In 2014, German journalist Udo Ulfkotte, former director of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, author of the book “Gekaufte Journalisten”, (Journalists for Hire), denounced European media who write lies under pressure from the CIA. An English translation will be available on May 15 2017....Intel Today
Ironically, however, it’s likely that one of the biggest threats (especially in Europe) to Anglo-American media credibility about Ukraine and other issues is coming from a very old-fashioned medium – a book.
Udo Ulfkotte’s bestseller Bought Journalists has been a sensation in Germany since its publication last autumn. The journalist and former editor of one of Germany’s largest newspapers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, revealed that he was for years secretly on the payroll of the CIA and was spinning the news to favour U.S. interests. Moreover he alleges that some major media are nothing more than propaganda outlets for international think-tanks, intelligence agencies, and corporate high-finance. “We’re talking about puppets on a string,” he says, “journalists who write or say whatever their masters tell them to say or write. If you see how the mainstream media is reporting about the Ukraine conflict and if you know what’s really going on, you get the picture. The masters in the background are pushing for war with Russia and western journalists are putting on their helmets.” [8]
In another interview, Ulfkotte said: “The German and American media tries to bring war to the people in Europe, to bring war to Russia. This is a point of no return, and I am going to stand up and say…it is not right what I have done in the past, to manipulate people, to make propaganda against Russia, and it is not right what my colleagues do, and have done in the past, because they are bribed to betray the people not only in Germany, all over Europe.” [9]Counterpunch
One day before the crisis meeting on Ukraine in Minsk, a leading German newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), published an editorial calling for NATO to militarily escalate the confrontation with Russia to the point of a nuclear attack.
The conservative newspaper appeared on Tuesday with a front-page commentary by its co-editor, Berthold Kohler, calling for a policy of “deterrence” against Russia up to the “highest level.”
Kohler accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of shrinking “from delivering weapons to Kiev that could entangle the West in a proxy war,” even though Russian President Vladimir Putin was prepared “to escalate the dispute to the brink of a nuclear conflict.”
“If the West maintains its view that the conflict ‘cannot be solved militarily,’” Kohler warned, “then, in the worst case, the Kremlin could allow its ‘separatists’ to march to Kiev.”
He then posed the rhetorical question: “How can one deal with an aggressive and expansionist power that disregards the fundamental principles of peace in Europe?” The answer, he said, was “unpleasant but inevitable. Deterrence, all the way up to its highest level.”
Kohler clearly had nuclear weapons in mind, writing: “Would Putin have dared to occupy Crimea if Ukraine also possessed nuclear weapons?”
He left no doubt about his willingness to use such weapons. NATO had to make clear to the Kremlin, he wrote, “that any breach-of-area will be countered with a military response and the willingness of the West to go up the escalation ladder, in the worst case, even faster than the Russians.”
Kohler complained that, “of course, no one in the West speaks openly” of such scenarios, because they contravene “the existing dogma of de-escalation.”
This is the unadulterated voice of German imperialism, heard previously in World War I and World War II. The FAZ publisher is willing to contemplate and threaten a nuclear war that would cost billions of lives and very likely spell the end of human civilization.Peter Schwarz
Lately, Germany has been taking a keen interest in the upcoming October 26 Ukrainian parliamentary elections. Bizarrely, they are full of praise for neo-nazi candidates.Russia Insider
For example, the publication Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung perhaps Germany’s most prestigious daily, recently dedicated a very sympathetic article to Oleh Lyashko. Who is this “Oleh”?
Lyashko was elected to parliament despite having a criminal record and having spent quality prison time for embezzlement. His neo-nazi militia group has been condemned by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for war crimes. His response to this was the Ukrainian equivalent of “in the fog of war stuff happens”. Ironically, he is also chairman of a subcommittee on - wait for it - “Rules and Ethics”.
Also recently, Die Zeit, Germany’s most prestigious weekly, published a profile interview with Semyon Semenchenko, the commander and founder of a neo-nazi militia referred to as the Donbass Battalion.
On June 29th members of his battalion staged a protest in front of the parliament demanding the immediate cessation of the truce declared on June 21st . A truce is bad news, of course, for bad-boy Nazi wannabes who want to rid Ukraine of communists, jews and Russians.
Not the least problem with giving positive coverage to extremists is that you embolden them. Semenchenko recently openly threatened President Poroshenko, calling “a traitor”, saying he would force Poroshenko to flee for his life from Ukraine unless hostilities against the pro-Russian separatists are resumed.
In a remarkable feat of irrationality Sementchenko even admitted to his battalion wearing Nazi insignia: "Yes, we wear swastikas, but such symbols do not mean much anymore".
Exclusively for RI, Dutch journalist Eric van de Beek interviews the senior German editor who is causing a sensation with his allegations that the CIA pays German media professionals to spin stories to follow US government goals.
We wrote about this two weeks ago, and the article shot up in views, becoming one of the most read articles on our site.
Udo Ulfkotte reveals in his bestseller Bought Journalists, how he was "taught to lie, to betray and not to tell the truth to the public.
The former editor of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which is one of Germany’s largest newspapers, was secretly on the payroll of the CIA and German secret service, spinning the news in a way that was positive for the United States and bad for its opponents.
In his latest interview, Ulfkotte alleges that some media are nothing more than propaganda outlets of political parties, secret services, international think tanks and high finance entities.
Repenting for collaborating with various agencies and organisations to manipulate the news, Ulkotte laments, "I'm ashamed I was part of it. Unfortunately I cannot reverse this."…Russia Insider
