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Gordon Linton's avatar

I think the Grayzone expose of Paul Mason hurt their propaganda network last week. It got a lot of traction, hence why this piece is rushed out at this time.

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David Gosselin's avatar

Absolutely! Bless the whole Grayzone gang. The overt and direct targeting of an American outlet by British intelligence is very telling of how the modern “Five Eyes” system operates.

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John Bernard's avatar

Yes, I'm sure that's right. They are worried that their grip on narrative management may be slipping thanks to the work of Caitlin Max and others. Slowly slowly catchy monkey!!

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Grasshopper Kaplan's avatar

The first thing I had to do years ago regarding Syria was to NOT believe anything I'd heard. Especially from media for the masses and the liar agenda asses

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David Gosselin's avatar

The more the veil is lifted, the more we find that many of the more sophisticated and strategic psyops are fabricated in Britain, its MI6 and related tentacles, and then outsourced to other Five Eyes nations.

People tend to mistake the brain for the brawn. The US military industrial complex and the Anglo-American intel establishment has provided much of the muscle, but when it comes to actual psyops and narrative creation (which requires a bit more creativity), from the Iraq War "dodgy dossier" about WMD in Iraq, to the Russiagate 2016 "Dirty Dossier," to the Syria White Helmets, to the recent targeting of The Gray Zone for destruction, it's all British intelligence.

That's no mere detail, neither is the historically low profile they tend to keep. There is a saying, if you have less power, act like you are much stronger than you are, if you have great power, give the appearance that you are much weaker than you are. I think a lot of people get thrown by this one.

Furthermore, from a strategic standpoint, I think it's important to recognize that the United States is the main target for destruction, with its institutions having been infiltrated over the long-run with a very patient "Fabian" approach. This longer-term approach was taken because all attempts to destroy the USA militarily or through internal Civil War failed in the past. A different approach was taken, a much more subtle one designed to destroy the United States from within by corrupting its institutions, until the rot is so great that it crumbles under its own weight.

That's a strategy. It's not just the product of chaos and mismanagement. Many many resources have gone into creating that by subverting the American intellectual tradition, its culture, and replacing it with the kind of dumb-down kitsch culture and pseudo intellectualism. But anyone who thinks this is just some happenstance would be very very mistaken.

Behind that is something much older than anything American, and we should be putting a name on it.

In this respect, one documentary stand outs. It is by British film-maker Michael Oswald, "The Spider's Web":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_ylvc8Zj8&t=0s

In terms of writing, a very lucid piece titled "Why the Anglo-American Special Relationship Must End" also put a name on things in a way that is rarely done, despite these things being right under our noses.

https://canadianpatriot.org/2022/06/09/why-the-anglo-american-special-relationship-must-end/

One is reminded of Edgar Poe's "The Purloined Letter."

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The Inquisitive Inquisitor's avatar

****This longer-term approach was taken because all attempts to destroy the USA militarily or through internal Civil War failed in the past. A different approach was taken, a much more subtle one designed to destroy the United States from within by corrupting its institutions, until the rot is so great that it crumbles under its own weight.****

Regulatory capture is a great example of this. Look at the FDA. Look at the EPA. They have been captured by the industries they are charged with regulating and have been hollowed out and rendered feckless. This is what kills me about morons thinking McDonald Trump was their answer to the Establishment. As if. Regulatory capture was accelerated under McDonald Trump. People, in supporting McDonald Trump, cut off their noses to spite their faces. I know, I know, the retort will be what choice did they or do they have? The choice is not to participate in the charade at all and to not throw what little weight you have in either direction politically. But no, they instead helped elect a creature who only harmed them further and then a bunch of opportunistic so-called independent journos reinforce their idiotic decision by telling them , "well, at least he did not start any wars."

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Tereza Coraggio's avatar

What I've been encouraging is to decide WHAT we want not WHO we want. The regulatory capture is true and pervasive. No matter who is 'in charge' the beast remains the same.

An article from Mercola today is on Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, of healthy young people collapsing for no reason. Sportscasters have been fired for talking about it regarding athletes. My daughter's co-worker, a marathon runner, and someone in my dance class, both healthy, athletic and in their 30's, both passed out last week for 'no reason.'

They're already prepared for riots, and that won't change anything. I say we decentralize, and I've written a book telling how, once we get serious about system change.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Dismantle-Empire-2020-Vision/dp/1733347607/

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Tereza Coraggio's avatar

Ah, I thought I recognized Matt Ehret in your comment! The 'Five Eyes' gave it away, and I say that with enthusiasm and appreciation for everything he and Cynthia Chung put out. Maybe it was you, David, who sent me to his Substack in the first place, where I'm now an avid paid subscriber (and not just because he said the intro to my book was "Probably the healthiest Platonic authentic opening manifesto I have ever read in any book ever.")

Well put, David. And I think you've already seen the episode I did on them but just in case:

https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/matt-ehret-and-cynthia-chung-geopuzzle

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Scott William James Wright's avatar

Brilliantly Stated - I agree with your assessment entirely. IMO - The British Lords have "re-captured" the USA - Instead of using military might - this is a "soft" take-over - Culturally first, then Institutionally. I always harken back to the JFK assassination as the turning point in the US - what Cultural Event occurred in America not soon after = The British Invasion - The Beatles etc... & all their promotion of Drug Use etc... The American Experiment is over & the People have lost - what did it take = a few American Families desire to become uber-wealthy and abandon the entire reason for the Liberation of the US People - to stop the sickening RULE of European/British Monarchies. In 2022, it is totally absurd to me that we are still talking about Queens, Kings or Princes/Emirs/Shah/Czars or Emperors. A free world would have none of these despots in power! SWJW.

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The Word Herder's avatar

Wait... The Beatles were bad guys??

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Scott William James Wright's avatar

No - you misunderstand me - after JFK was shot - the next "revolution" was Cultural = The British Invasion. This included glorification of Drug Use - which is never good for the youth of a society as it is best to wait for young peoples brains to fully develop before introducing any recreational drugs into their system. SWJW.

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The Word Herder's avatar

I agree with that... but teenagers, wait to do these things? There's the thing, eh? That's why the military grabs 'em when they're still pups...

Thanks for that, tho.

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George Cornell's avatar

The Grauniad as it was known, got owned by the same mad dog neocons as WaPo and NYT.

There was a sea change over the Blair and Campbell’s WMD fiasco. The offices were raided , the editor left and they fell editorially into the claws of the odious Jonathan Friedland whose agenda was a radical departure. All the pro - Israel news fit to print, and then some. . Ritual attack on anyone telling the truth, like Vanessa Beeley.. They invented BS daily about Assad’s chemical weapons, etc. only Putin prevented total annihilation of most Syrians aligned with Assad. This meant that the Grauniad rode on its laurels for years before the British public realized the coup that had taken place.

Although it was evident to many within days of the raid on their offices by domestic intelligence services.

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Feral Finster's avatar

The Graun is owned by a trust, IIRC.

That said, MI5 paid them a visit after they published the Snowden revelations, and the Graun was very careful never to stray from the neocon line afterwards.

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J M Hatch's avatar

HSBC in turn owns the trust; can we say CIA/DOD/NATO drug money laundry? Why yes we can.

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George Cornell's avatar

That was “owned” as in the modern vernacular of being subservient rather than titular possesssion

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Feral Finster's avatar

Understood.

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John Bernard's avatar

"The Guardian is just Fox News for people who eat organic produce" 🤣🤣🤣 Luvit!! Spot on Caitlin.

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Terry Byrne's avatar

Same can be said for the NYTs, WAPO, ... .

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J M Hatch's avatar

"The Guardian is just Fox News for pmc who can afford to eat organic produce."

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Tom Worster's avatar

The Grauniad is to UK news as NPR is to US. I used to call it the Kozy Konsensus Reality but now they seem too frantic and often demented for that name.

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Jeremy L. Amadé Hill Edwards's avatar

The Guardian is owned by the Scotts Trust, which is now a private, for-profit corporation. The interests represented on the board of the Scotts Trust are heavily tied to the corporate oligarchy, e.g., HSBC.

It is pure propaganda targeting unthinking 'leftists' and neoliberal fascists.

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Doris Wrench Eisler's avatar

It's all such bullshit when the only conspiracy was the US conspiring to destroy Syria and Assad with the help of its little wonder-worker elves, Al Qaeda and ISIL. That's the whole point of imposing destructive conditions on destroyed countries- to promote radicalism, and then exploit it for your own, nefarious, selfish ends. Russia put a crimp in that objective - so it's gotta go. But Russia is the bite that chokes.

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Contrarian 33's avatar

The Guardian and it's past values.

This is the same Guardian that used and abused the relationship with Julian Assange. Firstly using his material to boost their circulation when such truthful exposes were in big demand. But then, when the chips were down, showing such a pathetic lack of support to the predicament that both the UK government and the criminal USA created in the form of a show trial.

A disgraced publication in my book, never to recover any credibility and a major contributor to today’s situation

While on the subject of Julian Assange, an Australian, a respected and truth-telling journalist by any measure, here is my small contribution to the new one month old government of Australia, who to date have avoided taken action on behalf of all the people who support justice, who support the truth and who dislike the warmongering antics of Biden and the US military death brigades. Twenty million (more likely 25 million) plus to date.

It is unlikely to receive much in the way of action without the nod from the current president and political criminals in Washington, a situation that has been in train since the CIA assisted in the overthrow of a democratically elected Australian government in 1975 and have used this country as a servile bag carrier ever since.

Yes. We allowed this to happen. The message to the government follows.....

Global condemnations of Assange extradition order as Australian government still has not defended Julian Assange

"Subject to further legal appeals, the UK order amounts to a death sentence that would place Assange directly in the hands of the US military and corrupt intelligence agencies who have sought to destroy him for more than a decade.

We would like to see this matter scheduled for an immediate parliamentary discussion…and VOTE. Please do not fall into line with the extreme and criminal USA and ignore this matter, now seen by all people as critical to the reputation of this country……and to returning the freedom of the press.

The whole wold is watching right now. To save this country we must remove Australia from the domination of the USA and all foreign military entanglements"

AUKUS, QUAD, ANZUS, all US bases in Australia, Pine Gap Spying Station, to name but a few.

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Fitzjames Wood's avatar

Interestingly, the Guardian is the paper of the left leaning educated middle class, just the sort of people that Edward Bernays targeted as 'influencers' of public thinking (teachers etc.) when he was tasked with changing the American public from a fierce isolationist position to a pro war stance in the effort to get the US into WWI. How successful that was and still proves to be.

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George Cornell's avatar

Indeed. The track record of the Guardian has been appalling. They toe the neocon party line like an automaton. Their enablers have included some surprises, betraying their principles for some media coverage.

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J M Hatch's avatar

The Guardian of HSBC money laundry empire.

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J Pappas's avatar

I remember The Guardian having their offices raided and their computers destroyed some years ago. Shortly after this, unsurprisingly, they became a mouthpiece of the government. I guess they got the message all right....

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Thomas Scherrer's avatar

Purely coincidental that The Guardian would to after The GrayZone after GZ dropped the Mason story.

I fully expect TYT to have a Monday story on this, looking to smear these courageous independent journalists.

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The Inquisitive Inquisitor's avatar

TYT seems to be too preoccupied with domestic issues. Good on them for focusing on what affects their audience's lives more directly versus conflicts in far off lands.

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anti-republocrat's avatar

Dear Caitlin, you accurately point out The Guardian's "place on the leftish side of the political spectrum," but later lament "its ability to market right-wing horrors to an unsuspecting demographic who otherwise wouldn't buy what they're selling."

If the horrors are marketed by The Guardian, then they are NOT "right-wing" horrors. If anything, they are "left-wing" horrors. I suppose you have to say it that way in order to retain the readership of "people who eat organic produce," but it's still divisive as hell and turns off libertarians and conservatives who otherwise agree with you. There has to be a better way. We need to unite those opposed to elite narratives, not further divide them. Leave that to the elites; they're doing a bang-up job.

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JackSirius's avatar

Most of us still can't get the left/right framing out of our heads, even though we intellectually understand it forms the foundation of all western propaganda. Left/right framing is the essential ingredient in maintaining divisiveness, and in maintaining the “hidden in plain sight” similarity between the Republican and Democratic Parties. This thread demonstrates how nonsensical that framing has become, but also how difficult it is for most of us to ditch it. It’s the one identity that seems most ingrained into us all. For many, it would be easier to transition to a different gender than from the left to right or vice versa. Perhaps the best proof of mass formation is that we must now believe gender is not a binary, but politics is.

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Scott William James Wright's avatar

Brilliant Synopsis - Human Beings are far too complex to be pigeon holed into Red Tie/Blue Tie. In fact, The Ruling Class's biggest fear is choice = they cannot allow the people to have an actual choice. This is why there is NO LEFT WING in America - emphasized by the simple fact that the entire Democratic Party has voted FOR more funding to the Ukrainians during this conflict. Arming children & Grandmothers to fight a superior enemy & nuclear power is absurd and cruel. The US & NATO allies are using the Ukrainian People as cannon fodder NATO appears to be nothing more than another lobbying arm of the Arms Industry. We should have all heeded Eisenhower & JFK's warnings. After 60+ years of the CIA overthrowing democratically elected leaders across the world to install puppets that do the bidding of the Empire - it appears that this has occurred in America Domestically & explains why such wretched & useless people are propped up as choices for President. SWJW.

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The Word Herder's avatar

All that "help" for Ukraine is for one reason only, and that is to further fill the pockets of arms manufacturers. There's no tears being shed about the people of Ukraine. Or about the People of anywhere, really. I don't consider the psychopaths running this shit show to be people at all.

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Scott William James Wright's avatar

I Agree with you 100%. SWJW.

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anti-republocrat's avatar

Love it! Gender is non-binary but politics is binary. Nailed it.

Perhaps the next research area for Mattias Desmet? How free floating anxiety leads first to Manicheism, then to totalitariansim when one mass gets the upper hand? Trump Worship Syndrome (TWS) us just as idiotic as TDS, but not more so.

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The Word Herder's avatar

Seems to me right now it's safe to say nearly everybody is fascist, and leave it at that.

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flipshod's avatar

Your point is fair, but I think what's happening is that Guardian readers who consider themselves "left" are being convinced of things that they themselves would otherwise see as "right" wing.

But indeed with the elite, there's not much point in using the left/right language when it's them versus everyone else.

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The Word Herder's avatar

Zackly.

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John Bernard's avatar

The Guardian is actually quite sneaky, they mix in "right on social conscience" type articles on things like the social security system or housing to attract the leftish with a conscience and mix that with horrors like Freeland and his Zionist vitriol. The rot seems to have set in as others have pointed out when GCHQ visited the Guardian offices in 2013 and an angle grinder was used to destroy hard drives - detailed in this article. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/20/nsa-snowden-files-drives-destroyed-london

Since then in the view of many the Guardian has simply become an extension of the British state

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Tereza Coraggio's avatar

I remember there was a time, not so long ago, when I fell for the White Helmet propaganda. Keeps me humble, that does. Any thoughts on Jacobin? I know I've read that they're also now empire propaganda. On Robert Malone's Substack I posted something puzzling me on Russell Brand (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2jsA3sk2H0) that DeSantis used the Jan 6 event to usher in a domestic terrorism law against protest, one of 88 such laws since then. In response to other comments, I investigated further:

So this is very curious. Russell's video shows text that says, "In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis invoked the Capitol riot to reintroduce and pass into law a repressive anti-protest bill that had previously failed." It quotes Jacobin in this article: https://jacobin.com/2021/01/us-capitol-riot-police-investigation/ which never mentions this quote nor the screen that follows about the 88 laws passed since. I can find that DeSantis did pass a law against destruction of property in April of 2021: https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/19/politics/ron-desantis-signs-combating-public-disorder-act/index.html. So has Russell been fooled or infiltrated?

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