NachDenkSeiten was exclusively leaked an internal document of the German government. We were able to verify the paper and we also know the identity of the whistleblower.
The document provides an illuminating insight into the extent of the horizontal and vertical structures of, there is no other way to put it, federal German state propaganda, especially with regard to the official involvement of media (e.g. Spiegel and Stern), Western social media corporations, educational institutions and the so-called "fact-checkers".
Even elementary school children are being targeted. All of this adds up to a concerted attempt at information synchronization by the federal government.
The document is entitled "Ongoing activities of departments and authorities against disinformation in connection with RUS war against UKR", comprises a total of 10 pages and meticulously lists the corresponding activities of the federal ministries and subordinate authorities as of 27.06.2022. And these activities have it in their entirety in itself.
The NachDenkSeiten will concentrate in the evaluation in the first part on the remarks to the role of the BMI (Ministry of the Interior), the AA (Foreign Office), the BPA (Federal Press Office) and the BKM (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media).
In the second part, on the activities of the BMDV (Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport) as well as the BMFSFJ (Federal Ministry of Family Affairs) and the BMVg (Federal Ministry of Defense).
SPD-led Ministry of the Interior as the central hub of state propaganda activities
The list begins with the SPD-led Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) under Nancy Faeser.
For example, the BMI is to take the lead and coordinate "interdepartmental" efforts to "detect and defend against hybrid threats." This will be led by the "UAG RUS/UKR" (UAG stands in ministerial parlance for sub-working groups).
In this context, among other things, a "Hybrid Threats" situation report focusing on Russia-Ukraine is to be drafted every two weeks. However, the so-called "10-point resilience plan" listed in the document is particularly eye-catching.
The first item in this "plan" is the concerted "linking to fact checkers on federal government websites".
Private "fact checkers" such as Correctiv or contribution-financed ones such as ARD-Faktenfinder, financed mainly by U.S. billionaire and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, are to be massively advertised through the "websites of the federal government".
So much for the postulated "state neutrality" and "independence" of the fact checkers!
Furthermore, brochures on "disinformation in the context of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine" are to be produced and sent to federal ministries, members of the Bundestag, states and municipalities.
The list is supplemented with the reference: "Distribution to multipliers in civil society is underway."
The 5th point in the "Resilience Plan" is also particularly revealing; it is devoted to cooperation with the press.
Mention is made, for example, of a "Spiegel background discussion" on March 31 and the preparation of name articles and interviews with Interior Minister Faeser, explicit reference is made in this context to STERN and Tagesspiegel.
Likewise it is mentioned that it succeeded in establishing the term "Task Force against Disinformation" in the reporting.
In the document, (Russian) "disinformation" is understood to be anything that corresponds to a reproduction of the official Russian position. And this exclusively in relation to the Russian side. Neither official Ukrainian nor U.S. views on the war in Ukraine are assessed by the German government as "disinformation" per se in the same way.
Another listed aspect of the plan is "outreach into the parliamentary arena," i.e., influencing members of the Bundestag and state parliaments. This is not an unproblematic project, considering the existing separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.
The "Resilience Plan" also mentions intensifying contacts and discussions with the platform operators of social networks "on an ad hoc basis in order to sensitize them to state-controlled disinformation. The document explicitly mentions Twitter, Meta, Google and Telegram. The talks are to be held at the "state secretary level."
No less problematic appears the plan to influence the "curricula in schools and with the involvement of adult education centers and voluntary structures".
Finally, it is pointed out that work has begun on implementing the "Federal and State Action Plan against Disinformation and for a Defensible Democracy".
The Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Press Office and the Federal Chancellery as further main actors in state propaganda and censorship efforts.
In addition to the Ministry of the Interior, the Foreign Office (AA) appears in the document as a protagonist in the postulated "fight against (Russian) disinformation." It is striking that the AA's entire catalog of measures speaks exclusively of "Russian disinformation" and emphatically creates the impression that "disinformation" and narrative cultivation come from only one country worldwide.
Thus, the document on "Measures within the framework of the RUS/UKR communication concept" of the AA states:
"Observation and analysis of current Russian narratives and disinformation. Creation of a "living document" that "deconstructs/debunks classic and current Russian narratives on the Ukraine war"
Promoting projects to build resilience to (especially Russian) disinformation (...)."
According to the present document, the AA networks primarily ("intensively and bilaterally") with representatives of the USA on disinformation issues. Explicitly mentioned in this context are the International Partnership to Counter State-Sponsored Disinformation (IPCSD) and the Counter Foreign Interference Group (CFI).
The last point listed in the document regarding the activities of the AA is also revealing. It mentions "(...) promotion of the project proposals submitted by Deutsche Welle and DW Akademie for the expansion of reporting for UKR/RUS as well as strengthening of media competence (...)". We note that the German Foreign Office, a federal ministry under the leadership of top Green Party politician Annalena Baerbock, plans to support projects of the German foreign broadcaster Deutsche Welle. How this comports with the Deutsche Welle Act (DWG), which obligates to enable "an independent formation of opinion," would be just one of several questions in light of these AA plans revealed in the document.
The Federal Press Office (BPA), together with the AA, heads the so-called "EG Disinformation" (when asked by telephone by the NDS on 27.9. what EG stands for in this context, the responsible chief of service at the BPA could not provide any information). According to the document, the BPA is responsible for "raising internal government awareness of the issue and dealing with disinformation." It also offers "interdepartmental training" on disinformation. What is piquant here is that the training is not provided by the BPA itself, but by private third-party providers such as the "Institute for Strategic Dialogue" (ISD) and the "Business Council for Democracy" of the Hertie Foundation.
The ISD, which has an explicitly transatlantic orientation and is headquartered in London, has such illustrious people on its board as Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the management consultant Roland Berger and the CEO of Axel Springer SE, Matthias Döpfner.
"Interdepartmental training" on disinformation for employees of the federal ministries is thus carried out by a transatlantic lobbying organization, on whose "board" sit exposed plagiarists and the head of the - apropos disinformation - regularly spreading fakenews Springer press, as well as the private foundation of a department store magnate. The outsourcing approach in federal authorities could not be much more absurd.
Finally, the document lists that the deputy government spokespersons have regular "bilateral exchanges with Google/YouTube, Twitter, Meta, Tiktok and LinkedIn" to discuss the platforms' "respective strategies to combat disinformation, especially in the context of the war in Ukraine."
That is, according to the document, both the Interior and Foreign Ministries and the Federal Press Office each have regular bilateral meetings (at the state secretary level) with the major platform operators on "Russian disinformation" in the context of the war in Ukraine. The conformity and censorship pressure built up as a result can probably be considered significant.
Another significant player is the "Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media" (BKM), Claudia Roth, who reports directly to the chancellor. She has a budget of over two billion euros, 400 employees and is responsible for the media policy of the Federal Republic (and finances, among other things, the German foreign broadcaster Deutsche Welle within this framework).
In the internal document available to NachDenkSeiten, there is talk, among other things, of "setting up a Russian exile editorial office in Riga" and "if necessary, setting up a Ukrainian exile editorial office in Krakow, Poland." At the "EU Council of Media Ministers," according to the paper, the BKM seems to play a central and proactive role in "taking action against Russian propaganda media."
Likewise, the BKM is taking a lead role in negotiations on the Orwellian-sounding "European Media Freedom Act," where it is trying to focus on "disinformation."
The BKM is also planning a new funding program, according to the document, "with a focus on news literacy development of the general population to combat disinformation."
Another project that raises questions is the use of children's reporters from the age of 6 against "disinformation," which is not further specified. The document states, among other things:
"Children's reporters - Strengthening news competence and thus resilience against disinformation of 6-14 year olds through active media work."
Finally, reference is made to Deutsche Welle's "Artificial Intelligence against Disinformation" (KID) project. Here, "AI modules of "digital forensics" are to be used to improve the (partially) automated identification of manipulation and concerted disinformation campaigns." Brave new world...
(Short note on the relatively poor quality of the screenshots. The whistleblower has asked us, in order to exclude any possible backtracking, to take only photos of the document and then publish them as screenshots on the NachDenkSeiten. Of course we complied with this request).
The whistleblower also explained to us what motivated him to make this leak. He told NachDenkSeiten that when this document arrived on his work computer, he was deeply shocked. For him, he said, this was "a concerted attempt at narrative synchronization." He continued:
"In my eyes, it is a glimpse into the abyss of the bundled activities of a horizontal (interdepartmental) and vertical integration of modern state propaganda. From ministries and their partnerships with transatlantic think tanks like the ISD down to the press, "fact checkers," social media, "multipliers," "critical civil society," and so on. You don't even stop at engaging schools and elementary-aged children."
Furthermore, he told NachDenkSeiten that this document is only "the tip of the iceberg" and that the projects listed are not complete. Everything listed in this document would be a still tolerable leak for the federal government, he said, because it only included the measures that could be communicated in case of doubt. The German public would have no idea what else was going on in the background.
Finally, something about the presumed author of this internal document. According to the meta-data of the original Word document, this listing of the German government was prepared by a person whose name we do not want to mention out of consideration for his private life, but whose vita gives interesting insights into who draws up such "interdepartmental" papers on this subject. One finds almost nothing about the person online, but what little one does find speaks for itself. On LinkedIn, one can find a post thanking the author of the document "Ongoing activities of departments and agencies against disinformation in the context of RUS war against UKR", by BwConsulting (BwConsulting is the in-house consulting firm of the Federal Ministry of Defense) for the cooperation, and the person is also the author of a reference book on the management of NATO and EU military operations.
It's not just the German government, it's all of them. Nothing that is said in MSM, or that comes from "official sources" should ever be taken at face value, on any subject. They are documented liars all of them.
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