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by DAVID AXE

In August 2008, Russia and Georgia fought a brief, bloody war over Georgia’s pro-Russian region of South Ossetia. After hundreds of casualties, Georgia withdrew its forces, essentially ceding the breakaway province to Russia. Moscow’s overall aim was to ensure “that Russia’s power is respected both within and outside the post-Soviet space,” according to U.S. Army Lt. Col. Robert Hamilton, a fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

While the bulk of the fighting in South Ossetia pitted tanks against tanks and infantry against infantry, the conflict also featured sophisticated propaganda efforts, on both sides. Russian and Georgian officials alike spun the facts to portray their respective nations as the victims of aggression. A year later, it’s still not clear who fired the first shot. “We may never have an unambiguous picture of how the initial conflict unfolded,” Hamilton wrote.

While the war’s physical damage — and, to a lesser extent, the global diplomatic fallout — has mostly healed, the propaganda campaign continues to be controversial, especially in Russia. A widely viewed TV documentary produced by Russia’s government-sponsored Channel 1 has sparked a bitter debate over Russia’s manipulation of the media. “The War of 08.08.08 — The Art of Deception” purported to dissect Georgia’s propaganda tactics. But it did so with manipulated interviews and translations that themselves comprise propaganda, according to critics.

I know this because I was duped into providing material for the documentary. (See video.)

Read the rest at World Politics Review.

(Video: David Axe)

(more…)

by DAVID AXE

Loren Thompson, pictured, a defense industry analyst with the conservative Lexington Institute, has launched a new blog, Early Warning. His goal, Thompson wrote in his inaugural post, is to be “long on facts — especially little known, useful facts — and short on opinions.”

Most military-industry blogs, Thompson contends, are “tendentious nonsense. For every interesting, competent effort like DoD Buzz, there are dozens of ill-mannered rants masquerading as insight. To say that blogs have lowered the standards of public discourse on policy matters is an under-statement — there are no standards. Anybody can say anything.”

It’s no wonder Thompson would highlight DoD Buzz, which is admittedly an excellent blog. DoD Buzz recently praised Thompson as “uber-connected.”

But there’s a reason Thompson is well-connected — and it has nothing to do with diligent reporting or exhaustive research. Thompson is well-connected in the defense industry because defense firms pay to use Thompson as an unofficial spokesman. “He’s a conduit for very high-level people,” Nick Schwellenbach, then an investigator for the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group in Washington, D.C., told the Mobile, Alabama, Press-Register.

“What is often not revealed in news reports … is that almost all funding for Thompson’s employer, the non-profit Lexington Institute, comes from the same defense contractors who frequently have a stake in the programs that he writes about,” the newspaper added.

Said Schwellenbach of Thompson: “He represents a very pro-industry viewpoint. I don’t think you’ll ever see him calling for less spending or cutting programs.” Galrahn at Information Dissemination said Thompson’s recommendations “root in industry, not strategy.”

Many of the most-popular blogs covering the defense industry — DoD Buzz, The DEW Line, Ares, Danger Room, Scoop Deck, Information Dissemination, Eric Palmer’s blog, Flight Lines, the USNI blog, CDR Salamander and others — are written by professional journalists, military officers or highly informed laymen. These people are not just “anyone with a laptop,” as Thompson describes bloggers. Many contributors to these blogs also regularly log time in combat zones, in order to hone their analysis. When was the last time Thompson had to dive into a riverbed to dodge Taliban fire or flee a band of bloody-minded Chadian soldiers?

Besides, as CDR Salamander points out, in the blogosphere your argument, not your resume, is most important. “Let the marketplace of ideas speak for itself, but if [Thompson] thinks his blog is covering anything new, then he isn’t reading blogs.”

(Photo: via Daylife)

On the advice of U.S. Strategic Command, the Pentagon is weighing an all-out ban on using social-networking Websites — including Facebook, Twitter and blogs — on military computers. The Marines have already issued their own Web 2.0 block. “These Internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content,” the Marines said.

It’s not clear yet what the Defense Department’s new Web policy will be, though some restrictions are probably coming. But that doesn’t mean the Pentagon won’t continue accessing social-networking sites, for keeping tabs on the American public. “Newly released government documents show the military also uses these Internet tools to monitor and react to coverage of high-profile events,” the Associated Press reported Monday.

The documents related to the Air Force’s disastrous April 27 photo-shoot (pictured) over New York City, which involved two F-16 fighters “chasing” one of the President’s modified 747s, known as “Air Force One” when he’s aboard. The photo-shoot had not been publicly announced, and sparked a minor panic as thousands of New Yorkers believed another 9/11-style attack was underway. In the wake of the incident, a special Air Force team “tracked online messaging service Twitter, video-sharing site YouTube and various blogs to assess the huge public backlash,” according to the AP.

In the hours after the fly-over, the so-called “Combat Information Cell” at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida told Pentagon leaders that “Website blog comments [are] ‘furious’ at best.” As Tweeters spread the story and bloggers’ reactions, the cell advised military officials that “no positive spin is possible.” The Air Force stressed it was only trying “to obtain what lessons we might learn so as not to repeat them in the future.”

But John Verdi, from the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C, told the AP that military monitoring could violate the unspoken “trust” inherent in using Web 2.0 sites. “Lots of times individuals upload private or sensitive information that they expect to share with their friends or family and not the whole Internet world,” Verdi said. “It would certainly be a major problem if the government were accessing that information under false pretenses.”

(Photo: via Mlive.com)

by DAVID AXE

A year ago, Russia and Georgia fought a brief, bloody war over Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russia won, and today South Ossetia is essentially autonomous, and a Russian client. The conflict featured propaganda efforts on both sides. Photographers in Georgia took several photographs, allegedly depicting civilians slain by Russian shelling, that appear to be staged or doctored. That’s what I told Russian Channel One when they interviewed me, last summer.

See my video of the interview process.

As an example, I pointed to photos that seemed too clean to depict shelling victims. For comparison, I showed some of my own photos from Iraq, depicting bombing victims (above) — as well as some photos by other journalists (see the screen-grab below).

On the war anniversary, Channel One replayed parts of my interview. They matched my discussion of my own photo with a screen-shot of another reporter’s shot. See that video here.

Now I’m getting e-mails from angry Russians. “This has caused a fury in Russian blogs, because a journalist/photographer from Nezavisimaya Gazeta has immediately claimed that this is a photo he made, not you — and definitely not in Iraq,” one reader wrote. “The big question in the Russian blogosphere now is: who is lying, David Axe or Channel One?”

Channel One is. My quotation was taken out of context.

by DAVID AXE

In May, right-wing commentator Ralph Peters said the U.S. military should kill journalists who are not sympathetic to U.S. war aims. Now Peters, a frequent Fox News contributor, is back with his unique brand of angry lunacy, encouraging the Taliban to execute a U.S. soldier captured in Afghanistan on June 30. Peters called Private Bowe Bergdahl “an apparent deserter.” “I want to be clear,” Peters told Fox’s Julie Banderas on Sunday:

If, when the facts are in, we find out that through some convoluted chain of events, he really was captured by the Taliban, I’m with him. But, if he walked away from his post and his buddies in wartime, I don’t care how hard it sounds, as far as I’m concerned, the Taliban can save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills.

by DAVID AXE

“Who are you, really?” the fat Australian expatriate said.

It was April 2007, at a bar in Dili, the capital of East Timor. I had just arrived, with the intention of reporting on the Australian and New Zealand peacekeeping force helping oversee the country of one million’s first presidential election. I had met the expat — a long-time Dili resident — on the Internet, and had asked him to show me around the city. But when he arrived at the bar for our first meeting, he took one look at me and posed that question: “Who are you, really?”

“A journalist,” I said. “Like I told you weeks ago.”

“I don’t believe you,” the expat said, looking me up and down over the mouth of his beer bottle. “I think you’re CIA.”

I’m the farthest thing from CIA. But there was no convincing the man, and we never met again after that. In his mind, “journalist” was just a cover for “spy.”

I was reminded of this strange encounter on Monday, when a friend of mine in Somalia emailed me with news that two Frenchmen had been abducted at the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu. “Some of the agencies say that they are journalists, but that is null and void,” my source wrote. “They are not journalists. They are French intelligence officials who arrived some four days ago to train the Somali intelligence agency.”

I checked the news on-line. Sure enough, the first report from Associated Press identified the men as journalists. I asked my source how he knew the men were spies. He wrote back, “I have made contacts with some government officials and an officer at the airport whose duty it is to welcome guests at the airport’s VIP hall, and [he] had chats with them on the day of their arrival at the airport.”

I was still skeptical. But within hours, the A.P. had edited its story to confirm my source’s claims. The men were indeed “security consultants” working to train Somali security forces. But the Frenchmen, who were last seen by the Sahafi’s manager being “bundled” into a car by 10 armed men, had reportedly registered at the hotel as journalists. Their clumsy attempt at cover had fooled no one.

It was like my Dili situation, only this time the expat’s suspicion would have been correct.

Whether the kidnappers had targeted the Frenchmen believing they were journalists or spies, is irrelevant. Both spies and reporters represent juicy targets for Somali criminals and insurgents. What’s important is that the spies tried to appropriate journalists’ theoretical neutrality to protect themselves.

Read the rest at Offiziere.ch.

(Photo: Somaliland Times)

Related:
Two More Foreigners Abducted in Somalia?
World Politics Review: Somali Extremists Willing to Kill, to Cover Up Eritrea Connection
Death Threat E-mail from Somali Extremist
Somali Journo, Assassination Survivor, Flees Country
World Politics Review: Attacks on Somali Media Underscore Lawlessness
Somali Gov’t to Neighbors: Invade Us, Please
Help Rescue a Somali Reporter, Targeted for Assassination
Offiziere.ch: Mogadishu Battle Draws in Foreign Powers
Ethiopians Re-Invade Somalia?
Ethiopian Prez: Somali Insurgents “Desperate”
Alleged American Jihadist in Somalia = CIA Drone?
Offiziere.ch: Fresh Fighting Deepens Somali Islamist Schism
Fighting Resumes in Mogadishu

by DAVID AXE

Our own Kevin Knodell penned the following post, then decided he didn’t want to publish it. He felt the message was too personal for public consumption. But Kyle and I argued otherwise, and Kevin relented. So consider this a post published under duress. Here’s Kevin:

First Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw was killed in Afghanistan on June 25, the same day Michael Jackson died. With the King of Pop’s passing dominating the headlines, no one much noticed Bradshaw’s death, at first. Then Bradshaw’s family began extolling their soldier’s sacrifice, and Fox News and CBS News (posted above) eventually ran with it.

Bradshaw attended Pacific Lutheran University, where I am a student with strong connections to the Army ROTC program. I didn’t know him — he commissioned the year before I enrolled — but I knew of him, and even met him once. His death has strongly affected the cadets, as well as the training cadre and graduates. I see the faces of friends and mentors when I watch the CBS spot.

Michael Jackson’s death was newsworthy, but it overshadowed the recent deaths of more than a dozen American and British soldiers in Afghanistan. The dead soldiers’ families got to hear every day about their countrymen’s “despair” over the “Jackson tragedy.” Many Brits and Americans know all the bizarre details of Jackson’s death, but words like “Helmand” and “Kandahar” don’t even register.

More journalists should go to Afghanistan. Local T.V. stations and newspapers should request embeds with their local National Guard units. We need to hear about soldiers like Bradshaw all the time.

I’m not saying that entertainment isn’t news, or that the war always trumps the economy and other issues. But on this point I’m firm: Americans, and the people of every nation fighting abroad, need to pay closer attention. Soldiers can’t simply change the channel to something more pleasant, and less dangerous, than war. The public shouldn’t change the channel, either.

by DAVID AXE

In August, two foreign freelance reporters were abducted by gunmen in Mogadishu. The kidnappings of Nigel Brennan and Amanda Lindhout from the Shamo Hotel marked an up-tick in violence against foreigners, and especially reporters, in a country that was already one of the most dangerous in the world for visitors.

Of course, it’s no cake-walk for natives either, particularly journalists: five Somali journos have been killed so far this year — and others threatened.

Brennan and Lindhout are still being held. Now we’re hearing that two more foreigners — Frenchmen — were grabbed from the Sahafi Hotel this week. My source has raised some questions about the abduction, however, and until I get better confirmation, count this as uncorroborated news.

Update: “An official with the African Union, which has a peacekeeping force in Somalia, said it was not immediately clear that the men were journalists and the A.U. was investigating,” the A.P. adds.

Indeed. My source tells me the abducted men were French intelligence agents, sent to help train Somali government spies

(Photo: via Emergency.com)

Related:
World Politics Review: Somali Extremists Willing to Kill, to Cover Up Eritrea Connection
Death Threat E-mail from Somali Extremist
Somali Journo, Assassination Survivor, Flees Country
World Politics Review: Attacks on Somali Media Underscore Lawlessness
Somali Gov’t to Neighbors: Invade Us, Please
Help Rescue a Somali Reporter, Targeted for Assassination
Offiziere.ch: Mogadishu Battle Draws in Foreign Powers
Ethiopians Re-Invade Somalia?
Ethiopian Prez: Somali Insurgents “Desperate”
Alleged American Jihadist in Somalia = CIA Drone?
Offiziere.ch: Fresh Fighting Deepens Somali Islamist Schism
Fighting Resumes in Mogadishu

by DAVID AXE

It was a question worth killing over, in the minds of some Somali Islamic extremists. In May, Ahmed Omar Hashi, a reporter for Mogadishu’s Radio Shabelle, asked Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, pictured, to explain his country’s support for al-Shabab, the hardline Somali Islamic group. Afwerki explained that Eritrea only wanted to enable “Somali nationalists” in their efforts at “ensuring Somali unity, sovereignty and independence.”

Just days prior to the interview, which took place in the Eritrean capital of Asmara, al-Shabab had launched a major assault on the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu. The attack came as moderate Islamist Sharif Sheikh Ahmed — elected as president of the TFG in January and a personal and ideological rival of Al-Shabab leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys — was beginning to move major elements of the TFG administration to Mogadishu, from their hideouts abroad.

President Afwerki’s reply to Hashi was a softball answer to a softball question. But that didn’t matter to the Mogadishu-based Islamic extremists, who later called Hashi on his cell phone, accusing him of spreading lies about al-Shabab, and threatening to kill him.

They almost made good on their threat. On June 7, gunmen attacked Hashi and a colleague, Moqtar Hirabe, while the two were walking in Mogadishu’s Bakara Market. Hirabe, Radio Shabelle’s widely respected director, died in the attack; Hashi sustained injuries to his hand and stomach, but survived. As Hashi was recuperating in a neighboring country, his attackers e-mailed him. “Neither a Muslim nor a Christian can give you safe haven,” their message said. “And we know the people you were working with and the propaganda that you are waging.”

Al-Shabab’s reaction to Hashi’s reporting is indicative of a mounting identity crisis inside the hardline group. Al-Shabab insists it is fighting for a Somalia governed only by Somalis, and has declared the TFG a “puppet” of Western powers, particularly the U.S. and the U.K. To be sure, the TFG counts on high levels of foreign assistance, from arms to protection by a 5,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force. But al-Shabab, too, relies on recruits, cash and weapons shipments from other countries, especially Eritrea.

Read the rest at World Politics Review.

(Photo: via Ahmed Omar Hashi)

Related:
Death Threat E-mail from Somali Extremist
Somali Journo, Assassination Survivor, Flees Country
World Politics Review: Attacks on Somali Media Underscore Lawlessness
Somali Gov’t to Neighbors: Invade Us, Please
Help Rescue a Somali Reporter, Targeted for Assassination
Offiziere.ch: Mogadishu Battle Draws in Foreign Powers
Ethiopians Re-Invade Somalia?
Ethiopian Prez: Somali Insurgents “Desperate”
Alleged American Jihadist in Somalia = CIA Drone?
Offiziere.ch: Fresh Fighting Deepens Somali Islamist Schism
Fighting Resumes in Mogadishu

by DAVID AXE

Ever wondered what an Islamic extremist’s death threat to an “infidel” might look like? Now you can know.

Two weeks ago, Somali journalist Ahmed Omar Hashi, aka Ahmed “Tajir,” pictured, survived an assassination attempt, by extremists, that killed his colleague Moqtar Hirabe. War Is Boring readers donated funds to help Hashi escape to another country. But his assailants figured out where he was, and sent him this email, translated from Somali:

The opponents of the truth don’t succeed, and wherever they go, we will vanquish them.

You, Tajir, the Satan, we know you are in [country redacted -- ed.] [and that you were] taken there by the infidels, with whom you were in mutual compassion.

Since you managed to dodge our bullets, we will, Allah willing, decapitate you, and soon you will end up in our hand.

We are fully aware of the propaganda you are spreading and we know who is cooperating with you. You have to know that neither Christians nor Muslims will be able to save you.

We’re still accepting donations on Hashi’s behalf, via the Paypal button at left.

(Photo: Ahmed Omar Hashi)

Related:
Somali Journo, Assassination Survivor, Flees Country
World Politics Review: Attacks on Somali Media Underscore Lawlessness
Somali Gov’t to Neighbors: Invade Us, Please
Help Rescue a Somali Reporter, Targeted for Assassination
Offiziere.ch: Mogadishu Battle Draws in Foreign Powers
Ethiopians Re-Invade Somalia?
Ethiopian Prez: Somali Insurgents “Desperate”
Alleged American Jihadist in Somalia = CIA Drone?
Offiziere.ch: Fresh Fighting Deepens Somali Islamist Schism
Fighting Resumes in Mogadishu

by DAVID AXE

Two weeks ago, unidentified gunmen targeted Somali radio reporter Ahmed Omar Hashi, aka Ahmed “Tajir,” as he was walking in Mogadishu’s Bakara Market with Moqtar Hirabe, his director. Hirabe died, on the spot; Hashi’s friends rushed him to Medina Hospital, pictured, with wounds to his arm and stomach. The attack was the latest in a series of assaults on journalists.

In the following week, my readers, with a big boost from World Politics Review publisher Hampton Stephens, helped me raise more than $1,600 to get Hashi out of Somalia — and the Committee to Protect Journalists raised $1,000, on its own. Today, I’m happy to report that Hashi has safely left the country. He’s in a neighboring African nation, safe for now. But his assailants have called him, threatening to kill him if he ever returns to Somalia.

Hashi’s life, in Africa, is all but over. His next step is to seek asylum from the U.S. State Department, in order to begin a new life, in America. We can help. Asylum requires testimony from friends and colleagues. I will be writing a letter on Hashi’s behalf, to form the core of our support for his application. You can help out, by penning a letter, as a word document, and sending it to me at david_axe-at-hotmail.com. The letter should voice your support for Hashi’s request for asylum.

If you’re uncertain about whether Hashi deserves your support, please read my old dispatch from Somalia.

We’re halfway to helping a real hero start a new life, after a close brush with death. Let’s keep pushing.

(Photo: via Ahmed Omar Hashi)

Related:
World Politics Review: Attacks on Somali Media Underscore Lawlessness
Somali Gov’t to Neighbors: Invade Us, Please
Help Rescue a Somali Reporter, Targeted for Assassination
Offiziere.ch: Mogadishu Battle Draws in Foreign Powers
Ethiopians Re-Invade Somalia?
Ethiopian Prez: Somali Insurgents “Desperate”
Alleged American Jihadist in Somalia = CIA Drone?
Offiziere.ch: Fresh Fighting Deepens Somali Islamist Schism
Fighting Resumes in Mogadishu

by DAVID AXE

On Sunday gunmen shot and killed Muktar Hirabe, director of Radio Shabelle in Mogadishu, making him the fifth Somali reporter to die this year, in a country where being a journalist is one of the most dangerous jobs there is.

With Hirabe was Ahmed Omar Hashi (at right in the photo), a Shabelle senior producer and my friend. Hashi was shot in the hand and stomach, but survived. He called me on Monday. He does not know who targeted him, but he is certain they will return to finish the job. He told me he needs $1,500 to get a visa and get out of Somalia, before the gunmen strike again.

I have promised to help Hashi, as best I can. I am good for $300, and World Politics Review publisher Hampton Stephens has pledged $500. Meanwhile, WIB-pal Paul McLeary in Washington, D.C., has promised some cash and volunteered to facilitate the wire transfer. Who else can help? We have two days …

To donate, use the Paypal button at left. Any donations flow to me. I then forward them to Paul, who will be making the wire transfer at the end of this week.

Update #1, 6/9/09: Donations are trickling in. We’re close to our $1,500 goal, and should hit the mark by the Thursday deadline. We’re aiming to make the transfer on Saturday. I’ll be speaking to Hashi on Thursday to check on his condition and make sure he’s ready to receive the money.

Update #2, 6/9/09: We’re now within a couple hundred dollars of our goal, thanks to Hampton, Alex, Xiaolu and a dozen other contributors. Any donations received after Wednesday will not clear in time to make the first wire transfer, planned for the end of this week. I will arrange a second transfer at a later date, so feel free to keep giving. And thanks, everyone. You’re saving a life.

Update #3, 6/10/09: Donations have now exceeded $1,500. I will be sending Hashi the money in two batches, since the more recent donations will take until next week to clear Paypal.

Update #4, 6/11/09: The money is on the way.

Update #5, 6/12/09: I spoke to Hashi today. He said he is feeling better, and will “never, ever forget” all your help raising money. Funds arrive in Mogadishu on Saturday.

(Photo: David Axe)