While you slept last night, a draft resolution by the Committee of the European Parliament (EP) foreign Affairs approved on Monday threatens press freedom across Europe. The draft entitled; “Strategic communication of the EU as a counter-propaganda of the third parties,” states that Russia is waging an information war against the EU.
The document goes on to say that aid that Russia:
“Aggressively uses a wide range of tools and instruments, in particular, the special funds (“Russian World”), multilingual TV channels (Russia Today, RIA Novosti), news Agency (Sputnik), social and religious associations (including the Orthodox Church), and social media and Internet trolls to attack Western values, promote disengagement in Europe, and domestic support and create the impression that the Eastern partnership countries are failed.”
Furthermore, the committee suggests a global EU strategy to combat propaganda by the third countries, calling for the EU to incorporate strategic communication into their activities and create the structure of the European external action service, a specialized unit with the “adequate staff and budget resources.” The move essentially calls for steps to create a “counter propaganda” unit replete with propaganda training for journalists and organizations. The move reminds of when Google created the so-called Digital News Initiative (“DNI”), a partnership with the European newspapers; Les Echos, FAZ, The Financial Times, The Guardian, NRC Media, El Pais, La Stampa and Die Zeit, where $150 million went toward a similar initiative. Of course, Google’s millions were not earmarked “reverse propaganda,” but the end was the same. Looking at how the money dispersed brings to mind George Soros and his various Open Societies programs. Enough about the greater scope, let’s continue with the Poland initiative.
The original draft was prepared by Polish Deputy, Anna Fotyga, who is the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of her country. Interestingly, this is the same person who was dismissed and then reinstated (a trick maneuver) from her post for pursuing a policy of isolation about Russia and Germany back in 2006. Pertinent names and NGOs to associate with her include: Lyudmyla Kozlovska – the founder of Open Dialogue Foundation, which is further linked to Open Society Foundations; Artur Deska, who participated in both the Orange Revolution and EuroMaidan;
NATO by virtue of her position as chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Security and Defense (SEDE); Bush Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; and many others acutely involved in a protracted Cold War billed as new détente. Whether Fotyga is some hapless “yes girl” for those that control NATO or not, the long-term planning of the overall foreign policy is undeniable. I am of the opinion now, the US and European leadership had no intentions whatever of normalizing relations with Russia. NATO and the US hegemony was full active all along.
This WikiLeaks document sheds light on just who Anna Fotyga is. An assessment sent to the Secretary of State | U.S. Mission to the European Union (formerly EC) (Brussels) describes Fotyga’s office as the “black hole” where decisions go to die, and goes on to frame the diplomat as the incessant suckling to President Lech Kaczynski, for her relentless questioning of every decision.
The overall assessment suggests the ministry was demoralized under her reign. Another cable hints at how the Bush administration may have been using the Polish politicians to play on Russia. This communiqué by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary Rumsfeld shows clearly of the intention to install the U.S. Missile Defense systems in Poland, and how the American administration was monitoring closely the Kremlin’s “temperature” on such matters. The point possibly being, the US wanted ordinary or “soft” Polish FM people in place so that Russia’s Lavrov and others might not focus narrowly there. Of course, this is just a perception, but the title of the cable gives it away.”Russian FM Lavrov in Poland: A Soft Touch, Except for Georgia and Iran”, betrays insolence and diversionary tactics.
As we can begin to see, these policy moves are not overnight decisions based on the Syria situation, nor on events as far removed as the Ukraine-Crimea split. My Dutch colleague, Holger Eekhof explains:
“The decision in Brussels this week has nothing to do with RT & Sputnik. The implementation of such a “civil initiative” follows directly the guideline, for the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence (Stratcom), and the initiative to reinvent NATO in 2003.”
This action is fast forward in the most recent version Volume 1, Version 1, Winter 2015. As Eekhof suggests, the Pentagon and NATO have planned all this in cooperation with these European leaders for over a decade. Now, as Critics claim the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) Party in Poland is curbing democratic checks and balances and putting Poland’s membership in the European Union at risk, the common enemy has to be Russia.
To break it all down, Brussels is not in deliberations over the next phase of a pan-American plan to further engage Russia by making Europe more dependent than ever. The Chiefs in the Commission are not only planning a civil arm of NATO to create its propaganda arm, Fotyga, and the others have already recommended the European Endowment for Democracy as the source of the new propaganda media. As crazy as that sounds, the fact that the head of the EED, Elmar Brok, and the others will be paying themselves to create their propaganda wing is amazing. You read that correctly, one of the most influential policymakers in Europe is the chief of the entity this draft suggests should create “new propaganda media.” Elmar Brok, for those unfamiliar, is one of the keys to forcing the Ukraine to decide (or not) on the EU association contract.
So, NATO and the US satraps in Europe, along with money interests abroad, are moving into the next phase of warfare against Russia. Furthermore, the unwitting European citizens have absolutely no clue as to how their futures are being inextricably tied to the US once more. A nation nearby is proclaimed the enemy once again, while a far of hegemony exerts immense pressure for gain, both strategically and economically.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
