German politician ‘filmed taking Russian money’
German politician ‘filmed taking Russian money’
Petr Bystron, of far-Right AfD party, allegedly given €20,000 by pro-Kremlin broadcaster
A German politician has been filmed taking large sums of cash from a Kremlin-supporting broadcaster, Czech intelligence has claimed.
Petr Bystron, who is standing for Alternative for Germany (AfD) at European parliamentary elections in June, allegedly received €20,000 (£17,000) in cash from the manager of a Russian propaganda network while sitting in a parked car, recordings indicate.
Mr Bystron, who also sits on the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, has previously denied allegations of taking Russian money as a “defamation campaign”.
The Security Information Service (BIS), the Czech Republic’s domestic intelligence agency, now says Mr Bystron met with Artem Marchevsky, who allegedly managed a Kremlin-backed propaganda front called Voice of Europe, at least three times in the past six months.
AfD, fucking russian stooges.
Of course fucking of course, I wasn’t askin’ I was tellin’
Some user at a .ml community the other day was mocking the idea that Russia was trying to destabilize Europe, comparing someone else's depiction of Russia as if it was an EU4 country. This is another piece of evidence that Russia has been financing far right politicians, parties and think tanks in several countries, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Despite being on .ml, there's a real issue with Tankies here. They hate the USA which...like fair enough, not exactly a paragon of virtue them. But then they go waaaay the other way and think China and Russia are utopian meritocracies, it's fucking bizarre.
There's a very common mental trapping in humans where, once you've identified a serious problem or antagonist, you immediately become more sympathetic to its opposites or declared rivals. A lot of them had a genuine, valid concern with a capitalist society that was screwing them over, turned that into an identity, and ended up in echo chambers where that fallacy wouldn't be called out. It's difficult to get them out of there because they feel like they have to defend their identity and their social group, so in the rare cases where they meet someone who does understand and share their valid anti-capitalist positions but is capable of reasonably calling out their campist bullshit, they immediately jump to think it's just "another lib" and refuse to engage.
From their basements in Utah.
Putin is not Russia
He is their dictator. When people say the name of a country they generally refer to their government. For example: Iran is violently misogynistic. The Iranian women who riot against the government’s misogyny are not, I’ve met multiple militantly feminist Iranians in fact. But people understand what I mean when I say that Iran is misogynistic.
I think it's easy to read between lines that I mean the Russian government, currently led by Putin, rather than personally accusing all Russians of being assholes.
And Hitler was not Nazi Germany? Believe it or not, but Putin is not the sole doer of all of Russia. There are a lot of people directly and indirectly involved in all of this shit and even more so are complicit by inaction. Many Germans knew what the Nazis did to the Jews and "traitors", but they still kept their mouth shut, ratted out their friends and neighbors, or had positions directly involved with the Nazis, so that they themselves could continue living a comfy life while others suffered and died by their own country. No, Putin is not Russia. But Russia still has a collective responsibility, and with that guilt, painting all of their hands in blood. And this type of debt will not be forgotten until a certain price has been paid.
Can we finally ban this anti-democratic, Russian-psyops-spreading POS of a political Party? I fucking hate the AFD with a burning passion you can't imagine. Everyone who votes for these fuckers just need to fucking cope that the war is over. Democratic Germany best Germany! Get rekt fascist keks.
Democratic Germany best Germany!
While I agree on the AfD sentiment, we're not exactly living in a democracy. When money/corporations have way more influence on politics than voters, that's not even remotely resembling democracy.
A flawed democracy is still a democracy - and Germany is widely regarded, despite some corruption, as one of the best-functioning democracies in the world (5th best according to the Democracy Matrix - which is admittedly from a German university - and 12th best according to the Economist's Democracy Index). There are no serious scholars doubting this.
Funny isn't it...all the time our right wing assholes talk about foreign traitors but in the end it's always them. I bet their Nazi grandfathers are rotating in their graves at lightspeed 😂
But Erich Honecker is laughing.
They know the most about how bribery works, and just assume everyone else is as corrupt as they are themselves.
So, in Germany, does anything happen to this Russia war enabler? Or is it like America where someone just screams "both sides" and "but his tan suit" and all courts and laws get disabled?
We call them "exceptions" here, they'll kick him out and say everyone else of the AfD is not like that. People will believe it and keep voting for them even harder because now. It's a shit show.
Well, his party is trying to make people forget he's in there for fear of losing votes. Given that this party is the "presentable" face of the hard right I hope he gets as much media attention as possible.
Not sure anything is going to happen to him personally but he's a politician and this is corruption so probably not.
My logic says yes but mostly it's gonna be PR issues. But reality says there won't be any other consequences because politicians don't like to oust other politicians and courts don't wanna get involved with separation of power issues.
So no but yes but no.
Darn.
Thanks for the info. (Not sarcasm)
Sure, Germany's conservatives take payments from Putin just like U.S. conservatives, but how many handjobs have they given in a theater full of kids? They need to step up their conservative game.
Pedophilia has a long and storied tradition in German politics. It's just part of their culture.
From the late 1960s until the early 1990s, with the authorization and financial support of the Berlin Senate, Kentler placed neglected youth as foster children in the homes of single pedophile fathers with the ostensible purpose of resocializing them, while explicitly encouraging sexual contact between them.
Jesus fucking christ. What a horrible day to be able to read....
What the actual fuck??????
I thought that sounded like a Behind the Bastards episode (The School that Raped Everybody), but that looks to be a different German child rape scandal about the Odenwald school.
This isn't a uniquely German problem >.>
yes, but it's important to know all details about each case, including nationality
Yep, and here in Fascistelli-d'Italia-land we've won the competition for the "most smartest" one I'm afraid:
Do you receive national treasures? I want to ship one. It's not very old, just 71 years, but it is most expensive national treasure.
I'm willing to ship it with Gelendzik Palace, just take it, please.
Before Ukraine Russia funded right-wingers because they were anti-EU. Some of them were quite open about it. I don't think anything has changed. Money just takes a longer route and people keep quiet about it.
So BIS/Czechia need to release the video to the public, not just claim they have it.
I hope there will be plenty more information on these nazis coming out before the elections.
How surprising... not. Here in hungary also the state party (fidesz) and their puppet party "mi hazánk" is controlled by putin
Too many Putin-worshipping Russians live in Germany. You can usually tell who they are by their names, when a 20-something guy is named „Karl“ or „Eugen“ or some similarly old-ass German name nowadays, they’re most likely Russian. It’s creepy why don’t they go live with their Führer?
I can belive in Eugen being russian Евгений, but Karl? Really, Karl?
Yep!
Don't know what can 20k euro achieve. Russia must be lacking of money.
Small enough to not get noticed, too little to cover their lifestyle for long, yet too convenient to not take :)
The big paydays usually happen through companies the politician and his ilk are in the board of, which just score very lucrative contracts or orders time after time. Or the politician is hired as a consultant for such companies, collecting fabulous kickbacks. Or the promise of early retirement into "window-looking jobs," employment where they have a title, high income and zero responsibilities.
If your blackmailing someone forcing them to take cash from you can them be used to blackmail the person further. They can press on them more, because they are now collaborators and won't get any symphony from the public or a jury.
I'd talk them into giving me lots of money, then reveal it, and donate it to Ukraine.
A noble thing if you could pull it off.
But stay away from windows for the rest of your life and always prepare your own tea.
I'm sure they can handle a little polonium in their diet...
That I'd be OK with. Or just pocketing the cash and telling their own agents who's bribing and how.
But this twat might be dumb enough to actually do some dumb shit in return.
Also 20k, are the Russians that broke? The dude so insignificant? Or this just the tip of the money pile?
Bro hadn't heard of Monero.
Seriously though, those Czechs are pretty keen on taking care of shit atm.
Not even the corrupt politicians believe in crypto lmao
FCK NZS
It's too bad politicians don't have an ethical score/rating, so that the citizenry can consider that when they choose who they vote for.
It turns out AfD is the SED, Socialist Unity Party of Germany all along.
It turns out AfD is the SED, Socialist Unity Party of Germany all along.
with a lot of Nazis...
Just like the SED.