This was from a comment waaaaay down-thread earlier this week, on a post about California Secession (a wedge issue backed by Russia). Thought you’d find it interesting.
Originally Posted By u/Dry_Counter533 At 2025-08-28 07:47:32 PM | Source
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It’s been all too obvious since I joined Lemmy that Russia’s APT groups are pushing narratives on us. They did a great job dividing the left into “anyone but Trump” and “genocide Joe”. You’ll often see them talk about “leftists” juxtaposed against “liberals”, bit we all know that “the left” and “liberal” are synonyms here. Then they’ll drag you into historical arguments about neoliberalism and blah blah blah to try gaslighting and dragging you down to their level.
They are now trying to get democrats to strike first in a kinetic civil war. It’s my firm belief that Donald Trump is a Russian asset, and sending troops into US cities is a provocation of civil war. The psyops are aligned with his mission.
Up is down, blue is red, liberals are the enemy of the left, no true Scotsman would vote for Kamala, communism will solve all our problems.
They’re doing a good job. Honestly, it’s becoming hard to tell which accounts are the Russians and which are people who have had their ideology fucked by the psyops.
You’ll often see them talk about “leftists” juxtaposed against “liberals”, bit we all know that “the left” and “liberal” are synonyms here. Then they’ll drag you into historical arguments about neoliberalism and blah blah blah to try gaslighting and dragging you down to their level.
It’s sad that the language has been once again co-opted. I’m not a new account and I’ve stayed very consistent here. I’m not a liberal, but I will absolutely work with liberals right now. Many of the people I love are liberals and they’re in the best position to realize that capitalism is irredeemable. I don’t hate them, but it’s not a synonym.
Given that there are enough tankies willing to work for free because getting to make arguments functionally indistinguishable from fascism while asserting that they’re to the left of all the socdems/shitlibs/ancoms/everyone else jibes well with the damage they have, the GRU can save their budget.
Lot to unpack here:
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This is a mirror of a reddit post, about the traffic to a specific post on reddit. This is not proof of some grand Russian plot to tear apart the couple thousand impotent liberals and leftists here.
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Liberals believe that capitalism is the best way to organize society and leftists ( Socialists, anarchists, communists) do not. In most other countries liberals are the centrist party with a socialist party to the left of them. You’re confusing modern american political identities with broader historical labels that you don’t seem to understand because that’s boring history. It’s important to make the distinction because liberals will often ally with fascists against the left in order to maintain bourgeoisie property relations, study twentieth century history to see examples, or just look at how Cuomo is cozying up to trump and the billions of liberal pac money going to him.
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The rest of your post seems to be conspiratorial nonsense with no backing besides a reddit post about the traffic to another reddit post. This is like leftists blaming any disagreement or anything that goes wrong on the CIA. This kind of thinking is corrosive and just leads to paranoia, schisms and a lack of self reflection or critique.
Why did we lose the election? No it can’t be our flawed politics it must be Russian psyops. Why is that person disagreeing with me? No it can’t be that they have a different view thay I should consider, it must mean they’re a russian bot.
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Liberalism and being on the left are two entirely different concepts.
Pick up an econ book sometime.
National lefts are relative and this is an explicitly American politics sub.
What there is is a difference between being a leftist and leftie
Tell that to the Russian psyops
It’s been all too obvious since I joined Lemmy that Russia’s APT groups are pushing narratives on us.
The stats are for a subreddit genius.
Trump may be s Russian asset but the US extreme right and it’s wish for a violent civil war is a homegrown phenomenon. As is American political illiteracy.
It may be homegrown, but it has been fertilized by Russian propaganda bullshit.
You can’t solve your problems if you even refuse to admit them. Russia could go away tomorrow and the US’s course towards fascism would not change.
why is it that most russians are drunks?
State historically holds a monopoly on production and uses it to keep population in check. Also there isn’t much to do in most of Russia. Outside of the big cities, they don’t even have plumbing sometimes. So drinking to pass time it is
Well said. It’s good to see a voice of reason and nuance here.
Wild that the “voice of reason” here leads off the post with something that feels like something that would have only been considered a wild conspiracy theory, even just a few short years ago.
I have a hard time not believing it myself though.
No need for theories. Russia’s influence campaigns are widely documented.
You’ll often see them talk about “leftists” juxtaposed against “liberals”, bit we all know that “the left” and “liberal” are synonyms here.
Omfg kill me now. I’m a commie from a socialist family. If today, in the year of our lord 2025, you call me liberal irl I would physically attack you. I rather be a bot.
There are just different people with different perspectives, is it really that hard to accept?
Look, a tankie doing tankie things, like frothing at the mouth about attacking people for confusing you with a liberal. Mate, most people could not tell you the difference between an ML Socialist vs a progressive vs liberal. You’d be surprised how many people that ML Socialists have driven off that likely would have been open to their ideas. With ML socialists it’s either your as left as I am or you’re the enemy to my progress.
It’s funny, you can see direct evidence of how much people don’t even want to have to deal with socialists/communists just based on how much the fediverse blocks them and defederates from them. Stop being assholes. You want people to like you and join your cause? Stop being arrogant, antisocial, elitist pricks.
absolutely correct. nothing has made me hate socialism more than interacting with MLs.
As usual on lemmy, I’m always the one being harassed for having a political opinion different than the “norm”.
I don’t think I’m arrogant or elitist (not in my wildest dream elitist), maybe a bit antisocial ok.
Yes, I like to defend my positions and opinions, we don’t have to agree. Yes, I like to discuss vividly, I was raised to be vocal and never silent, sue me. I like to hear from all the political spectrum (yes all, assholes included), it doesn’t mean I agree with fascists.
I also understand why other “commie” or socialist don’t want to deal with liberals at all, look at how I’ve been treated here just because I said i have a different political belief. There are communities on lemmy dedicated on hating “tankies”, does it sound right to you? Again, I was raised to be intolerant towards intolerants. A little joke and comment is okay, a community dedicated to it seems excessive, it turns people off.
You started off by saying that you would physically attack someone that leans in the same direction as you because “being called a liberal”. Your started this entire thread off in a pretty negative way. Why are you surprised you got pretty negative responses to it?
I wasn’t being mean to you because your a socialist, I was being mean because you were being a general asshole much like every other ML socialist I’ve ever interacted with.
You guys need to remember the Golden Rule. Treat other people the way you want to be treated. You want people to respect you? Then try being nicer and more respectful to others. This isn’t complicated.
I also said “kill me now”, I hope you didn’t send a hit man to my house.
It was an exaggeration to show how much a person on the left dislikes being associated with liberals, especially now, from a lefty himself. It was meant to show how untrue the first assumption was.
You can be aggressive and offensive, it’s okay I don’t care (I kinda like it 👀) but at the very least attack the idea not the person.
Dismissing someone for being a “bot” just ends all kinds of discussion, it’s pointless and stupid. It shows you can’t even debate a clanker.
There is a saying.
If you meet a handful of assholes in a day, you met a handful of assholes.
If everyone you encounter is an asshole, then you are the asshole.
So if you are always being harassed for your political opinion, then it is you who is the problem. Not everyone around you.
Go do some introspection. Or just admit you are being paid by the Russian government.
As usual on lemmy, I’m always the one being harassed for having a political opinion different than the “norm”.
Absolutely not true. You are being called out for literally threatening to use violence against someone with a different opinion.
I don’t think I’m arrogant or elitist (not in my wildest dream elitist), maybe a bit antisocial ok.
A bit?!?
Yes, I like to defend my positions and opinions, we don’t have to agree.
Good. Then do it in a civil way.
I also understand why other “commie” or socialist don’t want to deal with liberals at all, look at how I’ve been treated here just because I said i have a different political belief.
Absolutely not true. You are being called out for literally threatening to use violence against someone with a different opinion.
This is why we hate on tankies.
Threatening to attack someone for being called a name in error? Don’t know why people won’t support you.
Oh no, I’m ironically threatening a non existing person in made up scenario 😱😱😱 someone pls stop me!!!
You’re not doing anything if the sort. You’re probably a kid, so I’ll say this kindly.
What your doing, is confusing discourse with being an asshole. That isn’t your fault. Some frat bro authority figure in your life that you looked up to acted that way.
But if you’ve had a point it was long since buried in your toxic responses and facade if bravado.
You will never be taken seriously because you dont value others.
I sincerely hope you have a wonderful day
So not a russian bot anymore? 🤖😿 bip bop
Case in point. Brand new account.
So all the new accounts are bots? Did you know a big instance called lemm.ee closed recently right? How can we fucking start any new serious conversation like this?
Dude, fuck off back to hexbear. I’m never going to buy your bullshit, lol.
😮💨 ok. Don’t be surprised if people dislike liberals tho, I’m not trying to convince no one of nothing. This is forum, there are people who like to talk and discuss ideas. Have a nice day dude.
fuck off
No, we’re just out here hating tankies like yourself. Go back to hexbear where every sane person has blocked you.
FYI THIS ISN’T LEMMY, THIS IS A MIRRORED POST FROM REDDIT
For the love of God please don’t use this as justification to think that person disagreeing with you is a Russian bot like some people in this thread are doing.
Nice try Vladibot, but we aren’t falling for it. Go back to Tajikistan, you Communist!
Too late 🤖🤖bip bop – how can I help you?
Sounds like something a Russian bot would say.
As an American, I do find this interesting. Also, it seems Russians do too.
I’m confused, is this talking about Russian IPs on the 50501 reddit, or here on Lemmy? Maybe dumb question. I’ll edit this if I figure out the answer.
On reddit. I dont know if I believe it since if it was actually russian psy op they’d use us residential proxies.
The Russians are kind of comically bad at cyber security and hacking though. Could just be they didn’t think about it (or funnier, the Russian population and the American one might agree on the fundamentals of the 50501)
they are exceptionally good at lying and shit-stirring, unfortunately. always have been. it’s like their greatest strength. XD evil as fuck, but effective.
nah they are pretty shit
american republicans are really just that fucking stupid
This is just wrong. Russia has a very advanced and large cyber security scene.
I dunno man, they do a good job sometimes but once the shit hits the fan, they’re like anyone else and fall for convenience bargains of necessity (like using Telegram during Ukraine (not as much anymore)). Not knocking them, just saying human nature is as it does.
Alternative theory:
No, Russkies are just good at cobbling together electronics because of the high taxes on them. So they go into garbage belts to fish out components and build a rig to play CS Go.
Which means that any Russian on the internet generally has some knowledge about computers.
But their cybersecurity isn’t even close to being on point.
Its not hacking they just AstroTurf comment sections and post/boost extreme messaging. They would buy residential proxies from people who actually can hack. They being the Russian government agencies that conduct these campaigns.
Agreed astroturfing barely counts as hacking, but I’d argue that where they shine on the “social engineering” side of hacking.
Cut their international undersea and land links, give them a big lovely slavic lan.
I’m sure no other country is sharing traffic on a trans-Pacific data line, right?
Yeah…thats the idea cut them off from having access to other countries networks.
🤦♀️
Do go on
I mean… is anyone surprised at all by this?
Nope. It’s been pretty clear why the Hexbearites spout opinions straight from RT and have such “interesting” ideological hypocrisies. I can only assume Reddit at least demands payment.
You know, can you blame these Russian bots getting paid a cent for every spam they spout? They are saving money to buy plane ticket out of Russia before the country implodes from the economic strain caused by the war in Ukraine. As we speak, economists say Russia is on the verge of a recession.
Bots can buy plane tickets and go places? I thought they were lines of code on a server?!
Bot had also become synonymous with propagandist.
Never heard that, and it’s extremely confusing, in this day of actual software bots generating insane amounts of content.
Bots as in bots are still not good as trolls. There still requires human intervention.
Speaking of trolls, words change meaning all the time, when i was younger, troll used to mean an edgy Internet users who purposefully agitate other users for the heck of it without meaning what they say. Now, troll could also mean online propagandists. I used to be strict with definitions of words, but meanings of words change all the time but what can we do.
Wow, thanks professor, never in my life did I imagine that words change meaning over time. Next you’ll tell me fire is hot and water is wet. Maybe you should write a dictionary called Captain Obvious’s Guide to Things Everyone Already Knows. Also, by the way, if “troll” now includes “online propagandist,” does that mean your entire comment counts as self-reporting?
The above was just straight copied out of ChatGPT, after copying in your reply. Bots are perfectly capable of trolling without human intervention. They do it all the time.
Language changes all the time, but I’m just gonna come with a big [citation needed] on this particular change of language.
Now, troll could also mean online propagandists.
This is closer to true, though I think the majority of people who discuss these things would agree that the Venn diagram of trolls and propagandists doesn’t have complete overlap on either side
I used to be strict with definitions of words, but meanings of words change all the time but what can we do.
I think you have overcorrected. Then again, I’m one of those sticklers who thinks that “literally “ shouldn’t mean “figuratively”.
Whether you like it or not, there is no point being a stickler for word meanings, that’s the point lol. When I was growing up in aughts, the word “ultimate” is plastered all over toys for boys. Everyone thought it means “super duper”, but in Greek it means “final”. Like, we’ve been using the word incorrectly all along?! What would the Greeks think?!
Who cares, words evolve all the time. I don’t really care about words changing meanings so long as it’s organic and bottom up, and not in authoritarian, top-down approach like in 1984.
You might be right.
That said, you are still sorely mistaken if you believe that software bots are not already excellent at being trolls and at scale
The human intervention is minimal, just need to point it at the right spot.
Same.
Huh? In the source post there is no link to the original post to check if it was reposted to like /r/pikabu or /r/tjournal_refugees, which are predominantly Russian but mostly anti-war.
Yet most commenters on that post are ethnic Ukrainians (they sometimes out themselves by typing cyrillic і in place of latin i, which is used only by Ukrainian, Belarussian and Macedonian languages). Yet, lots of them have a US politician(Vance) on their avatars and their post history shows most comments are in US-specific and politics-related subs.
Are you sure you havent’t got reverse baited?
Full disclosure, am Russian, never hid it, never will.
