At some moment, mainstream media outlets were promoting Osama bin Laden as a moderate rebel and an anti-Soviet fighter seeking peace.
As the United States dives deeper into the social and political crisis due to the large wave of protests and the strengthening pro-neo-liberal censorship and proapganda, US mainstream media outlets have found nothing better than pushing foward another ‘Russian collusion’ story.
This new mainstream myth (originally created by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times) is as always based on various ‘anonymous sources’ and ‘undisclosed reports’. It argues that ‘coward Russians’ offered the Taliban bounties for killing of US and coalition troops in Afghanistan. US President Donald Trump allegedly knew about this, but did nothing.
The Fake News @ nytimes must reveal its “anonymous” source. Bet they can’t do it, this “person” probably does not even exist! https://t.co/pdg4AjybOG
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020
The scale of media hysteria over these news reports reached the level when the Director of National Intelligence in the United States published an official statement saying that nothing like this happened.
"The White House statement addressing this issue earlier today, which denied such a briefing occurred, was accurate. The New York Times reporting, and all other subsequent news reports about such an alleged briefing are inaccurate.” (2/2)
— Office of the DNI (@ODNIgov) June 28, 2020
In its core, anti-Trump media outlets are just using the new variant of the old fake ‘Russian collusion’ story (that evolved from ‘Trump is a puppet of Putin’ to ‘Trump allowed Russia to kill US soldiers’) in order to damage the Trump administration and the Republican position ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
Despite having no real evidence to push the story, the New York Times and other outlets continue to push it. On June 30, the NYT released a new article claiming the following (source):
“American officials intercepted electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account, evidence that supported their conclusion that Russia covertly offered bounties for killing U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence.
Though the United States has accused Russia of providing general support to the Taliban before, analysts concluded from other intelligence that the transfers were most likely part of a bounty program that detainees described during interrogations.
Investigators also identified by name numerous Afghans in a network linked to the suspected Russian operation, the officials said — including, two of them added, a man believed to have served as an intermediary for distributing some of the funds and who is now thought to be in Russia.
The intercepts bolstered the findings gleaned from the interrogations, helping reduce an earlier disagreement among intelligence analysts and agencies over the reliability of the detainees. The disclosures further undercut White House officials’ claim that the intelligence was too uncertain to brief President Trump. In fact, the information was provided to him in his daily written brief in late February, two officials have said.
Afghan officials this week described a sequence of events that dovetailed with the account of the intelligence. They said that several businessmen who transfer money through the informal “hawala” system were arrested in Afghanistan over the past six months and were suspected of being part of a ring of middlemen who operated between the Russian intelligence agency, known as the G.R.U., and Taliban-linked militants. The businessmen were arrested in what the officials described as sweeping raids in the north of Afghanistan as well as in Kabul.
A half-million dollars was seized from the home of one of the men, added a provincial official. The New York Times had previously reported that the recovery of an unusually large amount of cash in a raid was an early piece in the puzzle that investigators put together.
The three American officials who described and confirmed details about the basis for the intelligence assessment spoke on the condition of anonymity amid swelling turmoil over the Trump administration’s failure to authorize any response to Russia’s suspected proxy targeting of American troops and playing down of the issue after it came to light four days ago.”
The new details of the story is as always based on no real evidence and do not answer to the question: Why did the Russians need to pay large amounts of cash to the Taliban that was already fighting (and as the peace deal demonstrates won) the US-led coalition there?
The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
“No corroborating evidence to back reports.” Department of Defense. Do people still not understand that this is all a made up Fake News Media Hoax started to slander me & the Republican Party. I was never briefed because any info that they may have had did not rise to that level
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
It is an open secret that all powers that have interests in Afghanistan (the US, China, Pakistan, Russia, the UK, Qatar etc) have contacts with the Taliban. This is needed to at least be able to be able to work on a possible peace deal there. The US even officially declared the Taliban a legit partner in the dialogue by making with the group a deal. Nonetheless, now, these contacts and transactions between some persons are used by mainstream media to fuel the hysteria about the supposedly ‘revealed’ Russian agressive actions against the US in Afghanistan.
The situation was already played by the CIA, which made a vague statement on the issue indirectly fueling the story. The intelligence agency is directly interested in fueling the myth about the foreign enemy (or enemies) in order to gain access to additional resources and funding. On top of this, top CIA members always play their own political gains.
D/CIA Statement on Impact of Unauthorized Disclosures on Force Protection (source):
Today, CIA Director Gina Haspel released the following statement:
“When developing intelligence assessments, initial tactical reports often require additional collection and validation. In general, preliminary Force Protection information is shared throughout the national security community—and with U.S. allies—as part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of coalition forces overseas. Leaks compromise and disrupt the critical interagency work to collect, assess, and ascribe culpability.
Hostile states’ use of proxies in war zones to inflict damage on U.S. interests and troops is a constant, longstanding concern. CIA will continue to pursue every lead; analyze the information we collect with critical, objective eyes; and brief reliable intelligence to protect U.S. forces deployed around the world.”
The US society, which has been already passing through a complicated period, once again becomes a target of propaganda and specilations designed by the pro-globalist Washington establishment to achieve their own political goals. They are fueling the anti-Russian hysteria in an attempt to damage US President Trump by once again labeling him a ‘Russian agent’ or at least a ‘weak president’.
However, even if they achieve some success, such approaches itself damage the US national interests because they turn the world superpower into a laughingstock, undermine the US negotiating positions in Afghanistan and instigate chances of a possible military confrontation with Russia. It is easy to imagine what would happen if some crazy apologist of the ‘Russia meddling’ narrative and the need of a ‘strong response’ will come to power in Washington. The World War 3 or at least a new large-scale regional military conflict will become almost inevitable.
