Ukraine Corruption Problems Remain As US Plans New Propaganda War
Learning from Uncle Sam: to Russia's annoyance, U.S. hones Ukrainian fighting skills. http://t.co/qXN8dALMQq pic.twitter.com/gUSnRVOWm9
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) May 19, 2015
A year after a US-backed coup forced out the democratically elected government in Ukraine under the banner of “anti-corruption” the state of affairs in Kiev remains unchanged as those in power continue to use their position to advance their private interests at the public’s expense.
The post-coup officials running the government have not only failed to reform the political system but appear to have exacerbated the problem. A new committee has been formed to investigate whether Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and friends have embezzled more than $325 million from a government already flirting with bankruptcy. The investigation comes as Ukraine’s oligarch president, Petro Poroshenko, starts another round of lobbying for foreign financial assistance which includes promises that the money will be used to clean up Ukraine politics.
Combine the corruption problems with a series of suspicious killings of journalists and dissidents in Kiev and Ukraine does not look like it is on its way to becoming a modern liberal democracy.
So what to do? The answer coming out of imperialist circles in DC is to double down on propaganda under the pretext of countering propaganda. The plan is to step up “information warfare” against Ukraine and NATO critics – especially on social media platforms – in the hopes that thwarting dissent will somehow fix post-coup Ukraine’s internal contradictions. Seems unlikely.
While the US government has already been engaging in social media “information warfare” to promote government talking points for years, the gears appear to be in motion for a new offensive. Unfortunately, the government has proven to be terrible at manipulating social media akin to how it manipulates the corporate media and the even harsher truth is that the US and NATO’s problem is with reality itself – a difficult opponent in the media space but one that has been defeated before.
In any case, this is going to get hilarious rather quickly. It is going to be nearly impossible to wage a social media “information warfare” campaign without getting exposed. As is custom the government will likely hire private defense and intelligence contractors to do the dirty work in hopes of removing its fingerprints. And, as is custom, those firms will surely screw up and embarrass their paymasters.
Get your popcorn.
26 Comments
propaganda, propaganda, propaganda=us policy
Truth is……what we say it is! STFU
Not propaganda for the 90% but for the cocktail party set of the top 10% who are the enablers of this evil bullshit war profiteering and greed and avarice. They really don’t care what the poor and middle class think and they don’t realize what is going to happen as they use austerity to continue their sociopathic lifestyles.
welcome to the homeland via pravda
have you ever heard the expression ‘ i’ll slap the shit eating grin off your face’
lady ecahn you know i can’t spell. please don’t leave
Putin’s military force in Ukraine is obviously liberal democracy!
Just like military force in Ferguson.
There is no Russian military force in Ukraine. None that you could point to as proof. There is a US military force there, tho.
The meeting between Kerry, Lavrov and Putin in Sochi suggest(Crimea was not discussed) that the US has woken up to reality and has opted to throw the chocko-kingy under the bus and go with Minsk 2.
It is call authoritarian fascism. Borders no longer matter.
thanks for your presence
Ally with the .1% and expect to eventually be under said bus.
don’t tease me
so nuland still receives a paycheck
Right back at you, starrynight!
They have a word for this: Turd Polishing
rub enough, it’s called burnishing
lady ecahn
where?
http://thesaker.is/yet-another-huge-diplomatic-victory-for-russia/
The above would tend to confirm your comment.
I could never understand why austerity was so good for “American business”. Since we don’t make anything anymore, it is financial services and transactions that rule the roost. If anything “American” corporations are more concerend about selling their goods to emerging markets than the American consumer. I guess they don’t need our consumption. they will get our money back in “financial transaction fees.”
Ultimately, TPP’s passage should remove any doubt that the Democratic Party: Obama, Hillary or Pelousy/Schumer (D-Wall Street) care about the American “middle class”. Much less the working poor.
If TPP doesn’t convince We the Sheeple. Obama’s Grand Bargain lame duck 2016 sell out should remove all doubts.
United State of Oligarchy. Obama will be a billionaire by Hillary’s second term.
Putin’s military force is to prevent genocide against Russian Orthodox adherents.
He might be already but the holding are off shore.
Re Ukaine “becoming a modern liberal democracy”, liberal is one of those words I have a lot of problems with. It is commonly used as a synonym for New Dealism, but as currently practised it is much closer to its Wilsonian Big Business, anti-populist roots. In any case, we are no more a democracy than Ukraine is. As I see it, we are both kleptocracies, the main difference being that we are richer and so have more to loot. In Ukraine, they started with less and more of what little they had has already been stolen.
Zero Hedge conventional wisdom says he and Holder have Vatican Bank slush funds
Yes, they’ve been remarkably candid about the need to “catapult the propaganda,” but remarkably inept at the execution. They don’t even seem to be capable of significantly influencing upvotes, let alone answers to critical comments. I suspect this is because the level of artificial intelligence required to analyze comments on politics and economics, let alone answer them, is still a bit out of reach. AI can now make believable medical diagnostics, but is still not up to generating good PR.
Wow! This is the first I heard that Nuland was there. I’m thrilled she was unhappy.
It could be the the CIA (thugs all, but realists and adults) had finally figured this out. However, it will be a while before Congress and the punditry are informed of the decision. It sure would be good if we stop seeing discredited Neocons all over the media.
hey, Hugh, even Wilsonian liberalism would be a vast leap to the left for Ukraine and highly unlikely as any sort of liberals are pretty thin on the ground over there,