Berlin in Lockstep With US Planning Center of Defense Against Disinformation Ahead Of ElectionsBy Claire Bernish Der Spiegel reports that the Federal Press Office in the Chancellery will take a sizable role in creating this fake news defense center, which will roll out a dystopian intensification of political education work, specifically targeting those the German government feels might be impressionable to fake news particularly Russian-Germans and Turkish-speaking people. Fears that false reports could sway elections in Germany led officials to surmise arrangements for the center should be negotiated very quickly, and rules for the 2017 election should be decided among the various political parties. Plans for this center to slay false information sound eerily akin to the recent passage in the U.S. of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which included blueprints for a wholly Orwellian Global Engagement Center effectively writing into law an American Ministry of Truth. As text of the new law states: The purpose of the center shall be to lead, synchronize, and coordinate efforts of the Federal Government to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining United States national security interests. However, trepidation about fake news and covert but direct Russian influence over an election derive from a narrative posited by American officials who have yet to proffer a shred of evidence backing the claims. Although the Washington Post published an article declaring, in essence, every independent news outlet that discussed the content of WikiLeaks documents detailing corruption within the Democratic establishment had been a willing or witless employee of the Russian government by publishing fake news and thus influencing the election the once-famed media organization subsequently partly retracted its report, in part, due to lack of evidence. But the Post incidentally revealed in emails leaked to WikiLeaks to have colluded with Hillary Clintons campaign didnt stop there, and proceeded to publish an article asserting unnamed officials in the CIA had performed a secretive assessment which concluded The Russians had somehow hacked the U.S. election. Again, however, the Post failed to provide even a thin shred of evidence to back the information it published, and although the article claimed a consensus in the Intelligence Community the FBI and others argued officials did not agree on the direct Russian interference account. Despite a public statement dismissing the idea fake news could have influenced the outcome of the election, threadbare claims saturating American corporate media forced Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to initiate a plan to combat disinformation circulating on the platform. In the near future, Facebook users will be encouraged to flag news items they feel arent valid, and a team of putative fact-checkers including only decidedly left-leaning organizations like Politifact and Snopes will then decide if the information should be branded disputed and suppressed in news feeds. Germany quickly heightened the fake news hysteria, threatening the social media behemoth with fines of 500,000 (roughly $525,000) for each fake news item not removed within 24 hours. Worse, as Germanys Justice Minister Heiko Maas alarmingly noted in an interview with Reuters, offenders could face up to five years behind bars if guilty of disseminating malicious gossip or defamation, saying, Justice authorities must prosecute that, even on the internet. Anyone who tries to manipulate the political discussion with lies needs to be aware (of the consequences). Now, Germany appears to be in lockstep with the U.S. with the establishment of an actual center focused solely on combating fake news a topic that never was a problem to begin with, because, as Maas explained, The acceptance of a post-truth age would be equivalent to political capitulation. This McCarthyite fake news frenzy in both the U.S. and Germany can be facilely attributed to the political establishments fear of losing its long-held influential clutches. Without any evidence ostensibly fake news persuaded so much as a single American to cast their vote in favor of Donald Trump when they had considered voting Hillary Clinton, the war against disinformation seems far more akin to plan to make censorship palatable to a feckless populace. As Jordan Shapiro penned in a Forbes editorial, While well-meaning people run around trying to protect children (and gullible adults) from so-called fake news, anyone in the United States who actually leans totalitarian must be ecstatic. And proffering this false war on fake news is an ideal first step toward squashing the First Amendment. Once the citizenry accepts the conceit that some news is real (and, therefore, good) while other news is fake (and, therefore, bad) theyll voluntarily submit to censorship. Freedom of the press can easily be replaced by sanctioned propaganda. With what essentially constitutes a 1984-envisioned Ministry of Truth to be established in both the United States and Germany, it would appear State-sanctioned propaganda will as in 1950s America once again replace any semblance of an open and free press. Claire Bernish writes for TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared. September 2014 British Prime minister Cameron, speaking at the UN General Assembly, informed the worlds governments that non-violent extremists were the new enemy. It was immediately apparent that 911 truth was going to be made a crime. I am only surprised that it has taken so long to legislate this into being. The first amendment has been repealed, and pretty soon even pointing out that fact will be a crime. Still have our muskets and attitude, that really scares them. Not when they have their Monster Drones and our GPS quadrants. Half empty/half full. A hundred million guns in the hands of ex vets and hunters who are good shots and excellant at tracking can take out most all supply lines, electricity, water, etc. Its called guerrilla warfare friend. Most folks dont realize that the UK and British Empire have never had Free Speech! Hard to imagine, but the UK has been locking up whistleblowers and peaceful protesters and Free Speech enthusiasts for hundreds and hundreds of years. I have had books seized when I have crossed into Canada or flown into the UK. So, Ladies and Gentlemen, if you want the government to be able to arrest you and lock you up for simply speaking your opinion or disseminating your research, or contradicting the official party line, the time is NOW to speak out and stop this NONSENSE. The Globalists/slave traders will stop at nothing to find a reason for stopping the truth from being being spoken, written, published, broadcast or printed. Makes you wonder just how organized this take-over of humanity really is?? So many languages and customs and life styles yet they all agree on one thingthey know whats best for us all. Lockstep? Didnt you mean goose step? Were completely in favor of free speech. Unless you say something we dont like. Sigh. Achtung, baby! Heh. I own that album. One of the U2 Classics. Angela Merkel equals Hillary Clinton. Both stooges of the Globalists who only want whats the worst for you, only has Germany ever had a Free Press and Free Speech? Germans need to fight this as do Americans. Label all MSM stories as fake news turning it right back on them. This creeping censorship in the West will inevitably destroy freedom of speech and freedom of information. We have met the enemy, and he is us. In April 1967, the CIA wrote a dispatch which coined the term conspiracy theories In other words, the CIAs clandestine services unit created the arguments for attacking conspiracy theories as unreliable in the 1960s as part of its psychological warfare operations. Folks are waking and the heard has lifted its head awaiting to stampede. I love the puns and lyrical quality of your comment. Herd/Heard so apt. 