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Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

State Department ‘Disinformation’?

A senior US diplomat slams conservative Hungary for anti-Semitic vandalism. Trouble is, it happened in progressive Sweden
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It's so embarrassing and infuriating, what US diplomacy is doing to Hungary. The independent Hungarian news site Index reports that Linda Thomas-Greenfield (pictured above), the US ambassador to the United Nations, publicly condemned Hungary for vandalism against a Holocaust memorial ... that actually happened in Sweden. According to the report (which I've translated via Google):

The Hungarian delegation attended the meeting in vain, the American host did not give them the opportunity to speak, so the Hungarian ambassador had to act personally after the meeting due to the baseless allegations.

The Hungarian diplomats contacted Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and after questioning her on what she was basing her statements at the meeting, 

THE AMERICAN EMBASSY ADMITTED BEHIND CLOSED DOORS THAT THEY HAD MADE A MISTAKE, AND THAT THE INCIDENT IN WHICH THE STATUE OF RAOUL WALLENBERG WAS VANDALIZED ACTUALLY TOOK PLACE IN SWEDEN. 

The Hungarian embassy then requested a public correction from the representation of the United States of America, but the Americans have so far refused to do so. Moreover, according to a document obtained by Index, American diplomacy, for its part, considers the case closed by the fact that in the official transcript of the speech, the part concerning Hungary was crossed out.

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And let me tell you, the recent visit by USAID Administrator Samantha Power, in Budapest to teach the poor benighted Magyars how to be proper progressives, is not going down well over here. You will understand that Power is a representative of the same globalist power clique that supports (in part with US taxpayer money, funneled through the State Department) the "Global Disinformation Index," which has accused conservative publications, including The American Conservative, of being purveyors of disinformation. This labeling is meant to discourage advertisers. National Public Radio, however, the hardcore progressive news source, is considered reliable by the GDI. This is what your taxpayer dollars, spent by the Biden Administration, are doing. From the Washington Examiner's investigation:

However, GDI has ranked the 10 "least risky" as the Wall Street Journal, NPR, ProPublica, the Associated PressInsider, the New York TimesUSA Today, the Washington PostBuzzfeed News, and HuffPostaccording to a 27-page memo.

Huffington Post, one of the "least risky"! "Disinformation" seems to be "news and commentary progressives dislike." More:

The exclusion list has been fed to major companies, including the Microsoft-owned Xandr, which have declined to place advertisements on conservative websites. Following the Washington Examiner publishing Xandr's blacklist, Microsoft announced that is launching an internal review and, for now, not using GDI's services.

The company does not currently flag conservative websites as "false/misleading," among other negative classifications. It is unclear whether this means that conservative websites now have access to key ad dollars since their classifications do not say "approved."

"Why is the State Department using your tax dollars to fund a 'disinformation' tracking group that is secretly trying to defund conservative media?" tweeted Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, on Monday. "What happened to the First Amendment?"

Why? Could it be because the State Department is careless, and ideologically captured?

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Fran Macadam
Fran Macadam
Misinformation is information they want you to miss, while disinformation is information they want you to dismiss.

Live Not By Lies is true, but not as timely as I wish it could have been. As it turns out we are far deeper down that hole of deception than we could have dreamed.
schedule 1 year ago
Bogdán Emil
Bogdán Emil
I honestly think this is good news. Hungary is getting press, and can handle it. Especially press like this, which basically end up making the Magyars look good. The closer people start examining the place with a microscope, the more they will find it intriguing and likable.
schedule 1 year ago
Theodore Iacobuzio
Theodore Iacobuzio
Take a look at this, from this morning's Times (a friend "gifted" it to me):

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/14/world/europe/giorgia-meloni-italy.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqIhkSlUaBybKWsIjolqLmOLI2LF7iX75NieUQHNHwuASBYnF-lvEYbslZ8c2237TYu59B4IVZa44yP5DbQsqQhO0o5CAldMLKHlt9d_oBCZrjsiRGO1kqzWvP2TpcKJzzbbgsU_WOWbhWfbPwDZ2clYe1Jhic1qv2ncOx76UUbImn4kjgopyQ8xyVjwCZyOVvvL3CxkYOdqObBrU6gBeSPgOEHiI3obas-RcBV0UXVHWT3p_43I-6sdeOL4VO6X-LB0jeanukBcxIciSafVg1we135GZ90g&referringSource=articleShare

It performs the usual leftist acrobatics in making sure you know this guy isn't buying the Fratelli, and minimizing Giorgia's achievements so far, but it's surprisingly even-handed, unlike the Donadio piece in the Atlantic. What this guy doesn't get is that the Fratelli are free marketeers. That leaches the fascism out of their appeal immediately, it seems to me, so it's no miracle she gets along with Draghi. What he won't talk about, but which Donadio does, is Giorgia's immense personal appeal.

I think all of us could live with this kind of angle in re Orban, but it ain't gonna happen.
schedule 1 year ago
    MPC
    MPC
    If you look at Orban, Erdogan, etc, this is always how you have to start. Practical, moderate, reformist, competent. You can't take on the domestic liberal regime thugs and their foreign masters immediately. You have to undermine them slowly and steadily, firstly by giving the people a reason to appreciate what you've done in comparison to the losers around before you. Going in Trump-style, guns blazing, mouth running, but short on actual movement, is exactly the opposite of what is needed. In a way though, by trolling progressives in to deforming themselves out of hatred for a mere troll, he's set the stage for a future normie regime who can now clearly see its enemies, so I'll give him that.
    schedule 1 year ago
      Theodore Iacobuzio
      Theodore Iacobuzio
      Giorgia has been a delightful surprise from the get-go.
      schedule 1 year ago