Showing posts with label Wars for Oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wars for Oil. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Disinformation Wars


Disinformation Wars

by C. A. Matthews  

“The first casualty when war comes is truth.” —Senator Hiram W. Johnson

From Caitlin Johnstone’s Newsletter:

AP's anonymously sourced report which said "A senior U.S. intelligence official says Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people" went viral because of the massive implications of direct hot warfare erupting between Russia and the NATO alliance. AP subsequently retracted its story as the mainstream political/media class came to accept that it was in fact a Ukrainian missile that had struck Poland.
AP's firing of reporter James LaPorta looks at this time to be the end point of any accountability for the circulation of this extremely dangerous falsehood. AP spokesperson Lauren Easton says no disciplinary action will be taken against the editors who waved the bogus story through, and to this day the public has been kept in the dark about the identity of the US official who fed such extremely egregious misinformation/disinformation to the public through the mainstream press. —AP Editor Says She “Can’t Imagine” a US Intelligence Official Being Wrong
I find it odd that any grown, normally-functioning person couldn’t possibly imagine being lied to by a US intelligence official, but that is what this recent news story suggests. The mainstream media (the AP or Associated Press, no less) is acting stupid to please the American intelligence community. Simply put, the US government wants to keep us in the dark about which one of their propagandists fed false information about these missiles to a now unemployed reporter, James LaPorta. I think in this case the intelligence official(s) knew the lie would be exposed sooner or later, but they felt confident that the damage they wished to inflict upon the reputation of Russia would be enough to justify their actions.

According to journalist Ben Norton at Multipolarista:

By publishing the fake news, the AP set off an international scandal that could have triggered a direct US military attack on Russia.
 
To try to save face, the AP fired LaPorta on November 21... This controversy shows how cozy mainstream corporate media outlets are with US intelligence agencies, and how anonymous spies feed them claims that are often false, but that serve Washington’s foreign-policy interests. —Media Regurgitates Fake News From US Spies Risking World War III with Russia
“All is fair in love and war.”—a proverb attributed to John Lyly's Euphues
Is it? When has “lying in war” ever come close to the equivalent of “fairness”? To propagandists, lying is just another tool in their repertoire they use to control the public’s initial reaction and later to build devotion to a cause. In this case, the cause is the continued support of the NATO-led proxy war in Ukraine and the continuing monetary and military aid the US is sending without hesitation to that part of the world. 
 
If any evidence would surface to demonstrate that the billions of dollars of weaponry the US is giving away isn’t being used for the purpose it was sent for, then it would be more than embarrassing—it could prove fatal to the cause. (For more about the 70% of US-provided weapons gone missing in Ukraine, check out Lab Rats of the World Unite! and the archived CBS 60 Minutes documentary.)
 

If the actual facts were made crystal clear, people might see through the trickery practiced by the US "Ministry of Truth" and demand an end to this conflict altogether. But never fear, the military industrial complex and fossil fuel corporations would never stand for that. Neither would their politician-puppets who enjoy all the money that come from these special interest groups. 
 
The propaganda-spewing US mainstream media stays in step as they cry in horror about the dangers of free speech. Award-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald states:
Online censorship has become one of the most potent propaganda weapons they possess, and there is no way they will allow anyone to dilute it even mildly without attempting to destroy them.  (...)

In unison, these media outlets decreed that not only would greater free speech on Twitter usher in the usual parade of horribles they trot out when demanding censorship — disinformation, hate speech, attacks on the “marginalized,” etc. etc. — but this time they severely escalated their rhetorical hysteria by claiming that Musk would literally cause mass murder by permitting a broader range of political opinion to be aired. —The Media's Deranged Hysteria Over Elon Musk's Restoration of Free Speech


Journalist Matt Taibbi shares another instance of how the US intelligence community is working to muddy the waters of public opinion:
Whether or not you thought the actual content of the story was important, the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop affair was a crossroads moment in the history of modern censorship. YouTube played a major role in this event.
This was a case in which major news media — including CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and countless other outlets — actively embraced disinformation, in the form of a group letter from 50-plus former intelligence officials saying the laptop story (they referred to a “laptop op”) had the “classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” All the aforementioned news agencies fell for this, as did Twitter (which blocked access to it, in what then-CEO Jack Dorsey later admitted was a “total mistake”) and Facebook (whose increasingly adrift founder Mark Zuckerberg later told Joe Rogan the story was throttled down at the suggestion of the FBI).
YouTube also pushed this disinformation campaign. It still does. Despite the total absence of evidence ever existing that the laptop was either fake or part of a Russian “information operation” and a growing pile of evidence that the laptop is real, YouTube continues to leave unmolested on its site countless videos promoting the conspiracy theory — that’s what it is, let’s be clear — that the laptop story is both bunk and an intelligence op. —YouTubeCensors Reality, Boosts Disinformation: Part 1
Once again, a US intelligence agency—in this case it appears to be the FBI—has jumped into the news cycle and tried to deflect attention away from what is actually happening. Not only did they try to cast doubts on the authenticity of the contents of the Hunter Biden laptop, they tried to place the blame for the laptop’s potentially embarrassing and possibly criminal contents on another source. 
 

Hunter Biden’s laptop contents were a “Russian op” like the Ukrainian missiles shot into Poland were “Russian missiles.” No thoughts are given to the facts of how the Ukrainians are still using Soviet-era rocket launchers and multiple experts in ballistics can prove the missiles were launched by Ukraine. No thoughts as to how much of the content of the laptop in question has already been verified. (Read more about how Hunter Biden joined the board of directors of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma in 2014 here.) Whatever the US intelligence community wants the public to think, that's the story mainstream media is going with.
 
There seems to be sort of a pattern to these disinformation attempts... Who are we supposed to trust? Who are we supposed to distrust? What actual evidence have we been given not to trust these people other than what the US intelligence services have told us?
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” —John 8:32
Before we get too down on journalists in general, here's more sobering news that reporting the truth can prove dangerous to one’s health and career:
Sweden’s parliament adopted a major espionage law expansion that will permit the country’s police to investigate journalists, publishers, and whistleblowers if they reveal secret information that “may damage Sweden’s relationship with another state or an international organization.”
Journalists, publishers, or whistleblowers found guilty of revealing such “damaging” information could be sentenced to up to four years in prison under the new law.
The expansion was aimed at ensuring the Swedish government has even more control over what the public learns about the country’s cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, and the United Nations. —Sweden Expands Espionage Law, Endangering Freedom of Journalists and Whistleblowers
What comes to mind after reading this bit of news is that Sweden has cooperated with the United States and the United Kingdom to keep Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange imprisoned, first in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and currently in Belmarsh Prison. Western governments—particularly NATO members—seem to be big on perpetuating their propaganda and covering up the truth from the public. They're more than willing to cooperate with each other if the lie proves to be of benefit to them, too.

Here’s another example of the hypocrisy of this situation:

US State Department spokesman and CIA veteran Ned Price tweeted disapprovingly about the Kyrgyz Republic's decision to deport investigative journalist Bolot Temirov to Russia, where press freedom groups are concerned that the Russian citizen could face conscription to fight in Ukraine. (...)
This is after all the same government that is working to extradite an Australian journalist from the United Kingdom with the goal of imprisoning him for up to 175 years for exposing US war crimes. Price says "Journalists should never be punished for doing their job," but that is precisely what the government he represents is doing to Julian Assange, who has already spent three and a half years in Belmarsh Prison awaiting US extradition shenanigans. This is in top of the seven years he spent fighting extradition from the Ecuadorian embassy in London under what a UN panel ruled was arbitrary detention. —US Officials Concern Troll About World Press Freedoms While Assaulting Them
Whistleblowers are forever being painted as the enemy, but never those who openly lie and obfuscate the truth via the implementation of propaganda. Our so-called freedom relies on government officials lying to us and locking up truth-tellers, or so it seems.
“A fool and his money are soon parted.” —Proverbs 21:20
Once again, US propagandists and mainstream media pundits are good at confusing the public about what’s really going on in the world and how much tax payer money we’re throwing at it. We’re informed that economically distressed Americans shouldn’t be too concerned about how the US is sending billions of dollars in military aid to country with a dubious history to fight our proxy war against Russia. There's never enough money for social programs such as universal health care and student loan debt relief, but there's always enough to buy and ship instruments of death: 
The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to approve $37.7 billion in new aid for Ukraine, which would bring total US spending on the war to about $105 billion.
According toThe Hill, the request includes $21.7 billion in military aid for Ukraine and to replenish US military stockpiles that have been sent to the country.
A total of $14.5 billion in budgetary aid to directly fund the Ukrainian government is included, as Kyiv is expecting the US and its allies to pay its budget deficit for 2023. —White House Asks Congress for $37.7 Billion in New Ukraine Aid
Over one-hundred billion dollars sent to Ukraine and who knows how much more will be forthcoming. And US intelligence officials will continue to lie to us about what’s really going on there.
 
When will Americans realize that wars are not being run by generals? They’re being run by propagandists. Yeah, fools and their money are soon parted. Disinformation from our own government is turning us all into penniless fools. What are we going to do about it?
 

Related Articles:
 
US Officials Concern Troll About World Press Freedoms While Assaulting Them  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/us-officials-concern-troll-about
 
AP Editor Said She "Can't Imagine" a US Intelligence Official Being Wrong  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/ap-editor-said-she-cant-imagine-a
 
 
The Media's Deranged Hysteria Over Elon Musk's Restoration of Free Speech (video) https://rumble.com/v1xbl8g-the-medias-deranged-hysteria-over-elon-musks-restoration-of-free-speech.html
 
Sweden Expands Espionage Law Endangering Freedom of Journalists and Whistleblowers https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/21/sweden-expands-espionage-law-endangering-freedom-of-journalists-and-whistleblowers/
 
Why is the AP Still Protecting the Source Behind Its False Russia Bombed Poland Story? https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/18/why-is-ap-still-protecting-the-source-behind-its-false-russia-bombed-poland-story/
 
 
White House Asks Congress for $37.7 Billion in New Ukraine Aid
https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/16/white-house-asks-congress-for-37-7-billion-in-new-ukraine-aid/

Seen on Twitter:

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Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Stop Pretending

 

I was anti-war while you cheered for bombing Iraq.
I was anti-war while you cheered for bombing Syria.
I was anti-war while you cheered for bombing Libya.
I was anti-war while you cheered for bombing Gaza.
I was anti-war while you cheered for bombing Iran.
And I'm anti-war now.

— Lee Camp

 Stop Pretending

Americans, we've got to stop pretending that we're without sin. We cannot cast the first stone. We must understand how culpable we've been in instigating this current mess that could kill millions upon millions.

Do you remember the Minsk Accords?  Do you remember how our CIA overthrew the elected government in Ukraine and installed its own puppet? Why do you think that you aren't being kept in the dark about what's really going on behind the scenes now?

In February 2014, a coup overthrew the Ukrainian government which came to power in an election certified by the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation). The president, Viktor Yanukovich, was forced to flee for his life...

The coup was promoted by United States officials. Neo-conservatives such as Victoria Nuland and John McCain actively supported the protests. As confirmed in a secretly recorded phone call, Nuland managed the coup but Vice President Biden was overall in charge. As Nuland says in the phone call, Biden would give the ultimate “atta boy” to the coup leaders. Subsequently, Joe Biden’s son personally benefited from the coup.  Victoria Nuland has even more power now as the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs...

The coup government immediately acted with hostility toward its Russian speaking citizens. Approximately 30% of Ukrainian citizens have Russian as their first language, yet on the first day in power, the coup regime acted to make Russian no longer an official state language. This was followed by more actions of hostility...

...US intervention, both open and secret, has been a major driver of the events in Ukraine. The US has instigated the conflict.  Ukrainians and Russians are now paying the price. --Rick Sterling, How the US Instigated the Ukraine Crisis

The 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine brought to power hardliners who adopted policies detrimental to the Russians living in the eastern part of the country, especially banning the Russian language in all areas of life.

As a result, the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in eastern Ukraine refused to recognize the post-coup government and demanded that they be given a special status and broad powers, especially the right to use the Russian language. In response, Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against them. A ceasefire was brokered by Russia, France, and Germany, and an agreement (the Minsk Accords) was reached between the two sides, so they could negotiate with each other in order to ensure that Ukraine observed the special status of the 2 provinces.

...Putin is no angel, but his red lines have been consistent: no more NATO expansion, actual or by proxy, and security guarantees for the ethnic Russian population in the Donbas region. The west/Ukraine has not delivered on either of these, but Putin’s recognition of the 2 proxy states, and his sending in security forces to protect them from a Ukrainian backlash, is his new bargaining chip in negotiations with the west... Putin wants Ukraine to be a buffer zone between NATO and Russia. It’ll be recalled that John Kennedy wanted something similar when the USSR leader Khrushchev tried to put nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962. --Kenneth Surin, Crisis Over Ukraine: A Primer


Stop pretending that the US and its NATO partners (and related defense contractors) didn't "prod the bear with a stick." They've been salivating to start a war for a while now. They've been impatient it's taken so long after circling Russia with NATO bases. Western warmongers are happy with pushing Putin over the edge. Collateral damage, such as massive loss of human life, is of no consequence to the military-industrial-media-complex.

The consequences of pushing NATO up to the borders with Russia — there is now a NATO missile base in Poland 100 miles from the Russian border — were well known to policy makers. Yet they did it anyway. It made no geopolitical sense. But it made commercial sense. War, after all, is a business, a very lucrative one. It is why we spent two decades in Afghanistan although there was near universal consensus after a few years of fruitless fighting that we had waded into a quagmire we could never win. -- Chris Hedges, Chronicle of a War Foretold

The greatest tragedy for the Ukrainian people is that the conflict that now envelopes them is, in essence not their conflict. The real conflict is between NATO and Russia. -- Marc Ash, Ukraine is a Proxy for Russia v. NATO
Pouring more weapons into Ukraine is not how you save lives; you save lives by negotiating a ceasefire. Pouring more weapons into Ukraine is how you create a long and expensive military quagmire for Russia at the cost of many thousands of lives to advance US strategic interests. While making a vast fortune for the arms industry. --Caitlin Johnstone, Civilized Nations Kill With Sanctions and Proxy Armies

We've really got to stop pretending that somehow hitmen who are working for the arms and fossil fuel industries are "heroes." They're just making billionaires richer--and terrorizing ethnic minorities.

Anti-Russia critics have often claimed that the accusation that Ukraine’s Western-backed government is infiltrated by neo-Nazis and far-right extremists is “Russian propaganda.”

Yet in 2018, the Atlantic Council itself admitted this undeniable fact, in an article titled “Ukraine’s Got a Real Problem with Far-Right Violence (And No, RT Didn’t Write This Headline).”

The post reported that Ukraine’s Ministry of Youth and Sports gave funding to the neo-Nazi group C14 to promote “national patriotic education projects.” C14 has launched brutal attacks on the Roma and LGBTQ communities.

It also cited mainstream human rights organization Amnesty International, which warned that “Ukraine is sinking into a chaos of uncontrolled violence posed by radical groups and their total impunity.” --Ben Norton, NATO's Atlantic Council Promoted Ukraine's Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion

It's time to stop pretending that we actually care what happens on the other side of the planet and how many get hurt. We've got the war we want. The Raytheons and Lockheed Martins are making their billions upon billions in profits. Soon we'll witness the shut down of the Nord Stream pipeline and watch the price of gas and oil rise as high as Western fossil fuel corporations can push it. So please, stop pretending that the US and its actors--NATO, the CIA and related agencies, the MIC, Big Oil--didn't plan this conflict from the start for the benefit of the 1% and their growing bank accounts.

And start giving a sh*t about bringing the whole bloody mess to a halt before the entire planet suffers a nuclear winter.

Related articles with information that you've probably not read or heard mentioned on mainstream media outlets. (Feel free to share with others.): 

https://popularresistance.org/how-the-us-instigated-the-ukraine-crisis/

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/02/28/what-putin-says-are-the-causes-aims-of-russias-military-action/

 https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/28/crisis-over-ukraine-a-primer/

https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/twelve-thoughts-on-ukraine 

https://popularresistance.org/natos-atlantic-council-promoted-ukraines-neo-nazi-azov-battalion/

https://scheerpost.com/2022/02/24/hedges-the-chronicle-of-a-war-foretold/

https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/experts-warned-for-years-that-nato

https://truthout.org/articles/antiwar-activists-in-russia-and-ukraine-are-calling-for-an-end-to-militarism/

https://www.rsn.org/001/independent-american-and-russian-women-call-for-peace.html

https://www.directleft.com/p/i-survived-war-and-i-condemn-militarism?utm_source=url

https://popularresistance.org/western-media-fall-in-lockstep-for-neo-nazi-publicity-stunt-in-ukraine/

https://jacobinmag.com/2022/02/the-left-vladimir-putin-russia-war-ukraine 

https://www.rsn.org/001/how-the-peaceful-atom-makes-ukraine-a-nuke-war.html

https://www.rsn.org/001/ukraine-is-a-proxy-for-russia-v-nato.html  

https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/civilized-nations-kill-with-sanctions

The Ukraine Crisis--interview with Ben Norton (video): https://leecamp.com/the-ukraine-crisis-with-ben-norton/

The Belmarsh Tribunal (video): https://youtu.be/Tp8b6U3Pvlk 

Seen on Twitter:

***

  You can also read and share these recent articles:

No, No, No to War

Russians Speak Up Against War

Open Letter on Ukraine from WBW Ireland

Ukraine and the Myth of War

Western Media Fall in Lockstep for Neo-Nazi Publicity Stunt in Ukraine

VIDEO: Verses Versus War

VIDEO: Webinar: In Conversation With Lara Marlowe

A Path Away From War | The Science Of Peace Systems

Podcast: Peace Education and Action for Impact

VIDEO: Debate: Can War Ever Be Justified? Mark Welton vs. David Swanson

Don’t Overlook NATO’s Successes


You're invited to join World BEYOND War & partners for our 2nd annual virtual film festival from March 15-22!

With the escalating conflict over Ukraine, our work to call for the abolition of war seems ever more pertinent. In trying times like these, it feels especially important for us to come together in solidarity, unifying our collective call for demilitarization and nonviolence. Our "Water & War" film festival from March 15-22 will provide that opportunity for international networking and discussion, as we watch and learn about the human and environmental impact of war and militarism worldwide, and the stories of those who are standing up to resist it.

This year’s “Water & War” theme explores the intersection of militarism & water, survival & resistance, in the lead-up to #WorldWaterDay on March 22. A unique mix of films explores this theme, from PFAS pollution on a military base in Michigan and the infamous U.S. Navy's Red Hill fuel leak in Hawai’i poisoning groundwater, to Syrian war refugees fleeing violent conflict by boat to Europe and the story of the assassination of Honduran Indigenous water activist Berta Cáceres. Get tickets!


Day 1 of the festival on Tuesday, March 15 at 7:00pm Eastern Daylight Time launches with a discussion of the sweeping water contamination caused by U.S. military bases worldwide with screenings of No Defense & The Empire Files' A Battle for Water in Hawai’i. The post-film discussion will include Craig Minor, Tony Spaniola, Mikey Inouye, and other special guests TBA.


Day 2 on Saturday, March 19 at 3:00pm Eastern Daylight Time features a screening of the film The Crossing, with director George Kurian. A rare, firsthand account of one of the most dangerous journeys of our time, this timely, nail-biting documentary follows the grueling plight of a group of Syrian refugees as they cross the Mediterranean Sea and travel across Europe. The panel discussion will feature director George Kurian and Niamh Ní Bhriain, coordinator of the Transnational Institute’s War and Pacification Programme.


 Day 3, the festival finale on #WorldWaterDay (Tuesday, March 22 at 7:00pm Eastern Daylight Time), features Berta Didn’t Die, She Multiplied!, a celebration of the life and legacy of Honduran Indigenous, feminist, and environmental activist Berta Cáceres. The film tells the story of the Honduran military coup, the assassination of Berta, and the victory in the Indigenous struggle to protect the Gualcarque River. From Flint to Standing Rock to Honduras, the water is sacred and the power is in the people. The post-film discussion will feature director Sam Vinal and other special guests to be announced.
Learn more and reserve your spot for this unique film festival!
In peace & solidarity,
Greta Zarro
Organizing Director
World BEYOND War
 greta@worldbeyondwar.org

 

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