Disinformation

Two categories of propaganda must be distinguished.  The first strives to create a permanent disposition in its objects and constantly needs to be reinforced.  Its goal is to make the masses ‘available,’ by working spells upon them and exercising a kind of fascination.  The second category involves the creation of a sort of temporary impulsiveness in its objects.  It operates by simple pressure and is often contradictory (since contradictory mass movements are sometimes necessary).
– Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society, October 12, 1967

If a disease can teach wisdom beyond our understanding of how precarious and precious life is, the coronavirus has offered two lessons.
The first is that in a globalised world our lives are so intertwined that the idea of viewing ourselves as islands – whether as individuals, communities, nations, or a uniquely privileged species – should be understood as evidence of false consciousness. In truth, we were always bound together, part of a miraculous web of life on our planet and, beyond it, stardust in an unfathomably large and complex universe.

Ahead of the inevitable financial crisis, which many media outlets (including US ones) are already openly writing about, and which could overshadow the Great Depression (1929-1946), the hysteria surrounding the Coronavirus and its consequences is particularly worrying.

Biden wins key state of Michigan and the Democrat Party establishment can barely contain its joy. I am happy also but for a different reason. No matter what happens with this twisted Democrat Party nomination drama, I welcome this period as a period of absolute political clarity. Why? Because for the internal debate and struggles among Black people, the lines of political and ideological demarcation between the interests of the Black neoliberal political class and the masses of Black workers and the poor have never been clearer.
I will provide some points to support this claim.

Some alternative media have exposed the US government and its corporate media fake news reporting on Russian “election interference,” on Venezuela, the war on Syria, China’s Xinjiang and Hong Kong, Nicaragua, Palestine, among others.

On 10 February, South Korean media outlets reported that former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho, who had defected to the ROK in 2016, was planning to run in the upcoming April 15 general elections, “as a member of the main opposition” / conservative party (Liberty Korea Party (LKP)).

(Coastal GasLink Pipeline Map. Photo: APTN File)

In painting critical reporting on the Iowa caucuses debacle as a Russian plot, a Western government-backed information warfare shop smeared…
The post State-backed Alliance for Securing Democracy disinfo shop falsely smears The Grayzone as ‘state-backed’ appeared first on The Grayzone.

Leaked documents from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) suggest that high-level officials manipulated or ignored the findings of those actually on the ground to investigate the alleged chemical attack that killed dozens of people in Douma, Syria in 2018. Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter shares his insights. He argues that the OPCW failed to maintain an adequate chain of custody when collecting evidence in Douma, relying instead on opposition-aligned White Helmets to gather it.