It is almost funny that the so-called Intelligence Community Assessment (January 6, 2017, Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections) claimed that the Russian interference had been against Hillary and in favor of Trump, although most of the evidence in it demonstrated the opposite. RT (Russia Today TV) and IRA (Internet Research Agency, a “troll farm” in Saint Petersburg) agitated in favor of Hillary and the policies of the Democratic Party, and against Trump and the policies of the Republican Party. RT preferred Bernie to Hillary, but when Bernie accepted the primaries defeat and endorsed Hillary, RT broadcasted his support to Hillary, and aided Hillary against Trump in other ways.
Suppressing US natural gas production and anti-fracking under environmental pretexts was a mainstream policy of the Democratic Party since 2013. In the dark blue Massachusetts, the Democrats have even achieved dependency on Russia for natural gas, despite being just few hundreds of miles from the Marcellus Shale, one of the world’s largest natural gas fields. From the Assessment (p. 8):
“RT runs anti-fracking programming, highlighting environmental issues and the impacts on public health. This is likely reflective of the Russian Government’s concern about the impact of fracking and US natural gas production on the global energy market and the potential challenges to Gazprom’s profitability (5 October).”
Of course, the MSM has misreported the Assessment.
A broad assault on the energy industry — to “disrupt Florida and other U.S. energy pipelines” and to “disrupt the booming American energy industry” — has been conducted by Obama, Hillary and the Democratic Party since 2010. A “Russian connection” has been acknowledged by some small MSM outlets only recently.
“A television crew from Russia’s largest state-backed network swooped into downtown Miami two days before New Year’s Eve, 2016, on a curious mission. RT, the network formerly known as Russia Today, was there to provide global news coverage of one of five unremarkable rallies across Florida that day aimed at turning the public against the nearly completed, $3 billion Sabal Trail Pipeline designed to carry natural gas to the state from Alabama.”
“Russia’s hidden hand in the Florida pipeline protests was extensive, according to sources familiar with the operations. At least eight Russian accounts, most tied to the troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, sent at least 16 social media messages excoriating the Sabal Trail pipeline or retweeting messages from one of its most prominent opponents, a frequent guest on RT. The tweets were sent to a total of more than 40,000 followers as well as anyone else who saw them via hashtags. [This is not extensive – but neither was the whole alleged IRA operation. LG]
The social media propaganda was part of a broad Kremlin campaign to disrupt the booming American energy industry, which seemingly overnight has emerged as a threat to Russia’s global dominance, U.S. authorities say.”
via Dealing with the Con in Consensus
September 17, 2018 at 12:18AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 