FTAC: Jews Beware Conservative Agitprop

27 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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The Facebook post directed to a publication that screamed, “Report: Chief Dem Staffer Says Office Doesn’t Care About Anti-Semitism.”

So there!

The poster had claimed that not one of the Democratic Party candidates for President had condemned anti-Semitism within the party.

That might be so — and here the modern propaganda challenge weighs in: how much TIME has one to check the assertion?

And how cogent is the issue, really?

And can anything be done about it?

Always check the dateline, sez I!

January 19, 2018 – and fairly balanced by journalist Aaron Bandler, who at least sought to verify the alleged quote by an “unidentified staffer” (to Sen Patty Murray, D-WA) that began this way: “We don’t care about anti-Semitism in this office. We care about transgenders, we care about blacks. We care about Hispanics, we care about lesbians . . . .” Bandler checked, and Murray’s office disputed the accusation, suggesting, at the least, that a responsible Democratic senator would not endorse such a claims if it had been made!

Before coffee, right?

“Not one Democratic Party candidate condemns anti-Semitism within the Party!”

And there’s the proof of an article right there — expect it dates back more than year, so it had to be dredge from that past, and then it doesn’t really pan out, but, hey, the damage, presumably, would have been done.

Who else (but yours truly) would take a second look?

Instead, heads will nod!

This answered the “What is to be done” part of the puzzle earlier this morning.

Editor here — and Indie Influencer, perhaps — chose to tweet Seema Nanda, CEO of the Democratic Party with this:

Another “Seema Nanda” is a mathematician, and I tweeted in a hurry.

😦

A mistake was made, and I will apologize here for my confusion — and what might have been a stunning opener but may be still no less true for being a little less custom than supposed. So let it fly — the American Democratic Party will have to grapple with devious Republican agitprop — near disinformation and innuendo — as the opining season heats up many fold for the November contest.

Related on BackChannels

Active Measures

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FTAC: Middle East Conflict (MEC): The Peace at Hand

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Palestinia, Palestinian Territories

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Think Peace.

It’s already at hand.

The energies and numbers of Israelis and Palestinians engaged in cross-cultural activities (like this one with Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi), in trade, even in commiseration, have been stable and strong for years.

Do the extremists the west calls “terrorists” authentically represent Islam?

Do yesterday’s rockets from Gaza represent today’s Palestinians?

The PLO/PA and Hamas have ways of making the news look bad.

TOI Staff. “As PA seethes at Trump plan, top officials say all of Israel is Palestine.” The Times of Israel, February 25, 2020.

i24 News. “Liveblog: Barrage of rockets launched into Israel from Gaza as violence in south escalates.” February 24, 2020.

Other Palestinians, however, have ways of getting things done despite the efforts of the Phantoms of the Soviet to repeat their declarations — year after year for 72 years — while handily lifting some money from Palestinian pockets and skimming more from UNCHR revenues intended for Palestinian development. While the war that exists in the minds of Palestinian “Leaders” — and ticks off the IDF most of all — goes on and on and on and on, Palestinians have long been working.

Here are a few references that BackChannels regards as positive indicators for the region. The URL titles provide the story headers:

https://institute.global/insight/middle-east/israeli-palestinian-trade-depth-analysis – 10/17/2018.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/quietly-israeli-high-tech-companies-contract-gaza-engineers/ – 9/20/2017.

https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Gaza-nurses-train-in-Israel-We-speak-of-health-not-politics-612887 – 1/3/2020.

https://www.jns.org/report-palestinian-economy-flourishing-despite-pa-financial-crisis/ – 8/25/2019.

https://www.thenation.com/article/palestinians-israelis-mourning-our-dead-together/ – 5/22/2019.

https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Gaza-nurses-train-in-Israel-We-speak-of-health-not-politics-612887 – 1/3/2019.

Rawabi, Palestinian Territories

https://www.businessinsider.com/west-bank-palestine-rawabi-city-israel-news-2018-10 – 10/20/2018.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-tech/palestinian-contractors-poised-for-riches-from-israeli-tech-firms-takeover-idUSKCN1TI0QX – 6/17/2019.

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FTAC: A Note Regarding Support for Trump by the Nation’s Defenders

18 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by in 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation

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Inspiration: the posting of the URL to a story about Idlib, Syria and the deflection of the same back to HIM (whose presence looms so large it no longer needs HIS name).

From the Awesome Conversation

Defenders of the Nation might be especially interested in its abuses or darker spaces. Even with 300 million souls, it’s hard to account for 490,000 missing between the ages of 12 and 21 (FBI statistics, 2017). Perhaps I’m missing the meaning of those numbers and need a briefing on their potential meaning, but even so, it’s a hefty number.

The number of homeless, about 554,000 American (or other) souls, at one point included about 60,000 American Veterans. That niche has been getting attention (along with post-service suicides at this time), which is fine, but how did these numbers develop? Behind each data entry, there is someone’s personal story.

I know you’re a good egg, but our national character, once the world’s hope for democracy as a defender and leader in relation to the human treatment of human beings — has appeared a bit challenged of late. WE don’t bomb hospitals into rubble; WE don’t even think of destroying World Heritage Sites; WE do not believe we are here to fully despoil Earth; WE don’t groom nor keep slaves; WE consistently endorse responsible and responsive governance; etc.

Related Online

Choi, David. “Former top Navy SEAL who oversaw the Osama bin Laden raid says the US is ‘under attack from the president’.” Business Insider, October 17, 2019.

Harbaugh, Ken. “The U.S. Military Is Not Ready for a Constitutional Crisis.” The Atlantic, February 11, 2020.

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Active Measures

13 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Political Psychology, Political Spychology, Psychology

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As BackChannels Would Define It

Active Measures — The collection of Russian Agitation, Disinformation, and Propaganda Methods made evident through covert or subtle Influence Campaigns applied to wrecking the political coherence and cohesion of EU/NATO for the purpose of reestablishing Political Absolutism in the same and then using the most thuggish of feudal and medieval methods to leverage loyalty and wealth from them for contribution to the Greater Imperial Glory of Moscow, the Russian “mafia state” it has come to represent, and the immense enrichment of its oligarchy.

Indeed the west, the melange of classically liberal democratic open societies built and structured around fair dealing, freedom, and integrity and related humanist and liberal ethics, principles, and values has been unprepared for covert agent provocateur, e.g., covert agitators Far Right and Far Left, disingenuous publications, false front organizations, trolls, etc.

I’ve chosen to demur from producing “long copy” and a lengthy reference section for this post. Awareness of “Active Measures” — the kernel of Russia’s covert campaign to degrade and ruin the democracies of the west — should suffice for both the interested and the unwittingly vulnerable.

Related Online

Cull, Nicholas J., Vasily Gatov, Peter Pomerantsev, Anne Applebaum, and Alistair Shawcross. “Soviet Subversion, Disinformation and Propaganda: How the West Fought Against It.” Final Report (PDF). LSE Consulting, London, October 2017.

Darczewska, Jolanta and Piotr Zochowky. “Active Measures: Russia’s Key Export.” (PDF). Center for Eastern Studies, Point of View 64, Warsaw, June 2017.

Linville, Darren and Patrick Warren. “That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It.” Rolling Stone, November 25, 2019.

Lipton, Eric, David E. Sanger and Scott Shane. “The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.” The New York Times, December 13, 2016.

Pond, Elizabeth. “The West wakes up to the dangers of disinformation.” The Christian Science Monitor, February 28, 1985.

According to rough Central Intelligence Agency estimates presented in US congressional hearings in 1980 and 1982, Moscow spends some $4 billion a year on overt and covert propaganda, with some $3 billion of this going to Pravda, Tass, and other overt activities and the residual $1 billion presumably going into covert disinformation. Georgetown University Prof. Roy Godson, coauthor with Richard H. Shultz of the book “Dezinformatsia” says the Soviets employ 15,000 in “active measures.”

“Active measures” — the term came into use in the Soviet Union in the 1950s — include international front organizations, agent-of-influence operations, and forgeries. Front organizations straddle overt and covert measures, Godson and Shultz explain. The International Department of the Soviet Communist Party “coordinates the activities of these organizations,” but “the fronts actively attempt to maintain an image of independence.”

The flagship of these fronts is the World Peace Council.

Shane, Scott. “The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election.” The New York Times, September 7, 2017.

Wikipedia. “Active Measures”.

Addendum — From the Awesome Conversation

Through the Cold War Era and now with Putin leading the Russian Federation, the purpose of Soviet / post-Soviet “Active Measures” has been to fragment EU/NATO for the purpose of Russian expansion and its feudal practices. A video like this one — the same as above on this page — will help a little bit with understanding the greater east-west politics and the tension between the worlds of “Absolute Power” and the open democracies of the west.

Active Measures” represents an international (RF v EU/NATO) dispute over the future, not only an American one.

If we are at one the other’s throat, Moscow will have succeeded in exploiting our natural political arguments and issues by heightening them and undermining our national political cohesion and coherence, thereby weakening our state and degrading our democracy.

Regarding “Far Out Left” and equally distant Far Right tendencies, the related foreign and disingenuous domestic manipulations of political perception targets us all.

Addendum – Miscellaneous Quotations and Reference Having to Do with Disinformation

“It was unthinkable before Trump for anyone to run this kind of disinformation campaign from the White House against the American public,” according to Jonathan Rauch, the author of the forthcoming book The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth. As a result, we live in an era defined by epistemic chaos and noetic disarray, one in which a large portion of the population embraces falsehoods and fairy tales and thinks of them as “alternative facts.”

The deceit being dispensed by Trump & Company is hardly universal, but it is extensive, which is why defeating Trump was essential if we’re going to move away from perspectivism as the interpretive theory in our politics. But objective reality as a concept—truth as something that exists independent of affect, independent of subjective narratives, independent of whatever a partisan information silo claims is true—has been badly damaged. Among the most urgent tasks facing America, then, is to strengthen our regard for what Plato called episteme over doxa, true knowledge over opinion, reality over fantasy.

Wehner, Peter. “Trump’s Most Malicious Legacy.” The Atlantic, December 7, 2020.

A Diffuse, Unregulated Network of Propagandists

In the Cold War, the Communist Party defined the USSR’s information strategy from the top down. Today, Russian information warfare is waged by a variety of groups that have different interests, domestically and internationally, and different connections to the outside world. Modern Russia is a loose, networked state with multiple actors allowed to conduct domestic and foreign policy, usually to benefit corrupt political groups around (and including) Putin. These different groups influence state strategy both directly and indirectly;some have their own areas of interest, such the oil company Rosneft’s interests in Africa and Latin America.

As a result, Russian information warfare is not consistent and strategic; its fundamental quality is tactical opportunism, which of course leads to inconsistency. This inconsistency makes attribution difficult or even misleading. We still cannot be certain, for example, which particular vested interest was behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee in the US. It is possible that business groups under sanction in the US organized the hack because they believed that a President Trump would lift the sanctions; it is equally possible that the FSB organized the hack with the idea of undermining Hillary Clinton, for geopolitical reasons. Either way, it is likely that the actual hackers were criminals, hired for this particular purpose, and not state employees.The Kremlin, in other words,is just one of myriad actors pumping out disinformation, alongside domestic media as well as the teenagers in Macedonia who produced anti-Clinton fake news for personal profit.

Excerpt (on page 68) from Cull, Nicholas J., Vasily Gatov, Peter Pomerantsev, Anne Applebaum, and Alistair Shawcross. “Soviet Subversion, Disinformation and Propaganda: How the West Fought Against It.” Final Report (PDF). LSE Consulting, London, October 2017.

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FTAC: The American President Who Could Care Less About America’s Foundational Ideals

13 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, North America, United States of America

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Who in support of our Democracy can afford to be neutral about a President who appears to be operating on an authoritarian basis using rules of his own? It has been one thing to “let the horse run”, see how he works, and watch what he does. It’s another to turn our back on a hard-won — fought for, died for, paid for — nation devoted to fair play and integrity right beside the principles and spirit that produced our foundational documents.

Admiral McRaven knew his business and his country and what he represented every day as a four-star admiral. That’s not an Obama thing or, particularly a Democratic or Republican thing. It’s an American thing unless the Nation has forgotten why it exists as a unique and now long-lived democracy.

This President shrugs off resignations by the most competitive and experienced professionals in their fields: diplomats, investigators, intelligence executives, military executives, prosecutors. He believes everything we do happens by way of political chicanery and force — or “clevers” — and not much has to do with anything worth believing in, much less dying for.

These pieces by Harbough and McRaven tell of a different America, one more admirable, more noble, more deserving of extraordinary leadership and sacrifice.

BackChannels. “United States of America — Basic Training”. February 2, 2017.

Choi, David. “Former top Navy SEAL who oversaw the Osama bin Laden raid says the US is ‘under attack from the president’.” Business Insider, October 17, 2019.

Harbaugh, Ken. “There Should Be a Veteran Running for President.” Time, March 18, 2015.

Harbaugh, Ken. “The U.S. Military Is Not Ready for a Constitutional Crisis.” The Atlantic, February 11, 2020.

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ALW & FTAC: On Pharaohnic Power, the Jews, Israel, God, and Supersessionary Conflict

06 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, A Little Wisdom

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Inspiration lay in opportunity for a wrap up.

When I have figured out how to address unutterable greed and jealousy, I’ll be certain to produce the Nobel-winning results of that cogitation here.

A Little Wisdom From the Awesome Conversation

There are differences between empirically explored histories (and their debates) and what people believe in relation to their own cultural, religious, or spiritual histories. With that much noted, I have long believed that the Jews chose to stand against Pharaoh, a tyrant, and in this day a figure representing the “Malignant Narcissist”, a term of art for the general affliction in psychology associated with those who represent Absolute Power Systems. The Jews — or God through the Jews — were to separate the power of God (“Master of the Universe”) from Pharaoh, a source of torment to the Jews and others — note: the Exodus involved not only the Jews but a “mixed multitude”, i.e., all who would join the Jews in flight from Pharaoh.

Then comes the “Promised Land”.

For the Jews, Israel is the authentic Land of the Hebrews. There is in history no other Jerusalem nor Israel. Christian and Muslim recognition of Israel and “The Holy Land” has been legend and as widespread — and accepted (by Muhammad, no less) — as the supersessionary competition by the same for proof of the direct imprimatur of God.

The position — that of demanding to be shown God’s exclusive favor — has been always absurd, God (or the idea of God) being always the greater entity in the relationship.

For those willing to give a little in the interest of greater love and greater peace, Earth at this moment supports the following human inventory: fewer than 7,000 living languages; about 4,300 religions. I should look into the number of ungodly dictatorships (and mafia states) in relation to the number of modern democracies struggling to sustain common public political consensus while delivering rule-of-law and the greater development, justice, peace, and prosperity that is known to follow from both.

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Israel Raids Against Targets in the Vicinity of Damascus

05 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

≈ 1 Comment

The news fairly erupts with a single tweet —

— hat has no immediate company and few details. Nonetheless, it comes out near the real time of events, and a few minutes later, the news starts to appear in diverse online sources.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-02-05/syrian-air-defenses-intercept-hostile-targets-over-damascus-state-media

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/world/blasts-heard-in-damascus-syrian-air-defense-831010.html

Even in this day of streaming content, this old blogger remains amazed by the rapid and extraordinary reach of the World Wide Web in relation to conflict news.

https://twitter.com/alexplitsas/status/1225204540716257280?s=20
https://twitter.com/SyriaMoumin/status/1225198489879109634?s=20

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/syrian-air-defenses-intercept-israeli-missiles-over-damascus-state-media-says-1.8501073
-2/6/2020.

FTAC: Middle East Conflict – The Fade Forward in Light of Rawabi, Palestine and Neom, Saudi Arabia

05 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by in 21st Century Modern

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Inspiration for the author of this blog: a nice patch of short observations related to the Middle East Conflict, i.e., “Israel v Palestinian ‘Leaders'”.

Regarding the Framing of the Conflict: Notes on the Treatment of Time in Arguments About Control and Ownership of Contested Space

Time has been the New Space for a while, DM, and I have found two kinds of people plainly dangerous: 1) those who cannot keep themselves from dwelling in the past 🙂 ; 2) those who want to get to the end of their civilizational story as fast as possible!

😀

One is too far behind and the other way too far into the future — and both may be too attached to ancient and medieval dogma.

For the purposes of Administration and Adjudication, issues (real estate disputes) that can be worked in the courts have been submitted as such, and those that cannot be worked out in a civil fashion may be better set aside for what good may be achieved for everyone.

There are leaders, other personalities, and organizations invested in sustained conflict, and as long as the “middle east conflict” is around (forget about the others in the ME), they’re good to go.

Add the thieves who have factored in their own corruption in their estimation of personal revenues given conditions that don’t change.

I see no reason for either Israelis or Palestinians to remain subject to animosities that supposedly drive one or the other to violence while actually benefiting those who would manipulate them most for their own aggrandizement and enrichment.

https://ahvalnews.com/palestine/turkeys-transfer-ottoman-archives-palestinians-undermines-israeli-land-claims

Everyone should see how Time is used to frame issues and OBSTRUCT their resolution in exchange for political gain, and neither for the betterment nor welfare of Israelis and Palestinians but primarily for themselves and often in service to their own image.

For what is not already in the courts, there are no legal remedies — only political ones!

Feudalism and Tribalism figure highly in sustaining the conflict, but neither today offer healthy benefits to anyone but those institutionally invested in sustained conflict.

I believe Israelis would be happy with the cessation of Palestinian or related violence (within as well as without) and modern Palestinians might finally appreciate moving on with decency in employment, freedom, and prosperity. I also feel certain that both “options” or channels into the future are real.

Re. Time: Canaanite-Hebrew Civilization? Solomon? Roman? English? Saladin? Muhammad’s exceptions for Israel? The Ottoman? British and Allied Powers? After 1948? 1967? 1973? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_Israel

By dwelling Back There in Time, Arab Palestinians and Jewish Israelis delay their own potential experience of reconciliation, resolution, and peace and security — and those who benefit are those who perpetually care about themselves at the expense of caring about others.

While my own sweet words belie difficult questions — e.g., what to do with civilizational ambition, greed, and pride? — there’s truth to them in relation to broader regional development plus improvements to be realized in Qualities of Living for Israelis and Palestinians.

Two projects already under way and related to the economic and political development and evolution of the middle east should make their way into a greater global consciousness: https://www.businessinsider.com/west-bank-palestine-rawabi-city-israel-news-2018-10 ; https://www.neom.com/en-us/ .

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