China, Russia and ISIS Thank Capitol Rioters For Great Propaganda Content

 

Neither China’s nor Russia’s incredible propaganda machines could not have turned out the imagery of the riot and thuggery at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. GlobalSecurity.org reported on 8 January “China’s Propaganda Machine ‘Makes Deliberate Use of Washington Violence” (see: http://bit.ly

/3ozpRPh)

 

One of the highlights of the article is Foreign Minister Hua Chunying’s quote of "a beautiful sight taking place in the U.S which, according to the article  is "an apparent reference to U.S. House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi's description of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement as "a beautiful sight."”

 

Today’s posting is not about the political aspects of the riot, but to point out how America has now given all of our adversaries, big and small, some great, first rate content for them to exploit in their anti-American propaganda efforts.

 

A picture or a video can be worth a thousand words. While I have posted about how new technology such as deepfake videos can be easily produced, there is no substitute for the real thing.

 

Like toothpaste, once an image is out in the wild, it is not going back into the tube. We can expect to see these violent, lawless scenes played out along the other tragedies of the past.

 

One painful comparison is to Kristallnacht. For some positive inspiration, consider the comments made by former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in his remarks on YouTube (see: http://bit.ly/3oEUxPi)

 

The US has now experienced first-hand the kind of tragedy that Russia experienced in October 1993 when the Russian Parliament was fired upon and set on fire by artillery authorized by then Russian President Boris Yeltsin (see: http://bit.ly/2LpZA7V, which is also a photo source).

 

There are several PSYOP lessons learned here. As we continue to train and hone our readiness, we must be aware of how our enemies will employ this imagery and factor it into our red team influence operations.

 

Reader comments about the posting, but not the politics are invited.

 

I hope that 2021 brings us what appear to be two very elusive commodities: health and peace.

 

Photo Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55585546

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/1/9/22222553/man-steals-pelosi-lectern-capitol-riot-trump-adam-johnson-charged