> Russia appears to be able to propel politicians who are closer to the their politics
Not really, they propel useful idiots. In the US that would have been Robert Kennedy Jr. In Germany it's whatever clows AfD has, in Austria it's the FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl. Basically anyone that would either auto sabotage that country, the EU, like Viktor Orbán or be pro-Russia, like the Georgian Dream.
In Romania it's a RFK Jr. like nutcake figure with new age, peace and love, vaccines bad, water has memory, nazis are patriots, etc beliefs and with a discourse that sounds all right at the surface but practicaly says absolutely nothing except that it's littered with trigger narratives, just as if it were the Heaven's Gate website. His campaign was pumped by Russia on Tiktok using dormant accounts two weeks or so before the election. Also on other US based social networks and on Telegram to a lesser extent. 2M people voted for him out of 9M, some because they hate the current establishment, others saw him as an outsider, when in fact he's actually part of an old boys network, others actually believe his mumbo jumbo. It turns out he's also linked and promoted by fascist groups, some of which are actual former French Foreign Legion soldiers, run a mercenary group in the DRC and survival training workshops in the mountains. These are also linked to a rather controversial Eastern Orthodox bishop who is known to be pro Russian, so this candidate also got promoted through church networks. His campaign was in part financed by a crypto entreprenour with dual Romanian and South African citizenship who currently resides in ZA. The candidate declared zero political advertising expenses.
Anyway, I hope Tiktok gets massively screwed by the EU after this. Because this is in the Comission's hands now. The candidate's fascist friends might be soon visited by a SWAT team and they'll probably find firearms. The candidate, I dunno, he's probably going to flee to another country if he ever gets indicted.
In Germany the AfD rose to around 10% after Merkel let in millions of refugees in 2015. It had nothing to do with Russia at all. It is currently polling around 18% because the economy is bad and people are tired of U.S. subservience and want Germany to make its own decisions.
The concept that right wing parties are somehow beneficial to Russia in the long run is absurd to the extreme.
In Ukraine, literally the Bandera supporters are the best fighters and the most anti-Russian. When in history has it ever been beneficial for a country to support nationalism in an enemy country. It does not make any sense.
This whole thing is just a narrative of the forces who want to keep down "EU-first" movements.
> This whole thing is just a narrative of the forces who want to keep down "EU-first" movements.
Sure. There is documented evidence of both FPö and AfD ties to Russia. Maybe it was different in the '90s but now Russia promotes a similar conservative agenda and it's in most cases financing the European far-right. There is no easier way to destabilize a country than to make it implode by polarizing its society, as seen in Syria, Georgia.
Not really, they propel useful idiots. In the US that would have been Robert Kennedy Jr. In Germany it's whatever clows AfD has, in Austria it's the FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl. Basically anyone that would either auto sabotage that country, the EU, like Viktor Orbán or be pro-Russia, like the Georgian Dream.
In Romania it's a RFK Jr. like nutcake figure with new age, peace and love, vaccines bad, water has memory, nazis are patriots, etc beliefs and with a discourse that sounds all right at the surface but practicaly says absolutely nothing except that it's littered with trigger narratives, just as if it were the Heaven's Gate website. His campaign was pumped by Russia on Tiktok using dormant accounts two weeks or so before the election. Also on other US based social networks and on Telegram to a lesser extent. 2M people voted for him out of 9M, some because they hate the current establishment, others saw him as an outsider, when in fact he's actually part of an old boys network, others actually believe his mumbo jumbo. It turns out he's also linked and promoted by fascist groups, some of which are actual former French Foreign Legion soldiers, run a mercenary group in the DRC and survival training workshops in the mountains. These are also linked to a rather controversial Eastern Orthodox bishop who is known to be pro Russian, so this candidate also got promoted through church networks. His campaign was in part financed by a crypto entreprenour with dual Romanian and South African citizenship who currently resides in ZA. The candidate declared zero political advertising expenses.
Anyway, I hope Tiktok gets massively screwed by the EU after this. Because this is in the Comission's hands now. The candidate's fascist friends might be soon visited by a SWAT team and they'll probably find firearms. The candidate, I dunno, he's probably going to flee to another country if he ever gets indicted.