Lies, lies, lies

As we talked about when we worked with Gasland it is a course aim that you should be able to find information and be able to question the credibility and reliability of different sources. I just wanted to return to this topic again and at the same time let you have a look at two important historical events in the United States. Both events really makes you question to which extent you can trust what politicians say.

History is filled with lies and deceit. Falsehoods are often a necessary ingredient in the world of politics, it seems.

The first event is the Tonkin Bay Incident, which started the Vietnam War. The initial story about what happened at Tonkin Bay was later questioned and some said that the politicians lied to further their own ends.

The Tonkin Bay incident resulted in the Tonkin Bay resolution, which gave the president (Lyndon Baines Johnson power to go to war in Vietnam.)

The US Naval institute’s version

Historynet’s version of the events

The second event is the Iraq War and the whole controversy surrounding the so-called ”smoking gun”. UN’s weapons inspectors had not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but Colin Powell claimed they had a thick intelligence file that showed that the Iraqis had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). His argument in the UN made most people think that the US was in the right: that Iraq still had WMDs.

Task 1

Here is his speech at the UN. Do you get the impression that the US had proof of WMDs? Why? Post as a comment.

(The different perspectives on the issues is presented and mixed into one in the wiki about this subject. Also former vice-prime minister of Sweden Per Ahlmark wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the head of the weapons inspectors (a Swede called Hans Blix) was incompetent and weak. [Per Ahlmark’s criticism of UN’s weapons inspector Hans Blix.]

 

Task 2

What do you think you can do to avoid being deceived in a world where both companies and politicians can lie? Post as a comment.

Task 3

The Second World War started with a false flag operation. What is a false flag operation? (How did the war start?). Post as a comment.

Task 4

The Vietnam War is often described as a US defeat. Noam Chomsky who was one of its earliest critics has a completely different take on it. Read: https://chomsky.info/unclesam07/

What does he say? Do you think he is right?

10 reaktioner till “Lies, lies, lies”

  1. Task 3: A false flag is someone acting under anothers country’s flag than their own, to hide their own organization or/and to decieve. German concentration camp victims who dressed as german soldiers were shot by the Getsapo and made it seem like it was Poland that shot them.

    Task 4: No, it just doesnt make sense why they’d risk themselves since they were already further in development than Vietnam anyways meanwhile as multiple other countries are catching up or already even passed the U.S (China)

    Gilla

  2. 3.A false flag is that someone is appearing to be performing something against them self like the enemy is attacking them but in reality they are attacking their selves. For example the second world war started because German soldiers were dressed with polish uniforms as they attacked Gleiwitzincidenten, which was an excuse for Germany to attack Poland.

    4.I don’t think that Chomsky is right because it seems to like this article is like an excuse and it was made to hide the fact that they didn’t really get what they wanted but instead referred Vietnam as a virus and that they destroyed it like some sort of heroic action.

    Gilla

  3. Task 3

    The Gleiwitz incident
    On a summer night in 1939, a small group of German officials dressed in Polish uniforms seized the Gleiwitz radio tower in eastern Germany and broadcasted a short anti-german message in Polish on the radio. The operation was to make the broadcast look like Polish anti-German saboteurs had taken over the radio tower.

    This was one of many incidents that made the people of Nazi Germany think that Germany should declare war on Poland. It was also a way to try to stop countries like France and England from interfering in the war, giving that they blame was on Poland and not Germany. Germany wanted the war to only be between Germany and Poland or they would have much harder time taking over Europe.

    Gilla

  4. Task 3.

    It’s when you faked an attack. for example when the Gleiwitz incident in which the SS faked an attack on Germany by Poland in September 1939, which the German soldiers uniformed like Polish soldiers and attack the basement of Polish armies.
    World War II began in Europe on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. Great Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany on September 3. The war between the U.S.S.R. and Germany began on June 22, 1941, with the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

    Gilla

  5. 3. The false flag operation was an operation designed to deceive nations or particular party to put the responsibility of missions on their shoulders. It’s an Operations carried out during peacetime by civilian organizations

    The Second World War was started by Germany when they attack on Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany after Hitler had refused to abort his invasion of Poland. Not to mention after world war one ended in 1918, Germany had defeated and was banned from having armed forces. Adolf Hitler become leader for Germany and he decided to arm Germany again to seize land from other countries.

    4. Very hard to distinguish false and true facts here, he wrote much information which can make readers to change their mind and believe. Again I can’t tell the credibility of the his text but I doubt about it.

    Gilla

  6. 3. The German-Polish part of the second world war started in 1939. Germany had been intending on invading Poland but needed a way to minimize resistance from other countries. Their strategy was to spread fake news reports about a series of attacks from Poles against Germans living inside Poland. As well as this Germany also faked a takeover of a radio tower inside the german town of Gleiwitz that was inside Polish borders. A false flag operation is a fake attack orchestrated by the reported victim as a way for justification for a retaliation attack.

    4. I believe that Noam Chomsky is correct. The united states goal was to prevent Vietnam from becoming free. The attacks on Vietnam successfully prevent elections and resulted in the extinction of the popular communist party.

    Gilla

  7. Task 3
    A false flag is a covert operation designed to deceive, the deception creates the appearance of a particular party, group, or nation being responsible for some activity, disguising the actual source of responsibility. Sometimes the flag would remain and the blame for the attack be laid incorrectly on another country.

    In the days prior to the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Nazis initiated a campaign designed to persuade the international community that Germany was the victim of Polish aggression. Adolf Hitler intended to use this aggression to justify the invasion.

    Task 4
    ”Of course, it wasn’t a total victory for the US. Our larger goal was to reincorporate Indochina into the US-dominated global system, and that has not yet been achieved.”

    No, I don’t think this is right because a country should be able to choose there own way.

    Gilla

  8. Task1- I got the impression, they had evidence and they spoke with a clear language with they know works best to trick people. You never know if something is true. Everything can be fake if you know how to make it look real or truthful.
    Task2- Body language can tell you a lot if you know what to look for. Its very hard to say if a politician is lying or not. You can for sure wait with the judgement and think about it by yourself. People like politicians and big companies are experts in body language and how to manipulate people by words and for example evidences (pictures).
    Task3- A false flag is a covert operation designed to deceive; the deception creates the appearance of a particular party, group, or nation being responsible for some activity, disguising the actual source of responsibility.
    The term ”false flag” originally referred to pirate ships that flew flags of countries as a disguise to prevent their victims from fleeing or preparing for battle
    In the days prior to the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Nazis initiated a campaign designed to persuade the international community that Germany was the victim of Polish aggression. Adolf Hitler intended to use this aggression to justify the invasion.
    In the German press, reports appeared claiming that German nationals living in Poland had been subjected to torture. But something more eye-catching was needed to convince the world of Poland’s provocation.
    Task4- He was a very smart guy, in my opinion he did have right in some aspects. USA were afraid of them and the only idea they had was to destroy the country completely. They could make a deal with them but instead they went all in.

    Gilla

  9. Task 3
    In 1939 a group of germans dressed up as polish people and took control over a german radio tower, they then broadcasted anti german nazi party messages. The operation wanted to make people think Poland was hostile to the german regime so that the germans could later declare war with a motive.
    A false flag operation is an unhonest tactic in which one side makes up a reason to attack another. It can be done like the germans did in 1939 but also in other ways such as when the US claimed to have reasons to attack Iraq when they had barely any claim at all to the information.

    Task 4

    The Vietnam War is often described as a US defeat. Noam Chomsky who was one of its earliest critics has a completely different take on it.
    Do you think he is right?

    He isn’t wrong but he’s also not right. The US wanted to get rid of the regime and establish a new, more american and more capitalistic one. Altough they failed with the latter they did stomp Vietnam so low into the ground they wouldn’t even have to look at them.
    The claim that the US lost is also depending on perspective. The Vietnamese were small compared to the United states and the losses the two suffered can’t really be compared.
    I believe the US were as cruel as they were to set an example, to show the rest of the world what happened when you didn’t cooperate with ”the west”.

    Gilla

  10. Task 3
    False flag operation is something that is controlled and covert operation by an authority, government or other organizations. An operation that is deceive to have selfish benefits for example to a land.
    The Germany soldiers deceive to be Polish soldiers wanting to start a war against Germany. The reason why the government of Germany make this deceive was to occupied Poland. Great Britain and France declared war against Germany because of that.
    Task 4
    I can understand that the United State was afraid that if they don’t do something about it that could be very bad consequences for them. But they would found other way to stop it, instead of kill a lot of inosinate people.

    Gilla

Kommentera

Fyll i dina uppgifter nedan eller klicka på en ikon för att logga in:

WordPress.com-logga

Du kommenterar med ditt WordPress.com-konto. Logga ut /  Ändra )

Twitter-bild

Du kommenterar med ditt Twitter-konto. Logga ut /  Ändra )

Facebook-foto

Du kommenterar med ditt Facebook-konto. Logga ut /  Ändra )

Ansluter till %s

%d bloggare gillar detta: