Document Leak: How the German Government is Working on a "Narrative Convergence" on the Ukraine War - Part 1
German Government Document Leak Prooves Perfidious Disinformation Plan on Ukraine War
Here now the translation of an article (part 1) by Florian Warweg of the German alternative media site ‘NachDenkSeiten’ of September 29, as promised in my post of October 3.
The German alternative media site ‘NachDenkSeiten’ was exclusively leaked an internal document of the German government. They were able to verify the paper and also know the identity of the whistleblower. The document provides an illuminating insight into the extent of the horizontal and vertical structures of, it cannot be said otherwise, German state propaganda, especially with regard to the official involvement of mainstream media (e.g. ‘Spiegel’ and ‘Stern’), Western social media corporations, educational institutions and the so-called “fact-checkers”. Even elementary school children are being targeted. All of this amounts to a concerted attempt by the federal government to enforce information conformity.
By Florian Warweg, September 29, 2022 – Translation: DeepThought
The document is entitled “Ongoing activities of departments and authorities against disinformation in connection with RUS war against UKR”, comprises a total of 10 pages and meticulously lists the corresponding activities of the federal ministries and subordinate authorities as of September 27. And these activities in its entirety are stunning.
The ‘NachDenkSeiten’ will concentrate in the evaluation in the first part on the remarks to the role of the BMI (Ministry of the Interior), the AA (Foreign Office), the BPA (Federal Press Office) and the BKM (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media). In the second part, on the activities of the BMDV (Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport) as well as the BMFSFJ (Federal Ministry of Family Affairs) and the BMVg (Federal Ministry of Defense).
SPD-led Ministry of the Interior as the central hub of state propaganda activities
The list begins with the SPD-led Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) under Nancy Faeser. The BMI is to take the lead in coordinating the “detection of and defense against hybrid threats” on an “interdepartmental” basis. This will be led by the “UAG RUS/UKR” (UAG stands in ministerial parlance for sub-working groups). In this context, among other things, a “Hybrid Threats” situation report focusing on Russia-Ukraine is to be drafted every two weeks. However, the so-called “10-point resilience plan” listed in the document is particularly eye-catching.
The first point in this “plan” is the concerted “linking to fact checkers on the websites of the federal government”. Private “fact checkers” such as Correctiv, which are mainly financed by the US billionaire and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, or contribution-financed ones such as ‘ARD-Faktenfinder’ are to be massively promoted through the “websites of the federal government”. This much for the postulated “state neutrality” and “independence” of the fact checkers.
Furthermore, brochures on “Disinformation in the context of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine” are to be produced and sent to federal ministries, members of the Bundestag, states and municipalities. The list is supplemented with the reference: “Distribution to multipliers in civil society is underway.”
The 5th point in the “Resilience Plan” is also particularly revealing; it is devoted to cooperation with the press. Mention is made, for example, of a “Spiegel background discussion” on March 31 and the preparation of name articles and interviews with Interior Minister Faeser; explicit reference is made in this context to ‘STERN’ and ‘Tagesspiegel’. Likewise it is mentioned that it succeeded in establishing the term “Task Force against Disinformation” in the reporting. In the document, (Russian) “disinformation” is understood as anything that corresponds to a reproduction of the official Russian position. And this exclusively in relation to the Russian side. Neither official Ukrainian nor U.S. views on the war in Ukraine are assessed by the German government as “disinformation” per se in the same way.
Another aspect of the plan is “outreach into the parliamentary arena” (i.e., influencing members of the Bundestag and state parliaments). This is not an unproblematic project, considering the existing separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.
The “Resilience Plan” also mentions intensifying contacts and discussions with the platform operators of social networks “on an ad hoc basis in order to sensitize them to state-controlled disinformation”. The document explicitly mentions Twitter, Meta, Google and Telegram. The talks are to be held at the “state secretary level”.
The plan to influence the “curricula in schools as well as involving adult education centers and voluntary structures” appears no less problematic.
Finally, it is pointed out that work has begun on implementing the “Federal and State Action Plan against Disinformation and for a Defensible Democracy”.
Lines marked red Page 1 & 2:
Interdepartmental coordination of hybrid threat detection and defense, particularly disinformation (…)
Creation of situation report ‘Hybrid Threats’
10 Point Resilience Plan
Education on disinformation and linking to fact checkers on federal government websites (…)
Press briefings on the topic –> Spiegel background conversation on 31.03.2022 (…)
In addition, name articles in preparation; interviews with Minister of the Interior Faeser, among others, in “Stern” (…)
“Tagesspiegel” on 23.06.2022Outreach into the parliamentary arena (…)
Intensification of contacts with platform operators of social networks (…)
Conversations at the state working groups or secretary of state level with Google, Meta, and Telegram.(…) Responsibility for the curricula in the schools as well as with the involvement of the adult education centers (…)
(…) “Joint federal and state action plan against disinformation and a defensible democracy” (…)
The Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Press Office and the BKM (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media) as other key players in state propaganda and censorship efforts
In addition to the Ministry of the Interior, the Foreign Office (AA) appears in the document as a protagonist in the postulated “fight against (Russian) disinformation”. It is striking that the AA’s entire catalog of measures speaks exclusively of “Russian disinformation” and emphatically creates the impression that “disinformation” and narrative cultivation come from only one country worldwide.
So says the document on "Measures in the framework of the communication concept RUS/UKR" of the AA:
“Observation and analysis of current Russian narratives and disinformation
Creation of a ‘living document’ that ‘deconstructs/debunks classic and current Russian narratives on the Ukraine war’
Promoting projects to build resilience to (especially Russian) disinformation (…).”
According to the present document, the AA networks primarily (“intensively and bilaterally”) with representatives of the USA on disinformation issues. Explicitly mentioned in this context are the International Partnership to Counter State-Sponsored Disinformation (IPCSD) and the Counter Foreign Interference Group (CFI).
The last point listed in the document regarding the activities of the AA is also revealing. There it speaks of “(...) promotion of the project proposals submitted by Deutsche Welle and DW Akademie for the expansion of reporting for UKR/RUS as well as strengthening of media competence (...)”. We note that the German Foreign Office, a federal ministry under the leadership of top Green Party politician Annalena Baerbock, plans to support projects of the German foreign broadcaster Deutsche Welle. How this is compatible with the Deutsche Welle Act (DWG), which obliges to enable “an independent formation of opinion”, would be just one of several questions in view of these plans of the AA revealed in the document.
The Federal Press Office (BPA) heads the so-called “EG Disinformation” together with the AA (when asked by telephone by the ‘NachDenkSeiten’ on 27.9. what “EG” stands for in this context, the responsible head of service at the BPA could not provide any information). According to the document, the BPA is responsible for “raising internal government awareness of the issue and dealing with disinformation”. It also offers “interdepartmental training” on disinformation. What is interesting here is that the training is not provided by the BPA itself, but by private third-party providers such as the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and the Business Council for Democracy of the Hertie Foundation.
The ISD, with an explicitly transatlantic orientation and headquarters in London, has such illustrious people on its board as Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the management consultant Roland Berger and the CEO of Axel Springer SE, Matthias Döpfner.
“Interdepartmental training courses” on disinformation for employees of the federal ministries are thus conducted by a transatlantic lobbying organization, whose “board” includes exposed plagiarists and the head of the Springer press - speaking of disinformation - which regularly spreads fake news, as well as the private foundation of a department store magnate. The outsourcing approach in federal authorities could not be much more absurd.
Finally, the document lists that the deputy government spokespersons regularly engage in “bilateral exchanges with Google/YouTube, Twitter, Meta, Tiktok, and LinkedIn” to discuss the platforms’ “respective strategies to combat disinformation, particularly in the context of the war in Ukraine”.
That is, according to the document, both the Interior and Foreign Ministries and the Federal Press Office each have regular bilateral meetings (at the state secretary level) with the major platform operators on “Russian disinformation” in the context of the Ukraine war. The pressure to conform and censor built up as a result can probably be considered significant.
Another major player is the “Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media” (BKM), Claudia Roth, who reports directly to the chancellor. She has a budget of over two billion euros, 400 employees and is responsible for the Federal Republic’s media policy (and finances, among other things, the German foreign broadcaster Deutsche Welle within this framework).
The internal document available to ‘NachDenkSeiten’ mentions, among other things, the “establishment of a Russian editorial office in exile in Riga” and “if necessary, the establishment of an editorial office in exile in Ukrainian in Krakow, Poland”. According to the paper, the BKM seems to play a central and proactive role in the ‘EU Council of Media Ministers’ in “taking action against Russian propaganda media”.
Similarly, the BKM is playing a pioneering role in the negotiations on the Orwellian-sounding “European Media Freedom Act” and is trying to focus on “disinformation” there.
According to the document, the BKM is also planning a new funding program “with a focus on news literacy development for the general population to combat disinformation”.
Another project that raises questions is the unspecified use of child reporters from the age of 6 to combat “disinformation”. Among other things, the document states:
“Kids reporters – Strengthening news literacy and thus resilience to disinformation of 6-14 year olds through active media outreach.”
Finally, reference is made to the Deutsche Welle project “Artificial Intelligence against Disinformation” (KID). Here, “AI modules of ‘digital forensics’ are to be used to improve the (partially) automated identification of manipulations and concerted disinformation campaigns.”
Brave new world…
Lines marked red Page 3:
Intensive networking with departmental group (‘Hybrid’ working group…) (…)
Group, ‘International Partnership to Counter-State-Sponsored Disinformation’ (IPCSD) (…) intensively bilateral with USA) (…)(…) own social media monitoring greatly improved; (…)
Resilience building (esp. RUS) disinformation [in the three Baltic states and the Western Balkans (!)]
(…), current background language for public relations, [distributed to all foreign missions (!)]
Observation and analysis of current RUS narratives and disinformation.
Creation of a ‘living document’ that deconstructs/debunks ‘classic’ and current Russian narratives on the Ukraine war.
Ukraine ticker at deutschland.de
Lines marked red Page 4:
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(…) Promote additional project proposals submitted by DW and DW Academy to expand reporting for UKR/RUS (…)
Co-chaired with the AA, the BPA leads the EG Disinformation. (…) [Note: It is unclear what is meant by “EG”, presumably it means “Einsatzgruppe” (task force).]
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Limit the outreach of disinformation as much as possible. (…)
In particular, the government is raising awareness of the issue and how to deal with disinformation, (…)
(…) interdepartmental training offered by the Hertie [Foundation’s] Business Council for Democracy and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
(…) Exchange with civil society (fact checkers, … foundations etc.) (…)
Lines marked red Page 5:
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Bilateral exchanges with Google/YouTube, Twitter, Meta, Tiktok, and LinkedIn and the deputy government spokespersons (…)
BKM addressed the issue of “disinformation” in particular with regard to the action taken against RUS propaganda media at [… the latest EU Council of Media Ministers] (…)
(…) Establishment of a Russian editorial office in exile in Riga. (…)
Establishment of Ukrainian exile editorial office in Krakow, POL.[Within the framework of the] (…) “European Media Freedom Act”, one focus of BKM is the topic of “disinformation”.
(…) (Strengthening the news literacy of the general population, in order to combat “disinformation”, among other things).
Lines marked red Page 6:
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(…) – Kids reporters (Strengthening news literacy and thus resilience to disinformation of 6-14 year olds through active media outreach).
Project “Artificial Intelligence against Disinformation” (KID) by Deutsche Welle (…)
(A short note on the relatively poor quality of the screenshots. The whistleblower has asked us, in order to exclude any possible traceability, to take only photos of the document and then publish them as screenshots on the NachDenkSeiten. We have, of course, complied with this request.)
The whistleblower also explained to us what motivated him to make this leak. He told NachDenkSeiten that when this document arrived on his work computer, he was deeply shocked. For him, he said, this was “a concerted attempt at narrative synchronization.”
He went on to say:
»In my view, it is a glimpse into the abyss of the bundled activities of a horizontal (interdepartmental) and vertical integration of modern state propaganda. From ministries and their partnerships with transatlantic think tanks like the ISD down to the press, “fact checkers”, social media, “multipliers,” “critical civil society,” and so on. They even don’t stop at engaging schools and primary-age children.«
He also told NachDenkSeiten that this document is only “the tip of the iceberg” and that the projects listed are not complete. Everything listed in this document would still be a tolerable leak for the German government, since it only includes the measures that can be communicated in case of doubt. The German public would have no idea what else was going on in the background.
Finally, something about the presumed author of this internal document. According to the meta-data of the original Word document, this listing of the federal government was prepared by a person whose name we do not want to mention out of consideration for his private life, but whose vita gives interesting insights into who prepares such “interdepartmental” papers on this topic. One finds almost nothing about the person online, but what little one does find speaks for itself. On LinkedIn, one can find a post thanking the author of the document “Ongoing activities of departments and agencies against disinformation in the context of RUS war against UKR”, by BwConsulting (BwConsulting is the in-house consulting firm of the Federal Ministry of Defense) for the cooperation, and the person is also the author of a reference book on the management of NATO and EU military operations.
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Link to the original article (German) at nachdenkseiten.de
Part 2 will follow shortly – stay tuned!
With each piece we add to the puzzle, we get a little closer to revealing the whole picture.