German police quash Breitbart story of mob setting fire to Dortmund church
Source: Agence France-Presse in Berlin
German media and politicians have warned against an election-year spike in fake news after the rightwing website Breitbart claimed a mob chanting Allahu Akbar had set fire to a church in the city of Dortmund on New Years Eve.
After the report by the US site was widely shared on social media, the citys police clarified that no extraordinary or spectacular incidents had marred the festivities.
The local newspaper, Ruhr Nachrichten, said elements of its online reporting on New Years Eve had been distorted by Breitbart to produce fake news, hate and propaganda.
The justice minister of Hesse state, Eva Kühne-Hörmann, said that the danger is that these stories spread with incredible speed and take on lives of their own.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/07/german-police-quash-breitbart-story-of-mob-setting-fire-to-dortmund-church
It's looking more and more like the coalition of Putin and Trump is trying to interfere with German elections and perceptions of Germany in a similar way to what they did here, with a combination of hacking and hate-filled fake news.
Good to see that their lies are being actively countered there.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)suffragette
(12,232 posts)Or maybe that should be "putsch."
TomCADem
(17,378 posts)Here is a DailyKoS story discussing some of the overlaps...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/11/18/1601406/-Everything-You-Need-to-Know-About-Steve-Bannon-Breitbart-Russia
In other words, they think the future is not a battle between East and West (US vs. Russia), but Traditionalist verses Secularists and multiculturalists. The modern Alt-right has embraced Putin as an ally in their battle to install a Traditionalist worldview. The Traditionalist Alt-right believe that Republicans and Conservatives have abandoned them and embraced multiculturalism and allowed things like the acceptance of gays, gay marriage, and multiculturalism.
Because of this, they have abandoned hope in American Conservatism and crossed country lines. They have written articles about Putin being one of them. Here is an article by Pat Buchanan claiming that Putin is their ally: http://buchanan.org/blog/putin-one-us-6071 Also, here is an article by Breitbart describing that the modern alt-right sees themselves as modern Pat Buchanan, Traditionalist intellectuals seeking to defeat the Western multiculturalism and liberalism. www.breitbart.com
Because mainstream Republicans and conservatives have abandoned the cause and accepted things like gay marriage and multiculturalism, the Alt-Right Traditionalists needed to find a new ally and they found a powerful ally in Putin. The Alt-Right thinks that Putin will be their new Traditionalist hero as they have been marginalized by the Republicans and Conservatives of the West. Here are some articles on this alliance:
1. www.washingtonpost.com
2. talkingpointsmemo.com/...
3. www.thedailybeast.com
4.www.businessinsider.com/...
The Alt-Right believes that Putin has done a good job imposing Traditionalism in Russia. They applaud him for his stance on gays and liberal Western multiculturalism. Putins Chief Strategist, Alexander Dugin, has become the intellectual hero of Alt-Right Traditionalists around the world.
suffragette
(12,232 posts)One critical variable of the Trump presidency may be how far this radical shift in perspective advances in a Republican Party where most elected officials and foreign-policy analysts still believe global stability depends on an American-led network of rules and alliances, and still view Putin as an escalating threat to that order. Though the conservative-populist embrace of Putin common in Europe remains confined to the GOPs margins, it appears to be establishing a beachhead under Trump, noted Richard Fontaine, president of the centrist Center for a New American Security, and the former top foreign-policy aide to McCain. Its already going further than I expected it to go, Fontaine said in an interview. The fact that dyed-in-the-wool Republicans are going out and suggesting we dont know who hacked what [in the 2016 campaign] and the sanctions may be an overreaction is not a terribly encouraging sign.
The major conservative nationalist and populist movements in Europe, including Frances National Front, Britains U.K. Independence Party, Germanys Alternative for Germany, the Netherlandss Party for Freedom, Austrias Freedom Party, and Hungarys Jobbik, dont completely overlap in their views of Putin. Geert Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom, for instance, has been cooler toward Putin than the National Fronts Marine Le Pen, who borrowed from a Russian bank to help fund the partys 2014 electoral campaign, or the Freedom Party, which recently signed a cooperation agreement with Putins United Russia party.
But the European populist parties share a common set of priorities focused on restricting immigration, unwinding global economic and political integration (by renouncing the European Union, and, for some of these parties, NATO as well), taking tougher steps to fight Islamic radicalism, and, in most cases, opposing cultural liberalism and secularization at home. On all those fronts, they view Putin not as a threat, but as an ally.
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)are perfectly happy with Putin. They'll just ignore the death of journalists, journalism, etc to embrace what makes them feel good, just like Fox News used to do. Problem? Blame it on a minority or a liberal or a muslim or a GLBT.
Oneironaut
(5,462 posts)They're one of the top-running fake news outlets. Newsmax is another.
I don't know why they're being taken seriously all of the sudden. It's very frightening. They've always put crap out like this.
inanna
(3,547 posts)DEC. 19, 2016
In 2017, Germany, France and the Netherlands will hold elections. It is also possible that Italy will move elections scheduled for 2018 forward in the wake of the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi after voters rejected a referendum on constitutional reforms this month. Candidates who are right-wing populists and friendly toward Russia are gaining ground across Europe, thanks, in part, to Russian interference along the lines of what Moscow was accused of doing in the United States. Russias goals in Europe appear to be to elect foreign leaders who are sympathetic to Russian expansionism, to weaken NATO and to fan anti-European Union forces.
In France, Marine Le Pens National Front party benefited in 2014 from an $11.7 million Kremlin loan to help finance its campaigns. And the winner of the center-right Les Républicains partys recent primary elections, François Fillon, has called for lifting sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea and its war in Ukraine, and for working with Russia to curb immigration and prevent terrorism.
In the Netherlands, Geert Wilderss populist Party for Freedom has surged, with a Donald Trump look-alike Make the Netherlands Great Again campaign, which is anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim. Mr. Wilders is calling for an exit from the European Union. Matteo Salvini of Italys anti-immigrant Northern League opposes sanctions on Russia and boasts of his trips to Moscow.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/opinion/russian-meddling-and-europes-elections.html
suffragette
(12,232 posts)Sites in France and Germany after already using London one to push Brexit.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-strategy-idUSKBN1342TP
Breitbart, which already has a U.K. website, has begun interviewing European journalists to staff the planned new Breitbart France and Breitbart Germany sites, Marlow said. The aim is to help elect right-wing politicians in the two European countries, where anti-immigrant sentiment has been on the rise, sources close to Bannon said.
~~~
The former Goldman Sachs banker launched Breitbart London in 2013 after seeing a "business opportunity" in the campaign to leave the European Union, according to the source. He chose a young conservative activist, Raheem Kassam, to run the site but also hired a venerated British journalist, James Delingpole, to add cache.
Breitbart London's political and business aims were so closely integrated that Kassam took a brief leave of absence from the site to advise Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit movement. The more popular the "Brexit" movement became, the more people went to Breitbart London to read about it, and the more advertisements Bannon sold.
Bannon's bet paid off: the June 23 vote to leave the EU was Breitbart's most heavily trafficked day up to that point--(overall) both in London and the United States.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)They would have to tone it waaaaaaay down from what they publish here to withstand a challenge under Germany's strict incitement laws.
France might prove to be more fertile ground for poisoned fruit, however.
suffragette
(12,232 posts)Jim__
(14,045 posts)ewagner
(18,964 posts)to Putin...now they're after Germany....
Eyeball_Kid
(7,410 posts)Are we getting the message yet?
Are we becoming aware of Russia's attacks on the EU and the Western Hemisphere?
Steve Bannon. Michael Flynn. Tillerson. Manafort. Conway. The Mercer Family. We can now see how all of them are connected to Putin. And Putin is calling the shots for Trumpy. They're all against the United States.
And they're all being shielded by the Republican Party.
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)Reply in this thread that elucidates. The propaganda is outrageous.
Initech
(99,915 posts)What if Russia has been the bad guy the last 30 years this whole time? While we're fighting Iraq and Afghanistan until the end of time, they're manipulating the rest of the world. Putin is a mad man and he must be squashed. Trump is a mad man and he must be squashed.
suffragette
(12,232 posts)Tanuki
(14,893 posts)BumRushDaShow
(127,324 posts)suffragette
(12,232 posts)divisions and has announced that they are looking at opening sites in Germany and France.
They want to install the right wing there too or at least, weaken the center and left wing.
I'm glad they are addressing the fake news from them quickly and head on.
DFW
(54,057 posts)The German media is mostly free of the Republican-style domination that contaminates our media. Their public is, as a result, usually better informed than ours. Plus, the outing of Soviet domination and manipulation of several parties during the period prior to 1990 became public record when the Stasi files were examined. The Germans are plenty mistrustful of Russian propaganda manipulation. Any such unsubstantiated story will be suspect and immediately debunked by the German media.
suffragette
(12,232 posts)In an attempt to influence German and French elections.
AgadorSparticus
(7,963 posts)It is good to see that they didn't wait until next year to take action.
suffragette
(12,232 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)I am convinced the BBart assholes and alt-media cult leaders are trying their best to destroy human civilization. They already are such miserable filth, that they want to die - yet their sadistic side must take the rest of us with them.
Good for Germany, sadly the US media is already alt-right.
suffragette
(12,232 posts)And along with them is a very calculated effort to plunder the people and the planet for short term self gain. That propaganda machine is out in force and has been working globally to yank people and governments ever further to the right of the spectrum.
Rex
(65,616 posts)They are very good at pushing the hate as 'harmless pranks' as Rush would say. We better be prepared.
suffragette
(12,232 posts)connection, I wonder what James O'Keefe is planning next.
There are all too many Repubs in Congress who would jump on any of his bogus videos and use them as an excuse to tear down progressive organizations.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Those idiots think it is funny to destroy the social safety net. Of course they don't care, money speaks for them.