Intimidating UN Member States the Al Capone Style
The White House’s commitment to spreading chaos across the world, bringing people of various religions and beliefs misery and suffering is hardly a secret to anyone at this point. After Afghanistan and Iraq, the latest instances of this American obsession manifested themselves in Libya and Syria.
This tactic was readily adopted by the administration of US President Donald Trump even though it hasn’t yet spent a full year in office. Yet, we see more calamities looming over horizon, with dangerous games being played by Washington simultaneously against Iran and North Korea.
The recent statement regarding the status of Jerusalem made by Trump regarding the status of Jerusalem falls in this familiar pattern, as the US thus demanded other states follow its lead. In such a fashion Trump has not just formally announced his imperial aspirations, or claimed the right to function as global arbiter, but has also buried any hope of negotiations between Arabs and Israelis, even though Washington assumed the role of guarantor of a peace accord between these two parties. By making a statement that looks irresponsible for any sensible observer, Trump has not just violated all of the UN documents signed so far by the United States, he also chose to ignore the plan of Palestine’s partition adopted in 1947, after the termination of the British Mandate. This plan stipulated the creation of a Jewish and an Arab state within the former border of Palestine, while granting Jerusalem an international status as the holy city of the three great monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
By unilaterally altering the status of Jerusalem Trump has not just showed the true face of “American diplomacy” to the whole world, but has deprived America of an ability to play any constructive role toward resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict or any other Middle Eastern conflict for that matter. After all, until now, as a guarantor of Israel’s existence since 1948, the United States has always sought to maintain a balanced position, which allowed America to remain an “honest broker”. As the French Figaro recalls, in November 1956 it was Washington that urged London and Paris, the allies of Israel, to put an end to the Suez war against Gamal Abdel Nasser. In October 1973, Kissinger persuaded the Israelis to loosen up pressure on the surrounded Egyptian Third Army. In October 1991, President George W. Bush initiated the Madrid Peace Conference by inviting the Palestinian delegation to talks, in spite of fierce opposition by Tel-Aviv.
Today in the world, according to various sources, there are about 1.77 billion adherents of Islam, constituting 23% of the world’s population. The reaction of the inhabitants of 28 Muslim countries (including the fourth most populous country, Indonesia, and nuclear-armed Pakistan) to the Trump solution in Jerusalem has caused a predictable effect – with aggressive statements coming from all across the globe. Even America’s European allies announced their disagreement. The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogerini, stated that Trump’s move has brought the Middle Eastern peace process back to the dark ages. The refusal to support Trump’s position was announced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the head of Washington’s most trusted satellite state – British Prime Minister Teresa May.
This universal condemnation was supported by the president of Turkey, a now-formal-ally of the United States and a NATO member, as its leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Trump as a person reckless enough to stir up the whole Middle East.
The former head of Israeli secret services Yakov Kedmi has recently told the media that Washington has dropped yet another bomb on the Middle East without even giving a second thought to the possible consequences of its actions. Kedmi believes that it’s an example of typical American behavior, associated with ruining even the simplest matters.
The Middle East undergoes radical change these days, as tactical alliances are being made and then collapse rapidly, with yesterday’s enemies becoming today’s allies. The development of events and the changes that the whole world and the Arab world in particular are observing seems extremely dangerous for the Arab World. The reason for this is the growing colonial aspirations of the United States. Washington is not just amassing troops and invading states, it’s heavily engaged in hybrid warfare as well. It has consistently relied on the divide and conquer strategy in its dealings with the Arab World, its peoples and the peoples of other Muslim-majority nations.
It’s been noted that America has proven itself capable of provoking malice and disgust, of sowing the seeds of hatred and dispute in every Arab state, affecting society at every level: family, tribe, religious group, and political party. In particular, best exemplified by the so-called “Arab Spring.” As all plans and conspiracies against the governments of Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq led back to Washington and Israel.
Against this backdrop, one cannot help but feel disgust over the recent actions of Trump and his representatives, in particular the sitting US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley who would send letters of intimidation to representatives of more than 180 countries in a bid to prevent them from voting in the UN Security Council on a resolution condemning the recent decision of Washington to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. That’s a vivid example of the so-called American-style of democracy at its best along with Washington’s willingness to put all sorts of pressure on those courageous enough to disobey America’s dictates.
The world is becoming increasingly impatient with Washington, a development long overdue decades ago. Nikki Haley’s attempts to use her position in a reckless attempt to bully UN member states in clear violation of the UN Charter, pushes this patience toward its breaking point.
https://journal-neo.org/2017/12/22/intimidating-un-member-states-the-al-capone-style/
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Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” — acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump — a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report
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Lendman on Jerusalem, Trump’s ridiculous declaration and the United Nations
UN General Assembly Rejects Trump’s Jerusalem Declaration
The vote should have been near-unanimous – every nation except rogue states America and Israel, complicit in Trump’s Jerusalem declaration. UN member states overwhelmingly rejected it – symbolically rendering it null and void only. The non-binding vote was adopted by a 128 member state majority, nine weak-kneed nations voting “no,” another 35 intimidated or bribed ones abstaining – 21 nations not voting, 65 countries in total failing to do the right thing.
Key “yes” votes came from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – the P5+1 countries excluding America voting “no.”
Other nations against the resolution included Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Pauau and Togo.
Countries abstaining included Argentina, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Mexico, among others. [This short list of "abstaining nations"is a list of cowardice and political corruption. Dhame on Canada, Mexico and Argentina. Colombia is a pathetic vassal state, so the less said the better.—Ed.)
In November 2012, 138 nations voted in favor of giving UN nonmember state status to the “State of Palestine.”
Nine countries opposed the motion, 41 abstaining. On November 30, 151 nations supported a General Assembly resolution, condemning Israeli actions in Syria’s Golan and East Jerusalem, calling them “null and void.”
Six nations voted “no,” including America, Canada, Israel, and three Pacific island states. Nine nations abstained.
UN member states supporting the resolution called actions by Israel to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on Jerusalem illegal and therefore null and void.
The same goes for “the Syrian Golan.”
On Thursday, there was no doubt about UN member states voting overwhelmingly to reject Trump’s Jerusalem declaration.
It was just a matter of how overwhelming. It should have been near-unanimous, but every blow to US and Israeli interests is a step in the right direction – even symbolic ones like Thursday’s.
Watch the repulsively arrogant US ambassador to the UN, Neocon Nikki Haley, speak at an emergency session of the general assembly ahead of a vote criticising Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Haley has the audacity to issue threats like a petulant child to those countries voting in favour of the resolution that 'the United States will remember this day' when other nations call on the US to 'use our influence for their benefit' UN votes resoundingly to reject Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as capital. This disgusting woman is serving notice here "she's taking names" of those defying the empire. A repugnant envoy representing an abject government for a completely clueless, indifferent and marginated people. Disgraceful on all counts. And we thought with Samantha Power we had hit bottom.
US and Israel v. the World on Jerusalem
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org)
[dropcap]J[/dropcap]erusalem is an international city – the capital of none. Neither Trump, Netanyahu or anyone else can change what UN Resolution 181 established in November 1947, before Israel became a member state.
UN Resolution 194 mandated free access to the city, other holy places, and right of return for diaspora Palestinians.
Resolution 273 gave Israel UN membership conditional on it accepting Resolutions 181 and 194, as well as “unreservedly (agreeing to honor) the obligations of the United Nations Charter.” From inception to now, Israel defied international laws at its discretion, showing contempt for the rule of law, brutalizing Palestinians throughout its existence. In response to Trump’s lawless Jerusalem declaration, Security Council members voted 14 – 1 in favor of respecting the “character, status (and) demographic composition of the Holy City” – America the sole outlier by its veto.
Today, General Assembly members will meet in a rare emergency special session (ESS) – a draft resolution similar to the Security Council one on Jerusalem expected to be adopted overwhelmingly. Neocon US UN envoy Nikki Haley vowed “to take names” of nations voting against Trump’s declaration. On Wednesday, Trump threatened to cut off foreign aid to nations supporting today’s General Assembly resolution on Jerusalem. It’ll hardly matter. America spends less than one percent of its annual budget on foreign aid. Most is military related, Israel by far the largest recipient.
About 85% of US aid goes to NGOs and government contractors serving US imperial interests, relatively small amounts directly to foreign governments. Except for Israel, virtually all US aid comes with strings, Washington the main beneficiary. Trump’s bluster won’t change things. Like most other federal officials, he has a disturbing habit of saying one thing and doing another. Co-opted by dark forces, he betrayed the public interest straightaway in office. He broke virtually every promise made about helping ordinary people, exclusively serving privileged ones, mainly Wall Street, the Pentagon, beneficiaries of militarism and belligerence, along with other corporate predators and large investors. He’s a first-class scoundrel, an unindicted war criminal, a rogue actor like the Clintons, Bush/Cheney and Obama. His recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital contemptuously defied international law and Palestinian rights. His threatened cutoff of aid to nations failing to support his lawlessness likely fell on deaf ears worldwide, further isolating America, Trump roaring:
“All these nations that take our money and then vote against us at the Security Council or the assembly, they take hundreds of millions of dollars and billions of dollars and they vote against.”
“Well, we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care,” adding:
We’re “tired of this country being taken advantage of and we’re not going to be taken advantage of any longer.”
Abusive US practices take advantage of nations and ordinary people worldwide, not the other way around.
America is a pariah state, making more enemies than friends. Trump’s agenda and demagogic bombast made the deplorable state of America worse since he took office.
On Thursday, UN member states will respond to Trump, overwhelmingly rejecting his Jerusalem declaration, repudiating his deplorable action.
The U.S. Media Yesterday Suffered its Most Humiliating Debacle in Ages: Now Refuses All Transparency Over What Happened
A DISPATCH BY GLENN GREENWALD
T H E • I N T E R C E P T
Friday was one of the most embarrassing days for the U.S. media in quite a long time. The humiliation orgy was kicked off by CNN, with MSNBC and CBS close behind, with countless pundits, commentators and operatives joining the party throughout the day. By the end of the day, it was clear that several of the nation’s largest and most influential news outlets had spread an explosive but completely false news story to millions of people, while refusing to provide any explanation of how it happened.
The spectacle began on Friday morning at 11:00 am EST, when the Most Trusted Name in News™ spent 12 straight minutes on air flamboyantly hyping an exclusive bombshell report that seemed to prove that WikiLeaks, last September, had secretly offered the Trump campaign, even Donald Trump himself, special access to the DNC emails before they were published on the internet. As CNN sees the world, this would prove collusion between the Trump family and WikiLeaks and, more importantly, between Trump and Russia, since the U.S. intelligence community regards WikiLeaks as an “arm of Russian intelligence,” and therefore, so does the U.S. media.
This entire revelation was based on an email which CNN strongly implied it had exclusively obtained and had in its possession. The email was sent by someone named “Michael J. Erickson” – someone nobody had heard of previously and whom CNN could not identify – to Donald Trump, Jr., offering a decryption key and access to DNC emails that WikiLeaks had “uploaded.” The email was a smoking gun, in CNN’s extremely excited mind, because it was dated September 4 – ten days before WikiLeaks began promoting access to those emails online – and thus proved that the Trump family was being offered special, unique access to the DNC archive: likely by WikiLeaks and the Kremlin.
It’s impossible to convey with words what a spectacularly devastating scoop CNN believed it had, so it’s necessary to watch it for yourself to see the tone of excitement, breathlessness and gravity the network conveyed as they clearly believed they were delivering a near-fatal blow to the Trump/Russia collusion story:
There was just one small problem with this story: it was fundamentally false, in the most embarrassing way possible. Hours after CNN broadcast its story – and then hyped it over and over and over – the Washington Post reported that CNN got the key fact of the story wrong.
The email was not dated September 4, as CNN claimed, but rather September 14 – which means it was sent after WikiLeaks had already published access to the DNC emails online. Thus, rather than offering some sort of special access to Trump, “Michael J. Erickson” was simply some random person from the public encouraging the Trump family to look at the publicly available DNC emails that WikiLeaks – as everyone by then already knew – had publicly promoted. In other words, the email was the exact opposite of what CNN presented it as being.
How did CNN end up aggressively hyping such a spectacularly false story? They refuse to say. Many hours after their story got exposed as false, the journalist who originally presented it, Congressional reporter Manu Raju, finally posted a tweet noting the correction. CNN’s PR Department then claimed that “multiple sources” had provided CNN with the false date. And Raju went on CNN, in muted tones, to note the correction, explicitly claiming that “two sources” had each given him the false date on the email, while also making clear that CNN did not ever even see the email, but only had sources describe its purported contents:
All of this prompts the glaring, obvious, and critical question – one which CNN refuses to address: how did “multiple sources” all misread the date on this document, in exactly the same way, and toward the same end, and then feed this false information to CNN?
It is, of course, completely plausible that one source might innocently misread a date on a document. But how is it remotely plausible that multiple sources could all innocently and in good faith misread the date in exactly the same way, all to cause to be disseminated a blockbuster revelation about Trump/Russia/WikiLeaks collusion? This is the critical question that CNN simply refuses to answer. In other words, CNN refuses to provide the most minimal transparency to enable the public to understand what happened here.
Why does this matter so much? For so many significant reasons:
To begin with, it’s hard to overstate how fast, far and wide this false story traveled. Democratic Party pundits, operatives and journalists with huge social media platforms predictably jumped on the story immediately, announcing that it proved collusion between Trump and Russia (through WikiLeaks). One tweet from Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu, claiming that this proved evidence of criminal collusion, was re-tweeted thousands and thousands of times in just a few hours (Lieu quietly deleted the tweet after I noted its falsity, and long after it went very viral, without ever telling his followers that the CNN story, and therefore his accusation, had been debunked).
This tweet is from a member of Congress today. It was RT'd more than 7,000 times (and counting), and liked more than 15,000 times. It's based on a completely false claim, from a debunked CNN story. This happens over and over. This seems damaging. And still no retraction. https://t.co/fixSRKUxxx
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 8, 2017
Brookings’ Benjamin Wittes, whose star has risen as he has promoted himself as a friend of former FBI Director Jim Comey, not only promoted the CNN story in the morning, but did so with the word “Boom” – which he uses to signal that a major blow has been delivered to Trump on the Russia story – along with a gif of a cannon being detonated:
boom https://t.co/9RPPltRq8k pic.twitter.com/eyYHkOMEPi
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) December 8, 2017
Incredibly, to this very moment – almost 24 hours after CNN’s story was debunked – Wittes has never noted to his more than 200,000 followers that the story he so excitedly promoted turned out to be utterly false, even though he returned to Twitter long after the story was debunked to tweet about other matters. He just left his false and inflammatory claims uncorrected.
Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall believed the story was so significant that he used an image of an atomic bomb detonating at the top of his article discussing its implications, an article he tweeted to his roughly 250,000 followers. Only at night was an editor’s note finally added noting that the whole thing was false.
It’s hard to quantify exactly how many people were deceived – filled with false news and propaganda – by the CNN story. But thanks to Democratic-loyal journalists and operatives who decree every Trump/Russia claim to be true without seeing any evidence, it’s certainly safe to say that many hundreds of thousands of people, almost certainly millions, were exposed to these false claims.
Surely anyone who has any minimal concerns about journalistic accuracy – which would presumably include all the people who have spent the last year lamenting Fake News, propaganda, Twitter bots and the like – would demand an accounting as to how a major U.S. media outlet ended up filling so many people’s brains with totally false news. That alone should prompt demands from CNN for an explanation about what happened here. No Russian Facebook ad or Twitter bot could possibly have anywhere near the impact as this CNN story had when it comes to deceiving people with blatantly inaccurate information.
Second, the “multiple sources” who fed CNN this false information did not confine themselves to that network. They were apparently very busy eagerly spreading the false information to as many media outlets as they could find. In the middle of the day, CBS News claimed that it had independently “confirmed” CNN’s story about the email, and published its own breathless article discussing the grave implications of this discovered collusion.
Most embarrassing of all was what MSNBC did. You just have to watch this report from its “intelligence and national security correspondent” Ken Dilanian to believe it. Like CBS, Dilanian also claimed that he independently “confirmed” the false CNN report from “two sources with direct knowledge of this.” Dilanian, whose career in the U.S. media continues to flourish the more he is exposed as someone who faithfully parrots what the CIA tells him to say (since that is one of the most coveted and valued attributes in US journalism), spent three minutes mixing evidence-free CIA claims as fact with totally false assertions about what his multiple “sources with direct knowledge” told him about all this. Please watch this – again, not just the content but the tenor and tone of how they “report” – as it is Baghdad-Bob-level embarrassing:
Think about what this means. It means that at least two – and possibly more – sources, which these media outlets all assessed as credible in terms of having access to sensitive information, all fed the same false information to multiple news outlets at the same time. For multiple reasons, the probability is very high that these sources were Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee (or their high-level staff members), which is the committee that obtained access to Trump Jr.’s emails, although it’s certainly possible that it’s someone else. We won’t know until these news outlets deign to report this crucial information to the public: which “multiple sources” acted jointly to disseminate incredibly inflammatory, false information to the nation’s largest news outlets?
Just last week, the Washington Post decided – to great applause (including mine) – to expose a source to whom they had promised anonymity and off-the-record protections because they discovered that she was purposely feeding them false information as part of a scheme by Project Veritas to discredit the Post. It’s a well established principle of journalism – one that is rarely followed when it comes to powerful people in DC – that journalists should expose, rather than protect and conceal, sources who purposely feed them false information to be disseminated to the public.
The Post made the right call to report off-the-record comments given they were offered with fraudulent intent. This should be done far more often to actually powerful-in-DC people who spread lies while hiding behind anonymity https://t.co/EFLEI4eaq8 pic.twitter.com/v6yIJvheT1
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 27, 2017
Is that what happened here? Did these “multiple sources” who fed not just CNN but also MSNBC and CBS completely false information do so deliberately and in bad faith? Until these news outlets provide an accounting of what happened – what one might call “minimal journalistic transparency” – it’s impossible to say for certain. But right now, it’s very difficult to imagine a scenario where multiple sources all fed the wrong date to multiple media outlets innocently and in good faith.
If this were, in fact, a deliberate attempt to cause a false and highly inflammatory story to be reported, then these media outlets have an obligation to expose who the culprits are – just as the Washington Post did last week to the woman making false claims about Roy Moore (it was much easier in that case because the source they exposed was a nobody-in-DC, rather than someone on whom they rely for a steady stream of stories, the way CNN and MSNBC rely on Democratic members of the Intelligence Committee). By contrast, if this were just an innocent mistake, then these media outlets should explain how such an implausible sequence of events could possibly have happened.
Thus far, these media corporations are doing the opposite of what journalists ought to do: rather than informing the public about what happened and providing minimal transparency and accountability for themselves and the high-level officials who caused this to happen, they are hiding behind meaningless, obfuscating statements crafted by PR executives and lawyers.
How can journalists and news outlets so flamboyantly act offended when they’re attacked as being “Fake News” when this is the conduct behind which they hide when they get caught disseminating incredibly consequential false stories?
The more serious you think the Trump/Russia story is, the more dangerous you think it is when Trump attacks the U.S. media as “Fake News,” the more you should be disturbed by what happened here, the more transparency and accountability you should be demanding. If you’re someone who thinks Trump’s attacks on the media are dangerous, then you should be first in line objecting when they act recklessly and demand transparency and accountability from them. It is debacles like this – and the subsequent corporate efforts to obfuscate – that have made the U.S. media so disliked and that fuel and empower Trump’s attacks on them.
Third, this type of recklessness and falsity is now a clear and highly disturbing trend – one could say a constant – when it comes to reporting on Trump, Russia and WikiLeaks. I have spent a good part of the last year documenting the extraordinarily numerous, consequential and reckless stories that have been published – and then corrected, rescinded and retracted – by major media outlets when it comes to this story.
All media outlets, of course, will make mistakes. The Intercept certainly has made our share, as have all outlets. And it’s particularly natural, inevitable, for mistakes to be made on a highly complicated, opaque story like the question of the relationship between Trump and the Russians, and questions relating to how WikiLeaks obtained DNC and Podesta emails. That is all to be expected.
But what one should expect with journalistic “mistakes” is that they sometimes go in one direction, and other times go in the other direction. That’s exactly what has not happened here. Virtually every false story published goes only in one direction: to be as inflammatory and damaging as possible on the Trump/Russia story and about Russia particularly. At some point, once “mistakes” all start going in the same direction, toward advancing the same agenda, they cease looking like mistakes.
No matter your views on those political controversies, no matter how much you hate Trump or regard Russia as a grave villain and threat to our cherished democracy and freedoms, it has to be acknowledged that when the U.S. media is spewing constant false news about all of this, that, too, is a grave threat to our democracy and cherished freedom.
So numerous are the false stories about Russia and Trump over the last year that I literally cannot list them all. Just consider the ones from the last week alone, as enumerated by the New York Times yesterday in its news report on CNN’s embarrassment:
It was also yet another prominent reporting error at a time when news organizations are confronting a skeptical public, and a president who delights in attacking the media as “fake news.”
Last Saturday, ABC News suspended a star reporter, Brian Ross, after an inaccurate report that Donald Trump had instructed Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser, to contact Russian officials during the presidential race.
The report fueled theories about coordination between the Trump campaign and a foreign power, and stocks dropped after the news. In fact, Mr. Trump’s instruction to Mr. Flynn came after he was president-elect.
Several news outlets, including Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, also inaccurately reported this week that Deutsche Bank had received a subpoena from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, for President Trump’s financial records.
The president and his circle have not been shy about pointing out the errors.
That’s just the last week alone. Let’s just remind ourselves of how many times major media outlets have made humiliating, breathtaking errors on the Trump/Russia story, always in the same direction, toward the same political goals. Here is just a sample of incredibly inflammatory claims that traveled all over the internet before having to be corrected, walk-backed, or retracted – often long after the initial false claims spread, and where the corrections receive only a tiny fraction of the attention with which the initial false stories are lavished:
- Russia hacked into the U.S. electric grid to deprive Americans of heat during winter (Wash Post)
- An anonymous group (PropOrNot) documented how major U.S. political sites are Kremlin agents (Wash Post)
- WikiLeaks has a long, documented relationship with Putin (Guardian)
- A secret server between Trump and a Russian bank has been discovered (Slate)
- RT hacked C-SPAN and caused disruption in its broadcast (Fortune)
- Crowdstrike finds Russians hacked into a Ukrainian artillery app (Crowdstrike)
- Russians attempted to hack elections systems in 21 states (multiple news outlets, echoing Homeland Security)
- Links have been found between Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci and a Russian investment fund under investigation (CNN)
That really is just a small sample. So continually awful and misleading has this reporting been that even Vladimir Putin’s most devoted critics – such as Russian expatriate Masha Gessen, oppositional Russian journalists, and anti-Kremlin liberal activists in Moscow – are constantly warning that the U.S. media’s unhinged, ignorant, paranoid reporting on Russia is harming their cause in all sorts of ways, in the process destroying the credibility of the U.S. media in the eyes of Putin’s opposition (who – unlike Americans who have been fed a steady news and entertainment propaganda diet for decades about Russia -actually understand the realities of that country).
U.S. media outlets are very good at demanding respect. They love to imply, if not outright state, that being patriotic and a good American means that one must reject efforts to discredit them and their reporting because that’s how one defends press freedom.
But journalists also have the responsibility not just to demand respect and credibility but to earn it. That means that there shouldn’t be such a long list of abject humiliations, in which completely false stories are published to plaudits, traffic and other rewards, only to fall apart upon minimal scrutiny. It certainly means that all of these “errors” shouldn’t be pointing in the same direction, pushing the same political outcome or journalistic conclusion.
But what it means most of all is that when media outlets are responsible for such grave and consequential errors as the spectacle we witnessed yesterday, they have to take responsibility for it by offering transparency and accountability. In this case, that can’t mean hiding behind PR and lawyer silence and waiting for this to just all blow away.
At minimum, these networks – CNN, MSNBC and CBS – have to either identify who purposely fed them this blatantly false information, or explain how it’s possible that “multiple sources” all got the same information wrong in innocence and good faith. Until they do that, their cries and protests the next time they’re attacked as “Fake News” should fall on deaf ears, since the real author of those attacks – the reason those attacks resonate – is themselves and their own conduct.
GLENN GREENWALD—At minimum, these networks – CNN, MSNBC and CBS – have to either identify who purposely fed them this blatantly false information, or explain how it’s possible that “multiple sources” all got the same information wrong in innocence and good faith. Until they do that, their cries and protests the next time they’re attacked as “Fake News” should fall on deaf ears, since the real author of those attacks – the reason those attacks resonate – is themselves and their own conduct.
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Some Recent Reasons to Distrust American-Allied ‘News’Media
The author kicks off his exposé of the prevailing media degeneracy with an example from Frontline, for many years a relatively progressive news program, now eviscerated of all truth and turned into an imperial propaganda zombie, lat the service of the global plutocracy. Published on November 30, 2017 Comments 23 PBS Frontline: “Putin’s Revenge” – unintentionally hilarious PBS’s Frontline series offers what it calls the “inside story of how Vladimir Putin came to see the United States as an enemy — and why he decided to target an American election.” We are publishing it here because it has to be seen to be believed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pWALA6vgoY The sinister music and Burnsian black and white photography, the gravel-voiced narrator, all trying to give gravitas to a script that is so divorced from any kind of maturity, sanity or veridical reality it will make you dizzy. In its quick overview of Putin’s rise to power no mention is made of the collapse of infrastructure, the soaring crime rates and the suffering of working people made destitute by Yeltsin’s “democratisation” of the economy. And no mention is made of how the “anti-democratic” Putin reversed this seemingly irreversible decline. No effort is made to define what is meant by “democracy” at all. Nothing that sophisticated is even attempted. Yeltsin, the hood and destroyer, is described as “pro-democracy” because he favoured the US and its economic piracy. Putin is “anti-democratic”, because he didn’t. It’s that unsophisticated. And that absurd. … —— http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/11/turning-the-corner-in-afghanistan.html#more November 28, 2017 Turning The Corner In Afghanistan The news about the wars the U.S. is waging all over the world is unreliable. The same statements of progress are repeated year after year. The official numbers, be they of civilian casualties or deployed troops, are mere lies. … —— Strip away the layers and Brexit becomes ever more murky Gina Miller, 28 November 2017 Mounting allegations of opaque funding and illicit influence should trouble even the diehard Brexiters I clearly remember pondering, on 24 June 2016, why there was not more public and political outrage at the idea of a British government putting itself above the law, and using the royal prerogative to execute the referendum result. I find myself in exactly the same mindset in terms of the potential undermining of our democracy, government and sovereignty by a hostile foreign power – Russia – in what appears to be a secretive coup. As a transparency campaigner and a passionate believer in our British values, as well as political and democratic systems, I am worried. People were told that walking out of the EU would liberate us from the clutches of unaccountable bureaucrats and would allow us to “take back control”. Auberon Waugh’s “junta of Belgian ticket inspectors” would be sent packing, the British people would reclaim sovereignty and British courts would decide British law for British people. The fog of bureaucracy would be blown away by the accountability and transparency that we supposedly enjoyed in the days before 1973. Who paid for the leave vote? Brexit should be halted until we know George Monbiot Read more It is turning out very differently. Think of Brexit as a matryoshka, or a Russian nesting doll, with voting to leave the EU as the outer doll, representing all the various things we were sold: free trade, prosperity, sovereignty, transparency, increased control over borders, and less money sent to Brussels. Pulling off the outer doll reveals another doll that represents something much more worrying. Over the last two months, on an almost weekly basis, we have heard allegations of unidentified sources of money being used in the leave campaigns, which may have circumvented rules designed to uphold the integrity of our democratic process, which said campaigns purported to want to reclaim. … —— https://www.rt.com/op-edge/411241-german-intelligence-facebook-russia/ Tell us what’s true or democracy will die: German spy chief’s ultimatum to US tech giants Riley Waggaman, Published time: 28 Nov, 2017 22:42 Facebook must protect Germany and other noble pillars of democracy from unauthorized information – especially if the subversive materials can somehow be pinned on Russia. This is the expert opinion of Germany’s deeply troubled spy chief. With the anniversary of Berlin’s Christmas market terror attack approaching, Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, appears to be consumed by terrifying images of subversive Facebook posts crashing into young German minds. The German spymaster, who is paid by German taxpayers to keep them safe, seems less worried about psychos running over holiday shoppers in the streets than he is about mythical Russian meddling unicorns. And remember, friends: This gentleman runs an “intelligence” agency. … —— German domestic spy agency hits out at Silicon Valley Reuters Staff, 27 November 2017 BERLIN (Reuters) – The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency accused U.S. tech giants like Facebook on Monday of failing to take enough responsibility for content on their sites, undermining democracy by not distinguishing between fact and opinion. “Today we are discovering a ‘fifth estate’ that makes claims but up until now does not want to take any social responsibility,” Hans-Georg Maassen told a conference on cybersecurity organised by Germany’s Handelsblatt daily. “These are huge digital companies that only see themselves as conveyors of information and hide behind the legal privileges enjoyed by platforms because they do not want to take over editorial verification of their content.” Germany has been a leading proponent of stricter regulation of social media networks, passing a law in June to introduce fines of up to 50 million euros ($59.67 million) if they fail to remove hateful postings promptly. Facebook has responded to tighter regulation in Germany and elsewhere by announcing plans to add thousands of extra workers to monitor reports of inappropriate material and review ads. Maassen said it was significant that Facebook had admitted that millions of users had seen politically divisive ads on the site that it said were purchased in Russia before and after last year’s U.S. presidential election. “Democratic pluralism loses its foundations if it is no longer based on facts and reality is reduced to opinions,” he said. … —— http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/11/google-does-evil.html#more November 22, 2017 Google Does Evil Up to about 2006 or 2007 Google provided an excellent search engine. It then started to prioritize and present more general results even where one searched for very specific information. It became cumbersome to search for and find details. The situation has since further deteriorated. The Google News search is now completely useless. It delivers the main stream media trash without showing divergent views or opinions. What is the use of a search result page that links to twenty sites with the same slightly rewritten Associated Press story? Google’s algorithms now amount to censorship. Since August it downgrades websites that offer alternative views to the left of the pack. Searches that earlier led to the World Socialist Web Site or to Media Matters no longer show these sites, or show them way down the result pages. Traffic to these sites collapsed. This week Google announced that it will censor RT.com, the website of the international Russian TV station: Google will ‘de-rank’ RT articles to make them harder to find – Eric Schmidt. … —— https://www.globalresearch.ca/eu-anti-fake-news-authority-prepares-mass-censorship/5618581?print=1 EU Anti-“Fake News” Authority Prepares Mass Censorship By Alex Lantier Global Research, November 16, 2017 World Socialist Web Site The European Union (EU) is launching the construction of an authority to monitor and censor so-called “fake news.” It is setting up a High-Level Expert Group on the issue and soliciting criticisms of “fake news” by media professionals and the public to decide what powers to give to this EU body, which is to begin operation next spring. An examination of the EU’s announcement shows that it is preparing mass state censorship aimed not at false information, but at news reports or political views that encourage popular opposition to the European ruling class. … —— http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-4481_en.htm “Next steps against fake news: Commission sets up High-Level Expert Group and launches public consultation” Brussels, 13 November 2017 The Commission launched today a public consultation on fake news and online disinformation and set up a High-Level Expert Group representing academics, online platforms, news media and civil society organisations. The work of the High-Level Expert Group as well as the results of the public consultation will contribute to the development of an EU-level strategy on how to tackle the spreading of fake news, to be presented in spring 2018. First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: “The freedom to receive and impart information and the pluralism of the media are enshrined in the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. We live in an era where the flow of information and misinformation has become almost overwhelming. That is why we need to give our citizens the tools to identify fake news, improve trust online, and manage the information they receive.” … —— http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/hezbollah-is-not-a-threat-to-america/ Hezbollah is Not a Threat to America ‘Trumped’ up charges to get at Iran won’t work By SHARMINE NARWANI • November 3, 2017 Western-backed militants are in retreat, Bashar al-Assad remains president, Hezbollah has stretched its wings regionally, Israeli power is in decline, and Iran is on the rise. Not a pretty result for Washington’s multi-billion dollar investment in the Syrian conflict, especially if it was intended to change the map of the region to favor U.S. interests. The Trump administration is therefore moving to hit its regional adversaries on alternative, non-military fronts—mainly, employing the sanctions tool that can cripple economies, besiege communities, and stir up public discontent. The first step was to decertify the nuclear agreement struck between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1), which would open up a pathway to further U.S. sanctions against Iran. The second step is to resuscitate the Hezbollah “threat” and isolate the organization using legal maneuvers and financial sanctions—what one pro-U.S. Lebanese Central Bank official calls “the new tools of imperialism.” The U.S. listed Hezbollah as a “terrorist organization” 20 years ago this month. Most other states, as well as the United Nations Security Council, have not. Two weeks ago, at a State Department briefing on the Hezbollah “threat,” National Counterterrorism Center Director Nicholas J. Rasmussen tried to paint a picture of an organization that was directing “terrorism acts worldwide” and posing a threat “to U.S. interests” including “here in the homeland.” “Prior to September 11,” Rasmussen claimed, “I think everybody knows Hezbollah was responsible for the terrorism-related deaths of more U.S. citizens than any other foreign terrorist organization.” This was news indeed. A check with a State Department spokesperson confirmed that the “deaths of more U.S. citizens than any other foreign terrorist organization” claim was in reference to the following incidents: [the charge against Iran was disproven even by official U.S. figures] … —— Russia’s free pass to undermine British democracy [This piece shows that the Brits have nothing to envy their American counterparts when it comes to filthy service to the empire, and this piece of filth appeared in the "liberal" Guardian.—Eds] Nick Cohen, 21 October 2017 The Tories want to ignore Putin’s Brexit role and Labour is complicit with Putin’s mafia state You’d never guess it, but Britain is a lucky country. Across the democratic world, Russia pursues its interests by corrupting elections with black propaganda. But in their insouciance, our government and intelligence services show dear old Blighty has no reason to worry. On the rare occasions it bothers to discuss the subject, the British state says “it can’t happen here”, even though “it” is happening everywhere else. The FBI is investigating how Russia hacked the Clinton campaign and used Facebook and Twitter to spread fake news. Ukrainians are preparing for the next stage of resistance to Russian forces. European foreign ministries and intelligence services have finally understood that Russia’s imperial strategy is to weaken the EU and Nato in every country except, it seems, this sceptred isle. Russia knows its best tactic is to use migrant crises to stoke nativist fears. “German government threw their country under feet of migrants like a rug, now try wipe their crimes under carpet,” tweeted the Russian embassy in London in 2016 as the Kremlin began a successful campaign to promote the interests of the chauvinists in Alternative for Germany. A bank close to Vladimir Putin loaned $10m to Marine le Pen’s anti-EU Front National. He encouraged the anti-immigrant Freedom party in Austria, the Lega Nord in Italy and Jobbik in Hungary. … — Whereas some of those articles disprove the U.S-allied assertions, others are instead U.S.-allied, and blatantly trumpet the types of shameless lying that the U.S.-allied ‘news’media pumped constantly up till the time we invaded and destroyed Iraq in 2003. There is a pattern here. Think of the allegorical 1984, and of today as the actual version. The novelist George Orwell understood the pattern, remarkably early. We in the U.S.-and-allied countries live in (as that link describes it) “the superstate Oceania. Oceania is a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation.” That’s exactly right. Far right. Military-industrial-complex right. It’s where we now are. And that’s something which, in Oceania, is prohibited to be published, by any approved ‘news’media. And: any medium that’s not approved, is called a ‘fake news’ site, right along with any drivel that the aristocracy wants to be associated, in the public’s minds, with those few honest news-sites — as guilt-by-association (with whatever drivel the aristocracy also disapproves). But only honest newsmedia will be publishing this. And there are fewer and fewer of those. The clampdown is well underway.
ERIC ZUESSE, Senior Contributing Editor Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity. Besides TGP, his reports and historical analyses are published on many leading current events and political sites, including The Saker, Huffpost, Oped News, and others. ERIC ZUESSE—Any medium that’s not approved, is called a ‘fake news’ site, right along with any drivel that the aristocracy wants to be associated, in the public’s minds, with those few honest news-sites — as guilt-by-association (with whatever drivel the aristocracy also disapproves). But only honest newsmedia will be publishing this. And there are fewer and fewer of those. The clampdown is well underway. [premium_newsticker id=”154171″]
What will it take to bring America to live according to its own self image?