{"id":5209,"date":"2018-03-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/europeanvalues.cz\/kremlin-watch-briefing-us-and-uk-strengthen-their-positions-the-eu-and-the-dutch-trip-over-their-own-feet\/"},"modified":"2021-12-16T12:21:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T10:21:57","slug":"kremlin-watch-briefing-us-and-uk-strengthen-their-positions-the-eu-and-the-dutch-trip-over-their-own-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/europeanvalues.cz\/cs\/kremlin-watch-briefing-us-and-uk-strengthen-their-positions-the-eu-and-the-dutch-trip-over-their-own-feet\/","title":{"rendered":"Kremlin Watch Briefing: US and UK strengthen their positions, the EU and the Dutch trip over their own feet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weekly monitor of pro-Kremlin disinformation effort in Europe. We follow best European analysts, best counter-measures and trends.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Topics of the Week<\/h2>\n

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The European Commission\u2019s high-level group of experts<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0have issued a report on disinformation. It has little significance in practice and\u00a0<\/em>completely circumvents the issue of hostile disinformation operations<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, the\u00a0<\/em>EEAS East STRATCOM Task Force, the only EU institutional group with serious clout in countering disinformation operations, is under fire<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by the Dutch Parliament.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Who poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter?<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0According to the Kremlin\u2019s official channels, it might have been British intelligence, the CIA, or even Ukraine, but certainly not Russia!<\/em><\/p>\n

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In its strongest response to Russian interference thus far, the\u00a0<\/em>Trump administration has imposed new sanctions against a total of 24 Russian entities<\/em><\/strong>, including the 13 Russian individuals and three organizations charged in the recent Mueller indictment for meddling in the 2016 election.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Good Old Soviet Joke<\/h2>\n

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Stalin is dead and, relatively speaking, things have begun to lighten up. An old couple live in an apartment in Moscow and she sends him out to buy some meat for supper. After queueing for the obligatory three hours, he finally arrives at the counter, only for the clerk to announce \u201cNo more meat, meat finished.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cracks and starts raving, \u201cI fought in the Revolution, I fought for Lenin in the First World War and for Stalin in the Second World War and we are still in this shit?\u201d<\/p>\n

A leather-jacketed brigade takes him aside and says, \u201cLook, old man, you know you can\u2019t talk like this. Just think, a few years ago you would have been shot for saying these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The old man trudges home. Seeing him empty-handed, his wife says, \u201cRun out of meat again, have they?\u201d<\/p>\n

He replies, \u201cIt’s worse than that \u2013 they\u2019ve run out of bullets.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Policy & Research News<\/h2>\n

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The EU says it wants to be more active against disinformation. Does it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The high-level expert group established by the European Commission in January, which is tasked with advising on policy initiatives to counter disinformation, has issued its first\u00a0report<\/a>. Here is our brief analysis:<\/p>\n