Three Wise Men?
Like every other commentator Total Truth Radio has reported upon the three infowar 'heroes' whose adventures have at one time or another over the past 18 months or so, filled the corporate media with tales of their flight from the global reach of the US National Security State. Unfortunately in Bradley Mannings case we have followed details of his capture, imprisonment, torture and trial while a large proportion of the world has cried 'foul'. Bradley Manning has become a martyr and a icon of the little guy who out of conscience spills the beans on the malfeasance in office of the Leviathan and it servants thereby becoming a latter day virtual Joan of Arc adopted by the globally oppressed, the impoverished and disempowered as a symbol of our own resistance and on a mission from God.
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| "David" |
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The vast majority of the world's population in other words have seized upon Manning's interrogation of morality and seen a small glimmer of hope for humanity in the perpetual geopolitical darkness. The injustice of Manning's position is of course that he never leaked anything that harmed the United States mission at home and abroad. The Wikileaks "Cablegate" scandal for which Bradley Manning stood trial as an anonymous White House aide related to Reuters in 2011: "We were told (the
impact of WikiLeaks revelations) was embarrassing but not damaging." This has been a 'given' in Manning's case long before he appeared in the military court in the uniform "he loves" so the drama of the trial and severity of the sentence currently standing at a ludicrous 136 years in jail is all a psyop, a deception in a nutshell a "show Trial".
More overtly salacious however, is the story of Julian Assange whose alleged sexual offences add a frisson aimed at those who fail to take an interest in the fate of Bradley Manning. Mr Assange has been holed up like all good villians should be, at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in a scene that looks like an outtake from Monty Python's Holy Grail. Now we are getting into serious show business and to prove it right on cue Josephson Entertainment and Michelle Krumm Productions jointly optioned the movie rights on Anndrew Fowler's book, The Most Dangerous Man in the World. Who will play Assange and what happens in the scenes in Sweden which despite the alleged rape, actually involve one count of carrying on with consensual sex after a condom broke and another count of initially consenting intercourse with a woman without a condom who changed her mind mid-coitus. Whilst both of these are offences in Sweden its difficult to see how they will make gripping drama even if they are true, which of course always was very much left in doubt. Assange is daring and an icon of 'freedom' in the official cast list of news celebrities, but not evil if not someone you'd trust with a significant female 'other'.... but less threateningly perhaps, he is cast as someone whose technique is so poor that your partner would have second thoughts about it half way through and fake an orgasm just to get out of there as quickly as possible. Julian Assange a hero? I don't know about that really, leave it with me.
Finally....
the climax of the news blitz on whistelblowers and their unhappy plight comprises of the Third Man - Edward Snowden, whose unfolding legend absolutely stretches all belief... that he has been marooned in no-man's land at Moscow airport from 23 June until 3 August betwixt baggage hall and duty free shop for 41 days, what a survivor this guy must actually be!
Aardvark Hand Held Histories is already rumoured to be bidding for the rights on Edward the Movie. Mr Snowden's publicity photographs don't show a man who hasn't changed his clothes for well over a month, or one with only his hand baggage for a pillow .... quite the reverse in fact, the Snowden saga is accompanied by photo shots that look like the poster for a film yet to break box-office records and coming to a cinema near you quite soon.
So here we have the potential psyop The Third Man, The Most Dangerous Man in the World and a naked abused David versus the NSA Goliath are the central charactors and theme of a new genre of Super-Anti-Heroes in America a country that has lost faith in itself as a moral entity. But why would that happen now at this time?
Where Limited Intelligence Likes to Hang Out
Well, conspiracy theorists and even conspiracy realists would possibly suggest that a certain variety of psychological operation is being deployed here to obscure the bigger and always more terrible picture of what is going on in reality. This ploy, the so-called Limited Hangout is a time honoured sort of psyop. Wikipedia describes the operation thus:-
A limited hangout, or partial hangout, is a public relations or propaganda technique that involves the release of previously hidden information in order to prevent a greater exposure of more important details.
It takes the form of deception, misdirection, or coverup often associated with intelligence agencies involving a release or "mea culpa"
type of confession of only part of a set of previously hidden sensitive
information, that establishes credibility for the one releasing the
information who by the very act of confession appears to be "coming
clean" and acting with integrity;
but in actuality, by withholding key facts, is protecting a deeper
operation and those who could be exposed if the whole truth came out. In
effect, if an array of offenses or misdeeds is suspected, this
confession admits to a lesser offense while covering up the greater
ones.
Wikipedia goes on to cite former CIA chief and paleoconservative critic of US foreign and domestic policies Victor Marchetti
who wrote:
"A 'limited hangout' is spy jargon for a favorite and frequently
used gimmick of the clandestine professionals. When their veil of
secrecy is shredded and they can no longer rely on a phony cover story
to misinform the public, they resort to admitting—sometimes even
volunteering—some of the truth while still managing to withhold the key
and damaging facts in the case. The public, however, is usually so
intrigued by the new information that it never thinks to pursue the
matter further."
Whether we believe that all of the corporate media is owned by powerful individuals who shamelessly manipulate the 'news' to suit thier own ends, or rather that the media is only reporting the information it is 'fed' and is therefore a passive tool for propaganda rather than the originator is of no consequence at all with regard to the limited hangout cover-up technique.
It was modified for the Watergate scandal and has been deployed by the Catholic Church in order to release some of the public pressure building around child abuse allegations. There is nothing new in this methodolgy however:-
According to a piece on the website 21st Century Wire:-
Historian Dr. Webster Tarpley (2013) has already noted that in 1620 a
Venetian intelligence official recommended ‘saying something good about a
person or institution while pretending to say something bad’. Tarpley
provides the example of ‘criticizing a bloody dictator for beating his
dog – the real dimensions of his crimes are thus totally underplayed’.
So, we should be against the bloody dictator beating his dog, but ought
to be more concerned with the more substantial crimes the ‘bloody
dictator’ is known for. The scandals provided by Snowden are of an
equivalent standard to the example of the dictator beating a dog. While
we should be against unwarranted spying, this new scandal looks to
distract us from the greater, and significantly more important, context
of global affairs that are currently focused on Syria.
I think it highly probable that pretty well any story in the mainstream, commercial corporate media is there for a purpose to try to convince us of the rightness of policies and business plans however corrupt and obviously criminal they may be. If we take the Vatican example, which has more recently been picked up and broadened out by the British government a moral panic about child abuse and pornography diverts attention away from the historic and established institutionalised paedophilia networks, watching everybody makes it less dangerous for the actual perpetrators, lost in the crowd and well ahead with advanced technology and communications, so that video images are heavily policed leaving the trade in real life trafficked sex slaves undisturbed and fully functioning.
During Prime Ministers Questions in October last year Labour MP Tom Watson demanded an investigation into a powerful paedophile ring in Parliament and people who wporked in the past at Downing Street. Don't forget, it was politicians who shelved "Operation Ore" when it was found politicians, police, and judges were on the list of those downloading child "porn"....
Watson has since resigned as election organiser for Labour after a spat with Ed Milliband and a stitch-up by some grandees of the Labour aristocracy, whether there is any connection between these events is anyone's guess....
But lies and deception are the tools of the infotainment trade and smart-arse psyop jockies whose work is strictly derivative it seems and who constantly recycle time tested strategies with ever diminishing effects.
But lies and deception are the tools of the infotainment trade and smart-arse psyop jockies whose work is strictly derivative it seems and who constantly recycle time tested strategies with ever diminishing effects.
So stay tuned to Total Truth Radio - one channel with no axe to grind but only a hand held global vox pop from somewhere in deepest darkest Mercia.
Ideas, thoughts and relections, take on the news and current events as they occur where all views remain uninfiltrated by the demons of destruction!
Here is Tom Watson giving us something else to think about as we consume the "news".... what the Assange siege, the Snowden adventure and Manning Show Trial are all about is hiding what is really happening in Syria and elsewhere.
And what if the paedophile scandals that daily hit the headlines here are a smokescreen to obscure the continued existence of sexual slavery amongst the rich andf powerful. One refers to the loss of control of a country and all its resources the other the loss of control over the body and all its emotions or more plainly - who can use whom for what purpose in contemporary UK?
Here is Tom Watson giving us something else to think about as we consume the "news".... what the Assange siege, the Snowden adventure and Manning Show Trial are all about is hiding what is really happening in Syria and elsewhere.
And what if the paedophile scandals that daily hit the headlines here are a smokescreen to obscure the continued existence of sexual slavery amongst the rich andf powerful. One refers to the loss of control of a country and all its resources the other the loss of control over the body and all its emotions or more plainly - who can use whom for what purpose in contemporary UK?
I think you nailed it. Gosh knows I would rather look at pictures of Julian Assange than think about the arming of Syrian forces by the US. Or the wars we are carrying on in Iraq, Afghanistan, the phony "peace talks" and so forth. Yeah, give me a good ol' spy vs psy drama any time. Sadly, people are buying it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and leaving a comment Benni, nothing like a bit of spy-psy to brighten the day up I agree completely.
DeleteThey tell us that perception is reality.
ReplyDeleteOr, if you prefer the line from "V for Vendetta": "We don't make the news. That's the government's job. We're the BTN. We just report it."
Getting to the unvarnished truth is a beast.
Thanks for being a part of the process, Aaron!
-W
Cheers W we all do what we can and it is a very worthy cause indeed in my view. I have to confess to never having seen V for Vendetta, but obviously I have seen a few clips on YouTube. so I've got a good idea of what its about....although I understand that the films differs markedly from the original graphic novel anti Thatcher themes. Thanks for the comment W......onwards and upwards.
DeleteI would agree with Benni on how well you framed the media coverage of these three men. The false premise that these men are either heroes or traitors overlooks the main issue for me, which is, "what actual damage did these low level operators do?" and "is the emphasis on their cases disproportionate to developing national security issues elsewhere. (like Syria.) Or the odd embarrassing and hopelessly immoral pedophile ring protected by a few hot shots in the corridors of power?
ReplyDeleteAs Stuart Hooper put it in the 21Century wire article you linked to:
"With both The Guardian and Wikileaks supporting Snowden, we can almost be certain of whose interests he too represents: those who are aiming for war. Therefore, the armies of dupes currently attacking Obama for what Snowden has revealed, many of who should know better, are in actual fact facilitating the establishment’s agenda for a wider war in Syria by weakening the anti-open war president.
"While this is in no way seeks to aggrandise or apologise for Obama, the fact that he has not initiated a wider war in Syria must be recognised as a positive policy direction. "
Clearly Manning, while guilty of leaking documents, has been given horrific treatment in custody and should be released soon. But I still don't see Manning as a hero, more a scapegoat for a national intelligence establishment turned into an unwieldy mass. Assange seems more and more a distraction-I imagine the embassy he is hoed up in has become a tourist stop on the London bus tour services. Snowden--another low-level functionary like Manning---is another public relation distraction at this point, a (to me) odd man in the odd situation of pretending to be "stranded" in the Moscow airport.
Was there ever any doubt he would come under the wing of Russian intelligence, as he probably already been for weeks before?
Meanwhile, war hawks like John McCain and the Neo-Con cabal in Washington, who see Iran as the next "prime target", could ask for nothing more than these overdone sideshows.
Thanks for that perspective Doug. I had not wished to imply that a dubious role for Edward Snowden meant any suggestion of an exoneration for Barack Obama. Indeed it could be that setting up a political motive for attacking US foreign policy under the present administration is part of the psyop itself. It is my contention as you know already of course Doug, that US foreign policy has not changed direction significantly under the current administration from what it had been under the previous one or the one before that for that matter. The story that Snowden represents some sort of Republican backlash to Obama operating under the NSA radar I think could be another sleight of hand which intends to obscure the continuity of US foreign relations under both Republican and Democrat presidencies... as if voting changes anything.
DeleteI am not terribly reassured that either Wikileaks or the Guardian championing Snowden's cause either, because I believe that they both are conduits for disinformation and are broadly Atlanticist in their orientation and therefore part of the propaganda infrastructure contributing to the illusion of diversity promulgated by the Anglosphere's Fourth Estate.
Interesting times these are Doug. I think Mr McCain is no less confused about Iran than he is about pretty well all other matters at home and abroad.
The US does not attack Iran because it can't rather than because it has a peace loving president holding the hawks back so far as I can see. As Mrs Clinton repeatedly demonstrated during her unhappy tenure of office the hawks are well within the gates of the Obama camp there is no need of another blithering buffoon like John McCain.... when John Kerry carries out that function convincingly enough and completely unaided by GOP bogiemen in my view.
Thanks again for your comments Doug, they are as ever very much appreciated.
Thanks Aaron ( and Doug) for an interesting and very informative read. I don't think I could possibly add anything that hasn't already been said. Except maybe to agree about how very difficult if not impossible it is to ever know the truth about any thing. We live in an age when democracy is dead, the ruling elite own, edit and produce the media and the people we elect to lead are powerless against the unelected, faceless men who really call the shots. And most frustrating of all is the way so many of the general public believe the crap they are fed. I don't think we will ever know the real truth about any of the so called whistle blowers, we will only know the sanitized, official, sanctioned version of any thing. I don't believe there can ever be any such thing as a 'free press' because its impossible to publish or produce any thing without financial backing and financial backing all comes from the establishment who, obviously, don't back any thing that’s a threat to themselves. Win, win for them really. That said.............however, restricted or limited or compromised the 'whistle blowers' stories are............it is some sort of comfort to think that somewhere out there are a few people willing to make a stand.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Loretta, you raise the very interesting question of "the truth". What is really true and what is illusion or delusion? The fabled $64,000 question, we are certainly a part of a failed society I think that is undeniable nowadays, I am not entirely bleak about the prospects of a postmodernity. Indeed I think in some ways a revolution has already happened, so I write from the point of view of optimism but without - I hope - being found guilty of first degree "Pollyannaism".
DeleteAs you say Loretta the "news" is completely fabricated and most of it unbelievable, leaks are manufactured and disclosures are made but nothing much changes. Thankfully Aaran Aardvark's Total Truth Radio does what it says on the tin.... it tells the truth (as I see it) without any financial or commercial relationship with the wider world or any political, religious or economic axes to grind whatsoever.
So long as we have a point of view that is accessible to the outside world we are behaving in the same way as our collaborative, collectivist ancestors may have done in the far distant past. I was reading an interesting article on how people-power represents the neolithic forms of social organisation that continue to resonate in our cultural 'group mind', so to speak....all good stuff anyway I think.
Upward and onward Loretta :-)
yep..............upwards and onwards.....................:-)
ReplyDelete