Russian disinformation is a favorite among Donald Trump supporters.
In one recent example, false information spread by a discredited Russian-run boxing association was used by conservatives to wrongly accuse female boxers at the Paris Olympics of being men.
In the opening match of the women’s boxing Imane KhelifThe Algerian welterweight boxer lived up to expectations, landing some powerful punches against Italian boxer Angela Carini, who retired in the first round, saying she had never been hit like that before.
The cultural warriors, sensing the beginning of a cultural war, Elon Musk To J.K. Rowling Donald Trump Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance cited the 2023 test and punch by the Russian-run International Boxing Association and expressed outrage that a man was competing against a woman. Claimed He claimed that Kamala Harris was responsible for “a grown man punching a woman in a boxing match.”
Kherif is neither. TransgenderShe does not identify as intersex, nor is she male: she was designated female at birth and raised as a girl. passport Although she identifies as a woman, she has spent her boxing career as a woman and is a member of the International Olympic Committee. Accreditation In Paris, she allowed women to compete in boxing. CareerKheriff has lost 10 times to other female boxers.
The so-called “test” was initiated by the Russian-run IBA. Never revealed Kherif did not discuss the test itself or its methodology, instead claiming it simply proved that Kherif has the XY chromosomes found in men – a finding that experts say is inconclusive. woman He has XY chromosomes, but the IBA’s refusal to release the results of the test shows that the attacks on Kheriff are nothing less than gender McCarthyism.
Kerif’s gender I tried She was stripped of her championship by the IBA until she beats a Russian boxer in the 2023 tournament. This is no coincidence, because the Russian boxer fellow The IBA is run by President Vladimir Putin and its main sponsor for 2023 is Russian state-owned energy company GazpromLast year, the IOC Withdrew It did not recognise the IBA due to its reliance on Gazprom funding, corrupt governance and concerns about the fairness of IBA matches.
Following right-wing attacks on Khelif and a Taiwanese boxer who the IBA claimed had XY chromosomes, IOC president Thomas Bach said: be criticized He condemned “hate speech” against female boxers and accused Russia of waging a “culture war” and a “smear campaign against France, the Olympics and the IOC”.
The incident also highlights how the American right has replaced the old left as a mouthpiece for Russian propaganda.
In 2018, then-President Trump rejected the conclusions of his own intelligence agencies and accused Putin of rejection The allegation that Russia interfered in the 2016 election was raised by some House Republicans during the 2019 impeachment proceedings. Echoing Russia’s unfounded claims that Ukraine was behind the election interference. Earlier this year in Moscow, Tucker Carlson gave a fawning interview to Vladimir Putin, who continued to lie, including that Ukraine is not a sovereign state. “Of course,” Carlson replied.
A woman should never have to prove she is a woman in the absence of credible scientific evidence, yet Russia and its local propagandists, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, tried to force Khelife to do so.
But when Kheriff won the women’s welterweight gold medal, she had some final words: “I woman Just like any other woman.”
Gregory J. Wallace He served as a federal prosecutor during the Carter and Reagan administrations and was part of the ABSCAM prosecution team that convicted one U.S. Senator and six U.S. Representatives on bribery charges. “Into Siberia: George Kennan’s Epic Journey through the Brutal and Frozen Heart of Russia”.“
