THE EU DEFENCE FORCE

The Hungarian people deserve better...They deserve freedom of speech, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice and equality, all of which are enshrined in the European treaties."

appropriate measures to restore inclusive democracy, the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights in Hungary"

THE EU'S MINISTRY OF TRUTH

Last week the European Commission announced it would set up a rapid alert system to help EU member states recognise disinformation campaigns

King said social media platforms needed to identify and close down fake accounts that were spreading disinformation.

We need to see greater clarity around algorithms, information on how they prioritise what content to display, for example. If you search for anything EU-related on Google, content from Russian propaganda outlets like RT or Sputnik is invariably in the first few results....All of this should be subject to independent oversight and audit.

What we are not trying to do is to censor the internet. There is no suggestion that we - or anyone else - should become the arbiter of what content users should or shouldn't be consuming online. This is about transparency, not censorship.

CONCLUSION

The European Union's two major figureheads are both in favour of an EU army.

The European Union's flag is painted on armoured vehicles repressing anti-government protests in France.

The European Union is putting aside £4.6 millio (5 million Euros) to "help people recognise disinformation".

The European Union wants to pressure social media companies into "shutting down" accounts that spread "fake news".

The European Union wants Google to alter their algorithm, to promote news that praises the EU and demote sites critical of it.

The European Union wants us to understand that this is about "transparency" and is definitely NOT censorship.

Does this sound like an organization of which we want to be a part?

Kit Knightly is co-editor of OffGuardian. The Guardian banned him from commenting. Twice. He used to write for fun, but now he's forced to out of a near-permanent sense of outrage.

Things are spiralling out of control in Europe, faster than many predicted. Outside of Brexit, there is strong anti-EU feeling in Hungary, Spain, Italy, Greece and France. The EU is in danger of crumbling, and people afraid of losing power are prone to extreme acts of dictatorial control.How long before the EU truly becomes the authoritarian force that people from both ends of the political spectrum have always feared?Earlier this year, the EU voted to "punish" one of its own members, Hungary, for the internal policies of its elected government. To be clear about this - whatever you think of Viktor Orban, he was elected by the people of Hungary. He is their legally recognised democratic leader. Hungary voted for him -, posed by Dutch MEP Judith Sargentini, that:A Freudian slip, perhaps.The European Parliament vote was, itself, a corrupt nonsense - one in which. Forcing through a bill that, essentially, calls for a change of regime in Hungary via:One suggested punishment - "The Nuclear Option" - is a loss of voting rights. Hungary would still be a member of the EU, would still have to pay into the EU, would still have to obey all EU laws and regulations,This would, notionally, be in defence of "inclusive democracy".How long before disapproval and punishment of certain leaders turns into outright removal? Can we really say that would never happen?This month, Paris (and other French cities) have seen the massive Gilets Jaunes protests against the fuel tax, austerity and income inequality.However, an armored vehicle painted with the EU's insignia was seen on the streets of Paris.Both Macron and Merkel have talked, recently, of the need for an EU Army - will these protests in France be used as an excuse to implement those plans?Let's assume the EU Army is brought about - let us supply the European Union with its coveted "defence force". 250,000 hypothetical men, drawn from all the member states.If Brexit is ruled a "threat to human rights" (or some other collection of buzzwords), would the EU army be rolling armoured vehicles along the streets of London to protect us from ourselves?There have been, and could be, many situations in the EU's recent past where military intervention was only avoided because it literally wasn't an option. An EU Army would make it an option, do we trust Brussels not to avail themselves of it?Some argue that an EU Army would be a good thing because it would decrease Europe's reliance on NATO, and remove US influence. I don't believe that to be the case, and as evidence, I supply the fact that the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a well-known US-backed NGO, is very much in favour of the plan Of course, the increasing possibility of an EU consensus imposed by force is only one part of the threat.Outside of physical repression - both by the EU (of national sovereignty), and by the state (of the individual right to protest) - there are warning signs of intellectual repression.There is a scary article on The Guardian today: Russia 'paved way for Ukraine ship seizures with fake news drive' . It's not scary because of the headline - it's scary because of the motivations behind it, and the implications for the future of Europe., and as such, Hitchens' Razor applies.The first half of the article is riddled with lies, omissions and mistakes. It's the Guardian, you expect that. Disregard the babble about cholera and nuclear bombs. Disregard the factual errors - many though they are. In this instance, none of it matters.Specifically, "Russian" online disinformation.Julian King, former UK ambassador to France and now EU security commissioner, wants tech companies to take steps to prevent the spread of "fake news". It's a war against dissent, with three fronts.This will allow people to dismiss, rather than engage with, views that differ from their own.Being a "bot" is not about whether or not you are a real person,. As has been demonstrated, they either do not know or do not care who is real and who is not. Perfectly real people have been labelled Russian bots in the media, when they are proven to be neither Russian nor bots. Whether this is incompetence or corruption does not matter, the point is governments have shown they cannot be trusted on this issue.The Google algorithm is allowing news that either disagrees with the EU, or is directly critical of it, to be shown in their results.What the EU security commissioner wants is for Google to "fix" their system, to make sure news that deviates from the EU's agenda does not show up in their results.Now, if you think that sounds like censorship, don't worry because [our emphasis]:The EU wants Google to remove certain websites from their algorithm, but it's about transparency, not censorship. So that's OK.To sum up:Are we supposed to like the proposed multi-national EU "defense force" putting down anti-EU marches on the streets of Barcelona or Rome? To cheer on the idea that the EU Army could be sent into non-cooperative member-states to remove "dangerous" elected leaders because they are a threat to "equality"?We won't even be able to get to truth of those matters, because the EU will be supplying lists of "fake news" social media accounts to Twitter and Facebook, who will dutifully shut them down. While Google alters and re-alters their algorithm to make sure any news covering EU repression of democracy is pushed so far down the results pages it may as well not exist.The British press, pundits and talking heads are constantly referring to the "Brexit crisis", but that's just hysteria and fear mongering. Re-negotiating your position in a trade bloc is NOT a crisis. A crisis is what happens when an unelected, bureaucratic power structure suddenly senses its grip on power is slipping, and acts accordingly.And a crisis could well be on the horizon. The signs are there, if you want to see them.