Information Warfare

 America’s most dangerous war is the most influential war. It is now information warfare. What is presented to us in the news can be fake or real. Who knows? Powerful media companies can tell us just about anything and we are forced to believe whatever because what else do we have to try to keep current in terms of our safety and interests? We live in a world of instant photographs being sent everywhere in the world without censorship or even quality control. We live in a world where a green screen of any image can be placed in any photograph leaving us possibly with people even in false locations. Anyone can post any text anywhere without a fact finding background. So, everyone in the world is left to their own personal judgement to decide for themselves what is real or fake and what to believe in. The problem with all that is what if the truth just doesn’t get as much publicity or media coverage as it deserves? Does that mean the truth possibly doesn’t even exist? Information warfare is truly dangerous because it fucks with our mind! The fucking with our minds are the only common ground between all humans and that is the scariest thing of all!

We have intelligence reports that Russia’s influence campaign targeted the United States Presidential Election. How did they do it? Not with guns or bullets or missiles. But with information warfare and they were successful in getting their paid off American guys into the White House. Flynn, Manifort and Trump play and played key roles in our government. There is nothing illegal about spreading influence in the media. Russia has a media group called RT for Russia Today spread everywhere in the world. It can be found on many of our satellite and cable systems. NOW our Justice Department is insisting that RT register as a foreign agent to the United States under an 80 year old law that was written to stop the spread of NAZI propaganda. Why doesn’t the Justice Department use this law to stop the spread of ISIS propaganda and homemade bomb making information on media outlets like the internet? If America has to go to war with information, do it with all our information enemies!

This information war opens up a new can of worms. What if Russia cuts off all American media in their country because they deem it as mostly anti-Putin? Then what does the world have? Selective propaganda forced on our intellect? How valuable must “freedom of the press “   be in the world; whatever the press wishes to print? So then we have to hope that ethics, civility and morals kick in with the deciding factors of media spitting out information to us all collectively. RT is a vast state rum media network from Russia with 2,500 employees. They broadcast around the world with a Spanish channel for Latin America, an Arabic channel for the Middle East and four English additions including a show called the Brexit Poll in England. In America RT is available on cable but not a lot of Americans watch RT on television. Russia Today is widely spread on social media like Facebook, YouTube   and   Twitter where it has collected more than 2 billion views. Yes, America is listening and watching Russia Today’s influence.

The CIA, FBI and NSA views RT as a weapon and is involved in an information war. A movie should be made about the fascinating life and career of Margarita Simonyan who for the past 10 years started at the age of 25 to run the successful Russian state owned media empire, handpicked by Putin for the job. She claims what the Russians have done successfully on social media outlets is legal and the successes of their messages should not be censored. So what if Hillary lost the election? People lose elections all the time. Except Putin’s success in all of Russia’s elections have made that country and other countries like The Ukraine and Poland become Putin’s personal playground. Dictators with their one sided opinions about just about everything from economics to weapons to power is ruining   basic freedoms all humans deserve.

Michael Flynn pled GUILTY to lying to the FBI in the Russia investigations. In 2015 Flynn was invited to RT’s 10^th Anniversary gala and sat him right next to Putin. The media group paid Flynn $45,000 just to attend the dinner. It was a photo opportunity reality that proved to Russians that Putin had it in good with America and Russia’s foothold in American politics and power.  RT’s powerhouse, Margarita said Putin didn’t know who Flynn was. REALLY? WHO WOULD SEAT RIGHT NEXT TO THEIR LEADER SOMEONE NO ONE EVEN KNEW? Sigh! Flynn failed to disclose these contacts on his security disclosure forms.

RT used to have human interest stories about the wonderfulness of Russia. Under Margarita’s rule the media outlet has become a propaganda platform for Putin’s needs. RT’s budget provided by the Kremlin soared to over   $300 million dollars per year, a tenfold increase over the past 10 years.  Russian Military has stated that, “in warfare information can be more effective than any physical weapon.” The view was put into action 5 years ago. Margarita used to love the United States. In college she even had an internship in New Hampshire that she loved. Until then President Clinton in 1999 bombed Yugoslavia.

She hates the Clintons. The bombing was a NATO humanitarian intervention to prevent ethnic cleansing. To Russians it was viewed as a sign of United States aggression. Now Syria is being backed by Putin money and is killing innocent people in Syria where the Dictator Assad there is performing ethnic cleansing on his own people. Throughout the 1990’s Margarita said that Russia was under the influence of the United States. Now they want to influence America. Russia did not want to see the Clinton’s in the White House again. RT’s massive media influence posted a thing called Teaching A Master Class that got over 10 million views that posted Hillary as being corrupt. That media war was successful!

The RT’s goal is to dis-inform and distort truth. RT spread the rumor that the Clinton’s took personal money from their Foundation. Alex Jones, a radio host that dwells on conspiracy theories against democracy traffics an Anti-American democracy theory. European leaders agree with the Justice Department’s report and feel that Putin is very aggressive worldwide in self-promotion and aggression to a dangerous level. Both France and Britain accused Russia of trying to interfere in their elections. In Britain the Prime Minister, Theresa May reported that,” the Kremlin has weaponized   itself   by deploying its state run media empire   to spread discord in the west and undermine our institutions.”

Recently in America YouTube has downgraded RT’s preferred status and has banned RT’s ads from their platform. The Justice Department has labeled RT a foreign agent. Margarita says the restriction is a fly in the face of America’s policy of freedom of the press. Is she right? Or are we protecting ourselves from yet another Hitler type Dictator who wishes to take over the world? Yes, the difference of opinions is a good and healthy discussion of ideas but not when it involves successes in deceit and the destruction of innocent lives.

Russia has already retaliated. In the information war,   Russia has hastily passed a law enabling its Justice Ministry to label United States government media like Radio Free Europe and Voice of America as foreign agents. So where are we all now without not much faith in the human race? We have to seek guidance from our worshiped Gods. Good luck with that!