{"id":337634,"date":"2017-12-02T22:42:29","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T21:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=337634"},"modified":"2017-12-02T22:42:29","modified_gmt":"2017-12-02T21:42:29","slug":"recent-reasons-distrust-american-allied-newsmedia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/recent-reasons-distrust-american-allied-newsmedia\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Recent Reasons to Distrust American-Allied ‘News’Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eric Zuesse<\/span><\/p>\n

Only enough of the openings of these articles are included here so as to indicate the gist, about the rape of the public\u2019s minds, by the \u2018news\u2019media. To see the articles themselves, click onto the given article\u2019s URL, which is shown at its start of each of these articles as presented here:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/2017\/11\/30\/pbs-frontline-putins-revenge-if-it-was-satire-it-would-be-brilliant\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Published on <\/i>November 30, 2017<\/i><\/span><\/a> <\/i><\/span> <\/i>Comments 23<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

PBS Frontline: \u201cPutin\u2019s Revenge\u201d \u2013 unintentionally hilarious<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

PBS\u2019s Frontline series offers what it calls the \u201cinside story of how Vladimir Putin came to see the United States as an enemy \u2014 and why he decided to target an American election.\u201d We are publishing it here because it has to be seen to be believed.<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6pWALA6vgoY<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

In its quick overview of Putin\u2019s 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\u2019s \u201cdemocratisation\u201d of the economy. And no mention is made of how the \u201canti-democratic\u201d Putin reversed this seemingly irreversible decline<\/span><\/a>. No effort is made to define what is meant by \u201cdemocracy\u201d at all. Nothing that sophisticated is even attempted. Yeltsin, the hood and destroyer, is described as \u201cpro-democracy\u201d because he favoured the US and its economic piracy. Putin is \u201canti-democratic\u201d, because he didn\u2019t. It\u2019s that unsophisticated. And that absurd. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.moonofalabama.org\/2017\/11\/turning-the-corner-in-afghanistan.html#more<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

November 28, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

Turning The Corner In Afghanistan<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2017\/nov\/28\/brexit-layers-allegations-opaque-funding-brexiters<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Strip away the layers and Brexit becomes ever more murky<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Gina Miller, 28 November 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

Mounting allegations of opaque funding and illicit influence should trouble even the diehard Brexiters<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u2013 Russia<\/span><\/a> \u2013 in what appears to be a secretive coup.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u201ctake back control\u201d. Auberon Waugh\u2019s \u201cjunta of Belgian ticket inspectors\u201d 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<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who paid for the leave vote? Brexit should be halted until we know<\/span><\/p>\n

George Monbiot<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more<\/span><\/p>\n

It is turning out very differently. Think of Brexit<\/span><\/a> 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/a> designed to uphold the integrity of our democratic process, which said campaigns purported to want to reclaim. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.rt.com\/op-edge\/411241-german-intelligence-facebook-russia\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us what\u2019s true or democracy will die: German spy chief\u2019s ultimatum to US tech giants<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Riley Waggaman, Published time: 28 Nov, 2017 22:42<\/span><\/p>\n

Facebook must protect Germany and other noble pillars of democracy from unauthorized information \u2013 especially if the subversive materials can somehow be pinned on Russia. This is the expert opinion of Germany\u2019s deeply troubled spy chief.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the anniversary of Berlin\u2019s Christmas market terror attack approaching, Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany\u2019s domestic intelligence agency, appears to be consumed by terrifying images of subversive Facebook posts crashing into young German minds.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u201cintelligence\u201d agency. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/uk.reuters.com\/article\/uk-germany-cyber-facebook\/german-domestic-spy-agency-hits-out-at-silicon-valley-idUKKBN1DR1XL<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

German domestic spy agency hits out at Silicon Valley<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Reuters Staff, 27 November 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

BERLIN (Reuters) – The head of Germany\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cToday we are discovering a \u2018fifth estate\u2019 that makes claims but up until now does not want to take any social responsibility,\u201d Hans-Georg Maassen told a conference on cybersecurity organised by Germany\u2019s Handelsblatt daily.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019s U.S. presidential election.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDemocratic pluralism loses its foundations if it is no longer based on facts and reality is reduced to opinions,\u201d he said. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.moonofalabama.org\/2017\/11\/google-does-evil.html#more<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

November 22, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

Google Does Evil<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Up to about 2006 or 2007 Google<\/i> 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Google<\/i> News<\/i> 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<\/i> story?<\/span><\/p>\n

Google’s<\/i> algorithms now amount to censorship. Since August it downgrades<\/span><\/a> websites that offer alternative views to the left of the pack. Searches that earlier led to the World Socialist Web Site<\/i> or to Media Matters<\/i> no longer show these sites, or show them way down the result pages. Traffic to these sites collapsed.<\/span><\/p>\n

This week Google<\/i> announced that it will censor RT.com<\/i>, the website of the international Russian TV station: Google will \u2018de-rank\u2019 RT articles to make them harder to find \u2013 Eric Schmidt<\/span><\/a>. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/eu-anti-fake-news-authority-prepares-mass-censorship\/5618581?print=1<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

EU Anti-\u201cFake News\u201d Authority Prepares Mass Censorship<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

By Alex Lantier<\/span><\/p>\n

Global Research, November 16, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

World Socialist Web Site<\/span><\/p>\n

The European Union (EU) is launching the construction of an authority to monitor and censor so-called \u201cfake news.\u201d It is setting up a High-Level Expert Group on the issue and soliciting criticisms of \u201cfake news\u201d by media professionals and the public to decide what powers to give to this EU body, which is to begin operation next spring.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

An examination of the EU\u2019s 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. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/europa.eu\/rapid\/press-release_IP-17-4481_en.htm<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNext steps against fake news: Commission sets up High-Level Expert Group and launches public consultation<\/b>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Brussels, 13 November 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The work of the High-Level Expert Group<\/span><\/a> as well as the results of the public consultation<\/span><\/a> 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

First Vice-President Frans Timmermans<\/b> 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.\u201d \u2026<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/articles\/hezbollah-is-not-a-threat-to-america\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Hezbollah is Not a Threat to America<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Trumped\u2019 up charges to get at Iran won\u2019t work<\/span><\/p>\n

By SHARMINE NARWANI \u2022 November 3, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

Western-backed militants are in retreat, Bashar al-Assad remains president, Hezbollah has stretched its wings regionally, Israeli power is in decline<\/span><\/a>, and Iran is on the rise. Not a pretty result for Washington\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Trump administration is therefore moving to hit its regional adversaries on alternative, non-military fronts\u2014mainly, employing the sanctions tool that can cripple economies, besiege communities, and stir up public discontent.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second step is to resuscitate the Hezbollah \u201cthreat\u201d and isolate the organization using legal maneuvers and financial sanctions\u2014what one pro-U.S. Lebanese Central Bank official calls \u201cthe new tools of imperialism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. listed Hezbollah as a \u201cterrorist organization\u201d<\/span><\/a> 20 years ago this month. Most other states, as well as the United Nations Security Council, have not.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, at a State Department briefing on the Hezbollah \u201cthreat,\u201d National Counterterrorism Center Director Nicholas J. Rasmussen tried to paint a picture<\/span><\/a> of an organization that was directing \u201cterrorism acts worldwide\u201d and posing a threat \u201cto U.S. interests\u201d including \u201chere in the homeland.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to September 11,\u201d Rasmussen claimed, \u201cI think everybody knows Hezbollah was responsible for the terrorism-related deaths of more U.S. citizens than any other foreign terrorist organization.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This was news indeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

A check with a State Department spokesperson confirmed that the \u201cdeaths of more U.S. citizens than any other foreign terrorist organization\u201d claim was in reference to the following incidents: [the charge against Iran was disproven even by official U.S. figures] \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2017\/oct\/21\/russia-free-pass-undermine-british-democracy-vladimir-putin<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s free pass to undermine British democracy<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Nick Cohen, 21 October 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tories want to ignore Putin\u2019s Brexit role and Labour is complicit with Putin\u2019s mafia state<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019d never guess it, but Britain is a lucky country. Across the democratic world, Russia<\/span><\/a> 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 \u201cit can\u2019t happen here\u201d, even though \u201cit\u201d is happening everywhere else.<\/span><\/p>\n

The FBI is investigating how Russia hacked the Clinton campaign and used Facebook and Twitter<\/span><\/a> 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\u2019s imperial strategy is to weaken the EU and Nato in every country except, it seems, this sceptred isle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Russia knows its best tactic is to use migrant crises to stoke nativist fears. \u201cGerman government threw their country under feet of migrants like a rug, now try wipe their crimes under carpet,\u201d tweeted the Russian embassy<\/span><\/a> in London in 2016 as the Kremlin began a successful campaign<\/span><\/a> to promote the interests of the chauvinists in Alternative for Germany. A bank close to Vladimir Putin loaned $10m to Marine le Pen\u2019s anti-EU Front National. He encouraged<\/span><\/a> the anti-immigrant Freedom party in Austria, the Lega Nord in Italy and Jobbik in Hungary. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u2018news\u2019media pumped constantly up till the time we invaded and destroyed Iraq in 2003<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a pattern here. Think of the allegorical 1984<\/i><\/span><\/a>, 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) \u201cthe superstate\u00a0Oceania. Oceania is a world of perpetual war,\u00a0omnipresent government surveillance\u00a0and public manipulation.\u201d That\u2019s exactly right. Far right. Military-industrial-complex right. It\u2019s where we now are. And that\u2019s something which, in Oceania, is prohibited to be published, by any approved \u2018news\u2019media. And: any medium that\u2019s not approved, is called a \u2018fake news\u2019 site, right along with any drivel that the aristocracy wants to be associated, in the public\u2019s minds, with those few honest news-sites \u2014 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 under way.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of\u00a0 They\u2019re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010<\/i><\/span><\/a>,<\/i> and of<\/span> \u00a0<\/i>CHRIST\u2019S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eric Zuesse Only enough of the openings of these articles are included here so as to indicate the gist, about the rape of the public\u2019s minds, by the \u2018news\u2019media. To see the articles themselves, click onto the given article\u2019s URL, which is shown at its start of each of these articles as presented here: \u2014\u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1254,"featured_media":337637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[30,32,96,535,524,49,1024],"class_list":{"0":"post-337634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire","8":"tag-big-brother","9":"tag-cia","10":"tag-cover-up","11":"tag-global-news","12":"tag-russia","13":"tag-usa-news","14":"tag-ww3"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}