PATRICE GREANVILLE
With its civilian manufacturing gone, offshored decades ago for the sake of greater profits, the US is a permanent war economy. Its war industries are private, profitmaking conglomerates, now the pillar of the US economy. Not so in Russia, China, Iran, etc, where they are all state enterprises operating strictly for defense, or, secondarily, to gain some foreign currency. No one gets richer in those countries by warmongering, but in the US it is the default position for one of the most influential lobbies.
In the pathologically mendacious system that holds America captive, scum controls almost the totality of mass communications, a fact derived from their privileged position as the ruling class and their direct hirelings. Thus, from every pore of the legacy media to newer social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, podcasts, etc. and, of course, all email channels, our minds are bombarded every day, 24/7, with the reaffirmation of a completely false reality benefiting the oligarchs in power. It's extremely difficult if not impossible for the ordinary person—short of becoming a hermit—to escape this constant assault of mental sewage. What's more, this torrent of lies falls on an already scandalously disinformed population, most of whom have been fed chauvinist/exceptionalist lies from the moment they were born.
But not only is the intensity of such status quo-upholding garbage that is of concern to anyone who cares about genuine freedom and democracy, there's also the fact that Anglo-American civilization has developed the world's most refined and effective machinery of propaganda. Brute quantity is supported by quality. Sociopolitical propaganda is, after all, a form of mass marketing, the natural offshoot of capitalism, and both Britain and the US are the cradle of modern capitalism, with the US taking this system to its most savage and cynical extreme. Not surprisingly, then, the quality of Anglo-American methods of submerged totalitarian manipulation and manufactured confusion is simply the world's best, something that, faux modest denials to the opposite, would make Goebbels look like a clumsy amateur. These days, with strident and sanctimonious Russophobia being the only "permissible" position throughout the West, and with the noise of pro-war propaganda reaching deafening levels, the world stands on the brink, again, of a terminal nuclear conflagration precipitated by pervasive corruption and mass imbecility. If the so-called unthinkable should happen, let it be written on humanity's celestial tombstone that the departed was the first species done in by propaganda. The fitting end for those who wittingly or unwittingly embraced Western imperialism.
Below some samples of scum messages. The more outrageous lies are bolded in red.
MoveOn / Democrats appeal (email, received 3/10/2022)
1. MoveOn: Tucker Carlson of Fox News is dangerous--truly dangerous.
Russia's state propaganda TV networks have been running clips of Tucker Carlson defending Putin and trashing Ukraine to sell Putin's war.
And The Washington Post recently reported that new polling shows Republicans view Putin more favorably than they do President Joe Biden!
Democracy is at an inflection point, and we cannot let white supremacist, authoritarians like Carlson shape public opinion.
But unlike Fox News, MoveOn doesn't have billionaire corporate backers. We're fueled by you, our members. And in this moment, we need you, [Sucker].
If you are able to, will you start a $5 monthly donation to MoveOn's Creative Labs team to create hard-hitting, fact-based viral videos that time and again get the truth out to millions of people and fight back against the right-wing media disinformation machine over the long haul? (1)
http://mvn.to/2zz Stop2End
--Bob, a MoveOn volunteer
(1) Disinformation is systemic and practiced by both wings of the oligarchy-controlled duopoly. The current Russophic warmongering wave was actually kicked off by the Democrats, today's "war party".
2. WaPo ad: How's this for cynicism?
3. Ukraine war propaganda: Whipping up anger and panic about the Russian intervention.
There are now hundreds, probably thousands, of fake images circulating purporting to describe Russian "atrocities" and/or Ukranian heroism. Many come straight from movies (see below), or video games. Suckers beware.
And, 4, the real coup de resistance...France 24 Observers, a leading French media platform, breaks ranks with the anglo BS, and publishes this debunking article.
(Unfortunately, most of their Ukraine coverage is standard lies, like the rest of the Western "coverage". Maybe this splash of honesty was a clever maneuver to make us swallow their numerous OTHER instances of deception...the old half-truth technique).
Ukraine: The fake images 'showing Ukrainian resistance to the Russian army'
Issued on:
These images do not show acts of resistance by Ukrainian civilians. © Observers
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, images purporting to show Ukrainian acts of resistance have been shared widely on social networks. The Ukrainian population is indeed carrying out a strong resistance in several cities, but some of these posts are actually images taken out of context and have nothing to do with the ongoing conflict.
If you only have a minute
- On social media, some accounts have been sharing videos and photos supposedly showing the Ukrainian population mobilising against the Russian army.
- There is plenty of verified evidence showing the real Ukrainian resistance.
- However, there are still a lot of posts going around that have nothing to do with the current conflict.
- Through reverse image searches, we have been able to trace the origin of these images, which are unrelated to the war in Ukraine.
A closer look
A first lady taking up arms, a young Ukrainian girl opposing Russian soldiers, or even tutorials on how to drive armoured vehicles stolen from the enemy ... Since February 24, many accounts have shared images on social media to show civilians bravely opposing the Russian army. The FRANCE 24 Observers team has authenticated several of these videos. However, some posts, also supposedly showing Ukrainian resistance, actually have nothing to do with the conflict.
Did the First Lady of Ukraine take up arms against the Russian army?
On TikTok, a video purporting to show Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska in military garb has amassed over four million views. The video mixes authentic shots of President Volodymyr Zelensky's wife with a photo of a woman dressed in a Ukrainian army uniform holding a gun. According to some of the accounts sharing the video, the photo shows that the First Lady of Ukraine has joined the army to defend her country.
Screenshot of the montage showing a fake image of the First Lady of Ukraine. Observers
To find out where this photo really comes from, we did a reverse image search (click here to find out how). We found this portrait in several online image banks, for example on the istock website. The caption of the photo indicates that it was taken on August 22, 2021 by photographer Volodymyr Zakharov, and that it is a photograph of a "Ukrainian military woman during training for the parade celebrating the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence". It’s not the First Lady of Ukraine.
Screenshot of the photo on istock. Observers
A tutorial for driving armoured vehicles stolen from the Russian army?
A video on Twitter, which has more than seven million views, shows a woman driving a military vehicle through a snowy landscape. According to the accounts who have been sharing it since February 28, it is a "tutorial made by a Ukrainian woman explaining how to drive abandoned or stolen tanks from the Russian army".
Screenshot of one of the Tweets sharing this fake tutorial for driving an armoured car. Observers
From this post, you can find the TikTok account that made the video, @nastyatyman. That user, Nastya Tyman, shared this video on February 16, 2021, one year before the Russian offensive began. More importantly, she isn’t Ukrainian but Russian according to her YouTube profile. In February 2021, she shared a post on Instagram to celebrate the "Day of the Defender of the Fatherland", a holiday celebrated in Russia. So, while this tutorial does indeed show how to drive a military vehicle, it was actually published in February 2021 by a Russian videographer.
A Ukrainian girl fighting a Russian soldier?
Since February 27, several images of the same girl fighting a man in military uniform have been shared on social networks. Some Twitter accounts claim that these images show an "eight-year-old Ukrainian girl telling a Russian soldier to return to his country".
Screenshot of one of the tweets sharing this image out of context. Observers
Thanks to a reverse image search, we found several articles in Israeli media featuring these same photos. But these articles report on events that took place in the West Bank, not in Ukraine. The Times of Israel explains that these images are from a video from 2012 in which an 11-year-old Palestinian girl challenges an Israeli soldier. This young girl is in fact Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian activist. The photos, therefore, have nothing to do with the war in Ukraine.
Screenshot of the image of Ahed Tamimi used in the Times of Israel article. Observers
The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post. However, we do think they are important enough to be transmitted to a wider audience.
All image captions, pull quotes, appendices, etc. by the editors not the authors.
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