Some of the enormous achievements of the dreadful Putin—none of this is mentioned by the "journalists" working for Frontline. The author kicks off his exposé of the prevailing media degeneracy with an example from Frontline, for many years a relatively progressive news program, now eviscerated of all truth and turned into an imperial propaganda zombie, lat the service of the global plutocracy. Published on November 30, 2017 Comments 23 PBS Frontline: “Putin’s Revenge” – unintentionally hilarious PBS’s Frontline series offers what it calls the “inside story of how Vladimir Putin came to see the United States as an enemy — and why he decided to target an American election.” We are publishing it here because it has to be seen to be believed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pWALA6vgoY The sinister music and Burnsian black and white photography, the gravel-voiced narrator, all trying to give gravitas to a script that is so divorced from any kind of maturity, sanity or veridical reality it will make you dizzy. In its quick overview of Putin’s rise to power no mention is made of the collapse of infrastructure, the soaring crime rates and the suffering of working people made destitute by Yeltsin’s “democratisation” of the economy. And no mention is made of how the “anti-democratic” Putin reversed this seemingly irreversible decline. No effort is made to define what is meant by “democracy” at all. Nothing that sophisticated is even attempted. Yeltsin, the hood and destroyer, is described as “pro-democracy” because he favoured the US and its economic piracy. Putin is “anti-democratic”, because he didn’t. It’s that unsophisticated. And that absurd. … —— http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/11/turning-the-corner-in-afghanistan.html#more November 28, 2017 Turning The Corner In Afghanistan The news about the wars the U.S. is waging all over the world is unreliable. The same statements of progress are repeated year after year. The official numbers, be they of civilian casualties or deployed troops, are mere lies. … —— Strip away the layers and Brexit becomes ever more murky Gina Miller, 28 November 2017 Mounting allegations of opaque funding and illicit influence should trouble even the diehard Brexiters I clearly remember pondering, on 24 June 2016, why there was not more public and political outrage at the idea of a British government putting itself above the law, and using the royal prerogative to execute the referendum result. I find myself in exactly the same mindset in terms of the potential undermining of our democracy, government and sovereignty by a hostile foreign power – Russia – in what appears to be a secretive coup. As a transparency campaigner and a passionate believer in our British values, as well as political and democratic systems, I am worried. People were told that walking out of the EU would liberate us from the clutches of unaccountable bureaucrats and would allow us to “take back control”. Auberon Waugh’s “junta of Belgian ticket inspectors” would be sent packing, the British people would reclaim sovereignty and British courts would decide British law for British people. The fog of bureaucracy would be blown away by the accountability and transparency that we supposedly enjoyed in the days before 1973. Who paid for the leave vote? Brexit should be halted until we know George Monbiot Read more It is turning out very differently. Think of Brexit as a matryoshka, or a Russian nesting doll, with voting to leave the EU as the outer doll, representing all the various things we were sold: free trade, prosperity, sovereignty, transparency, increased control over borders, and less money sent to Brussels. Pulling off the outer doll reveals another doll that represents something much more worrying. Over the last two months, on an almost weekly basis, we have heard allegations of unidentified sources of money being used in the leave campaigns, which may have circumvented rules designed to uphold the integrity of our democratic process, which said campaigns purported to want to reclaim. … —— https://www.rt.com/op-edge/411241-german-intelligence-facebook-russia/ Tell us what’s true or democracy will die: German spy chief’s ultimatum to US tech giants Riley Waggaman, Published time: 28 Nov, 2017 22:42 Facebook must protect Germany and other noble pillars of democracy from unauthorized information – especially if the subversive materials can somehow be pinned on Russia. This is the expert opinion of Germany’s deeply troubled spy chief. With the anniversary of Berlin’s Christmas market terror attack approaching, Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, appears to be consumed by terrifying images of subversive Facebook posts crashing into young German minds. The German spymaster, who is paid by German taxpayers to keep them safe, seems less worried about psychos running over holiday shoppers in the streets than he is about mythical Russian meddling unicorns. And remember, friends: This gentleman runs an “intelligence” agency. … —— German domestic spy agency hits out at Silicon Valley Reuters Staff, 27 November 2017 BERLIN (Reuters) – The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency accused U.S. tech giants like Facebook on Monday of failing to take enough responsibility for content on their sites, undermining democracy by not distinguishing between fact and opinion. “Today we are discovering a ‘fifth estate’ that makes claims but up until now does not want to take any social responsibility,” Hans-Georg Maassen told a conference on cybersecurity organised by Germany’s Handelsblatt daily. “These are huge digital companies that only see themselves as conveyors of information and hide behind the legal privileges enjoyed by platforms because they do not want to take over editorial verification of their content.” Germany has been a leading proponent of stricter regulation of social media networks, passing a law in June to introduce fines of up to 50 million euros ($59.67 million) if they fail to remove hateful postings promptly. Facebook has responded to tighter regulation in Germany and elsewhere by announcing plans to add thousands of extra workers to monitor reports of inappropriate material and review ads. Maassen said it was significant that Facebook had admitted that millions of users had seen politically divisive ads on the site that it said were purchased in Russia before and after last year’s U.S. presidential election. “Democratic pluralism loses its foundations if it is no longer based on facts and reality is reduced to opinions,” he said. … —— http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/11/google-does-evil.html#more November 22, 2017 Google Does Evil Up to about 2006 or 2007 Google provided an excellent search engine. It then started to prioritize and present more general results even where one searched for very specific information. It became cumbersome to search for and find details. The situation has since further deteriorated. The Google News search is now completely useless. It delivers the main stream media trash without showing divergent views or opinions. What is the use of a search result page that links to twenty sites with the same slightly rewritten Associated Press story? Google’s algorithms now amount to censorship. Since August it downgrades websites that offer alternative views to the left of the pack. Searches that earlier led to the World Socialist Web Site or to Media Matters no longer show these sites, or show them way down the result pages. Traffic to these sites collapsed. This week Google announced that it will censor RT.com, the website of the international Russian TV station: Google will ‘de-rank’ RT articles to make them harder to find – Eric Schmidt. … —— https://www.globalresearch.ca/eu-anti-fake-news-authority-prepares-mass-censorship/5618581?print=1 EU Anti-“Fake News” Authority Prepares Mass Censorship By Alex Lantier Global Research, November 16, 2017 World Socialist Web Site The European Union (EU) is launching the construction of an authority to monitor and censor so-called “fake news.” It is setting up a High-Level Expert Group on the issue and soliciting criticisms of “fake news” by media professionals and the public to decide what powers to give to this EU body, which is to begin operation next spring. An examination of the EU’s announcement shows that it is preparing mass state censorship aimed not at false information, but at news reports or political views that encourage popular opposition to the European ruling class. … —— http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-4481_en.htm “Next steps against fake news: Commission sets up High-Level Expert Group and launches public consultation” Brussels, 13 November 2017 The Commission launched today a public consultation on fake news and online disinformation and set up a High-Level Expert Group representing academics, online platforms, news media and civil society organisations. The work of the High-Level Expert Group as well as the results of the public consultation will contribute to the development of an EU-level strategy on how to tackle the spreading of fake news, to be presented in spring 2018. First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: “The freedom to receive and impart information and the pluralism of the media are enshrined in the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. We live in an era where the flow of information and misinformation has become almost overwhelming. That is why we need to give our citizens the tools to identify fake news, improve trust online, and manage the information they receive.” … —— http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/hezbollah-is-not-a-threat-to-america/ Hezbollah is Not a Threat to America ‘Trumped’ up charges to get at Iran won’t work By SHARMINE NARWANI • November 3, 2017 Western-backed militants are in retreat, Bashar al-Assad remains president, Hezbollah has stretched its wings regionally, Israeli power is in decline, and Iran is on the rise. Not a pretty result for Washington’s multi-billion dollar investment in the Syrian conflict, especially if it was intended to change the map of the region to favor U.S. interests. The Trump administration is therefore moving to hit its regional adversaries on alternative, non-military fronts—mainly, employing the sanctions tool that can cripple economies, besiege communities, and stir up public discontent. The first step was to decertify the nuclear agreement struck between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1), which would open up a pathway to further U.S. sanctions against Iran. The second step is to resuscitate the Hezbollah “threat” and isolate the organization using legal maneuvers and financial sanctions—what one pro-U.S. Lebanese Central Bank official calls “the new tools of imperialism.” The U.S. listed Hezbollah as a “terrorist organization” 20 years ago this month. Most other states, as well as the United Nations Security Council, have not. Two weeks ago, at a State Department briefing on the Hezbollah “threat,” National Counterterrorism Center Director Nicholas J. Rasmussen tried to paint a picture of an organization that was directing “terrorism acts worldwide” and posing a threat “to U.S. interests” including “here in the homeland.” “Prior to September 11,” Rasmussen claimed, “I think everybody knows Hezbollah was responsible for the terrorism-related deaths of more U.S. citizens than any other foreign terrorist organization.” This was news indeed. A check with a State Department spokesperson confirmed that the “deaths of more U.S. citizens than any other foreign terrorist organization” claim was in reference to the following incidents: [the charge against Iran was disproven even by official U.S. figures] … —— Russia’s free pass to undermine British democracy [This piece shows that the Brits have nothing to envy their American counterparts when it comes to filthy service to the empire, and this piece of filth appeared in the "liberal" Guardian.—Eds]
Nick Cohen, 21 October 2017 The Tories want to ignore Putin’s Brexit role and Labour is complicit with Putin’s mafia state Nick Cohen, shameless jingoistic vermin at the service of the oligarchy. He's hardly an aberration. You’d never guess it, but Britain is a lucky country. Across the democratic world, Russia pursues its interests by corrupting elections with black propaganda. But in their insouciance, our government and intelligence services show dear old Blighty has no reason to worry. On the rare occasions it bothers to discuss the subject, the British state says “it can’t happen here”, even though “it” is happening everywhere else. The FBI is investigating how Russia hacked the Clinton campaign and used Facebook and Twitter to spread fake news. Ukrainians are preparing for the next stage of resistance to Russian forces. European foreign ministries and intelligence services have finally understood that Russia’s imperial strategy is to weaken the EU and Nato in every country except, it seems, this sceptred isle. Russia knows its best tactic is to use migrant crises to stoke nativist fears. “German government threw their country under feet of migrants like a rug, now try wipe their crimes under carpet,” tweeted the Russian embassy in London in 2016 as the Kremlin began a successful campaign to promote the interests of the chauvinists in Alternative for Germany. A bank close to Vladimir Putin loaned $10m to Marine le Pen’s anti-EU Front National. He encouraged the anti-immigrant Freedom party in Austria, the Lega Nord in Italy and Jobbik in Hungary. … — Whereas some of those articles disprove the U.S-allied assertions, others are instead U.S.-allied, and blatantly trumpet the types of shameless lying that the U.S.-allied ‘news’media pumped constantly up till the time we invaded and destroyed Iraq in 2003. There is a pattern here. Think of the allegorical 1984, and of today as the actual version. The novelist George Orwell understood the pattern, remarkably early. We in the U.S.-and-allied countries live in (as that link describes it) “the superstate Oceania. Oceania is a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation.” That’s exactly right. Far right. Military-industrial-complex right. It’s where we now are. And that’s something which, in Oceania, is prohibited to be published, by any approved ‘news’media. And: any medium that’s not approved, is called a ‘fake news’ site, right along with any drivel that the aristocracy wants to be associated, in the public’s minds, with those few honest news-sites — as guilt-by-association (with whatever drivel the aristocracy also disapproves). But only honest newsmedia will be publishing this. And there are fewer and fewer of those. The clampdown is well underway. ERIC ZUESSE, Senior Contributing Editor Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity. Besides TGP, his reports and historical analyses are published on many leading current events and political sites, including The Saker, Huffpost, Oped News, and others. ERIC ZUESSE—Any medium that’s not approved, is called a ‘fake news’ site, right along with any drivel that the aristocracy wants to be associated, in the public’s minds, with those few honest news-sites — as guilt-by-association (with whatever drivel the aristocracy also disapproves). But only honest newsmedia will be publishing this. And there are fewer and fewer of those. The clampdown is well underway. [premium_newsticker id=”154171″]
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