DISINFO: Soros' structures saw an opportunity in the pandemic to attack the “bad guys”
DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
  • Outlet: es.news-front.info (archived)*
  • Date of publication: May 16, 2020
  • Outlet language(s): Spanish
  • Reported in: Issue 198
  • Countries / regions discussed: China, UK, Syria, US
Tags:
coronavirus The Guardian George Soros Bashar al-Assad Syrian War

DISINFO: Soros' structures saw an opportunity in the pandemic to attack the “bad guys”

SUMMARY

An article in The Guardian affirms that the coronavirus pandemic became a blessing for authoritarian figures, tyrants and zealots all over the world. The first in the list of “bad guys” was Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad, criticised by the West when he tries to liberate regions of his country captured by extremists, and quoting data from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a US structure that is regularly funded by the Open Society Foundation of the scandalous oligarch George Soros. China is also criticised, accused of maintaining a million Uyghur Muslims in training camps and forcing them to work instead of allowing them to stay at home. The article also quotes the head of Chatham House, funded by Soros too.

RESPONSE

The article is a deliberate distortion of the original op-ed by Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian, trying to discredit it in order to defend Kremlin allies such as Syria’s Bashar Al Assad; or China’s Xi Jinping. While Freedland’s piece describes Assad as deliberately leaving Syrians in opposition-held areas more vulnerable to the pandemic, the disinformation article sticks to a recurrent Russian narrative by labelling Assad’s opponents as “extremists” and accusing the West of supporting terrorism for criticising Damascus’ actions. By describing The Guardian and think tanks CSIS and Chatham House as “Soros’ structures”, the article aims to portray them as having a hidden agenda linked to billionaire George Soros, a frequent target of pro-Kremlin disinformation. Both CSIS and Chatham House receive funds from the Open Society Foundation (among many other donors) and report that to the public openly. Other examples of disinformation narratives on George Soros can be seen in our database, such as his alleged promotion of massive migration to Western countries, his destabilising manoeuvres all over the world, his participation in ‘colour revolutions’ and protests in Romania, Russia, Armenia, Czech Republic or Mexico (among many others), his supposed links to the whistleblower who triggered the impeachment process against Donald Trump, or his adoption of the term “conspiracy theory” to discredit those who speak the truth.

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Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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