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Disinfo: US lack of help to Europe is a strategy to ensure its dominance over the continent

Summary

US leaving its European allies alone with the disastrous effects of the disease, may be a well-thought strategy. A destroyed Europe may bring many benefits to the US, as it happened after World War II with the Marshall Plan, which in practice served to take control over European countries devastated by the conflict.

Disproof

Conspiracy theory, with no evidence presented to support the claim based on a false premise.

The US government actually pledged 100 million dollars in medical supplies to France, Italy and Spain, and several million dollars to other European nations outside the EU to confront the coronavirus crisis. Contrary to the claim, the Marshall Plan helped European economies to recover but was not a tool to take control of European countries, which remained sovereign and independent.

This is a mix of several long-established Kremlin-led narratives, such as alleged US dominance over Europe and Washington supposedly playing with coronavirus in favour of its geopolitical interests. It can be framed as part of Russia’s disinformation campaign on coronavirus, well documented by both media and governments, some of whose elements were widely reported by Russian and international publications and by the European External Action Service.

EUvsDisinfo database has a long set of Kremlin-linked disinformation cases on this subject, such as claims that Bill Gates and George Soros are sponsoring the Wuhan coronavirus, that it is a UK, US or NATO creation and Americans have its cure, that it is an artificial disease which specifically targets Chinese DNA, that it is a pretext to gain control of the world’s population, that it was created with economic goals while big pharma companies are spreading panic for their own profits, that it is a biological weapon against Russia and China, that it will wipe out Ukraine’s population in a few days or that it was predicted by Nostradamus and others.

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publication/media

Sputnik Spain (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 193
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 01/04/2020
  • Language/target audience: Spanish, Castilian
  • Country: EU, US
  • Keywords: coronavirus, humanitarian aid, European Union, US presence in Europe, Europe

Disclaimer

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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Decadent West is committing suicide through its irrational response to COVID-19

Decadent like the late Roman Empire, the West is committing suicide through its irrational response to Covid-19.

Many think Covid-19 is some kind of alien invasion that spells the end of the world. But the real threat to us is a much deadlier virus: a hatred of all the values that have underpinned our civilisation for centuries. […] Our increasingly decadent mass culture has gradually become more ideological and openly opposed to the values Western civilization is based upon.
A large number of Westerners are happy to accept the suicidal shutting down of their economies to try to halt a virus that predominantly causes old and sick people to die just a few weeks or months before they would have anyway. The widespread opinion that everything, including economies, must be sacrificed to beat coronavirus is a revival of medieval witch hunts; the sacrifice seems more important than finding an effective method to deal with the problem.
April 01, 2020
Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the collapse of democracy and the West amid the coronavirus crisis, also building on the longstanding pro-Kremlin theme of the West's alleged moral decay, materialism, and hostility to traditional religion, which Western governments allegedly seek to undermine and to replace with pseudo-religions (such as LGBT ideology). See a similar case that liberalism has facilitated the spread of the coronavirus.

The notion of "threatened values" is one of the master narratives used in pro-Kremlin disinformation, in order to suggest that those committed to decency and traditionalism are under attack from liberal “tyranny”. This narrative is adapted to a wide range of topics and typically used to challenge progressive Western attitudes about the rights of women, ethnic and religious minorities, and LGBTQ groups, among others. It often aims to portray the West as depraved, an immoral actor that fights against traditional values, promotes deviant sexual behavior, and endangers societies.

New Zealand has evolved into a police state amid the COVID-19 fallout

New Zealand – the “land of the long white cloud” – has evolved into a police state overnight amid the fallout of Covid-19.

April 01, 2020
Disproof

This claim is a baseless conspiracy theory and recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the coronavirus crisis, attempting to portray democratic countries as failing to handle the pandemic and infringing on civil liberties. See similar cases that the COVID-19 outbreak is a pretext to gain control of the world's population, that COVID-19 is a political move to install hegemony, that the coronavirus is provoking the collapse of open society, and that democracy and freedom prevent Europe from fighting the virus effectively.

New Zealand announced a month-long shutdown on March 25 to combat the spread of the coronavirus, invoking a national level-four alert that means people are instructed to stay home, schools and universities are shut, all non-essential businesses close, and air travel and public transport are only to be used to transport essential workers and freight. Essential services such as supermarkets, doctor's offices and pharmacies will remain open. This approach follows that adopted by many other countries around the world to limit the spread of COVID-19, based on the social distancing recommendations advocated by the World Health Organisation and other health authorities.

Environmentalists are overjoyed by the fear around COVID-19; they see it as an opportunity

Many hardline environmentalists are overjoyed at the atmosphere of fear that Covid-19 has created; for them, it is an instrument for realising the dream of a society that runs according to climate alarmists’ dogma.

Back in the 17th century, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes anticipated the green politics of fear in his classic text, The Leviathan. Hobbes claimed that it is good when people are scared and frightened. Why? Because in their state of fear people will readily subject themselves to an absolutist ruler in exchange for his protection. One does not need a PhD in philosophy to understand that climate alarmist politics leads straight to the doorstep of the Leviathan.

April 01, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin conspiracy theory about the allegedly malicious intentions behind environmental activism, exploiting the coronavirus crisis in a bid delegitimise climate activism as hysteria and an effort to impose "absolutist rule" over society. Pro-Kremlin disinformation often engages in climate change denialism, suggesting for example that climate change is a Western hoax to prevent Russia's economic development and that climate activists want to destroy progress in the name of green faith.

This case is another example of how pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets exploit crisis situations like the current COVID-19 pandemic to spread disinformation about other topics and opportunistically adapt existing pro-Kremlin narratives to new contexts.