The EU Ridiculous Propaganda

I read some time ago that Angela Merkel was worried about anti-EU Russian propaganda. She blamed this propaganda for the rise of AfD in Germany. (1)
I think this tells us a lot about Merkel's perception of reality.

(We talked some time ago about the stupidity of blaming Russian propaganda for the critical opinion of Western country citizens.)

The article said that Merkel wanted to counterbalance this propaganda.

"East StratCom Task Force" must be this answer. The official website defines it as "The task force has been set up following the European Council in March 2015, which tasked the High Representative to submit, in cooperation with EU institutions and Member States, an action plan on strategic communication in order to address Russia's ongoing disinformation campaigns".

But of course, for all these mediocre politicians and bureaucrats that fill the EU it is easier to blame Russian propaganda than to analyze what it is really going on in the EU.

So they thought that they would create a Twitter account and make their own propaganda to show us how Russian propaganda is the source of all negative news about the EU.

I will not spend time analyzing each tweet this account had published, but I will need just one to show the level of stupidity involved here:

Figures leave no doubt that pro-Kremlin disinformation gives EU a bad name in Russia pic.twitter.com/ba0oTXnD6C

— EU Mythbusters (@EUvsDisinfo) October 30, 2016

Let me just drop some ideas about this tweet:

- First the geographical factor. The author of the tweet maybe is not aware that Russia has borders with the EU. China doesn't. And guess what? There's an ocean between the US and the EU!

- It would be really interesting to see how often the EU is in the US news. I bet it is much more often than the opposite (US in the EU). I bet the proportion is quite outstanding. So according to the author of this tweet, this would mean that in the EU there must be a propaganda campaign against the US.

- So Rusians have a negative point of view of the EU because of, again according to the tweet, propaganda. Then, what do we have in the EU about Russia? Has any of you head anything positive about Russia in the news in the, let's say, last 10 years? Again, according to the tweet's reasoning, we must be victims of fierce anti-Russian propaganda. Well, this is the only thing the tweet got right, in fact.

(1) About Merkel's obsessions on this subject, one tweet says: "Chancellor #Merkel recognises the presence of disinformation from Russia in Germany." Well, it would be funny if Merkel didn't "recognize the presence" of what she blames the source of her problems:

PS: Here, the Stratcom twitter account recommending an article from a pro-NATO organization...

Recommended #longread by @AtlanticCouncil on Kremlin's influence in Europe (focus on France, Germany & the UK): https://t.co/FoChiDCmVi pic.twitter.com/z16zbDEnkZ

— EU Mythbusters (@EUvsDisinfo) 20 de novembre de 2016

I loved the comment by one user:

@EUvsDisinfo @AtlanticCouncil basically... @LBaggiani @Hayektheripper @powisle16 #StabiloGruppe pic.twitter.com/4RO3KS911M

— Evidenziatore Oscuro (@TheExtremista) 20 de novembre de 2016

The same people who promote wars, promote open doors for refugees

In spanish public opinion, there is the common believe that islamic terrorism started with the invasion of Iraq. It was an illegal stupid move, but islamic terrorism is quite much older. At least, in its current form, its origin can be traced to another american intervention, in Afghanistan, against the USSR.

But the funny point, is how spanish public opinion believe that those people, the ones who "create" wars, oppose opening doors to refugees, when the fact is, that truth is exactly the opposite.

We have written here about many examples of Bilderberg promoting inmigration in Europe (also in the sahpe of refugees) (the most obvious and undeniable is Peter Sutherland), but let's put it in a simple image:

Goldman Sachs - Draghi - ECB - Merkel - The Economist

"Draghi was then vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International and a member of the firm-wide management committee (2002–2005).

A few days later [2011] The Economist [owned by the Cadbury, Rothschild, Schroder, Agnelli and other families] wrote that "the next president of the world’s second-most-important central bank should be Mario Draghi". On 20 April 2011 The Wall Street Journal reported that "Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's finance minister [of Angela Merkel's government], is open to Mr. Draghi for the post of ECB President". A few days later the German newspaper Bild endorsed Draghi by defining him the "most German of all remaining candidates". Contrary to previous reports about France's position, on 25 April it was reported that President Nicolas Sarkozy saw Draghi as a full-fledged and an adequate candidate for the job.

On 17 May 2011 the Council of the European Union – sitting as Ecofin – adopted a recommendation on the nomination of Draghi as President of the ECB. He was approved by the European Parliament and the ECB itself and on 24 June 2011 his appointment was confirmed by the European leaders.

Draghi is a trustee at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and also at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, D.C." [Wikipedia]


About the Brookings Institution...

"The Brookings Institution is an American think tank based on Embassy Row in Washington, D.C., USA. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and global economy and development. In the University of Pennsylvania's 2014 Global Go To Think Tanks Report, Brookings is ranked the most influential think tank in the world.

Its stated mission is to "provide innovative and practical recommendations that advance three broad goals: strengthen American democracy; foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans; and secure a more open, safe, prosperous, and cooperative international system"

Along with the Council on Foreign Relations and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Brookings is generally considered one of the most influential policy institutes in the U.S.

As of 2014 the Brookings Institution had assets of $496 million. Its largest contributors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Hutchins Family Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, David Rubenstein, State of Qatar, and John L. Thornton.

The Qatari government was named by The New York Times as "the single biggest foreign donor to Brookings"" [Wikipedia]

Helmut Kohl, sobre la crisis (y Merkel)

"La línea de la política europea que lleva a cabo Merkel es "muy peligrosa", según se cita en esa publicación a Kohl, quien habría confesado a un correligionario y estrecho colaborador sus temores a que la canciller "me rompa mi Europa".

El ex canciller alemán Helmut Kohl, uno de los principales artífices de la unión de Europa, destacó los errores cometidos por su país en la crisis que atraviesa la eurozona.

"Dos puntos sobresalen: en primer lugar, el Pacto de Estabilidad de la eurozona nunca debiera haber sido suavizado, sino al contrario, debería haber sido fortalecido a través de una Europa cada vez más unida", sostuvo Kohl en un artículo que adelanta este domigo el diario 'Bild'.

El ex jefe de gobierno alemán se refería a la década del los 90, cuando tanto Alemania como Francia sobrepasaron de forma repetida el techo máximo de tres por ciento de déficit presupuestario y forzaron a la Unión Europea a suavizar las sanciones para estos casos.

"Y en segundo lugar, Grecia no debería haber sido nunca aceptada en la eurozona sin reformas estructurales radicales de su situación, teniendo en cuenta que era suficientemente conocida por los expertos", criticó." [El Mundo]

Helmut Kohl on Angela Merkel

"The enormous changes in the world can be no excuse for having no view or idea where you belong and where you are going," he says.

"Germany has not been a predictable factor for several years now - at home or abroad."

"We must take care not to gamble everything away." [BBC]

About Angela Merkel

"Some are downright damning. "Since the very beginning of this crisis, in 2007-8, Angela Merkel has not ceased providing us with the proof that she is really not the stuff of which great leaders are made," says Jean Quatremer, longstanding Brussels correspondent of the French daily Libération and a veteran observer of European affairs.

"She's navigating by sight, with no real political vision, and no authority. So much sluggishness, so much incapacity to grasp the gravity of the situation, takes the breath away ... Angela Merkel has now become Europe's principal problem."
Others are not quite as scathing, but no less despondent. Merkel's greatest failing, says Charles Grant, of the pro-European thinktank Centre for European Reform, is that she's either unwilling or unable to question prevailing German orthodoxies.

"Truly great political leaders, real statesmen – they can change the weather," Grant says. "They're prepared to think the unthinkable, to say and do things that they know will be deeply unpopular. Merkel just isn't naturally quite brave enough to do a Thatcher, even a Sarkozy, and try to actually change the way people think."

(...)

Grant confesses he has changed his mind on Merkel: "In the beginning, I was a fan. She was brilliant at the early summits; brought everyone together, acted as peacemaker, got deals done. But since the eurozone crisis ... she's pandered to opinion. The very first Greek bailout, back in 2010, was delayed by months because of an election in North Rhine-Westphalia, which the CDU lost anyway."

In Brussels, Quatremer agrees: "She's no doubt a good captain when the weather is calm. But as soon as the seas get rough, she's incapable. I would seriously doubt, for example, whether this chancellor would have been capable of persuading her citizens to accept the euro, as Kohl did in his day, in the face of overwhelmingly hostile public opinion."" [The Guardian]

We miss Helmut Kohl...