Posted on 01/13/2022 10:09:03 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In a report that advocates governments using “psychological operations” against their own population, the Financial Times asserts, with no proof, that Russia and China are responsible for pushing “anti-vax sentiment” and criticism of lockdown measures in the west.
The article quotes Mikael Tofvesson, head of the Swedish Navy’s new Psyops division, who says “foreign aggressors” are trying to “sow division by targeting areas of public concern such as crime, Covid vaccinations, the government’s response to the pandemic, and immigration.”
“The most important task in psychological defence is to inoculate the population against believing false information,” states the article, which is written by Elisabeth Braw of the American Enterprise Institute, a neo-con think tank.
Such measures were deployed in the United Kingdom during the first lockdown, when scientists in the UK working as advisors for the government admitted using what they now admit to be “unethical” and “totalitarian” methods of instilling fear in the population in order to control behavior during the pandemic.
One scientist with the SPI-B admitted that, “In March [2020] the Government was very worried about compliance and they thought people wouldn’t want to be locked down. There were discussions about fear being needed to encourage compliance, and decisions were made about how to ramp up the fear.”
Of course, contrary to the claims in the article, the primary goal of psychological operations, whether directed against an enemy or a domestic population, is to instill fear and change behavior – telling the truth is hardly a priority.
Far from dispelling “false information,” psychological operations routinely rely on using false information to influence and manipulate “the enemy.”
Psy-Ops are a crucial weapon in the war against disinformation https://t.co/Wv0FHYGjfH | opinion — Financial Times (@FT) January 11, 2022
“Psychological operations have long been a part of military operations, and are typically defined as the use of propaganda and other methods to influence the attitudes and behavior of foreign adversaries,” writes Allum Bokhari.
“What the FT is advocating — and what many have long suspected — is the use of these techniques by western military, security, and intelligence forces against their own citizens.”
“Hostile states including Russia, China and Iran have increased their use of disinformation and online propaganda to amplify anti-vax sentiment and foment political tensions in Europe and the US,” Braw claims.
However, the report contains no evidence whatsoever that Russia and China are responsible for any coordinated attempt to sow doubts about COVID-19 vaccines or lockdown measures.
Indeed, the mere fact that the newspaper complains about “disinformation” in the context of COVID-19 conspiracy theories is pretty rich given that the constantly invoked ‘Russian collusion’ charge is itself a baseless conspiracy theory.
In reality, concerns about vaccine side-effects, giving vaccines to children and mandating vaccines and COVID passports as part of the growing bio-security police state are perfectly valid concerns shared by millions of people across the west.
The FT is a staunchly globalist newspaper of record for the international elite and is routinely represented at the annual Bilderberg conference.
It can hardly be trusted to represent the interests of the common man.
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Fake News
Typical misinformation campaign by the Times.
Notice the headline in that image of the Financial Times.
The anti-vax sentiment in the West is fueled by citizens smart enough to do their own research and evaluate the science despite governments best attempts to suppress it.
Yeah, they called yesterday. I told them I’ve been this way the whole way, asked why they are so late to the party.
And yet another once-respected paper falls victim to third-grade bull**it.
Lol. In reality, this article IS the propaganda!
3xacrly, and it is fake news with the intent of causing liberal government to shut down free speech for everyone but themselves of course. We are witnessing an assault on the second amendment by the left who are using the bogeyman Russia as their excuse for shutting it down.
Dr Malone
Dr McCullough
Which one’s chinese and which one’s russian?
What about Dr Zelenko. That sounds russian /s
Zll of this “misinformation “ nonsense is being bandied around as though the government thinks it has a duty to,suppress it “for the good of the nation”
Anti Vax Sentiment..
Or Anti Snake Oil where the only people protected are the scum manufacturing it.
That’s more like buyer or taker, beware
Sure, the first thing I do in the morning is have a cup of coffee and check my email for marching orders from China and Russia.
Sheesh!
No, no, no…they always have it backwards. I am antivaxx BECAUSE I’m Anticommunist.
If delta (which is still around) can put you in the hospital or in a coffin consider Covid vaccination or a booster shot.
They’ve been doing that for years.
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