The amount of disinformation shared in online forums is utterly disheartening. I follow it daily in war forums, where people just shoot off dishonestly to whip up righteous fury, and have zero interest in checking their assumptions. (Many are also just plants.)
Now, with the Moscow incident, I've also been watching similarly self-serving conspiracies run ahead of and against actual data. Sheer gamification of atrocity.
Guys, I really wonder about this whole "internet commons" thing sometimes.
@MLClark I'm concerned that Putin will use this to fire off tactical nukes in Ukraine, trying to look "tough."
It would be the typical strongman playbook. The terror attack, in his mind, make him look weak. So he has to do something that in his mind makes him look strong. Never mind if the true culprits are the target.
The irony is that we warned Russia two weeks ago, very publicly. Our intel was gold. He accused us of plotting against Russia. Oh well, we tried.