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Slovenian officials blame Israeli firm Black Cube for trying to manipulate vote

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Re: Slovenian officials blame Israeli firm Black Cube for trying to manipulate vote

#21
post #5

[flagged]

The truth is the truth, whether or not it might align with a narrative or stereotype. For example: NSA wiretapping was a truth that happened to align with pre-existing conspiracy theory narratives. It was easy to dismiss it as a crackpot theory, but that didn’t make the truth any less (or more) true. If someone says “if you believe this might be true, you’re [a bad person]”, I would consider this person fundamentally…

With so many conspiracy theories becoming truth and so much news proving to be lies over time, I now have more trust in something labeled as a conspiracy theory than in official news.

Re: Slovenian officials blame Israeli firm Black Cube for trying to manipulate vote

#22
Am I mistaken but in theory aren't Solvenia and Isreal technically allies ?

I'm not naive to believe intelligence agencies don't target each other in many ways, but general voting interference seems quite brazzen. I would love to see an example being made out of them here.

That said, bar sanctions, Isreali 'private' companies like this seem to have carte blanch on whatever they want to do. No sanctions, no fines, not even investigations will happen I fear.

Re: Slovenian officials blame Israeli firm Black Cube for trying to manipulate vote

#23
I want to talk about Ticketmaster.

People hate Ticketmaster. For good reason. TM throws on all these fees, clearly engages in third-party selling, makings buying difficult and jacks up prices. All of this is known. But what's less known is that artists, especially big artists, like Ticketmaster. Why? Because TM is a sacrificial anode. It takes all the hate but adding junk fees that in part go to the artist. The artist can say they're selling seats from as low as $20 in press releases while the least they will get for a seat is $30 because of all the fees.

Being hated is a service you can sell because it takes away attention from what you're doing. You get to blame this third-party but you're still absolutely complicit in everything they're doing. You see where this is going?

Israel is America's Ticketmaster. Anything bad that Israel or an Israeli firm does, the US could end today with a phone call by simply saying "we're cutting off aid if you don't stop doing". The price of this is to be the sacrificial anode for what is actually American foreign policy. There are well-funded and organized efforts to whitewash Israel's reputation and those were successful up until the last few years.

Israel is a huge supplier of spyware eg Pegasus [1]. Despotic regimes use this to spy on journalists and opposition figures and has likely been used to locate and kill them. You think we couldn't stop that? Of course we can. But we like that because, again, Israel takes the heat.

So Israel interfering in Slovenia's elections is the least surprising thing I've heard. I'd be surprised if it wasn't true. You will find Israeli influence in probably every election.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(spyware)

Re: Slovenian officials blame Israeli firm Black Cube for trying to manipulate vote

#24
post #17

Israel really needs to stop interfering in other countries' elections. That's not acceptable. We don't interfere when their population votes for warcriminals either.

This isn't Israel the state, it's a private company that's based in Israel.

gee I wonder what does the private company gain from defaming another country's "pro-Palestine" party.

Re: Slovenian officials blame Israeli firm Black Cube for trying to manipulate vote

#25
post #6

[flagged]

Sausage is made by all parties. If you show how one party makes its sausage, and only that party, that is a smear campaign a foreign power must not assist in. Same as donating to one party, it is interfering with electuons

Re: Slovenian officials blame Israeli firm Black Cube for trying to manipulate vote

#26
post #22

Am I mistaken but in theory aren't Solvenia and Isreal technically allies ? I'm not naive to believe intelligence agencies don't target each other in many ways, but general voting interference seems quite brazzen. I would love to see an example being made out of them here. That said, bar sanctions, Isreali 'private' companies like this seem to have carte blanch on whatever they want to do. No sanctions, no fines, not…

How are they technically allies? Israel is not in eu or nato.

If you mean broadly, western-minded, yes but slovenia expressed some uncomfortable positions for israel lately

Re: Slovenian officials blame Israeli firm Black Cube for trying to manipulate vote

#27
post #2

Alternate source due to paywall: https://www.politico.eu/article/black-cube-leak-tape-corrupt...

"The SDS says the recordings — which feature a former minister, a top lawyer and other prominent figures — are proof of corruption at the highest levels of Slovenian society; while Golob’s supporters say the scandal is evidence that Janša is collaborating with foreign entities to retake power." Sounds like they're all just different brands of scum.

If I had a choice in my country, and all else being equal, I would prefer the scum not supporting either Israel or Russia

Re: Slovenian officials blame Israeli firm Black Cube for trying to manipulate vote

#28
post #17

Israel really needs to stop interfering in other countries' elections. That's not acceptable. We don't interfere when their population votes for warcriminals either.

This isn't Israel the state, it's a private company that's based in Israel.

That's like saying that Raytheon doesn't advance US interests in the world

Re: Slovenian officials blame Israeli firm Black Cube for trying to manipulate vote

#29
post #24
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't Israel the state, it's a private company that's based in Israel.

gee I wonder what does the private company gain from defaming another country's "pro-Palestine" party.

...money?

My point is a simple one: the company was hired by someone. Was it the opposition party? To say this is entirely Israel's doing implies the Slovenian party that benefits just happens to have gotten lucky. The reality is likely considerably murkier than that.

Re: Slovenian officials blame Israeli firm Black Cube for trying to manipulate vote

#30
post #22

Am I mistaken but in theory aren't Solvenia and Isreal technically allies ? I'm not naive to believe intelligence agencies don't target each other in many ways, but general voting interference seems quite brazzen. I would love to see an example being made out of them here. That said, bar sanctions, Isreali 'private' companies like this seem to have carte blanch on whatever they want to do. No sanctions, no fines, not…

> but general voting interference seems quite brazzen.

It's also not a new tactic. During his '68 presidential campaign against Lyndon Johnson, Nixon convinced the South Vietnamese to not engage in peace talks with the Communists to weaken Johnson's campaign. The war went on for 7 more years and killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and Vietnamese.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/yes-nixon-sc...

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