Dаn̈ıel Раršlow 🥧 @pieist@qoto.org

Absurdity of #Russia public relations is that their narratives can change by 180° literally as a matter of hours.

That was the case with #MH17 when one minute they boasted about "another success of Donbass self-defense in downing Ukrainian airplane" only to switch to denial of even possessing anti-air weapons, about which they of course also boasted just a week before.

With #Dnipro Kakhovka dam destruction it's the same story: the area is held by Russian 205 Separate Motorized Brigade. In October 2022 their channels openly boasted about planting explosives in the dam, which was presented as a "last resort" in case of "uncontrolled advances of Khokhols" (Ukrainians). The channel was providing advice to their troops on what to do when the dam is blown up and estimated "70% likelihood it will be necessary":

https://t.me/mototroopers_205/377

https://t.me/mototroopers_205/387

The knowledge of having the dam mined was giving peace of mind to Russian troops on the left bank of Dnipro — they knew their command can at any time "flush the Khokhols down to the sea". Which is precisely why their reporter "Thirteen" was so triumphant this morning, praising the idea and suggesting other dams are blown too. I've posted these before, so just for reference his morning statements:

https://t.me/m0sc0wcalling/25120

But as the official denial from Moscow was published, "Thirteen" and other suddenly changed their line. Now he's blaming Ukraine, as if everything he said in the morning was to be remembered:

https://t.me/m0sc0wcalling/25137

Not surprisingly, Ukraine directly mentions 205 Brigade as the one responsible for this nights disaster:

https://t.me/Pravda_Gerashchenko/72784

It's not clear if the scale of the destruction was entirely what was planned. According to some sources only 11 segments out of 28 were destroyed which may indicate they "only" intended a much smaller breach but overshoot. It doesn't change what they actually have done.

Way back in October, the D.C.-based think tank
@TheStudyofWar
predicted this exact outcome -- the blowing of the dam "at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) to cover their withdrawal and to prevent Ukrainian forces from pursuing Russian forces deeper into Kherson Oblast"

So in an effort to refute allegations of being pro-Putin, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party set up a parliamentary inquiry to investigate foreign interference in French politics.

Instead of refuting the allegations, the inquiry has found that LePen is a Kremlin mouthpiece.
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20230603-le-pen-s-far-right-served-as-mouthpiece-for-the-kremlin-says-french-parliamentary-report

This scenario is why Daniel Dennett is right https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/problem-counterfeit-people/674075/ to say that the act of counterfeiting people is the great danger and that it should be illegal. Do whatever else you want with your AI; you should not be allowed to create fake humans for purposes of deception. https://infosec.exchange/@jerry/110402514310273332

remember when this guy fired Iceland's person of the year, mocked him for his disability, then belatedly realized the dude was on a "DO NOT FIRE" list because he was the founder of a company Twitter acquired and so firing him would cost a staggering sum of money?