by Oui
Tue Sep 9th, 2025 at 11:48:28 AM EST
US ends international push to combat fake news from hostile states | FT |
Washington terminates agreements with European countries to fight disinformation from Russia, China and Iran
The US has informed countries in Europe that it is stepping back from joint efforts to combat disinformation from countries such as Russia, China and Iran, according to three European officials familiar with the matter.
European countries received a notice from the State Department last week that the US is terminating memoranda of understanding that were signed last year under the Biden administration, which sought to forge a unified approach to identifying and exposing malicious information spread by foreign governments seeking to sow chaos.
The move comes as the Trump administration has dismantled agencies across the government that sought to protect the integrity of US elections and to combat foreign malign influence at home and abroad.
The memoranda were part of an initiative spearheaded by the Global Engagement Center (GEC), a State Department agency that tackled disinformation spread overseas by US adversaries and terror groups.
James Rubin, who served as head of the centre until December, described the move as a "unilateral act of disarmament" in the information war with Russia and China.
"Information warfare is a reality of our time and artificial intelligence is only going to multiply the risks from that," Rubin said.
EUvsDisInfo
EUROPEAN PROPAGANDA OUTLET
From the diaries many years ago ... VDL promotes info censorship.
Dutch Media Take EU Disinfo Watchdog to Court | 9 March 2018 |
Dutch Media Take EU Disinfo Watchdog to Court | 9 March 2018 |
The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, wants to get rid of the European Commission's task force against spreading fake news, the so-called EUvsDisinfo. This follows the task force naming a number of Dutch news services as spreaders of fake news, Het Parool reports.
- EUvsDisinfo "misses its target" and "meddles with the free press in the Netherlands."
The Dutch news services involved are NPO Radio 1, the Gelderlander, GeenStijl and The Post Online. According to the task force, pro-Russian propaganda gained the upper hand in a few reports from these organizations.
The VVD and SP call on the government to advocate disbanding this task force in Brussels. The PVV, GroenLinks and SGP also want the office scrapped.
One of the many "DisInfo" watchdogs created by right-wing groups to agitate. Agents of provoking a state of war - Cold War 2.0 in a digital age of propaganda and misinformation. The RFE-RL wasn't sufficient in a modern age, so the tech corporations of Silicon Valley are helping the corrupt politicians in Washington DC.
In the past months I have written about a number of these Western propaganda sites which appears more to censor free speech on articles critical of the West. Trying to keep some balance in news analysis ... tough times, even on "progressive" blogs.
Incident Ukrainian War Display Gets Int'l Attention | 27 May 2023 |
Censorship a Characteristic of Advanced Fascism | 30 Dec. 2022 |
The Polarizing Impact of Political Disinformation and Hate Speech: A Cross-country Configural Narrative | NIH - 2023 |
Information and communication technologies hold immense potential to enhance our lives and societal well-being. However, digital spaces have also emerged as a fertile ground for fake news campaigns and hate speech, aggravating polarization and posing a threat to societal harmony. Despite the fact that this dark side is acknowledged in the literature, the complexity of polarization as a phenomenon coupled with the socio-technical nature of fake news necessitates a novel approach to unravel its intricacies. In light of this sophistication, the current study employs complexity theory and a configurational approach to investigate the impact of diverse disinformation campaigns and hate speech in polarizing societies across 177 countries through a cross-country investigation. The results demonstrate the definitive role of disinformation and hate speech in polarizing societies.
DISINFORMATION FROM GOVERNMENT SOURCES
Censorship and Fascism: The Rise of the Far-Right | June 2020 |
The fascist fandom doesn't stop at central Europe. While not necessarily being as overtly power-grabbing as Orban, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's current president, deserves at least an honorable mention. Similar to Orban, Bolsonaro goes all in on the 'us vs them' attitude seen throughout fascist history. Famously quoted as saying `We feel profound repulsion towards those who are not Brazilian', previous targets of Bolsonaro include: LGBTQ, Non-Brazilians, Afro-Brazilians, Northern Brazilians, basically any group of people who aren't hard right fascists.
Bolsonaro is by no means as subtle in his oppressive tactics as Orban, his Brazilian government deliberately riles up its supporters to the point of murder. After his election, from the months of January to September 2017, 62 people who work for the Brazilian Committee of Human Rights were murdered, alongside a left-wing member of the city council of Rio de Janeiro. His followers also have been known to attack journalists during rallies. Despite these obvious violations of human rights, the Brazilian government remains unchecked by western society and is largely ignored by international press. Bolsonaro and his supporters freely take censorship to its most extreme form: murder.
Demonstrators carry a banner that reads in Portuguese "Dictatorship never again," during a protest against Jair Bolsonaro, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Oct. 10, 2018 (AP/Andre Penner)
One of the key features of fascism is the oppression of opposition voices. Whether that be voices of the people or voices of a movement, to suppress those voices which disagree with the current government is the poster-child of fascism. I believe that all of Trump's actions during the BLM protests push his government dangerously close to the precipice of democracy. He brought in the National Guard to suppress protestors, declared ANTIFA a terrorist organization and most recently placed sanctions against employees of the International Criminal Court. People investigating possible US war crimes in Afghanistan have had sanctions placed on them for nothing more than representing the victims of international atrocities.
European so-called "patriots" are in reality a combination of nationalists and neo-fascists supported by football hooligans, xenophobes/Islamophobes and devotees.
U.S. Democratic Backsliding in Comparative Perspective | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |
Far-Right Leaders Rally in Spain to 'Make Europe Great Again' | NY Times - 8 Feb. 2025 |
At a gathering in Madrid, members of Europe's far-right parties set aside any trepidation they might have about President Trump's threats and instead focused on a common enemy: the European Union.
Since taking office, President Trump has threatened European countries' security and economies, angled to take control of Greenland and promised to "definitely" slap the nations with tariffs. Even parties that would seem to be his natural allies are nervous. Some have quietly tiptoed back from the American president.
But Saturday was not the day for disputes. Leaders of far-right parties in Europe came to Madrid for what, on the surface at least, amounted to a boldface names booster rally for a new Trump era.
There was Marine Le Pen of France's far-right National Rally; the Netherlands' populist Geert Wilders; the leader of Italy's League party, Matteo Salvini. All made clear that they shared Mr. Trump's charge against what they see as "wokeism," "gender theory" and overweening environmentalism.
For them, the American president had blown through the last barriers that had confined their parties to the political margins. The taboos had been toppled.
UNGA and Parachuting Germany's Baerbock into top job
Starting today ...
Annalena Baerbock on Human Rights 😡
Stupidity shines at top level ... unbelievable ... living her dream.
On her 7th visit in six months, FM Baerbock urged more aid to avoid famine in Gaza as bombing continues | Irish Times |
On her seventh visit to the region in six months this week, Baerbock warned her host that ongoing aid blockades meant Gaza was sliding towards famine.
[Humiliated by war criminal Netanyahu, the master of Hasbara propaganda .. ]
Netanyahu retorted there was no starvation and mentioned photos circulating on Israeli social media of full food markets and busy beaches in Gaza.
"It's real. It's reality. We're not like the Nazis who produced fake images of a manufactured reality," he said, according to Israel's Channel 13. It was an apparent reference to propaganda films of well-fed Jewish residents of the Warsaw Ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Refugees in a ghetto food line, Warsaw, Poland, 1942. (Courtesy Yad Vashem)
Israeli strikes and gunfire kill 33 as Gaza City becomes focus of famine and a military offensive
Alongside the US, Germany has been a steadfast defender of Israel and its right to defend itself against Hamas. But this week's row has left Berlin officials speechless twice over: at the Netanyahu remarks, and their subsequent leaking by the Israeli side.
On the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Italy, Baerbock said on Friday that Germany's ambassador to Israel "has been in contact with the prime minister's staff to make clear what we think of such distortions".
While German officials insist the spat was not the focus of the one-hour meeting, no one in Berlin is denying the remarks were made. As official Israeli-German relations drift into uncharted territory, meanwhile, public anger is growing at Israel's response to the Hamas attacks.
A pro-Palestinian "Occupy against Occupation" tent settlement has sprung up adjacent to the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin.
On a large pink banner listing names, including leaders of the US, Germany, Canada and Italy, a slogan reads: "History will not remember your careers, history will remember your guilt and your complicity".
Despite their official camp permit, protesters say they have faced a raft of conditions and police harassment: no languages apart from English and German, no music, no prayers, no speeches.
Hunger in Gaza and the Ongoing Weaponization of Aid | June 2025 |
UN General Assembly session to kick off on September 9
Russia will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
NEW YORK, UNITED NATIONS -- The 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly is set to kick off on September 9.
Former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will serve as General Assembly president, succeeding Philemon Yang. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryablov said earlier that Baerbock's election as General Assembly chief could have a negative impact on the session's agenda as she had pursued a destructive policy as Germany's top diplomat.
The General Debate of the High-Level Week, set for September 23-27 and 29, will be the key event of the session. A total of 195 delegations are expected to address the General Assembly. Russia will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is scheduled to deliver his address on September 27.
The 80th session of the UN General Assembly will take place amid a severe financial crisis facing the global body as a number of countries have failed to pay their budget assessments. The United States, the largest UN donor, owes about $3 billion in payments. China, the second largest donor state, has suspended payments until the end of the year, increasing financial instability.
Delays in payments are forcing the UN to reduce its spending, freeze recruitment and cut humanitarian programs, including those aimed at providing assistance to children and refugees.
German Genocide Apologist Heads UNGA
Germany denies facilitating genocide in Gaza in case before UN’s top court | PBS - 9 April 2024 |
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Germany strongly rejected a case brought by Nicaragua at the United Nations’ top court accusing Berlin of facilitating breaches of the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law by providing arms and other support to Israel in its deadly assault on Gaza.
“The minute we look closely, Nicaragua’s accusations fall apart,” Christian Tams, a member of Germany’s legal team, told the 16-judge panel at the International Court of Justice.
Nicaragua urged judges to order a halt to German military aid to Israel, arguing that Berlin’s support enables acts of genocide and breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza.
The head of Germany’s legal team, Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, said Nicaragua’s claims “have no basis in fact or law. They are dependent on an assessment of conduct by Israel, not a party to these proceedings.”
Preliminary hearings held Monday and Tuesday are focused solely on Nicaragua’s request for so-called provisional measures, including a court order for Berlin to halt military and other aid to Israel and reinstate funding to the U.N. aid agency in Gaza.
Closing Germany’s arguments, Von Uslar-Gleichen urged judges not to impose preliminary measures and to toss out Nicaragua’s case.
Tams said that Germany had licensed only four exports of weapons of war to Israel since October, “three of which concern test or practice equipment.” He said 98% of military exports to Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks were not weapons of war, but other equipment.
Showing judges a photo of German aid being airdropped over Gaza, Tams added that Berlin continues to provide humanitarian support to Palestinians “every single day under extremely difficult conditions, constructively engaging with international partners.”
Colonialism and African Genocide: Namibia
Before the Holocaust: Germany's genocide in Namibia | Al Jazeera |
