Um zu verstehen, warum ich den Friedensnobelpreis als “Propaganda-Instrument der europäischen Staaten” bezeichne, müssen wir uns zunächst anschauen, wer die Preisträger nach welchen Kriterien auswählt. Danach kommen wir zur aktuellen Preisträgerin und der Frage, was die diesjährige Verleihung bedeutet. Wie der Friedensnobelpreis verliehen wird Anders als alle anderen Nobelpreise, die in Stockholm an von Experten […]

When an elite loses the capacity to imagine, create, and persuade, it may be a harbinger that an era is coming to an end.

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

In a burst of posturing during the recent European Arctic Summit in Rovaniemi, Finland, European leaders donned military attire to convey a message of readiness for a confrontation with Russia, while the political and media apparatus repeats, almost in unison, warnings about the “Russian threat.” The Summit’s official declaration places security at the heart of discussions and insists on the need to strengthen the European presence and capabilities in the region, which is deemed strategic for continental security.

There is something deeply unsettling about this staging. These leaders present themselves as representatives of societies mobilized for war, even as they govern deeply divided countries and face a growing erosion of public trust. This gap alone – between leadership rhetoric and the actual disposition of their societies – should counsel prudence. Instead, we are witnessing the creation of a psychological atmosphere of confrontation. And that is precisely where the danger lies.

The real risk of self-destruction

First, there is an element of pretense, as Europe lacks the industrial capacity required to autonomously sustain a prolonged military mobilization on the scale suggested by such warmongering rhetoric. The very effort to rebuild stockpiles, ramp up ammunition production, and restore industrial capacity demonstrates just how much that infrastructure has been scaled back in recent decades. Yet, the most serious issue is not industrial, but strategic.

The Russian Federation possesses a massive nuclear arsenal and advanced strike systems, including hypersonic missiles. This does not mean Russia holds technological superiority in every field, but it points to something far more significant for this discussion: any direct war between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Russia would involve forces capable of inflicting destruction on a civilizational scale. Russia and the US continue to hold the overwhelming majority of existing nuclear warheads, even as major nuclear states modernize their arsenals and arms control mechanisms weaken. Therefore, treating a direct confrontation with Russia as merely another foreign policy option is not an act of courage; it is courting the possibility of self-destruction.

Once a certain threshold is crossed, there is no longer any guarantee that events will remain under the control of those who initiated them. This is the crucial point missing from the current warmongering theatricalization.

And there is something even more disturbing. The language of destruction is once again being openly voiced by Western leaders themselves. At the United Nations General Assembly, President Donald Trump proclaimed that the US could “annihilate” Iran if an agreement were not reached. If a threat of this nature – a “final solution” – can be uttered at the UN without triggering a political rupture commensurate with the enormity of the statement, then something extremely serious is happening to the Western perception of the limits of war. For the normalization of the language of annihilation does not necessarily remain confined to the adversary against whom it was originally directed.

Today it might be Iran. Tomorrow, in a spiral of escalation beyond anyone’s control, it could be European cities. It is in this sense that current warmongering fantasies cease to be mere political posturing and begin to represent a concrete danger of self-destruction for European civilization. Europe, which for centuries was a fundamental center of Western civilization, has lived through two world wars and knows firsthand what it means to turn political rivalries into wars of annihilation. Precisely for this reason, one would expect its leaders to be the first to understand that a war between nuclear powers offers no second chance to correct miscalculations. Yet we see them toying with military symbols, mobilizing rhetoric, existential enemies, and the prospect of confrontation, as if we were still living in the world that existed before Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That is precisely the nature of the fiction: portraying war as a readily available political tool without fully confronting what it could actually entail. And if the confrontation spirals out of control, the price will be paid not merely by governments, parties, or military alliances, but by the very civilization these leaders claim to be defending.

Who needs the threat?

So, let us ask: who is behind all this falsehood? Who funds this play? Who needs this constant atmosphere of threats? And why does a political order facing an evident crisis of legitimacy seem to find, in the prospect of war, one of the last narratives capable of justifying its own survival?

The simplest answer would be to explain this attitude as an attempt to prop up unpopular regimes by invoking an imaginary external threat, while simultaneously condemning or suppressing emerging political forces, portrayed as foreign agents or tools of an enemy power – in this case, linked to the Russian “beast”.

Undoubtedly, there is some truth to this. History offers numerous examples of governments resorting to external threats to restore crumbling internal cohesion, discredit opponents, and justify measures that would face greater resistance under normal circumstances. Yet, this explanation is insufficient. The crisis is not merely about the legitimacy of a group of European leaders; it affects the very system that placed them in power – and it is that system which is in crisis.

The crisis of the liberal-financial order

The so-called “rules-based world,” the financial globalization, the free trade elevated to the status of dogma, and the progressive displacement of the productive economy by financialization are being challenged by the resurgence of the sovereign nation-state, industrial policies, energy security, strategic supply chains, and the defense of national economic interests. Paradoxically, this return of the nation-state could also offer a path for the West to reclaim some of its own civilizational roots (that are essentially Christian), in which political power was not conceived as absolute, but rather subject to a higher moral order. At a deeper level, however, what lies behind these chimeras is an even greater crisis: the crisis of the liberal-financial system organized around “independent” central banks, the growing autonomy of financial power from national communities, and an economic conception that, over decades, has progressively shifted the center of wealth from production to financial returns. This system has historical roots in the formation of the Anglo-Dutch commercial and financial order of the 17th and 18th centuries – an order that was subsequently projected across much of the world through British and, later, American imperial and financial structures.

Over time, this model has taken on new forms but retained an essential characteristic: the ability of financial power to present itself as a reality standing almost outside politics, as if its decisions were technical, neutral, and independent of the sovereign choices of societies. It is precisely this architecture that is now being called into question.

A secular religion without the promise of redemption

The underlying system of Western oligarchies has lost the capacity to generate ideas and projects capable of mobilizing societies around a vision of the future. This sterility is also reflected in the mediocrity of much of the current leaders, who act more as administrators of an order in crisis than as creators of a new political reality. Liberal politics has thus transformed into a kind of secular religion devoid of any promise of redemption. And this is perhaps one of its most unsettling characteristics.

The great political movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, even when they led entire societies to catastrophe, still promised some form of historical redemption: the classless society, national greatness, empire, revolution, the “new man,” or a supposedly definitive future order.

The secular religion of the decaying liberal order no longer offers even that. It demands sacrifices without holding out the prospect of a future paradise. It demands impoverishment in the name of stability, a loss of sovereignty in the name of rules, deindustrialization in the name of efficiency and environmental “protection,” and censorship in the name of democracy; ultimately, it even accepts the risk of war to preserve an order whose purpose it can no longer explain. There is no longer a genuine promise of redemption. There is only the promise that the system will continue to exist. In the words of former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, “We are the Garden of Eden; the rest is the jungle.”

At this point, politics ceases to defend society and instead demands that society sacrifice itself to defend the system. This is precisely where a secular religion can become self-destructive: when preserving the existing order comes to matter more than preserving the people living under that order.

From creative minority to dominant minority

This is, perhaps, one of the deepest signs of civilizational exhaustion. An elite ceases to be creative when it can no longer imagine a future distinct from the mere continuation of itself. The English historian Arnold Toynbee grasped this phenomenon with profound insight when he distinguished the creative minority from the dominant minority. A creative minority exercises leadership because it offers responses capable of inspiring allegiance. Its authority stems from its ability to respond to historical challenges and to generate new forms of organization, culture, and meaning. When this capacity vanishes, the former creative minority may transform into a dominant minority – one that no longer leads by inspiring, but sustains itself through control. Persuasion is progressively replaced by discipline; imagination by administration; vision by propaganda; and trust by fear.

It is at this juncture that the system risks turning the crisis itself into a justification for its continued existence. The more it fails, the more power it demands. The more legitimacy it loses, the more it requires enemies. The less it is able to imagine a future, the more dramatically it must portray the present as an existential battle.

When the temporal takes the place of the transcendent

Here, the reflections of German-American philosopher Eric Voegelin on totalitarian ideologies as “political religions” converge with Toynbee’s ideas regarding the disintegration of civilizations. When a society loses its reference to a transcendent order, the human need for the absolute does not necessarily disappear; it may simply be transferred elsewhere. The nation, race, class, party, revolution, the market, “the rules,” or democracy (understood not merely as a political system but as an absolute moral category)  –  any temporal reality can be sacralized and elevated to a status beyond questioning.

In this process, the temporal takes the place of the transcendent. Yet there is a decisive difference between the political movements of the past and this potential secular religion of an exhausted order. The former promised a future redemption. The latter seems to demand present sacrifice solely to prevent the system from vanishing. It is a secular religion devoid of eschatology, paradise, a “new man,” or a truly new horizon. Its only future is the indefinite continuation of the present.

When fear replaces imagination

This absence of a future may well explain the growing prominence of fear: fear of the external enemy, of rupture, of dissent, of losing control. It is the fear that what was presented for decades as inevitable might suddenly cease to be so. When an order can no longer generate hope, it must generate fear. And when fear replaces imagination, conflict can transform into a form of legitimation. War, then, ceases to be merely an external instrument of policy and can become an internal necessity for the system. It is precisely here that contemporary warmongering fantasies take on a dimension far deeper than the day-to-day debates regarding Russia, Ukraine, NATO, or military spending.

The issue becomes civilizational. An order that has lost the capacity to envision its own future may begin to accept risks that, under normal circumstances, would seem unthinkable. It may end up conflating the survival of its own structures with the survival of civilization itself. And this confusion is among the most dangerous errors an elite can make. For institutions, economic regimes, and political systems are historical constructs; civilizations are far greater than they are. When a system begins to demand that civilization risk itself so that the system may survive, the relationship between means and ends has been completely inverted.

Signs of the end of an era

It is at this point that one can truly speak of self-destruction.

A civilization may begin to self-destruct not because it has ceased to believe, but because it has turned its own historical order into an object of absolute belief. And when leaders can no longer envision a future different from the one they administer; when war begins to replace politics; when fear supplants vision; when the preservation of institutions is deemed more important than the people for whom those institutions ought to exist – then we are facing not merely a political or economic crisis, but a profound crisis of civilization itself.

When an elite loses the capacity to imagine, create, and persuade, it may be a harbinger that an era is coming to an end. Yet, this does not necessarily mean the civilization is doomed. It may signify the exact opposite: that structures no longer capable of meeting present challenges are making way for other forms of organization, new ideas, and the recovery of principles that seemed forgotten. For the loss of a specific vision of order does not spell the end of human imagination. And when those in power can conceive of nothing beyond their own perpetuation, that may well be the very first sign that something new is drawing near.

Ich bezeichne den Spiegel gerne als „Pressesprecher der Geheimdienste“ oder auch „Pressesprecher der Regierung“, weil das Blatt nicht nur die Narrative der deutschen Regierung und Geheimdienste stützt – womit der Spiegel beweist, dass er weder ein kritisches noch ein regierungsfernes Medium ist – sondern auch immer wieder von Regierung und Behörden Informationen bekommt, die er […]

Robert Stein hat diese Woche einen sehr vollen Terminkalender, weshalb Tacheles diese Woche fast ausgefallen wäre. Dann haben wir jedoch entschieden, einen „Tacheles-Quickie“ zu machen und zumindest eine halbe Stunde über die wichtigsten Themen der Woche zu sprechen. Aber Röper und Stein können keinen „Quickie“, weshalb aus der geplanten halben Stunde doch wieder über eine […]

Montenegro has ordered the expulsion of Mikhail Zvynchuk, head of the pro-Kremlin military information network Rybar, and four other Russian citizens over national security concerns following a security operation targeting suspected Russian hybrid influence activities, Vijesti reported on 9 October.

Zvynchuk is the founder and head of Rybar, a prominent Russian military-focused information network known for its Telegram channels covering Russia's war against Ukraine. The network promotes pro-Kremlin narratives and has been associated with Russian propaganda and influence operations.

Montenegrin police announced on 9 October that the five Russians had their residence rights revoked and were ordered to leave the country on national and internal security grounds. 

Montenegro investigates suspected Russian hybrid activity

The operation involved Montenegro's police and National Security Agency (ANB), which seized drones, high-resolution recording equipment, cameras, and several mobile phones for further examination, according to Vijesti.

According to Montenegrin authorities, the five had arrived in the country less than two days before the operation. The investigation is being conducted with support from international partners.

Montenegrin police identified the five Russian citizens as Zvynchuk, his wife Valeria Zvynchuk, Sergei Belous, Pavel Lekatorchuk, and Kira Doroshenko. Authorities said the case had been referred to prosecutors in Podgorica and Kotor.

The European Union has sanctioned Zvynchuk over activities that undermine or threaten Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence. He has also been sanctioned by the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, and Ukraine, according to Vijesti.

Suspected influence operation targeting EU integration

Vijesti reported, citing security sources, that Montenegrin authorities suspected the group of planning a documentary intended to undermine public support for the country's European integration.

According to the outlet, the planned material would portray Montenegro's expected alignment of its visa policy with EU standards as a politically imposed measure that threatens tourism, economic stability, and national interests.

Security services had monitored the group's arrival before carrying out the operation in Risan, in the Bay of Kotor area, Vijesti reported. The equipment seized from the group will undergo expert analysis to establish its intended purpose and use in Montenegro.

Medvedev threatens imprisoning “European and American idiots” for prisoner exchanges

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev responded to the operation by suggesting Moscow might need to expand its pool of prisoners to exchange for Europeans and Americans to secure Zvynchuk's return.

“We will probably have to replenish our pool of prisoners for exchange with European and American idiots,” Medvedev said, according to Vijesti.

Montenegro, a NATO member and EU candidate, has aligned itself with EU sanctions against Russia following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The expulsion comes amid broader European concerns over Russian intelligence activity, propaganda, and other forms of hybrid interference. 

CNN’s plague scare in Russia: “damn them if they do, damn them if they don’t.”

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

We are going to talk about various aspects of the supposed ‘plague outbreak’ in Russia but there is a greater tendency at hand when we look at the media interpretation of this event be it real, fake, or an enigma of sorts. If anyone is familiar with my work they would have heard me say something to the effect of “everything you know about Russia, written in English, is a lie” and I still believe this statement. When Western politicians declare that “Russia has the economic potential of Spain” or that “Russia is Nigeria with snow” or other such statements they are not lying in a direct and conscious way.

Based on all the data and information that they have ‘over there’ about Russia’s economy this view was logically ‘true’. If you crunch the numbers based on Western data then I guess Russia is just an enigmatic economy wrapped in mystery the size of a second-tier EU nation, but obviously this is not the case in reality. Russia is horribly draconian and repressive, because it is written all over the place that this is indeed the case. The calculations that Russia would immediately fold and that the ‘Ruble would be rubble’ after the Special Military Operation began were not fake, they were just based on false data. If you look at the West’s information about Russia, it would really seem that the nation’s economy stands only on oil prices, the population is waiting for a single spark to rise up against the tyrant, and that overall, the house of cards is just waiting to be blown over. But as the war years have proven, this has not been the case, but the initial calculations were ‘correct’ based on the data put into them.

Even the famous quote by Lenin that “a lie told often enough become true” ironically may not have ever been said by him, but this pseudo statement makes Russia look bad so the West keeps saying it. In Russia, because some people have been arrested for online activities since the start of the Special Military Operation, that would include organizing terrorism, this is “bad”, but the fact that there are 70 times more people behind bars in the UK for what they have said online doesn’t count, because that is different and has never once been considered by a British journalist. Arrests for statements and actions online only applies to those who are bad as proof that they are bad.

If Russia’s army is strong this is militarism, if Russia’s army is weak this is proof of corruption and ineptitude. If there are trials for corruption this is proof of the heavy-handed Putin regime taking out its enemies, and if there were not trails for corruption then it is proof of corruption and the totalitarian control of the regime. There is no possible win state for Russia in the Western press, even during the supposed media friendly treatment of Yeltsin in the good ole days, the entire establishment was an orgy of shadenfraude at the downfall of the USSR and humiliated state of 90s Russia.

To put things in very blunt terms: if something happens or is said to have happened related to Russia:

-If the Russian media goes along with it then that is proof that Russia is bad

-If the Russian media resists that is proof of a cover up for the evil deed that proves Russia is bad

– Ultimately, any action or inaction by Russia is bad and proof of its badness.

CNN’s take on this issue is stock Russophobia

And right on cue comes CNN to prop up this plague narrative that seems to be fake at its core. But we will talk about what is actually happening with this ‘outbreak’ a bit later, but for now let’s stick to the media side of things. Even in the title of the CNN article in question “Checklists, masks and mystery: What we know about the plague scare in Russia” you can already see the spin revving up.

“Russian authorities have sought to allay global worries over the death of a young woman who worked at a Siberian anti-plague laboratory. But moves to isolate her contacts and introduce new disease-control measures at local hospitals have raised concerns among people who fear they’re not being told the full story.”

In regards to the paragraph above, as you can see, the Russian side is bad because it has a different narrative and has the audacity to share it with the world. However, if the Russian media were to have been silent on this, it would also be bad as it would be proof of guilt via inaction. The fact that the Russian authorities are doing some actions to try to stop an outbreak is bad because these measures create fear or something, but at the very least this is good enough to use for condemnation. However, if the government took extreme measures this would be ‘draconian’ and if they took no measures this would be ‘horribly irresponsible’. So taking medium level measures is ‘fear inducing’ or something and of course this is bad and absolutely unacceptable.

“Ulyana Gavryunina, a 29-year-old blogger from Angarsk, a city in the Irkutsk region, told CNN she had to change maternity hospitals at 40 weeks pregnant after newly imposed quarantine restrictions meant her husband could no longer be with her during labor.”

So because the local government has limited facilities, sadly this woman had to give birth in less than ideal conditions. This is unfortunate for her and I am sure it was quite frustrating, but again CNN says the Russian authorities taking action is bad because it affected people negatively, yet if they did nothing it would also be just as bad. If the people had not been quarantined at that facility that would be ‘dangerous and irresponsible’ or something like that.

“Russia’s health watchdog said Wednesday said there is no epidemic risk following the woman’s death, and that it was winding down response. Rospotrebnadzor said medical monitoring has been completed for “over 90%” of contacts of the deceased lab worker, and no “dangerous” pathogens have been found. But unanswered questions remain.”

The expression “but unanswered questions remain” was used here to negate the opinion of the Russian government. If this paragraph were to have ended without these words, it would make the views of local authorities seem fully legitimate. When “questions remain” it hints at a conspiracy, that the official story does not match reality. Again, no matter what the Russian authorities would have publicly stated the response would have been bad because CNN sees them as the enemy. The enemy can do no right. And Russia’s actions are the actions of an enemy and thus they are universally negative to any proper journalist.

“According to its website, the Anti-Plague Institute employs around 95 researchers and is a major public health facility responsible for monitoring and preventing outbreaks of high-risk bacterial and viral infections across Siberia and Russia’s Far East.

The institute was established in 1934 to combat plague and continues to study the disease because Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes the plague, still circulates naturally in wildlife across parts of Siberia and neighboring regions.”

Shockingly, CNN did not label the research facility where Ms. Shipilova worked as a biolab or some other nefarious term. They actually ‘took their word for it’ and just relayed information from their website. This was both true and pleasant to read.

So what actually happened?

Now let’s discuss the actual situation with a potential plague and the mysterious death of the disease researcher who was working on fighting it. There is a video from an unnamed American woman living in Irkutsk (Channel name: American in the Motherland) about the entire situation that in less than 15 minutes breaks down the whole story with sources, facts, and video directly from the region. I will share the bullet points of her presented views for brevity. As you can see, just one citizen journalist yet again crushes the mainstream media point-by-point. The image below is from the video and shows the ‘brilliance’ of the international press and their hot takes on this issue.

The videos key points were:

• There are no mass lockdowns in Irkutsk or anywhere else in Russia, the only people who are quarantined had direct contact with the woman who died (Daria Shipilova) and their number is less than 200.
• Shipilova did not work at a military biolab, but a plague\disease research institute designed to fight diseases. It’s location and work was neither secret nor military.
• Shipilova was hospitalized outside of Irkutsk because at that location they had a facility designed to handle this type of disease outbreak from the Covid era, not as part of some conspiracy.
• There is no second other death from the same cause as Ms. Shipilova’s demise.
• Daria Shipilova’s cause of death was “pneumonia of an unknown origin”
• The ‘broken test tube’ narrative is a myth as it was thought up by some Russian blogger. When working with serious diseases they don’t just walk around an office-like environment with fragile test tubes. Russia does not operate by the same methodology as the Umbrella Corporation, flailing around with fragile vials of diseases willy-nilly.
• The Russian side found no evidence of an accident at the research facility.
• The researcher did not travel to Buryatia prior to her death. Thus, she did not get the disease from local marmots or other types of rodents.
• There have been no other cases of what killed Ms. Shipilova at the moment of writing this article or the creation of the video linked above.
• The plague is treatable as it is caused by bacteria that continues to exists around the world. A handful of people in the USA and other countries still contract it every year. Antibiotics are an effective countermeasure against it, thus this does not seem like cause for international panic.

Why did the plague pass on medieval Russia?

One thing that is important about to note about this issue, is that historically, although the Bubonic Plague did kill people outside of Western Europe, it only had devastating effects within it. Russians continue to be proud to this day of having a high level of cultural hygiene that dates back to medieval times. Dark Age Russians and others outside of the West seemed to ‘put two and two together’ about the necessity for regular bathing and washing one’s hands. This hygienic culture is believed to be the reason why Russia had such a massive population in the 1800s compared to others around them. Many in Russia believe that if it weren’t for massive mistakes like WWI, The Revolution, WWII, and the 90s they would have a current population halfway closer to something like China’s or India’s.

So from a Russian cultural standpoint this very much looks like another campaign of projection; a third of England died to the plague, only a handful in Russia did. Thus, the Black Death had really no cultural impact on Russia, and judging by writings from the 1800s, tuberculosis seems to have been a much more long-term nagging problem for this society that to this day still has relevance. There are anti-tuberculosis facilities all over Russia and one cannot immigrate to the country if they have signs of it. The whole ‘living with vermin’ thing was not a fact of life for medieval or modern Russians, that honor goes to the enlightened liberal West.

The Media is the disease.

We only looked at one particular written piece on this issue, but there are plenty of insane musings from the Western press that follow the “damn the Russians if they do, damn them if they don’t” formula. Headlines like this one from the Daily Mail are the perfect example:

“Trump offers Putin lifeline as Russia scrambles to contain deadly airborne plague after lab worker’s death”.

Again, if ‘Putin’ did nothing he would be bad, but he is doing something, thus he is ‘scrambling’ in a panicked way which is also bad. Trump offering him a ‘lifeline’ means that Putin has no choice to accept this help, whatever it may be or he is bad. But guess what? If he does accept the lifeline it surely means he is weak or something which means he is bad.

When you go back and really look at the historical representation of ‘Russian realities’ in English-language media you see this hysterical Nietzschian untermensch narrative manipulation in everything. Putin has been on the brink of being ousted since 2000 and the Russian economy has been on the verge of collapse since then too. Everything written about Russia in English in the West is a lie.

A proxy war against Russia is now spiralling into an all-out confrontation.

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern discusses how the Western official news media have systematically promoted lies about the Bucha Massacre in Ukraine.

No Western official outlet has questioned the narrative purporting that Russia perpetrated a mass killing of civilians. Credible Russian information to the contrary is dismissed out of hand as Kremlin propaganda.

Ironically, it is Western media that are seen as the propagandists and the purveyors of Big Lies – if one cares to examine the record objectively.

The alleged Bucha atrocity involved the apparent execution of hundreds of civilians by Russian forces as they were withdrawing from Kiev and surrounding areas at the end of March 2022. European leaders ritualistically visit a memorial in Bucha and condemn Russian barbarity.

The political objective of those shocking Western media claims was to sabotage a potential peace deal with Moscow and to prolong the proxy war with the aim of NATO strategically defeating Russia. That culminated in nearly five years of war, millions of casualties, a failed NATO objective, and worse still, the danger of a general war in Europe going nuclear.

Ray McGovern points out that the timeline of the Bucha killings does not fit the Western media narrative. The corpses on the streets of Bucha appeared days after the Russian forces made their withdrawal to what was then the East of Ukraine.

Recently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presented new details at the United Nations that substantiate the claim that the Bucha killings were a false-flag propaganda stunt to smear Russia and to wreck any prospect of an early peace deal with Ukraine. A Russian-led investigation reveals that many of the alleged civilian victims whose names are inscribed on a memorial wall were identified as Ukrainian soldiers who had been killed in action and buried elsewhere.

The Russian report is entitled “Heirs of Goebbels: falsification of the events in Bucha and bloody staged performances of the Kiev regime.” (Western internet has suppressed links to the report, though it can be accessed from the Russian foreign ministry.)

As McGovern notes, not one major Western media outlet reported on Lavrov’s presentation at the United Nations and his delivery of the Russian investigation to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. McGovern believes the perpetrators were MI6, CIA, and the Kiev regime operatives.

This egregious example of Western media suppression of Russian information and perspective on the conflict in Ukraine is repeated over and over. Another example, as McGovern amply recounts, was the attempt by Moscow to engage the United States and European NATO partners in a security treaty in late 2021. Washington and European partners dismissed the diplomatic efforts to avert war, which then erupted on February 24, 2022, when Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

The Russian invasion was not unprovoked aggression, as Western media have dutifully asserted. It was a preemptive response to NATO covert aggression via the NeoNazi Kiev regime over seven years since the coup in 2014.

The Nord Stream gas pipeline sabotage is another case study of how Western media have systematically ignored the evidence implicating a NATO provocation and the background to the proxy war against Russia.

Official Western media are in the service of a political agenda and not the public interest. Their function is to prevent popular understanding of the real nature of the war in Ukraine, a proxy war against Russia that is now spiralling into an all-out confrontation.

We refer to the quote from Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president, who warned: “Our liberty [democracy] depends on freedom of the press and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

Ray McGovern laments that there has been a dreadful erosion of democracy and media independence over recent decades since the end of the Cold War and the rise of U.S. unilateralism.

However, on a positive note, he sees hopeful signs from the phenomenal growth in alternative media and independent information, generating more critical public awareness of government abuses of power. He believes that genuine democracy can survive and thrive – despite the official Western media whose power is waning as more people realize its insidious role in promoting criminal wars.

Ray McGovern worked as a CIA intelligence analyst for nearly 30 years under seven presidents, the first being John F Kennedy in 1963. On his retirement, he was awarded the Intelligence Commendation Medal. He handed back the medal in 2006 in protest over the CIA’s practice of systematic torture. He has repudiated the Agency as an enemy of democracy.

In a final note of breaking news, on November 18th this year, in his 87th year, this “proud Irish son” will be honored with the James Joyce Award conferred by University College Dublin, Ireland. The prize is bestowed by the students of UCD’s Historical and Literary Society for his independent thinking, intellectual courage, and distinguished contribution to public information and democratic society.

Eight million properties in Britain are at risk of flooding by mid-century due to climate change, the Environment Agency has claimed. That's a quarter of the total. It's completely preposterous, says Paul Homewood.

The post Eight Million Properties at Risk of Flooding by Mid-Century, Claims Environment Agency appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Líderes europeus vestem uniformes militares e brincam com guerra nuclear. Uma ordem sem futuro troca esperança por medo e arrisca autodestruição.

Junte-se a nós no Telegram , X e VK.

Escreva para nós: info@strategic-culture.su

Em um surto de simulação, durante a recente Cúpula Europeia do Ártico, em Rovaniemi, Finlândia, líderes europeus vestiram trajes militares para transmitir uma mensagem de preparação para uma confrontação com a Rússia, enquanto a máquina política e midiática repete, quase em uníssono, o alerta contra a “ameaça russa”. A declaração oficial da Cúpula coloca a segurança no centro das discussões e insiste na necessidade de fortalecimento da presença e das capacidades europeias na região, considerada estratégica para a segurança continental.

Essa encenação tem algo de profundamente inquietante. Tais dirigentes apresentam-se na condição de representantes de sociedades mobilizadas para a guerra, enquanto governam países profundamente divididos e enfrentam uma crescente erosão da confiança pública. Por si só, essa distância entre a retórica das lideranças e a disposição real das sociedades deveria recomendar prudência. Em vez disso, assistimos à construção de uma atmosfera psicológica de confrontação. E é justamente aí que começa o perigo.

O risco real de autodestruição

Em primeiro lugar, há um elemento de fingimento, pois a Europa não dispõe das condições industriais necessárias para sustentar autonomamente uma mobilização militar prolongada na escala sugerida pela retórica belicista. O próprio esforço para reconstruir estoques, aumentar a produção de munições e recuperar capacidade industrial demonstra o quanto essa estrutura foi reduzida nas últimas décadas. Mas a questão mais grave não é industrial, mas estratégica.

A Federação Russa dispõe de um enorme arsenal nuclear e de sistemas de ataque avançados, inclusive mísseis hipersônicos. Isto não significa que a Rússia possua superioridade tecnológica em todos os campos, mas algo muito mais importante para essa reflexão: qualquer guerra direta entre a Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte (OTAN) e a Rússia envolveria forças capazes de provocar uma destruição de escala civilizacional. A Rússia e os EUA continuam concentrando a esmagadora maioria das ogivas nucleares existentes, ao mesmo tempo em que os principais Estados nucleares modernizam seus arsenais e os mecanismos de controle de armas se enfraquecem. Portanto, tratar uma confrontação direta com a Rússia como apenas mais uma opção de política externa não é demonstração de coragem: é cortejar uma possibilidade de autodestruição.

Quando se atravessa determinado limiar, já não existe garantia de que os acontecimentos permaneçam sob o controle daqueles que os iniciaram. É este o ponto ausente da atual teatralização belicista.

E há algo ainda mais perturbador. A linguagem da destruição voltou a ser pronunciada abertamente pelas próprias lideranças ocidentais. Na Assembleia Geral das Nações Unidas, o presidente Donald Trump proclamou que os EUA poderiam “aniquilar” o Irã caso não fosse alcançado um acordo. Se uma ameaça dessa natureza – uma “solução final” – pode ser pronunciada na ONU sem provocar uma ruptura política proporcional à enormidade do que está sendo dito, algo extremamente grave está ocorrendo com a percepção ocidental dos limites da guerra. Porque a normalização da linguagem de aniquilação não permanece necessariamente confinada ao adversário contra o qual foi originalmente dirigida.

Hoje pode ser o Irã. Amanhã, numa espiral de escalada que ninguém consiga mais controlar, podem ser cidades europeias. É neste sentido que os atuais devaneios belicistas deixam de ser apenas uma encenação política e passam a representar um perigo concreto de autodestruição da própria civilização europeia. A Europa, que durante séculos foi um dos centros fundamentais da civilização ocidental, atravessou duas guerras mundiais e conheceu diretamente o que significa transformar rivalidades políticas em guerras de aniquilação. Justamente por isso, seria de esperar que suas lideranças fossem as primeiras a compreender que uma guerra entre potências nucleares não oferece uma segunda oportunidade para se corrigirem erros de cálculo.

No entanto, os vemos brincando com símbolos militares, discursos de mobilização, inimigos existenciais e horizontes de confrontação, como se ainda estivéssemos no mundo anterior a Hiroshima e Nagasaki. A ficção consiste precisamente nisso: representar a guerra como instrumento político disponível sem encarar até o fim o que ela poderia significar. E, se a confrontação escapar ao controle, não serão apenas governos, partidos ou alianças militares que pagarão o preço, mas a própria civilização que esses dirigentes afirmam estar defendendo.

Quem precisa da ameaça?

Então, perguntemos: quem está por trás de toda essa falsidade? Quem alimenta essa representação? Quem necessita dessa atmosfera permanente de ameaças? E por que uma ordem política em evidente crise de legitimidade parece encontrar na perspectiva da guerra uma das últimas narrativas capazes de justificar a sua própria continuidade?

A resposta mais simplória consistiria em explicar essa atitude como uma tentativa de manter regimes impopulares sob uma imaginária ameaça externa, ao mesmo tempo em que se condenam ou reprimem as forças políticas emergentes, apresentadas como agentes externos ou instrumentos de uma potência inimiga – no caso, vinculadas à “besta” russa.

Sem dúvida, há algo disso. A História oferece numerosos exemplos de governos que recorrem à ameaça externa para recompor coesões internas deterioradas, desacreditar adversários e justificar medidas que enfrentariam maior resistência em circunstâncias normais. Mas essa explicação é insuficiente. A crise não diz respeito apenas à legitimidade de um grupo de líderes europeus. Ela atinge o próprio sistema que os colocou nessa posição de poder – e é ele que está em crise.

A crise da ordem liberal-financeira

O chamado “mundo baseado em regras”, a globalização financeira, o livre comércio elevado à condição de dogma e a progressiva substituição da economia produtiva pela financeirização, estão sendo confrontados pelo retorno do Estado nacional soberano, das políticas industriais, da segurança energética, das cadeias produtivas estratégicas e da defesa dos interesses econômicos nacionais. Paradoxalmente, esse retorno do Estado nacional poderia representar também um caminho para que o Ocidente recuperasse parte de suas próprias raízes civilizatórias, essencialmente cristãs, nas quais o poder político não era concebido como absoluto, mas submetido a uma ordem moral superior.

Em profundidade, porém, o que se encontra por trás dessas quimeras é uma crise ainda maior: a crise do sistema liberal-financeiro organizado em torno de bancos centrais “independentes”, da autonomia crescente do poder financeiro em relação às comunidades nacionais e de uma concepção econômica que, ao longo de décadas, deslocou progressivamente o centro da riqueza da produção para as rendas financeiras. Esse sistema possui raízes históricas na formação da ordem comercial e financeira anglo-holandesa dos séculos XVII e XVIII, que posteriormente seria projetada sobre grande parte do mundo por meio das estruturas imperiais e financeiras britânicas e, depois, estadunidenses.

Com o passar do tempo, esse modelo adquiriu formas novas, mas conservou uma característica essencial: a capacidade do poder financeiro de se apresentar como uma realidade quase exterior à política, como se suas decisões fossem técnicas, neutras e independentes das escolhas soberanas das sociedades. É justamente essa arquitetura que hoje começa a ser questionada.

Uma religião secular sem promessa de redenção

O sistema profundo das oligarquias ocidentais perdeu a capacidade de gerar ideias e projetos capazes de mobilizar as sociedades em torno de um horizonte de futuro. Essa esterilidade se expressa também na mediocridade de grande parte das atuais lideranças, cada vez mais administradoras de uma ordem em crise do que criadoras de uma nova realidade política. A política liberal transformou-se, assim, em uma espécie de religião secular sem promessa de redenção. E esta talvez seja uma de suas características mais inquietantes.

Os grandes movimentos políticos dos séculos XIX e XX, mesmo quando conduziram sociedades inteiras à catástrofe, ainda prometiam alguma forma de redenção histórica: a sociedade sem classes, a grandeza nacional, o império, a revolução, o homem novo ou uma ordem futura supostamente definitiva.

A religião secular da ordem liberal em decomposição já não oferece sequer isso. Ela exige sacrifícios sem apresentar um paraíso futuro. Exige empobrecimento em nome da estabilidade, perda de soberania em nome das regras, desindustrialização em nome da eficiência e da “proteção” do meio ambiente, censura em nome da democracia e, finalmente, admite até mesmo o risco da guerra em nome da preservação de uma ordem cuja finalidade já não consegue explicar. Não existe mais uma verdadeira promessa de redenção. Existe apenas a promessa de que o sistema continuará existindo. Nas palavras do ex-chanceler da União Europeia, Josep Borrel, “nós somos o jardim do Éden, o resto é a selva”.

Nesse ponto, a política deixa de defender a sociedade e passa a exigir que a sociedade se sacrifique para defender o sistema. É precisamente aí que uma religião secular pode tornar-se autodestrutiva: quando a conservação da ordem existente passa a valer mais do que a conservação daqueles que vivem sob essa ordem.

Da minoria criadora à minoria dominante

Esse é, talvez, um dos sinais mais profundos de esgotamento civilizatório. Uma elite deixa de ser criadora quando já não consegue imaginar um futuro distinto da simples continuação de si mesma. O historiador inglês Arnold Toynbee percebeu com enorme profundidade esse fenômeno ao distinguir a minoria criadora da minoria dominante. Uma minoria criadora exerce liderança, porque oferece respostas capazes de inspirar adesão. Sua autoridade nasce de sua capacidade de responder aos desafios históricos e de produzir formas novas de organização, cultura e sentido. Quando essa capacidade desaparece, a antiga minoria criadora pode converter-se numa minoria dominante, que já não lidera porque inspira, mas conserva-se porque controla. A persuasão é progressivamente substituída pela disciplina; a imaginação, pela administração; o projeto, pela propaganda; e a confiança, pelo medo.

É nesse momento que o sistema corre o risco de transformar a própria crise em justificativa para continuar existindo. Quanto mais fracassa, mais exige poder. Quanto mais perde legitimidade, mais necessita de inimigos. Quanto menos consegue imaginar um futuro, mais dramaticamente precisa apresentar o presente como uma batalha existencial.

Quando o temporal ocupa o lugar do transcendente

Aqui, a reflexão do filósofo germano-estadunidense Eric Voegelin sobre as ideologias totalitárias como “religiões políticas” se encontra com a de Toynbee sobre a desintegração das civilizações. Quando uma sociedade perde a referência a uma ordem transcendente, a necessidade humana do absoluto não desaparece necessariamente. Ela pode simplesmente ser transferida. A nação, a raça, a classe, o partido, a revolução, o mercado, as “regras”, a democracia entendida não como regime político, mas como categoria moral absoluta – qualquer realidade temporal pode ser sacralizada e elevada a uma condição que já não admite questionamento.

Nesse processo, o temporal ocupa o lugar do transcendente. Mas há uma diferença decisiva entre os antigos movimentos políticos e essa possível religião secular de uma ordem esgotada. Os primeiros prometiam uma redenção futura. Essa última parece pedir o sacrifício presente apenas para impedir que o sistema desapareça. É uma religião secular sem escatologia, paraíso, homem novo e um horizonte verdadeiramente novo. Seu único futuro é a continuação indefinida do presente.

Quando o medo substitui a imaginação

Possivelmente, essa ausência de futuro é o que explica a crescente importância do medo: do inimigo externo; da ruptura; da dissidência; da perda do controle. O medo de que aquilo que durante décadas foi apresentado como inevitável deixe subitamente de sê-lo. Quando uma ordem não consegue mais produzir esperança, precisa produzir medo. E quando o medo substitui a imaginação, o conflito pode converter-se numa forma de legitimação. A guerra, então, deixa de ser apenas um instrumento externo de política e pode tornar-se uma necessidade interna do sistema. É justamente aí que os devaneios belicistas contemporâneos adquirem uma dimensão muito mais profunda do que a discussão cotidiana sobre a Rússia, Ucrânia, OTAN ou os gastos militares.

A questão passa a ser civilizacional. Uma ordem que perdeu a capacidade de imaginar o seu próprio futuro pode começar a aceitar riscos que, em condições normais, pareceriam impensáveis. Pode terminar confundindo a sobrevivência de suas estruturas com a sobrevivência da própria civilização. E essa confusão é uma das mais perigosas que uma elite possa cometer. Porque instituições, regimes econômicos e sistemas políticos são históricos. Civilizações são muito maiores do que eles. Quando um sistema passa a exigir que a civilização se arrisque para que ele próprio sobreviva, a relação entre meios e fins foi completamente invertida.

Os sinais de uma mudança de época

É nesse ponto que se torna possível falar verdadeiramente em autodestruição.

Uma civilização pode começar a autodestruir-se, não porque tenha deixado de acreditar, mas porque transformou a sua própria ordem histórica em objeto de crença absoluta. E quando os dirigentes deixam de imaginar um futuro diferente daquele que administram; quando a guerra começa a substituir a política; quando o medo substitui o projeto; quando a conservação das instituições passa a ser considerada mais importante do que as pessoas para as quais essas instituições deveriam existir; não estamos diante apenas de uma crise política ou econômica, mas de uma profunda crise civilizacional.

E quando uma elite perde a capacidade de imaginar, criar e persuadir, isto pode ser o sinal premonitório de que uma época está terminando. Mas não necessariamente de que a civilização esteja condenada. Pode significar exatamente o contrário: que as estruturas que já não conseguem responder aos desafios do presente estão abrindo espaço para outras formas de organização, outras ideias e uma recuperação de princípios que pareciam esquecidos. Porque a perda da imaginação de uma ordem não significa o fim da imaginação humana. E quando aqueles que governam já não conseguem conceber nada além da perpetuação de si mesmos, talvez, este seja precisamente o primeiro sinal de que algo novo começa a aproximar-se.

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Mosca è pronta a confrontarsi con il mondo intero sulle menzogne propagandate dagli occidentali. L’Occidente, invece?

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Il report Heirs of Goebbels

Dopo il 31 marzo 2026 ha cominciato a circolare in inglese un report di venti pagine intitolato Heirs of Goebbels: falsification of the events in Bucha and bloody staged performances of the Kiev regime. Lo firma il «Tribunale pubblico internazionale sui crimini dei neonazisti ucraini», organismo presieduto da Maksim Grigor’ev, che per il testo integrale rinvia al sito del Fondo russo per lo studio dei problemi della democrazia. La tesi sta già nel titolo: gli eventi di Bucha del marzo 2022 sarebbero stati falsificati dall’Ucraina con l’appoggio dei governi occidentali, secondo una tecnica che il testo accosta alla provocazione nazista di Gleiwitz del 1939.

Il documento merita una lettura attenta proprio perché non si limita alla negazione. A differenza delle smentite russe dell’aprile 2022, costruisce il proprio argomento su materiale ucraino verificabile: le targhe del memoriale, i necrologi militari, i siti commemorativi locali, le dichiarazioni della Presidenza. È su questo terreno che va discusso. La domanda che pongo qui è più stretta di quella del report e, credo, più utile: chi compare davvero sul Muro della memoria di Bucha, con quale qualifica, e che cosa succede quando una categoria commemorativa viene usata come categoria giuridica e statistica. La risposta chiama in causa tanto chi ha costruito la narrazione ufficiale quanto chi pretende di smontarla.

L’impianto è semplice. Dopo il richiamo a Gleiwitz, il testo elenca quattro metodi di falsificazione che il governo ucraino avrebbe impiegato: la presentazione come civili di militari caduti in combattimento; l’attribuzione alla Russia di morti causate dal fuoco ucraino; il conteggio tra le vittime di anziani morti di malattia; l’uccisione deliberata di propri cittadini davanti alle telecamere. Il bersaglio dichiarato è la formula ufficiale secondo cui il memoriale conterrebbe «509 nomi di civili identificati», formula che il report attribuisce al sito della Presidenza ucraina, al sindaco Anatolij Fedoruk, a Euronews e ai ministri europei presenti alla commemorazione del 31 marzo 2026.

Il nucleo del documento (pp. 3–12) è un elenco di circa trenta nomi, ciascuno accompagnato dalla foto della targa e, spesso, da un ritaglio di stampa ucraina. Li si può raggruppare in cinque classi. La prima comprende persone indicate come membri di Azov o di unità collegate: Jevhen Petraš, Jevhen Vas’kovyč, Illja Chrenov, Bohdan Knyščuk, Volodymyr Bisaha. La seconda riunisce militari regolari: il pilota Ruslan Bilous (Belous) della 7ª brigata di aviazione tattica e il suo compagno d’equipaggio Roman Dovhaljuk, il cecchino Oleh Cymbal della 80ª brigata d’assalto aereo, Vadym Smetans’kyj della stessa brigata, un colonnello dell’SBU, un maggiore del Dipartimento di protezione statale, il comandante della guardia al commissariato militare di Bucha. La terza raccoglie membri della difesa territoriale o di formazioni volontarie: Anatolij Korytko, Serhij Smyrnov, Oleksandr Blahodatnyj, Andrij Verbovyj, Mychajlo Bojčenko. La quarta riguarda civili che avrebbero preso parte ad azioni ostili: Oleksandr Šarava, uscito di casa con bottiglie incendiarie il 27 febbraio 2022; Vitalij Fesjuk, osservatore che trasmetteva i movimenti dei mezzi russi; Oleksandr Bondar, che secondo la stampa ucraina compiva ricognizioni per le forze armate. La quinta riguarda persone morte fuori dalla città (a Vorzel’, Moščun, Kopylov, Zdvizhevka, Guta-Mežigorskaja, Irpen’) e una donna di 68 anni, Halyna Semenjuk, morta di tumore.

A questo elenco il report aggancia due riferimenti giuridici corretti nella sostanza: l’art. 51, par. 3, del Primo Protocollo addizionale, per cui i civili perdono la protezione quando e per il tempo in cui partecipano direttamente alle ostilità, e un passo divulgativo del Comitato internazionale della Croce Rossa sullo stesso principio. Le pagine 12–20, infine, riportano sedici testimonianze su bombardamenti ucraini «a favore di telecamera». Nessuna riguarda Bucha: i testimoni parlano di Avdeevka, Ugledar, Toreck / Dzeržinsk, Lisichansk, Kurakhovo, in episodi che vanno dal 2021 al 2024. Il passaggio da quel materiale a Bucha è affidato a una frase esplicita: la pratica delle uccisioni deliberate «consente di concludere ragionevolmente» che lo stesso sia avvenuto anche lì.

Il quadro normativo

Il diritto internazionale umanitario definisce il civile per esclusione. Secondo l’art. 50 del Primo Protocollo è civile chiunque non appartenga alle forze armate come definite dall’art. 43, cioè a tutte le forze, i gruppi e le unità organizzati posti sotto un comando responsabile. In caso di dubbio la persona va considerata civile, e la presenza tra la popolazione di individui non civili non priva la popolazione del suo carattere civile. Il civile che partecipa direttamente alle ostilità resta civile, ma perde la protezione dagli attacchi per la durata della partecipazione. La Interpretive Guidance del CICR fissa per tale partecipazione tre requisiti cumulativi (una soglia minima di danno, un nesso causale diretto, un nesso bellico) e distingue il civile che agisce in modo episodico dal membro di un gruppo armato organizzato con funzione di combattimento continuativa, che perde la protezione per tutta la durata di tale funzione.

Due ulteriori norme contano per il caso di Bucha. La prima è la levée en masse: gli abitanti di un territorio non ancora occupato che, all’avvicinarsi del nemico, prendono spontaneamente le armi senza aver avuto il tempo di organizzarsi sono combattenti legittimi, se portano apertamente le armi e rispettano le leggi di guerra. La seconda è interna. La legge ucraina «Sui fondamenti della resistenza nazionale», in vigore dal 1° gennaio 2022, ha fatto delle Forze di difesa territoriale una componente delle Forze armate e ha istituito le formazioni volontarie delle comunità territoriali (DFTH) come unità paramilitari destinate a compiti di difesa territoriale. Chi apparteneva a queste strutture, per il diritto internazionale umanitario, non era un civile.

C’è però un punto che il report non tocca mai. Stabilire che una persona era un combattente non dice nulla su come sia morta. Un combattente catturato, ferito o arreso è hors de combat, e ucciderlo è un crimine di guerra.

Alla prova della guerra informativa

Secondo i commentatori occidentali, il report non è credibile, perché contiene alcune imprecisioni giuridiche. Degli errori tecnici ci possono stare, ma guardare il dito ignorando la luna è un errore madornale. A Bucha, il crimine è stato compiuto dagli ucraini, non dai russi. E c’è un crimine atroce che è divenuto uno strumento di propaganda, parte di una guerra informativa che era indispensabile per l’Occidente collettivo.

Bucha ha rappresentato uno dei momenti decisivi della guerra dell’informazione sviluppatasi intorno al conflitto russo-ucraino. Dopo il ritiro delle forze russe dalla città, le immagini dei cadaveri presenti nelle strade e le testimonianze raccolte sul posto furono rapidamente diffuse dai media internazionali, trasformandosi in un potentissimo dispositivo comunicativo. Tutto avvenne con estrema velocità, con i media occidentali che,  a reti unificate, diffondevano il materiale dappertutto, costruendo l’immagine della guerra come aggressione caratterizzata da atrocità sistematiche, nella quale la Russia veniva progressivamente rappresentata non soltanto come avversario militare, ma come responsabile di crimini contro la popolazione civile. Le immagini possedevano, in questo senso, una forza persuasiva superiore a quella di molte argomentazioni diplomatiche: il corpo del civile ucciso diventava una prova visiva capace di condensare in pochi fotogrammi un’intera interpretazione del conflitto.

Bucha assunse così una funzione strategica nella comunicazione occidentale e contribuì a consolidare il consenso pubblico alle sanzioni, all’isolamento diplomatico di Mosca e all’incremento dell’assistenza politica e militare a Kiev. Osservate come un evento tragico, come tragica è ogni guerra, sia stato trasformato in un’arma di guerra. Del valore dei morti, della verità delle loro biografie, a nessun media occidentale importava. L’unica cosa necessaria era incolpare la Russia e motivare l’escalation di un conflitto folle.

Ma la verità prima o dopo viene a galla.

È così che il Ministero degli Affari Esteri russo ha ha riportato il caso di Bucha al centro dell’attenzione internazionale. La portavoce Maria Zakharova ha dichiarato che Mosca intende sollecitare le Nazioni Unite a riesaminare gli eventi, sostenendo che l’ONU non avrebbe partecipato direttamente alle indagini svolte all’epoca, finendo invece per assumere come prevalente la versione fornita da Kiev. Pochi giorni dopo, anche il ministro degli Esteri Sergej Lavrov è tornato sull’episodio, denunciando quella che considera una pratica tipica della guerra dell’informazione: costruire rapidamente una narrazione, trasformarla in verità dominante e impedire che versioni alternative possano raggiungere il pubblico.

È precisamente questo, secondo Lavrov, il meccanismo attraverso cui l’Occidente avrebbe consolidato la propria interpretazione di Bucha. La prima narrazione occupa lo spazio informativo disponibile come una trincea vuota: una volta conquistata e difesa dai grandi media, sostituirla richiede uno sforzo enormemente maggiore. Nel caso di Bucha questo processo avrebbe impedito fin dall’inizio un esame realmente imparziale degli avvenimenti.

Resta dunque una questione centrale: perché riaprire oggi il dossier Bucha? Perché Mosca è pronta a confrontarsi con il mondo intero sulle menzogne propagandate dagli occidentali. L’Occidente, invece?

Ex-BND-Chef August Hanning wurde verhaftet, weil er seinen ehemaligen Büroleiter nach seinem Ausscheiden aus dem Amt dafür bezahlt haben soll, ihm gegen Bezahlung streng geheime Informationen weiterzugeben, die Hanning dann in seinem neuen Job als Berater gewinnbringend verwerten konnte. Der Spiegel hat unter der Überschrift „Verhaftung von Ex-BND-Chef – Der tiefe Fall des August Hanning“ […]

Russia has shown a drone interceptor built on the Alazan, a civilian anti-hail rocket, Militarnyi reported. The sample went on display at a weapons exhibition that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin toured at the Chebarkul training range in the Urals on 2 October.

Ukraine now sends drones at Russia by the hundreds, by Moscow's own count. Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses intercepted nearly 900 overnight into 6 October. Russia's missile-based air defense was built to repel aircraft raids and a few cruise missiles, not swarms of low-flying drones.

In May, Ukrainian intelligence said Russia was adding four regiments, 24 battalions, and 162 batteries to counter Ukrainian strike drones. The converted Alazan, which Militarnyi calls an anti-drone system, is one more piece of that search. Meanwhile, the commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, Robert Brovdi, said his forces struck 300 Russian air-defense assets between January and 19 September.

From hail reagent to shrapnel

Based on the size of the sample on display, the interceptor builds on the Alazan-2M or Alazan-6 series, Militarnyi assessed. The outlet put the stated cost at up to $12,000 per unit but did not say who named the figure. In civilian service, the rocket flies about 10 km, climbs up to 8 km, and carries about 0.5 kg of reagent. For air defense, the developers plan to replace that reagent with a fragmentation warhead.

Militarnyi's analysis of the published photos describes the front end as a steering assembly: four cruciform deflector fins, probably paired with a seeker or a fuze. At the rear sit folding stabilizers and the open nozzle of a solid-fuel motor, held in a metal cradle.

One sample among 300 exhibits

The Kremlin's account of the visit lists more than 300 weapons on display, including interceptor drones, but does not mention the rocket. Propaganda channel Russia 1 aired the interceptor in its report from the visit, and the Kremlin pool of state news agency RIA posted photos.

Nearly 38 percent of Palestinian students in East Jerusalem now study the Israeli curriculum, while the rest of the students' textbooks are being censored line by line, stripping mention of Jerusalem, prisoners, the Nakba, and freedom fighters.

Ich bezeichne den Spiegel gerne als „Pressesprecher der Geheimdienste“ oder auch „Pressesprecher der Regierung“, weil das Blatt nicht nur die Narrative der deutschen Regierung und Geheimdienste stützt – womit der Spiegel beweist, dass er weder ein kritisches noch ein regierungsfernes Medium ist – sondern auch immer wieder von Regierung und Behörden Informationen bekommt, die er […]

Climate alarmism propaganda about the collapse of the Gulf Stream has made it into the Telegraph thanks to the new owners recycling the work of Politico's Zia Weise. Is this a sign of things to come, asks Ben Pile.

The post Climate Alarmist Propaganda Comes to the Telegraph appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Tom Cruise's new climate film Digger is turning into the "biggest flop of his career" and could lose $150m in a "historic disaster", leading Warner Bros to try a bold new marketing strategy: implying Americans are dumb.

The post Tom Cruise Climate Film Digger is “Biggest Flop of His Career” and Could Lose $150m in “Historic Disaster” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Carbon Brief claims that wind and solar power saved the UK from gas imports worth £5.9bn during the Hormuz crisis. Not mentioned, says Paul Homewood, is that the wind and solar power cost more.

The post Carbon Brief’s Con Trick appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Since October 2023, no nation’s military has killed nearly as many journalists as Israel, a fact that often opens them up to considerable criticism. The IDF aims to quell those concerns with a new round of official narrative

No, Mr. President, that is not “worth the price” to pay for a war fabricated in Israel, a repeat of the made-for-Israel war in Iraq 23 years ago.