In 1964 a virulent anti-Communist named John Stormer wrote None Dare Call it Treason. Today, the man who bought Trump and the United States government for a 1/3rd of a billion dollars dared to call something that isn’t treason treason.
This country’s founders knew that “treason” was a claim so vulnerable to abuse that they took the trouble to define it narrowly in the constitution: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.” /1
— Domestic Enemy Hat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 7:12 PM
/2 So Elon’s claim of treason necessarily means that (1) levying war against Russia (by being invaded) is the same as levying war against the United States, or (2) Ukraine is America’s enemy.
Or it could be that he’s a persistently ignorant amoral shit-talker.
— Domestic Enemy Hat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I think that Popehat/Ken White and Radley Balko are both correct and incorrect in their takes on Musk’s tweet. I think the better answer is that Musk, like his employee Trump, believe that anything that is said or done in opposition to him, his wants, desires, or interests is treason. Regardless of the constitutional or legal definitions. Musk, like his employee Trump, has gone all in not just on neo-NAZIism and fascism, but also on Putin and Putinism. Largely because he, like Trump, has willingly marinated himself in Russian misinformation, disinformation, and agitprop. (emphasis mine)
In late August 2023, Ilya Gambashidze was in a conference room at the office of Social Design Agency, a Russian IT company he founded that is based in Moscow, close to the world-renowned Moscow Conservatory. Gambashidze was relatively unknown in Russian politics at the time, but just a month earlier his name had appeared on a Council of the European Union’s list of Russian nationals subjected to sanctions for playing a central role in a sprawling disinformation campaign against Ukraine.
In the conference room, Gambashidze was laying out his plans for a new target: Along with his colleagues, he began drafting what would become known as the Good Old USA Project. The project was supposed to influence the outcome of the US presidential election in favor of former president Donald Trump, specifically targeting certain minorities, swing-state residents, and online gamers, among others, in a scheme that included a full-time team dedicated to the cause.
On Wednesday, Gambashidze and his company were named by the US Department of Justice among the architects of a disinformation campaign known as Doppelganger that has for the past two years been targeting Ukraine and, more recently, US elections. The Doppelganger campaign uses AI-generated content on dozens of fake websites designed to impersonate mainstream media outlets such as The Washington Post and Fox Business, using a network of fake social media accounts to disseminate pro-Russian narratives targeting audiences across the globe. Doppelganger is a Kremlin-aligned disinformation campaign that was first linked to the Kremlin in 2023 by the French government.
“Today’s announcement exposes the scope of the Russian government’s influence operations and their reliance on cutting-edge AI to sow disinformation,” FBI director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “Companies operating at the direction of the Russian government created websites to trick Americans into unwittingly consuming Russian propaganda.”
The Treasury Department had previously sanctioned SDA and Gambashidze in March for its part in the Doppelganger campaign. But the court documents unsealed on Wednesday contain a treasure trove of documents and meeting notes from Gambashidze and his colleagues, outlining in unprecedented detail the goals and tactics that the Kremlin has been deploying in order to influence the outcome of the 2024 US election.
The records also reveal the plan was discussed at the highest levels of the Russian government, with Sergei Kiriyenko, the first deputy chief of staff of the presidential executive office, playing a key role. The notes appear to show that President Vladimir Putin may have been updated on the campaign; in one meeting with Russian government officials, Gambashidze wrote that government officials told him they had “reported to the President about the project,” which the FBI agent who authored the affidavit said he took to refer to Putin.
The documents show that the orchestrators of the campaign targeted existing divisions within US society, using racist stereotypes and far-right conspiracies to target supporters of former president Donald Trump.
”They are afraid of losing the American way of life and the ‘American dream,’” Gambashidze writes in one document outlining his “guerrilla media” plan. “It is these sentiments that should be exploited in the course of an information campaign in/for the United States.”
The same document is full of racist and conspiratorial claims, including that Republicans are “victims of discrimination of people of color.” It adds that white middle-class people are being discriminated against with high inflation and rising prices, while “unemployed people of color end up being privileged groups of the population.”
And the goal of the campaign, from the beginning, was crystal clear: “To secure victory for [Donald Trump],” Gambashidze wrote in the Good Old USA Project planning document.
The Good Old USA plan openly admits that “none of the significant American politicians can be considered pro-Russian or pro-Putin,” and so rather than focus its efforts on trying to convince people that Russia is great, the plan called for promoting the idea that the US should be focusing its resources less on Ukraine and more on domestic issues, such as rising inflation and high gas prices.
Much more at the link.
Here is the link to the court filing if you want to see all the details.
We go now to this clip from Fox News’s Junkie Versus Junkie segment:
Constantly linking everything back to Ukraine and Ukrainians reminds me of a political platform that once rose to prominence in a powerful European state. Fueled by conspiracy theories, it found an easy scapegoat for the country’s setbacks. It did not end well
— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Musk is too stupid to realize that if the HUR had decided to take him down, it wouldn’t have just been a DDOS attack on X where the IP addresses are all, conveniently, coming from Ukraine. I wonder who has the ability to spoof IP addresses at scale and has a really strong desire to see Ukraine get blamed?
Eez a puzzlement.
President Zelenskyy travelled to Saudi Arabia today so there is no address today.
Momentum
— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Zelensky in Saudi Arabia.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 12:49 PM
From The Kyiv Independent:
President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on March 10, ahead of a planned meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian officials, the Presidential Office reported.
Zelensky’s team will remain in Jeddah to meet U.S. delegates and discuss the framework for a potential peace agreement with Russia on March 11. Zelensky is not expected to participate in the negotiations.
The two leaders discussed Saudi Arabia’s potential role in mediating the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) as well as the return of Ukrainian children who were illegally deported to Russia, the Presidential Office said.
The Gulf countries have traditionally played the role of mediators between Russia and Ukraine, particularly in regard to prisoner exchanges.
Zelensky and bin Salman also discussed possible security guarantees for Ukraine and strategies for bringing about “a just and lasting peace.” Zelensky spoke to the prince about Ukraine’s plans to bolster defense production and the potential for cooperation with Saudi Arabia in this sector.
Ukraine is interested in further developing cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the areas of trade and energy, the Presidential Office said. The leaders discussed the potential for future Saudi investments in Ukraine and Riyadh’s contributions to Kyiv’s reconstruction efforts.
Zelensky initially intended to visit Saudi Arabia as part of a Middle East tour in February but delayed the trip due to bilateral U.S.-Russian talks in Riyadh on Feb. 18. The Saudi crown prince reportedly wanted Ukraine represented at that meeting, but was overruled by U.S. and Russian officials.
The March 11 U.S.-Ukraine talks mark the first high-level meeting between the two nations since Zelensky’s disastrous visit to the White House on Feb. 28. Following the meeting — during which U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelensky and accused him of being ungrateful — Washington froze military aid and paused intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on March 10 that a successful meeting in Jeddah could lead to Washington resuming military aid deliveries. Rubio also said that Ukraine would need to agree to territorial concessions as part of a peace deal.
Rubio will take part in the Jeddah talks alongside Trump’s Middle East Envoy, Steve Witkoff, and U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. They will meet with Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and Zelensky’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Pavlo Palisa.
Georgia:
“For the truth until the end”.
#GeorgiaProtests
Day 103— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 3:03 PM
It’s the end of Day 103, it’s warmer now too, and we are having the first overnight protest on Rustaveli during these continuous protests. As behind many initiatives, theatre people seem to be behind it. #GeorgiaProtests
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 3:08 PM
The regime has already announced “reforms” in universities that will purge everyone, erase entire faculties, and merge others into obedience. #terrorinGeorgia
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 2:54 PM
A 17-year-old was fined 5,000 GEL [≈$1800] for blocking a road. Her mother, Natalie Jghamadze, says she has also received 2 fines. Under GD’s new repressive law, the fine for blocking a road has increased from 500 to 5,000 GEL—targeting protesters with mass penalties.
#TerrorinGeorgia
— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 1:24 PM
To be clear, the suspended students were also fined GEL 5000, the standard fine – which is MORE THAN DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF THE ANNUAL TUITION FEE!
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 1:30 PM
The EU and all other US allies and partners:
On F-35 fears, I get it – there is real dependency.
But if all your targeting capacity, BLOS comms, penetrating/orbital ISR and the munitions you assume you’d fight with in a war are US-provided; then dependency on the US for MDFs and ALIS/ODIN for F-35 isn’t your main problem.— Justin Bronk (@justin-br0nk.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 6:17 AM
The F-35’s capabilities vs Russian air defences also cannot currently be replaced or replicated with other platforms.
For Germany it’s also worth remembering that the F-35 was bought for nuclear DCA role with US supplied B61 Mod 12 so 100% dependent on US whatever the aircraft.
— Justin Bronk (@justin-br0nk.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 6:17 AM
The US:
When will we hear what russia must do to end the war?
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/u…
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Back to Ukraine.
Here’s last night’s air defense tally:
🇺🇦 Ukrainian Air defence shot down 130/176 UAVs and 42 drones suppressed by EW.
— MAKS 24 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 3:38 AM
/1. New Ukrainian loitering munition UAS SETH in service with the Azov Brigade
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 8:29 AM
/2. New Ukrainian UAS SETH loitering munition.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Pilots of the 5th Separate Assault Brigade, after losing drone in the gray zone, decided to go on a raid to retrieve it.
As a result, they returned with two captured Russians, an enemy “Kapushon” electronic warfare system, three enemy Mavic drones, and four enemy FPV drones.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 3:10 PM
🇺🇦The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine plans to purchase 4.5 million Ukrainian-made FPV drones in 2025, allocating over 110 billion UAH (≈$2.67 billion USD) for this procurement.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Kharkiv:
Kharkiv this evening. A little while later, russian drones entered our airspace.
📸: інфосіті
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Vovchansk:
This was once a town called Vovchansk. Russia turned it into ruins. Schools, hospitals, homes—people’s lives—are all gone.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Pokrovsk:
“Spartan” prevents the enemy from gaining a foothold in the Pokrovsk direction.
Attempts to advance in small groups are a tactic that Russians use daily in the area of responsibility of the 3rd Operational Brigade “Spartan” in the Pokrovsk direction.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Poltava:
This was someone’s home in Poltava until russia blew it up last night
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Sumy Oblast:
⚡️ Russia attempting to gain foothold in Sumy Oblast, Border Guard warns.
Small Russian assault units are attempting to establish a foothold near Novenke, a Sumy Oblast village near the border with Russia’s Kursk Oblast, the State Border Guard said.
— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 10, 2025 at 7:36 AM
The Kyiv Independent has the details:
Russian forces are attempting to establish a foothold near Novenke, a Ukrainian village in Sumy Oblast near the border with Russia’s Kursk Oblast, State Border Guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said on air on March 10.
The news comes after Russia reportedly achieved a breakthrough in Kursk Oblast, seeking to encircle the Ukrainian forces fighting there and penetrate the Ukrainian border.
“These are small assault units, composed of a few people. They try to penetrate our territory, accumulate forces, and advance further into Ukraine, probably to cut off logistical routes,” Demchenko said on national television.
Moscow’s troops have been reportedly trying to push toward Novenke, a village lying 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the regional center, Sumy, for several weeks.
Ukrainian artillery and drone units continue attacking Russian troops, preventing them from accumulating forces, the spokesperson added.
Concerns about the Ukrainian operation in Kursk Oblast, ongoing since August 2024, have mounted over the weekend amid reports of Russian advances. The development came shortly after the U.S. cut off military and intelligence support for Ukraine, allegedly to push Kyiv to the negotiating table.
A potential loss of the Kursk salient or Russian advances in Sumy Oblast would likely weaken Ukraine’s negotiating position as it prepares for initial rounds of talks with the U.S. in Saudi Arabia.
Russian forces have begun collapsing the northern part of the Ukrainian Kursk salient, while destroyed bridges complicate Ukraine’s ability to withdraw toward the key town of Sudzha, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think-tank said on March 9.
Moscow has also reportedly deployed North Korean troops in the renewed attack in Kursk Oblast.
The Kursk cross border offensive:
There’s a drone threat and air defence activity in Kursk city this night. As usual, the local lot are absolutely thrilled by the spectacle.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 7:10 PM
⚡️No threat of encirclement for Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, Syrskyi says.
Ukrainian units are not currently under threat of encirclement in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on March 10.
kyivindependent.com/there-is-cur…
— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 10, 2025 at 12:25 PM
From The Kyiv Independent:
Ukrainian units are not currently under threat of encirclement in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on March 10.
Syrskyi’s statement follows reports on Russian and North Korean troops launching an attack on the Ukrainian-held town of Sudzha in Kursk Oblast. Russian forces have made a breakthrough south of the Ukrainian-held town of Sudzha in Kursk Oblast, potentially threatening to cut off some of the Ukrainian positions in the Russian region.
Russian troops have destroyed Ukrainian troops’ logistics in Kursk Oblast, and Ukrainian soldiers face the risk of encirclement, a Ukrainian soldier and a medic deployed in the region told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity on March 7.
“There is currently no threat of encirclement of our units in Kursk Oblast. The units are taking timely measures to maneuver to favorable defense lines,” Syrskyi wrote on Facebook.
Ukrainian forces “control the situation” on the border between Sumy and Kursk oblasts, according to Syrskyi. Yet, several settlements on the border no longer exist, as they have been destroyed by Russian attacks, he added.
Novokuybyshevsk, Samara Oblast, Russia:
🔥👀 Novokuybyshevsk, a massive fire broke out after drones attack. A warehouse is also burning over an area of 1,500 sq. meters.
— MAKS 24 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 3:42 AM
That’s enough for tonight.
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Open thread!
waspuppet
I guess I’m not enough of a genius to know how calling a senator a traitor combats waste, fraud and abuse.
Other MJS
Sorry, who?
Mea
Thank you for the daily update. Day after day after day – the fight for democracy matters. Thank you for reporting in a format that is easy to scroll and digest and should really be read more widely.
Senator Kelly has served his country honorably, in multiple ways, has on multiple occasions taken an oath to protect the Constitution, and has put his life at risk in service to our country. I am very happy that he is in office.
Musk brings shame upon himself.
Gin & Tonic
@Other MJS: Ukrainian military intelligence, the outfit headed by GEN Kyrylo Budanov.
AlaskaReader
Thanks Adam
Gin & Tonic
Interestingly, and completely coincidentally, my daughter is in Saudi Arabia today too. But she travels in different circles.
Adam L Silverman
@Other MJS: The HUR is the acronym/initials for Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence. Major General Kryllo Budanov, proprietor.
Adam L Silverman
@Mea: Thank you for the kind words.
You are most welcome.
Adam L Silverman
@AlaskaReader: You’re welcome.
Other MJS
@Gin & Tonic:
@Adam L Silverman:
Thank you.
wjca
I’m at an (international) conference this week. Today, one lady (from Poland, IIRC) noted that, in the 1930s, the US benefitted hugely from the massive brain drain of Europeans fleeing rising Nazism. And she asked, does Europe now have the possibility of seeing the same phenomena in reverse? Increasingly, that seems all too possible.
EDT: Note that this isn’t some kind of political or diplomatic group. Just a bunch of computer nerds.
Elizabelle
Excellent snark with the blogpost title. Well done.
Reading that Wired article now. Subscribed to them a while back, and they are very worth it.
Jay
Thank you, Adam.
Jay
https://nitter.poast.org/revishvilig/status/1899167355403460896#m
YY_Sima Qian
@wjca: Practically every week, I am seeing announcements of very prominent Chinese academics in STEM (we are talking about leaders in their fields) leaving US universities for the PRC. I can only assume the pace will quicken from here.
Adam L Silverman
@Other MJS: You’re welcome.
Adam L Silverman
@wjca: Only if the EU overall and the EU member states in specific come up with a way to incentivize it. And to not just limit it to STEM types.
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: You’re welcome.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: You are also welcome.
MobiusKlein
Adam, what do you _specifically_ mean by “Spoofing IPs at Scale”?
Asking as a dude who takes his enterprise scale infosec seriously.
MinuteMan
This is the definition of used by the plutocrats as well as by most right wing pols and RW activists.
YY_Sima Qian
Getting interesting:
Adam L Silverman
@MobiusKlein: Basically having the capability to spoof large numbers of IPs all at once.
danielx
@MinuteMan:
Pretty much the case with just about any evil dictator I can think of off the top of my head. Which is a pretty sad commentary on the human condition since I can think of a lot of them, all of whom got a lot a people killed before going to their rewards. Hitler being a Sonderkommando forever, Stalin having to make an unarmed frontal assault (getting killed each time) over and over against German tanks…One would like to think they all got what was coming to them.
MobiusKlein
@Adam L Silverman: So sending bogus ip headers, at scale.
https://www.okta.com/identity-101/ip-spoofing/
For purely DDoS stuff, since they won’t get back stuff. There have been a lot of DDoS things going on generally for past month or so, all over the place. I’ve not heard any of it attributed to Russia per se, but certainly has been ramping up recently.
Bill Arnold
@YY_Sima Qian:
From a profile of some hactivists groups who have mucked with the Israel Hamas war,
Closer study of the group’s history suggests that its motivations may be less strictly pro-Palestinian than they initially appear. Despite its declared sympathies with the Palestinian cause, it also advertises DDoS-as-a-service and commercial malware offerings, while also claiming attacks outside of Israel. This may simultaneously serve to bolster the group’s reputation (and thus drive business) and reflect a pro-Russian geopolitical orientation.
Musk’s word is shit, and I wouldn’t trust credit-takers on just their word either, but assuming a DDoS attack, such often involve large botnets built from compromised machines including internet-of-things devices, spread around the world; if a DDoS service buyer wanted only ips in/near Ukraine they could (presumably) simply ask for them.
Say, to be a tiny bit inflammatory, Russia. Or Mr. Elon Reeve Musk.
YY_Sima Qian
@Bill Arnold: Thanks for sharing the information!
Westyny
Thank you, Adam.
YY_Sima Qian
OT: Didn’t realize their birthdays are so close to each other’s:
& this quote:
Adam L Silverman
@Westyny: You’re welcome.
dimmsdale
Many thanks, Adam, for the nightly must-read.
Adam L Silverman
@dimmsdale: You are welcome too.
Matt McIrvin
“They say you better listen to the voice of reason
But they don’t give you any choice ’cause they think that it’s treason
So you had better do as you were told
You better listen to the radio”
–Elvis Costello, getting kicked off of Saturday Night Live
lowtechcyclist
Just for the record, ‘traitor’ and ‘treason’ aren’t synonymous.
Treason, under our Constitution, is quite narrowly defined, as Ken White points out up at the top. ‘Traitor’ is not. It means ‘someone who betrays.’ Betrayal can be defined broadly. You can be a traitor to a cause or to your religion or whatever, as well as a traitor to your country. But even in that last instance, there are plenty of ways of betraying one’s country that don’t fit within the appropriately narrow definition of treason.
So calling someone a traitor is still one hell of a serious accusation, but it is not synonymous with accusing them of treason.
wjca
I’m not so sure. They may not incentive non-STEM folks. But those non-STEM people are, IMHO, likely to go anyway.
They may not be STEM folks themselves, but their spouses, children, etc. may be. Plus, part of American soft power has been all those American artists and entertainers — not STEM, but important nonetheless. Being free to criticize, and poke fun at, the powerful is important to them
russell
Here’s me wishing Zelenskyy the best possible outcomes in Saudi Arabia, and hoping he stays away from open windows and guys with bone saws.
Crazy times.
way2blue
@MinuteMan:
Not to mention that Musk shoots from the hip with his replies. I guess he doesn’t feel encumbered to provide cogent rebuttals when annoyed. Since whatever he tweets is blasted out to 200M followers. So cute.