Turns out the Kremlin hates von der Leyen about as much as EU lawmakers do

Apparently, trying to hold Ursula von der Leyen accountable is now a Russian op, reports Der Spiegel, citing a new NATO-linked think tank report.

The study treats elected oversight and European lawmakers whose job, ideally, involves more than clapping like trained seals every time an unelected Eurocrat lights public money on fire, like elements of some kind of Russian infiltration plot.

“Massive support for this effort was also found by pro-Kremlin media outlets, bloggers, and online influencers, as the Lithuania-based organization Debunk.org specializes in analyzing disinformation and Russian propaganda, which is seen as part of Russia’s hybrid warfare against the EU,” Spiegel wrote, describing Russian-linked media “fueling” a recent von der Leyen non-confidence vote in the EU Parliament. “Among the larger portals were those of the Russian propaganda channel RT…”

According to the advance copy of this report seen by Spiegel, the study reviewed 284 articles from Russian-linked media. Exactly how many of those articles expressed something like only von der Leyen’s ouster could save Europe? 90%? 75%? Maybe half? Nope, just 35%. Roughly the same percentage of voting EU lawmakers who favored ejecting her (32.7%). So by this logic, the Kremlin is about as supportive of Ursula as Brussels is. Awkward.

Spiegel said that was the most common so-called Kremlin-backed narrative that the study found. Others included the suggestion that von der Leyen is part of a corrupt elite that robbed citizens to fill Big Pharma’s pockets. Because apparently, saying that hey, maybe EU contracts shouldn’t be inked via disappearing text messages with the CEO of a company, means that you’re doing Putin’s bidding. Real democracy means that you shut your mouth when you see your overlords doing shady stuff.

Another alleged Kremlin line? That Ursula, despite her presidential title, was never elected. As someone who personally refers to her as “Queen Ursula,” I’m actually surprised that one didn’t rank higher. It’s not like she won a popular vote or anything. She was handpicked in shady backrooms and then subjected to a simple confirmation by EU lawmakers. Her sole opponent in this so-called “election” was literally just “not Ursula.” Only the EU, in all its dystopian delusion, would call that an “election”.

Then there was the claim that she’s obsessed with confronting Russia. Which is just, uh, objectively true? I mean, come on. If there are extraterrestrials somewhere out there, they may not know much about Earth, except for the fact that von der Leyen is obsessed with Russia – a phenomenon easily visible from space.

Even right before the vote, she accused the lawmakers subjecting her to democratic accountability of being Kremlin stooges just because they wanted her to explain herself. “There is ample proof that many are supported by our enemies and by their puppet masters in Russia or elsewhere. What we hear from you are movements fueled by conspiracies, from anti-vaxxers, to put in apologists and you only have to look at some of the signatories of this motion to understand what I mean,” she pleaded.

Let’s back up here. Why exactly did she face this no-confidence vote? Because no one who’s elected and accountable at the EU has actually been able to provide concrete details of contract terms for the tens of billions of euros in Covid jabs that she strong-armed European governments into paying for. Jabs that are now so useless they’re being dumped in landfills all over Europe, where one-eyed stuffed animals, soggy pizza boxes, and a moldy futon just got their third booster, courtesy of the EU taxpayer. One of those contracts followed a flurry of text exchanges between Ursula and Pfizer CEO, Robert Bourla, which she bragged about to the New York Times right before they pulled a Houdini.

The courts have so far politely asked her to explain herself. And that’s where we’re stuck right now. So frustrated lawmakers figured that they could at least make her publicly squirm with a non-confidence vote in an attempt to get her to cough up at least some of the answers for taxpayers.

The result? Ursula’s interpretive song and tap-dance routine in Parliament: “Putin Did It: Paranoia in Three Acts.” She ultimately survived the vote thanks to some budget crumbs thrown at the lefties who were otherwise saying that they would have voted against her. But even they told Politico that it was her “absolute last chance.”

So here comes Debunk.org, an obscure outlet that sounds like it’s trying a little too hard with the name. It’s funded by, let’s see… NATO members like the German government, UK Foreign Office, Lithuanian Ministry of Defense, and also the German Marshall Fund, which is practically a NATO mascot. In other words, roughly as independent as a teenager who calls down to his mom for “room service.”

And wouldn’t you know it, they galloped in like Queen Ursula’s white knight with a whole “study” backing her mantra that the whole non-confidence vote was little more than a Kremlin plot. They could’ve just called themselves Spin.org. But sure, let’s just call skepticism and the demand for basic accountability a “Russian disinformation campaign,” and totally ignore the fact that Russian-linked media were mostly just echoing general discontent that has been bubbling up in European coverage and parliament for a while now.

As reported by multiple outlets including Politico and Euronews, establishment EU Socialists have been turned off by what they perceive as von der Leyen’s overtures to the right-wing. Centrist Renew Europe voices frustration over her increasingly aloof style. Even her own center right European People’s Party (EPP) allies have been criticizing her centralized leadership approach.

“EU capitals fume at ‘Queen’ von der Leyen. Diplomats accuse European Commission president of overreach amid a furor over her trip to Israel,” Politico wrote in 2023. “From queen to empress: Inside Ursula von der Leyen’s power grab,” it wrote last year. ”Her penchant for centralisation, her aloof character and her avoidance of controversial subjects have garnered her the nickname of “Queen Ursula” in Brussels,” Euronews says.

Know what would’ve been genuinely illuminating? A side-by-side comparison of “Russian” and “non-Russian” media coverage, because although I’ve personally been calling her “Queen Ursula” for years now, apparently it’s been catching on in the mainstream. Debunk.org accuses the Russian-linked press of suggesting that “von der Leyen was an undemocratically legitimized autocrat.” That’s a long-winded way to say “Queen,” as even the mainstream outlets have been doing lately, and also, apparently her own colleagues, as Euronews suggests.

But maybe a broader analysis would’ve complicated the nice, clean Kremlin-driven narrative angle. And who needs that when Queen Ursula has a throne to protect?

Funny how “Russian disinfo” always seems to show up right when accountability does. If challenging Ursula’s behavior makes you a Russian asset, then much of the EU Parliament should probably just register as foreign agents. Because either the Kremlin is now running half of Europe, or Debunk.org needs to make an effort to step out of NATO’s basement and touch grass.