In Cuba Another U.S. Government Abuse Of Online Communication

April 3, 2014

The Associated Press has an interesting story about another USAID project to overthrow the government of Cuba. USAID used several front companies to create a Twitter like SMS phone service in Cuba which was, after becoming popular, supposed to be used to initiate anti-government flash mobs and civil strife:

At its peak, the project drew in more than 40,000 Cubans to share news and exchange opinions. But its subscribers were never aware it was created by the U.S. government, or that American contractors were gathering their private data in the hope that it might be used for political purposes.

“There will be absolutely no mention of United States government involvement,” according to a 2010 memo from Mobile Accord, one of the project’s contractors. “This is absolutely crucial for the long-term success of the service and to ensure the success of the Mission.”

Somewhat astonishing is again the long term effort, the tenancy and the seemingly unlimited amount of money going into such subversive U.S. programs.

USAID has long been used to “promote democracy”, i.e. to overthrow any government the U.S. government does not like. Several foreign governments have have taken the right steps and banned USAID activities in their countries. But with the use of front companies in various countries and methods similar to the CIA some critical USAID work is off the record and often hidden behind seemingly native and harmless programs. The open and legal USAID work, for example some 65 projects in the Ukraine, is often only a cover for its deeper projects.

As in the case the AP story uncovers USAID and various other government services may create and use online tools to influence masses and abuse them for their own purpose. Russia Today is promoting a new app through which people can “vote” like in a Occupy general assembly. But unlike such an Occupy assembly, where people are physically present, such an online vote tally can be easily manipulated to pretend a consensus for something that is not consensual at all.

It is important not only to be aware of the possible manipulation but to also warn others, especially younger people, of the danger of accepting “virtual” persons, movements and politics as a replacement of the real world. While it is also possible to manipulate the factual reality it is much more expensive to do so than to abuse the “virtual” online realm.

While USAID had to create a Twitter clone for its purpose in Cuba it does not have to do so in other countries. There Twitter is already established and can be readily (ab-)used by foreign governments just like USAID had planned for its Cuba clone. Blocking Twitter, as Turkey has recently done, may be at times necessary to prevent U.S. sponsored “regime change” endeavors.

Posted by b on April 3, 2014 at 09:21 UTC | Permalink

Comments

It would be interesting indeed to see how many of those twitter-like-tweets from those 40,000 Cuban subscribers now carry the news regarding what was planned for this “service”.
Or does USAID block the twitter-like-accounts of those subscribers who decide to Let The Cat Out Of The Bag?

Posted by: Johnboy | Apr 5 2014 1:09 utc | 101

Posted by: james | Apr 4, 2014 7:51:35 PM | 97
“what you appear to be thinking is that becuase the military dictatorship is now back in the saddle in egypt, we can expect them to continue on with the previous relationship they had with russia.”
No, james. I wrote:
“Egypt has also recently begun talks with Russia about arms trade, something they have not done in decades.”
Huge difference. Egypt stopped trading with the Soviets back in the 70’s, before you were born, when the west recruited them away from the Soviet sphere. At the time it was considered a major foreign policy coup. It’s possible Mubarak was recently considering reopening positive relations with the Russians, but I don’t remember seeing anything about that. Mubarak refused to help the west with their “Arab Spring” coups, and this was probably why he was given the treatment, in turn. Morsi was an enthusiastic activist in those coups, even allowing the terrorists attacking Syria to openly recruit terrorists in Egypt. A very loyal friend of the Israeli and American war mongers. The Morsi regime also had the added benefit of image. People bought the western propaganda that this regime was of the people and fully independent. So when they helped the west “spread democracy” to Syria, they could be portrayed as independent Arabs supporting other independent Arabs and the Israeli sponsorship of this terrorism could remain more hidden.
When Sisi’s people stepped in, one of the first things they did was remove Egypt from the nations being used by the west to attack Syria. A major blow to western war making. Equivalent almost to Sadat pulling Egypt from the Soviet sphere. The USA would never coup a subservient, friendly regime and replace it with one that immediately set out to be disobedient. The Americans have reduced their military aid to Egypt since the Sisi coup and are constantly threatening to reduce it more. As the Egyptians are not a solid block, the Americans are probably trying to direct their aid towards elements in the power structure they think they can influence. It’s one of their old gaming strategies that’s often met with success.
Rowan Berkeley in his post here:
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 4, 2014 3:51:51 AM | 68
Showed how the USA didn’t appear to be prepared for the Sisi coup. That is another sign this coup was not by Americans. I’m not sure I agree about Israel being behind the coup, but I wouldn’t rule it out, either. Sisi pulling out of the war against Syria affected Israel more than the USA, because the war against Syria is mainly for Israeli interests. I suspect the Sisi regime and Israel reached a “friendly understanding” outside of American meddling. The Israelis also probably figured a 3rd visit of the “Arab Spring” in Egypt could end up with an Egyptian government more hostile to their interests, and friendly towards the Palestinians, as the Egyptian people themselves are. So Israel probably compromised figuring this was the best they would get right now.

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 5 2014 1:18 utc | 102

@109 scalawag – not sure why you have to make the personal comment thinking you know my age, but thanks for the info as i said before and happy trails talking with others here. i am thru with you.

Posted by: james | Apr 5 2014 2:00 utc | 103

Posted by: james | Apr 4, 2014 10:00:28 PM | 103
“i am thru with you.”
I hope you mean that. 🙂

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 5 2014 2:42 utc | 104

http://news.yahoo.com/u-warns-china-not-attempt-crimea-style-action-235759479.html U.S. warns China not to attempt Crimea-style action in Asia
My initial 3 letter response to this analtry would be likely be considered homophobic here.

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 5 2014 3:48 utc | 105

Interesting, Saudi Arabia turns out to have dissidents, too:

Mr. Awda, alone among Saudi clerics, openly welcomed the Arab uprisings of 2011, and even published a book called “Questions of Revolution.” Promptly banned here but widely disseminated on the Internet, the book drew on Islamic texts and history to reach some very unorthodox conclusions: that democracy is the only legitimate form of government; that Islam does not permit theocracy; that separation of powers is required; that the worst despotism is that practiced in the name of religion. […]
IN the early 1990s, Mr. Awda was a leader of the Awakening movement of conservative ideologues who criticized their government for allowing American troops to enter the kingdom during the 1991 Persian Gulf war. He was cited approvingly by Osama bin Laden, and he spent five years in prison for inciting rebellion against the monarchy on Islamic grounds.

The NY Times says that he has “admiration for the democratic inclinations of the Muslim Brotherhood”, but that is inconsistent with the position attributed to him that “Islam does not permit theocracy”, as far as I can tell.
(HT to Antiwar.com)

Posted by: Demian | Apr 5 2014 4:43 utc | 106

Russia should denounce America’s suppression of heterosexual propaganda.

Posted by: Demian | Apr 5 2014 5:11 utc | 107

Posted by: Demian | Apr 5, 2014 1:11:36 AM | 107
“Russia should denounce America’s suppression of heterosexual propaganda.”
Are you gay?

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 5 2014 5:35 utc | 108

I don’t much like being insulted by self-righteous Jewish pricks. It doesn’t get under my skin, though. Not any more. I don’t really give too much of a damn whether MoA ends up like, say, ThinkProgress. It’s entirely up to bernhard. He can fill it with wankers, or he can fill it with people who think for themselves.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 5 2014 5:37 utc | 109

I’ll tell you what: I’ll lay down my parameter once and for all, so that everybody who still possesses the capacity for independent thought can think about it clearly, because it has nothing to do with all these stupid insults and name-calling. Obviously, Israel is a massive and counter-productive drain on US resources and a fatal obstruction to US regional strategy, but the ‘Israel lobby’ by its control over congressional and presidential campaign finance, thwarts rational decision-making. That much the ‘Jewish Leftists’ admit now. But the ‘Israel lobby’ is treated as a force external to the US ruling class, which is regarded as a black box about whose social or ethnic composition nothing whatever is allowed to be said, because there is a degenerated marxist rule to the evident effect that class forces must be contemplated in abstraction from the national groups which may happen to be their carriers. It’s a degenerated marxist rule, because it is characteristic of degenerated marxism to cherry-pick pseudo-left-looking rules and ignore their wider theoretical context, which in proper marxism would be properly analysed and described first.
Marx himself, as I hope everybody knows, was never shy about Jews. But he never completed his final, mammoth analysis, which was supposed to be focused on how surplus value gets transferred from the labour-intensive industries where it is generated, to the capital-intensive industries that actually need it if capitalism is to develop. His analysis went all over the place and landed up nowhere, because although the corporatist state already existed in his day, at least in skeletal form, its mechanisms were by no means as obvious as they are now, 150 years later. He refused in Das Kapital to consider banking as an autonomous factor in ruling-class economic strategy, though in his journalism there are some very frank statements about, for instance, rival Jewish banking cartels in France and their effects on the clash of parties in Paris. And in Hobson’s 1902 “Imperialism”, which preceded and influenced Lenin’s book of the same title, there is a whole chapter on how Jewish financiers in London organised the Boer War, obviously in order to get their tentacles around the world’s premier supplies of gold & diamonds, which they still own today.
Now, my parameter is this: it is simply unscientific to consider the US ruling class or any other class as a black box. ‘Elite studies’ are a difficult field because the first thing that the really rich buy with their money is media silence, which in most cases extends even to their very identities. Few truly rich people allow themselves to be tracked by the media. And they’re in an excellent position to prevent it. They own the media, along with everything else. So we can’t just go to Forbes Rich List and expect to say, “Aha! There they are!” We have to infer the composition of the ruling class from the actions which it causes the state which it rules, to perform. And in the case of the US, it seems to me that over the last few decades, Jews have demonstrated effective control over US ruling-class decision-making. When they gained this control is hard to say, because until fairly recently they were successful in staying pretty well out of sight. They would like to be out of sight again, so they try to swamp even the blogosphere with characters who will rant and rave and wheedle and threaten and cajole about anti-Semitism, until everyone shuts up.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 5 2014 6:39 utc | 110

If you need a laugh, read this story. Not it is not from the Onion.
Falling on the Floor Laughable Hypocrisy: U.S. Criticizes EU Plan to Bypass American Networks

Posted by: Fran | Apr 5 2014 6:40 utc | 111

Ukrainian attempts at PR are getting ever more childish:
Alleged talk between ‘Russian ambassadors’ posted online is a ‘hastily cooked up story’
Let’s see if John Kerry or William Hague are going to pick this up.

Posted by: Demian | Apr 5 2014 8:08 utc | 112

Posted by: Demian | Apr 4, 2014 4:05:13 PM | 90
Gilad an anti-semite? No, I don’t think so, at least not in the classical sense but in my opinion he is a man who has been consumed by his (justifiable) loathing for the Zionist state. So much so that I think he has developed an obsession that has clouded his judgement.
The up side of it is that he has forced a lot of people to reassess the racist state of Israel.

Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 5 2014 8:25 utc | 113

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 4, 2014 6:11:29 PM | 94
Ha! Democracy Russian style. No More Soup For You!! What would be really impressive is to wean the population off of vodka…that spirit that’s kept Russia from evolving beyond its feudal mentality. Maybe they could replace vodka with meth as the intoxicant that defines their culture. It’s difficult to drown utter desolation, hopelessness, defeatism and a longing for the apocalypse that never comes.

Posted by: Cold N. Holefield | Apr 5 2014 13:09 utc | 114

Via Fran’s link above: “In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.” Terry Pratchett
Re: Russia’s “feudal mentality”.
An obscure book: From the Arctic Ocean to the Yellow Sea, by British Lithographer Julius M. Price, published 1892. Price in 1891 traveled through Russia, having heard all the terrible things about how backward Russia was, but discovered in Russia orphanages where orphans were cared for in a manner which British orphans might only dream of,
” an estimated 60% of the [British] criminal population were orphans, at one point or another (Cunningham, “Orphan Texts”). They indulged in thievery or became prostitutes to survive (Payne, “Two literary”).
The more honest orphans who lived on the streets often banded together for survival, doing menial tasks for the upper class, or begging for money.”
And it was difficult to get yourself executed in 19th century Russia, even for serial killing. It was off to Siberia. Compassion trumped vindictiveness. In 19th Britain capital punishment was a common entertainment.
The United States today have more people in prison than India and China combined.

Posted by: Robert Snefjella | Apr 5 2014 14:22 utc | 115

Posted by: Cold N. Holefield | Apr 5, 2014 9:09:22 AM | 114
A blessing in disguise for the Russian consumer. From the same piece:

McDonald’s, which currently operates more than 400 restaurants in Russia, was the first international fast-food chain to tap the Russian market when it opened in Moscow’s Pushkin Square before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
That branch had the highest sales and served the most customers of any McDonald’s outlet in 2012.
A Russian backlash again McDonald’s products would have a significant impact on company profits. McDonald’s sees Russia as one of its top seven major markets outside the United States and Canada, according to its 2013 annual report.
However Russian moves to shun McDonald’s burgers could easily backfire, according to Russian newswire RBK, which detailed Russian food suppliers to McDonald’s that would suffer as a result.

Isn’t a totally globalized capitalism, a wonder to behold as it completes the total fuckup of the planet.

Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 5 2014 14:25 utc | 116

Isn’t a totally globalized capitalism, a wonder to behold as it completes the total fuckup of the planet.
Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 5, 2014 10:25:15 AM | 116
I would say that whatever it is, it’s beyond Capitalism. McDonald’s is closer to Socialism than Capitalism; it caters to the least common denominator…hell, it inculcates the least common denominator and allows that denominator to spread and flourish. That’s always been the complaint by so-called Capitalists of Socialism, and here we see McDonald’s, the alleged global symbol (along with Coke) of pure Capitalism, is more akin to the Socialism said Capitalism so often decries.
No wonder McDonald’s has been so immediately successful in Russia; it’s had a ready-made least-common-denominator market from the get-go. Nothing’s changed, really, in all these years since the demise of the Soviet Union. The former Commies (Oligarchs champing at the bit to let loose) did all the hard work of preparing the populace to be the perfect target-market customers for McDonald’s. That least-common-denominator target-market (the majority of Russians) will be pissed if you take their Happy Meals away for trifling political gain.

Posted by: Cold N. Holefield | Apr 5 2014 15:06 utc | 117

i don’t see what is socialist about coca cola buying up all the water rights in india, for example. if that is socialism, i will take something different. invade other countries and buying up their natural resources sure sounds like capitalism to me.

Posted by: james | Apr 5 2014 16:22 utc | 118

Cold N.Holefield = Donkeyhole
he retired insurance salesman with too much time on his hands, and verily, the bringer of the yawnocalypse.

Posted by: L Bean | Apr 5 2014 19:26 utc | 119

Hehe, just ran across this book:
The Russian Roots of Nazism: White Émigrés and the Making of National Socialism, 1917-1945

This book examines the overlooked topic of the influence of anti-Bolshevik, anti-Semitic Russian exiles on Nazism. White émigrés contributed politically, financially, militarily, and ideologically to National Socialism. This work refutes the notion that Nazism developed as a peculiarly German phenomenon: it arose primarily from the cooperation between völkisch (nationalist/racist) Germans and vengeful White émigrés. From 1920-1923, Adolf Hitler collaborated with a conspiratorial far right German-White émigré organization, Aufbau (Reconstruction). Aufbau allied with Nazis to overthrow the German government and Bolshevik rule through terrorism and military-paramilitary schemes. This organization’s warnings of the monstrous ‘Jewish Bolshevik’ peril helped to inspire Hitler to launch an invasion of the Soviet Union and to initiate the mass murder of European Jews. This book uses extensive archival materials from Germany and Russia, including recently declassified documents, and will prove invaluable reading for anyone interested in the international roots of National Socialism.

This is interesting to me, since my background is White Russian (like the Saker, although I was born in the US, while the Saker was born in southern Europe).
I suspect the book’s claim that “vengeful White émigrés” played a major role in the origins of Nazism is exaggerated, but still, the book might be worth skimming through. It doesn’t look like a hack job to me, like this “timely” book obviously is, for example:
Putin’s Wars: The Rise of Russia’s New Imperialism

Posted by: Demian | Apr 5 2014 20:13 utc | 120

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iv-drip/poll-nigel-farages-favourite-world-leader-is-putin-whos-yours-9226480.html?origin=internalSearch Poll: Nigel Farage’s favourite world leader is Putin. Who’s yours?
“Nigel Farage has announced that his favourite world leader is Putin. Yes, the same Putin who is helping Assad in Syria, and riding roughshod over international law to annex the Crimea. The Ukip man was quick to add that he didn’t necessarily agree with all of the “Russian bear’s” actions, but does find his style as an “operator” profoundly admirable. Beauty, we suppose, is in the eye of the beholder…”
Despite the typical bitchy queen spin of the intro, Putin has 10 times more votes than any of the others. And 5 times more votes than all the others put together.
That old MSM magic is failing…

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 5 2014 20:37 utc | 121

from feb 2014. anyone care to offer an update – go for it.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/egypt/140223/russia-sell-arms-egypt-united-states

Posted by: james | Apr 5 2014 23:11 utc | 122

The title of this article is clearly worded to incite religious hate.
http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/05/now-muslim-parents-are-complaining-about-flyers-for-easter-egg-hunts/
“Now Muslim parents are complaining about flyers for Easter egg hunts”
The yahoos at Yahoo are headlining this story.

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 6 2014 0:29 utc | 123

It would be very easy to write a story about American Jews saying exactly the same things about Christian symbols, but somehow such stories don’t get written.
At least this story doesn’t quote a Muslim child calling Christians “polytheists”. 😉

Posted by: Demian | Apr 6 2014 1:40 utc | 124

Excellent article from Cartalucci about Egypt’s military coup. Wish I had seen it earlier, confirms what I wrote in #102 and then quite a bit more. Except my speculation of Israel. After reading it, I think my speculation about what role Israel was playing is wrong, and that they are playing the same sort of double game they are playing with Russia. This is where they “promote” good relations officially with a government, but behind the scenes work like the devil to destabilize them.
http://journal-neo.org/2014/04/01/9372/ Egypt Vs. The Muslim Brotherhood – Preventing the Next Syria
This is how it begins:
“The sentencing of over 500 Muslim Brotherhood members to death in Cairo – many in absentia – for their role in the attack, torture, and murder of an Egyptian policeman is the culmination of an all encompassing security crackdown across Egypt. The move has created a chilling effect that has left the otherwise violent mobs of the Muslim Brotherhood silent and the streets they generally terrorize, peaceful and empty.
The move by the Egyptian courts has attracted the predictable condemnation of the US State Department. The Washington Post’s article, “Egyptian court sentences 529 people to death,” quoted US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf as claiming the US was “deeply concerned,” and “shocked.” She also claimed that the move “defied logic.”
The move was, however, exceptionally logical.
While the US continues to feign support for the government in Cairo, it was fully behind the so-called “Arab Spring,” the Muslim Brotherhood-led regime of Mohamed Morsi that came to power in its wake, its mobs in the streets, and the networks of NGOs inside Egypt supporting and defending their activities.”

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 6 2014 4:06 utc | 125

@scalawag #125:
Thanks for that link, which is indeed very helpful for understanding what is happening in Egypt.
I had noticed earlier that the post-Morsi government has been placing Islamic institutions under state control through al-Azhar:

Under the leadership of al-Azhar—a complex of Islamic schools, university faculties, and research institutes—the country’s religious establishment appears to be coalescing internally, aligning itself firmly with the post-Morsi road map, and asserting its leadership of religious life throughout Egypt.

This is another way of keeping Islamicism from getting out of hand.

Posted by: Demian | Apr 6 2014 4:44 utc | 126

A bit of history: the Washington Post has a lively piece on how the CIA got Doctor Zhivago published in Russian:
During Cold War, CIA used ‘Doctor Zhivago’ as a tool to undermine Soviet Union
What a different world that was, when you actually needed to print words on paper to spread ideas.

Posted by: Demian | Apr 6 2014 6:12 utc | 127

tony cartalucci – swell influence peddlar who looks to be full of shite. maybe he gets some kickback from the imf, lol.. idiot.
“In spite of evaporating public support, hired influence peddlers like “Tony Cartalucci” working diligently for the country’s elite business class, are still doing their level best to mislead the alternative news community in Thailand and elsewhere in hopes that they can gin-up international support for things like sanctions or even “humanitarian” bombing campaigns from NATO. These disingenuous actors will say and do just about anything to bring about undemocratic regime change on behalf of the billionaire oligarchs of Thailand.”
http://willyloman.wordpress.com/category/tony-cartalucci/

Posted by: james | Apr 6 2014 6:33 utc | 128

@james #128:
In #103, you wrote “I am thru with” scalawag. Please stop breaking your promise.

Posted by: Demian | Apr 6 2014 6:47 utc | 129

@James #128: it could just as easily be the other way round, viz, that ‘willy loman’ as a cognitive infiltrator, to use Cass Sunstein’s phrase for these organised disinfo and whitewash hacks, of which we now have plenty here too. In fact, I wouldn’t personally go so far as to conclude that either of them is a paid hack for anybody. I think it’s more of a case of ‘willy loman’ knowing fuck all about Thailand.
Blaming the evils of corporatism on some mysterious Yankee socialism is one of the oldest and most completely boring and meretricious tricks of the corporate hacks themselves. Indeed, corporatism is no longer ‘capitalism’, but then it never was, because ‘free enterprise’ in a political vacuum, without a supportive government, is a pure abstraction anyhow. From which it follows that people with stupid nicknames based on fanciful misspellings of the names of characters in USAian novels are probably corporate hacks.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 6 2014 8:00 utc | 130

Rowan Berkeley | Apr 5, 2014 1:37:10 AM | 109
poor poor rowan is exposed as a pure antisemite with his own words. Go away man, we are not interested in your racist crap.
That is my reaction to your “analysis”. Your anti Jewish diatribes are just that: antisemitic diatribes, not any sensible analysis of current political events. Zionism is a major problem, especially in the US but it does not rule the world. Please, Rowan, get over your obsession, it makes you look like a fool.

Posted by: ToivoS | Apr 6 2014 8:15 utc | 131

Toiboi why not just F off back to mondoweiss, and go back to handjobbing Lite-Zionists like Phil Weiss, which really was the only thing you were ever any good at,
clearly you’re not happy here. Clearly you would be more happy where censorship is the order of the day

Posted by: brb | Apr 6 2014 8:21 utc | 132

I seem to have landed on the exact pivot point, the schwerpunkt, between two opposed ideological blocs. I feel I owe bernhard an apology for setting the cat amongst the pigeons over and over again, but this is an ideological confrontation that has to happen, and MoA is probably the most sophisticated, self-aware and open-minded possible place to have it. But having said that, I wouldn’t blame old b if he deleted the whole lot and banned me. I mean, it’s about as much fun as recurrent toothache. But it just struck me that I could add a useful point to what I said about Hobson’s “Imperialism” and the Boer War. This point I would like to add is that, at the time, just as in the US today, a strategic pseudo-rationale was concocted to justify the Boer War, in papers like the Telegraph (which was then just as it is now) and the Times (which was then the cross-party imperialist mouthpiece). This pseudo-rationale was that Britain needed the so-called Cape of Good Hope in order to protect its shipping. This is absolutely absurd, since there are no Straits at the Cape, there is no definable area to police navally, and the Boers could hardly have built a Navy to rival the British one. And today we get exactly the same sort of constant stream of strategic pseudo-rationales to justify what are in fact fairly obviously merely Jewish regional goals (ie that Israel should control the Near East). What goals may lie beyond that one, would be a matter for speculation, and since I have scattered enough incendiary matter around here already, I shan’t add to it by speculating.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 6 2014 8:33 utc | 133

PS – there was another one. Don’t laugh: they needed it as a coaling station.
🙂

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 6 2014 8:36 utc | 134

Posted by: james | Apr 6, 2014 2:33:47 AM | 128
That hatchet piece by Scott Creighton you posted smeared Cartalucci, but provided zero evidence to back it up. Much like when you accused me of being naive. What he wrote on Thailand was very basic, not very impressive at all. I looked up some material of Creighton’s about Egypt and found a simple minded Sisi – bad American puppet and Morsi – good independent democratic leader type of analysis. He claimed the Muslim Brotherhood are peaceful. I then looked at his recent stuff and there was an article about the missing Malaysian air liner. He claims the Malaysian military shot it down in some coup plot or something, because the military does those things (I paraphrase, but seriously, that was the gist). 🙂 Curious to see what he had to say about Israel, this came up in the search:
http://911debunkers.blogspot.com/2009/08/debunking-scott-creightons-debunking-of.html/ Debunking Scott Creighton’s Debunking of Nano-Thermite
Sorry, but your hero comes across as an opinionated, egotistical asshole who uses smears and insults, rather than factual data. I give him about as much credibility as I do Alex Jones.
BTW, your: Posted by: james | Apr 4, 2014 10:00:28 PM | 103 “i am thru with you” proved to be a disappointing untruth.

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 6 2014 9:00 utc | 135

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 6, 2014 5:00:02 AM | 135
RE your: http://911debunkers.blogspot.com/2009/08/debunking-scott-creightons-debunking-of.html/ Debunking Scott Creighton’s Debunking of Nano-Thermite
‘Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist.’
Well that kinda sums up this collective diatribe with all sides apparently having lost the plot completely.

Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 6 2014 12:01 utc | 136

Toiboi why not just F off back to mondoweiss… Posted by: brb | Apr 6, 2014 4:21:55 AM | 132

Actually, I just had a look at a recent thread from MondoWeiss, and it turns out that what commentators can say with impunity there is “Israel controls the US.” But not, obviously, “Jews control the US.” This is a wonderful illustration of the illogical nature of ideology: since “Israel” is obviously a subset of “Jews”, to say “Israel controls the US” is to imply that “Jews control the US”, but it sounds completely different. And Phil is vigilant in policing the sound.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 6 2014 13:07 utc | 137

Thinking about it, maybe it’s not just the ‘sound’. To say “Israel controls the US” is to exculpate US Jews completely. By starting from the “Israel” end you can track individual powerful USraelis, as I call them, that is more properly to say dual nationals, as they flit back and forth on their hasbara-related activities. Connie Bruck in the New Yorker, by the way, has done a whole series of portraits of these individuals. You can maybe talk about certain cells of US Jewry, not just individual US Jews, as being particularly involved in pushing the cause of “Israel” in the US: for instance, the JDL, or ZOA, or AIPAC. But you will never arrive at the other theoretical pole of the analysis, which is the US ruling class itself, and the question of who composes it and who if anyone controls it. For Phil, as a liberal US Jew, it’s natural to proceed this way. He wants precisely to rid US Jewry of the burden of Zionism, so that US Jewry can continue its quietly hegemonic reign in peace.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 6 2014 13:17 utc | 138

Yes rowan, but ALL commentary must be pre-approved at MW. And theres a lot they don’t want to talk about over there.

Posted by: brb | Apr 6 2014 14:01 utc | 139

since the latest prophylactic treatment couldn’t still get rid of all Zthis/Zthat/Zeverythingeverywere monomaniacs, maybe we should create them some kind of sandbox/Ziobox, so they can continue to blame Zorglub and Ziosatans till the end of time while we can read the useful comments ? ^^

Posted by: zingaro | Apr 6 2014 14:15 utc | 140

@140
maybe you should get lost?

Posted by: apmd | Apr 6 2014 15:36 utc | 141

@129 – demain. i didn’t say i wouldn’t allow myself to comment on any of the posts here including his. perhaps you are hoping for too much, lol.
@130- rowan berkeley. thanks.
@136 – william bowles. true that.

Posted by: james | Apr 6 2014 15:41 utc | 142

Posted by: zingaro | Apr 6, 2014 10:15:04 AM | 140
some of us want to read ALL the useful commentary, not just the sanitised deceptive crap that insipid w*nkers like ToiboiS and zingaro would have us all strictly confined to reading.

Posted by: brb | Apr 6 2014 17:24 utc | 143

Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 6, 2014 8:01:37 AM | 136
‘Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist.’
I had just read it right before I posted it earlier. But clicking the link here gives that page. Yet just now when I looked up the piece in Google, it was there, as before, with the same address as before. Further, at the site in another article there is a link to the piece that works. Same address. Must be something from MoA that is causing the problem. Maybe a redirection error? For those who want to read the piece, do a Google search on the title.
Debunking Scott Creighton’s Debunking of Nano-Thermite

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 6 2014 17:37 utc | 144

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 6, 2014 1:37:03 PM | 144
Weird, I just clicked on the link again and got the same message. Copying and pasting the link into a new tab made no dif, still get the page don’t exist msg, so it’s nothing to do with moa, probably something on the site, so I checked and here’s the result.
Ok, just searched the site and pulled up this which works:
http://911debunkers.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/debunking-scott-creightons-debunking-of.html
Here’s the original from the msg that don’t work:
http://911debunkers.blogspot.com/2009/08/debunking-scott-creightons-debunking-of.html/
Note that one is dot co dot uk and the other is dot com. So no conspiracy, moa is not censoring your information. You may rest peacefully in your bed tonight.

Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 6 2014 17:58 utc | 145

Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 6, 2014 1:58:10 PM | 145
Your .co.uk address worked OK for me. From Google, it uses the .com address and is listed that way, not the .co.uk address. I don’t know how you found that, because none of the Google listings that I saw for the site used a .co.uk address. They are all the .com address. And all the ones I tried work OK, from the Google search page. I wonder if this blogspot site would work if it was linked to from another site?

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 6 2014 18:17 utc | 146

I found it by actually searching the site. It’s also weird that although the dot com address doesn’t take you to the article it does take you to the site. Go figure…

Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 6 2014 19:06 utc | 147

http://911debunkers.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/debunking-scott-creightons-debunking-of.html
Here’s the original from the msg that don’t work:
“>http://911debunkers.blogspot.com/2009/08/debunking-scott-creightons-debunking-of.html/ [NOTE backslash at end?]
Note that one is dot co dot uk and the other is dot com. So no conspiracy, moa is not censoring your information. You may rest peacefully in your bed tonight.
Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 6, 2014 1:58:10 PM | 145
an even simpler answer is that the .com address has an unnecessary backslash after the .html – simply remove the additional backslash from the end and it works fine

Posted by: brb | Apr 6 2014 19:23 utc | 148

American imperialism has several wings. I don’t object to anyone saying Zionists are arguably the dominant, most vibrant wing.
If US Jewry rid itself of the burden of Zionism, quoting Berkeley, it would have had to transform itself rapidly as a group in a manner no
Elite in history ever did. What fraction of the Zionist Jewish elite in the US is prepared to advocate that Palestine be freed, that is, that
rabbinical law be eradicated from Israel after the full right of return of all Palestinians in implemented?
Does even Weiss say this? If not, he cannot remove the burden of Zionism.
Yet to phrase the entire political reality as if the American mass isn’t passively decadent in the manner of degeneracy trumping conspiracy
in import or to portray the various imperial conspiracies as invincibly brilliant is apolitical escapism.

Posted by: amspirnational | Apr 6 2014 19:58 utc | 149

@scalawag – 146.
You probably live in the US, whereas William Bowles lives in the UK. Google/blogspot automatically redirects its sites to the [country] tld when the .com tld is used. As an example, using your .com url redirects to the equivalent .jp url for me, as I happen to be in Japan.
Google does this in an attempt to bypass censorship or domain-blocking in certain countries (under the assumption that the censoring country is unlikely to blanket block on its own tld).

Posted by: Philippe | Apr 6 2014 23:44 utc | 150

Posted by: brb | Apr 6, 2014 3:23:39 PM | 148
Posted by: Philippe | Apr 6, 2014 7:44:26 PM | 150
Thanks for those explanations. There is still the question of why blogspot adds that extra backslash in the .com address line, after the link has already taken the person to the actual site. The backslash is not in the links at Google, or links to the article on the 911debunkers.blogspot site.

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 7 2014 0:22 utc | 151

Rechecked, and I’m not getting that extra backslash added now.
http://911debunkers.blogspot.com/2009/08/debunking-scott-creightons-debunking-of.html
Strange.

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 7 2014 0:28 utc | 152

I got used to the erratic way that Blogspot redirects from country to country when I followed Tony Cartalucci’s LandDestroyer blog regularly. I live in southern England, and I found that if I started out looking for the .com version, I would get redirected to the .co.uk version every time. I also found that I had to verify all the internal links in the story, and in fact the safest thing for a UK reader would be to rewrite them all as .co.uk.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 7 2014 6:29 utc | 153

Actually, I do think it’s possible Tony Cartalucci is paid to do what he does, but not by the USA, by the PRC.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 7 2014 6:35 utc | 154

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 7, 2014 2:35:17 AM | 154
On what basis do you make the accusation? If, as you say, Cartalucci is a ‘paid agent of a foreign power’ namely China, he would surely have to register with the USG. If, he lives in the US that is.
But it’s pretty serious accusation to level against him, so where’s your proof?

Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 7 2014 8:15 utc | 155

Actually, I do think it’s possible Tony Cartalucci is paid to do what he does, but not by the USA, by the PRC.
All I see him saying is ” I do think it’s possible ” – the word choice alone shows he’s left plenty of room for doubt. One can even reply “Well, anything is possible, (especially when dealing with web-famous personalities)”
That’s not quite what you are implying, Mr William Bowles.
It’s not even like either of you have any cast-iron proof of who or what Tony C is – the name is even a pseudonym. So whhadya “know” about ‘Tony Cartalucci”? Absolutely nuttin!

Posted by: brb | Apr 7 2014 10:41 utc | 156

Tony doesn’t live in the USA. He may, possibly, live in Bangkok. Or he may not. Tony is an electronic citizen of the world.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 7 2014 13:11 utc | 157

I asked him for his views on the Jewish Question not long ago, and he referred me to Sun Tzu: “Strike the enemy where he is weakest, not where he is strongest.”

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 7 2014 13:13 utc | 158

Tony is an electronic citizen of the world.
“Tony” is a name attached to some words we see on a screen – other than that no one I know knows SFA about “Tony”
. . . . but I’d still be interested in hearing Rowan’s reasoning behind his supposition that TC might be a PRC propagandist (or however Rowan wishes to describe his earlier statement)

Posted by: brb | Apr 7 2014 13:35 utc | 159

I asked him for his views on the Jewish Question not long ago, and he referred me to Sun Tzu: “Strike the enemy where he is weakest, not where he is strongest.”
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 7, 2014 9:13:44 AM | 158
a good example of how to appear to be saying something without saying anything with any real meaning at all
A real politicians answer

Posted by: brb | Apr 7 2014 13:49 utc | 160

so the question around tony cartalucci and just who he might represent remains..

Posted by: james | Apr 7 2014 16:42 utc | 161

I forwarded your article about the Cuban Twitter to a friend at USAID, and have received this reply from her. It describes many of your statements as inaccurate, and in my opinion, inflammatory:
http://blog.usaid.gov/2014/04/eight-facts-about-zunzuneo/
Eight Facts About ZunZuneoPosted by Matt Herrick, Spokesperson on Monday, April 7th 2014
On Thursday, April 3, the Associated Press published an article on a social media program in Cuba funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The article contained significant inaccuracies and false conclusions about ZunZuneo, which was part of a broader effort that began in 2009 to facilitate “twitter like” communication among Cubans so they could connect with each other on topics of their choice. Many of the inaccuracies have been re-reported by other news outlets, perpetuating the original narrative, or worse.
Photo credit: Manpreet Romana/AFP
Photo credit: Manpreet Romana/AFP
The article suggested that USAID spent years on a “covert” program to gather personal information to be used for political purposes to “foment” “smart mobs” and start a “Cuban spring” to overthrow the Cuban government. It makes for an interesting read, but it’s not true.
USAID’s work in Cuba is not unlike what we and other donors do around the world to connect people who have been cut off from the outside world by repressive or authoritarian governments. USAID’s democracy and governance work focuses on strengthening civil society, governance, and promoting human rights.
Here are eight claims made by article, followed by the facts:
1) The story says the “program’s legality is unclear” and implies the program was “covert.”
FACT: USAID works in places where we are not always welcome. To minimize the risk to our staff and partners and ensure our work can proceed safely, we must take certain precautions and maintain a discreet profile. But discreet does not equal covert.
The programs have long been the subject of Congressional notifications, unclassified briefings, public budget requests, and public hearings. All of the Congressional Budget Justifications published from 2008 through 2013, which are public and online, explicitly state that a key goal of USAID’s Cuba program is to break the “information blockade” or promote “information sharing” amongst Cubans and that assistance will include the use or promotion of new “technologies” and/or “new media” to achieve its goals.
In 2012, the Government Accountability Office—the U.S. government’s investigative arm—spent months looking at every aspect of USAID’s Cuba programs. GAO’s team of analysts had unrestricted access to project documents, extended telephone conversations with Mobile Accord (ZunZuneo) and even traveled to Cuba. The GAO identified no concerns in the report about the legality of USAID’s programs, including ZunZuneo, and offered USAID zero recommendations for improvements.
2) The article implies that the purpose of the program was to foment “Smart Mobs,” funnel political content and thereby trigger unrest in Cuba.
FACT: The “USAID documents” cited in the article appear to be case study research and brainstorming notes between the grantee and the contractor. The specific reference to “Smart Mobs” had nothing to do with Cuba nor ZunZuneo. The documents do not represent the U.S. government’s position or reflect the spirit or actions taken as part of the program in Cuba. The project initially sent news, sports scores, weather, and trivia. After which, the grantee did not direct content because users were generating it on their own.
3) The story states there was a “shell company” in Spain formed to run the program.
FACT: No one affiliated with the ZunZuneo program established a private company in Spain as part of this program. The project sought to do so if it was able to attract private investors to support the effort after USAID funding ended. Private investment was never identified and thus no company was ever formed.
4) The story implies that the USG tried to recruit executives to run ZunZuneo without telling them about USG involvement.
FACT: A USAID staff member was present during several of the interviews for candidates to lead ZunZuneo. The staff member’s affiliation with USAID was disclosed and it was conveyed that the funding for the program was from the U.S. Government.
5) The article states that private data was collected with the hope it would be used for political purposes.
FACT: The ZunZuneo project included a website, as is typical for a social network. Users could voluntarily submit personal information. Few did, and the program did not use this information for anything.
6) The article says that the funding was “publicly earmarked for an unspecified project in Pakistan,” implying that funds were misappropriated.
FACT: All funds for this project were Congressionally appropriated for democracy programs in Cuba, and that information is publicly available.
7) The story stated, “At its peak, the project drew in more than 40,000 Cubans to share news and exchange opinions.”
FACT: At its peak, the platform had around 68,000 users.
8) The article suggests there was an inappropriate base of operations established in Costa Rica outside of normal U.S. government procedures.
FACT: The Government of Costa Rica was informed of the program on more than one occasion. The USAID employee overseeing the program served under Chief of Mission Authority with the U.S. Embassy, as is standard practice.
We welcome tough journalism – and we embrace it. It makes our programs better. But we also believe it’s important that the good work of USAID not be falsely characterized.

Posted by: Furzy Mouse | Apr 10 2014 4:36 utc | 162

@162 – “”Government Accountability Office””
one question furzy – since when the past however many years has there ever been any accountability in the usa, especially when it comes to their involvement in other countries? nice sounding thing though that GAO..

Posted by: james | Apr 10 2014 5:09 utc | 163

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