White House Establishes A "Disinformation Governance Board"

 

CBS: Disinformation Governance Board to tackle spread of misinformation in U.S., focusing on Russia and U.S.-Mexico border 

The Department of Homeland Security is setting up a Disinformation Governance Board to try to counter the spread of false information. 

The board will focus on disinformation coming from Russia as well as misleading messages about the U.S.-Mexico border, the Associated Press reports. 

The immediate focus will be on misinformation from human smugglers, who spread false claims about U.S. border policy to migrants to help drum up business. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a briefing Thursday that the board will tackle misinformation on a range of issues, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said part of its intention is to counter misinformation in Hispanic communities especially.  

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Update #1: Biden blasted for policing free speech with ‘dystopian’ disinformation bureau (NYPost)  

Update #2: White House defends DHS 'disinformation' board: 'Not sure who opposes that effort' (FOX News)  

WNU Editor: This is who is going to run the department .... Which useful idiot thought such a clearly partisan hack should be Biden’s ‘disinformation czar’? (NYPost editorial). More here .... Watch: Biden's New 'Disinfo' Queen Goes Full 'Libs Of TikTok' (Zero Hedge).

Propaganda Is Soon Going To Be Automated

La Generalista

Frank Adkins and Shawn Hibbard, War On The Rocks: The Coming Automation of Propaganda

If you want a vision of the future, imagine a thousand bots screaming from a human face – forever (apologies to George Orwell). As U.S. policymakers remain indecisive over how to prevent a repeat of the 2016 election interference, the threat is looming ever more ominous on the horizon. The public has unfortunately settled on the term “bots” to describe the social media manipulation activities of foreign actors, invoking an image of neat rows of metal automatons hunched over keyboards, when in reality live humans are methodically at work. While the 2016 election mythologized the power of these influence-actors, such work is slow, costly, and labor-intensive. Humans must manually create and manage accounts, hand-write posts and comments, and spend countless hours reading content online to signal-boost particular narratives. However, recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) may soon enable the automation of much of this work, massively amplifying the disruptive potential of online influence operations.

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WNU Editor: Welcome to a more modern 1984.

18,000 Old Political And Military Posters Are Being Digitized By The Smithsonian

Illustrator James Montgomery Flagg used a British model to create the Uncle Sam recruiting poster, which is among thousands that have been digitized by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.Bonnie Jo Mount / The Washington Post

National Post/Washington Post: The Smithsonian is digitizing 18,000 old political and military posters

The work is a kaleidoscopic walk through history, touching on, among other things, support for the Black Panthers in the 1970s, and propaganda from the First World War.

WASHINGTON — The cavernous room was dark, except for the soft flood lights, and the glow from a nearby computer screen. A digital camera peered down from above. And Kelly Manno and Amelia Brookins carefully arranged the old Bella Abzug campaign poster to be photographed.

Wait. Bella who?

Neither of the young Smithsonian object handlers knew of the formidable New York feminist and three-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Brookins said she had heard of Abzug, who died 21 years ago, for the “first time in the poster.”

But the National Museum of American History is now finishing a massive project to digitize 18,000 of its old political and military posters to make them easily accessible and to expand awareness of figures and issues long vanished from the headlines.

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WNU Editor: This stuff is priceless. Looking forward to when it will be made public.

The Pentagon Is Telling U.S. Special Operations Command That They Need To Upgrade Their Propaganda Efforts

A KC-130J Super Hercules drops sanitized leaflets during information warfare training near Yuma, Ariz., Oct. 22, 2016. (Lance Cpl. Andrew Huff/Marine Corps)

Military Times: SOCOM needs to step up its propaganda game, Pentagon deputy says

The Defense Department wants U.S. Special Operations Command to do more than the traditional leaflets-and-loudspeakers approach to information warfare, a senior Pentagon official said this week.

“We need to move beyond our 20th century approach to messaging and start looking at influence as an integral aspect of modern irregular warfare,” Andrew Knaggs, the Pentagon’s deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and combating terrorism, said at a defense industry symposium Tuesday.

The shift will require cooperation with civilians rarely approached by SOCOM, as well as new technology and strategies to isolate enemy disinformation campaigns before they catch the public’s interest in an area of operations.

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WNU Editor: No mention on how much money they are spending to increase this propaganda "capability".

A Look At North Korea's Propaganda Factory

Kim Jong Un visited a fish-pickling factory. (KCNA)

FOX News: Kim Jong Un's bizarre North Korea propaganda photos

From a lubricant factory to an orphanage, potato factory or fish-pickling factory, Kim Jong Un has conducted many sporadic visits to odd and quirky North Korean sites throughout the years.

In 2018, Kim conducted "field guidance” at several factories, including a “newly-remodeled” Pyongyang Teacher Training College, a pharmaceutical and trackless trolley factories around the regime’s capital. The despot is often photographed with a massive grin and interacting with factory workers.

Several officials also typically stand in the background taking notes -- about something -- during the visit, though the only details released about the trips come through KCNA. Kim usually includes praise for the workers.

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WNU Editor: Tyrants always need to feel loved, and what better way to do it than having your face on TV, the newspaper, etc..

North Korea Is Erasing Its Anti-US Propaganda

New York Post: North Korea erasing most anti-US propaganda

Nix the nuclear warheads, cue the doves.

The North Korean government is erasing much of its anti-U.S. propaganda following dictator Kim Jong-un’s forays onto the world stage.

Gone are the posters depicting the U.S. as a “rotten, diseased, pirate nation” and promising “merciless revenge” on American forces for an imagined attack on the totalitarian country.

In their place are cheery messages touting praising the prospects for Korean reunification and the declaration Kim signed in April with South Korean President Moon Jae-in promising “lasting peace,” according to reports.

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WNU Editor: A prediction. If things go well, these propaganda posters will be collector items in 20 years. I should know. I have hundreds of real and genuine Soviet posters going back to the revolution (what can I say, my dad was a collector). And what I can get for them on eBay is nuts.

Did Russian Trolls Increase By 2,000 Percent After The U.S.-Led Coalition Attack On Syria?

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White and Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., director of the Joint Staff, discuss operations in Syria during a news briefing at the Pentagon, April 14, 2018. DoD photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Vernon Young Jr.

Gizmodo: How Did the Pentagon Quantify This Bizarre Statistic on 'Russian Trolls'?

As Donald Trump’s administration, backed by France and the UK, launched a series of missile attacks on Syrian installations allegedly used in the production or deployment of chemical weapons this weekend—and the president bizarrely tweeted “Mission Accomplished!” in a worrying signal with regards to his strategic insight—the question of whether Russia would retaliate on behalf of Bashar al-Assad’s government did tend to hang over the proceedings.

So far, Russia hasn’t given any signs it intends to truly escalate the situation, possibly in part because the White House has actually not yet settled on a comprehensive strategy. But Pentagon spokesperson Dana White did trot out a bizarre statistic on “Russian trolls” on Saturday, telling reporters, “The Russian disinformation campaign has already begun. There has been a 2,000 percent increase in Russian trolls in the last 24 hours.”

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Previous Post: Pentagon: Russian Trolls Increased ‘2,000 Percent’ After Syria Attack (April 14, 2018)

WNU Editor: If this report was made a week or two from now .... I would then say that with a high degree of certainty that Russian disinformation and propaganda on social platforms like Facebook did increase substantially in response to the military strike. But to make this claim just hours after the attack .... I am skeptical.

Middle East War Video Shows Saudi Arabia Successfully Defeating Iran

Newsweek: Middle East War Video Shows Saudi Arabia’s Explosive ‘Invasion’ of Iran

A viral propaganda video depicting a Saudi Arabian invasion of Iran has dominated social media in the Middle East in recent days as the proxy war between the two rival nations has continued to play out across the region to devastating effect.

The animated video, titled “Saudi Strike Force,” has been viewed nearly a million times on YouTube and imagines Saudi Arabia’s one-sided takeover of Iran following an unprovoked attack on a humanitarian vessel.

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Update: Animated Video of All-out Saudi-Iranian War Breaks Arab World's Internet (Haaretz)

WNU Editor: I posted a link to the above video about a week ago .... to describe it as stupid s actually giving it a compliment. I mean .... Saudi soldiers marching in Tehran being cheered by Iranians .... it is not going to happen. But as to its popularity in the Arab world .... a million views .... what can I say .... there is a lot of wishful thinking going around.

Russian Ministry Of Defence Uses Screen Grabs From A Video Game To Prove That The U.S Is Assisting ISIS

Propaganda: The Russian ministry of defence today claimed it had 'irrefutable evidence' the US is helping ISIS in the Middle East - and backed up its claim by posting pictures from a computer game. But they are actually scenes from AC-130 Gunship Simulator, a mobile video game produced by Byte Conveyor Studios and uploaded to YouTube in March 2015

Daily Mail: Russian MOD releases 'irrefutable' evidence that the US is helping ISIS…that turns out to be screen grabs from a VIDEO GAME

* Russia claimed it had solid proof that the US was supporting ISIS in Middle East
* But its evidence was based on photographs from a mobile phone video game
* Images now been removed after the crass attempt at deception was spotted
* Russian defence ministry said a civil servant had 'erroneously attached' images
* Comes after PM May warned Russia the West is aware of its fake news campaign

The Russian ministry of defence today claimed it had 'irrefutable evidence' the US is helping ISIS in the Middle East - and backed up its claim by posting pictures from a computer game.

Russia claimed the pictures showed that the US-led coalition was working together with ISIS troops 'to promote American interests' in the Middle East.

But they are actually scenes from AC-130 Gunship Simulator, a mobile video game produced by Byte Conveyor Studios and uploaded to YouTube in March 2015.

A now-deleted Facebook statement went further, claiming the footage was captured by Russian drones on November 9.

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WNU Editor: TASS has issued a Russian government explanation .... Defense Ministry provides explanation on wrong photos attached to Abu Kamal statement (TASS). What's my take .... oopppssss!

North Korean Propaganda Pamphlets Call For The Death Of President Trump

NK News: Graphic North Korean leaflet calls for death of Donald Trump

“We need to give death to old crazy man Donald Trump"

A graphic propaganda leaflet found by NK News in central Seoul over the weekend calls for the death of U.S. President Donald Trump, with his head crushed under the boot of a North Korean soldier.

“We need to give death to old crazy man Donald Trump,” the leaflet says, which was likely sent from North Korea by balloon. “Complete extermination” reads a slogan at the top of the design.

The back of the leaflet shows a message saying “Chosun’s answer” and includes a design of a missile attack on Washington, DC.

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WNU Editor: I have seen worse.

North Korea's Propaganda Machine Uses Art To Showcase Alleged U.S. Atrocities During The Korean War

Flickr

Daily Mail: Horrifying portraits of American soldiers torturing women with pliers and murdering babies are used for propaganda by North Korea as posters created by Kim Jong-il's regime are displayed in public

* Paintings believed to be from 2005 claim to depict atrocities by Americans during the Korean War
* Propaganda art shows Americans torturing women by removing their teeth and savagely killing men
* Believed that some of these painting are displayed in the Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities
* Museum in town 70 miles from capital commemorates alleged killing of 35,000 people in 1950 massacre

Horrific North Korean propaganda art shows American soldiers torturing women with pliers and murdering babies.

The paintings, believed to be from 2005, claim to depict atrocities carried out by American soldiers during the Korean War of 1950-1953.

They show Americans torturing women by removing their teeth and killing men by slicing their heads off.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The images are graphic .... and I am willing to bet that as a propaganda tool for indoctrinating North Koreans .... it is also very effective.

Update: Kim Jong-un slaps propaganda posters across North Korea readying his people for war and calling for 'US imperialists' to be 'eradicated' (Daily Mail).

See North Korea's Newest Propaganda Video

NYDaily News: SEE IT: North Korea releases new propaganda video featuring choreographed music number

So You Think You Kim Dance?

Replacing fiery rhetoric with spicy moves, North Korea has released a surprisingly nuclear weapon-free propaganda video featuring fatigue-clad men performing elaborate choreography with one another on stage to cheery music.

The overtly patriotic prance was uploaded Thursday to the North Korean state news agency DPRK Today's website, Gizmodo reports, and it's a marked shift from previous installments from the regime.

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WNU Editor: Groan .....

Should The U.S. Launch An Anti-Propaganda War Against Russia And ISIS?

Politico: Tillerson spurns $80 million to counter ISIS, Russian propaganda

The secretary of state won’t tap funding approved by Congress, angering officials.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is resisting the pleas of State Department officials to spend nearly $80 million allocated by Congress for fighting terrorist propaganda and Russian disinformation.

It is highly unusual for a Cabinet secretary to turn down money for his department. But more than five months into his tenure, Tillerson has not issued a simple request for the money earmarked for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, $60 million of which is now parked at the Pentagon. Another $19.8 million sits untouched at the State Department as Tillerson’s aides reject calls from career diplomats and members of Congress to put the money to work against America’s adversaries.

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WNU Editor: Americans have never been very good at propaganda .... certainly when it comes to messaging a point of view towards Russia. As for ISIS .... word of mouth on the atrocities that they have committed will go farther than any U.S. message on their crimes.

New North Korean Propaganda Video Depicts The Destruction Of A U.S. Aircraft Carrier

Japan Times: North Korean state-run propaganda website depicts U.S. aircraft carrier, bomber engulfed in flames

The YouTube channel of North Korea’s state-run Uriminzokkiri propaganda website has released a video showing images of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier and strategic bomber engulfed in flames.

The nearly three-minute video, which comes amid large-scale annual joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises on the Korean Peninsula, shows what appears to be the USS Carl Vinson supercarrier and a B-1B bomber on fire after being placed in the crosshairs of a weapon.

Pyongyang views the drills, which Washington and Seoul call defensive, as a rehearsal for an invasion.

Read more ....

More News On North Korea's Newest Propaganda Video

Kim Jong-Un releases propaganda video where North Korea 'blows up' an US aircraft carrier days after the dictator threatened to reduce America to 'ashes' if provoked -- Daily Mail
North Korea's Kim Jong Un 'Bombs' US Navy in New State Propaganda Video -- Newsweek
North Korea releases video depicting U.S. aircraft carrier, strategic bomber engulfed in flames -- Military Times
North Korean propaganda video threatens destruction of US aircraft carriers, bombers -- News.com.au
North Korea 'launches' surprise attack on aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson -- International Business Times

Iran's Film "Battle of The Persian Gulf II" Has Been Released

WNU Editor: It looks like Iran's "Battle of The Persian Gulf II" has been released .... Iranian film hails demise of US Navy in imagined Gulf battle (AP).

China Is Leading A Deadly Information War Against Japan

YouTube

Michael Yon, Japan Forward: The Hate Farm: China Is Planting a Bitter Harvest

Ask an American journalist, “Do you trust the Chinese government?” If the answer is yes, there is nothing more to talk about. If the answer is no, the next question is, “Do you trust them to tell the truth about Japan?”

China is leading a deadly information war. The first target is Japan. The ultimate target is the United States. For more than two years, our research team and I have been warning that a Chinese radicalization program will lead to terrorism against Japanese. These predictions are proving true, so far with minor attacks. In November 2015, a Korean extremist detonated an explosive device inside the grounds of Yasukuni Shrine. He fled to South Korea but was arrested when he returned to Japan the following month.

In 2013, another Korean broke into Yasukuni Shrine and threw canisters of paint thinner on the structures inside, perhaps in an attempt to recreate the arson attack of 2011 when a Chinese national set fire to one of Yasukuni’s gates. The man responsible for the 2013 incident later attacked the Japanese embassy in Seoul—but when South Korean authorities were told of his earlier crimes at Yasukuni, they refused to extradite him to stand trial in Japan.

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WNU Editor: Michael Yon is talking about something that this blog has been covering for years. The first thing that I noticed when I was stationed in China in the mid-1980s was the hatred that many in Asia had towards Japan .... and all of it stemmed from the Japanese wars in the 1930s and 1940s. Drive a Japanese car in South Korea .... there was an excellent chance that within a week it would be keyed/tires slashed/or kicked at. After a few drinks bring up Japan in China at a banquet ..... and wow .... the anti-Japanese rhetoric that I heard would make your skin crawl. With this base of resentment .... China's information war against Japan is probably the easiest job that anyone has in China .... and we are now seeing the results of it. In the past few years Chinese altitudes towards Japan have been stoked to the point where the Chinese consensus now is that all problems and disputes are the fault of Japan. Coupled this with a continuous push by Chinese authorities that China has been a victim of Japan's aggression in the past .... and that there is a need for revenge and accountability .... while driving a strong nationalistic message .... there is now a toxic brew in Asia. Where all of this is going to end up .... I do not know.

United States Is Preparing To Wage An Information War Against Russia

Tim Mak, Daily Beast: U.S. Preps for Infowar on Russia

While President Trump is still defending Vladimir Putin in public, American policymakers have finally awoken to Russian intervention in the U.S. democratic process—and are pumping tens of millions into a counter-propaganda initiative.

President Trump may be continuing his public pursuit for Vladimir Putin’s affections. But behind the scenes, the United States is quietly preparing to wage an information war against Russia.

The 2016 presidential campaign alerted the public to the concept of information as a weapon—and to its incredible effectiveness when used just right. From WikiLeaks to RT to Sputnik, the Russian government tried to sow discord among Americans, according to a recent U.S. intelligence report. To some extent it succeeded, by facilitating public skepticism of American institutions and the press—and undermining Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

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WNU Editor: So websites like Bellingcat and StopFake.org are now going to get U.S. taxpayer funds .... websites that push the Ukraine government line in its war against Ukrainian-Russian rebels in the east. My prediction .... these websites will now be tainted as U.S. propaganda tools, and while they will not change the situation on the ground or change opinions (especially in Ukraine), a lot of U.S. taxpayer cash is unfortunately going to end up into what is essentially a money pit.

Is There A Propaganda War Against Russian Propaganda?

Adrian Chen, New Yorker: The Propaganda About Russian Propaganda

In late October, I received an e-mail from “The PropOrNot Team,” which described itself as a “newly-formed independent team of computer scientists, statisticians, national security professionals, journalists and political activists, dedicated to identifying propaganda—particularly Russian propaganda targeting a U.S. audience.” PropOrNot said that it had identified two hundred Web sites that “qualify as Russian propaganda outlets.” The sites’ reach was wide—they are read by at least fifteen million Americans. PropOrNot said that it had “drafted a preliminary report about this for the office of Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), and after reviewing our report they urged us to get in touch with you and see about making it a story.”

Reporting on Internet phenomena, one learns to be wary of anonymous collectives freely offering the fruits of their research. I told PropOrNot that I was probably too busy to write a story, but I asked to see the report. In reply, PropOrNot asked me to put the group in touch with “folks at the NYTimes, WaPo, WSJ, and anyone else who you think would be interested.” Deep in the middle of another project, I never followed up.

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Previous Post: The U.S, Main Stream Media Targets Alternative Media (November 27, 2016)

WNU Editor: I have seen worse. The list of sites that have been branded as "peddlers of Russian propaganda" is here.

Is The Kremlin Waging An All-Out Propaganda War Against The West?

Reuters

Helle Dale, Daily Signal: Russia’s Information Warfare Continues

Speculation about Russian interference in the upcoming U.S. presidential election is flowing fast in the U.S. media.

Russia was widely believed to be responsible for embarrassing email hacks at the Democratic National Convention. Speculation abounds in the media that the Russian government might try to throw the U.S. election this way or that with a boldness not even seen during Soviet days.

Speculation is all we have for now, yet, the Russian propagandists may feel they have accomplished quite enough. Sowing confusion in the West and presenting Russia as an innocent victim of U.S. political infighting are key elements in Russia’s information warfare.

On the international front, Russia is no less active. Having honed disinformation skills in the conflict with Ukraine, Russian media are now focused on Syria.

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WNU Editor: All sides are waging an information war right now .... but if the Russians were involved in the Democrat hack that exposed how Bernie Sanders's supporters were to be marginalised .... I say give us more because our media is certainly not doing its job in this election cycle. As for the international issues like Ukraine and Syria .... yup .... there is a propaganda war (and from both sides) .... and we should all be careful and thoughtful when reading and watching our news.

Pentagon Paid A British PR Firm $540mn To Make Fake Al Qaeda Videos During The Iraq War

Crofton Black & Abigail Fielding-Smith of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism/Daily Beast: Pentagon Paid for Fake ‘Al Qaeda’ Videos

A controversial foreign PR firm known for representing unsavory characters was paid millions by the Pentagon to create fake terrorist videos.

The Pentagon gave a controversial UK PR firm over half a billion dollars to run a top secret propaganda program in Iraq, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism can reveal.

Bell Pottinger’s output included short TV segments made in the style of Arabic news networks and fake insurgent videos which could be used to track the people who watched them, according to a former employee.

The agency’s staff worked alongside high-ranking U.S. military officers in their Baghdad Camp Victory headquarters as the insurgency raged outside.

Bell Pottinger's former chairman Lord Tim Bell confirmed to the Sunday Times, which has worked with the Bureau on this story, that his firm had worked on a “covert” military operation “covered by various secrecy documents.”

Bell Pottinger reported to the Pentagon, the CIA and the National Security Council on its work in Iraq, he said.

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More News On The Pentagon Paying A British PR Firm $540mn To Make Fake Al Qaeda Videos During The Iraq War

PR firm set up by Margaret Thatcher's spin doctor ran a 'top-secret' £416m propaganda operation during Iraq war writing soap operas and tracking al-Qaeda terrorists using fake jihad films -- Daily Mail
US said to have paid $500m for fake al-Qaeda-style propaganda videos -- The Times of Israel -
The US military gave Bell Pottinger $540m to run 'covert' Iraq war PR propoganda campaign -- The Drum
Pentagon paid PR firm $540mn to make fake terrorist videos -- RT