Bernie Sanders has been a Russian asset for four decades...

Question

Bullshit.  MATH.  Bernie has been a Russian asset for four decades.  USSR, Communist Cuba, Sandinistas, and the East German Stasi.  He has despised the Dems ever since JFK tried to take our Bernie's hero, a brutal Communist dictator named Fidel Castro.

Answer 1

The statement that “Bernie has been a Russian asset for four decades.  USSR, Communist Cuba, Sandinistas, and the East German Stasi. He has despised the Dems ever since JFK tried to take our Bernie's hero, a brutal Communist dictator named Fidel Castro.” made by ‪@raventerp1.bsky.social‬  is unsupported by evidence. First of all, most of the evidence they presented does not show the original source, one of which does not support the claim that Sanders is a Russian asset and does not even directly state who the quote is about, only using the term the defendant. Another piece of evidence, while having a source, only shows that most Sanders supporters voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. The only piece of evidence that is even remotely related to the claim is a list of Sanders quotes that go against the democratic party, but that in no way proves that he is a Russian asset. 

Second of all, when looking for other sources surrounding this claim, I found an article from “The Nation” which stated that this rumor began when Sanders voted against legislation to put sanctions on Russia and Iran. He was one of two to vote against it, reason being that he feared it may jeopardize the 2015 nuclear deal. Though twitter then began to spread misinformation that he was a Russian agent with no evidence to back the claim. Therefore, this claim is false. 

Sources: Bernie Sanders Is a Russian Agent, and Other Things I Learned This Week | The Nation 

Comments

I appreciate how you address each of the original post's sources and shed light onto where the misinformation may have been directly derived from. I think it should also be noted that since the red scare, Americans have worried that those aligned leftist politics are also Russian spies. There is no doubt that this history plays a role in the bias and worry towards Sanders.

Answer 2

The claim is baseless and politically motivated. Criticism of Sanders’ policies is legitimate in a democratic discourse, but labeling him a “Russian asset” is not supported by any factual evidence or intelligence findings. 

 https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/reports-publications

Comments

You did a good job providing evidence, but I think elaborating a little bit more would improve the credibility of your answer. Maybe touch on the criticism of Sanders and try to find a piece of evidence that addresses the rumor. Overall, good job!

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I agree with your response but it would be helpful if you elaborated a little and provided more information to back your claim. I was not able to access your link to your source that you provided so I cannot fully check your source.

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I like your response and agree that the answered claim is politically motivated, and offers much criticism, but I think it would also be helpful and substaintial to your answer to add more evidence/information into your answer and background as well.

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Sometimes I appreciate these direct cut and dry answers to which you get straight to the point and deny their completely bogus claims without need for much more information. Sometimes expansion is nice, but even then I, again, love the just bluntness when the claim is as dumb as this one.

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It is true that is it baseless and politically motivated, but I would like if you elaborated on how that is or what makes you believe this? Especially if you were to look at the evidence they provided or more into their profile.

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I thought your statement saying how the claim was false is accurate. However, next time try and discuss some of the articles and stories you found that backed up what you said. You did provide an article for us to reference but it makes your own answer hard to believe because you didn't provide a detailed response and just told us the claim was false without really providing evidence.

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Although your response is true I believe you're missing a lot of context. It's hard to believe your comment when you do not support it was evidence and instead just make a statement. Also the link to your source is not available so I would recommend choosing a source that is more widely accessible.

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I agree that the "Russian asset" claim seems baseless. To strengthen this, perhaps you could briefly touch upon some common criticisms of Sanders' policies and then explicitly state that none of these criticisms have ever been linked to or supported by any credible evidence of Russian influence.

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The assertion that Bernie Sanders has been a "Russian asset for four decades" is not supported by credible evidence. While Sanders has expressed admiration for certain aspects of socialist governments, such as Cuba's literacy programs, he has consistently criticized authoritarian regimes and has been a vocal advocate for human rights and democracy.

Regarding the claim about the East German Stasi, there is no verifiable information linking Sanders to the Stasi or suggesting any collaboration. The Stasi was responsible for extensive surveillance and repression within East Germany, and any claims of association should be approached with skepticism unless substantiated by credible sources.

It's important to critically evaluate such claims and rely on verified information from reputable sources to form an informed opinion.

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Nice job providing us with a link to show us where you got your information. However, it would help your argument if you provided some quotes or information from it.

Answer 3

The claim is false seen from the source of a social media platform which allows for false political content and spread of misinformation easily on a social media platform. The user posting the content is very politically motivated with a large following on the account that post mostly about politics and skewed misinformation. labeling Bernie sanders as a "Russian Asset for decades" is false while he has had connection with Russia this does not mean he is a asset for the country. Russian Media Aims To Help Bernie Sanders Campaign Get The Democratic Nomination : NPR

Comments

I really like the analysis you did on this question. Not only did you go into the source, but you went into the "Why". You discuss the motive behind the claim, which I think is very important for these false political claims. It made your comment more intellectual and reliable. Great comment.

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This fact check shows the source's unreliability and the user's history of spreading misinformation.  It accurately points out the false claim about Bernie Sanders while acknowledging his Russian connections, and provides a relevant NPR article as more evidence, strengthening the argument against the original post.

Answer 4

This claim is ridiculous and completely baseless.  The source is from a social media platform and has no validity or facts to back it up. Upon further research there is no evidence whatsoever that could possibly support these claims. This is most likely a politically fueled hate post in order to intentionally  spread misinformation.

Answer 5

Using SIFT method.

Stop: Need to find original source/s for this claim.

Here are 3 I found: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-bernie-sanderss-1988-10-day-honeymoon-in-the-soviet-union/2019/05/02/db543e18-6a9c-11e9-a66d-a82d3f3d96d5_story.html

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/27/blog-posting/no-bernie-sanders-did-not-collaborate-marxist-regi/

https://time.com/4253623/democratic-debate-eighth-miami-transcript-full-text/

Investigate: The post came from a user on Bluesky which is a social media site. After looking into their profile there is no indication that they are a verified expert or some kinda of journalist. This most likely means the credibility is low.

Find better coverage:

The Washington Post article that I linked was about Bernies visit to the Soviet Union in 1988. He described the trip as a "very strange honeymoon" and did express some interests in learning both systems at the time.

However in the Politifact and Time articles Sanders critized the authoritarian aspects of Nicaragua when meeting with President Daniel Ortega.

Going back to the post there is also no credible evidence where Sanders could be linked to East German Stasi or being in collaboration with its secret police. For Bernie Sanders being a "Russian Asset" there is no evidence to support this assertion. Critics point to where he has traveled but forget his comments.

Trace Claims to original context:

To trace back to the original context Sanders comments came from when he criticized the U.S. of attempting to overthrow foreign governments. Namely including Cuba. However as we know this does not equate to endorsing the authoritarian regimes.

As a final conclusion this claim is unsubstantiated. There is no evidence of espionage.

Answer 6

This claim captures a false image on Bernie Sanders, an American politician and State Senator for Vermont. Furthermore, the source comes from "tweets" from many individuals both inexperienced and expert at political topics, making blueksy an uncredible source. Furthermore, the user who sent out these messages on bluesky seems to have an abundant amount of bias on behalf of their political background and side, strengthening the argument of the source being uncredible as news should comes from a unbiased place. Additionally, another source states a similar claim but has no "about us" page making it uncredible to track the official author. 

Answer 7

The claim that Bernie Sanders has been a Russian asset for four decades is misleading and incorrect. The source that the claim provided above is unreliable and has no supported evidence to back up the claim. In the article I found, it states that Bernie said, “Not quite,” he said. “I do go to the White House every now and then and chat with the president but no, I’m not in the White House. This helps back up the claim that Sanders has expressed support for helping Bidens re-election and emphasizing the importance of addressing systemic injustices and maintaining democracy. 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/19/bernie-sanders-oligarchs-ok-angry-about-capitalism-interview