Nations Should Begin Removing Facebook, Twitter, and Google from Their Information Space

Legal options are a start. The ultimate goal should be replacing Facebook, Twitter, and Google with local alternatives like Russia, China, and many other nations are already doing.

September 24, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - LD) - The Thai government has begun legal proceedings against US-based social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Google. This comes at a time when nations around the globe have begun pushing back against the abusive American tech firms and their role in advancing US foreign policy and in particular, illegal US interventions including war.

Not only are these US-based tech companies refusing to follow Thai laws regarding sedition, libel, and disinformation targeting national security and sociopolitical-economic stability, they have pursued a one-sided policy of censoring information critical of ongoing US-backed anti-government protests - shadow banning or outright censoring any and all accounts attempting to share information about documented US government funding behind the organizations involved. 

Virtually every aspect of current, ongoing anti-government protests in Thailand are funded by the US government. 

 

The US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) - an organization created by the US government, funded by the US Congress, and overseen by both Congress and the US State Department - funds everything from the Thai opposition's core leadership, to organizations petitioning the government to rewrite the Thai constitution, to media organizations promoting the protests, and even groups who physically bring people to rallies. 

 

READ MORE: The Complete Guide: US Government Role in Thailand's "Student Protests"

 

Since verifying this information is as easy as going to the US NED's own official website, Twitter, Facebook, and Google's concerted efforts to bury or altogether ban accounts discussing this information on the grounds of "fake news" is clear cut censorship designed specifically to aid US political interference within Thailand's internal political affairs - a violation of the UN Charter regarding political independence and non-interference as well as a direct attack on Thailand's sovereignty. 

 

Facebook, Twitter, and Google are Extensions of US Interventionism

Facebook, Twitter, and Google all openly serve as extensions of US special interests having been documented to be working with the US government and the US State Department in particular to use their platforms to help advance US foreign policy. 

 

This was admittedly done throughout the the US-engineered "Arab Spring" in 2011. 

The New York Times in an article titled, "U.S. Groups Helped Nurture Arab Uprisings," not only admitted to the role the US government played in stirring up unrest in the Arab World in 2011 - but also the role US-based social media giants like Facebook and tech giant Google played, stating (emphasis added):

Some Egyptian youth leaders attended a 2008 technology meeting in New York, where they were taught to use social networking and mobile technologies to promote democracy. Among those sponsoring the meeting were Facebook, Google, MTV, Columbia Law School and the State Department.

Google has also admittedly helped the US government in its efforts to violently overthrow the government of Syria. The Independent in a 2016 article titled, "Google planned to help Syrian rebels bring down Assad regime, leaked Hillary Clinton emails claim," would note Google's activities regarding Syria:

An interactive tool created by Google was designed to encourage Syrian rebels and help bring down the Assad regime, Hillary Clinton's leaked emails have reportedly revealed. 

By tracking and mapping defections within the Syrian leadership, it was reportedly designed to encourage more people to defect and 'give confidence' to the rebel opposition.

Clearly, more is going on at Google than Internet searches - and a US tech giant involved in an illegal war to violently overthrow the government in Syria is a US tech giant that will willingly involve itself in other US interventions around the globe as it, Facebook, and Twitter are clearly doing in Thailand today. 

 

Targeting Thailand 

 

Twitter in particular has been actively involved in boosting the illusion of popularity of Thai anti-government protests - hosting a massive online army of automated and sockpuppet accounts. This "bot army" has helped create numerous anti-government hashtags propelled to the top of Twitter's "trending" list. These hashtags are then promptly the subject of dishonest news articles across Western and local anti-government media outlets citing them as "evidence" of wide public approval. 

 

America's Broken Syria Project

September 22, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - A recent altercation between Russian forces and US occupiers in northeastern Syria helped highlight the increasingly tenuous position Washington holds not only in Syria but across the entire Middle East. 

After attempting to block Russian military vehicles, US forces found themselves being literally plowed out of the way with overwhelming Russian airpower hovering overhead. 

After complaining that American troops were "injured" in the incident and condemning Russia for "unsafe and unprofessional actions," the United States announced that it was deploying more troops and military equipment to bolster its illegal occupation of Syrian territory. 

The US also claimed its continued presence in Syria officially seeks to confront and eliminate the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (ISIS), but official accounts maintained by the US government and the US Department of Defense on an almost daily basis provide a wide and every-shifting number of excuses. 

On September 20th "Inherent Resolve's" Twitter account would announce: 

Bradley Fighting Vehicles provide the rapid flexibility needed to protect critical petroleum resources.

The region the US occupies is also where the majority of Syria's petroleum is extracted and America's "protection" of these resources is part of a wider strategy - not to fight ISIS - but to deny the Syrian state which has eliminated ISIS from all territory it controls - both energy and revenue from its own natural resources.  

In essence, the US is in Syria weakening the Syrian government who has led the fight against ISIS and provoking confrontations with Russia who has been key in aiding Damascus against ISIS, Al Nusra, and other affiliates of Al Qaeda. 

The US had been in Syria a full year before Russia's invitation by Damascus to aid in security operations against ISIS and Al Qaeda affiliates in 2015. The Russian military promptly began bombing supply lines feeding ISIS and other terrorist groups from across the Syrian border in Turkey. ISIS' fighting capacity rapidly collapsed and remains isolated in pockets made inaccessible by America's continued occupation of Syrian territory. 

A Microcosm of America's Wider MENA Failure

The confrontation with Russia and the decision to boost America's military presence in Syria is but a microcosm of America's wider struggle to maintain its invasive primacy over the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). 

Despite beginning the 21st century with an overwhelming military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq and expanding its involvement in the region in 2011 through the US-engineered "Arab Spring" - US power and influence has visibly waned. Its attempts to control virtually every aspect of Iraq's internal politics has faltered in the face of Iraqis seeking alternative ties with neighboring Iran. 

FinCEN Files: Corporate Foundation-Funded Propaganda Tries to Boost US Financial Hegemony

Many eager to smear Thai banks and others in relation to the FinCEN Files quickly repeated the ICIJ's accusations. None looked into its Soros and Ford Foundation-funded background, motives, or even the veracity of its supposed claims.

September 23, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - ATN) - The Bangkok Post in its article, " Thai banks probed over 'dirty money'" made sure to repeat so-far unfounded accusations made against several of Thailand's major banks, based on what the article itself admitted was an "International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' report referring to alleged leaked files from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the US."  

What the Bangkok Post and other anti-government opportunists failed to do was investigate the "International Consortium of Investigative Journalists" (ICIJ) itself, its funding, and thus its possible motives for making its most recent and otherwise baseless accusations. 

No Evidence of Criminality, Just Transactions ICIJ Claims are "Suspicious" 

The FinCEN Files source documents aren't even fully provided by ICIJ - only an alleged selection picked by ICIJ itself. The alleged data presented on ICIJ's website provides no information about the transactions beside how much money was transferred and from where to where, not even by whom. The handpicked documents released by ICIJ are "Suspicious Activity Reports" or SARs.

ICIJ defines these, claiming (emphasis added): 

A suspicious activity report is a document filed to U.S. authorities when a bank or other financial institution observes a transaction that seems suspicious. A SAR is not an accusation but a way to alert government regulators and law enforcement to irregular or possibly criminal activity. SARs are strictly confidential – so secret that banks aren’t allowed to publicly confirm their existence.

Thus, ICIJ is publishing the names of people and businesses who have not even been accused let alone convicted of any wrongdoing, and simply flagged as "suspicious." 

There appears to be claims by the ICIJ - and those repeating its claims - that some banks "turned a blind eye" to allegedly suspicious behavior - but this only means they didn't file SARs with the US government. 

Besides creating "leaks" the Western corporate media can now manipulate to smear virtually any state, bank, as well as anyone appearing in disclosed SARs made public by ICIJ, there appears to be little other purpose for ICIJ's "FinCEN Files" project - except perhaps attempting to sell the idea that all banks, worldwide, are accountable to the US government. 

A US Government-Funded Petition to Rewrite Thailand's Constitution

 September 22, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - ATN) - An organization calling itself Internet Law Reform Dialogue or "iLaw" has for over a month now been organizing a petition nationwide at literally every anti-government rally - big or small, at every opposition venue or office headquarters, and at every major university campus calling for the rewriting of Thailand's constitution. 

This campaign included a well-funded online marketing campaign along with physical tents and booths with professionally printed banners, brochures, flags, and equipment set up across the entire nation. 

Despite this massive month-plus long effort which also included a "mail-in" signature drive, iLaw failed to collect even 100,000 from Thailand's nearly 70 million population by the time the opposition organized its anemic September 19th rally last weekend despite rewriting the constitution being one of the three core demands of so-called "pro-democracy" protesters. 

The US Government Funds iLaw and its Efforts to Rewrite Thailand's Constitution  

Recent news articles like Bangkok Post's, "Law reform group pitches charter rewrite to public," would claim: 

The Internet Dialogue on Law Reform (iLaw) says it will formally present a people’s version of a bill to draft a new constitution to Parliament on Tuesday.

The article claims that the petition was signed by up to 90,000 people by the time of the September 19th rally. 

The article also claims: 

iLaw is considering holding a series of forums to show the public why the 2017 charter — drafted at the behest of the military junta and approved in a referendum where dissent was suppressed — must be rewritten, [iLaw representative] Mr Yingcheep said.

What Bangkok Post and others reporting on iLaw and its petition do not report is the fact that iLaw is funded by US-based corporate foundations and the US government via its notorious regime change arm, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). 

The US NED's own official website lists iLaw as "Internet Law Reform Dialogue" and notes that it receives over 1.5 million Thai Baht a year, claiming: 

To foster public understanding and dialogue on the impact of existing and new laws on civil and political rights and to promote freedom of expression. The organization will monitor and assess political and governance processes, as well as the various laws inherited from the military government, and provide the public with accessible analysis of their impact on citizens’ rights. It will also operate a documentation center to monitor and report on freedom of expression violations, and will collaborate with other civil society groups in advocating for democracy and human rights.

This US government-funded activity constitutes political interference and is an open violation of Thailand's political independence as described and protected by the United Nations Charter. It is also political interference the United States itself would never tolerate from another nation.

Thai Opposition Figure Supports US-funded Neo-Nazis in Belarus

 September 21, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - ATN) - While last weekend's anti-government rally was short on protesters, the overall movement seems to have no shortage of irony. A movement condemning the current Thai government as "fascist" is now openly supporting Nazi-flag waving agitators in Belarus. 

Student protest leader Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal has recently and very proudly come out in support of ongoing anti-government protests in Belarus. 

In a picture he himself posted on social media, he holds up a sign with Thailand's national flag alongside - not Belarus' flag - but the flag anti-government protesters have adopted. It is also the identical flag Nazi collaborators flew during World War II.

The Byelorussian Central Council which existed briefly from 1943-1944 flew the same white flag with a single horizontal red mid-stripe. 

The invocation of Nazi collaboration by current anti-government protesters in Belarus is no accident or coincidence. 

Similarly US-backed protests in Ukraine were also led by Neo-Nazi political parties and militias whose growth after taking power became impossible even for the Western media to conceal any longer.

READ MORE: Ukraine's Neo-Nazis "Suddenly" a Problem as Power Grows

The US and NATO have, since the end of World War II, used the remnants of Germany's Nazis and their collaborators across Europe against its power struggle with Moscow. 

It has been revealed that just like in Thailand, virtually every aspect of Belarus' current opposition is funded and backed by the US government. The US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) on its official website alone lists over 30 organizations or programs it is funding. 

While Thailand's "pro-democracy" protesters denounce the current Thai government as "fascist" and "abusive," they themselves are supporting real fascism backed by the most abusive government on Earth. 

Worse sill, Thai protesters are invoking Thailand's own fascist past by resurrecting the "People's Party," a right-wing fascist movement that overthrew Thailand's absolute monarchy in 1932 before its leader - a military officer named Pridi Banomyong - fled Thailand with Anglo-American aid and later died in exile while living in France. 

Thailand's "pro-democracy" movement, worshiping a fascist military coup 88 years ago, taking US government funds and support today, and now supporting a likewise US-funded protest in Belarus flying the flags of WW2 Nazi collaborators says everything in reality about a Thai movement whose rhetoric attempts to say otherwise. 

This isn't the first time Netiwit has supported a US-funded anti-government protest abroad either. 

He is a vocal supporter of US-backed sedition in Hong Kong, China. 

He has flown to Hong Kong and invited US-backed opposition leaders from Hong Kong to Thailand.