[Peace-discuss] Mass Deception and the Prelude to World War

Thu Apr 5 00:27:11 UTC 2018

So, what are we to make of the current anti-Russia propaganda we witness
regarding the nerve agent incident in Salisbury and the failure of the
British government to provide evidence to demonstrate Russian culpability?
The relentless accusations by Theresa May and Boris Johnson that have been
parroted across the corporate media in the West indicate that the
manipulation of public perception is everything and facts count for little. 

April 4, 2018 

<https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/04/04/mass-deception-and-the-prelude-to-w
orld-war/> Mass Deception and the Prelude to World War

by  <https://www.counterpunch.org/author/colin-todhunter/> Colin Todhunter 

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In Libya, NATO bombed a path to Tripoli to help its proxy forces on the
ground oust Gaddafi. Tens of thousands lost their lives and that countrys
social fabric and infrastructure now lies in ruins. Gaddafi was murdered and
his plans to assert African independence and undermine Western (
<https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/01/06/new-hillary-emails-reveal-t
rue-motive-for-libya-intervention/> not least French) hegemony on that
continent have been rendered obsolete.

In Syria, the US, Turkey, France, Britain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been
helping to arm militants. The Daily Telegraphs March 2013 article US and
Europe in major airlift of arms to Syrian rebels through Zagreb reported
that 3,000 tons of weapons dating back to the former Yugoslavia had been
sent in 75 planeloads from Zagreb airport to the rebels. The New York Times
March 2013 article Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With CIA Aid
stated that Arab governments and Turkey had sharply increased their military
aid to Syrias opposition fighters. This aid included more than 160 military
cargo flights.

Sold under the notion of a spontaneous democratic uprising against a
tyrannical political leader, Syria is little more than an illegal war for
<https://theecologist.org/2015/nov/28/syria-illegal-war-energy-capital-and-e
mpire> capital, empire and energy. The West and its allies have been
<http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/us-isis-syria-iraq>
instrumental in organising the war as elaborated by Tim Anderson in his book
 <http://www.worldfinancialreview.com/?p=4900> The Dirty War on Syria.

Over the last 15 years or so, politicians and the media have been
manipulating popular sentiment to get an increasingly war-fatigued Western
public to support ongoing wars under the notion of protecting civilians or a
bogus war on terror. They spin a yarn about securing womens rights or a
war on terror in Afghanistan, removing despots from power in Iraq, Libya or
Syria or protecting human life, while then going on to attack or help
destabilise countries, resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of
civilian lives.

Emotive language designed to instil fear about potential terror attacks in
Europe or myths about humanitarianism intervention are used as a pretext to
wage imperialist wars in mineral-rich countries and geostrategically
important regions.

Part of the battle for the publics hearts and minds is to keep people
confused. They must be convinced to regard these wars and conflicts as a
disconnected array of events and not as the planned machinations of empire.
The ongoing disinformation narrative about Russian aggression is part of the
strategy. Ultimately, Russia (and China) is the real and increasingly
imminent target: Moscow has stood in the way of the Wests plans in Syria
and both Russia and China are
<https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/countingthecost/2018/03/china-petro-yu
an-dollar-hegemony-180331091248813.html> undermining the role of the dollar
in international trade, a lynchpin of US power.

The countries of the West are effectively heading for war with Russia but
relatively few among the public seem to know or even care. Many are
oblivious to the slaughter that has already been inflicted on populations
with the help of their taxes and governments in far-away lands. With the
reckless neoconservative warmonger John Bolton now part of the Trump
administration, it seems we could be hurtling towards major war much faster
than previously thought.

Most of the public remains blissfully ignorant of the psy-ops being directed
at them through the corporate media. Given recent events in the UK and the
ramping up of anti-Russia rhetoric, if ordinary members of the public think
that Theresa May or Boris Johnson ultimately have their best interests at
heart, they should think again. The major transnational corporations based
on Wall Street and in the City of London are the ones setting Anglo-US
policy agendas often via the Brookings Institute, Council on Foreign
Relations, International Crisis Group, Chatham House, etc.

The owners of these companies, the capitalist class, have off-shored
millions of jobs as well as their personal and company tax liabilities to
boost their profits and have bankrupted economies. We see the results in
terms of austerity, unemployment, powerlessness, privatization,
deregulation, banker control of economies, corporate control of food and
seeds, the stripping away of civil liberties, increased mass surveillance
and wars to grab mineral resources and ensure US dollar hegemony. These are
the interests the politicians serve.

Its the ability to maximise profit by shifting capital around the world
that matters to this class, whether on the back of distorted free trade
agreements, which open the gates for plunder, or through coercion and
militarism, which merely tear them down.

Whether it is the structural violence of neoliberal economic policies or
actual military violence, the welfare of ordinary folk around the world does
not enter the equation. In an imposed oil-thirsty, war-driven system of
globalised capitalism and over-consumption that is wholly unnecessary and is
stripping the planet bare, the bottom line is that ordinary folk  whether
workers in the West,
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/01/26/global-capitalism-and-livelihoods-d
enied-whipping-indias-farmers-into-submission/> farmers in India or
civilians displaced en masse in war zones like Syria  must be bent
according to the will of Western capital.

We should not be fooled by made-for-media outpourings of morality about good
and evil that are designed to create fear, outrage and support for more
militarism and resource-grab wars. The shaping of public opinion is a
multi-million-dollar industry.

Take for instance the mass harvesting of Facebook data by Cambridge
Analytica to shape the outcomes of the US election and the Brexit campaign.
According to journalist
<http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2018/03/20/scl-a-very-british-coup/> Liam
OHare, its parent company Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) has
conducted behavioural change programmes in over 60 countries and its
clients have included the British Military of Defence, the US State
Department and NATO. According to OHare, the use of the media to fool the
public is one of SCLs key selling points.

Among its activities in Europe have been campaigns targeting Russia. The
company has sweeping links with Anglo-American political and military
interests. In the UK, the interests of the governing Conservative Party and
military-intelligence players are brought together via SCL: board members
include an array of Lords, Tory donors, ex-British army officers and
defense contractors.

OHare says it is clear is that all SCLs activities have been inextricably
linked to its Cambridge Analytica arm. He states: International deception
and meddling is the name of the game for SCL. We finally have the most
concrete evidence yet of shadowy actors using dirty tricks in order to rig
elections. But these operators arent operating from Moscow
 they are
British, Eton educated, headquartered in the City of London and have close
ties to Her Majestys government

So, what are we to make of the current anti-Russia propaganda we witness
regarding the nerve agent incident in Salisbury and the failure of the
British government to provide evidence to demonstrate Russian culpability?
The relentless accusations by Theresa May and Boris Johnson that have been
parroted across the corporate media in the West indicate that the
manipulation of public perception is everything and facts count for little.
It is alarming given what is at stake  the escalation of conflict between
the West and a major nuclear power.

Welcome to the world of mass deception à la
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/12/pr-mind-control/> Edward Bernays
and Josef Goebbels.

US social commentator Walter Lippmann once said that responsible men make
decisions and have to be protected from the bewildered herd  the public.
He added that the public should be subdued, obedient and distracted from
what is really happening. Screaming patriotic slogans and fearing for their
lives, they should be admiring with awe leaders who save them from
destruction.

Although the Wests political leaders are manipulating, subduing and
distracting the public in true Lippmannesque style, they arent saving
anyone from anything: their reckless actions towards Russia could lead
towards a war that could wipe out all life on the planet.

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