US Information Warfare at Work

[David Guyatt]

From VoltaireNet.org:

American Information Weapon Used against European Politicians

by Georgy Voskresensky



VOLTAIRE NETWORK | MOSCOW (RUSSIA) | 18 FEBRUARY 2015 DEUTSCH РУССКИЙ

Anonymous first appeared in 2003 on Internet image boards as a group of hackers espousing the freedom of speech and operating as an «anarchist global digital brain». It is an instrument or a weapon designed to be used in information warfare. It has an advantage - in many cases it is extremely hard to define who exactly used it. But there was no problem of this kind when Anonymous published a 1993 photo report of Angela Merkel visiting the youth club Elbterrassen and meeting with a bunch of skinhead and other friends, one of whom makes a Nazi salute [1].Berlin responded with due explanations but it's not what matters. The publication of 12-year old pictures took place right before the Chancellor Merkel's visit to Washington on February 9 and after the meeting between the German Chancellor, French President François Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow that lasted for many hours.Anonymous asked if a politician who was a member of GDR's Socialist Youth Organization, an «East Berlin's spy» and who hobnobbed with Nazis could be trusted to run Germany.The information attack had been preceded by an important event the Chancellor opposed the idea of providing Ukraine with lethal arms. Angela Merkel addressed the Munich Security Conference on February 7 to say «The progress that Ukraine needs cannot be achieved by more weapons.» She reiterated this stance a number of times while on a visit to the United States and Canada. In America Senator John McCain and Victoria Nuland the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, responded first. The Senator compared Angela Merkel and François Hollande's talks with Vladimir Putin to Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler. Mrs. Nuland as usually used obscene language talking about the head of the leading European state.It should be noted that since a long time ago US special services have been thoroughly collecting information to be one way or another used against the Chancellor of Germany. In October 2013 it became known that the National Security Agency tapped the Angela Merkel's cell phone and the scandal broke out to reveal that the agency had held Mrs. Merkel under surveillance for more than 10 years. The Chancellor said she did not expect and did not insist on apology, but it was a severe breach of trust and great efforts had to be applied to have it restored. Words were not enough. The situation dictated the necessity of changes. Back then the Chancellor could hardly tamp down indignation. Washington turned a deaf ear to what she said. The phone tap row was hushed up with no changes to follow.Angela Merkel was not the first European leader to find out in practice that Washington quelled any expression of «free thinking» on the part of European leaders, especially when it comes to Russia. The examples are well known.Hungary led by Prime Minister Victor Orban signed a contract with Russia's Rosatom to complete the construction of two new energy blocks for Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant located 100 km from Budapest. The United States imposed sanctions against Hungary. Senator McCain, a politician who always jumps the gun, called the Prime Minister of Hungary «a fascist dictator». Now President Putin is invited by Orban to visit Budapest on February 17…The US administration is frustrated over the position of Milos Zeman, the President of the Czech Republic, who dares to ask for evidence that Russian troops have invaded Ukraine and calls on the United States and the European Union to lift the sanctions. America uses its channels in this country to wage a campaign to discredit its President.In his days as Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi used to say that mutual understanding between Russia and the United States was a keystone to European stability. He said the US acted irresponsibly deploying the elements of missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic, recognizing the independence of Kosovo and pushing Georgia and Ukraine into NATO.Strauss-Kahn, former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, fell victim to a provocation well planned and organized against him in the United States when he was accused of raping a black hotel maid while staying in New York. As a result he had to face a US trial. Later it was revealed that the maid lied but it was not important. Strauss-Kahn lost his position in the International Monetary Fund and missed his chance to become President of France.Orban, Zeman, Berlusconi, Strauss-Kahn and now Merkel they have all become targets for US precision strikes delivered by information weapon against those European politicians have become too independent on foreign policy issues according to Washington's opinion.The American establishment believes that Europe should toe the line and follow the US policy without any deviations. In their opinion that is the quintessence of Trans-Atlantic cooperation. Right after meeting Merkel, the US President complacently told Vox in an interview that the US is compelled to have «the strongest military in the world.» [2] As he put it further, «we occasionally have to twist the arms of countries that wouldn't do what we need them to do». He said it bluntly enough to leave no doubt about the US readiness to twist the arms of any ally who would state the views on the world problems different from the vision of the United States.Neither European, nor Asian US allies (or vassals?) should have any doubts about it. Turkish President Erdogan is expected to be the next to have his arms twisted. He is not forgiven for signing the Turkish Stream agreement with Putin last year. The clock is ticking.

Georgy Voskresensky

Source
Strategic Culture Foundation