Venezuela in “Misery” – Lies and Deceit by the Media Open Letter to the New York Times

Another important dispatch from The Greanville Post. Be sure to share it widely.

To the Editor in CHIEF:

NYT - 18 May 2019
Venezuela’s Collapse Is the Worst Outside of War in Decades, Economists Say
Subtitle: Butchers have stopped selling meat cuts in favor of offal, fat shavings and cow hooves, the only animal protein many of their customers can afford.

This introduction is accompanied by a picture of a man in rags, pushing a shopping cart through a garbage dump site. You, NYT, say it is in Maracaibo, Venezuela, the man looking for recyclables. The photo could be from anywhere, the same with a picture further down in the text – depicting a young woman nursing a baby in the dark – you say in a typical Venezuelan blackout.

This is a flagrant misrepresentation of what’s going on in Venezuela.

The New York Times is known for selecting photos from places of misery, could be slums from anywhere in the world, and placing them where it is most convenient to propagate a spurious story – a story meant to demean a country in the public opinion, a country that the empire wants to subdue by bashing and insulting it – so the public – the braindead western public, notably in the US and Europe, will tolerate or even scream for a “humanitarian invasion” from the friendly and supposedly selfless and always well=intentioned US of A.

Why don't you NYT’s shameful liars tell the full truth?

Who is responsible for the collapse, the lack of food, medicine, blackouts – actually for all of the collapses that you described in your manipulating masterpiece of deceit and propaganda? - And many more 'collapses' that you don't even mention?   The NYT article compares Venezuela with “Zimbabwe’s collapse under Robert Mugabe, the fall of the Soviet Union, and Cuba’s disastrous unraveling in the 1990s”. The Times is completing its baseless preposterous accusation by saying, “the crumbling of Venezuela’s economy has now outpaced them all. Venezuela’s fall is the single largest economic collapse outside of war in at least 45 years, economists say.”

The economist your article quotes is none other than the former chief economist of the IMF, Harvard professor, Kenneth Rogoff, one of the most neoliberal, bordering on neofascist, economists you could have chosen. But that figures. Impressing with name calling. No matter how biased they are; no matter that they too defend the US hardline – invade Venezuela to save the people.

Whom do you think you impress with such names? The ignorant, of course, and - yes - there are plenty of them in the great and unique US of A; and your key objective and that of most MSM is to keep them ignorant, so the exceptional nation can continue sowing misery around the globe for the benefit of a few - killing millions and millions of innocent people, for power, the theft of resources and world hegemony. [Editor's Note: There's also the credential-impressed "10%", the comfortable prternaturaly shallow upper middle class that actually runs the empire for the "1%". For such people, many of whom see themselves as meritocrats, a sheepskin from an Ivy League institution is regarded as a sort of unquestionable achievement.]

Aren’t you – the Editor in Chief – ashamed for putting up a totally false scenario? – One of lies and half-truths, all with the objective of further brainwashing the western public – into becoming warmongers, like your criminal government, and like your criminal paper. Yes, the NYT is a criminal paper, for doing what it does: Lying time after time to sway public opinion towards war, towards killing – mass-killing, mass-murder, that’s what your government has been doing for the last 70 years – all under false flags and monstrous lies, pretending to be fighting terrorists, yet, fomenting terrorism, while building up the base for world hegemony – and insane profits for the American war industrial complex – the oligarchs of death.

Did you know – you must! – that the US economy could not survive PEACE; that this sadistic and satanic economy depends on war, permanent war? That the war machine manufacturing complex and its associated industries and services account for more than 50% of the US GDP? And do you realize – you should! – that the US’s economic output is one of destruction – of killing, of annihilation – instead of building and developing human knowledge and wellbeing, the intrinsic thrive of human society – evolving in conscience, integrity and conscientiousness towards living well for all?

How is that for an exceptional nation? – Indeed, an exceptional nation, a nation in disrespect of all international laws and conventions – just breaching the Vienna Convention to which the US is party – by violating the diplomatic code, invading the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington and a few years ago, by seizing Russian diplomatic properties in Washington and New York. Wonderful precedents for other unaligned and disobedient countries to prepare for – but also for other countries – if and when they wake up and take their courage into their mind and fist – to do the same to US Embassies on their soil. What would Washington do? Does Washington even consider such a possibility? I guess not. But it’s the easiest thing to do - retaliate.

It would just take a number of countries acting in solidarity, simultaneously – and Bingo! – the emperor will be standing there with his pants down.

Your paper didn’t mention this little diplomatic episode that happened a few days ago in the context of lawlessness, of breaching the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations which entered into effect in April 1964, one of the few sacrosanct UN Conventions on diplomacy of which the US is a signatory.

Back to the Venezuelan “misery” you, Mr. Editor in Chief, and the NYT are so eager to report on. Why don't you say that the United States of America - the self-proclaimed exceptional nation, the "indispensable nation, as Obama called it, mirroring a longstanding self-flattering mythology, with war criminals leading it - is responsible for most of the suffering of Venezuela, through its totally illegal (who cares in Washington about legality) sanctions, blockage of food and medical imports, theft and confiscation of some US$ 130 billion in Venezuelan assets and reserve funds in US banks and around the world, economic blackmail and strangulation that has, according to economists Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington D.C. and Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University, caused the death of some 40,000 Venezuelans.

This racist, misogynist and neofascist government, centered in and around the Swamp of Washington, is responsible for most of the suffering in the world today, by manufacturing wars and conflicts - eternal war on terror; the same terrorists, trained, funded and armed by the very Washington, the CIA, the Pentagon, NATO and the spineless European puppets – for power, domination and theft of resources.

Does the NYT ever report on this? - Why can't you, the NYT and YOU, the Editor in Chief, for once be honest and stand up for true journalism? – Because you would lose your job? Right, that’s it, isn’t it? – So, why don’t you pull out your card of ethics that you subscribed to in the school of journalism – from deep-deep down in your soul – look at it, internalize it – and think how much more you will be gaining in esteem around the world, if you bring the truth to the people, rather than keep lying – and brainwashing the world into war, misery and death? – Try it. You may be surprised.

Don't you think, Dear Editor in Chief, sooner or later this Big Lie regime of nonstop propaganda, this abject non-journalism will haunt you eventually all the way into the grave?   People will wake up, the empire will fall, it’s just a matter of time. What will you do then?   Switch sides? - You truly think, you really honestly think, people will believe you? Or forgive you? And I mean you and your paper, the once-upon-a-time highly reputed New York Times? That the people are so dumb to forever buy your lies, your untruths? – It’s now or never that you should switch sides. You may feel the brunt for a while from those running the world on illegitimate premises, but deep down in your soul you still have a spark of morality left. Pull it out. Bring it to light. It will reward your life forever...

Largely thanks to you, the NYT and your think-alike AngloZionist mass-media colleagues and partners in crime – which encourage people to call for wars, for invasions, conflicts and regime change, all based on your deceit, misinformation and false flags – as a disgraceful result of these lies millions and millions of people have been killed around the globe, many millions more uprooted and massively dispossessed. Estimates put the figure at between 20 and 25 million since the end of WWII – all by the US, NATO, and their proxies and vassalic European minions.

By repeatedly spreading lies and deception, you are creating a colossal false truth, indoctrinating people into consensus for wars and more wars; for invading and killing more innocent people, for the benefit of a few kleptomaniac oligarchs, stealing (and destroying) incalculable natural resources and, especially, of the corrupt war machine. Goebbels, Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, had it right, when he said: Give me control of the media and I convert the people into a herd of pigs. Most of the western populace is already a herd of pigs.

Venezuelans are no herd of pigs. They, and Cubans, Nicaraguans, Bolivians, Iranians, Syrians, Russians, Chinese – and many other sanctioned, blackmailed and suffocated people, have been resisting and will continue to resist, no matter what it takes to bring the empire to its knees. Let’s face it, the latest amok race around the globe dishing out sanctions and more sanctions – from Venezuela, to Iran, to China, to North Korea, to Syria, to Iraq – by the ultra-dangerous, sadistic warrior-jokers, Bolton, Pompeo, Abrams, Pence – and not to forget, the Goldie-Lock of incompetence in the White House – with a fleet of the largest warplane carriers encircling the seas of Iran and the Gulf of Hormuz – these people and the scenarios they create, are a true reflection of hopelessness befalling a fading empire.

You, the New York Times, could help bring this abject war on terror, the merciless killing of millions to an end, accelerate the downfall of the empire, by spreading the truth – the truth that you, Editor in Chief, as well as many of your colleague journalists know – by stepping out of your MSM-box, making a 180-degree U-turn, siding with the people, the 99.99% who crave PEACE. – You would earn and receive an enormous THANK-YOU.

This is an article by contributing editor Peter Koenig

About the author

Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a former World Bank staff and worked extensively around the world in the fields of environment and water resources. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for Global Research, ICH, RT, Sputnik, PressTV, The 4th Media (China), TeleSUR, The Vineyard of The Saker Blog, and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution! – Essays from the Resistance.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.[/su_box]

Stern warnings from Col. Larry Wilkerson about the billionaires’ plot to completely hijack America and the imperialist designs for Venezuela

Another important dispatch from The Greanville Post. Be sure to share it widely.

The “Permanent War State” Aims to Plunder Venezuela -
(Wilkerson and Jay)

The Real News Network

Published on Feb 26, 2019

https://therealnews.com for more stories and help support our work by donating at https://therealnews.com/donate.

About the Author

Col. Wilkerson is a man of integrity. While, like most Americans he was born inside the exceptionalist/imperialist propaganda bubble, and in good faith fought to advance what he believed were sound and moral goals, his own exposure to the imperial wars gradually prompted a total conversion to an anti-establishment position. His bio (excerpts) speaks for itself:

Lawrence B. "Larry" Wilkerson (born June 15, 1945) is a retired United States Army Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. Since the end of his military career, Wilkerson has publicly criticized many aspects of the Iraq War, including his own preparation of Powell's presentation to the UN, as well as other aspects of American policy in the Middle East. Wilkerson was born in Gaffney, South Carolina. After three years of studying philosophy and English literature at Bucknell University, Wilkerson dropped out in 1966 and volunteered to serve in the Vietnam War. He told the Washington Post: "I felt an obligation because my dad had fought, and I thought that was kind of your duty."^[3]

Wilkerson arrived as an Army officer piloting an OH-6A Cayuse observation helicopter and logged about 1100 combat hours over a year. He flew low and slow through Vietnam, and was involved in one incident in which he says he prevented a war crime by purposely placing his helicopter between a position that was full of civilians, and another helicopter that wanted to launch an attack on the position. He also had many vocal disagreements with his superiors and his own gunner crew over free-fire zones, including an incident in which one of his crew shot a wagon that wound up having a little girl inside it.^[4] He went on to Airborne School and Ranger School before receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and graduate degrees in international relations and national security. He attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and later returned there to teach. He later served as deputy director of the Marine Corps War College at Quantico.^{[5]

Source: Wikipedia}

France’s ‘Holy Secular Empire’ slurs Yellow Vests as anti-Semitic, bans anti-Zionism

HELP ENLIGHTEN YOUR FELLOWS. BE SURE TO PASS THIS ON. SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON IT.

The French establishment is openly and cynically weaponising antisemitism. This is a coordinated attack on civil liberties and free speech seen in all soi-dissant "Western democracies".

"Out with Macron!" A cry shared by many.

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ack in November 2008, Rahm Emmanuel, then president-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff and later the detested mayor of Chicago, famously told The Wall Street Journal, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. … This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not before.” A wave of “socialise the losses” right-wing capitalism followed; millions lost their homes, pensions, jobs, sanity, neighbourhood cohesion, etc.

France is using the anti-establishment crisis of the Yellow Vests in a way that Zionist-supporter Emmanuel certainly approves of: they are using it to criminalise anti-Zionism.

Backtracking from just a day earlier, President Emmanuel Macron threw French liberty under the bus and said that France will now define “anti-Zionism as a modern-day form of anti-Semitism”.

Well I guess I better totally rewrite this article! LOL, not a chance.

France had an atrocious 74% leap in anti-Jewish acts in 2018, which caused nationwide demonstrations against anti-Semitism on February 19.

More against anti-Jew acts… I could not be.

But the demonstrations were a clear manipulation of righteous anti-racism sentiment, because they were orchestrated right alongside an effort to slander the anti-government Yellow Vest movement as a basket of racist, anti-Jewish, hillbilly, intolerant, uncultured deplorables. Now we see they had a second goal, just as I had openly suggested.

Domestic things first: France’s Holy Secular Empire rallies to attack tolerance & democracy

Given that they are calling for the resignation of the president and his cadres, from the very beginning of the Yellow Vest movement the government has obviously done everything they could to portray the Yellow Vests as such… and also as radicals, rioters and rejects of society – anything but legitimate.

Massive rally in Bordeaux: the herd cynically manipulated.

But the marches show that (what I refer to as) France’s “Holy Secular Empire” has sprung back into action. The Holy Secular Empire is characterised by pro-French jingoism, intolerance for those who are deemed not tolerant enough of the “correct” things (no matter how morally repugnant and intellectually incorrect said things may be), and a hypocritical subversion of France’s constitutionally mandated and culturally revered laïcité (political secularism) towards all things regarding race and religion only when certain cultural groups are targeted.

Paris, 2015—Shameless sanctimonious hypocrisy: most of the criminal world leaders who created the "terror" crisis engulfing Europe march to denounce the inevitable consequences of their treacherous actions and inactions. In photo: Hollande, Merkel, Tusk, Netanyahu, et al.

The apex of the Holy Secular Empire was the Je Suis Charlie marches in 2015, when fake-leftists worldwide wept for the right to draw a picture of Prophet Mohammad with his butt cheeks spread open and star covering his anus and also Mohammad directing a pornography movie. (Yes, those are among the cartoons they published.)

The arrival of the anti-austerity, anti-neoliberal, anti-EU, anti-Eurozone, anti-1% Yellow Vest movement has forced the HSE’s fake-leftist ideals back to the fore. The last week has seen a massive media and political blitz which aims to instrumentalise the fight against racism as a way to turn public opinion against the Yellow Vests, and eventually put a stop to their marches.

It's easy to proclaim bravery in an affluent suburb of Paris. Images like this one attest to a typical bourgeois sensibility. Would this mother allow her child to be protesting in Gaza, exposed to the tender mercies of the Israeli army?

In Paris, a child's placard: "When I grow up, I'll be a journalist. I'm not afraid." #CharlieHebdo (H/T @ChrisMoos_) pic.twitter.com/2P1hfYHC4H

— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL) January 11, 2015

The slur campaign went into overdrive when the atrociously right-wing and pro-Zionist writer Alain Finkielkraut was filmed at the Yellow Vest demonstration on February 16th being insulted (being correctly labelled) with the phrase “dirty Zionist”. Finkielkraut is a former leftist who renounced his leftist ideals for reactionary ones, and such sellouts – those who can perhaps best critique the left because they understood it at one time – are always adored by the 1% and the Mainstream Media.

SIDEBAR
L'Affair Finkielkraut—A turncoat and rightwing zionist justly rejected by the masses

As the author states, many among the Gilets Jaunes know who Finkielkrait is, and they treat him accordingly. Many Gilets Jaunes understand politics far better than the ordinary confused American, and they know who their enemy is. You can't fault them for that. Besides, it is the constant and heinous crimes of Israel (the state which, as was to be expected, pioneered the weaponization of anti-semitism), and the disgusting hypocrisy and sanctimony of the zionist-controlled media and the entire Western political class, with their treachery and identity politics, and endless wars, that created this situation of mass alienation in the population of many Western states, a phenomenon perhaps more advanced and visible in Europe than in the US, but certainly present throughout the imperial west. It does not help, of course, that Finkielkraut, billed as a "philosopher", a title also appropriated by revolting poseur Bernard-Henri Lévy, another "public intellectual" and imperial apologist of the most insidious kind protected by the mainstream media (note the alarming headlines, like "philosopher Finkielkraut violently insulted..."), is also a notorious turncoat, a former leftist who is now deeply and comfortably ensconced in the folds of the class he once correctly excoriated.

Below, an example of typical anti-Gilet Jaunes coverage by French media, by a channel properly classified as establishmentarian/right wing.

BFMTV
Published on Feb 17, 2019

"Barre toi, sale sioniste de merde", "grosse merde sioniste", "nous sommes le peuple", "la France elle est à nous". Le philosophe et académicien Alain Finkielkraut a été injurié et sifflé ce samedi en marge de la manifestation des "gilets jaunes" dans le quartier de Montparnasse à Paris, selon des vidéos diffusées sur les réseaux sociaux et qui ont déclenché une vague d'indignation au sein de la classe politique.

"Go away, dirty Zionist shit", "big shit Zionist", "we are the people", "France is ours". The philosopher and academician Alain Finkielkraut was insulted and booed this Saturday on the sidelines of the demonstration of "yellow vests" in the Montparnasse district of Paris, according to videos broadcast on social networks and which sparked a wave of indignation within the [bought] political class.

This material is reproduced here under US Fair Use provisions.

But, firstly, what is Alain Finkielkraut doing at a Yellow Vest march? Of course they hate him – he was similarly booed and shooed away at the leftist, Occupy-inspired Nuit Debout protests in 2016. The French say “once does not make a custom”, but it seems as if every leftist movement can now count on Finkielkraut getting back in the spotlight by annoying them with his presence. Of course, just like in 2016, Finkielkraut wants people to believe in 2019 it’s just anti-Jew hatred, but he clearly refuses to accept that people legitimately resent and detest him for being one of the French’s 1%’s leading intellectual toadies.

I saw Finkielkraut being interviewed on right-wing BFM TV just after the incident: he was doing his usual rear end-kissing of the average Frenchman’s bygone culture. He was going on and on about how the Roman Catholic French Church is a natural ally of the Jews, begging for their support and fraternity… and never mentioning Islam as their third Abrahamic brother. That’s odd, considering that much of the Koran’s very first chapter calls for unity with Jews and Christians, declares that Islam does not discriminate against their apostles and embraces them, how the children of Israel are exalted above other nations, and on and on and on. I asked a Middle Eastern Christian colleague why Finkielkraut didn’t include Islam, considering these obvious facts?

“Ramin,” he said, “why do you think Alain Finkielkraut would commit career suicide?”

LOL, good point. But this is why people on the left hate Finkielkraut – he makes bad things worse by insisting that la belle France réactionnaire doesn’t have to change.

The Finkielkraut episode, combined with a couple recent typical pro-Nazi graffiti taggings, allowed the Mainstream Media to point the finger at the Yellow Vests. Ever obliging, and you cannot make this up: French Parliamentarians rushed to try and ban anti-Zionist speech!

Surprised – why? In 2014, during Israel’s latest war on Gaza, France became the first country to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Foreign things second: Since when do French politicians care about the French?

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]anning anti-Zionism is – without a doubt – truly dangerous for the safety of the French, ruinous for France’s international image, ruinous to France’s cultural values…but since when do French politicians care about France?

The Parliamentarians said the debate ban was on the grounds that “anti-Zionism” is the same as “anti-Semitism”.” For several days this falsity was relayed by every major news organisation with zero comment or a question. Clearly, the Holy Secular Empire is a mighty force, but not an enlightened one. (Same slanderous and illegal arguments are being made across the channel, as the utterly corrupt bipartisan establishment and their media whores seek ways to block the ascension of Jeremy Corbyn.—Eds.)

"I am an anti-Zionist Jew." BUT: one cannot be both pro-Jew and anti-Zionist… not even if you are a Jew. But brave Jews who stand up for justice are the best barrier to genuine anti-semitism.

Why the backtracking by Macron? I thought he was pro-Nazi? Let’s not forget that last November Macron was forced to call off his planned tribute to Vichy France leader and Nazi collaborator Marshal Petain – that makes him more responsible for the recent spike in anti-Jewish acts than anyone, no? People follow the lead of the leader, and he praised Nazi-era France.

From the beginning I openly said on social media that the timing of the marches made their legitimacy even more suspect: they were the night before the French President’s annual genuflecting before CRIF, the umbrella of Jewish groups which serves as France’s influential Jewish lobby. I felt bad for France’s Jews – the timing of these marches already seemed more like political manipulations which aimed to culminate in the criminalisation of anti-Zionism, but the timing helped perpetuate the idea that Jews are overly powerful among the French elite.

The annual genuflecting also shows that, while individual and anecdotal violence against Jews needs far steeper penalties in France, on the institutional level France’s Jews are not just well-represented but punching above their weight: there is no similar annual genuflecting by the French president at an French Muslim organisation, even though Muslims are 10 times the number of Jews in France. Each new French president even has the gall to create their own, preferred “new, improved, Franco-Muslim group”, which no Muslim takes remotely seriously but which the Mainstream Media takes as, LOL, legitimate.

Macron made his backtracking at the CRIF dinner. Ugh…bad for Jews, bad for France, bad for Palestinians, bad for those who oppose terrorism in France (i.e everyone) and on and on.

Global things third: we still have the Yellow Vests, at least. Also: I hate Zionism

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]all the cops on me….

The reality is that mainstream journalists simply won’t stand up for the difference between Zionism and anti-Semitism – even if brave Jews like that one in the photo do – and even if such inaccuracies hurt the image of the everyday Jew.

But such is the effectiveness of Israeli hasbara ^(1), counter-information propaganda aimed at Western audiences, that even the word “Jew” cannot be broached. The Western concept that the word “Jew” is somehow a racial slur was hilariously lampooned by the US TV show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

And it affected this article, too: I thought the title should be, “France’s ‘Holy Secular Empire’ slurs Yellow Vests as anti-Jew, bans anti-Zionism” – and why not? It’s shorter, and I like to pretend that column inches still matter in digital media. It’s also more accurate: “Semitic” is a language – meaning the branch which includes Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic – yet it has been appropriated/given to the adherents of Judaism, regardless of national origin, for so long that the average person now associates “Semite” solely with Jews.

For example, I just had a fine English colleague proofread my upcoming book, Socialism’s Ignored Success Story: Iranian Islamic Socialism, and in one part I discussed out how the “non-Semitic Iranians” might have been predisposed to disagree with certain early Islamic leaders who pushed pro-Arab, and thus ethnically sectarian, policies. This intelligent journalist noted in red next to “the non-Semitic Iranians” the following: “?”. LOL, I changed it, because this is even more of a lost cause than my effort to use “Southwest Asian” instead of the Eurocentric “Middle East”. And I changed the headline because I thought that many half-hearted anti-racists would see “anti-Jew” and hysterically think, “I am too turned off to click on this link – the language is too harsh. The writer must be a nut.”

The Yellow Vests do not believe that “Jews are secretly in charge” – what they oppose is the continuation of this caste culture, which allows high finance, careerist politicians and hipster Parisians to be the only ones writing public policy. The Yellow Vests, I’m sure, are majority pro-Palestinian, but I’m even more sure that they view this banning of anti-Zionism as a truly dangerous distraction which will not keep them from relying on food banks at the end of the month.

The mistake made by that young anti-Zionist Jew – who is my brother from another mother – is that he went to the wrong demonstration that night: he went to the fake-leftist / hipster / bobo (bourgeois bohémien) / politician photo-op / pro-Zionist / anti-Yellow Vest demonstration at Place de la République, when he should have been with me at Ménilmontant in the Arab part of town.

I covered that demonstration for PressTV. It was organised by the Union of French Jews for Peace, a wonderful group I have interviewed for years. Heck, some of the very best pro-Palestinian activists in France are Jewish! That is where this young man belonged. The protest was expressly against all racism and expressly against the attempt to slur the Yellow Vests as anti-Semitic.

We numbered about 700 people, with plenty of Yellow Vests, and we garnered far less media coverage (in French: At Ménilmontant, a demonstration of real anti-racists’ against anti-Semitism), but plenty of Israeli hasbara. The Times of Israel headline read, “At Ménilmontant a man yelled ‘Netanyahu licks the (rear end) of Hitler”. If this is how they treat those who are protesting against anti-Semitism, imagine how they treat Palestinians, LOL….

As usual, the people I interviewed there put it better than I could, even though that’s my job:

The Yellow Vests are not ethnic nor religious – they are social, political and fiscal. These are workers who work yet still can’t pay their bills at the end of the month, even though France is such a rich country. If there are anti-Jews in the Yellow Vests, well, 58% of the country supports the Yellow Vests, which equates to 39 million people: out of 39 million people you will find some jerks, and also some racists, but the slurring of the Yellow Vests as anti-Jew is only because the establishment and their toadies will do anything to stop the Yellow Vest movement… which will absolutely not stop.

It won’t stop because, as I wrote at the very beginning of the movement: there is simply no political pathway for the Yellow Vests’ political ideas to be implemented. Therefore, they have no choice but to continue because political demands aren’t whims, but are almost implacably formed over time – in this case, eight years of far-right economic austerity. Yellow Vests can only turn to other Yellow Vests.

At the big demonstration at Place de la République there were 20,000 people – this is a very rare instance of a demonstration in France not being obviously undercounted by authorities; many put the official numbers of the Saturday Yellow Vests at 1/3rd the official total.

But I wasn’t going to to République to celebrate the fake-leftist idea of anti-racism, even though most everyone else did. You had Catholic bishops there, even though they are supposed to not get involved in political demonstrations; you had Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy; you had plenty of attractive, young, hip people in the very heart of hipster Paris. What’s certain is that everyone was breaking their arms patting each other (and themselves) on the back for being so very progressive, tolerant, modern and leftist.

That made it really quite similar to the largest ever gatherings of the Holy Secular Empire: the 4-million person marches after the Charlie Hebdo attacks (see pictures above), which was at Place de la République too. I was there doing my usual dissident thing in very unwelcoming environment, LOL, and back then what all those fake-leftists hemmed and hawed about was the answer to this simple question: “How is drawing a cartoon of Prophet Mohammad bent over, with his butt cheeks spread, and a star over his anus, or a cartoon of Mohammad filming a porn movie not inflammatory / impolite/ dangerous / racist / Islamophobic / yelling “fire “in a crowded theater?” Fake-leftists still have no answer for that, of course, but they marched just the same and got teary over the sacred glories of French “liberty”.

Real leftists said, “Well, political science ain’t science, so like can attract like here: that stuff is dangerous and reactionary so I’m not surprised who they ran into….”

Another iteration of the media wing of the HSE was on the very day of the 2017 presidential election: French fake-leftist newspaper nonpareil Libération knowingly broke a law insisting on media neutrality just prior to elections by printing a cover which read, “Do what you want but vote Macron”.

This is the way I imagined the paper’s budget meeting that day: the hysterical female journalists and the namby-pamby male journalist at Libé (or the namby-pamby female journalists and the hysterical male journalists – that’s fine by me) were sitting around their meeting room table and swearing before their atheistic god that they simply could not risk democracy taking place without fetters; their technocratic creed and noblesse oblige forced them – Gandhi-like – to flout the law in order to save the establishment from the far-right Marine Le Pen… even if that meant putting in the far-right (economically) Macron (who is also now a far-right imperialist, too). If history judged their efforts not the equal of Gandhi’s, Libération had but one choice: to formalise and protect a caste system, also like Gandhi.

The Yellow Vests, I’m sure, are majority pro-Palestinian, but I’m even more sure that they view this banning of anti-Zionism as a truly dangerous distraction which will not keep them from relying on food banks at the end of the month.

Those slurs won’t stick, but the Yellow Vests will – more marches are certain. Jews welcome… but only if they are Yellow Vest sympathisers – this is a class-based political movement, of course! Practitioners of identity politics will never be welcome.

As far as Macron… ugh. You have not failed to disappoint, and I openly expected you to be worse than Marine Le Pen, who is terrible. Macron proves, once again, that capitalism-imperialism is far worse than (and is the cause of) racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, sectarianism, etc.

Feel free to distribute (Plus on est de fous...)

Crossposted with The Saker, a fraernal website.

Appendix

Do you know what hasbara is? Let an Israeli journalist tell you.

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Below, an excellent explanation of what "hasbara" means as a tool of Israeli global public relations.

By Noam Sheizaf

Published November 13, 2011

Hasbara: Why does the world fail to understand us?

A short discussion of the Israeli term used to describe the ongoing, ever-growing, national propaganda effort.

A sign at an event hosted by “The Israel Project” (photo: Noam Shiezaf)

I have used the word “Hasbara” pretty freely recently, and so do more and more people, without stopping to explain what it actually means. The use of this term has been widespread in Israeli Hebrew for many years now, usually with a positive meaning, though not always in a positive context – there is a never-ending debate on “the failure of Hasbara” – yet I often wonder how many people outside Israel actually know it, let alone understand what it stands for. So here are a few words on Hasbara.

Hasbara is a form of propaganda aimed at an international audience, primarily, but not exclusively, in western countries. It is meant to influence the conversation in a way that positively portrays Israeli political moves and policies, including actions undertaken by Israel in the past. Often, Hasbara efforts includes a negative portrayal of the Arabs and especially of Palestinians.

The Hebrew meaning of the word Hasbara (הסברה) is “explanation” (the term “propaganda” has a different word in Hebrew – תעמולה). I believe that the popular use of this term also reflects a widespread public notion that a better effort of explaining Israel’s actions to the world will generate better understandings of Israel’s policies, and more international support. A less common use of the verb “to explain” (להסביר), which has to do with welcoming someone, was used in the past by the Tourism Ministry in campaigns urging Israelis to show a hospitable approach to tourists.

Hasbara represents only one side of propaganda, as it is mostly aimed at foreign audience. The use of the Hebrew term Hasbara in a critical context, rather than “propaganda” or “public diplomacy” (the title of the Wikipedia entry on the issue), is necessary, because Hasbara efforts are wider and their goals much more ambitious than any similar activities taken by all democracies and most non-democracies. Hasbara targets political elites, opinion makers and the public simultaneously; it includes traditional advocacy efforts as well as more general appeals made through mass media, and it is carried out by government agencies, non-governmental organizations, lobbying groups, private citizens, students, journalists and bloggers.

The Israeli government encourages all citizens to actively engage in Hasbara. Recently, it even distributed brochures with talking points to all Israelis traveling abroad (a Hebrew web version of the campaign can be viewed here). Israelis are asked to engage in politically-oriented conversations with their hosts and contacts abroad. Rather than discuss the Palestinian conflict, they are advised to cite Israeli technological achievements, mention environmental policies and take pride in notable cultural works. The West Bank is to be discussed – under its ancient Hebrew name, Judea and Samaria – as a potential tourist marvel.

Until a few years ago, the main government agency carrying out Hasbara work was the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its Media and Hasbara department. Under Ehud Olmert’s government, and more so under Netanyahu’s, there was a considerable increase in Hasbara efforts. Prime Minister Netanyahu has launched for the first time a Hasbara Ministry, headed by a government minister (the current hasbara minister is Yuli Edelstein). The Hasbara Ministry includes a situation room, which operates in five languages; it has a new-media team that can reach, according to the office’s web page, 100,000 volunteers on social media networks, as well as many bloggers.

UPDATE: The Ministry of Hasbara is hiring! “Advantage to minorities and representatives of the gay community.” More details here.

On top of the Hasbara Ministry, there is a Hasbara branch in the Prime Minister’s Office (in charge of both local and international PR). The IDF Spokesperson has an international arm with a new media branch, which makes Hasbara efforts and does not limit itself to providing information on army activities. Other government agencies, such as the Ministry of Tourism or the Ministry of Culture, also take part in ad-hoc Hasbara activities. There are other agencies that have gradually moved into greater involvement in Hasbara – perhaps the most notable is The Jewish Agency, which used to serve as a liaison to Jewish communities abroad, and now trains its envoys to American campuses to engage in propaganda.

Under Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the Foreign Ministry was instructed to take a bigger role in the Hasbara effort (a popular rant against the foreign ministry for many years was that it deals with peacemaking instead of advocacy, and Lieberman has promised to solve that). I was contacted awhile ago by a private agency that won a contract with the foreign ministry; they were looking for professionals to play hostile journalists in simulations with Israeli diplomats.

Much of the Hasbara work carried out outside official channels – but with heavy official influence – is carried out through non-governmental organizations such as Stand With Us, The Israel Project and more. These organizations produce resources – booklets, slideshows, flyers, maps, polls and more – and spin news events in ways which are favorable to the Israeli government. A lot of thought is put into influencing opinion-makers: journalists and bloggers are flown on a regular basis to tours in Israel, accompanied by government officials, while Israeli representatives – former diplomats, journalists, soldiers and officers – are brought to give lectures at campuses, think-tanks, conferences and other public events around the world. Organizations also try to influence the grassroots level by granting Hasbara fellowships to international students in Israel.

(Noam Sheizaf is an independent journalist and editor. He has worked for Tel Aviv’s Ha-ir local paper, for Ynet.co.il and for the Maariv daily, among others.)

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In Venezuela crisis, American media and accomplices provide hybrid war support to Washington

Actually there is no need to imagine. It's happening already.

Patrice Greanville

Media Fraudulence Victimises Venezuela

BACKDROP TO INFAMY
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hile the US-instigated and supported coup continues to unfold in Venezuela, the capitalist media is literally doubling down on its longstanding campaign of defamation. We say longstanding because there has never been anything approaching fair coverage of the historical processes in Venezuela, or Latin America, for that matter, ever since Hugo Chavez launched his unexpected Bolivarian Revolution.

We noted yesterday, and documented (see this post, for example, and the sidebar below) that even the European Union—which is now also officially joining Trump in his wanton assault on Venezuela—has long used hybrid war tricks to slander and deligitimate Venezuelan leaders in an effort to open the road to more drastic assaults.

SIDEBAR: EU'S ZAKHAROV PRIZE HONORS VENEZUELAN TRAITORS

In late 2017, the European eunuchs (via the European Parliament) insulted the government and people of Venezuela by bestowing the "Zakharov Prize" on Venezuela's opposition. Now, anyone of decent and impartial character who knows anything about the history of Venezuela, and Latin America, not to mention the bag of dirty tricks used by the empire, will know immediately that such a price is not just misplaced, like giving war criminal Obama a Nobel peace award, but a sordid and calculated maneuver to weaken the Caracas revolutionary project. Two things betray the mendacious origin of this dubious distinction.

(1) Being contrary to elementary truth and justice, the Zakharov Prize is very likely a propaganda concoction dreamed up in Washington, or promulgated at its behest, in one of the European capitals now leading the pack in terms of servility to the empire. Since there are so many suspects, let us say that our prime suspects include Britain, France, Denmark, Norway (the Scandinavians have gone full tilt to the dark side), rabidly anticommunist Poland, and even Spain. We doubt that Italy had any hand in this, although, being members of the EU parliament they could have made a stink, and didn't. The label "Zakharov Prize" and its sponsor, the "European Parliament" put the latter firmly in the category of hybrid war tools, a mere NGO, doing the imperial dirty business behind the transparently manufactured human rights obsession so dear to Western liberals. Andrei Zakharov, readers will recall, was a distinguished Soviet physicist (father of the USSR' Hydrogen bomb), who later, in the 1970s, like much of his privileged social layer, and enthralled with tales of the West's putative moral superiority, "went liberal", becoming a crusader for civil rights in his country. This promptly made him a convenient saintly dissident in the West, whose media paraded him everywhere with the sole object of embarrassing Moscow. In recent years, the prize has been given to other "Russian dissidents" also supposedly standing up against "oppression" in the land of Putin, Lenin and other supposed moral reprobates.

(2) As per its own official pamhlets, the Sakharov Prize, is awarded annually by the European Parliament "for people and organizations dedicated to human rights and freedoms." It takes some historical creativity, some audacious balls, I should say, to fit the Venezuelan opposition into this description. For nowhere on earth has an entrenched and mean-spirited oligarchy ever been seen by right-thinking people as anything but a pestilential tyranny to be eliminated as soon as possible. Apparently the European Parliament does not meet such elementary standards of vision. Thus, for their sake, although I don't believe for a minute that willful blindness is curable, let us recall who these supposedly honorable gents are: they are vendepatrias.

The Spanish tongue created this wonderful portmanteau using two excellent and vivid words: vende, which means to sell, and patria, the motherland.

Even the gringo-edited Urban dictionary sports this entry, which (surprisingly) says it all:

TOP DEFINITION

vendepatria

Spanish word for traitor or Bennedict Arnold, someone who sells out their country (patria) to a perceived foreign enemy, usually for selfish material gain.

political leaders who are seen as corrupt and subservient to outside foreign interests are the ones most often branded this way, but it can also apply to wide sectors of society like the right-wing Cuban exile community in Miami that identifies strongly with the Republican Party and lobbies for a more restrictive U.S. policy towards Cuba.

Pablo called them vendepatrias because he saw them as tools of Western imperialism.

#vendepatria#traitor #sellout #gusano #pitiyankee #escualido #colombia #mexico

by a_las_barricadas August 17, 2008

So, yea, quite frankly, this prize is not worth a plugged nickel, especially since in this "Venezuelan opposition" we find first and foremost the United States, known worldwide for its hegemonist lawlessness, and which last time we checked was not Venezuelan at all, and did not care one iota for the well-being of Venezuelans, as demonstrated by its very long history of imperialist meddling and domination of that country, followed by a coterie of treacherous regimes all over Latin America, an abject and cowardly assembly which now routinely includes Canada, to its eternal and damnable shame.

QED?
—PG

UNLEASHING A COLOR REVOLUTION ON VENEZUELA
"Just following regime-change orders, Sir!"

THE BOLIVARIAN PROJECT HAS BEEN THE TARGET OF A US -SPONSORED COLOR REVOLUTION FOR A LONG TIME, PRACTICALLY FROM INCEPTION, as soon as the empire's antennae determined that Comandante Chavez was for real and not just one more corrupt demagog or strongman the US elites could do business with. That means this sordid process has been in motion for at least 20 years (c. 1998). In that tumultuous period Venezuela has seen peaks and valleys in the degree of counter-revolutionary virulence created by the vendepatrias.

How do we know Venezuela has been the target of a color revolution? Because the symptoms of her social malaise—invariably imputed to some inherent "socialist inefficiency" by the presstitutes—are classical signs of intentional disruption. Let's examine this global plague in some detail.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he first rule of the hypocritical regime change book perfected by the United States is to pave the road for more drastic measures by performing a complete and extensive character assassination of the leaders, ideologies, and governments marked as "enemies" by the US ruling cliques, on account of various criteria, including but not restricted to the following (in some cases, several types of criteria overlap):

• risk of bad example: socialism works (Russia, China, Cuba, Iran, Vietnam, North Korea, Yugoslavia, Indonesia (under Sukarno))
• assertion of national sovereignty (Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Russia, China, Libya, Chile at one point, etc.)
• enormous national wealth (Iran, and just about the whole world, for one reason or another, as the imperialists covet everything)
• strategic value (Ukraine, Yugoslavia)
• global influence competition (Russia, China)

Indeed as soon as the word comes down from the elites that so-and-so is "an enemy", the huge machinery of aggression via demonisation developed by this country is put into motion, with the mainstream media in the forefront. As we know quite well by now, the US, besides its huge whorish media apparatus, also commands tremendous power in world-known institutions such the UN, the World Bank, the IMF, and an alphabet soup of alliances ringing the world, with NATO leading the charge, plus literally scores if not hundreds of ad hoc subversive NGOs (i.e., the notorious National Endowment for Democracy-NED). These are all tools that can be readily turned into instruments to effect destabilisation on a targeted nation. In this regard, only recently have Beijing and Moscow awakened to the danger posed by such networks and began to neutralise this new-fangled "soft power" architecture with outright internal controls and global information assets of their own, countering mendacious Western narratives with narratives almost always based on truth, a reason for which they have rapidly gained ascendancy among Western publics. This development, as well as the existence of alternate information websites, have triggered a panic among the Western elites, for whom narrative control is essential to maintain their increasingly tarnished legitimacy. This, as readers already know, has triggered a vast counter-attack whose sole purpose is to destroy free speech and impose censorship in all major platforms of

THE DEMONISING OPTION
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s previously discussed, in Western political and journalisitic practice, demonising a particular nation or leader has nothing to do with facts. Truth does not enter the equation at all. America, confident of its own power, is supremely, boorishly arrogant. As Dick Cheney and other neocons have boasted, "the US makes its own reality." Thus whenever a Big Lie is floated, it's all a matter of cynical expediency based on sheer brute force—the force of a mammoth machine of disinformation speaking out of thousands of channels—largely in private hands— willing and able to march in lockstep at any given moment, and while controlling the masses consciousness, enjoying total impunity for committing crimes in the service of the empire. Such reality only encourages its replication indefinitely into the future.

Ghastly as it is, this uniformity of "fact and opinion" on a given political subject is never the product of some specific "hidden" internal memoranda concocted by media barons and filthy politicians in some out of the way place like the mafia's notorious Apalachin meeting in New York state. This fact is frequently used by so-called sophisticated journalism critics (in actuality apologists) to poo poo the notion that America's media operate as a totalitarian system.

In America, conformity with the media owners' political predilections—invariably favoring the plutocratic outlook at home and abroad— is subtly or overtly enforced by the top producers and editors. Needless to say, for the careerist sort this is a quickly acquired instinct that goes beyond self-preservation. Reinforcing this tendency is the fact that journalists, despite their conceit of "independent thinking", are also shaped early by the all-enveloping culture, and often share its biases and pro-capitalist assumptions. Contrary to what many Americans might think, America is a highly ideological and ideologised society, albeit one in which the fantasy of social unanimity about the mode of economic organisation, and the absence of real social conflict, are both kept well outside any possibility of national debate. Herbert Schiller, a pioneer in the study of modern political propaganda, sketched out the situation well in his keystone essay, The Packaged Consciousness:

The fundamental similarity of the informational material and cultural messages that each of the mass media independently transmits makes it necessary to view the communications systern as a totality. The media are mutually and continuously reinforcing. Since they operate according to commercial rules, rely on advertising, and are tied tightly to the corporate economy and its worldview, both in their own structure and in their relationships with sponsors, the media constitute an industry, not an aggregation of independent, freewheeling informational entrepreneurs, each offering a highly individualistic product. By need and by design, therefore, the images and messages they purvey, are, with few exceptions, constructed to achieve similar objectives, which are, simply put, profitability and the affirmation and maintenance of the private ownership consumerist society...

It is generally agreed that television is the most powerful medium; certainly its influence as a purveyor of the system’s values cannot be overstated. All the same, television, no matter how powerful, itself depends on the absence of dissonant stimuli in other media. Each of the informational channels makes its unique contribution, but the result is the same–the consolidation of the status quo. ⁽¹⁾

Demonisation is also a warning system

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ince wholesale slander and defamation of leaders or entire nations in the imperial crosshairs is standard operating procedure, an evil that never fails to materialise, by now, anyone or any group intending to make serious changes anywhere on this planet without the consent of the Global Godfather in Washington, should brace themselves for a veritable cascade of lies and vitriol soon to come crashing on their heads, a campaign that will prove unrelenting. In fact, as we have seen in almost all cases, once started, this barrage of demonisation will not stop, to the point of becoming tedious. And America and her abject vassal states have the personnel and means to deliver this polluted informational storm. For if there is something the Anglo-American civilisation excels at is the production of am ungodly number of vile mass communicators, media whores willing and ready to do the bidding of the powerful for the sake of their squalid careers. Blood money, at its most repugnant, since these presstitutes facilitate the devastation and murder not of merely one or a handful of individuals, heinous enough, but often of millions.

A cursory review of the media landscape today suggests that Fox leads the pack, as usual mentally-deforming and insidious to the hilt, but all the US and much of the Western mainstream media is in on this filthy job, the character assassination of a nation and its leaders who simply wish to chart their own course without meddling by US imperialism. (Fox's particular perversity is that by catering to the working class, and the extreme right, it fills their minds with chauvinist/exceptionalist crap.) Note that all of these voices speak of "widespread corruption" and "socialism" in the same breadth, to imply they are inseparable, which is blatantly false, and bloviating self-righteously about their targets' putative evils, as if the US, the world's most powerful capitalist entity, were not also a glaring example of runaway incurable corruption and off-the-charts global criminality.

Naturally, the double standard can only exist when you eliminate or simply do not even know or care to know the historical context, in this case the erasure of ANY explanation for the economic chaos in Venezuela, a situation jointly created by US illegal sanctions and the collaboration of the Venezuelan oligarchy, bent on disrupting the economy to cause disaffection with the government. This criminal and cynical tactic has been used on scores of nations, including Russia, Chile, Iran, Nicaragua, China, North Korea, and similar countries determined to remain sovereign in their international and external affairs. That the Western presstitutes have only indifference or contempt for that undeniable right is evidence of their own moral bankrutpcy. For all their pretensions and high-falutin titles, they are enemies of humanity, and should be regarded as such.

Below, a sampler of this filth.

—PG

That US meddling and economic sanctions have caused much of the turmoil in Venezuela is never mentioned, leaving the public to infer that all the chaos is directly caused only by "Maduro's dictatorial socialist regime." In case after case, all the media voices affirm the same script. The nauseating arrogance of imperialist goons like Pompeo needs no further comment.

1. FOX NETWORK

Fox Business

Published on Jan 24, 2019

FBN’s Kennedy on the economic problems in Venezuela, the protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and why the U.S. shouldn’t send its military to Venezuela.

2. CBS NETWORK

3. CBS NETWORK

4. FOX NETWORK
This one, by a guy named Gutfeld, an out and out big lying apologist for capitalism, is as vile as it gets. Brace yourselves.

Fox News

Published on Jan 24, 2019

For an apathetic press and socialism's celebrity apologists, Venezuela's 12-year death spiral has been easy to ignore. #TheFive #FoxNews

5. CNN NETWORK

Cavalierly, as if the whole world agreed, NBC, one of the largest US "news" networks, calls Maduro's election victory "a sham", precisely the State Department's putschist line.

8. FINANCIAL TIMES NETWORK
When it comes to telling the truth about Venezuela, their vaunted economic literacy suddenly vanishes.

9. CBS NETWORK
Just in case you thought that Americans alone have cornered vileness in reporting on Venezuela, watch this clip by CBC, one of Canada's leading networks. It shows that the Canadian media is now as filthy as their servile neoliberal government.

About the Author

Patrice Greanville is founder and editor in chief of The Greanville Post.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

ALL CAPTIONS AND PULL QUOTES BY THE EDITORS NOT THE AUTHORS

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Unscrupulous reporting: BuzzFeed’s ‘Russiagate’ stories were constant source of controversy

Actually there is no need to imagine. It's happening already.

RT.COM DISPATCHES

Dateline: 19 Jan, 2019

Unscrupulous reporting: BuzzFeed’s ‘Russiagate’ stories were constant source of controversy

Who the hell are these people? Obviously none of them appear to know a thing about the impact or purpose of the site they labor for. Peopled apparently by millennials, they would be hard put to explain the real world beyond the fake history parameters pushed by Democrat Russiagaters, hip comics like Colbert or Maher, and other plutocratic shills. They do generate a lot of harmless, sometimes funny, videos; do advertising campaigns, and so on, but their poisons relate directly to their political work, what they euphemistically call "investigative reporting." (See sidebar for more)

BuzzFeed’s credibility has been seemingly dented by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s recent dismissal of one of its ‘Russiagate’ stories. However, it is not the first time its stories on Russia raised flags or were proven false.

The New York-based news outlet has been holding nothing back over the recent years as it diligently pressed the so-called ‘Russiagate’ narrative about a supposed collusion between the US President Donald Trump and Moscow. Its recent exploits, which claimed Trump told his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress to cover up some of his dealings with Russia, however, apparently led it a bit too far, as it earned a rebuke from the office of Robert Muller – the man in charge of the investigation into the very same alleged collusion, among other aspects of perceived Russia’s meddling into the 2016 elections.

The news sparked a wave of criticism on the social media, with many people saying that the news outlet’s credibility is now discredited.

But was it that flawless before?

SIDEBAR

Editors' Note: It's a fair assumption that BuzzFeed is a willing asset of the Deep State and probably gets funding there, although, doing the bidding for the corrupt ever warmongering Neocon establishment it surely has no trouble securing plenty of advertising and grants, who knows. Just observe this video with a bubbling idiot for guide showing the posh offices BuzzFeed has in Los Angeles alone. And, as the Cosmo piece points out, the outfit is expanding, and it already has pods in many major cities, in the US and abroad. Knowing how poor genuine anti-establishment sites are, it proves that the powers shine their warm approval on this longstanding fake news disseminator. More details about what this entity is all about are offered after the video, via excerpts from a Cosmo piece.

Cosmopolitan magazine reporter HEATHER WOOD RUDULPH took a look at BuzzFeed in August 2014. Below an excerpt from her piece. Form your own opinions:

"If you have spent any time on the Internet, you have likely interacted with BuzzFeed. content. The rapidly growing social news and entertainment company has amassed a global audience of more than 150 million people in just eight years. It's known for its viral lists, witty lifestyle quizzes, and open door for user-generated content, much of which has something to do with cats.

But you don't get to be one of the biggest media companies on the planet just with cat videos. BuzzFeed's operations include custom advertising, investigative journalism, and a newly announced motion picture studio based in Los Angeles. Earlier this month, BuzzFeed received a $50 million investment from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which boosted its estimated worth to $850 million. The company has offices in New York; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Paris, France; São Paulo, Brazil; and Sydney, Australia, and plans to expand to India, Germany, Mexico, and Japan this year.

BuzzFeed is hiring like mad right now. Joel Greengrass, senior vice president of talent, reveals what it takes to join the team.

What would people find most surprising about the work culture at BuzzFeed?
People have this vision of us being a chaotic environment of 22-year-olds running around creating lists about cats. We also have Pulitzer Prize-winning writers and some of the top engineers in the world. We run kind of like a laboratory. Given the amount of things we publish on a daily basis, we're forced to experiment and try new things all the time. It challenges people to take intelligent risks. We put a lot of trust in our employees, and they surprise themselves with the results."

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]uzzfeed was the first to publish the infamous Steele dossier – a report by an MI6 spy-turned-private investigator – which contained unverified allegations that Russia held information on Trump which it was using to blackmail the US president. It also alleged sustained and close working contacts between Trump aides and Kremlin representatives.

None of these allegations, which were used by the FBI as a reason for obtaining a spy warrant against Trump adviser Carter Page, have been proven as of now. Instead, it was revealed that the report was based on information fed through people close to Hillary Clinton – Trump’s rival at the 2016 presidential elections.

ALSO ON RT.COMWhat evidence? BuzzFeed fuels ‘Russiagate’ with bombshell report on Trump and CohenMeanwhile, some of the reporters, who worked with the dossier, admitted that the document’s claims are “likely false.” Christopher Steele himself also revealed that one of his goals in compiling the report was to provide Clinton with a legal basis to challenge the 2016 election results.

The publication of the dossier has brought a string of defamation lawsuits not only against Steele but against BuzzFeed as well. The news media outlet was sued by the owners of a Russian Alfa Bank and a Russian tech expert Aleksey Gubarev who were all mentioned in the infamous dossier. At the same time, Trump’s personal lawyer also filed a defamation lawsuit against the company for pushing the Steele report.

However, Buzzfeed apparently does hope to get away with it. In case of Gubarev, a US court already ruled in favor of the news outlet in December 2018, citing a “fair report privilege.” The businessman earlier scolded the publication as “one of the most reckless and irresponsible moments in modern journalism.”

Steele was the source of another controversial episode in the history of BuzzFeed’s attempts to propagate the ‘Russiagate’ narrative. In March 2018, it claimed that the FBI was covering the true causes of the death of a Russian media tycoon in Washington in 2015.

Citing a “secret report” by Steele, it claimed the man was allegedly killed by associates of a Russian oligarch, who happens to be close to the Kremlin, the news outlet said. A sheer coincidence, apparently. It also did not bother to give any plausible explanation as to why the FBI, which did not hesitate to point a finger at Moscow in the past, would hide such information at all.

Anyway, the whole story was debunked just days later when the Metropolitan Police said the death of the tycoon was an accident. This fact did not get much attention in the West, though. Neither did it cool BuzzFeed’s ardor in stirring up anti-Russian hysteria.

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