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Fake news starts in Washington: Perception management and influence operations manipulate public opinion

Philip Giraldi
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 12 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
Pentagon fake news
It is perhaps unusual to have a government that has as much disregard for what most would consider to be the truth as does the current group of rascals running the United States of America. To be sure, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is as shameless a liar as has ever been seen on any public platform while the president himself appears to make things up as he goes along, particularly if a certain embellishment makes him look good. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that lying and government have a long history, possibly going back to when the first cave dwellers elected a leader to guide the tribe on a mastodon hunt.

Lying is a traditional role for intelligence services. The Romans had a spy service run out of the imperial palace that provided military and political intelligence all across their vast empire. It included what might be called deception operations carried out to confuse enemies about intentions and capabilities. In more recent centuries, the British became masters of both spying and deception. Major influencing intelligence operations run against the United States can be credited with having led to American involvement in both world wars.
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Blackbox

Where's the liberal outrage now that Tulsi Gabbard has been silenced yet again?

Robert Bridge
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 11 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
Tulsi Gabbard
Call someone by the wrong pronoun, or deny a biological male the right to use the women's toilet and a person will feel the unbridled wrath of the Liberal inquisition. Ban an anti-war candidate in your own ranks, however, and that's just par for course in the Democratic club.

'Bad publicity is better than no publicity,' as any marketer worth his salt understands. Yet Tulsi Gabbard, the anti-war, anti-interventionist Democratic presidential candidate, who should be the darling of every progressive, has virtually disappeared not only from the debate stage, but from the news cycle as well.

During Super Tuesday, the Iraq War veteran managed to pick up two delegates, which, under previous terms would have qualified her to participate, alongside Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, in future Democratic debates on the road to the November elections. As predicted, however, the DNC changed the rules mid-game.


Comment: See also:

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Jet5

US-Iran covert war continues: US again strikes Iraqi forces aligned with Iran, possibly taking out another senior IRGC commander

Seth J. Frantzman
Jerusalem Post
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 11:11 UTC
Was Iranian IRGC General 'Siamand Mashhadani' killed in US airstrikes?
us airstrikes hezbollah Iraq
© @kurdistannews24
U.S. airstrikes target Iraqi Hezbollah inside Karbala airport after deadly rocket attack on U.S. base
US airstrikes carried out in Iraq just after midnight on Friday may have killed an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general supposedly named Siamand Mashhadani.

Reports online in Arabic and in other local media have claimed he was killed in the attacks on five locations of pro-Iranian Kataib Hezbollah warehouses that the US carried out in retaliation to a rocket attack that killed three Coalition personnel on March 11. According to Al-Ain media the Iranian officer was killed in the US airstrikes that took place.

Reports of his death circulated around one in the morning in Iraq. He was an officer in the Quds Force of the IRGC, the same force once headed by Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was killed by the US on January 3 in a drone strike in Baghdad.

An Iraqi official told Al-Ain media that Mashhadani was killed near the town of Jufr al-Sakhar, one of the sites of the airstrikes. The town is north of Karbala in Babil Governorate. Supposedly four other members of the Quds Force were also killed. They were in a command and control headquarters for Kataib Hezbollah when the airstrike hit.


Comment: Recall that Kataib Hezbollah is an Iraqi force that is aligned with Soleimani and the Iranians' anti-ISIS alliance, but which is, since late last year, formally incorporated under Iraqi military command.


Comment: The question behind all of this remains: is some faction inside Iran 'standing aside' to let the US 'take out' the network Soleimani built up in the Middle East?

Some in the militia targeted recently by the US - Kataib Hezbollah - certainly suspect that something like that is going on:

Iraq's Hezbollah accuses high-ranking officials of working with US to assassinate Qassem Soleimani

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No Entry

Trump: Domestic travel ban within US a 'possibility' to fight coronavirus

John Binder
Breitbart
Thu, 12 Mar 2020 08:11 UTC
trump cspan
President Trump says a domestic travel ban within the United States is "a possibility" to fight the spread of the coronavirus from Wuhan, China.

While answering questions at the White House on Thursday, Trump said he was not ruling out a plan to implement a domestic travel ban to stop state-to-state transmissions of the coronavirus.

The exchange went as follows:
REPORTER: Are you considering travel restrictions within the United States, such as to Washington State or California? [Emphasis added]

TRUMP: We haven't discussed that yet. Is it a possibility? Yes. If somebody gets a little bit out of control, if an area gets too hot. You see what they're doing in New Rochelle, which is — which is good, frankly. It's the right thing. But then it's not enforced, it's not very strong but people know that they're being watched ... New Rochelle, that's a hotspot. [Emphasis added]
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Syringe

The Swine Flu 'Pandemic' Was Officially a Hoax, Corona Virus Probably is Too. Big Pharma Stands to Profit, Again

Joe Quinn
Sott.net
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 06:23 UTC
Big pharma vaccines fraud
Just in case anyone doesn't understand why you can, or should, be skeptical about the severity of the alleged threat from the corona virus.

As it played out between early 2009 and late 2010, the 'swine flu' pandemic is estimated to have infected up to 1.4 billion people around the world and killed anywhere between 150,000 and 575,000 ('the flu' is almost never recorded as the cause of death on certificates). While many governments did, at the time, talk up the threat from that virus, there was nothing like the level of hysteria that we are seeing today in relation to 'corona virus'. Today, many political leaders are talking in overwrought, impassioned terms about the corona virus that are completely disconnected from the actual infection rates and fatalities it has caused.
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Attention

The MH17 show trial isn't about justice or closure, but information warfare

Andrew Korybko
OneWorld
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 07:48 UTC
mh17 show trial
The MH17 tragedy is back in the news after the start of this case's show trial in the Netherlands, which isn't about bringing the alleged perpetrators to justice or helping the victims' families find closure, but waging information warfare against Russia in an attempt to "conclusively" pin the blame for this crime on its supposed proxies in Eastern Ukraine so as to ruin President Putin's international reputation once and for all.

The world is once again talking about the MH17 tragedy after the start of this case's show trial in the Netherlands, where four of the alleged perpetrators are being accused of murder. It's unlikely that they'll appear before the court, so the entire process is more about show than substance. In case the reader doesn't remember exactly what happened on that fateful summer day on 17 July, 2014, the author recommends that they review his most recent analysis on the issue from earlier this year titled "Latest MH17 Documentary By SBU Whistleblower Shares Some Shocking Truths", which covers what he believes to be the most convincing version of events that transpired immediately before, during, and after the passenger jet was shot down over Eastern Ukraine. In short, the conventional narrative that the Russian-aligned rebels there were responsible is debunked as a convenient cover-up for masking Kiev's culpability, which in turn also makes that government's Western backers -- and not Russia -- indirectly responsible. It's therefore understandable that a lot of powerful forces are invested in making their manufactured version of the "truth" the "official" one, hence the show trial, which is nothing more than an attempt to "conclusively" pin the blame for this crime on Russia and its supposed proxies in Eastern Ukraine.

Comment: See also:

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Microscope 1

Justin Trudeau's wife Sophie tests positive for COVID-19


Sputnik
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 02:57 UTC
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau
© REUTERS / Stephane Mahe
The number of confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) in Canada jumped by more than 30 percent in a single day, according to health agency data. Canada now has 138 confirmed cases after 35 were reported on Thursday.

On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, isolated themselves after Canada's first lady showed flu-like symptoms following a speaking engagement in the United Kingdom. Later in the day, the prime minister's office said in a statement that Sophie Gregoire Trudeau had tested positive for COVID-19.

Comment: Breaking News! Justin Trudeau's Wife Has a Cold!

See also:

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Arrow Up

Polish FM expresses high hopes for Russia-Poland reconciliation

Joaquin Flores
FRN
Thu, 12 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Chaputović

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Chaputović
Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Chaputović stated the importance of improving relations with Russia, expressing the hope that the countries will be able to find a common language.

"Poland and Russia are neighboring countries, and normal relations should exist between our politicians and societies. Now these relations cannot be called good, they are tense, but we would like to improve them, "the politician said in an interview with RBC.

Chaputović emphasized that he was interested in meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He allowed a meeting with a colleague before the Council of Europe ministerial meeting, scheduled for May.

"There is still time to come to an agreement," he said.

Comment:

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Attention

New OPCW whistleblower defends Douma investigators who challenged chemical weapons cover-up; claims other staffers 'frightened into silence'

Aaron Maté
The Grayzone
Thu, 12 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
OPCW
© Sputnik International
A new Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) whistleblower has surfaced in response to a malicious and factually flawed attack by OPCW leadership on two veteran inspectors who challenged the official story of an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government in Douma.

In a statement provided to The Grayzone, the new OPCW whistleblower described being "horrified" by the "abhorrent ... mistreatment" of the inspectors. The new whistleblower also warned of a climate of intimidation designed to keep other staffers "frightened into silence."

The official is now the fourth OPCW whistleblower to air serious concerns about the chemical watch dog's Douma probe. The Grayzone has independently verified the official's identity and status with the OPCW, and granted them anonymity to protect them from potential retaliation.

Their full emailed statement can be seen here, and is transcribed at the conclusion of this article.

Comment: See also:

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Padlock

This is a Test: How Will the Constitution Fare During a Nationwide Lockdown?

John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
Tue, 10 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
police state
This is a test.

This is not a test of our commitment to basic hygiene or disaster preparedness or our ability to come together as a nation in times of crisis, although we're not doing so well on any of those fronts.

No, what is about to unfold over the next few weeks is a test to see how well we have assimilated the government's lessons in compliance, fear and police state tactics; a test to see how quickly we'll march in lockstep with the government's dictates, no questions asked; and a test to see how little resistance we offer up to the government's power grabs when made in the name of national security.

Most critically of all, this is a test to see whether the Constitution — and our commitment to the principles enshrined in the Bill of Rights — can survive a national crisis and true state of emergency.

Here's what we know: whatever the so-called threat to the nation — whether it's civil unrest, school shootings, alleged acts of terrorism, or the threat of a global pandemic in the case of COVID-19 — the government has a tendency to capitalize on the nation's heightened emotions, confusion and fear as a means of extending the reach of the police state.
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