CIA report into shoring up Afghan war support in Western Europe, 11 Mar 2010

https://wikileaks.org/wiki/CIA_report_into_shoring_up_Afghan_war_support_in_Western_Europe,_11_Mar_2010

by salemh • 5 years ago

48 5 5 years ago

Summary:

This classified CIA analysis from March outlines possible PR strategies to shore up public support in Germany and France for a continued war in Afghanistan.
The proposed PR strategies focus on pressure points that have been identified within these countries.
For France it is the sympathy of the public for Afghan refugees and women.
For Germany it is the fear of the consequences of defeat (drugs, more refugees, terrorism) as well as for Germany's standing in NATO.
The memo is a recipe for the targeted manipulation of public opinion in two NATO ally countries, written by the CIA. It is classified as Confidential/No Foreign Nationals.

nickff• 5 years ago

Thanks! These do seem to be the most important points, though I'm not sure that tailoring one's message to the audience is really 'manipulation'.

l332mn• 5 years ago

This is how American propaganda works, not only to support the Afghanistan war, but to support US imperialist foreign policy in general. It's extremely manipulative, but also effective at controlling the narrative, in a 1984-esque fashion. It has lead to the result that the "official narrative" as portrayed by mainstream media and (complicit) politicians stands in stark contrast with the general public perception on the matter. It's basically taboo to be critical of the widespread use of propaganda to support imperialist policy, and you're generally deemed a conspiratorial lunatic if you point at CIA's role in all this in a manner which is critical both of them and the state which support them.

Where are all the journalists scouring wikileaks for real news? For real content, investigating the dark underbelly of foreign policy and war, etc.? Why are we only served with manufactured consent (i.e. bullshit) from BBC, CNN, etc.? When it comes to war, they eagerly repeat the manufactured lies about our "enemies", be it Saddam's WMD's, Assad's chemical missile attacks, Gaddafi's genocide - all exposed through wikileaks to be lies manufactured by "intelligence" agencies, in conflict with facts and evidence at hand at the time - which then serves to justify intervention on "humanitarian" grounds, but which is merely pretext for imperialist aggression. It's taboo, most of all for journalists, to take an interest in this. They are barred from mainstream media outlets, shunned even. Some are even killed (cf. the investigators of the Panama Papers). You will receive no financial support if you do, and you will be judged a foreign state actor if you're freelancing for non-western media outlets (e.g. RT).

tiahura• 5 years ago

These are some of the most innocuous talking points on any matter I’ve ever seen. The French are worried about women and children, and the Germans, crime and prestige.

And given that this comes from the unit tasked to be think outside the box makes me think the CIA is even staler than I thought.

refurb• 5 years ago

I’m not sure the US really sticks out here much? Every country (democratic or not) uses PR to shore up support for its efforts.

Canada has it’s “peacekeeping” schtick which it uses to sell troop deployments to the public. The US uses it’s “defense of democracy”. EU will use “human rights” as it’s cull (whether or not that’s truly the goal).

And they won’t just use those messages on their own people but others as well. Look at the South China Sea situation and how countries desperate for Western help to counter China message it. Or Taiwan for that matter.

CIA report into shoring up Afghan war support in Western Europe, 11 Mar 2010

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