Here at Neokrat, in the words of the immortal Inspector Clouseau, we suspect no one and we suspect everyone.
The point, however, is that we run things on a strictly evidence-based approach, so, when we see something being claimed on the internet, we immediately look for two things: the viral pattern by which something is being spread and the hard evidence for what is being claimed.
The point, however, is that we run things on a strictly evidence-based approach, so, when we see something being claimed on the internet, we immediately look for two things: the viral pattern by which something is being spread and the hard evidence for what is being claimed.
Judged by this metric, the latest Putinchud meme appears to be low-grade Kremlin propaganda. This claims that the US Midterms (disappointing for Trump), the Biden administration, the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange, and the war in the Ukraine are all linked in a giant money-laundering operation to funnel taxpayers money into the Democratic Party.
This meme, after swirling round the Twitter-sphere and other unregulated corners of the internet, is now making its way into the lower reaches of mainstream media, such as GBNews, where one of their frequent guests, Calvin Robinson, was allowed to say this:
Note: We're going with a screen shot here because suspect this tweet could well disappear later. But Robinson is a fast-tracked low-IQ Mulato churchman with a visual gimmick of an afro and a dog collar who is the perfect conduit for shitty memes and fake narratives. Like several other regulars on GBNews (Neil Oliver also springs to mind), he combines low discernment with semi-mainstream access.
In the segment Robinson tweeted, he said the following:
"I think Ukraine is a corrupt regime, Nazi-sympathising regime, that is a massive money-laundering operation that is taking billions from the West and shovelling it back into suitcases full of millions to corrupt politicians."
Yeh, the "Ukraine is muh Hitler" bit gives it away. This is clearly a dumbass who swallows Putinchud takes on an industrial scale. But is there any evidence at all that there is some sort of Taxpayers > Biden > Zelenskly > FTX > Democrat Party cash pipeline?
The Blaze, which occupies a similar media niche in the US, comes closest to fleshing out this latest conspiracy theory, but there too the "evidence" is merely low-grade, unproven implication:
Note the use right away of the weasel term "had ties to"? Just a reminder that everything "has ties to" everything else, especially a major crypto exchange like FTX, so this means nothing unless you know what those ties actually are. So, what are they?
The article turns out to be mainly a rehash of old stories about FTX that have nothing to do with Ukraine, like this:
"In 2021, FTX inked a reported $135 million, 19-year deal with the NBA’s Miami Heat to rename the American Airlines Arena as FTX Arena," CNN reported. "Major League Baseball struck a five-year deal in 2021 to name FTX as its official cryptocurrency exchange, a partnership that includes putting FTX patches on umpires’ uniforms."
So, ulp. FTX had "sinister" ties to Major League Baseball! And this:
"Before his cryptocurrency exchange collapsed, Bankman-Fried was a major financier of the Democratic Party.MarketWatch reported, "SBF [Sam Bankman-Fried] contributed more than $5 million to Joe Biden and groups supporting him during his 2020 presidential campaign. He said he was motivated by Biden’s 'generic stability and decision-making process.'"Bankman-Fried gave Democrats nearly $37 million in the 2021-2022 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets. SBF was the second-biggest individual donor to the Democrats, only to be surpassed by $128 million from George Soros."
Yeh, some dweeby tech nerd was into Left-leaning causes and/or sucking up to big government. That wouldn't be the first time or the last. This is not news. But, remember, the supposed story here is actual taxpayer-funded support for the Ukraine being funnelled back to Joe Biden in kickbacks. Is there anything at all on that?
Well, they've got this:
"Curiously, the Ukrainian government launched a cryptocurrency donation website in March that was backed by FTX."
"Curiously" btw is another weasel word.
"CoinDesk reported in March, 'Aid for Ukraine, which has the backing of crypto exchange FTX, staking platform Everstake, and Ukraine’s Kuna exchange, will route donated crypto to the National Bank of Ukraine, Everstake’s Head of Growth Vlad Likhuta told CoinDesk. Ukraine’s crypto-savvy Ministry of Digital Transformation is also involved....' Earlier this month, FTX already converted $1 million worth of SOL and transferred it to the National Bank of Ukraine."
Um, yeh, FTX allowed people to donate crypto to the Ukraine. My guess is they allowed people to use their exchange to donate money to the local dogs' home as well.
This is not proof of any money-laundering involving billions. But, still, in the lazy, low-IQ retweet culture of the present day it is easy for state-controlled troll factories and meme farms to push dubious narratives like this through the goo of the internet and the countless useful idiots out there.
We will wait for further developments (and evidence, if there ever is any) with an open mind, but twats like Calvin Robinson and websites founded by Glenn Beck already running with the non-story are red flags that we are probably wasting our time by even paying attention to this story.
This is not proof of any money-laundering involving billions. But, still, in the lazy, low-IQ retweet culture of the present day it is easy for state-controlled troll factories and meme farms to push dubious narratives like this through the goo of the internet and the countless useful idiots out there.
We will wait for further developments (and evidence, if there ever is any) with an open mind, but twats like Calvin Robinson and websites founded by Glenn Beck already running with the non-story are red flags that we are probably wasting our time by even paying attention to this story.
It's funny how low-IQ people think money laundering works.
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