{"id":71785,"date":"2016-04-11T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=71785"},"modified":"2016-04-18T12:58:34","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T11:58:34","slug":"corruption-as-a-propaganda-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/04\/corruption-as-a-propaganda-weapon\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Corruption\u2019 as a Propaganda Weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mainstream U.S. journalism and propaganda are getting hard to tell apart, as with the flurry of \u201ccorruption\u201d\u00a0stories aimed at Russia\u2019s Putin and other demonized foreign leaders.<\/em><\/p>\n

4 Apr 2016 – <\/em>Sadly, some important duties of journalism, such as applying evenhanded standards on\u00a0human rights abuses and financial corruption, have been so corrupted by the demands of government propaganda \u2013 and the careerism of too many writers \u2013 that I now become suspicious whenever the mainstream media trumpets some sensational story aimed at some \u201cdesignated villain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Far too often, this sort of \u201cjournalism\u201d is just a forerunner to the next \u201cregime change\u201d scheme, dirtying up or delegitimizing a foreign leader before the inevitable advent of a \u201ccolor revolution\u201d organized by \u201cdemocracy-promoting\u201d NGOs often with money\u00a0from the U.S. government\u2019s National Endowment for Democracy or some neoliberal financier like George Soros.<\/p>\n

\"Russian<\/a>

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivering a speech on the Ukraine crisis in Moscow on March 18, 2014. (Russian government photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

We are now seeing what looks like a new preparatory phase for the next round of \u201cregime changes\u201d with corruption allegations aimed at former Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The new anti-Putin allegations \u2013 ballyhooed by the UK Guardian and other outlets \u2013 are particularly noteworthy because the so-called \u201cPanama Papers\u201d that supposedly implicate him in offshore financial dealings never mention his name.<\/p>\n

Or as the Guardian writes<\/a>: \u201c<\/strong>Though the president\u2019s name does not appear in any of the records, the data reveals a pattern \u2013 his friends have earned millions from deals that seemingly could not have been secured without his patronage. The documents suggest Putin\u2019s family has benefited from this money \u2013 his friends\u2019 fortunes appear his to spend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note, if you will, the lack of specificity and the reliance on speculation: \u201ca pattern\u201d; \u201cseemingly\u201d; \u201csuggest\u201d; \u201cappear.\u201d Indeed, if Putin were not already a demonized figure in the Western media, such phrasing would never pass an editor\u2019s computer screen. Indeed, the only point\u00a0made in declarative phrasing is that \u201cthe president\u2019s name does not appear in any of the records.\u201d<\/p>\n

A British media-watch publication, the Off-Guardian, which criticizes much of the work done at The Guardian, headlined its article<\/a> on the Putin piece as \u201cthe Panama Papers cause Guardian to collapse into self-parody.\u201d<\/p>\n

But whatever the truth about Putin\u2019s \u201ccorruption\u201d or Lula\u2019s, the journalistic point is that the notion of objectivity has long since been cast aside in favor of what\u2019s useful as propaganda for Western interests.<\/p>\n

Some of those Western interests now are worried about the growth of the BRICS economic system<\/a> \u2013 Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa \u2013 as a competitor to the West\u2019s G-7 and the International Monetary Fund. After all, control of the global financial system has been central to American power in the post-World War II world \u2013 and rivals to the West\u2019s monopoly are not welcome.<\/p>\n

What the built-in bias\u00a0against these and other \u201cunfriendly\u201d governments means, in practical\u00a0terms,\u00a0is that one standard\u00a0applies to a Russia or a Brazil, while a more forgiving measure\u00a0is applied to the corruption\u00a0of a\u00a0U.S. or European leader.<\/p>\n

Take, for instance, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton\u2019s millions of dollars in payments in speaking fees from wealthy special interests that knew she was a good bet to become the next U.S. president. [See Consortiumnews.com\u2019s \u201cClinton Stalls on Goldman-Sachs Speeches<\/a>.\u201d]<\/p>\n

Or, similarly, the millions upon millions of dollars invested in super-PACS for Clinton, Sen. Ted Cruz and other presidential hopefuls. That might look like corruption from an objective standard but is treated as just a distasteful aspect of the U.S. political process.<\/p>\n

But imagine for a minute if Putin had been paid millions of dollars for brief speeches before powerful corporations, banks and interest groups doing business with the Kremlin. That would be held up as de facto proof of his illicit greed and corruption.<\/p>\n

Losing Perspective<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, when it\u2019s a demonized foreign leader, any \u201ccorruption\u201d will do, however minor. For example,\u00a0in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan\u2019s denounced\u00a0Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega for his choice of eyewear: \u201cThe dictator in designer glasses,\u201d declared Reagan, even as Nancy Reagan was accepting free designer gowns and free renovations of the White House funded by oil and gas interests.<\/p>\n

Or, the \u201ccorruption\u201d for a demonized leader can be a modest luxury, such as Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych\u2019s \u201csauna\u201d in his personal residence, a topic that got front-page treatment in The New York Times and other Western publications seeking to justify the violent coup that drove Yanukovych from office in February 2014.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, both Ortega and Yanukovych had been popularly elected but were still targeted by the U.S. government and its operatives with violent destabilization campaigns. In the 1980s, the CIA-organized Nicaraguan Contra war killed some 30,000 people, while the U.S.-orchestrated \u201cregime change\u201d in Ukraine sparked a civil war that has left some 10,000 people dead. Of course, in both cases, Official Washington blamed Moscow for all the trouble.<\/p>\n

In both cases, too, the politicians and operatives who gained power as a result of the conflicts were arguably more corrupt than the Nicaraguan Sandinistas or Yanukovych\u2019s government. The Nicaraguan Contras, whose violence helped pave the way for the 1990 election of U.S.-backed candidate Violeta Chamorro, were deeply implicated in cocaine trafficking. [See Consortiumnews.com\u2019s \u201cThe Sordid Contra-Cocaine Saga.<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n

Today, the U.S.-supported Ukrainian government is wallowing in corruption so deep that it has provoked a new political crisis.[See Consortiumnews\u2019com\u2019s \u201cReality Peeks Through in Ukraine.<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n

Ironically, one of the politicians actually named in the Panama Papers for having established a shadowy offshore account is the U.S.-backed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, although he got decidedly second-billing to the unnamed Putin. (Poroshenko denied there was anything improper in his offshore financial arrangements.)<\/p>\n

Double Standards<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mainstream Western journalism no longer even tries to apply common standards to questions about corruption. If you\u2019re a favored government, there might be lamentations about the need for more \u201creform\u201d \u2013 which often means slashing pensions for the elderly and cutting social programs for the poor \u2013 but if you\u2019re a demonized leader, then the only permissible answer is criminal indictment and\/or \u201cregime change.\u201d<\/p>\n

One stark example of these double standards is the see-no-evil attitude toward the corruption of Ukraine\u2019s Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, who is touted endlessly in the Western media as the paragon of Ukrainian good governance and reform. The documented reality, however, is that Jaresko enriched herself through her control of a U.S.-taxpayer-financed investment fund that was supposed to help the people of Ukraine build their economy.<\/p>\n

According to the terms of the $150 million investment fund created by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Jaresko\u2019s compensation was supposed to be capped at $150,000 a year, a pay package that many Americans would envy. But it was not enough for Jaresko, who first simply exceeded the limit by hundreds of thousands of dollars and then moved her compensation off-books as she amassed total annual pay of $2 million or more.<\/p>\n

The documentation of this scheming is clear. I have published multiple stories citing the evidence of both her excessive compensation and her legal strategies for covering up evidence of alleged wrongdoing. [See Consortiumnews.com\u2019s \u201cHow Ukraine\u2019s Finance Minister Got Rich<\/a>\u201d and \u201cCarpetbagging Crony Capitalism in Ukraine<\/a>.\u201d]<\/p>\n

Despite the\u00a0evidence, not a single mainstream Western news outlet has followed up on this information even as Jaresko is hailed as a \u201creform\u201d candidate for Ukrainian prime minister.<\/p>\n

This disinterest is similar to the blinders that The New York Times and other major Western newspapers put on when they were assessing whether Ukrainian President Yanukovych was ousted in a coup in February 2014 or just wandered off and forgot to return.<\/p>\n

In a major \u201cinvestigative\u201d piece, the Times concluded there was no coup in Ukraine while ignoring the evidence of a coup, such as the intercepted phone call between U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt discussing who they would put into power. \u201cYats is the guy,\u201d said Nuland \u2013 and surprise, surprise, Arseniy Yatsenyuk ended up as prime minister.<\/p>\n

The Times also ignored the observation of George Friedman, president of the global intelligence firm Stratfor, who noted that the Ukraine coup was \u201cthe most blatant coup in history.\u201d [See Consortiumnews.com\u2019s \u201cNYT Still Pretends No Coup in Ukraine.<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n

The Propaganda Weapon<\/strong><\/p>\n

The other advantage of \u201ccorruption\u201d as a propaganda weapon to discredit certain leaders is that we all assume that there is plenty of corruption in governments as well as in the private sector all around the world. Alleging corruption is like shooting large fish crowded into a small barrel. Granted, some barrels might be more crowded than others but the real decision is whose barrel you choose.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s part of the reason why the U.S. government has spread around hundreds of millions of dollars to finance \u201cjournalism\u201d organizations, train political activists and support \u201cnon-governmental organizations\u201d that promote U.S. policy goals inside targeted countries. For instance, before the Feb. 22, 2014 coup in Ukraine, there were scores of such operations in the country financed by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), whose budget from Congress exceeds $100 million a year.<\/p>\n

\"Carl<\/a>

Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy.<\/p><\/div>\n

But NED, which has been run by neocon Carl Gershman since its founding in 1983, is only part of the picture. You have other propaganda fronts operating under the umbrella of the State Department and USAID. Last year, USAID issued a fact sheet<\/a> summarizing its work financing friendly journalists around the globe, including \u201cjournalism education, media business development, capacity building for supportive institutions, and strengthening legal-regulatory environments for free media.\u201d<\/p>\n

USAID estimated its budget for \u201cmedia strengthening programs in over 30 countries\u201d at $40 million annually, including aiding \u201cindependent media organizations and bloggers in over a dozen countries,\u201d In Ukraine before the coup, USAID offered training in \u201cmobile phone and website security,\u201d which sounds a bit like an operation to thwart the local government\u2019s intelligence gathering, an ironic position for the U.S.\u00a0with its\u00a0surveillance obsession, including prosecuting whistleblowers based on evidence that they talked to journalists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

USAID, working with billionaire George Soros\u2019s Open Society, also funds the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which engages in \u201cinvestigative journalism\u201d that usually goes after governments that have fallen into disfavor with the United States and then are singled out for accusations of corruption. The USAID-funded OCCRP also collaborates<\/a> with Bellingcat, an online investigative website founded by blogger Eliot Higgins.<\/p>\n

Higgins has spread misinformation on the Internet, including discredited claims implicating the Syrian government in the sarin attack in 2013<\/a> and directing an Australian TV news crew to what looked to be the wrong location for a video of a BUK anti-aircraft battery<\/a> as it supposedly made its getaway to Russia after the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July 2014.<\/p>\n

Despite his dubious record of accuracy, Higgins has gained mainstream acclaim, in part, because his \u201cfindings\u201d always match up with the propaganda theme that the U.S. government and its Western allies are peddling. Though most genuinely independent bloggers are ignored by the mainstream media, Higgins has found his work touted by both The New York Times and The Washington Post.<\/p>\n

In other words, the U.S. government has a robust strategy for deploying direct and indirect agents of influence. Indeed, during the first Cold War, the CIA and the old U.S. Information Agency refined the art of \u201cinformation warfare,\u201d<\/a> including pioneering some of its current features like having ostensibly \u201cindependent\u201d entities and cut-outs present U.S. propaganda to a cynical public that would reject much of what it hears from government but may trust \u201ccitizen journalists\u201d and \u201cbloggers.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the larger danger from this perversion of journalism is that it sets the stage for \u201cregime changes\u201d that destabilize whole countries, thwart real democracy (i.e., the will of the people), and engender civil warfare. Today\u2019s neoconservative dream of mounting a \u201cregime change\u201d in Moscow is particularly dangerous to the future of both Russia and the world.<\/p>\n

Regardless of what you think about\u00a0President Putin, he is a rational political leader whose legendary sangfroid makes him someone who is not prone to emotional decisions. His leadership style\u00a0also\u00a0appeals to the Russian people who overwhelmingly favor him, according to public opinion polls.<\/p>\n

While the American neocons may fantasize that they can generate enough economic pain and political dissension inside Russia to achieve Putin\u2019s removal, their expectation that he will be followed by a pliable leader like the late President Boris Yeltsin, who will let U.S. operatives back in to resume plundering Russia\u2019s riches, is almost certainly a fantasy.<\/p>\n

The far more likely possibility is that \u2013\u00a0if a \u201cregime change\u201d could somehow be arranged \u2013 Putin would be replaced by a hard-line nationalist who might think seriously about unleashing Russia\u2019s nuclear arsenal if the West again tries to defile Mother Russia. For me, it\u2019s not Putin who\u2019s the worry; it\u2019s the guy after Putin.<\/p>\n

So, while legitimate questions about Putin\u2019s \u201ccorruption\u201d \u2013 or that of any other political leader \u2013 should be pursued, the standards of evidence should not be lowered just because he or anyone else is a demonized figure in the West. There should be single not double standards.<\/p>\n

Western media outrage about \u201ccorruption\u201d should be expressed as loudly against political and business leaders in the U.S. or\u00a0other\u00a0G-7 countries as it is toward\u00a0those in the BRICS.<\/p>\n

___________________________________<\/p>\n

Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for <\/em>The Associated Press and<\/em> Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America\u2019s Stolen Narrative, either in\u00a0print here<\/a>\u00a0or as an e-book (from Amazon<\/a> and barnesandnoble.com<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 consortiumnews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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