Tuesday, February 13, 2024

US spent $500M on propaganda

Should we believe what we're being told about war given the US' history of lies about them?

Does this behavior also shed light on possible intentions behind the deception during the COVID era?

The US Spent $500M on Propaganda & Why It's Relevant Now

Joe Martino
The Time, 23 Sept 2023

I wanted to bring attention to this piece I wrote back in 2016 (below) when our work was being done through our brand Collective Evolution.

It’s a piece about the time the US spent about half a billion dollars creating propaganda during the Iraq war. At the time, I found this piece to be incredibly powerful because it illustrated how far governments will go to shape domestic and global opinion.

How do we know propaganda or carefully shaped narratives aren’t used on the domestic public to mislead them into supporting senseless wars? *Rhetorical question.*

In my view, a misinformed public plus the lack of ability for citizens to directly vote on key issues means you do not have democracy. In most countries, the idea of democracy is merely an illusion, a pacifier placed into the mouths of citizens to make them feel they are in control of the direction of their country.

Here in 2023, we are being told a great deal about the Ukraine and Russia war. but should we truly believe the Western perspective on this war given the history of lies about previous wars? Remember the weapons of mass destruction that didn’t exist?

How should we make sense of what we’re being told about war by our governments given we must bring these examples (and many more) into the picture?

My feeling is that mainstream analysis is often naive in real time, and only becomes wiser 10 - 15 years later when the truth becomes completely undeniable. Perhaps it’s time we stop buying into mainstream claims in real time, and instead be more curious about what really might be going on. An expanded and holistic perspective is necessary to understand why these wars, and false flags, happen.

Pentagon Paid PR Firm Over $500 Million to Create Fake Terrorist Videos
Published Oct 3, 2016

    “We need to make this style of video and we’ve got to use Al-Qaeda's footage . . . We need it to be 10 minutes long, and it needs to be in this file format, and we need to encode it in this manner.”

These were the specific instructions given to employees of a UK PR firm responsible for creating fake terrorist videos as part of a top secret propaganda mission paid for by the Pentagon — a mission that cost over half a billion dollars.

This story came to light thanks to a former employee of the firm, Martin Wells, who came forward to talk about his time working on the project.

Buying Propaganda

PR firm Bell Pottinger, well-known for having many controversial clients, worked with the U.S. military to create propaganda in a secretive operation. The firm reported to the CIA, the National Security Council, and the Pentagon during the project.

Since the U.S. is prohibited by law from using propaganda on its population, they had to hire an outside firm to create it for them.

Their mandate was to portray Al-Qaeda in a negative light and track suspected sympathizers.

Both the White House and General David Petraeus, the former general who shared classified information with his mistress, signed off on the content produced by the agency.

The Bell Pottinger operation began not long after the U.S. invaded Iraq following 9/11. It was at this point that promoting the “democratic elections” became the focus of the mission. Not long after, the priority shifted to shooting and editing video content for psychological and information operations.

Martin Wells, who found himself working in Iraq after being hired as a video editor by Bell Pottinger, told The Bureau of Investigative Journalism that within 48 hours of being hired, he landed in Baghdad to edit content for secret “psychological operations” at Camp Victory.

The firm created television ads showing Al-Qaeda in a negative light and created content to look as though it had come from unbias “Arabic TV.” Film crews were sent out to film bombings with low quality video and edited to look like news reports.

According to the US, the videos were meant to show the atrocities of Al-Qaeda to hopefully convince people of their senseless violence. Further, the US would track the location of viewers of the videos to determine if they might be Al-Qaeda sympathizers.

When the US would raid houses of citizens and make a mess of them, crews would go in a drop CDs with the video footage onto the floor. When citizens would watch them the US could track the behavior.

According to Wells, the videos made their way out of Iraq and to places like Iran, Syria, and the U.S.

    "If one, 48 hours or a week later shows up in another part of the world, then that’s the more interesting one, and that’s what they’re looking for more, because that gives you a trail.”

Whether the material achieved its goals, no one would ever really know, Wells said.

But are we asking all the right questions here?

We are assuming here that the only ‘bad people’ are Al-Qaeda, but what could be said about the US military? Are they truly innocent in all this? Was this war necessary or were there other motives?

Are we really to believe everything we were told by the US about this war is true? There are still major questions that need to be answered about 9/11, we were told lies about weapons of mass destruction, and there is a clear history of the military-industrial complex profiting from senseless war.

From a different perspective, Iraq war veteran Mike Prysner claimed the US military was the true terrorist in the Iraq occupation.

Why do we not hear about these perspectives? Are we really going to ignore the vast profits wars make for the military industrial complex? If billionaires and elites can create propaganda and mislead the public into supporting war, would they not do it for their own profits and power? How would we know they are not?

Can we truly believe the US was creating this propaganda for good? If so, why would the US military do the things Prysner points out in the press conference below?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90OYp2hdTMU

The Pentagon did confirm that the PR firm worked for them under the Information Operations Task Force (IOTF), and said they were creating content that was “truthful.” The firm also worked under the Joint Psychological Operations Task Force (JPOTF). When asked for a response, the Pentagon said it could not comment on JPOTF operations.

Why the Need for PR?

As I touched on above, given these events one must begin to ask why there was a need for propaganda and PR in the first place.

Does it seem unsettling that government and military operations have to go to such lengths to get the public on their side? Or to manipulate another population? What gives them to right to shape and manipulate public opinion with false ideas?

We can dive further, can we really say that what the media chooses to leave out of the domestic narratives in the US is not a form of propaganda itself?

This reminds me of a great quote from Edward Bernays, otherwise known as the father of public relations. The quote is taken from his book Propaganda, which was written in 1928:

    The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.

    We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.

It was reported in 2009 that the Pentagon had hired controversial PR firm The Rendon Group to monitor the reporting of journalists embedded with the U.S. military. The goal was to assess whether they were giving "positive" coverage to its missions. This is a clear effort to control the media and what it portrays to the public.

In 2005, an article by Democracy Now revealed that the PR company the Lincoln Group had been hired to produce articles printed in Iraqi newspapers which had been secretly written by the U.S. military. Surprisingly (or not), a Pentagon investigation cleared the group of any wrongdoing.

I believe if the people knew what their governments were doing and if they were truly informed about their actions they might have a different perspective about what's going on.

The reality of this story brings into question how real the threat of terror truly is and why the U.S. is trying so hard to convince the world that this threat is imminent.

We are all too familiar with how the Iraq war began - after planes were flown into the World Trade Centre towers in New York. This event was monumental in not only reshaping U.S. security tactics but also political policy that impacted the American people and world greatly.

It also spurred major division and debate, with many people disagreeing over what really happened, and for good reason. The facts don’t add up.

Within moments of the crashes, the media was already claiming that Osama Bin Laden had ordered the attacks and the word terrorist was used thousands of times over the next 24 hours. But as the weeks and months passed, it started to become clear that something wasn't quite right with the official story.

We can’t suggest terrorism at all doesn’t exist as I simply don’t believe that is true. But we must be more nuanced about what it means, how it happens and what might be driving it. For example, are terrorists a symptom of the US’ world policing and purposeful destabilization of other countries? Are they created and trained by the US and their allies in some cases?

These questions are becoming more persistent as time goes on and were a major focus of the International Conference on the New World Order, organized and sponsored by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation.

Below is a statement from that conference given by prominent author and Canadian economist Dr. Michel Chossudovsky, who is the University of Ottawa’s Emeritus Professor of Economics, which further emphasizes this viewpoint:

    The global war on terrorism is a US undertaking, which is fake, it’s based on fake premises. It tells us that somehow America and the Western world are going after a fictitious enemy, the Islamic state, when in fact the Islamic state is fully supported and financed by the Western military alliance and America’s allies in the Persian Gulf. . . . They say Muslims are terrorists, but it just so happens that terrorists are Made in America. They’re not the product of Muslim society, and that should be abundantly clear to everyone on this floor. . . . The global war on terrorism is a fabrication, a big lie and a crime against humanity. (source) (source)

From Chossudovsky’s perspective, the very fact that Western governments arm and support ‘terrorist’ efforts means the idea that all of their actions are happening from solely their own ideologies is false.

In the end, profit, control, and power grow during moments of crisis whether real or manipulated. We must consider that to powerful people, nothing to gain more power is off limits.

Mail-In Ballot Fraud Study Finds Trump 'Almost Certainly' Won In 2020

Mail-In Ballot Fraud Study Finds Trump 'Almost Certainly' Won In 2020
by Tyler Durden
Feb 11, 2024

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A new study examining the likely impact that fraudulent mail-in ballots had in the 2020 election concludes that the outcome would “almost certainly” have been different without the massive expansion of voting by mail.

The Heartland Institute study tried to gauge the probable impact that fraudulent mail-in ballots cast for both then-candidate Joe Biden and his opponent, President Donald Trump, would have had on the overall 2020 election results.

The study was based on data obtained from a Heartland/Rasmussen survey in December that revealed that roughly one in five mail-in voters admitted to potentially fraudulent actions in the presidential election.

After the researchers carried out additional analyses of the data, they concluded that mail-in ballot fraud “significantly” impacted the 2020 presidential election.

They also found that, absent the huge expansion of mail-in ballots during the pandemic, which was often done without legislative approval, President Trump would most likely have won.

“Had the 2020 election been conducted like every national election has been over the past two centuries, wherein the vast majority of voters cast ballots in-person rather than by mail, Donald Trump would have almost certainly been re-elected,” the report’s authors wrote.

Over 43 percent of 2020 votes were cast by mail, the highest percentage in U.S. history.

‘Biggest Story of the Year’

The new study examined raw data from the December survey carried out jointly between Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports, which tried to assess the level of fraudulent voting that took place in 2020.

The December survey, which President Trump called “the biggest story of the year,” suggested that roughly 20 percent of mail-in voters engaged in at least one potentially fraudulent action in the 2020 election, such as voting in a state where they’re no longer permanent residents.

In the new study, Heartland analysts say that, after reviewing the raw survey data, subjecting it to additional statistical treatment and more thorough analysis, they now believe they can conclude that 28.2 percent of respondents who voted by mail committed at least one type of behavior that is “under most circumstances, illegal” and so potentially amounts to voter fraud.

“This means that more than one-in-four ballots cast by mail in 2020 were likely cast fraudulently, and thus should not have been counted,” the researchers wrote.

A Heartland Institute research editor and research fellow who was involved in the study explained to The Epoch Times in a telephone interview that there are narrow exceptions where a surveyed behavior may be legal, like filling out a mail-in ballot on behalf of another voter if that person is blind, illiterate, or disabled, and requests assistance.

However, the research fellow, Jack McPherrin, said such cases were within the margin of error and not statistically significant.

What Are the Implications?

In addition to reassessing the likely overall degree of fraudulent mail-in ballots in the 2020 election, Heartland analysts calculated the potential impact that fraudulent mail-in ballots might have produced in the six key swing states that President Trump officially lost.

This, then, was used to determine the impact of potentially fraudulent mail-in ballots on the overall 2020 election result.

First, the researchers analyzed the electoral results for the six swing states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—under the 28.2 percent fraudulent mail-in ballot scenario that they estimated based on the raw survey data.

Then they calculated the electoral results in the six states under the different scenarios, each with a lower assumed percentage of fraudulent ballots, ranging from 28.2 percent all the way down to 1 percent.

For each of the 29 scenarios that they assesses, the researchers calculated the estimated number of fraudulent ballots, which were then subtracted from overall 2020 vote totals to generate a new estimate for vote totals.

Overall, of the 29 different scenarios presented in the study, the researchers concluded that President Trump would have won the 2020 election in all but three.

Specifically, they calculated that the only scenarios that would affirm the official 2020 election result, namely that candidate Biden won, were mail-in ballot fraud levels between 1 and 3 percent of ballots cast.

Mail-in ballot fraud rates higher than 3 percent would, according to the study, mean more fraudulent Biden votes that should be subtracted from the total, putting President Trump ahead.

For example, the adjustment to the vote tallies under fraud percentage rates between 13 and 6 percent would mean President Trump would have won Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, though he would have still lost in Michigan and Nevada.

Under such a scenario, President Trump would have won 289 Electoral College votes compared to candidate Biden’s 249.

In scenarios of 5–4 percent fraud, each candidate would have received 269 Electoral College votes, but President Trump would likely still have won because Republicans controlled more state delegations and, under a tie scenario, Congress would have voted based on the number of delegates.

However, the researchers expressed confidence in their overall assessment that the level of mail-in ballot fraud was over 25 percent, indicative of an actual Trump win.

“We have no reason to believe that our survey overstated voter fraud by more than 25 percentage points, and thus, we must conclude that the best available evidence suggests that mail-in ballot fraud significantly impacted the 2020 presidential election, in favor of Joe Biden,” the paper’s authors wrote.

Survey Criticism

Jim Womack, president of the North Carolina Election Integrity Team, told The Epoch Times in an earlier interview and in additional written comments in response to the new study, that he believes the survey questions were flawed and make the survey statistically meaningless, though not without value.

“We know there was fraud in the 2020 election, but you can’t conclude that it was 20 percent or 10 percent or even 5 percent based on the survey because the questions that could lead to such conclusions were unclear,” Mr. Womack said.

However, he said that the survey questions on which Heartland based its research were unclear. He argued that the questions comingled legal and illegal activity and that this made it impossible to conclude specific percentages of mail-in ballot fraud with certainty.

For instance, Mr. Womack pointed out that it’s legal and permissible in all states for people who by reason of blindness, disability, or illiteracy request or require assistance in filling out mail-in ballots to get such assistance.

However, the wording of one of the survey questions—“During the 2020 election, did you fill out a ballot, in part or in full, on behalf of a friend or family member, such as a spouse or child?”—did not differentiate between legal and illegal forms of filling out a mail ballot on behalf of someone.

Therefore, 21 percent of people responding “yes” to this question does not necessarily mean that this percentage of people actually committed voter fraud, Mr. Womack argued.

Mr. Womack also said that another survey question–“During the 2020 election, did you cast a mail-in ballot in a state where you were no longer a permanent resident?”—to which 17 percent replied yes—also does not support the conclusion that all such cases were illegal. That’s because, as Mr. Womack pointed out, federal and state laws allow some voters (such as UOCAVA registered citizens) to cast a ballot in a state where they are no longer permanent residents under certain circumstances.

“We'd need to dive deeper into these responses to determine if these were fraudulent or not,” Mr. Womack said.

Regardless, he praised the Heartland Institute for engaging with the topic of mail-in ballot fraud and raising public awareness about what he said is an important problem.

Response to Criticism

When asked to comment on Mr. Womack’s objections, Mr. McPherrin, of the Heartland Institute, told The Epoch Times that he stands by the findings.

For instance, Mr. McPherrin acknowledged that it’s legal for people who are blind, disabled, or illiterate to get help from someone in filling out a ballot.

However, he argued that the number of such individuals responding to the Heartland/Rasmussen survey (which was based on a representative sample of 1,085 likely voters) would likely have been tiny.

“It would be difficult to imagine that dozens of blind people or those that are illiterate or disabled are answering this poll,” he said, adding that the presumably tiny fraction of survey respondents who fall into this category would be statistically insignificant and not impact the overall survey results.

But even if that particular question is left out due to concerns about its clarity, the percentage of people who admitted to potentially fraudulent voter activity would still be about one in five, he said.

Mr. McPherrin said he and his team have received and reviewed Mr. Womack’s criticism and they believe the points he makes have some validity but not enough to affect their findings in a meaningful way.

He maintains the study clearly shows that if the 2020 election had been as fair and secure as prior elections, President Trump would “almost certainly” have been re-elected to a second term.

Mr. Womack continues to stand by his criticism of the survey question design, providing The Epoch Times with a written statement on Feb. 8 that calls the survey “very poorly constructed, failing to capture even a single instance of probable voter fraud.”

He argued that the survey questions were “vague and ambiguous, commingling permissible with impermissible behaviors, thus diminishing the quality and usefulness of responses.”

Further, Mr. Womack argued that propagating the contents of the survey does more harm than good and potentially undermines the work and reputation of “legitimate election integrity organizations like EIN,” referring to the Election Integrity Network, a project of the Conservative Partnership Institute.

Meanwhile, the authors of the Heartland study call for state legislatures to do all in their power to ensure the 2024 presidential election is as secure as possible, mostly by severely limiting mail-in voting and adopting other commonsense policies to prevent mail-in voter fraud.

CDC uses fear and deception to sell more flu vaccines


"I just found this April 2018 article that's IMHO very well written: a real pity I didn't found it before. 
 
A useful case study of the divergence between the science and the public message is the New York Times article “Why It’s Still Worth Getting a Flu Shot”.
 
Its author, Aaron E. Carroll, characterizes the science as though it fully vindicates the CDC’s recommendation.
 
To support this characterization, he cites systematic reviews of the medical literature conducted by the prestigious Cochrane Collaboration. 
 
However, as demonstrated in part one of this series, Carroll’s own sources in fact arrived at the opposite conclusion."
 
"An instructive snapshot of this mindset was provided in a presentation by the CDC’s director of media relations on June 17, 2004, at a workshop for the Institute of Medicine (IOM). In its presentation, the CDC outlined a “‘Recipe’ for Fostering Public Interest and High Vaccine Demand”.
 
It called for encouraging medical experts and public health authorities to “state concern and alarm” about “and predict dire outcomes” from the flu season. To inspire the necessary fear, the CDC encouraged describing each season as “very severe”, “more severe than last or past years”, and “deadly”"
 
"The larger conundrum for the CDC is the proliferation of information available to the public on the internet. As the CDC bluntly stated it, “Health literacy is a growing problem”" ~Simone Cominato

Europe's most exclusive and secretive financial forum

 'Not like Davos': Europe's most exclusive and secretive financial forum


For over 73 years, the Institut International d'Etudes Bancaires (IIEB) has remained the most secretive organization in European finance, according to the Financial Times.
 
"This is not like Davos, where anyone can buy their way in. This really is exclusive," an unnamed IIEB member told the FT, referring to the World Economic Forum's annual meetings in the Swiss town. 
 
Twice a year, the IIEB brings together the heads of Europe's biggest banks to discuss a range of issues related to global policymaking, holding meetings in posh hotels and royal palaces across the continent.
 
Notably, the organization has no website, and its membership, agendas, and minutes are not made public. In addition, members are reportedly discouraged from sharing details of discussions. 
 
In addition to being an influential financial forum, the IIEB reportedly remains an elite social club where bankers and their partners enjoy "gala dinners, private tours of historic landmarks and high-end shopping trips."
 
The IIEB was founded in Paris in 1950 by the heads of four European lenders, including France's Credit Industriel et Commercial, Union Bank of Switzerland, Societe Generale de Belgique and Amsterdamsche Bank. 
 
The stated goal was to "bolster international capital movements and tackle currency controls in the face of increasing government interference." In the late 1990s, however, IIEB discussions focused on the impact of the euro, the growing derivatives market, and mergers and acquisitions between major banks.
 
There has been almost no press coverage of the IIEB's activities in its more than seven-decade history, except for a few meetings, including the most recent in October 2023, when over 40 of Europe's most powerful bankers gathered at the Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich to discuss the collapse of lender Credit Suisse.
 
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