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U.S. Special Forces Want to Use Deepfakes for Psy-ops

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:40 GMT

U.S. Special Operations Command, responsible for some of the country’s most secretive military endeavors, is gearing up to conduct internet propaganda and deception campaigns online using deepfake videos, according to federal contracting documents reviewed by The Intercept.The plans, which also describe hacking internet-connected devices to eavesdrop in order to assess foreign populations’ susceptibility to propaganda, come at a time of intense global debate over technologically sophisticated “disinformation” campaigns, their effectiveness, and the ethics of their use.While the U.S. government routinely warns against the risk of deepfakes and is openly working to build tools to counter them, the document from Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, represents a nearly unprecedented instance of the American government — or any government — openly signaling its desire to use the highly controversial technology offensively.SOCOM’s next generation propaganda aspirations are outlined in a ...

U.S. Embassy in Niger Threatens a Pesky American Journalist and Then Backs Down

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:40 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger — “We’re not going to let you into the embassy,” Willie told me. “We’re going to have to ask you to leave the premises.”I watched Willie’s eyes dart about like they were following a mosquito. I had come for a simple background briefing, the type of service that U.S. diplomats have provided to journalists since time immemorial. The meeting at the U.S. Embassy had been confirmed, by phone and email, and the chief spokesperson had even promised to buy me a coffee. Now Willie, a member of the embassy’s security team, wanted me to disappear.The head of Willie’s department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, is a vocal advocate for press freedom. “The United States’ commitment to freedom of expression, freedom of the press, is unwavering, and it’s unwavering because it’s the bedrock of a healthy democracy,” Blinken said at a “freedom of expression roundtable” on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last fall. Here in Niger, the U.S. State Department portrays itse...

In Bulldozing Israeli Democracy, Benjamin Netanyahu Could Become the BDS Movement’s Greatest Ally

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:40 GMT

In recent years, the Israeli government has identified boycott, divestment, and sanctions of the Jewish state over its treatment of Palestinians as a top threat to the country. Today, right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be the BDS movement’s greatest ally.In his bid to evade prosecution for influence peddling and bribery, Netanyahu has forged a political alliance with Israel’s extremist religious parties, allied with the remnants of the anti-Arab terror organization Kach, and now charged forward with plans to gut the Israeli Supreme Court. Ahead of Israel’s 2022 election — the fifth in four years — Netanyahu put forward a proposal to effectively strip the judiciary of its moderating influence on Israeli society while transferring power to the executive branch and what is now an extremist-controlled Parliament.Already, the effects of an unmoored and emboldened Israeli far right have emerged, with a full-on pogrom — endorsed by Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smot...

The Real, Sinister Political Threat of Tennessee’s New Anti-Drag Law

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:40 GMT

Drag artist Vidalia Anne Gentry speaks during a news conference held by the Human Rights Campaign to draw attention to anti-drag bills in the Tennessee legislature, on Feb. 14, 2023 in Nashville, Tenn.Photo: John Amis/APAcross the United States, Republican lawmakers are intensifying their ongoing, all-out assault on trans existence. More than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were either passed or introduced in 2022, the majority taking aim at trans youth through health care bans, sports team restrictions, and bathroom bills, and removing Medicaid coverage for trans adults’ health care too.Meanwhile, drag performances, particularly family-friendly drag brunches and drag queen story hours at libraries, have become a focal point of histrionic Republican rhetoric and far-right militia attacks.With obsessive ferocity, the right is attempting to criminalize, harass, and legislate gender nonconformity out of existence. Tennessee has taken a step forward in this goal with the recent passage of compani...

17 States Have Now Tried to Pass Bills That Strip Powers From Reform-Minded Prosecutors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:40 GMT

In recent years, a movement to elect reform-minded prosecutors across the country has won hard-fought victories across a handful of large cities. Now a growing backlash is taking on a new form: At least nine bills introduced this year across five states would strip power from democratically elected prosecutors. In many of the cases, more conservative legislatures are taking away power from local prosecutors in strongly liberal and Democratic cities and putting them in the hands of Republicans holding statewide offices.Since the mid-2010s, dozens of cities across the country have elected prosecutors who enacted criminal justice reforms. Several have faced recall battles or other attempts to remove them from office. While at least one of the recall bids has succeeded, the efforts have largely failed. Facing losses at the ballot box, Republicans and police unions pushing a return to “tough-on-crime” policies are turning instead to state legislatures to advance their aims.“Those committ...

The Disturbing Groupthink Over the War in Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:40 GMT

There is a disturbing aspect to the discourse in Washington, D.C., and European capitals surrounding the war in Ukraine that seeks to quash any dissent from the official narrative surrounding NATO’s military support for Ukraine. As the world was thrust into Cold War 2.0, the Western commentariat dusted off the wide brush wielded for decades by the cold warriors of old, labeling critics of the policy of massive weapons transfers to Ukraine or unquestioning support for the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian stooges or puppets. This is a dangerous trend that encourages groupthink over a potentially nuclear conflict.Citizens have every right to question the role of their governments, particularly in times of war. Some of the dynamics around policing criticism of Zelenskyy or the Ukrainian government or the U.S. support for it are reminiscent of the efforts to stifle criticism of Israel through charges of antisemitism. Not only is this an intellectually bankrupt line ...

Win Debates Like Mehdi Hasan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:40 GMT

Mehdi Hasan’s debates tend to go viral, like those against John Bolton, Erik Prince, or a Saudi ambassador. Hasan wipes the floor during debates and interviews. But it’s not an easy process; as Hasan says, it requires a lot of preparation. In “Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking,” Hasan outlines the best ways to win debates against all sorts of opponents. This week on Deconstructed, Ryan Grim is joined by Hasan, where they discuss some of his greatest viral debate clips, along with helpful tips to win debates.Transcript coming soon.The post Win Debates Like Mehdi Hasan appeared first on The Intercept.

Hacked Resume Gives Inside Look at Wagner Group Founder Yevgeny Prigozhin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:40 GMT

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has catapulted into the global spotlight one of President Vladimir Putin’s close associates: Yevgeny Prigozhin, who the Western media for years referred to as “Putin’s chef” because he ran a catering business used by the Kremlin. Prigozhin is now better known as the founder of Wagner Group, the infamous Russian mercenary army, and he has seized on the war in Ukraine to move out of the shadows, becoming one of Russia’s most recognized political players.While the broad strokes of his meteoric ascent from the Russian criminal justice system to the highest echelons of Putin’s war machine are widely known, much about him remains unclear, especially as Prigozhin has skillfully controlled the emerging narrative surrounding him.But a once-private document unearthed in a mass hack of Russian companies and agencies adds new details to Prigozhin’s biography and rise to power. The document, which The Intercept is publishing, was found in the hacked emails...

As Texas Judge Stalls, the Abortion Rights Movement Won’t Wait

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:40 GMT

Anti-abortion and abortion rights activists protest in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 20, 2023, in Washington, D.C.Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesA week before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk was expected to order the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval of the abortifacient mifepristone — effectively banning one of the two pills used in half of all abortions — Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on President Joe Biden to ignore the judge and keep the drug on the market.The conservative press leapt on Wyden. The National Review called the senator’s floor speech a “vile attack on the federal judiciary.” The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board denounced Wyden’s “Nullification Doctrine.” An elected official defying the rule of law! Imagine that! No mention of the judge himself giving the law — the six-year statute of limitations on challenges to FDA decisions; the plaintiffs’ lack of standing; the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson returning ab...

Hawkish Israel Is Pulling U.S. Into War With Iran

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:40 GMT

People demonstrate against the United States entering a war with Iran at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 9, 2020, in Washington, D.C.Photo: Sarah Silbiger/Getty ImagesAlmost two decades after the U.S. launched the disastrous invasion of Iraq, the Biden administration is on the verge of sleepwalking into yet another major armed conflict in the Middle East. Last week, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides appeared to endorse a plan for Israel to attack Iranian nuclear facilities with U.S. support. “Israel can and should do whatever they need to deal with [Iran], and we’ve got their back,” he said at a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.Nides’s words come after recent high-level military drills between Israel and the United States intended to showcase the ability to strike Iranian targets, as well as recent acts of sabotage and assassination inside Iran believed to have been carried out by both countries.It was not clear whether Nides was speaking ...