Disinfo: The US puts Wikileaks at the same threat level as Al Qaeda or ISIS

Summary

The US National Counterintelligence and Security Centre warned in its last report that public disclosure organisations and hackers are terrible espionage threats at the same level as terrorists of the Islamic State, Al Qaeda and Iran. The document states that “Ideologically motivated entities such as hacktivists, fugitives and public disclosure organisations” are, to the United States, on the same level as non-state terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. Though the report carefully avoids mentioning Wikileaks by name, it is clear that it is referring to it by the references made in the report.

Disproof

This is a deliberate distortion of the content of the report, which actually says that there is a growing spectrum of actors and significant threats targeting the United States but does not necessarily put hacktivism at the same level as Al Qaeda or the Islamic State, as claimed. There is no reference to Wikileaks by name in the report, which uses the word “leaktivists” instead of “fugitives”.

You can see other examples of related to this topic in our database, such as claims that Hillary Clinton wanted to kill Assange in a drone attack, that Wikileaks proved that it was the CIA and not Russia who was behind the DNC hacking, that Oliver Stone’s film “Snowden” was banned in the West or that Assange’s case shows that there is no real information in NATO countries, just propaganda.

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es.news-front.info (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 185
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 12/02/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Spanish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US
  • Keywords: Wikileaks, Julian Assange, Intelligence services
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Disinfo: Armenia initiates a referendum to ratify the Istanbul Convention

The authorities initiated a consitutional referendum to change members of the Constitutional court. This is aimed at ratifying the Istanbul Convention, even though it contradicts the Constitution.

For the Convention to be ratified, the Constitutional Court needs to conclude that it does not contradict Armenia’s Constitution.

With its current staff, the Constitutional Court of Armenia, would never reach such a conclusion. So, it is very important for the authorities to change the members of the Constitutional Court as soon as possible.

Feb 11, 2020
Disproof

Recurring disinformation narrative about the Istanbul Convention. The Istanbul Convention (the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence) is a treaty of the Council of Europe for the creation of a legal framework at pan-European level to protect women against all forms of violence, and prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence.

The referendum has nothing to do with the Istanbul Convention. Under the proposed amendments, the Constitutional court’s chairman and six other members appointed by former Armenian governments would be replaced by other judges to be confirmed by the current parliament. The chairman and members of the CC are accused of having remaining links to the “former corrupt regime”.

Disinfo: Ukraine's chances of joining the EU are miserable, economy is destroyed, industry in ruins, millions have left the country

Ukraine’s chances of joining the EU are miserable. Ukrainians are pleased to be among “good company”, but nobody wants to take them into such a company.

If you ask the Ukrainian authorities what they really did to join the European Union, the answer will be very sad. The economy of Ukraine is destroyed, industry is in ruins and the standard of living has fallen to such an extent that millions of Ukrainians have become migrants.

Feb 11, 2020
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that the European Union is tired of Ukraine and no longer wants to help it and that there is no chance of Ukraine joining the EU. It is also a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying the economic situation of Ukraine as disastrous.

European integration is defined by the Ukrainian authorities as a priority. On 11 February 2020, Prime Minister of Ukraine, Oleksiy Honcharuk, met with EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, Olivér Várhelyi, and discussed priorities for Ukraine-EU bilateral cooperation for 2020.

Disinfo: A small group of EU countries reinforces historical phobias about Russia

There is a small group of countries in the EU that reinforces historical phobias about Russia and constantly calls for Russia to be contained and for sanctions not to be reduced.

Feb 11, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russophobia in the EU. EU sanctions against Russia were imposed after illegal actions by the Russian Federation, including the annexation of Crimea, and against persons that have been involved in the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity. In March 2015, the European Council linked the duration of economic restrictions to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements. The EU remains ready to ease sanctions when Russia starts contributing actively to the implementation of the Minsk agreements. “Russophobia” is a manipulative defensive line, often used by Russian propaganda to delegitimise any criticism of Russian policies or the state by implying that such criticism derives from an irrational intolerance of the Russian people. Outlets such as RT, Sputnik and Russian national state television use the term to portray almost any foreign criticism of the Kremlin's policies. Read similar disinformation cases alleging that Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine are Russophobic and anti-Semitic and that Western journalism is dominated by Russophobia and prefers fantasy and story-telling to objective reporting.