Great piece and awesome to see you on substack! Thank you for being a consistently decent voice on Twitter through the Trump era.
I think Taibbi is an agent of influence, specifically a tool chosen to influence the sort of intellectual denialist crowd. Denial is a powerful force, especially among those on top - why would they want to rock the boat, right?
All the right people create for him an environment around him where he can thrive spewing their bullshit, looking like he’s a free thinker cutting against the grain. Meanwhile, he’s just one cog in a propaganda machine. Like so many of their machinations….
The good news is, at least in my experience, fewer and fewer are taking Taibbi seriously, like Greenwald. The Twitter files have been a huge dud, but I do think bear many trademarks of a post-Soviet influence operation.
Professor Joshua Tucker, co-director of the Center for Social Media and Politics (CSMaP) and one of the authors of the study, is also director of NYU’s Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia. Boris Jordan, an NYU alumnus, established the center with a generous gift in 2011. Jordan is the President and CEO of the Sputnik Group, which currently owns proprietary investments in Russian insurance, forestry, telecommunications and media sectors – as well as a number of investments in foreign companies. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Jordan
Great piece and awesome to see you on substack! Thank you for being a consistently decent voice on Twitter through the Trump era.
I think Taibbi is an agent of influence, specifically a tool chosen to influence the sort of intellectual denialist crowd. Denial is a powerful force, especially among those on top - why would they want to rock the boat, right?
All the right people create for him an environment around him where he can thrive spewing their bullshit, looking like he’s a free thinker cutting against the grain. Meanwhile, he’s just one cog in a propaganda machine. Like so many of their machinations….
https://radmod.substack.com/p/manaforts-collusion-post-soviet-machinations
The good news is, at least in my experience, fewer and fewer are taking Taibbi seriously, like Greenwald. The Twitter files have been a huge dud, but I do think bear many trademarks of a post-Soviet influence operation.
Taibbi is just an utter tool and a deeply immoral and unethical human being.
Professor Joshua Tucker, co-director of the Center for Social Media and Politics (CSMaP) and one of the authors of the study, is also director of NYU’s Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia. Boris Jordan, an NYU alumnus, established the center with a generous gift in 2011. Jordan is the President and CEO of the Sputnik Group, which currently owns proprietary investments in Russian insurance, forestry, telecommunications and media sectors – as well as a number of investments in foreign companies. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Jordan
It wasn’t? The guy who made up the email on this... was found guilty. Imagine believing this was true in 2023 still. I can’t anymore. Hahah.
Is there a link to a larger version of the graphic showing the various spheres of influence? These old eyes are having trouble reading the fine print.