Truest statement of the week

As is its method, the Times provides no facts to support the unsubstantiated claims of anonymous intelligence agents. The fundamental purpose of the article is to advance the anti-Russia foreign policy interests of US imperialism and to deny the existence of real social divisions in America. The latter assertion appears all the more absurd in the midst of the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus, injecting $1.5 trillion into the markets while leaving the working population to fend for themselves.
Russia is “amplifying divisions among races” by publishing “stories emphasizing allegations of police abuse in the United States and highlighting racism against African-Americans in the military,” the Times claims. These “divisive racial narratives” are proof that the Russians are “weaponizing race” in order to “damage the country’s social fabric.”
The Times expresses its frustration that the government cannot censor articles and social media posts that fan “division,” writing: “Because Russia is trying to amplify the messaging of existing groups, its interference is difficult for American officials to combat given First Amendment protections for speech.”
The Times’ is tapping into its own anti-communist—and racist—traditions. Its March 10 article echoes the paper’s headline of August 21, 1930, “World Negro Rising Said To Be Soviet Aim.” At that time, the Times wrote, “The Soviet is busy stirring up unrest among the Negro masses in Africa and America.” Soviet “agents” are “working among the colored races” and have provoked “Negro unrest in the United States.”

-- Eric London, "New York Times hypocritically accuses Russia of “weaponizing race” in 2020 elections" (WSWS).