[Jochim]

They're also the Tory party of criminalising dissent, corruption, Russian influence, and offshoring refugees.

The fact that homosexuality isn't as controversial as it once was doesn't preclude their authoritarian nature.

[refurb]

Are they pulling that “it’s zee Russians!” in the UK too? Seems to be a very popular bogeyman all over the Western world.

[sofixa]

Considering the amount of dirty Russian money ( Londongrad), the fact that Russian spies tried to assasinate a former Russian spy, murdering British civilians by accident, and Russian support for Brexit...

It's not a boogeyman, it's part of the reality.

[refurb]

None of those things actually infer Russian interference. At least not any more than say Chinese, or French.

[sofixa]

Dirty money in the tens/hundreds of billions doesn't infer interference? Including sizeable donations to the Conservative party?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/12/world/europe/russian-mone...

[refurb]

Hardly proof of Russian control.

[sofixa]

So we've moved the goalposts from "Russia boogeyman" to "you can't prove Russia controls everything", which nobody is claiming.

Russia is involved and dangerous.

[patrickk]

Seeing as London has been corrupted by Russian money, numerous Russians have been murdered/attempted to be murdered by the Russian state in the UK, and the current PM is the former mayor of London, it’s more than valid to discuss Russian influence in the UK.

Further reading: https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/21/butler-to-the-...

[refurb]

I mean Canada has been corrupted by Chinese money (see Vancouver home prices recently?) and has a pro-CCP member of the government in British Colombia.

Yet I keep hearing about Russians.

[MagnumOpus]

It can be both, you know.

[refurb]

Sounds like both are more just political point scoring?

[Jochim]

Yeah, it's really weird that when you:

- Take a bunch of Russian money - Hang out with a bunch of Russians - Ignore the recommendations of your national security apparatus to appoint Russians to permanent positions in your upper house - Employ a bunch of people who have ties to Russian interests. - Delay investigations into how your government didn't do anything to prevent Russian interference in a national referendum.

People make the completely illogical conclusion that you're somehow sympathetic to Russian interests.

[MrMan]

Brexit in UK and US exit from nato were both Russian propaganda projects.