Home » Posts tagged 'patrick armstrong'
Tag Archives: patrick armstrong
How Stupid Do They Think We Are?
How Stupid Do They Think We Are? “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” Consumers of the print or electronic output of the League of Copy Typists […]
Integrity Initiative: Big Brother’s Minions – or Flim-Flam Artists?
Integrity Initiative: Big Brother’s Minions – or Flim-Flam Artists? I’m not sure what to make of Integrity Initiative (what a great gaslighting name: integrity? Hah hah: no, just furtive paid propaganda and opinion steering). But I watch the unfolding revelations with fascination. Certainly, the whole thing is bigger than it seemed at first and all the documents being revealed appear to […]
Real Crickets, Fake News
Real Crickets, Fake News You’re an American diplomat. Posted to Cuba. You compose yourself for peaceful slumber, as an innocent American dip should… What’s that noise? Whine, buzz. Get up. Lights on. Look. Nothing. Head on pillow. Whine, buzz. We’ve all been kept up nights by some unidentifiable sound. You promise yourself you won’t listen […]
Back to the USSR: How to Read Western News
Back to the USSR: How to Read Western News The heroes of Dickens’ Pickwick Papers visit the fictional borough of Eatanswill to observe an election between the candidates of the Blue Party and the Buff Party. The town is passionately divided, on all possible issues, between the two parties. Each party has its own newspaper: […]
Psychoanalysing NATO: The Diagnosis
Psychoanalysing NATO: The Diagnosis In previous essays I argued that NATO tries to distract our attention from its crimes by accusing Russia of those crimes: this is “projection“. NATO manipulates its audience into thinking the unreal is real: this is “gaslighting“. NATO sees what it expects to see – Moscow’s statements that they will respond […]
Psychoanalysing NATO: Schizophrenia
Psychoanalysing NATO: Schizophrenia NATO sorrowfully explains its problems with Russia on its official website: For more than two decades, NATO has worked to build a partnership with Russia, developing dialogue and practical cooperation in areas of common interest. Cooperation has been suspended since 2014 in response to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine but political and military […]
The West Slips Down Another Step
The West Slips Down Another Step There is much on the Internet these days about documents allegedly hacked by Anonymous; these documents belong to the “Integrity Initiative” and describe a multi-country effort, funded by London and Washington, to counter “Russian propaganda” and “fake news”. Since the initial story broke, a good deal of confusion has been laid down: Wikileaks […]
The West Slips Down Another Step
The West Slips Down Another Step There is much on the Internet these days about documents allegedly hacked by Anonymous; these documents belong to the “Integrity Initiative” and describe a multi-country effort, funded by London and Washington, to counter “Russian propaganda” and “fake news”. Since the initial story broke, a good deal of confusion has been laid down: Wikileaks […]
Psychoanalysing NATO: Confirmation Bias
Psychoanalysing NATO: Confirmation Bias Earlier parts of this intermittent series discussed NATO’s projection and gaslighting. Psychology Today defines confirmation bias as: Once we have formed a view, we embrace information that confirms that view while ignoring, or rejecting, information that casts doubt on it. Confirmation bias suggests that we don’t perceive circumstances objectively. We pick out those bits of data that […]
American War Declaration
American War Declaration Wess Mitchell, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in the US State Department, gave a remarkable presentation to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 21 August 2018. Titled “US Strategy Towards the Russian Federation” it ostensibly lays out the US reaction to Russia’s continuing aggression, hostility, interference and […]
Ockham’s Razor as a Guide to Slicing Nonsense Away
Ockham’s Razor as a Guide to Slicing Nonsense Away Why “razor”? Because it cuts away the unnecessary and redundant. Several Latin versions but this is the one I remember: noli multiplicare entia praeter necessitatem. Literally: “do not multiply essences without necessity” which is Medieval for “don’t make your theory any more complicated than it has to […]
Psychoanalysing NATO: Gaslighting
Psychoanalysing NATO: Gaslighting NOTE: Because “NATO” these days is little more than a box of spare parts out of which Washington assembles “coalitions of the willing”, it’s easier for me to write “NATO” than “Washington plus/minus these or those minions”. Home Secretary Sajid Javid has called on Russia to explain “exactly what has gone on” after […]
Nobody Cares About ‘the News’
Nobody Cares About ‘the News’ In his mordant novel Scoop, Evelyn Waugh has one of his characters explain what “The News” is: News is what a chap who doesn’t care much about anything wants to read. And it’s only news until he’s read it. After that it’s dead. There is a great deal of wisdom […]
NATO: a Dangerous Paper Tiger
NATO: a Dangerous Paper Tiger The Chinese have a genius for pithy expressions and few are more packed with meaning, while immediately understandable, than “paper tiger”. NATO is one, but paper tigers that overestimate their powers can be dangerous. Some Russians are concerned that there are today more hostile troops at the Russian border than […]
