Anonymous US intelligence officials used the media this June to spread a rumor claiming that the Chinese government is building a massive spy base in Cuba, 100 miles from Florida.
There was however a glaring problem with this story: The US Department of Defense said it is false.
Top Pentagon officials came out publicly and clarified that the reports are "not accurate", that China is in fact not building a spy base in Cuba.
This is the latest example of a series of false stories that have been laundered through the mainstream corporate media by US spy agencies, particularly the CIA, which seek to advance US foreign policy interests and demonize adversaries like China, Cuba, and Russia.
Recent disinformation campaigns of similar provenance have included Havana Syndrome - the debunked myth that Cuba, China, and/or Russia was supposedly attacking US spies and diplomats with pulsed microwave weapons - or "Bountygate" - the false CIA claim that Russia was paying the Taliban bounties in order to kill US soldiers during the war in Afghanistan.
The CIA has perfected the art of using the media to manipulate public opinion, to push people in certain political directions and manufacture consent for war.
One of the co-founders of the CIA, Frank Wisner, famously said the spy agency has contacts all across the media and can play the press like a "mighty Wurlitzer” - a kind of old musical instrument.
Anonymous
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Indian Media Fabricates Non-Existent Think Tanks, Journalists to Churn Anti-China, Pakistan News
A recent report by a European organization investigating fake narratives of Indian media exposes the Indian government's vast smear campaign against China and Pakistan.
The latest investigation report, titled "Bad Sources - How Indian news agency ANI quoted sources that do not exist," by independent non-profit organization EU DisinfoLab, published in February 2023, exposes more details and evidences to prove that Asian News International (ANI), an Indian news agency, has been quoting a number of non-existent organizations, journalists and bloggers to spread disinformation that attacks and smears China and Pakistan.
The report further uncovered that India has long been building a huge anti-China and anti-Pakistan disinformation network and that Indian media outlets have built a sophisticated assembly line of fake anti-China and anti-Pakistan news.
In the report, researchers write that ANI has been repeatedly quoting articles and reports issued by a think tank named the International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS).
ANI has quoted IFFRAS more than 200 times from May 2021 to January 2023, and "in most instances, it was not only quoting but using the IFFRAS 'reports' as the backbone of the articles," said the report.
EU DisinfoLab further investigated whether the conference attendees at the think tank quoted in the articles actually exist. The investigation report pointed out that more than 70 speakers mentioned in the fake conferences of IFFRAS did not exist at all.
Apart from IFFRAS, the researchers also looked into another think tank frequently quoted by ANI, the Policy Research Group (POREG), in which the researchers found no sign of the existence of three new members who had reportedly joined the group in the last two years. The three people had been quoted by ANI numerous times on topics such as Pakistan's army doctrines and China's "wolf warrior diplomacy," according to the investigation report.
These fabricated figures are used as experts to provide opinions and analysis to further mislead readers and reinforce the false narratives. ANI's articles, containing the disseminated disinformation, are reproduced and shared across various well-established media outlets in India. This amplification of the false narratives through multiple platforms increases their reach and potential impact, potentially influencing a wider audience and shaping public opinion.
The IFFRAS think tank mentioned in the lab report was also found to be linked to the Srivastava Group, as the researchers found that IFFRAS has been registered by using a well-known email address from the Srivastava Group.
The latter is a notorious Indian shell corporation, and the EU DisinfoLab pointed out in its 2020 report that nominally, the group's main business is news media, with offices in Brussels and Geneva, and registrations of more than 750 media, think tanks and more than 550 domain names in 116 countries and regions around the world.
However, the researchers investigated and found that there was no profitable business under the Srivastava Group, and the media and think tanks related to the group basically only had a name but no actual business.
The group is a representative of the disinformation war launched by India against China. Under the lead of the Srivastava Group, which is based overseas in Geneva and Brussels, an information warfare network has been woven, with a number of fake media, think tanks and NGOs all over the world.
The fake news produced by the fake media under the group is also published and reprinted by some Indian media websites such as ANI which increases the reach of the disinformation.
Analysts pointed out that the production of fake news by Indian media not only discredit China and Pakistan, but can incite nationalist sentiment within the country and distract people from the real problems of the country and the poor performance of its government.
Maybe such misinformation is circulating
in our local don’t take side MSM
Read report "BadSources – How Indian news agency ANI quoted sources that do not exist" at:
https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/bad-sources-how-indian-news-agency-ani-quoted-sources-that-do-not-exist/
They learnt well from their American masters, the Empire of Lies.
Lousy Indian Deal But Shein Still Accepts
Chinese-founded online fast-fashion giant Shein won approvals to re-enter India only after agreeing to a stringent licensing deal with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter.
The agreement, which comes three years after Shein was booted out of India, will require the retail arm of Reliance to fully own the domestic business, while Singapore-headquartered Shein will offer production support and training to over 25,000 small and mid-sized local suppliers so they can produce for Shein-branded products globally, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private.
Shein was among a slew of Chinese apps that India banned in 2020 following deadly clashes between the two countries’ soldiers along their disputed Himalayan border. Shein, which doesn’t sell any of its apparel in China, has since tried to distance itself from its home country, relocating its headquarters to Singapore in 2021.
All data generated by Shein’s app and from its operations in India will be stored in India and be inaccessible to the online retailer in compliance with strict requirements from the Indian government over data security concerns, the people said.
Since there is no equity involved, Shein will be paid a license fee from the Indian entity and payments will also only be made out of any profits that entity makes, they said.
The specific requirements show how New Delhi is intent upon keeping Shein at arm’s length while seeking to leverage its know-how to build up India’s own manufacturing prowess.
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