Spoof billboards celebrating Russian President Vladimir Putin's "contribution" to Brexit have been put up in London by a satirical group which says it wants to secure recognition for the role Russian military intelligence played in the referendum.
Britain has said it found no evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit vote and Moscow has repeatedly denied even trying, though opponents of Brexit have repeatedly questioned whether the Kremlin played a role.
In the referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9 percent, backed leaving the EU while 16.1 million, or 48.1 percent, backed staying. Britain is due to leave on March 29.
The posters in London showed a picture of Kremlin chief Putin winking and holding the Russian flag beside the slogan:
"Lets celebrate a Red, White and Blue Brexit." The "r" of Brexit was reversed to give it the look of a Cyrillic letter.In a statement, the people claiming to be behind the campaign
said they were a group of Russian military intelligence (GRU) officers who wanted their true role in the Brexit vote to be recognized.
"The group hopes to counter recent unwarranted negative publicity about the GRU by putting up advertisements
highlighting their part in Britain's imminent liberation from the EU," said the group, which calls itself Proud Bear.
Comment: ProudBear's Twitter account is hilarious. What's even funnier is how many people seem to have been unsure whether or not it was a hoax...
The IRA "troll farm" is back in the news too.
The Daily Beast, among others, are taking claims seemingly from IRA itself 'declaring victory in the U.S. election and warning the "citizens of the United States of America" that "your intelligence agencies are powerless."'
"Despite all their efforts, we have thousands of accounts registered on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit spreading political propaganda," read a statement attributed to the St. Petersburg-based organization. "These accounts work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to discredit anti-Russian candidates and support politicians more useful for us than for you."
The statement appeared on a website titled the "Internet Research Agency American Division" that popped up over the weekend. Featuring a clip art logo of a green goblin typing on a laptop, and packed with absurd boasts about the IRA's prowess, the site at first appeared to be a lampoon. But on Tuesday night it posted a previously unseen list of 100 IRA Instagram accounts that Facebook confirmed as authentic.
It's still not entirely clear if the website is intended as self-parody, a parody of U.S. perceptions of Russian information operations, or an earnest effort to terrify the American citizenry and cast doubt on the midterm results.
That's worthy of only one response: LOL. It gets funnier:
"Hundreds of your fellow citizens are our unintentional agents unaware of the fact that they actually act for the good of the Russian 'troll farm,'" the statement declared. "We have allies and spoilers intervening the political campaigns of the candidates for both parties. The victory of the Democratic party is our top priority in these midterm elections."
"Soon after November 6, you will realize that your vote means nothing," the statement reads. "We decide who you vote for and what candidates will win or lose. Whether you vote or not, there is no difference as we control the voting and counting systems. Remember, your vote has zero value. We are choosing for you."
Followed by more and more people in all seriousness taking this very,
very seriously...
Comment: He thus follows his brother, who resigned from govt in July over Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, for now, is sticking to 'Brexit means Brexit', saying "We can't stop it. The referendum took place. Article 50 has been triggered."
It'll be an interesting day if the Conservative govt finds itself initiating a second referendum, and backing it, while a Labour opposition government campaigns for leaving the EU...
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