Switching Sides: When friends become enemies, and enemies become friends

Plus: The role of information operations in helping this realignment

VESPERS! With special guest New Yorker journalist Ben Taub, who will discuss his article “Russia’s Espionage War in the Arctic.” It’s a fascinating read that takes you into permanent nighttime along the Norwegian-Russian border, a freezing sandbox of sorts where Russia tests its intelligence operations before unleashing them across the rest of Europe. It will be a fascinating discussion.

WHEN: Thursday, March 13, at 6pm Europe, 5pm GMT, 1pm Eastern (NB: The US changes time March 9, Europe does not!)

A friendly reminder that Rant! is a reader-supported publication. Thank you for making this newsletter possible!

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ALEX’S WEEKLY RANT

The upside down. switching sidesPhoto by Trevin Rudy on Unsplash

A number of people contacted me after last week’s Oval Office fiasco—in which Trump and Vance verbally attacked the leader of a sovereign nation at war—asking if I’d have an emergency Rant! to analyze the aftermath.

My main thought watching the disgusting episode was, “What a fucking piece of shit.” That didn’t seem very constructive for my readers, though, so I held out putting my thoughts into writing.

Now, after a week of processing what happened and gathering my thoughts, here is what I have to say: What a fucking piece of shit.

To be clear about that Oval Office coordinated and planned ambush takedown of Zelenskyy: Trump and Vance have zero interest in helping Ukraine, regardless of whether Zelenskyy signs a mineral deal, wears a suit, or kisses Trump’s ass with apologies.

Trump is realigning the US with Russia. That’s it. It’s that simple. Trump wants to be Putin, and so he wants the US and Russia to be friends. And he wants the US to look more like Russia.

Toward That End

This week, we learned that Trump cancelled intelligence sharing with Ukraine (it seems some of this had already been cancelled a month ago). He also cancelled weapons shipments to Ukraine. Furthermore, he has begun reaching out to Ukrainian opposition politicians to get them to push for elections (as I mentioned a few weeks ago: the push for elections in Ukraine is a Kremlin ruse, a backdoor for Russia to install a friendly regime). That plan didn’t work; both opposition politicians categorically squashed the idea of holding elections while the country is at war.

Meet our new allies: Russia

Then yesterday, news came out that Trump plans to prioritize for deportation some 240,000 Ukrainian refugees in the United States—people who sought asylum, are in the country legally, and who pay taxes (unlike, for example, Elon Musk).

As former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis lays out in this excellent thread, it is likely the Trump-Putin pact has already been decided and these moves by Trump are fulfilling the promises of concessions Trump has already made (while getting nothing in return for the US; I wonder what Trump himself gets in return?). Below is an excerpt. Read the full thread here.

I agree with Landsbergis. These concessions make much more sense if we accept Trump is realigning with Putin. We are switching sides.

Return to the Upside Down

The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia. —George Orwell, 1984

I want to return here to what I wrote a few weeks ago about inverting the truth. In order to carry out this realignment, to make the US and Russia friends, the Party must change the meaning of things.

Truth, Inverted

After months (years?) of calling on Europe to step up and take charge of Ukraine’s security, Trump and his minions now call Europeans who are increasing defense spending and talking about supporting Ukraine “war mongers,” claiming they are actively trying to stop peace in Ukraine. Whereas Russia, they claim, is the one seeking peace.

This is not true, of course. The fastest way to peace in Ukraine is for Russia, which started the war, to withdraw all its troops and hand back the Ukrainian land it is occupying and return Ukraine to its legal, sovereign borders. Helping a country defend itself from a tyrant and his tankie invasion is not being a war monger.

Just yesterday, Russia’s Sergei Lavrov called France’s President Emmanuel Macron “very, very confrontational” for suggesting France would help defend Europe from Russian aggression. This, from the top diplomat of the country that drove tanks into Ukraine, which seems, to me, very, very confrontational.

No one wants to invade Russia (except maybe China). Seriously, Europe would be happy if Russia just fucked off home and minded its own fucking business.

Everything Trump is saying, the Kremlin is also saying. Weird.

Of course, it isn’t just Trump and his minions pushing these lies. Putin and his minions are, too!

Probably just a coincidence.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the announcement of suspension of US military aid to Ukraine the best contribution to the cause of peace. Kremlin propaganda mouthpieces praised Trump as a true leader striving for “peace and prosperity.”

So, those who want peace—a true, just, and lasting peace—and want to defend a sovereign nation that has been invaded are now war mongers, while those who started the war and want to take over a sovereign nation by force are the peaceniks. Got it?

Free Speech in the Upside Down

Again, the inversion of truth is necessary for our leaders to maintain power in this environment. Which is why we saw an alignment of words, as well, between the Trump administration and the Kremlin.

During the Munich Security Conference, JD Vance attacked Europe’s stance on regulating media platforms in an effort to curb information and influence operations. “In Washington there is a new sheriff in town, and under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square agree or disagree,” Vance said, adding: “Dismissing people, dismissing their concerns … shutting down media, shutting down elections … protects nothing. It is the most surefire way to destroy democracy … If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you.”

This, from the VP of a president who tried very hard to shut down the results of an election, who has sued people for speaking critically of him in the public square, who has threatened to remove broadcast licenses of or ban from the White House media outlets he doesn’t like.

And yet, Vance’s speech was echoed recently by (wait for it…) Russia.

At the end of February, the EU suspended the broadcasting licenses of eight Russian media outlets as part of a new round of sanctions. These measures are meant to counter foreign influence operations, since these outlets are tools of state propaganda, not free media outlets. The Russian Union of Journalists, however, called the moves “the practice of bans and repressions against independent media” and a form of “political censorship” that deprives Europeans of access to “alternative information.”

Again, this is absurd and upside down. As EUvDisinfo puts it:

Freedom of expression has recognised limitations under international law. Political arsonists cannot hide behind the fig leaf of ‘freedom of expression’. The affected outlets have been documented as instruments in Russia’s information warfare, systematically spreading disinformation about Russia’s war against Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin sources often invoke values like press freedom to shield propaganda operations from accountability, while Russia itself has one of the world’s most restrictive environments for genuinely independent journalists.

See, in Russia, too, truth has been inverted.

There is a difference between stopping foreign, state-sponsored propaganda and influence operations and stifling the speech of journalists who criticize the Dear Leader or dare call it the Gulf of Mexico.

So, up is down. Black is white (actually, most everything is white with these guys). And Ukraine started the war and Russia wants peace and if you say otherwise, we might revoke your broadcast license because we support free speech.

Got it?

What a fucking piece of shit.

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THE WEEK’S LINKS

A roundup of things you should be reading

HOW THE RIGHT BECAME THE PARTY OF PUTIN

The right’s decade-long lurch toward Vladimir Putin’s Russia (Media Matters)

INTELLIGENCE SHARING IN THE AGE OF TRUMP

Trump Could Share Sensitive Intel with Russia, Former US Officials Warn (Kyiv Post)

WEAKENING AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY

State Department to Close Diplomatic Missions and Fire Employees Overseas (NYT)

A Sensitive Complex Housing a CIA Facility Was on GSA’s List of US Properties for Sale (Wired)

Inside US spy agencies, workers fear a cataclysmic Trump cull (Washington Post)

DON’T SAY (ENOLA) GAY

Mentions of Enola Gay flagged for removal as part of Pentagon purge of DEI (AP)

EXCELLENT RESOURCES!

Just Security has launched WHAT JUST HAPPENED? as well as a litigation tracker to help readers keep up with the chaos

Lawfare is tracking all Executive Orders and related lawsuits and providing excellent and needed analysis

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Alex Finley is a former officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa and Europe. She writes and teaches about terrorism, disinformation / covert influence, and oligarch yachts. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Reductress, Funny or Die, POLITICO, The Center for Public Integrity, and other publications. She has spoken to the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, France24, and numerous other media outlets. She was also invited once to speak at Harvard, which she now tells everyone within the first ten seconds of meeting them. She is the author of the Victor Caro series, satirical novels about the CIA. Before joining the CIA, Alex was a journalist, covering Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy. She reported on issues related to national security, intelligence, and homeland security. Did she mention she was invited to speak at Harvard?

Look at that beautiful smile! I look pretty happy, too.