FUND WARS, TRUCKER CONVOYS, AND PUTIN

Him again!

GoFundMe has shut down the fundraising effort on its site in favour of the Canadian anti-vax truck protest. 

As reported by the BBC:

GoFundMe says it will withhold millions of dollars raised for Canadian truckers protesting against vaccine mandates, citing police reports of violence.

The Freedom Convoy has been rallying since last weekend, and more protests are expected in Toronto and Ottawa.

In a statement, the crowdfunding website said it would withhold the donations already made, and refund donors who fill out a request form.

This move has now been dialled back a little, with GoFundMe now automatically refunding donors.

Some of these have now started a new fundraising effort on rival "Alt-Tech" fundraising site, GiveSendGo, which markets itself as a "Christian" site. 

As reported by Newsweek:

A new fundraising appeal for Canadian truckers protesting vaccine mandates has already raised millions of dollars after GoFundMe halted the campaign on its website.

A new appeal for the Canadian Freedom Convoy has raised more than $2.1 million out of a $16,000 target on platform GiveSendGo after GoFundMe halted the campaign after police raised concerns of violence. This include one anonymous donor giving the truckers $215,000 on the now platform.

Since then the site has been under attack from bots and DDoS attacks causing the site to crash.

So, what's really going on here?

Some, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, have claimed, without clear evidence, that the trucker protest is part of a Russian psy-op to cause confusion and distraction from the situation in the Ukraine, where Putin is attempting to use the threat of war to extort concessions from the Ukraine and the West. 

Coverage of the Trucker Protest on Russia Today has certainly been generous, and the pattern of behaviour of Russia-friendly accounts on Twitter suggests that their might be something in this: 

So THAT’s why they floated the idea that Russia is behind the Canadian trucker protests. 😉 https://t.co/u2GcNvIGNs

— Nina 🐙 Byzantina (@NinaByzantina) February 6, 2022

Why spend energy denying something that is supposed to be irrelevant to Russia, as these accounts have been doing?

Blaming Russia for stoking this Trucker Protest is not as "tin foil hat" as it sounds. Firstly, the protest has been greatly exaggerated on social media, and often by the "usual idiots."

Also it is undeniable that Russia has a long track record of using its social media power to play up divisions in nations it views as its rivals:

Russian Trolls and Fake News: Information or Identity Logics?

Russian state media weaponises news to sow confusion and division

All Road Lead to Ukraine: How Russia Uses Disinfornmation to Support its Efforts on the Ground 

So, is Putin up to his tricks again? Well, why wouldn't he be? The Western establishment certainly seems to think so. This is why GoFundMe has been pressured by the Canadian government to shut down the Trucker funds. 

The Canadian vax mandate, which Trad News of course opposes, is an internal issue for Canadians, based on the trending data, which is that they don't do much good, and how much Canadians value their individual freedoms. But we also live in an age of shadow conflicts, Grey Zone, and 4th generation hybrid warfare that infects everything else we do and all aspects of our political process, including protest, fundraising, and dissident politics. 

Update (15th February): 
More evidence of Russian subversion:

A report in the Daily Telegraph has revealed how the Trucker Convoy Protests are being artificially boosted on social media:

Online content mills in Asia are helping to fuel trucker convoy protests against pandemic restrictions in Canada and the United States, new investigations have found. 

On Monday, Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, declared a national public order emergency - the first in half a century – to grant powers to the federal government to do what is necessary to restore public order after more than two weeks of gridlock. 

The controversial measure reflects rising evidence that the demonstrations are not as organic and localised as initially thought, and that many protesters do not have a link to the trucking industry, particularly as it gains momentum online at home and abroad.   

Some Facebook groups that have also promoted similar “trucker convoys” in the US are being run by fake accounts tied to content farms based in Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, Facebook officials told NBC News.

Read more here.