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When the news broke that Donald Trump won the American presidential election, Russian MPs convening in the State Duma spontaneously applauded. What is behind this excitement?
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Russian MPs celebrate Donald Trump’s victory and the defeat of “Grandma Hillary”, as they put it. Click on the site of the Independent to watch it.
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A lengthy round of tweets from the chief editor of state outlet RT (Russia Today), Margarita Simonyan, during election night can serve as an indicator of the mixed feelings of Kremlin-loyal Russians. Amidst hopes that “Trump recognizes Crimea as Russian, cancels the [economic] sanctions, comes to an agreement with us on Syria, and frees Assange”, Simonyan also clarified how to interpret the result from a more ideological perspective: “Corbyn. Brexit. Trump. Any questions? The world is sick of the establishment, of its lies, and its lying, arrogant media”, she said, and added: “When the media and the authorities spend years sowing values that society isn't ready to accept, explaining to society that it's too backward, Trump wins”. Accordingly, the American election result was not someone’s victory, but a defeat of “aggressive liberalism”:
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For a comprehensive analysis of RT (Russia Today) chief editor Margarita Simonyan’s reactions, see this article on Global Voices. (This image and the below image: Global Voices)
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Although Russia’s political leaders had denied active Russian involvement in the American election campaign, Kremlin-loyal commentator Sergey Markov suggested that Russia could claim at least a part of the credit for an outcome that confirmed the Russian narrative about a deep crisis in Western societies. “Maybe we helped a bit with WikiLeaks,” he said.
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Critical voices questioned how useful Donald Trump’s victory was for Russia after all. Opposition leader Alexey Navalny published a video statement on his blog in which he focused on how Trump had hardened his language in the run-up to the election, overshadowing older statements about possibly reviewing US policy towards Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. On Facebook, independent TV host Konstantin Eggert noted that there were more traditional hardliners than people known for soft spots for Russia among the first names rumored to feature in Trump’s administration and among his foreign policy advisers.
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The EU vs Disinformation Facebook page has recently highlighted the effects of pro-Kremlin disinformation in numbers: While Russians hear more about the European Union in their media than the EU's strategic partners, their views of the EU are much more negative and have significantly worsened since 2011.
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Last week, we informed you about yet another refugee-related disinformation seen in pro-Kremlin media: Pervy Kanal claimed that a migrant, who had raped a 10-year-old boy, was acquitted by the Austrian justice, whereas in fact he is still in custody awaiting a new trial that could give him an even higher penalty than expected. Although the story was quickly shown to be fake, President Putin repeated it publicly a few days later. "You saw what happens — an immigrant raped a child in one of the European countries. The court acquitted him for two reasons: one, he did not speak the host country's language; and, two, he didn't know that the boy — and it was a boy — objected."
The President added: "A society that cannot defend its children today, has no tomorrow." This addition became the quote which carried the story further into the media during the last days, in numerous European languages – e.g. in English (Russia Insider), in German (Epoch Times), in Greek, in Czech (Aeronet). Videos with the President's statement were widely circulated on YouTube and Facebook without reference to the facts underlying the remarks.
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This week, The Guardian reported that German chancellor Angela Merkel recognised not only the presence of disinformation from Russia in Germany, but also the possibility of Russian interference in the German general election in 2017. “We are already, even now, having to deal with information out of Russia or with internet attacks that are of Russian origin or with news which sows false information,” the German chancellor said on Tuesday. Dealing with that was already “a daily task”, she added. “So it may be that this could also play a role during the election campaign.” (Image: The Guardian)
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Friday Fun: Congratulations to president-elect Donald Trump did not only come from prime ministers offices around the globe, but also from Russian commentator Ernest Makarenko who toasts that "America is ours!". (Image: Ernest Makarenko on Instagram).
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