Journalist Carole Cadwalladr recently appeared in court in London to defend herself against an accusation of defamation brought by Arron Banks, the multi-millionaire businessman and outspoken backer of Brexit.
When Banks first brought his case against Cadwalladr, seven press freedom groups, among them Reporters Without Borders and Index On Censorship, called for the case to be thrown out and for the British government to defend public-interest journalism.
Now she has explained how the Russian President Vladimir Putin won the first phase of his war on Europe, by convincing us it wasn’t happening…
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“Ok. Deep breath. I think we may look back on this as the first Great Information War. Except we’re already 8 years in. The first Great Information War began in 2014. The invasion of Ukraine is the latest front. And the idea it doesn’t already involve us is fiction, a lie.”
Ok. Deep breath.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
I think we may look back on this as the first Great Information War. Except we're already 8 years in.
The first Great Information War began in 2014. The invasion of Ukraine is the latest front. And the idea it doesn't already involve us is fiction, a lie.
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“It was Putin’s fury at the removal of President Yankovych in Feb 2014 that kicked everything off. Information operations were first crucial step in invasion of Crimea & Donbass. A deliberate attempt to warp reality to confuse both Ukrainians & the world.”
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It was Putin's fury at the removal of President Yankovych in Feb 2014 that kicked everything off. Information operations were first crucial step in invasion of Crimea & Donbass. A deliberate attempt to warp reality to confuse both Ukrainians & the world.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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This was not new. The Soviets had practiced "dezinformatsiya" for years. But what was new in 2014 was technology. Social media. It was a transformative moment. "Hybrid warfare" on steroids: a golden Willy Wonka ticket to manipulate hearts & minds. Almost completely invisibly.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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But it wasn't just Ukraine. We now know Russia began another offensive in Feb 2014. Against the West. Specifically, but not exclusively, America. How do we know this? Because the FBI conducted a forensic, multi-year investigation. That almost no-one paid any attention to.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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The Mueller Report. You've heard of it. But probably as a headline about how it didn't "prove" collusion between the Kremlin & Trump campaign. We can come back to that. What it did prove – BEYOND ANY DOUBT – was that Russia attacked 2016 US election through multiple routes.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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And just *one* of the ways Russia attacked 2016 US election was via the tech platforms. Especially: Facebook. This was a military technique, it pioneered in Ukraine in 2014. By 2016, it refined, iterated & supersized these. Most brilliantly of all, they were entirely invisible
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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And it wasn't just Russia. Companies such as Cambridge Analytica. Political operatives such as Manafort. Amoral opportunists such as Cummings. They learned how to exploit a platform that was totally open – anyone could do so. And totally closed – no-one could see how.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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But also it *was* Russia. That's what the Mueller Report proves. And, again, Ukraine is at centre of it all.(Read @profshaw's thread here. Note walk-on role for Arron Banks's business partner & his friend the Russian spy)
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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In 2016, we knew none of this. Russia & other bad actors acted with impunity &, in some cases alignment. But now, through the sheer bloody hard work of academics, journalists & FBI, we do know.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
But it was complex, messy, difficult. So..We brushed it all under the carpet
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We failed to acknowledge Russia had staged a military attack on the West. We called it "meddling". We used words like "interference". It wasn't. It was warfare. We've been under military attack for eight years now.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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This failure is at the heart of what is happening now in Ukraine. Because the first offensive in the Great Information War was from 2014-2022. And Putin won.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
And he won by convincing us it wasn't even a war.
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We fell for it. We said it was "just ads" that "don't work anyhow". And "a bot didn't tell me to vote". Facebook is still an open threat surface. Exploited by authoritarians from Philippines to India to Brazil to Hungary. It's maybe not a world war. But the world is at war.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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Meanwhile, in Britain, we're a captured state. In America, the institutions of govt worked. Even in spite of Trump. The authorities investigated. Individuals were indicted, charged, jailed. The hostile actions of a foreign state examined & unpicked.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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(Not that it mattered.) The US media & therefore public failed to understand the real lessons of Mueller Report. And in the UK? We didn't even bother trying. We allowed Johnson's govt to sweep 2016 under the carpet. Nigel Farage. Arron Banks. Facebook. Russia. The lot.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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But it wasn't 'just ads'. It was war. And it's absolutely crucial that we now understand that Putin's attack on Ukraine & the West was a JOINT attack on both.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
That began at the exact same time.
Across the exact same platforms.
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And this new front, the invasion of Ukraine, is not just about Ukraine. We are part of the plan. We have always been part of the plan. And Ukraine is not just fighting for Ukraine but for the rest of us too.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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And maybe that could be why we've failed to understand Putin's strategy in Ukraine? Because it's not just a strategy in Ukraine. It's directed at us too. And that's what makes this such a uniquely perilous moment. Not least, because we still don't understand we're at war.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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If it helps, the penny dropped for me with Skripal. Planned by the GRU – Russia's military intelligence. As was the weaponised hack-&-leak of Hillary's emails. Military doctrine carried out by military officials in military operations. Just like the one now in Ukraine.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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Anyway. You may think this is obvious or simplistic or naive. (It's all 3.) But fuck it. I don't care. Because what I've realised is that I've been an (information) war reporter for last 6 years. And the online equivalent of a thermobaric bomb has sucked the oxygen out of me
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
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The story of Arron Banks is intertwined with every single element of the above. That's for another time. What matters now is Ukraine. And the key to helping it is to understand that Putin isn't just coming for us next. He already has. https://t.co/dMmuvUqjqH
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 27, 2022
FIN
Reactions
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Carole has just dropped a mega thread. This is five years of work. Everyone who tried to minimise, disrupt or deny this better take shelter, or just — for the sake of democracy and people — nod their heads and say ‘I got it wrong’ https://t.co/7RXA0JFoQI
— Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) February 27, 2022
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I can't stop reading this over and over. So I'm sharing again. https://t.co/tRWmWjgfz7
— Chrissie🇺🇦 Grech (v)🇪🇺 #JohnsonOut (@ChrissieGrech) February 28, 2022
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A must-read thread: https://t.co/sePXbDyFwc
— Andrea Chalupa 🇺🇲 (@AndreaChalupa) February 28, 2022
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Russia has been at war with the UK & US for 8 years now.
— Nick🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇦 (@nicktolhurst) February 28, 2022
Just most Brits didn’t want to know, they wanted the cheeky man with the funny hair to tell them things they wanted to hear about how great they were.
– A thread – https://t.co/MEmGu7Qeec
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Please read this 👇 https://t.co/GpkR86XnP7
— Dr Julia Grace Patterson💙 (@JujuliaGrace) February 28, 2022
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One of the most important threads you will ever read from @carolecadwalla https://t.co/AoEZT7SSfo
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) February 28, 2022
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Please read Carole's thread.
— Alan Stedman 🇪🇺🇬🇧#FBPE #FBPA💙💙💙🍃💚🍃 (@alanjstedman) February 28, 2022
A lot of people have done a lot of work on this and we have not listened. Carole has been the most scrutinised and most attacked. I personally think we owe her a debt for putting herself in the firing line.
👏👏👏👏👏 https://t.co/s3ek5Dmugm
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