Russia-Ukrainian tensions are escalating these days as the media points out. According to an article printed on CNN, the US is now alleging that Russia could be planning a false flag operation against Ukraine using a ‘graphic’ video.
"As part of this fake attack, we believe that Russia would produce a very graphic propaganda video which would include corpses and actors that would be depicting mourners and images of destroyed locations, as well as military equipment at the hands of Ukraine or the West, even to the point where some of this equipment would be made to look like it was Western supplied ... to Ukraine equipment," Press Secretary John Kirby said.
If you believe this report, you believe that we have received intel that indicates Russia is going to create a fake attack, record the whole thing, and then release it to the world as justification for offensive action against the United Sates, NATO, and the poor nation which has found itself at the center of this mess - Ukraine. It’s theoretically possible.
But let me ask another question - why do you think the decision was made to release this information to the public via mainstream news networks? Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby held a briefing to reveal this information, but intentionally provided no evidence to back up the claim. He used the typical reasoning behind not revealing sources - for national security reasons, the source of the information or proof of it cannot be revealed.
Whether that’s true or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is the act of telling the public about something with no proof and then saying it could be used to justify a military action. This is morally never the right move, as it’s sole effect is to cause confusion and muddy the public’s understanding of the issue. What the hell am I supposed to think after reading this article? I am no more factually informed about events in Ukraine, but I’m still feeling like we’re closer to a conflict with a world superpower than we’ve been in a long time.
Look at the below quote from UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss:
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Thursday that the US disclosure about the alleged Russian false flag plans "is clear and shocking evidence of Russia's unprovoked aggression and underhand activity to destabilize Ukraine."
That’s the top official in the UK speaking about this intel, which we’ve seen zero proof of, as if it is definitive proof of Russian aggression. So with no evidence, multiple nations are publicly taking a stance against Russian actions that have not happened yet, and raising the temperature in this geopolitical pressure cooker.
It doesn’t feel controversial to say proof should be required before making a public statement with such grave consequences attached. At least pretend to care about this basic moral principle like your predecessors have. At least with the invasion of Iraq, George W Bush sent Colin Powell to give a (bogus) presentation to the United Nations about all of the weapons of mass destruction in country that needed to be dealt with. And at least Lyndon Johnson addressed the nation to present an alternate version of the events in the Tonkin Gulf before using the incident to justify expanding the Vietnam War.
Now it seems all you need to do is talk to the news networks for 10 minutes and read a prepared statement that says “(we believe) the Russian government ‘is planning to stage a fake attack by Ukrainian military or intelligence forces against Russian sovereign territory or against Russian-speaking people’ in order to create false rationale for an invasion.”
Let me present you with my take on this “False Flag” claim. At the top level, I believe that we have absolutely no reason to take a single thing seriously that our intelligence agencies allow us to know. If we know, it’s for a reason. And if we need to know, we probably will never find out.
We the people have absolutely no way of knowing what’s happening in the Ukraine except through middlemen. Unless you’ve been contacting your buddy in country to get the daily scoop, all of your news is provided by the corporate-industrial complex and their allies in Silicon Valley who monitor the flow of information on social networks. And as we’ve detailed in previous articles, here and here, their agenda has nothing to do with presenting you with the unbiased truth, and everything to do with managing your perception on hot button situations.
The official term for this tactic is Perception Management.
Perception management is a technique which the CIA and other US agencies have employed in foreign countries to manipulate public opinion. Check out this piece for more information. A very important read,
Perception Management is a tried and true technique. The CIA/NSA may have pioneered using the tactic on a mass scale, but the genie is long out of the bottle. Vladimir Putin is an absolute master of it (possibly why we are taking such ridiculous public positions - he’s better at this than we are) and Donald Trump’s campaign built on the success of Ronald Reagan to perfect the management of conservative USA (all government is bad, do not believe government can save you from any problem, all government is bad). Obama’s “Hope and change” rhetoric was a form of perception management as well - keep the focus on the desire to change society without ever being grilled on the specifics of how change would happen. It’s utilized by basically all powerful institutions.
The technique is literally the MANAGEMENT of reality for a group of X size via the control/manipulation of all available information. The examples in the Toward Freedom article showcase how American intelligence agencies have implemented perception management in South American, Central American, and European nations since the 50’s, utilizing whatever technology was available to manipulate the public in those nations to take action X or Y. Overthrow a government, be appeased with a government, vote for a policy, etc. And here in 2022, in an era of 24/7 internet access and corporate-controlled news, we live in a fully perception-managed world. All inputs are controlled, any disruptive ones are removed. If you think about it, it’s never been easier to control what people think.
As you can see in this brilliant article, the Ukraine situation is a perfect example of how this tactic is applied by our own government against us, to keep our eye off the ball at all times. At no point has our role in creating the Ukraine situation acknowledged, or the possibility that the powers that be in our nation might have something to gain. Anyone who brings this line of thinking public is “parroting Russian talking points.” Just like during political debates, any issue presented as an argument was deflected by candidates as being the “other” party’s talking point and therefore not an issue worth being addressed for the 50% of voters that might subscribe to those issue perspectives.
No assurances are given that our government understands how scary it is to have the threat of war hung over your head. It’s simply - they are bad, we are good, and we will take the action required for the bad guys to be defeated. We are totally here to protect you. And that is why we will spend $740 billion of your money this year on national defense.
There is no need to question why all that money is being spent on war in a time of peace. The debate of “gee wouldn’t it be more useful to spend that sum on domestic programs that actually improve the living standard here, especially now with our economic troubles” cannot happen. Because we might come to our senses. Can’t have that.
Extended periods of perception management destroy a society’s ability to understand to any degree what’s going on outside of their bubble. It’s obvious when you look at another bubble - you can see how effective the oppressor is at manipulating the masses when you aren’t part of said mass. But as your world becomes more and more hyper-normal, the Boiled Frog effect takes hold. We can see how North Korea and China are manipulated because they are outside, but we can’t see the totality of how we are manipulated on the inside.
We in the USA have been boiling for so long, we’ve forgotten what room temperature felt like. I know that because a story with no evidence about a false flag operation that hasn’t happened yet was on the airwaves, and it was met with no resistance. We are just used to this kind of thing now. Nobody is asking the question - if such a video came out, and you have gone to great lengths to tell us it is fake, why should we trust you if you have shown 0 proof for your claims? You yourself have used false flag operations in many nations and you have been openly manipulating the public for decades - why should we believe a word you say if you don’t show your work? (This seemed to be the talking point for my school math teachers who wouldn’t give me full credit for the correct answer without doing so).
All you can do is keep a sharp eye on the news you see/hear/read around Ukraine. For now, the logical assumption is still in place that an outright war or a conflict which spills over into disruption of the global system is not desired by any party involved. This is all still just talk. But it may not remain as such - a disruption could take place.
If a disruption is indeed caused by one party or another, it would only be allowed to happen after the challenges of it are weighed against the benefits of creating the disruption. Think Russia cutting off natural gas pipelines Europeans depend on, the USA having ground troops right outside Russia’s borders, or the classic example of a nuclear weapon being launched (don’t worry this is not going to happen….I’m really sure of it…………). This is no different from any other conflict - a party would only take aggressive action if they believe they will benefit, right?
So if you walk by a TV, or god forbid read the mainstream news, and see a headline like this one from today “Biden warns Nord Stream 2 pipeline will not be operational if Russia invades Ukraine” , remember that you are only seeing that information because you were allowed to. Because you were supposed to. And then make your own decision on why this information is being presented to the guy on the street.
Sincerely,
Mr. Monopoly