I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments expressed here. The British desire for a quiet life tinged with our natural optimism is fertile ground for disinformation. Add on the insatiable ego of Farage and his crew, and it's easy to see how something as insane as Brexit was able to happen. Divide and conquer won the day. I am always uneasy about the whole concept of a referendum; it leaves us in danger of becoming turkeys voting for Christmas. The whole point of putting our trust in politicians and their advisors, is for them to make informed decisions on our behalf. That is democracy. Of, course, they get it wrong occasionally, but that's a chance we take as an alternative to dictatorship. I am not saying that peoples' opinions don't matter; of course they do and we have to hope our elected politicians, of whatever colour, listen to the will of the people before making policy decisions, but to throw it back to the populace, generally misinformed or uninformed, and open to poisonous propaganda, is lazy and dangerous governance.
Agree with all of this but actually think our biggest threat is the US/Israel alliance. Elon Musk is openly funding the far right in the UK and Europe. Was it a coincidence that our air traffic control went down the minute we announced our meagre sanctions on Israel?
1. It is interesting that Russia thinks amplifying far right voices is the best way to weaken the UK. What does that tell you about the far right?
2. It has to be at least a decade since I heard posited the question "How will we fight wars that happen not on battlegrounds but in peoples homes". It is shocking that we have only now started to answer this question.
Let us be truthful here. Ask yourself one question: how many other Nations have allowed Russian Oligarchs into the heart of British politics, not through the back door but by inviting them in by making them members of the Lords, allowing them into the very corridors of power to make decisions and to sway power like Chinese whispers and to pass on information of growing discontent within the people that are being ignored by those that they employ.
The enquiry would need to be focussed & far quicker than the Covid Enquiry which took years during which nothing much was done about Covid, like installing clean air, or bolstering the NHS/our vax production capabilities for example. I can imagine the same happening with this, taking ages while we still do … nothing.
Of course, it doesn't help that since 2010, Britain has had a succession of lame duck Prime Ministers - Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak and yes, Starmer. All "useful idiots" for Russia to easily manipulate. Hopefully with Burnham, who certainly seems more clued up than his predecessors, Russia's interference will be rooted out and stopped.
May was far more concerned with what British people were saying online with the Snooper's Charter. I would suggest we were surveilling the wrong people.
I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments expressed here. The British desire for a quiet life tinged with our natural optimism is fertile ground for disinformation. Add on the insatiable ego of Farage and his crew, and it's easy to see how something as insane as Brexit was able to happen. Divide and conquer won the day. I am always uneasy about the whole concept of a referendum; it leaves us in danger of becoming turkeys voting for Christmas. The whole point of putting our trust in politicians and their advisors, is for them to make informed decisions on our behalf. That is democracy. Of, course, they get it wrong occasionally, but that's a chance we take as an alternative to dictatorship. I am not saying that peoples' opinions don't matter; of course they do and we have to hope our elected politicians, of whatever colour, listen to the will of the people before making policy decisions, but to throw it back to the populace, generally misinformed or uninformed, and open to poisonous propaganda, is lazy and dangerous governance.
I suspect they have a pretty good understanding of what went on in 2019 and the Brexit era.
It's just so bad that they are fearful of telling us...
Agree with all of this but actually think our biggest threat is the US/Israel alliance. Elon Musk is openly funding the far right in the UK and Europe. Was it a coincidence that our air traffic control went down the minute we announced our meagre sanctions on Israel?
Two points
1. It is interesting that Russia thinks amplifying far right voices is the best way to weaken the UK. What does that tell you about the far right?
2. It has to be at least a decade since I heard posited the question "How will we fight wars that happen not on battlegrounds but in peoples homes". It is shocking that we have only now started to answer this question.
Let us be truthful here. Ask yourself one question: how many other Nations have allowed Russian Oligarchs into the heart of British politics, not through the back door but by inviting them in by making them members of the Lords, allowing them into the very corridors of power to make decisions and to sway power like Chinese whispers and to pass on information of growing discontent within the people that are being ignored by those that they employ.
The enquiry would need to be focussed & far quicker than the Covid Enquiry which took years during which nothing much was done about Covid, like installing clean air, or bolstering the NHS/our vax production capabilities for example. I can imagine the same happening with this, taking ages while we still do … nothing.
Of course, it doesn't help that since 2010, Britain has had a succession of lame duck Prime Ministers - Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak and yes, Starmer. All "useful idiots" for Russia to easily manipulate. Hopefully with Burnham, who certainly seems more clued up than his predecessors, Russia's interference will be rooted out and stopped.
May was far more concerned with what British people were saying online with the Snooper's Charter. I would suggest we were surveilling the wrong people.