Business Games

Talking to Esha of Historic.ly about imperialism, communism, Bernie Sanders, Republicans vs Democrats, AOC, and her first days in & impressions of Russia...

• Esha Substack: Historic.ly | Esha | Substack (historicly.net)
• Esha YouTube: Historic_ly - YouTube
• My joint episode with Esha on H YT channel many months later: TAKEDOWN: Kyiv Independent pro-b&ndera Video with AI - YouTube
• What Do the World Bank and IMF Have to Do with the Ukraine Conflict?
• History of Ukrainian Land from 1000 to 2016 on YouTube

Chay Bowes is an Irish entrepreneur and an independent journalist, and has an MA in Strategy & GeoPolitics. His @BowesChay Twitter slogan is: "Facts should define the Narrative, the Narrative shouldn’t define the facts."

I spoke to him in 2022, after he wrote an article on the Absolute Truth called War Propaganda About Ukraine Starting to Wear Thin and before he wrote An Inevitable War..

His article about the Absolute Truth was recommended and retweeted by none other than John Pilger.

Johnny Miller talks about:

• being influenced by Noam Chomsky,
• good and bad mainstream journalism,
• working for Iranian Press TV,
• propaganda,
• choosing and turning down stories and projects,
• working in Syria, Libya, Burma, Africa, …
• … and Ukraine—especially 2014 Maidan in Kiev, 2014 Anti-Maidan in Donbass, and 2022 Donbass,
• genuine protests and not,
• Portaloo availability as protest success predictor,
• coming under Kyiv shelling in Donetsk,
• ethnic hatred,
• the whitewashing of Nazis,
• being on Mirotvorets "kill list" together with Donbass children,
• the Western sanctioning of journalists,
• being careful not to spread propaganda.

Link to the episode on BG: www.business-games.ai/she-knew-it-was-gonna-succeed-when-she-saw-the-portaloos-being-installed

PSA: a quick overview of where we're at + starting Dialogues: why "Dialogues", a bit about propaganda, a bit about economics, a bit about Skripal.

Website: Starting Dialogues on Business Games

Why propaganda? How propaganda? and What can you do?

One of the most important dialogues I've ever had a chance to be a part of.

Oliver goes into detail about provable propaganda in Hollywood and the (predominantly) US media, with examples from US lead-up to conflicts in Iraq (twice), Syria and Ukraine coverage, as well as Russiagate. We also touch on modern leadership and Russophobia.

Iraq, in particular, is a fantastic example of learning how the propaganda game is played, because the truth is already accepted knowledge.

Transcript and content with timestamps to follow.

Kyle and I pick 1 topic each to rant about and a 3rd one to discuss:

• AI: Media coverage of the poisonings of the Iranian schoolgirls [01:25]
• KC: Media coverage of the Mexican electoral institute reform [17:38]
• KC & AI: Change of the media narrative on the Ukraine conflict [27:00]

• Kyle C Twitter: @KyleDChurch
• AI Telegram: @BusinessGamesAI
• AI Twitter: @BusinessGamesAI

• Iran investigating after 650 school girls suffer 'mild poison' attacks | Newshub; 1 March, 2023
• Dozens of schoolgirls in Iran taken to hospital after poisoning | The Guardian; 2 March, 2023
• Hundreds of Schoolgirls Fall Sick in Iran, and Officials Suspect Poisoning | NY Times; 1 March, 2023
• Protests break out in Iran as more schoolgirls hospitalised after suspected poisoning | ABC; 5 March, 2023
• Are Iranian schoolgirls being poisoned by toxic gas? | BBC; 4 March, 2023
• No, AMLO Is Not Undermining Mexican Democracy | Jacobin; March, 2023
• Avoiding a Long War — U.S. Policy and the Trajectory of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict | RAND Corporation; 2023

In this episode, I'd like to address the brand image of LinkedIn, censorship, and pose a question: What's the point of LinkedIn?

As usual, feel free to disagree with my position—but please, listen through to the end, it won't be long.

• 1. What's the Point of LinkedIn? [03:09]
• 1.1 LinkedIn's Purpose [03:11]
• 1.2 A LinkedIn Problem [04:54]
• 1.3 Damned If You Don't, Damned If You Do [06:50]
• 2. LinkedIn's Misinformation Policy [11:12]
• 3. My Posts on Bucha and Mariupol Humanitarian Corridors [13:22]
• 4. Does LinkedIn Know What They Are Doing? [16:27]
• 5. Go Get a Lawyer [29:35]
• 6. Let's Ponder Free Speech and the Law [32:59]
• 7. Let's Ponder Censorship and Brand Value [36:53]
• 8. Conclusion [48:41]

https://www.business-games.ai/the-linkin-lawyer-unprofessional-network/

In the modern discourse it seems, any political opponent is immediately a "Nazi", and any historical grievance is a "genocide".

The problem is obvious and three-fold:

1. Politically, the elites in a less wealthy and/or numerous nation want to use the victimhood status to gain potential reparations from the wealthier/more numerous nation, by any means possible—all's fair in love and war;
2. The impacts on the (wrongfully) accused are also clear: accusing various historical governments of (alleged) genocides smears their modern successors as well as the whole nations, thus dehumanizing them in a way;
3. And in turn, overusing such terms as "Nazi" and "genocide" cheapens these and diminishes the crimes of the actual Nazis, creates possibilities for denial of actual genocides such as the Holocaust or the Armenian Genocide, and whitewashes the Nazi revival such as various neo-Nazi movements.

I can think of no example more insane than the whitewashing of the Ukrainian Nazi collaborators Bandera and Shukhevich, their organizations OUN and UPA, and their modern Ukrainian equivalents such as Azov, S14, and the Right Sector—and at the same time bringing out all the decades of smear campaigns against the USSR and Russia, accusing them of multiple genocides.

Though maybe "Holodomor" myth is at least equally insane.

Russophobia deserves its own post, and so do the Ukrainian Nazis both historical and modern. For now, I'll look at genocide accusations against the historical and modern Russias.

• Genocide as a Weapon of Propaganda [00:00]
• Modern Days: 2022+ "Genocide" of Ukrainians [09:42]
• Goebbels Propaganda Rules and Brand Management [20:42]
• Russia's "History of Genocides" [32:17]
• Circassian "Genocide" [37:09]
• "Holodomor" as a National Foundation Myth [56:20]
• Final Thoughts [1:12:11]

2014 Maidan, 2022 Mariupol and Bucha. One is a proven false-flag massacre perpetrated by the Ukrainian far-right. The others fit similar patterns. Having already made a case for why this is not a coincidence, I discuss further implications.

Here, I give more background to my Mariupol & Bucha: Narrative v Reality article, how it came together, and what makes me confident about the conclusions.

The text version of this Newsletter episode with all the links is here: False Flags, False Narratives.

Subscribe to our free newsletter or support our analytical and educational work with a paid subscription at one of the two prices (you choose the price, they both have the same benefits): Normal Premium or Student (Recession-Proof).

• False Flags: Censoring Peer-Reviewed Academic Study as a "Political Decision" [00:00]
• False Narratives: War Crimes [04:32]
• Guilty Until Proven Innocent [09:16]
• Critically Thinking [18:52]
• Who Shot at the Mariupol Humanitarian Corridors [21:28]
• What Really Happened in Bucha [25:22]
• Conclusion [32:35]

A word of caution: if you have an emotional response to the 2022-ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and especially if you believe the mainstream media narrative in the West and you are not ready to have this challenged, this might not be for you.

I'm happy to discuss the facts and my thinking, but I'd like to refrain from ad hominem attacks.

Finally, I have an agenda:

1. I'm trying to challenge your thinking in order to strengthen it. To do so, I'll present to you my way of analysis, the signals I use, and the questions I pose. I will build a narrative that may or may not be your narrative (certainly, isn't the mainstream western punditry narrative) and I will try and defend this narrative using evidence. You may or may not agree—my job is to make you think, and to help you think better.
2. I'm trying to influence people to find a helpful, lasting peace solution for the benefit of common Ukrainians—in my opinion, the current western position is neither correct in its narrative nor helpful for this goal. This requires a separate investigation.

I wrote a more personal note with my history as a Ukrainian in the previous newsletter post 2022 and 11/12-ths.

This topic by its nature will most likely be the most controversial we touch on.

Recently, I wrote the blog post NY Times: Disinformation Central? Or: How I Lost Trust in the Western Mainstream Media and What to Do About It, in which I investigate the New York Times in their mis-representation of facts on 4 counts: "Russian disinformation" campaign, changes of the narrative on Ukraine and Donbass from 2014 through to 2022, outright lies such as the (fake) claim of "massive rapes" propagated by the former Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman Denisova (who was fired by the Ukrainian Government for this lie), and protecting the NYT ownership while running hit jobs on competitors.

Read the post OR listen to the previous episode to get the full picture about the NY Times transgressions.

In this newsletter episode, I take parts of the NY Times piece and expand the principles I use when reading the news and processing information.

If you're OK with the above, let's go.

• Previously on Business Games Re: Information Processing [03:18]
• Narrative Versus Reality: You Are Being Manipulated [07:14]
• How Much of a Problem Is It? [08:55]
• A Dozen Thinking Principles I Use [11:56]
• Frame of Reference = The Most Important Factor
• On Sources of Information [40:55]
• Is Wikipedia a Good Source? [41:20]
• Alternative Journalists to Follow on Ukraine and Beyond [43:50]
• Conclusion