The last time Trump attempted to name Rep. John Ratcliffe, Texas Republican as Director of National Intelligence, the White House had to pull his nomination. Ratclffe, according to multiple news reports had padded his resume with a false claims Ratcliffe claimed to have overseen the prosecution of terrorists in Atlanta. His former colleagues said he...
Tag: conspiracy theories
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How Conspiracy Theories Fuel Venezuela’s Crisis
The Caracas Chronicles is an independent news blog reporting from the Venezuelan capital, where government repression, economic contraction and U.S. sanctions have generated a miserable political impasse. Enrique Bernardo Núñez notes how conspiracy theories tend to make the couuntry’s bad situation worse. Conspiracy theories are kind of like tricky publicity: it’s not that they aren’t...
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Let’s Compare U.S and Russian Conspiracy Theories
Meduza, the independent Russian news site, has an interesting podcast, Naked Pravda, comparing the conspiracy theories that circulate in each country. They’re talking about each other again in Moscow and Washington, often spinning stories that aren’t exactly rooted in facts. Whether it’s Russiagate in the United States or color revolution in Russia and countries across...
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Why the Weaponization of #FalseFlag Conspiracy Theories Works
The spread of “false flag” conspiracy theories exemplifies how the mindset of secret intelligence agencies has spread to American political life. False flag operations–in which a heinous act is falsely blamed on an enemy–are a form of psychological warfare. And in the United States, the most sophisticated and potent psychological warfare operations have been developed...
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The Art of Hidden Power
Conspiracy theories seek to explain the workings of hidden power. Because there is lots of hidden power in this country and the world, we have lots of conspiratorial thinking. Which gives us both Alex Jones lunacy and the finest of art.