Disinfo: Contemporary liberalism is totalitarian and non-liberals are enemies to be killed and destroyed

Summary

Karl Popper – George Soros’s mentor – viewed anybody who is not a liberal as an enemy of the open society. It is increasingly clear that today’s liberalism is becoming totalitarian. Through de-platforming and “cancelling culture” globalists censor alternative thinkers. Anyone who is not a liberal is viewed by contemporary liberalism as an enemy of the open society who must be killed and destroyed. Liberal totalitarianism, similarly to other totalitarian regimes, is based on a culture of destruction of the enemy. In liberal totalitarianism non-liberals are labelled “ fascists”, “Stalinists”, “terrorists”, “extremists” and are considered enemies that should be exterminated and destroyed.

Disproof

Conspiracy theory. The message in this video is consistent with a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative that seeks to discredit liberal democracies by claiming that liberal societies are totalitarian systems ruled by “globalist elites” and “shadow governments”. This narrative portrays the liberal societies of the West as ideological dictatorships that have imposed a dominant “liberal globalist “ ideology and claims that “the elites” and mainstream media in these societies persecute anyone who expresses views that dissent from dominant “politically correct” liberal-globalist thinking. This video suggests that in Western liberal societies, dissidents are not only silenced and persecuted but are physically exterminated. Furthermore, this narrative misinterprets the concept of "the Paradox of Tolerance" of Karl Popper. With this idea, Popper wanted to express that it seems a contradiction that a tolerant society is intolerant against intolerance. But according to Popper it is not. This does not means he defends liberalism as a political movement, but the right to suppress intolerance if necessary. Equating the West’s liberal societies to totalitarian regimes based on terror and repression of dissent - such as Nazism and Communism - is an obvious falsification of reality. Liberalism is a political doctrine based on liberty, consent of the governed, individual rights (including civil rights and human rights), and equality before the law. Liberal societies do not suppress alternative points of view but are based on pluralism, a political philosophy which recognises and affirms diversity within a political body, and which permits the peaceful coexistence of different interests, worldviews, convictions, and lifestyles. Read similar cases claiming that the West’s open societies are totalitarian dictatorships masked as democracies and they are “modern” and “liberal” concentration camps and that in Western societies anyone who dissents from dominant liberal ideology is subject to persecution.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 215
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 14/09/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Italian
  • Keywords: West, Secret elites / global elites, George Soros, Conspiracy theory
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Disinfo: Alexei Navalny was poisoned by an MI6 agent

[Alexei Navalny’s] body reacted differently to a fast-acting substance that was rapidly excreted from the body, which his friend Maria Pevchikh gave him. According to a source, she is also an employee (undercover agent) of the [British Secret Intelligence Service] MI6. So, it was the work of Maria Pevchikh. These substances have been in Russia for a long time. They don’t even need to be brought to Russia. They have been kept in the embassies of different countries since the 90s. And there are enough of them for many years. Several people have already died from these substances. However, it will never be possible to prove that it was precisely the poisoning.

Disproof

The story advances a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative casting the Navalny poisoning as wholly unconnected to Russia. Clinical findings at the Charité hospital indicated that Navalny was poisoned with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. Subsequent toxicological tests provided unequivocal evidence of a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group in the blood samples of Alexei Navalny. The use of multiple and simultaneous versions about an event involving questionable actions by the Russian government or its allies, in order to confound citizens searching for the actual truth, is a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation strategy, already seen in the cases of the MH17 downing, the illegal annexation of Crimea, the murder attempt against Sergei and Yulia Skripal or chemical attacks in Syria. Read similar disinformation messages alleging that Navalny is an agent of the Russian special services, that Navalny was not poisoned by Novichok and Russian secret services are not involved, that Alexei Navalny, originally an anti-Russian project, was poisoned by his sponsors, or that the Americans are recouping their long-term investment in Alexei.

Disinfo: Alexei Navalny case: German doctors are silenced

A curious discrepancy: in Russia, the case is being freely and openly discussed by all sorts of professionals who have a say on the matter – doctors, those who treated the patient, investigators, journalists, diplomats, and politicians. However, in the West only high ranking politicians do the talking, the doctors are silent. The doctors at the Berlin clinic Charité seem to have been gagged because they did not say anything.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on Navalny's poisoning. The Berlin clinic Charité, where Alexei Navalny is being treated, has issued several statements with the preliminary results of medical investigation. After Alexei Navalny was admitted to the Charité clinic, its doctors confirmed, after a careful investigation, that the Russian politician was poisoned by a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors:

"Clinical findings indicate poisoning with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. The specific substance involved remains unknown, and a further series of comprehensive testing has been initiated. The effect of the poison – namely, the inhibition of cholinesterase in the body – was confirmed by multiple tests in independent laboratories."

Charité also issued several statements on his condition: that Navalny remains in a serious condition (September 2), that his condition improved (September 7), and that Navalny was removed from mechanical ventilation (September 14). See more recent stories on Navalny's poisoning: that Navalny is an agent of the Russian special services, that he was not poisoned by Novichok and Russian special services are not involved, and that he is an anti-Russian project and was poisoned by the sponsors.

Disinfo: After the coup in Kiev in 2014, Crimea reunited with Russia following a referendum

After the Kiev coup in February 2014, the authorities in Crimea and Sevastopol decided to hold a referendum on reunification with Russia. In the vote, which took place on March 16 of the same year, more than 80 percent of those eligible to vote took part. For reunification with the Russian Federation, 96.7 and 95.6% of the inhabitants of Crimea and Sevastopol voted, respectively. On March 18, the President of Russia signed an agreement on the acceptance of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol into the Russian Federation, and on March 21, the document was ratified by the Federal Assembly. Despite the convincing results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.

Disproof

Recurrent narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea. The Euromaidan was not a coup but a nationwide popular protest against the government's sudden announcement that it would not sign the EU Association Agreement. See the full debunk here. Crimea is a part of Ukraine and was illegally annexed by Russia. The annexation has been condemned by the UNGA (see the resolution A/RES/68/262 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine). No international body recognizes the so-called referendum, announced on 27 February 2014 and held on 16 March 2014. A year after the illegal annexation, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that the plan to annex Crimea was ordered weeks before the so-called referendum. The European Union does not recognise Crimea's annexation and continues to condemn it as a violation of international law. EU sanctions continue to be in place against Russia as a consequence of the annexation. See the EU's statement on the sixth anniversary of Crimea annexation here.