1/ The Model —
High numbers of channels/messages and a shameless willingness to disseminate partial truths or outright fictions: New Russian propaganda entertains, confuses and overwhelms the audience. rand.org/pubs/perspecti…
2/ Sputnik —
"Its mission wasn’t really to report the news as much as it was to push a narrative that would either sow doubts about situations that weren’t flattering to Russia or its allies, or hurt the reputation of the United States and its allies."
3/ Sputnik —
"Stanton said he initially took the job at Sputnik because of his interest in Russia and because he needed the paycheck. He said he only started believing that Sputnik was a propaganda site after about a month of working there."
You see this? This is language that is bereft of accountability and ownership. It is not the language of leadership. It’s the hollow rhetoric of evangelism. Please, #NoMore bullshit, @AbiyAhmedAli
This is language that demands the harshest and most difficult sacrifices from citizens. But @AbiyAhmedAli gets to sacrifice nothing. He concedes nothing. Absolutely nothing. Peak megalomania.
This is the language of prosperity gospel preachers who amass and retain unimaginable wealth and power at the expense of their gullible congregation.
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A visual thread of how @AbiyAhmedAli's loyal accomplices and cabinet members looked at him while he lied non-stop for more than thirty minutes today.
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For the people who are busy conjuring conspiracies about how #TigrayGenocide appeared so soon after Nov 4 2020 —
01/ In 2018, these TV personalities were very clear about the horrifying implications of "የቀን ጅብ" as dehumanizing language (~48m)
02/
Anybody who has studied language and violence understands this: dehumanizing language is an early indicator of oncoming violence.
And any sane and historically literate person would have seen what was coming as soon as it was obvious that "የቀን ጅብ" would go unchecked.
03/
Yes, the folks on the TV show were too cautious how they tiptoe around stating the obvious; and their criticism is a little too lukewarm for my liking, especially about Abiy's መደመር garbage and his rabid cult following.
"It's a precedent-setting case. It's the first time that level of human rights abuse has been brought before a Canadian court for the activities of a Canadian extractives company overseas."