Post-2016 IR: What is going on? Flashcards
How do conspiracy theories advance Russia’s agenda?
they divide Americans
Russian disinformation seeks to “promote _____” particularly the _______
promote political driven falsehoods, particularly the “fictional narrative” that it was in fact Ukraine that meddled in the 2016 elections, not Russia
Who testified and when about Russian disinformation
NSC Russia Expert Fiona Hill on Nov. 21,2019
describe Russian hacking and the 2016 US election genrally
- in June 2016, US intellignece and law-enforcement services detected Russian hacking of Democratic National Committee
- Russian military intelligence units had hacked into email servers, private accounts
- Russian “fake news” sites spread disinformation calibrated to polarize US polities
- US intelligence assessments were that Russia favored Donald Trump’s candidacy and were actively trying to help him succeed
- Trump’s Republican rivals (Rubio) also reported being hacked
Describe some evidence with individuals in Trump’s administration of Russian interference
- FBI director James Comey knew about Russia-Trump campaign connections in summer 2016, but remained silent
- July 2016: Trump called for Russia to hack Clinton’s emails (“Russia if you’re listening”), later said it was a “joke”
- 20 March 2017: Comey told Congress that there was ongoing investigation of Russian attempts to influence “links” to the Trump campaign
Describe Trump’s Russia connections
- Trump has demonstrated an unusual fondness for Russia’s Putin
- his first campaign manager, Paul Manafort, resigned after his ties to Russian-backed Ukrainian ex-president Yanukovych became clear
- his national security advisor, Michael Flynn, was forced to resign after it became c;ear that he had lied about meeting with the Russian ambassador to US
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced to recuse himself from the federal investigation into Trump-Russia connections after lying about his own meetings with the Russian ambassador
What happened during a joint summit in July 2017 between Putin and Trump?
Trump told the media he believed Putin’s claims that Russia had not interfered in the US elections
-this publicly undermined his own intelligence agencies, which found that Russia did interfere and would do so again in 2020
What are some key findings of the Mueller Report?
- Russia interfered with the 2016 election in “sweeping and systematic fashion”
- FBI investigation started after Trump campaign member George Papadopoulos told Aussi diplomat he had intenl, seemingly from the Russian government, that it was going to help the Trump campaign
- 9 June 2016: Don Jr., Jared Kushner meet with Russiand at Trump Tower about Russian election assistance
- 2 August 2016: Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort meets Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik in NYC, discusses Midwestern strategy, gives electoral data on Midwestern swing-states
What were some limitations of the Mueller report?
- “did not establish (beyond reasonable doubt) that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities”
- Report p.10: “a statement that the investigation did not establish particular facts does not mean there was no evidence of those facts”
describe the Congressional impeachment investigation
- 21/4/2019: Trumo asked Ukraine Pres. Zelensky to investigate Biden family instructs Zelensky to speak to Trump’s lawyer Giuliani and Attorney Gen. Bill Barr
- Republicans are trying to say that Ukraine tried to interfere with the elections to support Clinton
- threatens to withhold $397M in foreign military aid
- Oct 2019: Dem. speaker Pelosi to Trump: “All roads with you lead to Putin”
- questions: does this constitue bribery? High crimes and misdemeanors? Is it impeachable?
cyberwarfare is a_______
powerful new tool in IR
hacking foreign secrets less potent than ______
shaping foreign populations’ thinking
shadowy data companies (eg. Cambridge Analytica) manipulate ____
manipulate online data, target ads to shape perceptions and voter behavior
What kind of apps drew great interest form US, UK intel agencies?
apps measuring personality traits via Facebook “likes” (Shaw)
“Personality research and the behavioral technologies” that civilian researchers gathered “with the new tool of big data (via the astonishing resources provided by Social media)” has “created ______” (shaw)
an important template for what is now the cutting edge work America’s intelligence community
