Quote Originally Posted by Eric Cartman View Post
Did you ever think you would find yourself on a Cardiff message board effectively arguing in favour of foreign interference in elections? We need to see the report, anything else is decidedly dodgy.

It's pretty simple, nobody (sane) will be disputing the result but that doesn't change the fact that our system is rotten. Why is there so much foreign money flowing into our politics. The irony of the whole 'will of the people' mantra is that I imagine in the modern era (post universal voting rights) the people have probably never had less say or influence than they do right now, and not because of a 'remainer parliament'. Targeted subliminal advertising, the tangled web of foreign influence and money, a press that doesn't value the truth and a political landscape where sloganeering trump's policy.

I don't think I ever expected to be on a Cardiff message board at all Eric. At this point I'm not at all sure why I still am actually, but I digress. I don't think I was particularly arguing for foreign interference in elections was I ?
Thing is that everyone tries to interfere in everyone else's elections and they've been doing that as long as elections and intelligence agencies have existed. It rarely has much effect, and when it does, as it has in some outrageous schemes by the CIA, it always has disasterous unintended consequences. What I'm commenting upon is the trend to weaponise this fact selectively for domestic politics and to discredit electoral outcomes.
If you read the FBI report they did for the democrats, it talks mainly about adverse comments on RT, which isn't really illicit interference is it? There are far more adverse comments about the present President on the BBC than RT ever aimed at Killery and the Dixie Mafia.

You're absolutely right in what you say about the various dodgy practices which take place having a detrimental effect on democracy, but actually they're used far more by domestic entities than foreign ones.
It's also true that the Russians do very little in this field compared to their past activities during soviet days. A number of M.Ps including Michael Foot were actually willing Soviet agents, and half the Labour Party and Trade Unions were infested with direct and indirect soviet puppet mastery, yet this was all kept secret partly in order to preserve public trust in the political system.
It's a very dangerous thing, you see, to cast doubt upon the solidity of democracy. Rather like the ill conceived CIA regime changes I mentioned, it causes blowback, and you might well be unable to control that.
See, the dumbing down I often speak of effects all levels and stratas of society - the seen and the unseen ones alike, and so the minds which consider various schemes and strategies are really not what they used to be, and this leads them to stuff like utilising, exaggerating or even inventing Russian interference to attack their opponents. That's obviously a shit sandwich if you'll forgive the term, which will come back to bite them on their flabby arses.
It's also morally repugnant of course, but that's not a consideration to these people. Actually , this is just the latest half arsed grand strategy of recent times, following the Iraqi WMDs and the Arab Spring production.
Mind you, climate change seems to be working for them so far.