TEHRAN — For the American government, the crash of the RQ-170 drone in Iran was an embarrassment. For the Iranian government, it was a propaganda victory. And for at least one company, according to state radio, it could be a windfall. Read full article > >

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U.S. drone that crashed in Iran goes miniature

But state news calls it a Hollywood propaganda plot.

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Iran Responds to U.S. Rescue

The daughter of the former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is sentenced to six months in prison for producing anti-regime propaganda.

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Iran jails Rafsanjani’s daughter

Some like it hot, but Kim Jong Il in Marilyn Monroe’s fluttering dress is certainly not what most people have in mind when they think “hot.” North Korean artist Song Byeok perfected his portraiture skills painting Kim Jong Il as a propaganda artist for his regime in the 1990s — a skill that he puts to use now as a satirical artist, painting the “Dear Leader” in embarrassing situations such as Monroe’s subway grate scene from “The Seven Year Itch.” He’s one of several artist-defectors whose careers have gotten a boost from the dictator’s death. Read full article > >

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Kim Jong Il depicted as Marilyn Monroe in former propaganda artist’s painting

While the Shabab militants are waging a traditional guerrilla war in Somalia, they are also using social media in a propaganda war with Kenya.

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Somalia’s Rebels Embrace Twitter as a Weapon

In Libya, with so many competing factions and overlapping agendas, truthful information is often difficult to come by.

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News Analysis: Disinformation and Confusion Swamp the Truth in Libya

BEIJING — A bank cashier fired for stealing money threw a gasoline bomb inside the bank in northwestern China on Friday, injuring dozens of people, some of whom jumped from a fifth-story window to escape, the local government said. The suspect, Yang Xianwen, fled but was caught by police about nine hours later a short distance away, the government said. Employees of the Tianzhu County Rural Credit Cooperative Union were meeting at about 8 a.m. when Yang threw the gasoline bomb, the propaganda office of the county’s Communist Party said in a statement. Read full article > >

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Fired cashier blamed for gasoline bomb in bank in northwest China that injures dozens

On a tour of a Tripoli hospital last week, a Libyan government escort showed Western journalists evidence of the “civilian casualties” caused by NATO airstrikes. They weren’t fooled — and he knew it. “This is not even human blood!” he cried, disgusted by his own government’s pathetic propaganda.

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Will the Libya intervention bring the end of NATO?

“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” -Warren Buffett to The New York Times, November 26, 2006 There is overwhelming evidence that we are entering the final chapter of class warfare in the US. Today, in the “public arena,” it is forbidden to say class warfare, and many citizens do not regard themselves as working class. The assault on language comes compliments of the propaganda apparatus, which includes: public relations, marketing, corporate media and the entertainment industry, universities, think tanks and so on. Its purpose is to distract read more

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Class Warfare, the Final Chapter

Pakistan’s new army soap opera is thrilling propaganda

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Call of duty

Foreign Secretary William Hague defends the PM’s remarks on multiculturalism – as a Labour MP suggests it amounted to “propaganda” for the English Defence League.

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Row about Cameron speech timing

With the backdrop of political unrest in Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen, Roger Cohen mocks Evgeny Morozov’s The Net Delusion as an ill-timed book in the same category as Dow 36,000 , which was published just before the dot-com crash. Cohen epitomizes technology utopians when he writes, “The freedom to connect is a tool of liberation.” Morozov’s point is subtler, however. His goal is to highlight the negative uses of the Internet, often by powerful governments to achieve their own nefarious ends. He doesn’t deny the positive impacts of technology, but he does offer a counterweight. Morozov’s real target is the simplistic, one-sided view that dissemination of communication technologies necessarily supports democracy. Technology can accelerate a revolution once it begins, but it can’t feed or educate an enfeebled population to the point of rebellion. Consider this: If the Internet by itself were the key to causing democracy, then you’d expect a country like China, with its 420 million Internet users to be a fecund breeding ground for democracy-minded activists, eager to cast off their totalitarian government. But, although there are dissident voices in China, and they do often make use of the Internet, the Chinese populace on the whole doesn’t appear prone to overthrowing its government any time soon. Nor do the citizens of Singapore, where Internet penetration is nearly 100 percent. Thus, claims of communication technologies as the primary cause – or even the catalyst – of large-scale positive social change are misleading, and they lead to poor policy in foreign affairs and international development. They commit the classic error of confusing correlation with cause. It’s not so much that tweeting foments rebellion, but that in our age, all rebellions are tweeted. What, then, is the cause? Three points emerging from Egypt and Tunisia offer clues. First, the protesters express years, if not decades, of frustrations with their government. People need to be deeply unhappy before they march. Second, the protests are led mostly by educated, middle-class people. It takes an educated population that isn’t living hand-to-mouth to risk an upending of the status quo. In contrast, there are many oppressed but starving populations that don’t put up a fight. You can’t eat freedom; better a dictator who feeds you than a democracy who doesn’t. Third, the governments’ physical might, or their will to use it, appears to be weak (though Mubarak has yet to show his cards). Technology magnifies the underlying intent and capacity of people and institutions. But it doesn’t in and of itself change human intent, which evolves through non-technological social forces. (Witness how no amount of FoxNews and MSNBC converts opposing opinions; if anything, they polarize.) Successful revolutions are tipping points, which mark the point when the power of capable citizens frustrated with their governments exceeds the will and physical might of a government intent on power. An avalanche’s underlying cause is a flake-by-flake accumulation of snow; similarly, the tipping point of revolution is the culmination of a person-by-person accumulation of frustration and middle-class security. Technology can communicate and spread frustration, but it also amplifies government propaganda and misinformation. Technology can accelerate a revolution once it begins, but it can’t feed or educate an enfeebled population to the point of rebellion ( PCs for schools notwithstanding ). What does this mean for policy? Technology policy should be more selectively applied. It helps most when the social balance is already in favor of a desired outcome. Otherwise, there are other conditions we might push for first – good nutrition, viable healthcare, and universal education — most of which are less controversial, even for dictators. And, in any case, technology-for-all policies require extreme care, as Hillary Clinton found with WikiLeaks and “Internet freedom,” technology’s blade is always double-edged.

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Twitter: It Won’t Start a Revolution, But It Can Feed One

For several years now, one organization in the US government has persistently undermined attempts to have a grown-up debate about the perceived dangerousness of prisoners at Guant

So now you’ve seen the power of conservative propaganda for setting America’s agenda. During the November 2010 elections, we saw the annihilation of progressive ideas by the most sophisticated, deeply funded and precisely orchestrated public relations system ever concocted. read more

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Responding to the Conservative Propaganda Machine

The gall of gas megacorporations is surpassed only by the preposterousness of their claims. They spend millions each year trying to convince the public and our lawmakers of the benefits of “natural” gas (NG), but a quick look at their propaganda reveals some deep flaws. read more

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Maura Stephens | 15 Claims the Natural Gas Industry Wants You to Believe and Why They’re Wrong