Month: October 2021

With the help of Big Data and new technologies, NATO intends to change not what people think, but how they think. And thus “to make everyone a weapon”.

The brain will be the battlefield of the 21st century, NATO believes and has made a major strategic shift. Until now, the transatlantic organization defined five operational areas for its military activities, namely land, sea, air, space and cyberspace. But for the thinking heads of the alliance, the present and future conflicts will no longer be only “kinetic”, that is to say confined to movement and physical destruction, but will be located – and will be won – elsewhere.

According to Hervé Le Guyader, the “Five Brains Initiative” will be launched in 2024. Le Guyader is Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the Institute for Cognitive Science in Bordeaux and has studied “weapons of neuroscience”. The author concluded that “indeed, the human mind should be NATO’s closest area of ​​operation”.

The goal of cognitive warfare is to make everyone a weapon. Based on this observation, François du Cluzel, a French officer who in 2013 participated in the creation of the NATO Innovation Hub (iHub), discussed at length his vision of the conflicts of tomorrow in a publication entitled “The cognitive war”.

It was published at the end of 2020, with an objective as ambitious as it is ethically questionable. While it is necessary to note that iHub specifies, as is required for legal reasons, that the opinions expressed on its platform do not constitute NATO’s point of view, it is equally necessary to point out that the think tank is sponsored by Allied Command Transformation, tasked to explore the subject of cognitive warfare.

Hacking the individual

François du Cluzel’s idea is to exploit the “vulnerabilities of the human brain” or to “hack the individual”, in order to implement in the targeted countries a thorough social engineering which will make it possible to defeat an adversary according to Sun Tzu’s founding principle: “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting”.

Of course, this concept, which resembles information warfare, is not in itself revolutionary. It has always existed and has taken on a new dimension in recent decades under the impetus of the theories of Edward Bernays, father of the manipulation of public opinion. But the angle from which NATO sees it today is much broader, commensurate with the “opportunities” offered by technological advances.

Beyond the information war “the revolution in information technologies allows cognitive manipulations of a new kind, on an unprecedented and very elaborate scale”, underlined François du Cluzel. In a discussion between experts held on the subject on October 5, reported by The Gray Zone journalist Ben Norton, François du Cluzel defines cognitive warfare as “the art of using technologies to modify cognition in human targets”.

Endless war?

Cognitive warfare is not just another word for information warfare. It’s a war against our individual processor, the brain. This last reflection constitutes in fact the goal of this new strategy and represents a real quantum leap compared to the traditional approach of the question, since it targets the very way in which our brain processes and transforms information into knowledge, rather than to be satisfied with targeting information alone.

To carry out this strategy, “currently developed in Norfolk” in the United States, the French officer recommended in his publication relying on a particularly explosive cocktail, namely the use for military purposes of NBICs (nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, information technologies and cognitive sciences), which, integrated into the framework of cognitive warfare, may “constitute a sure means of military domination in the near future”.

François du Cluzel cited Russian and Chinese “adversaries” of the Atlantic Alliance. “The development of techniques that can harm the cognitive abilities of opponents will be a necessity. In other words, NATO will have to gain the capacity to safeguard its decision-making process and disrupt that of the adversary.”

Cognitive warfare is potentially endless since there can be no peace treaty or surrender for this type of conflict. Offensively the answer is therefore clear. Defensively, it is more convoluted. But a further element of the answer can be found a little later in the text: “Any user of modern information technologies is a potential target. It targets all of a nation’s human capital. […] The objective of cognitive warfare is to harm societies and not only the military, this type of war resembles ‘shadow wars’”, François du Cluzel insisted, while adding that “the modern concept of war is not about weapons but about influence”.

Victory will be defined “more by the conquest of the psycho-cultural ground than by that of the geographical ground”, he continued, quoting Robert H. Scales. The field of application of this strategy knows no limits: “Even if a cognitive war can be waged in addition to a military conflict, it can also be waged alone, without any link with an engagement of the armed forces.”

Cognitive warfare is currently being tested in Canada

This war against human beings, or the anthropological “battle for the brain”, is already visible as a current strategy. For example, it is particularly disturbing to see Facebook entrusting the Atlantic Council, a think tank close to NATO, with the task of spotting real-time information on “emerging threats and disinformation campaigns around the world” in order to “protect free and fair elections”.

According to a report released at the end of September, the Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC) saw in the Covid-19 epidemic a “unique opportunity” to deploy propaganda strategies aimed at its own citizens. The operation carried out by this NATO member consisted of “shaping” and “exploiting” information, with the stated aim of avoiding “civil disobedience”.

CJOC Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Brian Santarpia described the operation as “a learning opportunity for all of us and a chance to start making information operations part of our routine,” describing the response to the pandemic as an opportunity “to monitor and collect public information in order to improve awareness for better command decision-making”.

Coincidentally, Canada will host a NATO Congress at the end of November entitled “The Invisible Threat: Tools to Counter Cognitive Warfare”.

https://freewestmedia.com/2021/10/21/the-human-brain-is-new-nato-battlefield/

Asylum seekers are complaining about “inhumane conditions” in German shelters, where they feel “like in prison.” Migrants are also claiming that the doctors who treat them, the police, and members of the security service are “racists.” From their point of view, staying in asylum facilities is a disaster, writes Focus weekly. The article is based on a study by political scientist Nikolai Huke of the University of Kiel, who studies living conditions in German asylum facilities.

Huke’s study is based on interviews with asylum seekers in Bremen, Hesse, Thuringia, Bavaria, Brandenburg, and Hamburg from October 2020 to February this year. The problem is that asylum facilities are overcrowded, and the number of refugees heading to Germany, many with an eye on Germany’s lavish social benefits system, is rising rapidly, Focus writes. By the end of September, approximately 100,000 applications had been received, which is 35 percent more than in the same period last year.

The results of Huke’s research were recently revealed in a report published by Pro Asyl. Although the experiences described are not representative and many migrants’ statements have not been verified, the survey results are still striking, writes Focus.

It seems like refugees do not see Germany as a safe haven, but as a banana republic, or an unjust state, the analysis says. Still, no migrants appear to have taken a voluntary deportation offer. In the interviews, asylum seekers make the most serious allegations against officials, police officers, or even doctors.

“It felt like a prison, like I was in a cell,” one of the asylum seekers in a hostel in Bremen describes.

“People don’t know what’s going on inside, it’s like Alcatraz in Bamberg,” the migrant says about his accommodation, comparing it to the infamous U.S. prison.

“They just open the door and come in. Without knocking, they invade our privacy… Even animals are not treated like that,” says another.

Allegations of racism

However, refugees also come with much worse accusations. According to them, officials, police officers, the security service, and even doctors are racists. Their only goal, according to the asylum seekers, is for the migrants to leave Germany.

“As a Black man, a security guard or administrator treats me very differently from how he treats others,” says one.

“Everyone in the facility knows that the doctor is a racist. He didn’t want to treat anyone, and when he did, it was very superficial, and he acted incredibly hostile. There are many cases where children were seriously ill with various types of inflammation or issues with livers, kidneys, and the like but could not go to the hospital. And then they had big problems. The fact that he was a racist was not only our impression but also the employees said so,” another migrant described.

One of the migrants also accused the police of racism.

“I went to the policeman and wanted to talk to him. He said, ‘Shut up.’ I replied, ‘Why should I be quiet? Because I’m a refugee?’ ‘Yes, because you are a refugee. Shut up!’ he told me,” the migrant recalled.

They want us to leave Germany

According to Huke, problems usually begin shortly after migrants arrive in Germany, specifically during an interview with the staff of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). Many asylum seekers complain of hostile treatment by officials.

“They talked to me as if I was not a human being … They don’t want to listen to you … They want you to leave Germany,” noted one refugee.

“It was not an interview, it was an interrogation. I didn’t understand what I had done for them to treat me so badly,” said a female migrant about the hearing at BAMF.

Many asylum seekers claim that the rule of law applies to them.

“I don’t know if there is a law in Bavaria that applies to everyone. The government should examine the activities of those who work as civil servants in offices. Many of them do not follow the law. They only do what they want,” claimed one of them.

Several asylum seekers interviewed complained about living in shelters. Most are bothered by limited space, lack of privacy, noise, stress, and sometimes life-threatening conflicts with other residents.

“Once a roommate threatened to cut off my head,” one migrant describes.

Another feared for his personal belongings: “You do not know where the person comes from. Some have been in prison, and you live in a room with a criminal. You must bring your laptop and documents with you whenever you eat. In the evening, a lot of people are drunk, consuming drugs, or arguing.”

One asylum seeker said he had “almost gone insane” in the hostel because there he had no “peace and quiet.”

“Children are screaming, families are talking very loudly, listening to music. That’s scary. And that’s why many get mentally ill,” he believes.

Almost all respondents also criticized the diet.

“We stand in line for food like some prisoners,” one complains.

“When we have rice, it’s so hard that you can break a tooth,” says another, while another added that “children are malnourished there because food is not rich in nutrients and is unacceptable to them.”

“Every time we entered the dining room, there was security. When the children wanted to take a piece of bread, a glass of milk, or a bottle of juice after dinner so that they could eat it later, they literally snatched the food from their hands and threw it in the basket,” one of the migrants claimed.

However, the research by political scientist Nikolai Huke was not so thorough that the truthfulness and legitimacy of all the allegations could be verified. The preface to his analysis states that the interviews were conducted “under the impression of trauma, tension, and constant stress.”

https://rmx.news/article/they-treat-us-like-animals-migrants-complain-about-life-in-german-asylum-facilities/

As a asylum seeker, it’s not easy to keep track of your belongings. Things are constantly getting lost, whether it’s passports, airline tickets, etc. – it’s really like being jinxed.
Fortunately, expensive iPhones do not have the property of simply disappearing.

In a forest near Görlitz, a few findings just turned up again. There were torn passports, a Turkish phone card, paper money from Turkey and Belarus, and torn airline papers. According to the finder, the found objects were handed over to the police. Mustafa will be delighted when he gets his lost passport back. I wonder what his name is now. It doesn’t matter – now he’s here and that’s how it will stay.

https://unser-mitteleuropa.com/fundstuecke-in-einem-wald-bei-goerlitz-was-auf-der-flucht-so-alles-verloren-geht/

A recent survey revealed that “more than six French out of 10 believe that the phenomenon of the Great Replacement will happen”.

Eric Zemmour and members of the National Rally see this survey as a confirmation of their notions on immigration. With a sample of more than 2000 people registered on the electoral rolls, the polling institute Harris interactive for Challenges asked about the possibility of a “Great Replacement” occurring in France.

It was described in this study as being the phenomenon of “European, white and Christian populations […] threatened with extinction following Muslim immigration, from the Maghreb and black Africa”. Among those who expressed an opinion on this question, according to this poll, 61 percent of them believe that it would happen.

At the same time, 67 percent of those polled said they were “worried […] about such a phenomenon”. Among the defenders of this theory, Eric Zemmour is one of the leading media figures. “The ideas that I espouse are now central in French society”, he noted on Twitter.

The MEP of the National Rally (RN), Jean-Lin Lacapelle, quipped in these terms: “The ‘Great Replacement’ is a fantasy for a large part of the political class, but a reality and a concern for a large majority of French people. […] Act or disappear!”

Another RN MEP, Nicolas Bay, also stated on Twitter that “the ‘Great Replacement’ is a reality experienced and suffered by many French people, and a legitimate concern for the majority of them”. The theory was developed by the writer Renaud Camus. Generally denounced as conspiratorial and racist by its detractors, this theory asserts that the French and European population would be gradually replaced by an extra-European immigrant population.

https://freewestmedia.com/2021/10/21/six-in-ten-french-people-believe-in-the-great-replacement/

16 suspected members of the Muslim Brotherhood, who are being investigated in the context of Operation Luxor, have unsuccessfully applied for the dismissal of the experts on the case. The Graz Regional Court does not accept their accusation that the two experts have an “Islamophobic attitude”.

Criticism of Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Milli Görüs is not Islamophobic. Investigations against people suspected of belonging to these organisations are therefore not either. Those who claim the opposite implicitly equate criticism of Islamism with criticism of Islam. With this argumentation – in short – the public prosecutor’s office in Graz, which is investigating “Operation Luxor”, counters the motions of those 16 alleged Muslim Brothers who had asked for the dismissal of the two experts – among other things on the grounds of Islamophobia. The Graz Regional Court agreed with this argumentation, as the decision available to eXXpress shows.

Since the raids on the houses of 30 suspected Muslim Brothers, some defendants have criticised the investigations sweepingly as Islamophobic and have also directed this accusation (among others) against the two expert witnesses – political scientist Nina Scholz and historian Heiko Heinisch. As eXXpress already reported, the court rejected these applications and saw no reason for bias. In the decision, which is available to eXXpress, a great deal of scope is given to dealing with the Islamophobia accusation. The public prosecutor’s office in Graz has its say in detail.Regarding the alleged bias of the experts, the public prosecutor’s office explains: “They (note: the defendants) do not discuss the term Islamophobia, but use it as a fighting term in order to be able to avoid the discussion of the content”. The experts’ report does not deal with the “religion Islam” but with “radical Islamist ideologies”. The prosecution repeatedly points to the implicit equation of Islamist ideologies with Islam on the part of the defendants and draws conclusions about these very defendants:

“The above-mentioned accused do not comprehensibly regard the investigations on the subject of the proceedings, in particular on the associations Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Milli Görüs and their activities in Austria as criticism of the religion Islam. From this it can be concluded that the named defendants do not regard these associations as political organisations oriented towards the ideology of radical Islamism, but … as sole representatives of the religion of Islam.”

Some defendants try to substantiate the Islamophobia allegation by referring to the Bridge Initiative website. This website is dedicated to Islamophobia and its alleged protagonists, including one of the two experts. Interesting: One of the accused – the political scientist Farid Hafez – is himself a member of the Bridge Initiative team, as the Graz public prosecutor’s office notes. In a text on this homepage, academics and lawyers speak out in favour of Hafez and actually describe the investigations against him and other suspected Muslim Brothers as Islamophobic – using, to put it politely, bold insinuations.

Thus, the raids are described as “use of anti-terror powers by the Austrian government”. After the terrorist attack of November 2, 2020, “the atmosphere of fear was used to legitimise mass raids against Professor Hafez and 29 other persons”. And: “The raids are an expression of the intensification of Islamophobia by the state in Austria”. The Austrian government thus wanted to censor and make invisible “criticism of this policy, which manifests itself in Islamophobia on the part of the state”.

The public prosecutor’s office in Graz replies: “However, the investigations are not directed against Islam or persons because they are Muslims”. It is about a “suspicious circumstances based on the aforementioned associations of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Milli Görüs, which act on the basis of radical Islamist ideologies”. The suspects are being investigated, among other things, on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organisation. “The religion of Islam is irrelevant for the present proceedings, as is the religious attitude of the suspects. The extent to which the suspects have participated as members in the Muslim Brotherhood, which is to be regarded as a terrorist organisation, is being investigated.”

The Graz Regional Court concluded that “the prosecution’s line of argumentation is convincing” and that the two experts had “convincingly denied any bias”.

https://exxpress.at/gericht-stellt-klar-kritik-an-islamisten-ist-nicht-islamophob/

Was the mosque in Allonnes (Sarthe) the scene of real bellicose proclamations against France and the Christians? According to information obtained by Le Figaro from French intelligence sources, speeches with a clear Islamist background have been made there for several years. These sources describe particularly warmongering speeches. Some speeches referred to the need to “defeat the evildoers, enemies of Islam and Muslims” and “give victory to Muslims”. Reportedly, a number of statements were made legitimising armed jihad, hatred of and discrimination against Jews, Christians or Westerners in general. This was in particular the case in the wake of deadly attacks by Islamist terrorists.

A few days after the murder of Samuel Paty, the mosque’s leaders reportedly agreed with the teacher’s destiny and considered the person of Abdoullakh Anzorov, his murderer, a “martyr”. It was “essential to strengthen the faith and prepare for the struggle”, one of the people who spoke at the mosque was quoted as saying. Another member said the murder of Samuel Paty had strengthened his resolve. These words were reportedly uttered during a prayer session. One of the active members of the mosque reportedly bragged about his meeting with Djamel B., a jihadist imprisoned for his involvement in terrorist groups. One of the association’s imams, Driss E.K., is said to have declared before the Charlie Hebdo publications that “these people deserve to die, but at the moment we are not in a position of strength”.

More worryingly, the sources speak of a policy of taqiya, i.e. the concealment of Islamist beliefs under the guise of respectable behaviour. A practice that would have been openly encouraged by the leaders of the associations. The latter would have asked the imams to “accommodate the kouffars” (infidels) and show them a gesture of succour after the murder of Samuel Paty.

The associations are also accused of spreading virulent anti-Semitism and hatred of homosexuals among young people. Threatening statements were allegedly made among them. According to our information, several members of the mosque had already been charged with justifying terrorism.

https://www.fdesouche.com/2021/10/20/procedure-contre-la-mosquee-dallonnes-72-les-preches-y-pronent-le-recours-au-jihad-arme-la-mort-en-martyr-et-la-commission-dactes-de-terrorisme/

L’association « Coordination contre le racisme et l’islamophobie » a été dissoute en conseil des ministres, conformément aux instructions du Président de la République.
Comme le détaille le décret que j’ai présenté, elle appelait à la haine, à la violence et à la discrimination: pic.twitter.com/5giwOcQEfC

— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) October 20, 2021

https://www.fdesouche.com/2021/10/20/appel-a-la-haine-dissolution-de-lassociation-cri-france-coordination-contre-le-racisme-et-lislamophobie-en-conseil-des-ministres/

According to an Instagram post that has since been deleted, the association “Cafet en Kit” announced that only halal meat and vegetarian dishes would be served in the cafeteria of the Institut Sciences Po Grenoble. Yvenn Le Coz, president of UNI Grenoble, is concerned about this measure and denounces the left-wing Islamism that prevails in the student associations.

An interview:.

The vendor “Cafet en Kit”, located on the campus of Sciences Po Grenoble, seems to offer only halal or vegetarian menus. Can you confirm this information?

At least that’s what they posted on their Instagram account before deleting the post after UNI Grenoble’s response. If the message is no longer posted on social media, it’s only to avoid problems with associations like ours that could question this “100% halal”. They will go ahead with this project without saying so, because they have even found a supplier for halal meat. If they had decided to change their policy, they would probably have issued a rebuttal.

Who is behind this initiative and how was this decision made?

We don’t have details about the origin of this idea because we don’t have much contact with “Cafet en Kit”. But the initiative came from them. This association is also linked to Sciences Po, which recognises and supports it, as it even has premises in the school. These premises are very convenient for all the students because they allow them to eat quickly during lunch break instead of queuing for an hour and a half in the restaurant. So the students would almost be forced to eat halal if the Cafet en Kit initiative succeeds, because they don’t have the time to go to other university restaurants if they want to attend all their classes. This decision comes from the association, but was probably approved by the directorate: If, despite yesterday’s press release, there is no reaction from the institution, it means that it knew about the project beforehand or that it supports this policy […]. .lincorrect.org

https://www.fdesouche.com/2021/10/20/le-halal-bientot-systematique-a-sciences-po-grenoble/

Jean-Paul Brighelli recalled the disrupted Samuel Paty tribute and denounced the increasing violence among students for whom there are no longer any taboos.

You are a teacher and have published several books (La Fabrique du crétin, C’est le français qu’on assassine…). A commemoration of Samuel Paty was made in all the schools of the Republic. On that day, 98 worrying events were registered. It is as if we were counting them like the number of cars burnt on New Year’s Eve. Is this becoming some kind of permanent condition?

I think that it will be like the burning cars on New Year’s Eve, and that it will be downplayed so that there is no stimulus to copy.
A hundred cases across the country may not be much. A hundred cars burnt on New Year’s Day may not be much, except for those whose cars are burnt. A hundred incidents may not be much either, except for the teachers in the schools where they happened and who now know that their students are future jihadists. That is what it is all about. It’s not just a question of the zeitgeist. These children know very well what they are doing when they protest against a tribute, be it to Charlie or Samuel Paty. They know very well that they are in opposition to the republic. This means that for a certain number of people, Islamic law is above the laws of the republic. According to a survey, this is the case for 40% of them. It also means that tomorrow, for 150 euros or perhaps less, they will not hesitate to name the identity of the teacher who has angered a pathological murderer from Chechnya or Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.

After the recent disturbing events, what are we to make of these groups that want to break away from the republic?

The barriers and taboos were broken. As a student, everyone may have wished for a teacher to die, dreamt of beating him or her up on the spot. But we never did that. From now on, this behaviour is a natural one.
A society without taboos – see Freud or Lévi-Strauss on this subject – is not a society. Those who ignore taboos are already in a future society, in a kind of state of barbarism.
I am thinking especially of the female teacher who was pushed to the ground by one student and filmed by another. All this was posted on TikTok and seen millions of times. What should she have done? Slap him? She has no right to do that. Students now have more rights than teachers. This is the result of the Jospin law and the subsequent dismissals.

At the political level, several personalities had tried to play down the murder of Samuel Paty. In your opinion, was it a desire to initiate a debate or a refrain from doing so?

In the case of Alexis Corbière, it is the elections. The France Insoumise party is trying to appropriate these new potential voters, which the Jean Jaurès Foundation has identified and which the Socialist Party has tried to attract in the past. I don’t think they have a clue, because these people we are talking about are not particularly interested in elections.
Laurence De Cock is different. She is interested in the intersectionality of struggles, if I may say so. Everything that comes from the Maghreb or from Africa is good, even if the women are mutilated, even if they are veiled, and everything that comes from here is bad. When I think that this woman is a history teacher, I would rather not imagine the quality of her teaching and her attitude towards students who, unfortunately, do not agree with her positions.

https://www.bvoltaire.fr/jean-paul-brighelli-ces-etablissements-ont-comme-eleves-des-futurs-djihadistes/