Anonymous U.S. Intelligence Officials use Associated Press to Smear Financial Blog Zero Hedge
Posted on 02/15/2022
As the U.S. battles rampant inflation, the Biden administration is looking for a way for the U.S. to confront Russia in the Ukraine and possibly start a war. Both the U.S. and Russia are countries with large armies and with nuclear power capacity. The United States is warning that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day”. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday that the U.S. was shuttering its embassy in Kyiv. Russia has demanded the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
79-Year-Old Man, a Comedian, and Vladimir – Brinksmanship
U.S. President Joe Biden is the oldest person (age 79) to assume the presidency and his political enemies (many Republicans) have accused him of having dementia or being a sundowner. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is an actor and comedian that is the 6th president of the Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin is a former intelligence officer of the KGB. Russian forces continue to have a presence on its borders with the Ukraine. Now the AP is reporting that “Anonymous” U.S. intelligence officials have accused a popular financial blog called Zero Hedge of pushing Russian propaganda. Zero Hedge, which uses Fight Club’s Tyler Durden as a mascot, has 1.2 million Twitter followers and takes contrarian views on a wide range of issues. Zero Hedge denied the claims and said it tries to “publish a wide spectrum of views that cover both sides of a given story.” In a response posted online Tuesday morning, the website said it has “has never worked, collaborated or cooperated with Russia, nor are there any links to spy agencies.”
Older Americans grew up during the Cold War, where it was the U.S. vs. the USSR (Soviet Union). Polls show older Americans favor intervention in the Ukraine, while millennials and zoomers don’t want to get involved. As the U.S. expanded NATO to the East, Russia has increased its defensive posture, signaling a redline of having Ukraine join the alliance bloc.
From an institutional investor stand point, a war between the U.S. and Russia, would likely impact U.S. stock markets, as well as disrupt energy supplies. Furthermore, both pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and other asset owners would be impacted if they are investing in either the U.S. or Russia over sanctions, etc. However, the U.S. stock market didn’t react as bad when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 when Biden was Vice President.
Low Trust in U.S. Media and Corporate/Media Collusion
The U.S. media is notorious for linking any political leader, including a former U.S. President (Donald Trump) or news sites, that says anything positive about Russia as an agent of Vladimir Putin or “Russian bot”. U.S. President Trump was even impeached by Nancy Pelosi’s House of Representatives over a phone call with Ukraine government officials (unheard of in U.S. history). Many Democrats call the former president a Russian agent, even through Trump increased sanctions on Russia. There are countless examples in the public record of this. For the first time, Edelman’s annual trust barometer revealed that fewer than half of all Americans acknowledge any kind of trust in the mainstream media. 56% of Americans said they agreed with the following statement: “Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.”
A while back, Bloomberg published fake news about Russia invading the Ukraine, which Bloomberg quickly retracted.
As a matter of journalistic and research principles, in many circumstances, SWFI tries to avoid publishing talking points of people “off the record” in political media stories.
