Disinfo: Western societies dominated by childish and stupid people

Summary

Italy and Western societies, in general, are increasingly dominated by childish and stupid people and are hostile to values such as courage, loyalty and ardor. This type of individual, which is increasingly common in the West in all social classes, political parties and religions, repeats empty slogans and platitudes, rejects war and is convinced that he is the vanguard of a new society. In Italy, individuals with these characteristics are selling off the country to foreigners and are unaware of the consequences of their actions.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the decadence of Western values, about the moral bankruptcy of the West and about threatened national identity. According to the narrative of threatened values, the “effeminate West” is rotting under the onslaught of decadence, materialism, gender ideologies and “political correctness”, while Russia embodies traditional values, spirituality and higher virtues. Closely related to the narrative of lost sovereignty, that of threatened national identity maintains that existential danger stems from a diverse array of sources: Islam, gay people, children’s rights, and more. In this specific case, the supposed sell-off of nations to foreigners is the combined result of the two narratives. Read similar cases claiming that post-modern feminism in the West is leading to the total destruction of men and that the West degrades traditional values and endangers societies.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 178
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 27/12/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Italian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US
  • Keywords: Western values, West, European Union, LGBT, Conspiracy theory
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Disinfo: Sputnik Estonia and its employees are being persecuted

This is the persecution, the real persecution, which is now being conducted against not only the Sputnik Estonia, but specifically, every employee who goes to work. Sputnik Estonia’s reporters did not violate the laws of the country and professional ethics.

Disproof

Recurring disinformation campaign aimed at the Estonian authorities. There is no persecution against Sputnik in Estonia as clarified by a recent interview given by the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Estonia is on the 11th place of Reporters without Borders Press freedom index. It's important to note that Estonia has not blocked Sputnik Estonia's website, as it is accessible and operational. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu has emphasized that Estonia has not taken any measures against the portal's media content: "They are financial sanctions aimed at economic activity. I believe it to be justified. We have notified the European Commission's Legal Service. European agencies have said in the Commission that steps taken by Estonia in exercising sanctions policy are warranted." The agency has been forced to move out of its office in Tallinn because of its inability to pay the rent due to sanctions. In October 2019, Estonia-based branches of the foreign banks that operated the accounts of Rossiya Segodnya, the mother company of Sputnik, froze all its transfers, while other banks in Estonia refused to operate with the firm. Banks in Estonia are not the only institutions to have taken action against Rossiya Segodnya for this reason. In 2015, Barclays bank closed the account used by the agency in the UK. In 2016, Latvia's domain registry shut the website of Sputnik Latvia after receiving a letter of concern from the Latvian Foreign Ministry, which drew attention to Sputnik's coverage of Ukraine and routine denial of the embattled nation's territorial integrity. In July 2019, Latvian authorities blocked access to the online portal baltnews.lv, owned by Rossiya Segodnya, because of the EU sanctions. In mid-2019, a court in Vilnius ruled on blocking Sputnik Lithuania over copyright issues. See earlier disinformation cases alleging that Russian media is being discriminated in the Baltic states and that Baltic states’ policies equal to Third Reich. Further information on Sputnik's operations can be read in our article circling-the-earth.

Disinfo: EU has lost hundreds of billions due to sanctions on Russia

The European Union’s losses from sanctions against Russia are estimated at hundreds of billions of euros.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Western sanctions on Russia attempting to make out that they have backfired. Since March 2014, the EU has progressively imposed restrictive measures against Russia. The measures were adopted in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and the deliberate de-stabilisation of Ukraine.

By the most recent research into the effect of sanctions, the cumulative export loss to Russia during 2014-2018 is estimated at EUR 30 billion (about -0.2% of EU’s GDP in 2018), incurred largely during 2014-2016, as EU exports to Russia recovered in 2017.

Disinfo: British curators are behind the persecution of Sputnik in Estonia

There are British curators behind the persecution of Sputnik [Estonia] by the Estonian authorities.

Disproof

This conspiracy theory is based on the concept that countries or organisations are not independent but under the control of other countries or organisations. Examples of such disinformation narratives include NATO's Eastern European members are under Washington’s political and military control or The Economist is a mouthpiece of the Rothschilds and Europe is a puppet of Washington. As for persecution by the Estonian authorities, it should be noted that the Article 2 of the Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014, on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, foresees freezing the assets of Dmitry Kiselyov, the Director General of Rossiya Segodnya. As a result, Estonian banks froze accounts of Rossiya Segodnya and the Financial Intelligence Unit informed persons employed or contracted by Rossiya Segodnya that knowing performance of work or services to a sanctioned person was forbidden. The Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu has emphasized that Estonia has not taken any measures against the portal's media content: "They are financial sanctions aimed at economic activity. I believe it to be justified. We have notified the European Commission's Legal Service. European agencies have said in the Commission that steps taken by Estonia in exercising sanctions policy are warranted." Estonia is ranked as the 11th freest country in the world for press by Reporters Without Borders. Sputnik was created by a Presidential decree with the aim to “report on the state policy of Russia abroad”. Numerous reports have described how top managers from all the large government-controlled outlets and some influential private media attend the weekly meetings where "media managers receive guidelines that “help” them not to overstep the Kremlin’s so-called “double white lines”". The EU vs Disinfo team has found 49 different Sputnik websites from all over the world and 31 of them are in the Disinfrormation cases database, meaning those outlets have been publishing disinformation. Sputnik Estonia is represented in that database both in Estonian and in Russian languages. In 2016 Latvia's domain registry shut the website of Sputnik Latvia after receiving a letter of concern from the Latvian Foreign Ministry, which drew attention to Sputnik's coverage of Ukraine and routine denial of the embattled nation's territorial integrity. In July 2019, Latvian authorities blocked access to the online portal baltnews.lv, owned by Rossiya Segodnya. In mid-2019 a court in Vilnius ruled on blocking Sputnik Lithuania over copyright issues.