Talk:Russia and Black Lives Matter

Two related topics that need attention
First, China and Black Lives Matter. Second, the wider context this issue existed before BLM. Some of it is described in the And you are lynching Negroes article. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 05:52, 12 September 2021 (UTC)

Lack of neutral point of view, failure to state conflicts of interest
This entry reads like a polemic, rather than a discussion of a topic that has been raised. The sourcing is heavily reliant on U.S. governmental agencies that are known for dissembling. The references often fail to state conflicts of interest, or are otherwise heavily biased.

The entry itself has not one source that takes an opposite or critical point of view towards the thesis that Russia is trying to interfere with U.S. elections by manipulating news about racism in the U.S. Nor does it ever mention U.S. electoral interference in other countries, including Russia. Let's take a couple examples. The article by Ryan L. Boyd, Alexander Spangher, Adam Fourney, Besmira Nushi, Gireeja Ranade, James Pennebaker, and Eric Horvitz, "Characterizing the Internet Research Agency’s Social Media Operations During the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election using Linguistic Analyses" (2018), is largely written by individuals at Microsoft.com. Microsoft holds contracts with the U.S. Defense Department and Intelligence Community totaling billions of dollars. Articles by such individuals should at least carry some statement of potential conflict of interest. Furthermore, it clearly states that much of its information comes from the U.S. Government, including intelligence agencies.

Another article, which purports to present an empirical basis for the claims of "increases in Russian disinformation activity on Twitter... [correlating] with increases in polarising conversations regarding the Black Lives Matter movement" was published in "Defence Strategic Communications: The official journal of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence," an official NATO publication. Yet another source is Edward Lucas's book, "The New Cold War: How the Kremlin Menaces Both Russia and the West." Lucas is a Senior Fellow of the European Centre of Policy Analysis, whose CEO and President was a leader of the Atlantic Council, a heavily pro-NATO think tank.

Over and over the article presents biased sources without any attempt to show any other side to the issue. This is not a "neutral point of view." It is a polemic. While the origin of sources is not necessarily a condemnation of the material presented, which may have some truth value, the failure to present any other point of view makes it difficult for the casual reader or researcher to determine, as no other point of view is presented, and links to intelligence and military sources are veiled. Basically, the article might make a good essay for a blog or an op-ed, it doesn't deserve to have a Wikipedia page, at least not in the form presented here. AntidOto (talk) 23:03, 13 November 2021 (UTC)AntidOto