comment: >
  
  no surprise
context: For anyone playing along at home, this is more about the Tories billionaire donors. All those russian oligarchs, whose unsanctioned children have massive uk property portfolios have been in their ear telling them the way to do things, then these donors go and make demands of politicians.
  Of course the tories don't want any light shone on these issues, their sources of funds are at risk. >
  
  
  Russian interference didn't need to be 'found'. It was blatant
  there was no inquiry, so we can't draw conclusions about the nature of the interference or the hacking attacks by Russia
  They (the Conservative Party) suppressed this report with lies and bogus reasons
  
  
  Dominic Grieve (Conservative)
  
  UK Government Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee until 2019 >
  
  Two words:  Lord Lebedev >
  
  As Paul Merton suggested, it would have been hilarious to make him Lord Lebedev Of Leatherhead, for the sake of alliteration, though actually, better he wasn't a Lord at all.
  He wanted to be 'Of Moscow'. Since Moscow isn't a domain of Britain, it would have been ridiculous and clearly, impossible, but he asked for it anyway perhaps showing how ridiculous his ego is. They gave him Hampton's title, an affluent village in the borough of Richmond-on-Thames.
  All of this does however illustrate the influence he holds over the Tories. When Boris Johnson won the general election, guess who hosted the party. Yep. He owns the Evening Standard and The Independent newspapers. >
  
  
  Since Moscow isn't a domain of Britain, it would have been ridiculous and clearly, impossible,
  
  His title is Lord Lebedev of Hampton and Siberia.
  Siberia isn't a British domain. >
  
  They actually added Siberia, or did he just append that himself? Wow. I suppose if they allowed it, would be due to it not being as controversial as having Moscow be said aloud when introduced at the House of Lords, not quite so on the nose.
  What on earth is going on in this country. >
  
  Maybe the kremlin promised him Siberia in exchange for Britain >
  
  Just imagine if all these billions upon billions of dollars/rubles/pounds had actually been used to improve Russia, itself, and make it a great country?  Rather than used to vengfully tear down the West purely out of spite.  Just imagine... >
  
  An EU with a democratic Russia would be a true superpower capable of standing up to the US and China, and democratic Russia would be by far the most powerful member. It would be everything Putin claims he wants for Russia. Goes to show you what his priorities actually are. >
  
  Yeah, but what’s the point of being the most powerful and having to share power? >
  
  power indeed shows a false and perverse sense of righteousness >
  
  “Might makes right.” >
  
  It's time to start investigating all cases of inactivity by security forces in western nations, in the face of Russian agents or suspected Russia sponsored mobs.     MI5 won't look?   Time to look at MI5. >
  
  Who will police the police? >
  
  The police police >
  
  Thank god we don't need some kinda police police police. I might start to worry >
  
  That’s what the police police police police are for, it’s all good! >
  
  Phew. I'll sleep easy tonight >
  
  <3 >
  
  Russia has done a great job of co-opting the right wing of the western world.  It kind of maps;  it’s all about power and money over scruples or compassion, while lying. >
  
  They basically united all unpopular marginals all over the world and west particularly, the mixed Christianity, Islam, LGBTphohia, racism, militarists and conservatives, fascists, nationalists and totalitarian regimes, anyone who would shit under themselves to harm US >
  
  Are you suggesting that they're all a basket of deplorables? >
  
  I would have gone with something more like "trash can" or "compost pile" >
  
  This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 86%. (I'm a bot)
  
  
  MI5 repeatedly refused to investigate evidence that an alleged Russian spy was attempting to cultivate influence with senior Conservative politicians and channel illegal Russian funds into the party, a Tory member has alleged in a new complaint lodged with the investigatory powers tribunal.
  Labour MP Ben Bradshaw said "Allegations that the security services ignored evidence from a Conservative whistleblower exposing Russian infiltration at the highest levels of the party are truly shocking" and claimed the "Conservative party's Russia problem" was an ongoing threat to Britain's national security.
  "If MI5 had taken action, Conservative Friends of Russia would never have launched and Nalobin would not have been allowed to get close to so many key Conservative politicians and party members."
  
  
  Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Nalobin^#1 Conservative^#2 Russian^#3 Cristo^#4 Russia^#5 >
  
  Sounds like Russian influence is already in MI5 so your just kinda F***ed >
  
  The tories in power stopped mi5 from investigating Russian meddling in Brexit and elections. 
  This is on the tories who have been turning a blind eye for decades to all of that money stolen from the Russian people that they oligarchs keep donating to the party coffers. >
  
  With this and then anti strike stuff you guys seem like your in rough shape. At least the PM got a seatbelt ticket... >
  
  Also criminalizing protests, giving the government to decide what is an acceptableform of protest. This is how it started in Russia, and then boiling the frog slowly. >
  
  thats how russia wants the rest, to get distracted with themselves or align with russia so they dont interfere in russian policies, eg ukraine. >
  
  Also, Russia would prefer to deal with Authoritarians, cause it's easier to deal with them 1:1. >
  
  Remember in the 80s when Russia was the boogeyman for all these conservatives? Kind of amazing to see the turnaround. >
  
  Money talks. >
  
  Big GOP energy >
  
  The Washington Post revealed last week that fraudster Congressman George Santos is deeply in the pocket of the Russians. Kevin McCarthy sees no problem with it. >
  
  It's extra ironic considering what the last congressman named McCarthy thought of the Russians... >
  
  Joseph McCarty used his red scare tactics to target all kinds of people he deemed unsavory, far beyond actual American communists. >
  
  That sounds like something a COMMIE would say!
  - McCarthy, probably >
  
  Sounds like the UK has the same russian bug problem we have here in the US. >
  
  I thought David Craig got rid of them! Oh, no; they just shipped them to the New World! >
  
  Let's throw a fun conspiracy theory out there, Brexit was a ploy from Russian intelligence to destabilize the European union as preparation for the Ukraine invasion. But it actually brought the EU closer together, as we figured out that more unity was needed. This is very similar to what happened in America with the trump administration pulling out of all kinds of international deals and treaties.
  Ps. Don't take this seriously, but it's certainly a fun thought experiment. >
  
  This is not conspiracy theory.
  Brexit was very much a Russian intelligence operation. Nigel Farage (and other prominent Brexit figures) had a job with RT, a state media company, whether he knew it or not he was a Russian asset.
  I'm not saying Brexit was entirely Russia, but they were definitely providing behind the scenes funding and propaganda. >
  
  I firmly believe the last few years have been a huge Russian information war to rile people up. It’s the reason why politics in the last decade has become so much more of an “us vs them” thing. Politics in general has become super polarised, largely due to social media which Russia figured out it could influence by having bots/Russian agents go and cause arguments and make people angry.
  Do that on a large enough scale and you can effectively create a system where the parties are so clearly defined that it’s easy to put your thumb on the scale and influence things to go a certain way. >
  
  ~~Friendly fyi: spy's (single spy) or spies' (multiple spies).~~ >
  
  I think it just looks a bit messy here becomes Russian spy's is surrounded by single quotes. >
  
  Oh shit, you're right. >
  
  It does resemble an apostrophe error though; I was thrown off for a few seconds myself. >
  
  That's why I always try to be polite when helping with grammar/spelling/punctuation.
  (1) it's always best to be polite; 
  (2) for all I know, English is a second language to them, and that means linguistically they're kicking my ass anyway; 
  (3) even if English is their first language, it could be they weren't provided with the right tools to get this right during their education, and that's not their fault; and 
  (4) I could easily fuck up, like I did here. And that's harder to come back from if you're a dick in the first place. >
  
  American Republicans need to be investigated too. >
  
  Mitch McConnell is literally in business with Deripaska / Rusal aluminum factories in Kentucky. There's a bunch of activity in Canada, too. >
  
  More stuff that we’ve known all along. Russian meddling in world affairs to promote right-wing conservative nationalistic agendas that would destabilize our democracies and allow for Russia to emerge out on top as a belligerent superpower with no-one to stop them. >
  
  Or at the very least, cause us to be so busy tearing ourselves apart we don't even notice that Putin's snapping up countries in Eastern Europe. >
  
  Really.. >
  
  Putin has been conservatives’ buddy for many years now. They have so much in common. >
  
  John Le Carre would have had a field day with this story. >
  
  Thanks.  I'll give it a look.  Yeah, trump and his putin-sucking lips....  And the rest of the GOP along for the ride. >
  
  Look for Craig Unger books too >
  
  They didn't need to investigate. They already knew. >
  
  "You can't check up on everything, you never know what you might find!" >
  
  No, MI5 did investigate. MI5 now have much evidence against certain Conservative ministers. >
  
  Lol seeing this right after having finished watching Treason on Netflix. >
  
  It is clear Russia has been very successful at infiltrating and undermining the West as a precursor to aggressive military and economic imperialism. >
  
  It sure seems like conservatives in the west keep having Russian ties and governments keep refusing to investigate.
  They do love to talk about accountability though, don't they? >
  
  Looks like MI5 and the FBI have something in common >
  
  Yes, they both have 👀, but can't see! >
  
  Russian money has been pouring into London, Germany, etc since the end of the Cold War. I don’t think they bought only estates and luxury goods with it. >
  
  Where's George Smiley when you need him? >
  
  As an American, I can tell you I’ve seen this episode. It doesn’t end well >
  
  I bet there is a link with Republicans. >
  
  The current speaker of the house was caught on tape saying the politicians he suspected to be paid Russian assets and this included Trump. It’s like no one remembers this. >
  
  But, the GOP are treating Santos the same way by sticking their heads in the blistering hot sand trap holes at Bedminster Golf Course in NJ. Oh, NJ! >
  
  so from the GOP to French National Front to Alternative for Deutschland to the Tories, basically all conservative parties are backed by Putin.  Talk about an ideology that attracts patriotism virtue-signalers who will sell out their own nations and communities for a shot at self-promotion. >
  
  It’s not only the French National Front:
  Le Pen, Mélanchon, Zemmour, Dupont-Aignan, Fillon, Mariani, Philippe Olivier, Pozzo di Borgo, Ségolène Royal, Védrine…
  All of them have familiarity and friendly ties with the russians. >
  
  Oh, so they took theirs bribes and now want to sarko Putin Kadafi style?
  Nice. >
  
  Well to be fair putin put himself in that situation, while kadafi didn't attack any foreign country >
  
  I hope that whistleblower hires himself some decent bodyguards, because they WILL come after him. >
  
  Russians own a stupid amount of real estate in London.  You Brits need to wake up and stop voting conservative. >
  
  To be clear. All these intelligence agencies are still conducting these investigations. They’re just filing that shit away >
  
  Can’t have agencies investigating each other now can we >
  
  What's the British version of "good old boys"? >
  
  Etonians, probably >
  
  Sounds so familiar from across the pond in the US >
  
  Ruzzian pawns at every level of every govt the world is so fucked if left unchecked >
  
  Issue is though that you can only check a king, not the pawns. >
  
  Of course it was in Russia interest, It did not just screw the UK hard, it also weakened the EU considerably. >
  
  Typical hypocrisy that is now unfortunately the norm. Tories are the conservative party in the UK and they play the same game as the GQP. Lies, lies, more lies, deflect, deny, deflect some more, deny again, keep lying then run and hide. Disgusting behavior from the people that are supposed to be our leaders. Makes you wonder just exactly that says about those of us that chose them. That, to me, is even more disturbing. >
  
  There’s nothing western foreign intelligence offices love more than aiding autocrats. >
  
  MI5 is remit is domestic intelligence, MI6 is the foreign intelligence service. >
  
  The Russian government is a plague on the world. >
  
  This a good time to remind everyone that SNP policy is fully backed and in support of Russian interests. >
  
  It's king and country not king and Tories.
  Corrupt hypocrits... >
  
  Or that Russian disinformation led to Brexit. The British public would love that. >
  
  UK politics is so completely fucked when it comes to Russia.  The Tories have extensive financial records showing they're pretty much bought and paid for.  And Labour has people like Corbyn willing to do it for free.  Couldn't even get an anti-Brexit stance during that election. >
  
  I can't believe brexit is even a thing, let alone a widely supported thing, when it's so obviously and blatantly engineered self destruction >
  
  They've managed to convince the right that the EU takes away their national sovereignty and forces immigration and loss of culture upon them, and they've managed to convince the far left that the EU is a capitalist imperialist empire standing in the way of countries trying to achieve socialism. >
  
  There is a reason in the past nations used capital punishment against traitors. Perhaps that should be revisited. >
  
  It is. Look up "Prigozhin sledgehammer". >
  
  The British outrage when they realize the reason Boris Johnson made such a loud noise of helping Ukraine was to get them to forget the Tories had already been bought by Moscow; >
  
  Makes sense. Because after all, whats the point in bribing another country when that bribe wont stop them from funding a war against you. >
  
  It's comical how many idiots here think the Tories were in Russias pocket. Some pocket. >
  
  It's not that they were in Russia's pocket - it's that Russia's interests happened to align with theirs and they are opportunists. 
  Someone is willing to finance you to achieve your own already existing goals? Well if you already wanted to do it you aren't technically selling out. Who cares to wonder WHY Russia wants to promote your toxic politics? 
  The likes of Johnson wanted Brexit. Russia helped them get it. That doesn't mean Johnson was loyal to them. The only person he is loyal to is himself. As soon as it became unprofitable/unpopular to be seen aligned with Russia he made a show of visiting Kyiv as much as possible and fortunately funding Ukraine was a good way to wipe the slate clean of already accusations of Russian ties. Every time pressure was applied at home he was on that jet to Kyiv hoping for a war time PM poll boost by looking like Churchill (in his mind) as he wasted Ukrainian people's and officals time for a photo shoot.
  The Russians likely always knew that you can't trust a Tory except to act in their own interests. But who cares if they turn on you if you already got what you wanted from them? >
  
  So anything Russia does is a poison pill and all you have to do is get people to believe your enemy is aligned with them? Can't go wrong >
  
  Foundations of Geopolitics (Putins alleged playbook) literally described sperating the UK from Europe as a major goal. Supporting Brexit achieved that goal. 
  Also London being so lax on taxes made it a great place to launder dirty money - for the Russians and others.
  Boris personally received sums in the hundreds of thousands in 'donations' from former Russian officials. >
  
  Sounds familiar. >
  
  Isn't the Tory government really hurting Russia with the support the UK is giving to Ukraine? How does this fit into the narrative that there's serious Russian control of the Tories? Are they just fishing for bigger payouts? >
  
  The real Russian spies were the friends we made along the way >
  
  This is the problem with United Kingdom. They have such tight power circle it becomes very corrupt. They ignore what suits them on an incredible centric level. >
  
  It suits the tories .. most of them thick as two planks but their family background keeps them in power. And then the public keep voting for them. It’s a circle of doom for the UK. >
  
  Dorian gets away >
  
  Yeah they’ve infiltrated everything. Same with the fascist kkk variants in America. Surely chinas got spies in place as well. We are in world war 3.  Feeding hatreds.. brexit, maga christofascists screaming how they have all the guns and want a civil war in the us. Canada spikes in bullshit. Tentacles embedded everywhere whispering money in their ears. >
  
  Refused or ordered to not do so? Both are bad, but one is worse than the other. >
  
  and it was the CIA that warned Ukraine >
  
  This would never have happened if Harry Pearce was still in charge of Section D