Source: https://www.newsweek.com/newsmax-vladimir-putin-magazine-cover-vlad-great-1657192 The December issue of Newsmax magazine puts the Russian president on its cover, along with the line "Vlad the Great" and a claim that he is the de facto leader of the world now Donald Trump is no longer in the White House. How we know the right-wing are anti-American, Russian trolls. Bob Wilson
The following URL is from the Newsmax and it is the URL that gives people access to the supposedly super duper bad issue. https://w3.newsmax.com/General/NMM/Offers/Issues/NMM-2021-12 This is how they summarize the content of the feature article: "He’s evil, he’s cunning, and he’s the most powerful man in the world. And now, the December issue of Newsmax Magazine takes you into the secretive, sordid, and sometimes frightening world of the man who’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants — Russian President Vladimir Putin. In our explosive cover story, “Vlad the Great: Putin’s War on the West,” investigative reporter and bestselling author Kenneth R. Timmerman explores Putin’s beginnings and his goal of exploiting every opportunity to weaken the United States and its allies. From his days as a cutthroat KGB spy stationed in East Germany to his power-hungry ascension to the presidency of Russia, Putin has given the U.S. and the world unending headaches with his nonstop amassing of nuclear weapons, incessant saber-rattling, and deadly espionage plots. The iron-fisted tyrant kills his enemies without remorse, invades surrounding regions such as Crimea and Georgia, and works 24/7 to shut down America via sophisticated cyberattacks. In addition, Putin has had an ongoing flirtation with China and Iran to form an axis to destroy the free world. “Putin has managed to expand Russia’s sphere of influence dramatically, while insulating the Russian economy from any serious impact from U.S. and international sanctions,” Timmerman writes. In addition, Newsmax exposes Putin’s private life — from his secret girlfriend to his love children, to his favorite books and pop group. And you’ll learn why, incredibly, he has become a sex symbol in Japan! Newsmax Magazine brings you Vladimir Putin as you’ve never seen him before — and it will change the way you look at one of the world’s most feared superpowers. You can’t afford to miss “Vlad the Great: Putin’s War on the West” — only in Newsmax Magazine. (Page 54)" This is word for word the same exact Boomer Russia fear mongering you believe in. The whole premise behind the article is that Russia (through or by Vlad, whatever) has an undue influence in the world and that it's a massive threat to the US. The only difference between you and this article is which party is accused as not being enough of a counter to super-duper scary Russia. Hardly enough of a difference to call it "Russian propaganda". Why did they give the article that title? It's because salacious titles sell. It's one of the many reasons why I treat all media sources - yes all - as opinion. Why do they include salacious details on Putin's life? It's because pointless drama sells. It's the same reason why several media sites did the same exact thing for Kim Jong Un's sister during the 2018 Winter Olympics. You fell prey to Newsweek's spin because you blindly trust and never verify or think through the claims made. The saddest part about this is that you will have absolutely no reflection on this to realize that ALL media sites lie and/or mischaracterize things to their advantage - especially on hot button issues. You won't think "why did all the media sites I typically trust completely lie about this". You will double down because your hyper-partisan outlook demands it - "oh, it was just one time and I know for a fact that they've never done it ever before this because I totally [didn't] verified it" "those right-wing media sites are far more biased than the ones I read [zero justification to why you think this] so it's ok to blindly trust whatever the ones I like say". You do realize that most of these media sites just copy each other right? If you find a dozen different media sites saying the same thing, it's not because they have all independently verified what they claim. I kid you not that most articles are like this. Biggest red pill I had on the media.
Thanks! That helps a lot and explains Trump's fawning over Putin. But Trump is not alone. Then there is Mitch McConnell. Bob Wilson
lol. Are you an NPC or are you actually this intentionally dishonest? How on earth is this article fawning over Putin? (Clearly you did not learn the lesson about media functions). The author of the article explicitly states that they think Putin is evil yet every source you read about it implies that they blindly support Putin. Holy cow. How much you want to bet that the CNN video is doing the exact same thing to Tucker Carlson's bit? At this point, I just assume you want another forever war, but with russia instead of muslims.
The next war with Russia should be over in about 45 minutes. Regardless, the Russia-Trump and now Russia-Republican alliance is well established by the 2016 election and revelations. But you miss understand. The Russian lovers admire Putin’s amoral behavior. That you recognize his evil behavior means there may yet be hope for your salvation. Bob Wilson
lol. All that "Russian Collusion" that never happened. Virtually nothing came from it despite how much the media sites you blindly trust wanted to make it true. They literally made up the 'piss dossier' and I bet you still believe it was true. >b-b-but the russians paid for social media ads! Yeah, and? They also funded the Gasland documentary, so what's your point? Those ads were for both Bernie and Donald and neither of them had a say in it. Secondly, those ads barely got any traction. Total nothing burger. The 'Russia is coming to get you' propaganda works on you boomers because you grew up having 'soviet russia will bomb us any minute' drills your whole life. So far, all I have seen from this supposedly super-duper giant russia propaganda network is a few bizarre looking social media ads and they funded a handful of documentaries that can still be accessed on Netflix. Israel interferes far more in American politics and this gets virtually zero coverage. There is literally an Israeli PAC and an alarming number of both Republicans and Democrats practically swear fealty to Israel. So much for that 'muh foreign interference' concern. >Next war with russia be over in 45 minutes lol. A war with Russia would not be a short endeavor. lol. This is rich coming from someone who supports baby murder and believes in zero restraints on pleasure seeking.
Curious as we'd already introduced the term 'cognitive dissonance'. The oblivious cruelty behind your inability to deal with current facts and data means such postings as the last are particularly ineffective: 'Sound and fury, signifying nothing’ is a quotation from Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. ‘It’s all sound and fury, signifying nothing’ is something you may say to or about a person who is making a big fuss, maybe shouting and/or using bad language, and becoming really angry concerning a particular issue, when it’s not anything they can do something about, and all the noise and fuss amount to nothing and are just a waste of time and energy. Bob Wilson
Oh please. All the freak out over Russian propaganda is "sound and fury, signifying nothing" to me. So far it's just a few campaign ads that a small number of people saw, a few documentaries, and posts on obscure blogs. You expect me to freak out over that? So far, none of you boomers - right wing or left wing - have been able to demonstrate to me that it's any more severe than that. If you really were concerned about foreign interference, you would be far more concerned about Israel. They directly intervene in elections and government policy. Accusing me of not being able to 'deal with facts' is hilarious considering that you started this thread over believing false claims about a media company that you never tried to verify for yourself and you still can't acknowledge that the claims were obviously false.
Cognitive dissonance means your world view does not allow other facts and data to interfere. The Russian interference, Trump collusion, and current Republican 'leaders,' the beauty of such behavior is it ultimately comes to naught. The 2020 election of President Joe Biden gives proof that facts and data work. Bob Wilson
oh please. A 2 year investigation went into the whole 'trump colluded with russia' crap and nothing came of it. There was nothing there. You accuse me of cognitive bias when you believe in something that was never true to begin with. You go on and on about 'facts and data', but there are none to back up the 'trump colluded with russia' claim. You pretty much believe whatever the media tells you to think. I'm half convinced that you aren't capable of independent thought.
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/11/trump-russia-senate-intelligence-report/620815/ The factual record on Trump-Russia has been set forth most authoritatively by the report of the Senate Intelligence Committee, then chaired by Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina. I’ll reduce the complex details to a very few agreed upon by virtually everybody outside the core Trump-propaganda group. Dating back to at least 2006, Trump and his companies did tens of millions of dollars of business with Russian individuals and other buyers whose profiles raised the possibility of money laundering. More than one-fifth of all the condominiums sold by Trump over his career were purchased in all-cash transactions by shell companies, a 2018 BuzzFeed News investigation found. In 2013, Trump’s pursuit of Russian business intensified. That year, he staged the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. Around that time, Trump opened discussions on the construction of a Trump Tower in Moscow, from which he hoped to earn “hundreds of millions of dollars, if the project advanced to completion,” in the words of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Trump continued to pursue the Tower deal for a year after he declared himself a candidate for president. “By early November 2015, Trump and a Russia-based developer signed a Letter of Intent laying out the main terms of a licensing deal,” the Senate Intelligence Committee found. Trump’s representatives directly lobbied aides to Russian President Vladimir Putin in January 2016. Yet repeatedly during the 2016 campaign, Trump falsely stated that he had no business with Russia—perhaps most notably in his second presidential debate against Hillary Clinton, in October 2016. Early in 2016, President Putin ordered an influence operation to “harm the Clinton Campaign, tarnish an expected Clinton presidential administration, help the Trump Campaign after Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, and undermine the U.S. democratic process.” Again, that’s from the Senate Intelligence Committee report. The Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos “likely learned about the Russian active measures campaign as early as April 2016,” the Senate Intelligence Committee wrote. In May 2016, Papadopoulos indiscreetly talked with Alexander Downer, then the Australian high commissioner to the United Kingdom, about Russia’s plot to intervene in the U.S. election to hurt Clinton and help Trump. Downer described the conversation in a report to his government. By long-standing agreement, Australia shares intelligence with the U.S. government. It was Papadopoulos’s blurt to Downer that set in motion the FBI investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, a revelation authoritatively reported more than three years ago. In June 2016, the Trump campaign received a request for a meeting from a Russian lawyer offering harmful information on Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump Jr. and other senior Trump advisers accepted the meeting. The Trump team did not obtain the dirt they’d hoped for. But the very fact of the meeting confirmed to the Russian side the Trump campaign’s eagerness to accept Russian assistance. Shortly after, Trump delivered his “Russia, if you’re listening” invitation at his last press conference of the campaign. WikiLeaks released two big caches of hacked Democratic emails in July and October 2016. In the words of the Senate Intelligence Committee: “WikiLeaks actively sought, and played, a key role in the Russian intelligence campaign and very likely knew it was assisting a Russian intelligence influence effort.” Through its ally Roger Stone, the Trump campaign team assiduously tried to communicate with WikiLeaks. Before the second WikiLeaks release, “Trump and the Campaign believed that Stone had inside information and expressed satisfaction that Stone’s information suggested more releases would be forthcoming,” according to the Senate Intelligence Committee. In late summer and early fall 2016, Stone repeatedly predicted that WikiLeaks would publish an “October surprise” that would harm the Clinton campaign. At the same time as it welcomed Russian help, the Trump campaign denied and covered up Russian involvement: “The Trump Campaign publicly undermined the attribution of the hack-and-leak campaign to Russia and was indifferent to whether it and WikiLeaks were furthering a Russian election interference effort,” the Intelligence Committee found. In March 2016, the Trump campaign accepted the unpaid services of Paul Manafort, deeply beholden to deeply shady Russian business and political figures. “On numerous occasions, Manafort sought to secretly share internal Campaign information” with a man the Intelligence Committee identified as a Russian intelligence officer. “Taken as a whole, Manafort’s high-level access and willingness to share information with individuals closely affiliated with the Russian intelligence services … represented a grave counterintelligence threat,” the committee found. Through 2016, the Russian state launched a massive Facebook disinformation program that aligned with the Trump campaign strategy. At crucial moments in the 2016 election, Trump publicly took positions that broke with past Republican policy and served no apparent domestic political purpose, but that supported Putin’s foreign-policy goals: scoffing at NATO support for Estonia, denigrating allies such as Germany, and endorsing Britain’s exit from the European Union. Throughout the 2016 election and after, people close to Trump got themselves into serious legal and political trouble by lying to the public, to Congress, and even to the FBI about their Russian connections. . . . I don't expect you to understand, much less acknowledge these reports because that is how cognitive dissonance works ... selective inability to see facts and data. Rather, if anyone should stumble across this thread, they have a reference to find out what you try so hard to cover up. This behavior helped kill the Soviet Union. Bob Wilson
It was actually, the Dems, Hillary and Obummer, that were sucking up to Putin. And then he invaded Ukraine, Crimea. Trump actually stood up to him, sending real military weapons to Ukraine. Now I see Biden is trying to suck up to Putin as well, with a "warning" that he may seek to stop Nordstream 2 if he invades Ukraine. Wonder how he would do that, and will be too late anyway.
