Around the time of the Snowden revelations there was a lot of chat about the west's efforts to further their interests with sockpuppets and paid trolls, but this conversation vanished, as usual. The sockpuppetry isn't exclusive to Russia[1-4], every country's goal is to further their own interests through propaganda. Nevermind the numerous aggressive intelligence and military operations to further US interests by outright placing figureheads in power.<p>It's in Russia's interest to destabilize and they accomplish this, if you could call their operations successful, by preying on westerners who trust media and take everything they read as fact. It's worth noting that they play both sides the aisle, so to speak, but the emphasis of these articles is the Trump victory in the election.<p>Ultimately though, the subtext here is blaming Russian sockpuppets for turning the tide and deciding the fate of the election, and it reeks of sour grapes.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Earnest_Voice" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Earnest_Voice</a><p>[2] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Strategic_Counterterrorism_Communications#Objective" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Strategic_Counterte...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Threat_Research_Intelligence_Group" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Threat_Research_Intellig...</a><p>[4] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_diplomacy_of_Israel" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_diplomacy_of_Israel</a>