Comment by golem14 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by golem14 | Hacker News Reader

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Look, I know you'll accuse me of being a soviet stooge and all that, and that you value your time as purple team nato guy immensely.

THis is not about whataboutism.

I'm just pointing out that if you make big claims like (emphasis mine)

"""There's lots of people working for NATO and federal agencies in Europe that have been assassinated by the luckystrike branch of the FSB. The name comes from the Telegram account with underscores in between, and they're essentially recruiting kids or former inmates for GTA style missions. """

You really ought to provide more evidence than an recruiting attempt europol memo from 2 years ago if you want to be taken seriously. It's not on us readers to 'find good sources'.

Again, I don't dispute that Putin's Russia is behind a lot of really bad assassinations and other crimes. This interview with Bill Browder (partly about the Magnitzky act) is pretty telling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlF0ZzH6C9s

I'm saying that we should really elevate the level of our reporting. Even if it happens on the toilet, as your status message suggests.

While I agree with the premise of your argument, I don't think this is the correct platform to do so. And I also have to state a fun fact: I'm not a journalist.

If you expect more founded research put together into an investigative report, you have to pay someone to do so, one way or the other. Well, or do it yourself.

Investigative journalism has been dead before the peak of AI, which makes the game of deception even easier for bad actors.

PS: If you post something critiquing about Russia online, I'd expect at least -100 downvotes for each comment, because that's usually what happens. It takes quite a bit of moral courage in the misinformation age to not give in to the bot armies online. Bots rule platforms like this (reddit/chan boards/HN/etc). Mods can't keep up with the amount of information, therefore human moderation efforts are pretty much a lost cause, too.

But that's just my two cents, having been on the receiving end of bot-automated shitstorms a bunch of times already. Check my website if you're interested in how I'm trying to fight back, and for more details about how they operate behind the scenes. Well, or don't.

Either way you seem to not be aware of which actors even play the game online. I'd recommend to brush up about that, a good starting point is this playlist [1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xGawJIseNY&list=PLJA_jUddXv...

I have to say that just like the poster you are replying to, I am inclined to believe what you are saying because of Russia's past actions, and this modus operandi you described being successful elsewhere

However, he is right that I would want a bit more information about the multiple assassinations in NATO part, because I want to believe we are not there yet, and that this would have implications, even in today's Europe

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