[shmobot]

I don't consider myself super smart, but i read a lot of news on the non government controlled websites (vc.ru, tjournal.ru, exler.ru for instance), that usually have an audience that is more intelligent than the average population. The common motif from those who worked for the Russian authorities that this is indeed the case in various parts of the government, total corruption and incompetence and talented people usually don't stay long. It also comes together with what we see about Russian army progress in Ukraine, looks like quite a failure considering how much armed forces they have.

[the_af]

Don't get me wrong, it definitely seems plausible. But wouldn't a disinformation tactic be to spread plausible but slightly distorted "insider info"?

I'm saying it's weird to trust a piece of military intel (precisely the kind of intel that gets frequently faked) just because some journalist claims two unnamed FSB spooks he happens to know "say it's legit". Well, would you trust unnamed experts on any other security related matter, just because someone on Twitter says so? And specifically in a context where we know disinformation is being spread left and right?

Why are we collectively so gullible?