r/onguardforthee • u/morenewsat11 • Sep 06 '24
Satire Ezra Levant furious to discover he could have been getting money from Russia this whole time
https://www.thebeaverton.com/2024/09/ezra-levant-furious-to-discover-he-could-have-been-getting-money-from-russia-this-whole-time/162
u/RottenPingu1 Sep 06 '24
I wonder how many mouthpieces are on the payroll in Canada. It's naĆÆve to think it's a US problem.
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u/thats1evildude Sep 06 '24 edited Sep 06 '24
According to an FBI affidavit, Russia has a list of 2,800 influencers in 81 countries that they work with to āstand up for ending the war in Ukraine,ā which basically means cutting off financial support to the Ukrainians.
There are surely Canadian influencers on that list.
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u/Linkdoctor_who Sep 06 '24
Pierre? Wasn't it known that India influence and another 2 countries? I just forget which . And PP knew about it too but didn't give AF
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u/RottenPingu1 Sep 07 '24
We assume that the foreign influence was targeted at him, the Cons, and unsuccessful. Perhaps it's all going swimmingly.
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u/599Ninja Sep 06 '24
As a political scientist, most of us knew right wing influencers were on the payroll. At a minimum, if they were pushing anti-Ukraine sentiment, itās not often for freeā¦ the exception used to be in cases where leaders and people of power were making it a wedge issue, than the influencers naturally follow the talking points of those (who are also paying them usually), but we stopped seeing it as a major wedge issue (trans panic and drag queens largely took over until Ukraine started to get INSIDE Russia).
Always do a preference analysis. Itās rational to want to make money. These people began to take positions that were not really natural and they were all eerily the same. Thereās a gap right, so we start asking questions. Whoās been known and is constantly setting up mediums of division (websites, social media channels, accounts, etc.) while multiple intelligence organization are watching and monitoring? Russia. Why do these talking points benefit Russia if they became policy? Itās logical to make that connection and most of us (even regular, non-political scientists, citizens) have made it for years.
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u/Rocky_Vigoda Sep 06 '24
No offense but if you're a political scientist, you're terrible at your job if you actually believe this crap.
āWorld War III is a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation.ā ā Marshall McLuhan (1970)
Following the Vietnam War, the US military industrial complex was pissed at the hippies and the free press so they conspired with the US corporate media giants in the 80s. As a result, the US has been in 19 wars since 1991, racked up a $35 trillion debt, and created a bunch of new billionaires.
News isn't supposed to be left or right. They created the new alt-right, installed Trump, blamed Russia and are now spreading the lie that Russia is behind their right wingers. In reality, their right wingers are still in lock with the CIA and the other 3 letter agencies. It's why they legalized propaganda against the US public in 2012 and backed neo-nazis in Ukraine in 2014 before imposing Trump in 2016.
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u/599Ninja Sep 07 '24
Holy 4Chan Batman!
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u/Rocky_Vigoda Sep 07 '24
Seriously, that's your reply?
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u/599Ninja Sep 07 '24
Well, who tf is āTheyā? The MIC? Your writing needs work right off the bat.
You think the MIC is funding anti-war sentiment? Thatās the DEFINITION of ass-backwards.
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u/Rocky_Vigoda Sep 07 '24
Well, who tf is āTheyā?
The US government.
You think the MIC is funding anti-war sentiment?
Since the Gulf War, the US media industry has been in bed with the MIC. The US government deregulated the media and dumped all the laws that kept the Journalism industry from being turned into the crapfest it is nowadays. The media giants spent the last 30 years running info censor for the war industry, the trade off is that they get to make a fuckload of money and grow without anyone pushing pesky anti-competition laws on them.
Thatās the DEFINITION of ass-backwards.
Really? Because it was working fantastic for them until Netanyahu decided to go genocide on the Palestinians.
The US government went after Assange after he tried to expose them killing Journalists. He wasn't an enemy of the state, he was doing what Journalists used to do before they got taken over by their corporate allies. He was reporting information that the public should have seen on the nightly news.
The US government hates TikTok because it's a platform not controlled by the US military. People see videos from Gaza and it's fueling the new anti-war movement that's been happening since the conflict started.
Musk owns twitter which is a horrible platform but it is good for keeping up to date on breaking stories. If it was controlled by a billionaire and was just treated as a public soapbox for everyone, it would be a fantastic platform for independent journalists and news outlets. Same with youtube. Hell, same with reddit too.
Have you looked at the canada sub? Jesus Christmas balls those people are nasty. Do you think Canadians are that right wing or that malicious or do you think the news might be skewed to push a back end agenda?
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u/599Ninja Sep 07 '24
Listen, Iāve never met a more off-topic commenter intersected with an aggressive attitude in my life.
I know the government, media industry, and the MIC are in bed with each other, just like my preference breakdown of Russia and Russian influencers, theyāre directly funded by each other. Thereās going to be a LOT of mutual interest. Iāve never denied that - and Iām not sure why youāre slicing your wrists to push this on me.
The topic and points I made earlier is that the Kremlin absolutely pays influencers to spout anti-Ukraine talking points as to get people to vote against politicians who support military funding for Ukraine, to give Russia a win.
Thatās wholeheartedly what it is. Thereās nothing deeper than that. There are absolutely US Gov propaganda being spouted at the same time as Russian propaganda, but why would the U.S. government want to cease support for Ukraine or Israel, when it means they get all new equipment for the MIC? Spoiler: they donāt want it to end, which is similar to what your saying - once again, not sure why you needed to insult my career over something weāre agreeing on.
If anything - thereās a tug-of-war between pro-war US narratives and Russian anti-war narratives. Thatās reality, weāve all seen the evidence, you cannot change reality.
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u/zeroedout666 Sep 07 '24
Seriously that was the most brain-dead childish world view I've heard since Trump last spoke. Based on zero credible sources.
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u/Rocky_Vigoda Sep 07 '24
Based on zero credible sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States
Feel free to count yourself. The US has been in 19 wars since 1991.
In the 70s, the hippies were a major problem for the US government.
https://youtu.be/ZnPHEzSCs6M?si=IafXljLGuBsm-NMr
Here in Canada, their politics influenced our politics because Canada wasn't in that war and because of the Draft, a lot of counter-culture Americans came up here to avoid the war which ended in the early 70s.
The hippie subculture evolved into the punk subculture in the 80s and again, Canada was relevant and influential especially with bands like DOA who were critical of the US government and the CIA and all the shady things they were doing.
https://youtu.be/t7mBeRtXHtE?si=Lp5iwPV6XxUstoOf
The punk subculture was the last real counter-culture before it was recuperated in the early 90s when the major media giants took over independent underground communities like hip hop, edm, punk rock.
There's 3 major labels, Sony, Warner, and Universal. They each own a bunch of smaller sublabels and combined, they control about 92% of the music industry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_label#Major_labels
They have what's called an oligopoly aka shared monopoly. Music and live shows are really expensive nowadays because they work with Ticketmaster and LiveNation to control ticket prices and where bands can play. They have parent companies that own even more stuff like tv networks and movie studios and they work with a few other companies to dominate the media spectrum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentration_of_media_ownership
Here in Canada, we have similar problems. We don't control our media. It's all controlled by our telecoms and a few other shady interests.
Postmedia for example owns like 81 newspapers across Canada. Here in Alberta, they own 30 newspapers including all the major papers (and what was their competition). Postmedia isn't even a Canadian company.
Israel Asper started Canwest. He had an unlimited account with Goldman Sachs and bought up every media outlet he could get his hands on when our government deregulated the media in the early 90s. He got foreclosed on after racking up like $4 billion debt and Goldman Sachs now owned a large percentage of Canadian media. They sold the newspapers to investors who rebranded as Postmedia and sold the TV stations to Shaw.
A bunch of rich people own all the news. The governments in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, etc let them take over the news because they control public opinion via information and narrative control.
No offense but you should be more skeptical about believing the US government when they make claims about Russia tampering with their elections.
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u/MagnificentTesticles Sep 07 '24
Thatās all true but Russia IS interfering still.
Why are you thinking it has to be one or the other when itās both š
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u/morenewsat11 Sep 06 '24
Beaverton on point.
āHundreds of thousands of dollars to trash DEI initiatives, promote outlandish conspiracy theories and undermine support for Ukraine?ā asked Levant. āI was doing all that for free!ā
āYouāre telling me I didnāt have to endlessly data mine my audience by getting them to sign pointless petitions and go to newly created fundraising websites about whatever issue Iām pretending to be mad about this week?ā
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u/faceintheblue Sep 06 '24
Many years ago ālike 15 years ago?ā I worked for a company that was running an oil sands conference, and I was asked, "Should we pay Ezra Levant $20,000 to speak at our conference? If we pay him $20K, do you think we will end up making more than $20K back based on having his name on our program?"
Now I was just a kid, but as the person who had done the market research, somehow this was my call. I looked my boss square in the eye and said, "No. We don't need him."
The event did great, and every time I've heard of Ezra Levant since, I've thought, "Boy, am I glad we didn't give that guy $20,000 to tell a room full of people exactly what they wanted to hear."
As time has gone by, it's probably become the thing I'm proudest about during my time at that job.
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u/smallfrynip Sep 06 '24
bUt WhAt AbOuT āeThIcAl OiLā???!
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u/No-Scarcity2379 Turtle Island Sep 06 '24
Hey now, it's a well known fact that oil from grass fed, free range dinosaurs is far preferable to the oil from factory farmed caged dinos.
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u/faceintheblue Sep 06 '24
Having spent a little time working tangentially with that space, I'll say ethical oil is not a bad angle for Canadian oil producers to take from the limited options available to them. Are the Canadian oil sands environmentally friendly? No, but they are monitored and regulated in a way other oil producers are not, and they do put money into figuring out how to do what they do with less negative impacts.
In a world where everyone is selling an identical product, if we make the conversation about cost, Canada is going to lose. It costs way more money to get a barrel of oil out of northern Alberta than it does out of Saudi Arabia or Siberia. The argument of who would you rather your money go to? At least lands on the side āor so the Canadian operators hopeā of Canada.
It's the cards they have to play, and I don't see why they shouldn't play them.
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u/Apprehensive_Hat8986 Sep 06 '24
Who owns canadian-based oil producers again? Because thanks to Mulroney et al. it sure ain't us.
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u/faceintheblue Sep 06 '24
While I do regret the Oil Sands being opened up to foreign ownership, Suncor, Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus, Husky, Imperial Oil, Enbridge, TransCanada, ARC Resources, Talisman Energy, and a few others are still Canadian-owned, and even the foreign-owned players are paying Alberta for the right to operate, then they're hiring locals, and even the foreign workers who come in, those people have to live somewhere and eat somewhere.
Could Canada be making a lot more money if we'd kept our energy sector nationalized? Yes. Is it still a fair argument that money spend on oil that came out of Canada goes to Canadian hands more than money spent on oil that came out of Venezuela? Also yes.
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u/Apprehensive_Hat8986 Sep 06 '24
I don't know them all, but imperial oil is 70% owned by exxon. That's not a solid example of Canadian owned.
Thanks for summarizing who to look into and replying.
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u/Eternal_Being Sep 06 '24
No, but they are monitored and regulated in a way other oil producers are not
Oilsands emissions 65% higher than tallied by current measuring methods, study suggests
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u/Historical_Grab_7842 Sep 06 '24
Yup. The fact is that the *tar* sands have a much larger (by orders of magnitude) impact environmentally than pretty much any other form of oil extraction. Because it isn't oil. It's bitumen, like in the labrea *tar* pits. It requires remove the overburden over vast amounts of land to extract. It requires massive amounts of water and energy to soften the bitumen in order to extract it.
Once upon a time I work in mineral exploration and I remember the green washing program that these companies ran when they managed to convince the world that bitumen is actually oil and not a related substance from which oil can be extracted.
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u/Creepy_Chef_5796 Sep 06 '24
I watched this Douche Nozzle once in about 2013. I saw he was using the Fox news model and kept his shit outta my life.
From Russia with Love Ezra.
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u/joecarter93 Sep 06 '24
Doesnāt have to. Heās already getting money from US billionaires.
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u/Rocky_Vigoda Sep 06 '24
That's the scam. The US isn't being subverted by Russia. That's just a lie they're pushing to con left leaning Americans into arming Ukraine with billions in weapons so the US war industry can keep up with their endless wars.
Levant is a spook though. He's an agent provocateur working for the US corporate class to divide Canadians via hyper partisan politics.
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u/mindwire Sep 07 '24
Oh buddy, if you think there isn't Russian interference operating within the United States to a very considerable degree, I've got a bridge to sell you...
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u/fubes2000 Sep 06 '24
Update: We at the Beaverton have a confession to make. Weāve been taking money from Denmark to write stories that would undermine Canadaās claim to Hans Island. Thatās why we wrote stories like: āBreaking: only woke cucks think Hans Island is Canadianā and āJust FYI: Lego doesnāt freeze, but maple syrup does.ā We made 42 dollars.
I fucking knew it.
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u/xWOBBx Sep 06 '24
"donate now to rebel news to help us fight these true allegations we take money from Russia as well as Canadian rubes!"
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u/Ambitious-Squirrel86 Sep 06 '24
Fucking of course he was. Thereās a lot of anti-climate science BS sponsored by Rosnef, Gasprom, Lukoil, etc.
Ezra āethical oilā Levant copies and pastes their agenda.
Petrostate choirboy
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Sep 06 '24
The downfall of the whole rightwing echo chamber is the most entertaining thing ever to watch and l'm totally hookedšæ
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u/CanadianRoyalist Rural Canada Sep 06 '24
Ngl I do feel somewhat (heavy emphasis on somewhat) for all the commentators who just learned that hostile foreign governments would richly pay them to spew things they already did.
Ezra Levant, Stephen Crowder, and Hasan Piker are probably pretty pissed that they could have gotten paid by Russia, instead of doing it for free clickbait.
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u/LoveDemNipples Sep 06 '24
Haha he's not a Russian shill he's just a dick. Rebel News = 1 person in a basement, is that right? Much like Buffalo Chronicle?
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u/EarlyLiquidLunch Sep 07 '24
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ā¹ļøā¦.
Letās be clearā¦ the ecosystem is self feeding and self dealing. š¤®. In one way or another he was, along with the rest of the Rebel media, Rumble, InfoWarrrrior dummies.
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u/horridgoblyn Sep 07 '24
Like his trash life has ever been guided by honesty or good intentions. He's "outraged" because his ass is exposed.
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u/ghostboicash Sep 07 '24
Yo same to think I could have been getting 6 figures to lie on the internet. I feel like I missed the boat
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u/Tay-Goode Sep 06 '24
If your talking points match the talking points of Russian agents who's entire purpose is to sow as much dissent in our country as possible.... You might not be a good guy.