Friday, August 07, 2020
Headlines for Aug. 7, 2020
Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines for August 7, 2020
*State Dept. Traces Russian Disinformation Links
Article highlights The Strategic Culture Foundation, Global Research, New Eastern Outlook, News Front, SouthFront, Katehon, Geopolitica.ru. The only one I've ever heard of is Global Research, which "is a Canadian website that has become deeply enmeshed in Russia’s broader disinformation and propaganda ecosystem."
What are they really concerned about? From the State Department report (not the NYT article), https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USSTATEBPA/2020/08/05/file_attachments/1512230/Pillars%20of%20Russias%20Disinformation%20and%20Propaganda%20Ecosystem_08-04-20%20%281%29.pdf
about one of the frequent authors on one of their “suspect sites”:
Finian Cunningham, who is originally from Belfast and has a background in agricultural chemistry, is the second-most prolific author for SCF, publishing more than 550 articles since 2012. In one SCF article, he refers to the United States as a “lawless rogue state.” His other SCF articles include:
• Give North Korea some respect
• Putin Stands Out as a Real World Leader
• Washington Choreographing All-Out War with Russia?
• The Year US-led Capitalism Became Exposed as Root of Global Conflict.
Disinformation, or just a point of view the US government doesn’t want Americans to hear? The real “cancel culture”.
In this article about “Russian disinformation “, these are the only two examples—one conspiracy theory no more bizarre than the “it was created in a Chinese lab” & “sent” (Trump’s word) to the US, & another echoing Trump’s claim pandemic was a “hoax”:
“The State Department report also highlights how the websites have spread disinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding the pandemic, most notably the false story that the novel coronavirus was created in an American military lab.
“One false story by Global Research claiming that the coronavirus pandemic was not real was then spread by 70 other sites and publications, Ms. Gabrielle said.” From early March: “Today WHO declared the coronavirus COVID-19 a “pandemic” – when there is not the slightest trace of a pandemic. A pandemic might be the condition, when the death to infection rate reaches more than 12%. In Europe, the death rate is about 0.4%, or less.”
*A former KGB spy talks disinformation tactics and the 2020 election
"Feeding incendiary documents to news outlets. Infiltrating activist groups. Sowing division and confusion. It might sound like a recap of Russia's efforts to meddle in the 2016 US election, but some of these same tactics were laid bare in a CNN television report on Soviet disinformation efforts back in 1983."
Sure sounds like the CIA and the FBI to me. But you won’t find that mentioned in this article.
*Joaquin Castro is leading a generational revolution to shake up Democrats' outdated foreign policy
"In Castro's mind, the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force approved by Congress in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks has been a Pandora's Box of American military and diplomatic chaos…Castro's proposal is simple: pass a better AUMF that restricts future presidents' ability to commit American troops to battle without full congressional oversight and approval."
Right on cue, Biden announces a new adviser for Latin American affairs — Republican Ana Navarro, whose father was a contra in Nicaragua, who raised money for the contras, and who recently said Maduro should get on a plane “and fly straight to hell”.
*After Beirut blasts, international aid and rescue workers pour into city
Article which follows is all about Macron showing up and promising “to spearhead an international aid effort for Lebanon”. There’s a picture of a Russian plane delivering aid, but no mention of that in the article, and no mention at all of the Iranian aid which was the first to arrive on site.
*Iran Will Expand Nuclear Program and Won’t Talk to U.S., Ayatollah Says
The phrase “nuclear power” does not appear a single time in this 870-word article. Not until the 9th paragraph do we even read “Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is meant exclusively for peaceful purposes” but the reader is left to guess what that means. And of course even that statement by Iran is immediately followed by a warning to readers that they should discount it: “but the United States and other countries believe it is pursuing the capacity to build a nuclear weapon.”
*Israeli jets strike targets in Syria, nearly 24 hours after foiling attack in Golan Heights
Thumbnail (earlier) headline: Israel kills four militants in Syria
The only evidence the WaPo has that this is true is this unverified video that from the description proves…nothing: “In a short clip released by the Israeli army, four figures are seen walking around rocky terrain, one of them picking something up and then putting it down. They are later seen walking across the land and then ducking right before an explosion engulfs them.”
Trump’s Syria Sanctions ‘Cannot Solve the Problem,’ Critics Say
The assumptions in the headlines: A) There is a problem, and B) “We” have to solve it.
*Egypt tells Elon Musk its pyramids were not built by aliens
In response to Musk tweet: “Aliens built the pyramids obv”. This was presumably a troll, or maybe just a drunken tweet; the next day he tweeted “This BBC article provides a sensible summary for how it was done”.
Document exposes new US plot to overthrow Nicaragua’s elected socialist gov’t
This week’s #FakeNewsByOmission
Along with the response in Bolivia to the delayed election
Beirut explosions: Where did the ‘floating bomb’ cargo come from and is Russia connected?
Basically no. The ship was owned by A Russian (not by “Russia”) but was transporting a cargo from Georgia to Mozambique.
New Nominations to U.K. House of Lords Raise Old Concerns of Cronyism
Isn't that the whole function of the House of Lords?
