Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White and Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., director of the Joint Staff, discuss operations in Syria during a news briefing at the Pentagon, April 14, 2018. DoD photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Vernon Young Jr.
Gizmodo: How Did the Pentagon Quantify This Bizarre Statistic on 'Russian Trolls'?
As Donald Trump’s administration, backed by France and the UK, launched a series of missile attacks on Syrian installations allegedly used in the production or deployment of chemical weapons this weekend—and the president bizarrely tweeted “Mission Accomplished!” in a worrying signal with regards to his strategic insight—the question of whether Russia would retaliate on behalf of Bashar al-Assad’s government did tend to hang over the proceedings.
So far, Russia hasn’t given any signs it intends to truly escalate the situation, possibly in part because the White House has actually not yet settled on a comprehensive strategy. But Pentagon spokesperson Dana White did trot out a bizarre statistic on “Russian trolls” on Saturday, telling reporters, “The Russian disinformation campaign has already begun. There has been a 2,000 percent increase in Russian trolls in the last 24 hours.”
Read more ....
Previous Post: Pentagon: Russian Trolls Increased ‘2,000 Percent’ After Syria Attack (April 14, 2018)
WNU Editor: If this report was made a week or two from now .... I would then say that with a high degree of certainty that Russian disinformation and propaganda on social platforms like Facebook did increase substantially in response to the military strike. But to make this claim just hours after the attack .... I am skeptical.
