Around 2013, it also became common to talk of the financial site ZeroHedge as Russian propaganda, although the accusation appears to date to 2011 (See http://streetwiseprofessor.com/peas-in-a-pod-occupy-rt-and-zero-hedge/ …). This accusation had no genuine basis, but nevertheless the hacking/leaks/meddling theory was forming.
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Meanwhile, in 2011 uprisings occurred throughout the Middle East during the "Arab Spring". Obama/Hillary favored the ousting of governments in Libya, Syria, and Egypt, while Russia generally opposed them.
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So the Syrian Civil War began in 2011, and Russia favored Assad while the US favored various insurgents including rebels that either aligned with or later became ISIS. This put the US and Russia in almost direct conflict and heightened tensions.
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So, by 2013 the deep state had become very anti-Russia due to the Syria/ISIS situation and the Snowden situation. In 2014, unrest in Ukraine led to the Russia annexation of Crimea, and this further increased anti-Russian sentiment and rhetoric from US politicians.
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At this point, Donald Trump enters the scene. A natural isolationist, he wonders why the US is getting involved in all this. What's the point of supporting ISIS over Assad? What's the point of sanctions over Crimea? What's in this for Americans?
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So Trump enters the presidential race in 2015, and it quickly becomes clear that, unlike Hillary, he is interested in detente with Russia. Needless to say, Putin likes what he hears (Putin doesn't want direct conflict or sanctions with the US).
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When did the "Russia is meddling in our democracy/hacking our election" meme start, specifically? I think it must have been immediately after Assange/Wikileaks first leaked any campaign documents related to the 2016 election.
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Assange was of course a "known Russian agent" (note: not really), so any leaks related to the election were obviously attacks by Putin on American Democracy. This became the conventional wisdom even before Hillary accused Russia of these leaks during the debates.
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Naturally, after the election the obvious scapegoat was Putin. Putin meddled with American Democracy (note: there is little to no evidence for this) and prevented Her from taking Her rightful position.
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What's the big point here? That all of this started with speculation about Assange and Wikileaks that simply became accepted without evidence due to geopolitical considerations and the need for a scapegoat.
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(We could include the Crowdstrike report or the "17 intelligence agencies" stuff in here, but all of that was actually a result of the unfounded suspicions that were whipped up in the wake of Snowden)
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