For a long time I have been a reader, or sometimes a participant, of various online discussion forums, such as Guardian, Telegraph, CNN, El Pais, and sometimes Le Figaro or Le Monde. Recently, however, it appears that majority of those forums are now battlefields of propaganda war between Kremlin and CIA trolls. From what I can see, the Kremlin trolls appear to be winning the propaganda war. They are quite knowledgeable, sophisticated, persistent and tenacious. Sometimes I have a feeling they never sleep. What is almost frightening, the trolls provide their own threads in online discussions which are often being followed by idealistic yet unsophisticated westerners who cannot differentiate between a troll or a bone fide reader, and are quite lost among the sophisticated army of Russian trolls. Initially, it was difficult to tell whether it has been a spontaneous rush of various Russian bloggers to legitimate discussions of the red hot contested issues, caused by the events in Kiev, during Yanukovich's last days in power, and then, by the Crimea and the rebellion in South-Eastern Ukraine. Recently though, after MH17 tragedy, it has become quite clear that the Russian trolls never sleep, are organized as they attack in groups and appear to have some training regarding how to steer and/or hijack the discussion forums of the most prestigious western newspapers. It is no longer a pleasure to be involved in the discussions, when it becomes quite clear that they are being hijacked by the professionals with their own agenda. As far as I can tell, upon even a cursory review of various online newspapers and blogs, another propaganda war is being fought between Jews and the Muslims regarding Israeli invasion on Gaza. Its a tough world out there, online, when one no longer can enjoy a stimulating intellectual discussion or an exchange of ideas, instead one has to constantly be on the lookout for various trolls or various shades of online propaganda warriors, looking to slaughter intellectually innocent and not so sophisticated surfers, or to hijack any meaningful geopolitical discussion.
Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on legal and other community important topics. You may contact him by telephone (212-634-4250)or, by e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com
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