The Briefing Room
General Category => World News => Topic started by: EC on February 19, 2017, 11:50:26 am
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Russia was behind a false report of a rape by German soldiers in Lithuania that was intended to undermine support for NATO's new eastern force, a senior NATO general said on Saturday, warning Europe to expect more such "fake news".
Petr Pavel, who heads NATO's military committee, said he also hoped to hold the first telephone call in more than two years with Russia's military chiefs in coming weeks. There he will outline why NATO believes its biggest military build-up since the end of the Cold War is not a threat to the Kremlin.
Pavel, a Czech army general, said a claim that German-speaking men raped a 15-year-old girl last week in a Lithuanian town close to a German army barracks "was not based on real events". An email making the claim was sent to the speaker of Lithuanian's parliament on Tuesday.
"It is clearly fake news and I believe we should expect more of this," Pavel, told Reuters in an interview, citing conversations with the German and Lithuanian defense ministers.
Estonia's Foreign Minister Sven Mikser also blamed Russia and said he expected more "hostile propaganda" over the troop presence.
Pavel said Russia was "not pleased" by the deployment of NATO troops closer to its border.
"It will likely use legal means, such as propaganda and they will try to influence public opinion against the deployments," he said. "It will get stronger ... but we will be transparent, consistent."
More: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-security-russia-nato-idUSKBN15X08V
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Russia sowing chaos and mistrust everywhere around the globe, even here.
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They're good at it.
I've taken RT off my list of news feeds.
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They're good at it.
I've taken RT off my list of news feeds.
I'm not so sure that they're so good at it as so many people are gullible fools. Its not particularly sophisticated propaganda. They're just using an already existing belief that media and govt are untrustworthy.
While it may be true to some extent, its foolish to automatically believe the worst.
People need to face the fact that we're already in a new cold war.