The Ron Paul Institute For Peace and Prosperity on Wednesday published an article on its website suggesting the recent attacks in Paris that left 17 dead were “a false flag operation.”

The term “false flag” is used to describe a covert operation by a government that is disguised as terrorism, supposedly to stoke tensions or justify international or domestic aggression.

“Once again we see the US print and TV media serving as a ministry of propaganda for Washington,” wrote Paul Craig Roberts in the article, which was originally published on his own website. “In place of investigation, the media repeats the government’s implausible story.”

Roberts wrote that the attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo “has many of the characteristics of a false flag operation.” He speculated that the U.S. perpetrated the attack to bring France under greater American control.

“Clearly, France was showing too much foreign policy independence,” Roberts wrote. “The attack on Charlie Hebdo serves to cow France and place France back under Washington’s thumb.”

Paul himself has gotten into hot water for publishing Roberts in the past, particularly over a post in which the author suggests the U.S. government carried out the 9/11 attacks.

h/t Reason