Former DUer's Russian-styled disinformation campaign gets the attention of international media
People who were on this website around 2014 and 2015 might remember a semi-frequent poster who went by the screen name Go West Young Man. This individual's main concern here was spreading what amounted to conspiracy theories, some of which were fairly well-received by a certain contingent. The theories claimed, among other things, that the 2014 popular uprising against Ukrainian strongman president (and Paul Manafort client) Viktor Yankovych was in fact a US led "coup", that Russia's subsequent invasion and annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula was legal, and that the shoot down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over territory held by Russian backed rebels was actually conducted by the Ukrainian government and not the rebels. He also heaped praise upon the Russian government and Russian state run media. Eventually, moderators got tired of his propogandizing shtick and gave him the boot. He attempted to use several sock puppet accounts but those were quickly disposed of.
That poster utilizes the nickname Clarity of Signal on various corners of the internet, including his own personal blog webpage. After being kicked off DU, he attempted to try the same spread of propaganda and conspiracy theories at Discussionist, but that did not last long. Even JackPineRadicals got tired of his act after a while and cut him loose. Nonetheless, he has continued on to spread various forms of Russian state propaganda and conspiracy theories (including a vociferous defense of disgraced Georgia newsanchor Ben Swann, who has spread theories about mass shootings and 9-11 being "false flags", anti-vaxx claims, and gave credence to the inane Pizzagate theory).
His most recent target has been the Syrian White Helmets. The White Helmets are the volunteer group who go in right after airstrikes in Syrian Civil War (usually conducted by either the Syrian government or their partners in the Russian Air Force) to assist victims. They've been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and were the subject of a popular documentary about their work. However, because their humanitarian work frequently places both the Syrian government and the Russian military in a bad light, they've long been the target of attacks on their mission and reputation.
Apparently, the individual behind Clarity of Signal has been making the rounds over the internet claiming that numerous members of the White Helmets are in fact not humanitarians but rather terrorists, and he has been posting videos of dubious origins claiming such. His claims have managed to become so prolific that France24--France's most prolific television network for international news--was forced to run a fact check on them. France24's article can be found here:
https://observers.france24.com/en/20180511-white-helmets-syria-fact-fiction-debunking
Relevant snips:
The “articles” posted on Clarity of signal include a large number of screengrabs showing Facebook profiles of men said to be White Helmets. The site offers these screengrabs as proof that at one time or another, these men took up arms and fought for rebel groups. These profiles have since been deleted, so we were not able to investigate these claims further.
At least two videos on the site Clarity of Signal are meant to show that the White Helmets share their premises with the Free Syrian Army. They show the same scene: a group of White Helmets in a room in which you can see both the logo of the White Helmets and that of the Free Syrian Army.
Conclusion:
The videos actually show a ceremony in honour of the White Helmets working in Eastern Ghouta and in the Jouber area and was organised by the council of rural areas of Damascus province, an administration made up of opponents to the regime. The ceremony took place in the town of Hamouria in eastern Ghouta on April 12, 2016, in the presence of the president of the council of rural areas, Akram Taâma, and a member of the administration of the White Helmets, Abdallah al-Hafi, according to the agency Smart News.
That the work of one single individual to disseminate false information was so widespread so as to attract actual media attention is rather alarming. And if you go to Clarity of Signal's own website, clarityofsignal.com, it's full of attacks on the Ukrainian government, the White Helmets, talks about "false flags", "the deep state" and "fake news", and even more troubling content. It's mission statement seems to be straight out of the page of what we've seen from Russian internet trolls spreading online propaganda--the likes of which was weaponized to help Donald Trump in the 2016 elections. It reads:
This Clarity of Signal website is part of a larger citizen effort to raise global awareness. Each of us must do our part. This contribution is mine and has taken me the past four years to compile. I thank everybody that has helped gather all this important world changing information that I have now put into one easily accessible resource. May peace be with you and guide your way.
The idea of having a central "distribution source" where propaganda and disinformation could be cut and paste on discussion boards and comment sections all over the internet is Russian Trolling 101. It is exactly what people like the folks at the now indicted Internet Research Agency out of St. Petersburg were doing.
Now, I would not be giving this little cretin and unfortunate DU relic the time of day but for the fact that yesterday he returned to DU under a sock puppet account to post this false, debunked information about the White Helmets. Thankfully, MIRT quickly disposed of him and removed the content, but it was a reminder that there are still a lot of these Russian-style troll accounts attempting to infiltrate this site and push false narratives.
The thing about Go West Young Man/Clarity of Signal is that he does very little to mask his real life persona. A quick 15 minute Google search of documents on the public domain will reveal his real name, where he lives, what he does, who he married, etc. His entire life story is literally front page news for all to see on a local newspaper. And he's been completely unapologetic about specifically his past attempts to troll the Democratic Underground board as well as others.
Now, I don't believe in doxxing, so as much as this individual disgusts me, I'm not going to reveal that information. (For my own ethical/moral sake, not his). It is out there for everyone to see, though. And I can say that this person directly associates with Russian nationals. I can't say and I'm not going to say that I know that he associates with actual agents of the Russian government or is doing business on behalf of people working for the Kremlin, because I simply do not know that to be the case. But he is most definitely pandering a pro-Russian government agenda over the internet and DU was one of his multiple targets.
What this means is that I think there were serious concerted efforts dating back years (even before the 2016 elections ramped up) to target people both on the right and left to push pro-Russian narratives and propaganda. As to places like DU, I believe disassociated leftists who may have had legitimate beefs with past abuses of US foreign policy were targeted to unwillingly buy into and even spread talking points that actually benefited Vladimir Putin and the Russian government, and to change public perception here in the United States.
And unfortunately, as I saw yesterday, those threats have not yet subsided.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I remember! I need to digest this...
Now may back ache...so, I read this later and listen to MSNBC....
