The easiest way to hide the incompetence of local european politics, be it expensive diesel or the upcoming economic prices is to blame it all on russia.

Volkswagen is laying off 100k of workers, because they can't make cars people can afford anymore... blame russia! Germans fed up with merz and vote afd? Russia! Macron doesn't even have 20% of support in polls anymore? Russia! Stub your pinky on the corner of the bed? russia!

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galangalalgol 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It seems unlikely they would let any political divisions or legitimate grievances go unexploited. It is their cultural core competency for centuries. That does not mean the greivances being exploited aren't valid, or that the parties themselves don't aid in the fracture so they don't have to worry about competition with parties whose ideology is too close to theirs.

Edit: This is reductive, Russia has tons of culture besides this trait, but it is the fundamental strategy that allowed a landlocked state with no natural borders to survive and expand. When you learn a strategy to survive or cope with adversity, it sticks long after it is beneficial.

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ajsnigrutin 2 hours ago | parent [-]

But all those political divisions are a result of national politics of those countries. People want higher wages, less taxes, affordable housing, more recently cheaper gas/diesel, and in the last decade (or more in some places), less foreign migrants. If no other political party will do anything about that, people are forced to vote for Alternatives (intentionally capitalized).

Especially after all the anti-russian propaganda being false ("three days of rockets left", etc.), after double standards ("ukraine is being attacked, we must help them!", vs "israel is commiting a genocide, we must continue selling them weapons", and "iran was attacked by our buddies, let's send nato (uk, etc) planes to shoot down their counterattacks"). Americans started a war that hurts us every time we go to a gas station and no politician even points a finger at them, no sanctions, no nothing.

It's not russia exploiting the divisions, it's the eu governments being incompetent to the levels never seen before, be it local national governments or EU levels (eg. 3eur customs on everything from china, chat control, etc.).

Look at this for example: https://cbnunfiltered.com/macrons-approval-rating-falls-to-h... macron has 16% approval rating, while 81% see him "unfavorably"... how shitty of a politician do you have to be to not step down when 81% of the country hates you?

If the governments listened to what people wanted and did at least something in that direction (again, top paragraph), people would not be looking for Alternatives (again, intentionally capitalized). Since they don't the Alternatives are the only thing left.

	▲	rwyinuse 6 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The way I see it, both things are true - European politicians and major parties have stirred anger by their incompetence, AND Russia has exploited this anger for their own purposes. EU has huge flaws, but it's still better than Russia. Germans, French and the British may not understand it, but us unfortunate enough to live next to Russia do. There is a reason why Poland, Baltic countries and now even Finland and Sweden joined NATO. Russia is ruled by evil, murderous tyrants (as is always has been), while EU elite is merely lazy, greedy and incompetent. I'll choose pro-EU parties over pro-Russian parties as long as EU is not bombing children's hospitals and massacring civilians. I can only hope citizens of other countries do the same, or otherwise there's a pretty good possibility my country will face what Ukraine has suffered.
	▲	glenstein 4 minutes ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		This is a completely all over the place gish gallop. Both can be true: there's real reporting on acts of sabotage that aren't made up, and there are domestic tensions happening independently of that. The skill is keeping both things in your mind at the same time.
	▲	koonsolo 5 minutes ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		> But all those political divisions are a result of national politics of those countries. Do you claim that Russia doesn't invest in disinformation campaigns against the West?
	▲	IAmBroom an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		All that's being said is, "Russia is known to exploit political conflicts to harm their enemies". WHY those conflicts exist is irrelevant. No one is saying it absolutely, unquestionably was Russian interference. Just that it could be. EDIT: OK, at least one person is saying that. But most people are likely thinking, "Well, could be, might not be... dunno."

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nmeofthestate 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Explosive-equipped drone attack on airport - Russia! Numerous arson attacks on businesses supplying Ukraine - Russia! Country invaded, cities destroyed, tens of thousands of civilians killed, raped, tortured - Russia.

	▲	koonsolo 10 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Don't forget the 2014 Vrbětice explosions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Vrb%C4%9Btice_ammunition_...