Russia is sowing division here and in Europe to weaken the West. Make no mistake, Russia’s fingerprints are all over Charlottesville.

Consider, for example, the chant that was caught on local television footage as it was shouted by several dozen torch-carrying protesters who rallied against removal of a Confederate monument in a Charlottesville, Va., park last Saturday. "Russia is our friend!" they shouted. "Russia is our friend!" What, many observers must have wondered, did Russia have to do with the Confederacy? www.chicagotribune.com/...

Russia Is Supporting White Nationalist Groups Here & in Europe

Russia wants the European Union and NATO to fall apart and for Europe and America to devolve into divided, hostile, nationalistic, identity countries. The EU, NATO, and American/European alliances are counterbalances to Russian power. The lack of unity and coherence in Europe would weaken it against Russia. Likewise, if the US is taken over by Nationalists who are anti-globalists, anti-EU, and anti-Nato, this weakens US global power and US power over Russia. Russia also wants to weaken the US by causing dissension, disunity, and chaos in the US. The more divided we are and the more distracted we are by the problems we have to attend to at home, the weaker we are against Russia and the Russian activities around the world. If the US and Europe are weakened globally, Russia can rise again in power.

The Alt-Right Rally Organizers in Charlottesville Have Open Ties to Putin

Richard Spencer was one of the main organizers of the “Unite the Right” rally. The rally was explicitly billed on posters as a “Pro-White movement rally.” Richard Spencer is a self-proclaimed Neo-Nazi. Spencer looks to Russia as the leader in the white power movement. He has called Russia the “sole white power in the world.” Spencer is married to a Russian writer and self-proclaimed “Kremlin troll leader.”

Richard Spencer is the founder of Alternative Right and the Radix Journal. Spencer has been on RT [Russia Today — Russian State Owned TV] as a commentator, and not a subject, a large number of times, usually talking about U.S. foreign policy. What they fail to mention is that Spencer is a leading white nationalist and has become the intellectual center of the “alt right” neo-fascist movement in America. antifascistnews.net/...

Spencer has ties to the man who they call Putin’s brain and Putin’s chief strategist, Alexander Dugin. Spencer accepts contributor articles from Alexander Dugin in Spencer’s web magazine. Spencer also brought Dugin via video to a meeting at Texas A&M.

White Nationalist Matthew Heimbach was billed as one of the organizers and speakers at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. Heimbach told Business Insider last year that "Putin is supporting nationalists around the world and building an anti-globalist alliance, while promoting traditional values and self-determination." Heimbach also said, "I really believe that Russia is the leader of the free world right now.” … He further stated that “Putin is the leader, really, of the anti-globalist forces around the world.” www.businessinsider.com/ … He further stated that “Putin is the leader, really, of the anti-globalist forces around the world.” www.mediaite.com/ … Alexander Dugin also recorded a speech for a Nationalist conference organized by Matthew Heimbach last year and has been a guest on InfoWars.

David Duke, the leader of the KKK, was also at the “Unite the Right” rally. David Duke has traveled to Russia so many times that he got an apartment there. Here are some of David Duke’s statements on Russia being their key to power:

It was enough to earn him [Putin] the support of former-KKK leader David Duke, who has shown sympathy towards the Russian president, writing in 2005 that “Putin and the Russian people dare to defend themselves from the powers of Jewish supremacism.” Duke for his part has been traveling to Russia, a country he once labeled “the key to white survival,” throughout the duration of Putin’s tenure. He was an early adopter in the belief that Russia, along with other Eastern countries, had the “greatest chance of having racially aware parties achieving political power.” http://www.mediaite.com/online/pat-buchanan-is-pretty-sure-god-is-on-putins-side/

David Duke praises Putin and Russia for being a Nationalist and Traditionalist country. David Duke’s anti-semitic book was openly sold in the main lobby of the Russian State Duma, the Russian Congress. “Preston Wiginton, a white supremacist from Texas who sublets Duke's Moscow apartment when he travels to Russia, has written that his ‘best friends’ in Russia — ‘the only nation that understands RAHOWA [Racial Holy War]’ — are "leading skinheads.’" www.businessinsider.com/... David Duke praises Putin and Russia for being a Nationalist and Traditionalist country. David Duke’s anti-semitic book was openly sold in the main lobby of the Russian State Duma, the Russian Congress.

Putin Established Himself As the Leader of Alt-Right Nationalists Worldwide

To cultivate these relationships with the Far-Right, Putin began a manipulation campaign years ago to establish himself as the leader of Far-Right worldwide and the Far-Right, feeling that they had been marginalized in the West, accepted him with open arms:

Putin Weaponized the Election Processes to get Pro-Russian Far-Right Nationalists Elected Throughout the West & to Try to Break Apart the European Union

Russia began weaponizing the election processes throughout the West and provided money, support, propaganda, and disinformation campaigns to get Far-Right Nationalists elected throughout the West. Russia openly funded Far-right National Front party Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen’s campaign in France. Russia gave funding to the Far-right Nordic Resistance party in Norway. Putin openly signed “cooperation agreements” with the Far-Right parties in Austria and Italy. The Far-Right party in Austria was openly funded by Russian oligarchs. Russia has been using disinformation campaigns in Germany to help support the Far-Right parties there. Russia has likewise been using disinformation campaigns in the Netherlands to support the Far-Right parties in the Netherlands.

Russia has strong ties with the Far-Right Ukip party in Great Britain and one of its leaders, Nigel Farage. It is not surprising that the Far-Right Ukip party was the architect of the Brexit campaign to have Britain leave the European Union. Farage has been on Russian propaganda T.V. so many times that they offered him his own show. Steve Bannon, as of today Trump’s former Chief White House Strategist, is good friends with Farage and Bannon opened and used Breitbart London to push for Brexit. Farage credits Bannon for winning the Brexit vote. Farage campaigned with Trump in the U.S. Here are a few articles on this:

The Alt-Right & Russia Continue Sow Division & Chaos in the U.S.

Researchers have identified 200 Far-Right News sites in the U.S. that echo Russian propaganda pieces to Americans. Researchers have identified 200 Far-Right News sites in the U.S. that echo Russian propaganda pieces to Americans. www.thewrap.com/ … One of those sites is a Trump favorite site, Alex Jones’ InfoWars. www.mediamatters.org/ … Trump appeared on InfoWars and praised Alex Jones’ “amazing” reputation. Alex Jones has been a guest numerous times on Russian propaganda T.V., RT. www.mediamatters.org/ … During one of his many appearances on Russian propaganda T.V., the RT T.V. host told Alex Jones how much Putin loves him and what he does on InfoWars. The host told Alex that “Putin’s a big listener of his show” and that the Kremlin partially “modeled RT off of his InfoWars network.” www.alternet.org/ … Alex Jones and his InfoWars site have been found to be pro-Trump, pro-Putin, and to echo Russian propaganda and fake news to Americans. www.mcclatchydc.com/ … Moreover, Trump himself has been found by counter-terrorism experts to “parrot” Russian propaganda pieces. thinkprogress.org/…

The Russian fake news and White Nationalists have even found a home in Trump’s White House Correspondents. The Gateway Pundit’s White House corespondent, Lucian Wintrich, promoted a White Nationalist rally which featured as a special guest, holocaust denier and racist Matt Forney. www.mediamatters.org/ … Moreover, there was a recent event at Columbia University billed as “The New White House Correspondents in the Trump Era” which featured Wintrich of the Gateway Pundit and Andrew Feinberg of Sputnick News, the other Russian-backed propaganda arm, as panelists together and as representing the “New Era” of White House Correspondents under Trump. www.cjr.org/ …