Demonization of Putin as "Personally" Behind Clinton Hack Is Old Propaganda
Technique
Published on
Friday, December 16, 2016
by
Informed Comment
Demonization of Putin as "Personally" Behind Clinton Hack Is Old Propaganda
Technique
by
Juan Cole
Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama talk during a bilateral meeting held in Los
Cabos, Mexico in 2012. (Photo: Getty/AFP)
The leaked allegations supposedly from the CIA that Russian President
Vladimir Putin "personally" directed how hacked emails from the Clinton
campaign should be used should be treated with a good deal of skepticism.
I have already said that the allegations of effective Russian interference
in the US election do not make any sense to me. There is no point at which
anything Russia is said to have done can be shown to have determined the
election outcome.
The things that appear to have hurt Clinton late in the election were her
"deplorables" comment about Trump supporters, and the Comey letter about the
new emails the FBI had found on Anthony Weiner's computer. Neither of these
incidents had any Russian connection.
I don't doubt that Russian intelligence was interested in sowing discord in
the US around its election. I am saying that there is no evidence that it
succeeded.
Moreover, John Podesta's emails were not hacked. He fell for a phishing
scheme in which he received a phony email asking for his login information,
which he answered after a technical assistant incorrectly told him the email
was legitimate (he meant to say illegitimate). The phishing scheme could
easily have failed (never click on a link in your email and then enter
sensitive information- open any login page you use manually so as to make
sure you aren't going to a spoofed address; and, first examine the address
line from which the email originated; phonies can be easily spotted. People
you deal with legitimately aren't going to ask you for your login
information-they already have that).
Then what?
A phishing scheme is more the speed of that fabled Nigerian prince-scammer
than the president of the Russian Federation.
The perpetrators of the phishing scheme, moreover, were not Russian FSB
intelligence. They were just a civilian gang that may or may not have been
employed by the Russian government.
Given that no one can point to any specific incident or incidents in which
the Podesta emails had a discernible effect on the election, there is little
reason to blame the outcome of the election on Russia.
But the most recent psy-ops leaks, allegedly from the CIA, speak in loving
detail of how Putin himself took control of the operation, as part of a
longstanding vendetta against Sec. Clinton.
No new information is added by such an allegation of Putin's personal
involvement. If you said that the Russian government did it, you'd be saying
Putin. The image being created, of Putin personally intervening in an
American election, is intended to pull at heartstrings. It is propaganda via
personalization and demonization.
Personalization and demonization are well-known Washington propaganda
techniques.
At one point George W. Bush maintained that he had been right to overthrow
Saddam Hussein of Iraq even though that country had not had any dangerous
unconventional weapons. The reason? Saddam Hussein, he said, was "evil."
The "evilness" of an opponent of US policy is metaphysical, and can be used
to justify almost anything.
Back in 1953, Iran had a nationalist prime minister who wanted a fair share
from BP of the money from sale of Iran's own oil. His name, Mohammad
Mosaddegh, showed his aristocratic lineage. The Eisenhower administration
and the compliant Washington press corps waged a campaign of personal
vilification against Mosaddegh, hinting around that he was a communist and a
puppet of the Soviet Union. This was an aristocratic nationalist!
Demonizing Mosaddegh was a prelude to the CIA buying a crowd and
overthrowing the elected prime minister of a major parliamentary country. It
has never to this day recovered its democracy.
Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was also demonized.
So was Yasser Arafat. Salvador Allende of Chile.
Whenever the US intelligence agencies collaborate with mass media to throw
up on the screen the face of a foreign leader, giving him devil's horns and
making his face red with the flames of hell, we have to take that depiction
as a sign that they intend to do something to that country.
C 2016 Juan Cole
Juan Cole
Juan Cole teaches Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University
of Michigan. His new book, The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation Is
Changing the Middle East (Simon and Schuster), will officially be published
July 1st. He is also the author of Engaging the Muslim World and Napoleon's
Egypt: Invading the Middle East (both Palgrave Macmillan). He has appeared
widely on television, radio and on op-ed pages as a commentator on Middle
East affairs, and has a regular column at Salon.com. He has written, edited,
or translated 14 books and has authored 60 journal articles. His weblog on
the contemporary Middle East is Informed Comment.
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Demonization of Putin as "Personally" Behind Clinton Hack Is Old Propaganda
Technique
Published on
Friday, December 16, 2016
by
Informed Comment
Demonization of Putin as "Personally" Behind Clinton Hack Is Old Propaganda
Technique
by
Juan Cole
. 9 Comments
.
. Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama talk during a bilateral meeting held
in Los Cabos, Mexico in 2012. (Photo: Getty/AFP)
. The leaked allegations supposedly from the CIA that Russian
President Vladimir Putin "personally" directed how hacked emails from the
Clinton campaign should be used should be treated with a good deal of
skepticism.
. I have already said that the allegations of effective Russian
interference in the US election do not make any sense to me. There is no
point at which anything Russia is said to have done can be shown to have
determined the election outcome.
. The things that appear to have hurt Clinton late in the election
were her "deplorables" comment about Trump supporters, and the Comey letter
about the new emails the FBI had found on Anthony Weiner's computer. Neither
of these incidents had any Russian connection.
. I don't doubt that Russian intelligence was interested in sowing
discord in the US around its election. I am saying that there is no evidence
that it succeeded.
Moreover, John Podesta's emails were not hacked. He fell for a phishing
scheme in which he received a phony email asking for his login information,
which he answered after a technical assistant incorrectly told him the email
was legitimate (he meant to say illegitimate). The phishing scheme could
easily have failed (never click on a link in your email and then enter
sensitive information- open any login page you use manually so as to make
sure you aren't going to a spoofed address; and, first examine the address
line from which the email originated; phonies can be easily spotted. People
you deal with legitimately aren't going to ask you for your login
information-they already have that).
Then what?
A phishing scheme is more the speed of that fabled Nigerian prince-scammer
than the president of the Russian Federation.
The perpetrators of the phishing scheme, moreover, were not Russian FSB
intelligence. They were just a civilian gang that may or may not have been
employed by the Russian government.
Given that no one can point to any specific incident or incidents in which
the Podesta emails had a discernible effect on the election, there is little
reason to blame the outcome of the election on Russia.
But the most recent psy-ops leaks, allegedly from the CIA, speak in loving
detail of how Putin himself took control of the operation, as part of a
longstanding vendetta against Sec. Clinton.
No new information is added by such an allegation of Putin's personal
involvement. If you said that the Russian government did it, you'd be saying
Putin. The image being created, of Putin personally intervening in an
American election, is intended to pull at heartstrings. It is propaganda via
personalization and demonization.
Personalization and demonization are well-known Washington propaganda
techniques.
At one point George W. Bush maintained that he had been right to overthrow
Saddam Hussein of Iraq even though that country had not had any dangerous
unconventional weapons. The reason? Saddam Hussein, he said, was "evil."
The "evilness" of an opponent of US policy is metaphysical, and can be used
to justify almost anything.
Back in 1953, Iran had a nationalist prime minister who wanted a fair share
from BP of the money from sale of Iran's own oil. His name, Mohammad
Mosaddegh, showed his aristocratic lineage. The Eisenhower administration
and the compliant Washington press corps waged a campaign of personal
vilification against Mosaddegh, hinting around that he was a communist and a
puppet of the Soviet Union. This was an aristocratic nationalist!
Demonizing Mosaddegh was a prelude to the CIA buying a crowd and
overthrowing the elected prime minister of a major parliamentary country. It
has never to this day recovered its democracy.
Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was also demonized.
So was Yasser Arafat. Salvador Allende of Chile.
Whenever the US intelligence agencies collaborate with mass media to throw
up on the screen the face of a foreign leader, giving him devil's horns and
making his face red with the flames of hell, we have to take that depiction
as a sign that they intend to do something to that country.
C 2016 Juan Cole
/author/juan-cole
/author/juan-cole/author/juan-cole
Juan Cole teaches Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University
of Michigan. His new book, The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation Is
Changing the Middle East (Simon and Schuster), will officially be published
July 1st. He is also the author of Engaging the Muslim World and Napoleon's
Egypt: Invading the Middle East (both Palgrave Macmillan). He has appeared
widely on television, radio and on op-ed pages as a commentator on Middle
East affairs, and has a regular column at Salon.com. He has written, edited,
or translated 14 books and has authored 60 journal articles. His weblog on
the contemporary Middle East is Informed Comment.
