15-01-2025, 01:24 AM
15-01-2025, 01:25 AM
15-01-2025, 01:26 AM
15-01-2025, 01:27 AM
Nury Vittachi
A MASSIVE AMOUNT of cash was just unlocked to be showered on people willing to spread negative news against the Chinese.
.
On Monday this week, the US House passed legislation HR 1157 authorizing more than US$1.6 billion of public cash to be spent by 2027 to make sure the people of the world are made aware of "the Government of the People’s Republic of China’s hegemonic ambitions".
.
Here's the issue. This is not actually true – it's the US which wants hegemonic (dominant) control over the world, while China wants a multipolar world with shared power.
.
But it's one of those ironic things. For the US to have the number one spot it must have, it needs the people of the world to think that China is desperate to have that role.
.
.
.
TRANSPARENT? NO
Will this huge sum of money, part of an ongoing series of payments, be spent in an open, transparent, moral way in foreign countries? Sadly not.
.
"Crucially, HR 1157 doesn’t seem to contain any requirement that U.S. government financing to foreign media be made transparent to citizens of foreign countries," says Harvard University Phd Marcus Stanley, writing in Responsible Statecraft today.
.
In other words, the money can be spent on the sort of underhand, covert financing of disinformation that is the very worst sort of propaganda, especially when done to hurt people overseas.
.
.
.
DEVELOPING COUNTRY TRADE
The bill specifically indicates that the cash can be used "to raise awareness of and increase transparency regarding the negative impact of activities related to the Belt and Road Initiative".
.
Got that? It's not to "share correct and truthful information" about the BRI. It's to raise awareness of the "negative impact" of the project. Negative bias against China is built into the system, just as it is built into the editing systems of, say, the Financial Times or the BBC.
.
The BRI has been described as being the single biggest help in humanity's drive towards achieving the United Nation's sustainability goals – making sure poorer people around the world have food and water and shelter and jobs. And a bipartisan group of US senators (yes, Kamala Harris supporters are very prominent on that list, as are Donald Trump supporters) are happy to approve the spending of big bucks on damaging the program.
.
.
.
EXAMPLE PROVIDED
This is no exaggeration. Marcus Stanley pointed out that an earlier, related document in this series gave an example of the sort of programme that the US wants the cash to be spent on.
.
Say the Chinese are building a deep water port for people in a poor country, the paperwork says, suggesting an imaginary country called Naruvu.
.
Information will go to the 8th Psyop Group at Fort Bragg’s Information Warfare Center. They will then work with local and U.S. government partners in Naruvu to immediately develop an influence campaign to “discredit Chinese activities”.
.
There appears to be no interest in whether the project helps the poor or not. The only issue is whether the people doing the work are Chinese.
.
.
.
.
WARN THE WORLD
It's vital that the news gets out to the people of planet Earth that the passing of HR 1157 this week means they are going to hear more negative news about the Chinese, pretending to be journalism, and they should disregard it.
.
Yet how many mainstream news outlets covered the passing of the bill? A quick check of Google News gives us the answer.
.
Zero.
.
Why would journalists bite the hand that puts money in their pockets?
A MASSIVE AMOUNT of cash was just unlocked to be showered on people willing to spread negative news against the Chinese.
.
On Monday this week, the US House passed legislation HR 1157 authorizing more than US$1.6 billion of public cash to be spent by 2027 to make sure the people of the world are made aware of "the Government of the People’s Republic of China’s hegemonic ambitions".
.
Here's the issue. This is not actually true – it's the US which wants hegemonic (dominant) control over the world, while China wants a multipolar world with shared power.
.
But it's one of those ironic things. For the US to have the number one spot it must have, it needs the people of the world to think that China is desperate to have that role.
.
.
.
TRANSPARENT? NO
Will this huge sum of money, part of an ongoing series of payments, be spent in an open, transparent, moral way in foreign countries? Sadly not.
.
"Crucially, HR 1157 doesn’t seem to contain any requirement that U.S. government financing to foreign media be made transparent to citizens of foreign countries," says Harvard University Phd Marcus Stanley, writing in Responsible Statecraft today.
.
In other words, the money can be spent on the sort of underhand, covert financing of disinformation that is the very worst sort of propaganda, especially when done to hurt people overseas.
.
.
.
DEVELOPING COUNTRY TRADE
The bill specifically indicates that the cash can be used "to raise awareness of and increase transparency regarding the negative impact of activities related to the Belt and Road Initiative".
.
Got that? It's not to "share correct and truthful information" about the BRI. It's to raise awareness of the "negative impact" of the project. Negative bias against China is built into the system, just as it is built into the editing systems of, say, the Financial Times or the BBC.
.
The BRI has been described as being the single biggest help in humanity's drive towards achieving the United Nation's sustainability goals – making sure poorer people around the world have food and water and shelter and jobs. And a bipartisan group of US senators (yes, Kamala Harris supporters are very prominent on that list, as are Donald Trump supporters) are happy to approve the spending of big bucks on damaging the program.
.
.
.
EXAMPLE PROVIDED
This is no exaggeration. Marcus Stanley pointed out that an earlier, related document in this series gave an example of the sort of programme that the US wants the cash to be spent on.
.
Say the Chinese are building a deep water port for people in a poor country, the paperwork says, suggesting an imaginary country called Naruvu.
.
Information will go to the 8th Psyop Group at Fort Bragg’s Information Warfare Center. They will then work with local and U.S. government partners in Naruvu to immediately develop an influence campaign to “discredit Chinese activities”.
.
There appears to be no interest in whether the project helps the poor or not. The only issue is whether the people doing the work are Chinese.
.
.
.
.
WARN THE WORLD
It's vital that the news gets out to the people of planet Earth that the passing of HR 1157 this week means they are going to hear more negative news about the Chinese, pretending to be journalism, and they should disregard it.
.
Yet how many mainstream news outlets covered the passing of the bill? A quick check of Google News gives us the answer.
.
Zero.
.
Why would journalists bite the hand that puts money in their pockets?