Tag: Transparency

Media Bias: Ukraine Blocks Journalists From Front Lines With Escalating Censorship

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

After Ukrainian forces regained control of the port city of Kherson last November, following eight months of Russian occupation, some journalists entered the liberated city within hours. Without formal permission to be there, they documented the jubilant crowds welcoming soldiers with hugs and Ukrainian flags. Ukrainian officials, who tightly control press access to the front lines, responded by revoking the journalists’ press credentials, claiming that they had “ignored existing restrictions.”

Ukraine Blocks Journalists From Front Lines With Escalating Censorship

As if Ukraine doesn’t create ‘propaganda’!? 🙄

Related:

Inside the high-stakes clash for control of Ukraine’s story:

The heated clashes have remained largely behind the scenes because the credentials are vital to report from the country, and journalists worry that a public conflict might further threaten their access. Most of the journalists from Western and Ukrainian news organizations who have clashed with their handlers spoke on the condition of anonymity.

NYT hypes China threat: They’re reading the internet

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

NYT hypes China threat: They’re reading the internet

That Beijing is mining publicly available information is not new or surprising but fear mongering about it in Washington is good for business.

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The Times was passing on findings from an analysis by threat intelligence company Recorded Future, which says a Chinese open-source intel company has been mining publicly available information from the Office of Net Assessment, a Pentagon think tank, and the U.S. Naval War College.

Related:

Exclusive: Google, CIA Invest in ‘Future’ of Web Monitoring

The investment arms of the CIA and Google are both backing a company that monitors the web in real time — and says it uses that information to predict the future. The company is called Recorded Future, and it scours tens of thousands of websites, blogs and Twitter accounts to find the relationships between people, […]

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Papua New Guinea Students Protest US Military Pact

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

STUDENTS of Mt Hagen Technical College (HATECO) in Western Highlands Province staged a protest march to stop the signing of Defence Cooperation Agreement between PNG and the United States.

Giving the same reasons, the University of Papua New Guinea, the University of Technology and the University of Goroka have all conducted protest marches demanding the Prime Minister James Marape not to sign the deal until and unless the citizens are fully aware of what is entailed in the document.

Papua New Guinea Students Protest US Military Pact

Previously:

US-China rivalry: American troops to access Papua New Guinea ports, airports in new security pact

U.S. officials walk back claim Syria strike killed senior al-Qaeda leader

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

QORQANYA, Syria — U.S. military officials are walking back claims that a recent strike in Syria killed an influential al-Qaeda figure, following assertions by the dead man’s family that he had no ties to terrorists but was a father of 10 tending to his sheep when he was slain by an American missile.

U.S. officials walk back claim Syria strike killed senior al-Qaeda leader

Previously:

US Military Probing Reports It Killed a Civilian in Recent Syria Airstrike

White Helmets?! 🤔

Biden Is Letting Think Tanks and Dodgy Foreign Funders Get Cozy Again

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

At some point over the past few years, the Biden administration revoked one of the few progressive policies that Trump-era officials implemented in the effort to bring greater transparency to foreign influence in Washington. The New Republic has learned that with little fanfare, and with even less explanation, the White House has stopped requesting that American think tanks disclose funding from foreign governments. “This is not the policy of the U.S. State Department,” an agency spokesperson said last month.

Biden Is Letting Think Tanks and Dodgy Foreign Funders Get Cozy Again (archived)

Rules for Pentagon Use of Proxy Forces Shed Light on a Shadowy War Power

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)2 Comments

U.S. Special Operations forces are not required to vet for past human rights violations by the foreign troops they arm and train as surrogates, newly disclosed documents show.

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The irregular warfare program has provided training to allied forces in countries that face a threat of invasion by larger neighbors, the senior Defense Department official said. The Washington Post has reported that an irregular warfare proxy program in Ukraine was terminated just before the Russian invasion, and that some officials want to restart it.

Rules for Pentagon Use of Proxy Forces Shed Light on a Shadowy War Power