Very strange that Russia - the world's master of the Internet, seems not to have any control over Ukraine online.

Or could it be that Putin is already utilising it, hacking it and putting out stories that seem to come from Ukraine but are fake?

Does that "40 KM convoy" really exist? Would Russia like the West to believe it does, threatening Kyiv? So the West over reacts?
Do reports of minor atrocities REALLY exist? Or are they cleverly planted by Russia along with tiny pieces of misinformation that some (like us) will notice.
The BBC has started saying "APPEARS to be". And "there are reports".
No Western reporters can verify anything. But we all know - media loves to exaggerate. All putty in Putin's hand.

The result? Most of the population flees Ukraine. Russia could take over the country before the death toll reaches four figures.

Or am I over reacting? Like media and countries everywhere? Over thinking?
It's based on the possibility that Putin is quite bright and that global media and governments are incredibly stupid.

282 views in 30 mins but not one comment.

You see I hate to be cynical but when reports come in of huge bombardment of Kharkiv and we see film of giant apartment blocks shelled then it is slipped in that 4 people are believed dead, I go "What?". "How many?". "4 people dead?". Oh come on. That block was evacuated. Why? They must have known it was a target. But by who? Separatists? Russians? Or Ukrainians? Whoever it was, lucky the cameras were there.

It is very possible. When even the so called sensible newspapers are publishing fake photos and fake death reports even though they have no reason to do so, it would be odd if it was not attempted by someone who has a cause.

I'm with you on the media. I've listened to an endless loop of supposition and opinion this past week. The guttewr press namely the Sun and Express mongering nuke drops on the UK stories which is utterly disgraceful. Bumblcunt in the HOC dodging embarrassing questions about timescales that allow the Russians holding hige amounts of money in the UK in property, time to shift it on to another safe haven.

It's fucking embarrassing and don;t get me started on Biden;s State of the Union speech. We are licing in a simulation, I'm sure of it.

HATE the BBC carrying minutes of stupid MPs clapping for the NHS or whatever the latest media hype is. HATE the fact that nobody asked Boris "Why can't NATO send 600,000 unarmed peacekeepers into Ukraine to protect the country?". HATE this stupid species in this stupid world this Century.

Boris going on about how the UK welcomes everyone seeking to escape aggression was particularly vomit worthy. Not one MP shouted ROHINGYA!!

I hate the world closing ranks, making it impossible for him to retreat or re think or appear to save face. Refer him for war crimes! Stop talking to him! No, for the good of everyone keep talking to him; as much as possible. Stop posturing for the home audience and fearing the media. Do what is right to try and find a resolution. Don't make it impossible.

Worth a read!

Twitter thread: Carole Cadwalladr.

I think we may look back on this as the first Great Information War. Except we’re already eight years in. The first Great Information War began in 2014. The invasion of Ukraine is the latest front. And the idea that it doesn’t already involve us is fiction – a lie.

It was Vladimir Putin’s fury at the removal of President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 that kicked everything off. Information operations were the first crucial step in the invasion of Crimea and Donbas. A deliberate attempt to warp reality to confuse both Ukrainians and the world.

This was not new. The Soviets had practised ‘dezinformatsiya for years. But what was new in 2014 was technology: social media. It was a transformative moment. ‘Hybrid warfare’ on steroids: a golden Willy Wonka ticket to manipulate hearts and minds. Almost completely invisibly.

But it wasn’t just Ukraine. We now know that Russia began another offensive in February 2014 – against the West. Specifically, but not exclusively, America. How do we know this? Because the FBI conducted a forensic, multi-year investigation that almost no one paid any attention to.

The Mueller Report. You’ve heard of it – but probably as a headline about how it didn’t ‘prove’ collusion between the Kremlin and the Donald Trump campaign. We can come back to that. What it did prove – beyond any doubt – was that Russia attacked the 2016 US Election through multiple routes.

And just *one* of the ways Russia attacked the 2016 US Election was via the tech platforms – especially: Facebook. This was a military technique it pioneered in Ukraine in 2014.

By 2016, it refined, iterated and super-sized these. Most brilliantly of all, they were entirely invisible.

And it wasn’t just Russia. Companies such as Cambridge Analytica. Political operatives such as Paul Manafort. Amoral opportunists such as Dominic Cummings. They learned how to exploit a platform that was totally open – anyone could do so. And totally closed – no one could see how.

But also it *was* Russia. That’s what the Mueller Report proves. And, again, Ukraine is at centre of it all. (Read @profshaw‘s thread here. Note walk-on role for Arron Banks’ business partner and his friend the Russian spy).

In 2016, we knew none of this. Russia and other bad actors acted with impunity and, in some cases, alignment. But now, through the sheer bloody hard work of academics, journalists and the FBI, we do know.

But it was complex, messy, difficult. So we brushed it all under the carpet.

We failed to acknowledge that Russia had staged a military attack on the West. We called it ‘meddling’. We used words like “interference”. It wasn’t – it was warfare. We’ve been under military attack for eight years now.

This failure is at the heart of what is happening now in Ukraine. Because the first offensive in the Great Information War was from 2014-2022. And Putin won.

And he won by convincing us it wasn’t even a war.

We fell for it. We said it was ‘just ads’ that ‘don’t work anyhow’. And that ‘a bot didn’t tell me to vote’. Facebook is still an open threat surface. Exploited by authoritarians from the Philippines to India to Brazil to Hungary. It’s maybe not a world war – but the world is at war.

Meanwhile, in Britain, we’re a captured state. In America, the institutions of government worked. Even in spite of Trump. The authorities investigated. Individuals were indicted, charged, jailed. The hostile actions of a foreign state were examined and unpicked.

(Not that it mattered)

The US media, and therefore the public, failed to understand the real lessons of the Mueller Report.

And in the UK? We didn’t even bother trying. We allowed Boris Johnson’s Government to sweep 2016 under the carpet. Nigel Farage. Arron Banks. Facebook. Russia. The lot.

But it wasn’t ‘just ads’ – it was war. And it’s absolutely crucial that we now understand that Putin’s attack on Ukraine and the West was a *joint* attack on both.

That began at the exact same time, across the exact same platforms.

And this new front – the invasion of Ukraine – is not just about Ukraine. We are part of the plan. We have always been part of the plan. And Ukraine is not just fighting for Ukraine but for the rest of us too.

And maybe that could be why we’ve failed to understand Putin’s strategy in Ukraine? Because it’s not just a strategy in Ukraine. It’s directed at us too. And that’s what makes this such a uniquely perilous moment. Not least, because we still don’t understand we’re at war.

If it helps, the penny dropped for me with the Skripal poisoning. Planned by the GRU – Russia’s military intelligence. As was the weaponised hack-and-leak of Hillary Clinton’s emails. Military doctrine carried out by military officials in military operations. Just like the one now in Ukraine.

Anyway. You may think this is obvious or simplistic or naïve (it’s all three). But f**k it. I don’t care. Because what I’ve realised is that I’ve been an (information) war reporter for the last six years. And the online equivalent of a thermobaric bomb has sucked the oxygen out of me.

The story of Arron Banks is intertwined with every single element of the above. That’s for another time. What matters now is Ukraine. And the key to helping it is to understand that Putin isn’t just coming for us next. He already has.

Thanks for this TT - I'm a CC fan ever since she was the ONLY hack to dare expose Max Clifford long before his fall.