Hi Gary,
Yes...it is an interesting article. It just goes to show how untruthful and
unreal the internet has become in certain respects, particularly in the area of
propaganda and misinformation. It is so easy to get caught out believing a
story, and it is so easy to spread such a story if one accepts its validity.
What one thought was a reliable source, turns out to be a mere puff in the
wind. Stories get made up all the time for all sorts of reasons and from all
sorts of perspectives. The social media is now one of the prime targets for
these kinds of fake news. Facts become truths in such a short period of time,
there is a lot of competition and cooperation; like the chemical weapons
allegedly used by the Syrian Army against children in "liberated" areas. How
it was possible for the Syrian Army to do this, when the chemicals were in an
area controlled and operated in by "liberationists" and what possible motives
or gains would lie behind such an action by Syria in the face of world opinion,
goodness knows. However, the event has now become an established historical
fact. I have heard many security correspondents referring to it as such, when
they have been giving their analysis of the situation in the world news media.
An event taken for granted as a truth, doesn't mean that it is a truth. The
world wide web and internet now abound with such fake news, fake sources,
black, grey and white propaganda and falsification of events in terms of them
never happening or being twisted to suit the needs of the perpetrators.
It is not only the Syrians who are doing such things of course. All
governments are at it, they have special schools set up all over the world,
learning it, practising it, some funded by the state, others by private and
charitable foundations, some of those are themselves funded by the state. The
BBC World service has a number of such departments, training foreign
journalists on how to use the social media and TOR for fomenting unrest in
their home countries. . Government funded and privately funded, even
charitable philanthropical organisations indulge in the practice. I am sure
that the recent events in Iran have been stirred up by foreign heritage and
cultural sources, as well as government agencies as well as secret intelligence
services. I am no supporter of the Iran leadership, just as I don't support
any state actors, they all have their reasons, and motives for interpretations
and actions. What was noticeable was the smallness of the demonstrations and
the violence which was used, and how the political slogans changed as time
passed on. Contrast this with the big pro government demonstrations which were
organised by the Iran state. Iran, is of course, considered as a rogue state,
by the US and most western countries, in that it is preventing the US and the
UK getting it all their own way in the Middle East. Oil of course is a key
resource, and not the quest for desert mushrooms, and it leads to some
autocratic and fascistic regimes being supported in all sorts of way, mostly
militarily.
If one looks at the morass of political garbage, from plastic people to plastic
in the environment, surrounding the White house and President Trump in the USA,
at the moment, it is very difficult to find out what is truth and what is lies.
All one can do is to look at those who are making the most noise, where they
come from, what they are doing, what they are doing it for and why they are
doing it, to try and gauge if there is any relevance to the world of reason and
logic (not that the latter give any answers) :-). The secret intelligence
services have a lot to answer for, including the UK, in the name of protecting
the nation. Both forms of organisation, private and state, work along with one
another, sometimes in secret, in confidence, sometimes forming alliances with
one another to promote their own aims which are subversive to the will of the
people and even to the will of governments. At other times they work against
their friends and with their enemies to gain some advantage or to disadvantage
those whom they deem to be a threat or a developing threat.
We hear a lot about the USA and the UK and the Russian secret and intelligence
services. But it is noticeable that other secret intelligence services or
cultural foundations from other large and well developed or developing
countries are also in on the act, they just keep their heads down below the
parapet. But they are working away in all sorts of different areas, from
developing trade links in Africa and South America to signing contracts to
build more efficient distribution centres and infrastructure so that raw
materials of all kings can be gathered and processed for their economies...
This is the Brave New World to which we all belong. How we improve on it...I
haven't a clue...but, at least, I am listening...and discussing, and thinking
about it...What more can one do?
C'est la vie...
ATB
Dougie.
On 05/01/2018 21:02, Gary Wallin wrote:
This is also interesting. The net is being used by fake correspondents. My
sympathies to the over worked staff at CounterPunch
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/01/05/ghosts-in-the-propaganda-machine/
Gary Wallin
On 1/4/2018 4:17 AM, Douglas Rankine wrote:
courtesy Cryptome
Interesting article on Kaspersky and how easy it is to overcome its
protections and subvert the very essence of its being. Same goes with
other anti-virus software.
see url:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/technology/kaspersky-lab-antivirus.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Ftechnology&action=click&contentCollection=technology®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
Now, I wonder who else could have a use for, or has been using such a
tool? There is no way of protecting one's computer from intrusion at
all, unless one lives in a lead lined coffin with no access to the
outside world...and even then...
ATB
Dougie.
