice investigation into the fund-raising activities had uncovered evidence that agents of China sought to direct contributions from foreign sources to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) before the 1996 presidential campaign. The journalists wrote that intelligence information had shown the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. was used for coordinating contributions to the DNC[2] in violation of United States law forbidding non-American citizens or non-permanent residents from giving monetary donations to United States politicians and political parties. A Republican investigator of the controversy stated the Chinese plan targeted both presidential and congressional United States elections, while Democratic Senators said the evidence showed the Chinese targeted only congressional elections. The government of the People's Republic of China denied all accusations.[/quote] Notice that the Democrats don't deny that the campaign contributions occurred. They just claim that the contributions related to congressional elections rather than the presidential election. China was a lot less scary in the 1990s. I'm sure that the same contributions would be a lot more controversial now... perhaps they would not even have accepted them. The only reason I am mentioning this is to point out that other countries have always influenced our elections.[/quote]