Ukraine Busts Alleged Russian Bot Farm Using Thousands of SIM Cards

By artappraiser on Wed, 02/09/2022 - 6:24pm |

Photo and videos reveal machines running 18,000 fake social media accounts.

By Matthew Gault @ Vice.com, Feb. 9, WITH VIDEO

Ukraine’s Security Service said it has shut down a troll farm in the city of Lviv.

“The SSU cyber specialists uncovered and dismantled two bot farms in Lviv with a total capacity of 18,000 fake accounts,” an SSU press release said. “According to preliminary information, organizers from Russia supervised the administrators of the bot farms.” [....]

URL:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4awq8m/video-ukraine-busts-alleged-russian-bot-farm-using-thousands-of-sim-cards?utm_source=motherboard_twitter

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Is Russia behind truck convoy?

https://digbysblog.net/2022/02/12/the-politics-of-tantrum/

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 02/12/2022 - 9:00am

Hope in Ukraine?

Not going to lie, if Russia was planning on a military escalation in the near future, you would expect to see greater operational security efforts being taken. These soldiers aren't making any effort to prevent the equipment from being seen or photographed. https://t.co/W7k2cwSSCF pic.twitter.com/tK5NoTm6aJ
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) February 14, 2022

by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 7:28am

Nordics adjust to threats of war(not too thrilled with Macron, while no one thrilled with Germany)

https://sldinfo.com/2022/02/a-nordic-perspective-on-the-2022-ukraine-cri...

by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 8:30pm

Josh Marshall basically says - all this hacking & trolling and keeping NATO guessing, etc.- THIS IS THE WAR.

In Ukraine, The Tension Is The Point https://t.co/Frjdqaasbp via @TPM
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 15, 2022

anyone else noticing a pattern here? https://t.co/LShtQCfRbF
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 15, 2022

pic.twitter.com/COz7yLFqFK
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 15, 2022

this is more Putin's comfort zone https://t.co/wSE3HLRB79
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 15, 2022

by artappraiser on Wed, 02/16/2022 - 5:15am

Putin's invaded a lot of countries to call this his comfort zone. But Inch'Allah and all that.

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 02/16/2022 - 11:24am

This rhetoric is beginning to remind me of Iraq and Kuwait.

by Orion on Wed, 02/16/2022 - 1:36pm

Just Putin around - a new meme.

Next 72-120 hours critical?

I still don't understand what Putin thinks he gets out of this - a pretty big dent in his brand, even tho fanbois think he talks and can do no wrong. I doubt Ukraine nor Belarus will be impressed. Will see about his Russian populace stuck with all that propaganda.

Biden to reporters: “Every indication that we have is that they are prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine.”

Biden also said of an invasion, “My sense is it will happen within the next several days.”
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 17, 2022

by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 02/17/2022 - 10:57am

Tony Blinken ultimatum of sorts - quit bullshitting:

.@SecBlinken: The Russian government can announce today–with no qualification, equivocation, or deflection–that Russia will not invade Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/lWLhzL27oP
— Department of State (@StateDept) February 17, 2022

by artappraiser on Thu, 02/17/2022 - 11:34am

White House NSC:

The U.S. has technical information linking Russian GRU to this week’s distributed denial of service attacks in Ukraine. Known GRU infrastructure has been noted transmitting high volumes of communications to Ukraine-based IP addresses and associated banking-related domains.
— National Security Council (@WHNSC) February 18, 2022

The United States staunchly supports Ukraine in defending its citizens from disruptive or destabilizing Russian cyber-attacks. We will continue to expose Russia’s activity and work with Allies and partners to hold Russia accountable for its actions in cyberspace.
— National Security Council (@WHNSC) February 18, 2022

by artappraiser on Fri, 02/18/2022 - 6:09pm

In other troll news, there's Spicy Panda and friends:

With @nytimes, we identified a network of over 3,000 inauthentic-looking Twitter accounts that appeared to be coordinating to promote the Winter Olympics.

In one cartoon, @SpicyPandaAcc accused the US of wielding “its deceiving propaganda weapon to stain the Olympics.” pic.twitter.com/i6nRZhYCfr
— ProPublica (@propublica) February 19, 2022

by artappraiser on Sat, 02/19/2022 - 9:30am

RT notes Olympic invasion pattern

(after being shy up to now)

Ossetia, Crimea, now...?

Remember when folks tried to argue me down about how RT was supposedly a legitimate news source and not a not a blatant propaganda machine?

Fun times. https://t.co/Vhxroyvfie
— Angry Staffer (@Angry_Staffer) February 19, 2022

After first making fun of the West for "invasion hysteria," some pro-Kremlin figures appeared to have done a 180 pic.twitter.com/37LEWdc3vS
— Pjotr Sauer (@PjotrSauer) February 19, 2022

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 02/19/2022 - 3:00pm

In the News

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Russia plays weak hand in Palestine

submitted by PeraclesPlease 8 months ago

The intra-Palestinian meeting in Moscow has precedent

Russia's hosted such meetings in the past, most recently Feb 2019

Russia has long lamented the US' "monopolization" of the peace process & tried to carve out a niche for itself: mediating among the disunited Palestinians/2
— Hanna Notte (@HannaNotte) February 29, 2024

Read the article at https://twitter.com/HannaNotte/status/1763116222256701787

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Mother Jones is Reaching out to Alternative Party Voters
Mother Jones is Reaching out to Alternative Party Voters

submitted by HSG 9 months ago

Here's what I told them: https://halginsberg.com/vote-for-jill-stein-again/

Read the article at https://halginsberg.com/vote-for-jill-stein-again/

2 comments

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submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes into force https://t.co/pCoDg05irX
— Gareth Harris (@garethharr) December 28, 2023

Read the article at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/28/brazil-law-indigenous-land-rights-claim-time-marker?CMP=share_btn_tw

1 comment

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Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (...
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submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

Location: U.S. Embassy and residential compounds

Events: Heavy gunfire is occuring around the area of the U.S. Embassy and residential compounds adjacent to the Trutier area of Tabarre. All Embassy personnel have been instructed to remain indoors and shelter-in-place until further notice. All others should avoid the area.

Actions to take:

Avoid the area;

Avoid demonstrations and any large gatherings of people;

Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks; and

If you encounter a roadblock, turn around and get to a safe area.

Read the article at https://ht.usembassy.gov/security-alert-u-s-embassy-port-au-prince-haiti-december-25-2023/

3 comments

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submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

By The Editorial Board @ Bloomberg.com, December 8, 2023

A mass expulsion of Afghan migrants could destabilize the region and fuel radicalization. The West should pressure Islamabad to change course.

Read the article at https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-12-08/pakistan-s-expulsion-of-afghan-refugees-risks-another-crisis

6 comments

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submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

All eyes on #Chad right now
Chad has two internet trunks coming into the country: One from the Red Sea via Sudan; the other from Cameroon. Not possible for the totality of the country's internet network to be shut unless done centrally. A lot of rumors swirling; few facts. https://t.co/N6bDJZ2ixO

Read the article at https://x.com/_hudsonc/status/1732891968709992511?s=20

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Read the article at

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submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

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Read the article at https://www.huffpost.com/entry/manuel-rocha-ambassador-arrested-cuba_n_656d1e2ae4b028b0f3d07478

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submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

[Chapter I news is HERE, Oct. 7 til today]

You don’t get it.
It’s not about an UNRWA teacher who held an Israeli kid hostage in his house.
It’s all about how for 75 years you have destroyed the future of generations of Palestinians, including my family.
My cousins in Arab countries are still not citizens - not even the… https://t.co/nv6anubGhc
— George Deek (@GeorgeDeek) December 2, 2023

Note 'Community Notes' attached to UNWRA's statement.

Read the article at https://x.com/GeorgeDeek/status/1731020551328579863?s=20

58 comments

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submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

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It's wild that Venezuela is now holding a vote on whether 2/3 of Guyana actually belongs to them! Analysts suggest that Modoru may want military action to pump up his sinking popularity.

Could we have a war in South America?!?

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Read the article at https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/29/divisions-leave-floridas-house-republicans-powerless-00129200

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submitted by artappraiser 12 months ago

@ Reuters, Nov. 29

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— Cameron Hudson (@_hudsonc) November 28, 2023

Read the article at https://africanarguments.org/2023/11/central-africas-dinosaur-regimes-and-the-art-of-coup-proofing/

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