A platform specializing in conspiracy theories, Correctiv, has spread another crude theory ahead of the German federal election. Russia is allegedly intervening in the election through a multitude of websites, with false information being disseminated by “right-wing, Russia-affiliated influencers”according to Correctiv, which cites its own “research.”
This is the familiar conspiracy-theoretical juggling act, with which Correctiv “proves”its claims. A lot of conditional tenses, a lot of could, should and would, a lot of accusations, a lot of noise, little substance and much spin and propaganda. The inconsistencies start at the beginning of the article.
“Robert Habeck had a young woman abused years ago. Annalena Baerbock meets a gigolo on her African travels. The German military mobilizes 500,000 men for a military intervention in Eastern Europe (..) All these claims have something in common: they are disinformation, using AI and deepfakes and appeared on fake news websites. According to Correctiv’s research, they are part of a new Russian influence operation, codenamed ‘Storm-1516,’ which has been intervening in the election campaign for three months.”
However, the rumor about Baerbock’s African gigolo had already circulated in early August of the previous year. At that time, it was not yet clear that the government would collapse and new elections would be held. With a Russian influence operation that has been going on for three months to do with the Bundestag election, the African gigolo Baerbock can have nothing to do.
The amusing message – whether fake or not – was not even more than a laugh for a day. The problem with Baerbock as foreign minister is not her sex life, but her failure as a diplomat. She has led Germany into isolation and severely damaged the country’s reputation. The reason why many politics enthusiasts like to make fun of Baerbock is not in Russia’s interference, but in Baerbock herself. She does not possess the necessary competences to fulfill the office she holds and as a result, she often appears grotesque.
As with the “Secret Plan Against Germany”when Correctiv blew up a meeting in a Potsdam hotel, at which AfD politicians were also present, into a deeply contradictory report on an AfD conspiracy, it’s the same wild mix of misinformation in the now published “research”on Russian influence. Correctiv should know, having made the experience in the “Secret Plan Against Germany”how hard it is to deceive the German public effectively. Despite the support of the entire mainstream, which spread the conspiracy theory invented by Correctiv, the scam failed. The report was no more than sensationalist tabloid journalism without substance. With the now published report on a secret, Russia-controlled network to influence the Bundestag election, it’s the same.