Via The Daily Bell

PropOrNot: Evidence of a CIA Psychological Operation … On November 24, The Washington Post published a story citing the anonymous group PropOrNot. The story accused the Russians of building a large propaganda operation that worked to defeat Hillary Clinton and elect “insurgent candidate” Donald Trump. It claimed a large number of alternative news websites are acting as Russian agents, dupes, and useful idiots. – BoilingFrogs/Rockwell

This article excerpted above explains the forces behind PropOrNot and identifies them from a leftist/Ukraine standpoint. But another article published not so long ago by Washington’s blog, here, makes the connection between Ukraine and the Koch Brothers.

This article will explain briefly what would seem to be full (or almost full) panoply of influences behind PropOrNot. The Koch Brothers along with the Scaife Foundation and some hugely powerful intel agencies have been identified as supporting the PropOrNot initiative. We've already written about this issue here and here.

But we were puzzled by some other articles that seemed to attribute PropOrNot to different influences, including those of the Clintons and some groups oddly affiliated with Ukraine. The Kochs and Clintons didn't seem to fit together but as it turns out, there's apparently a link thanks to Washington’s blog, which seems to have solved this particular puzzle for us.

Here are some excerpts from an article published in early November 2016.

Koch Brothers Secretly Allied w. George Soros for Hillary Clinton … The leading financiers of the Republican Party, the Koch brothers, were exposed ... by the great investigative journalist Lee Fang, as being solid supporters and heavy financiers of congressional candidates who have been leaders in expanding the U.S. military budget and moving America toward a police state (including militarization of the police). The leading financier of the Democratic Party, George Soros, has long been known to provide major financial backing for the most-neoconservative Democratic candidates, such as Hillary Clinton, who favor every possible military invasion and coup (and see this, for more on that). In fact, Soros was one of the top three financial backers (the other two were the U.S. government and the Netherlands government) for the television station in Ukraine that championed extermination of the people in Ukraine’s Donbass region, where the coup-imposed government, which he helped to install, is loathed. And also on the Ukrainian matter, the Kochs have championed the view that when considering whether Crimea should be part of Russia, or else part of Ukraine, or else entirely independent, the people who live there shouldn’t have any opportunity to vote on the matter, and they should instead be forced to be ‘Ukrainians’, even if they loathe this post-coup Ukrainian government.

There we seem to have the connection in full, depending on the credibility of those reporting these linkages. In any event, we are fairly comfortable: Washington’s blog has been around a long time and the article is well-footnoted.

And so we are likely learning the Kochs via Soros are now integrated with larger, leftist/Ukraine/US technocratic/fascist elements ... It makes sense that PropOrNot draws resources (or inspiration) from an array of monied influences. The website itself is incredibly bold, a real statement of mighty intent.

The CIA is involved, as is obvious. And the CIA has relationships with such groups as the Institute of Modern Russia. The Boiling Frogs article excerpted at the beginning of this analysis explains that PropOrNot “has all the hallmarks of an intelligence operation.”

In fact, the strategy out of which PropOrNot was developed reportedly may stem from an article written in early 2008 by Cass Sunstein and colleague Adrian Vermeule titled simply “Conspiracy Theories.”

Sunstein and Vermeule argue the existence of conspiracy theories “may create serious risks, including risks of violence, and the existence of such theories raises significant challenges for policy and law.”

Importantly, the paper proposed “attacking targeted groups in cyberspace.” Also: “Whatever the tactical details, there would seem to be ample reason for government efforts to introduce some cognitive diversity into the groups that generate conspiracy theories.”

These ideas since then seem to have been put into practice in one way or another by both the Pentagon and MI6 which reportedly collaborates with the 361st Civil Affairs Brigade of the US Army.

The Pentagon and MI6 have focused on energy on Ukraine and on undermining Russia’s presence and claims to Crimea. The Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington think tank dedicated to the study of Central and Eastern Europe also seems to be part of this group. (Its advisory council includes Zbigniew Brzezinski along with Madeleine Albright.)

More: Although PropOrNot strives to remain anonymous, it does reveal connections to Modern Russia and its Interpreter Mag and thus, through Voice of America, its association with the CIA. Interpreter Mag is listed under “Related Projects” on its website. PropOrNot also collaborates with Polygraph Fact-Check, a purported fact-checking website produced by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America, in other words, the CIA. Another so-called fact-checking operation is listed, Politifact. It is a project of the Tampa Bay Times and the Poynter Institute and shares a donor with the Clinton Foundation, the Omidyar Network, created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. He is a major donor of Kiev-based Hromadske TV, “the symbol of the info wars between Moscow and the Western world,” according to Forbes.

And there you have it. Via George Soros ... the Kochs and Scaife Foundation (and others) are linked to an entirely opposite (seemingly so) series of power centers including Ukraine “think tanks” and NGOs along with the most powerful Democratic groups including the Clintons. (And remember, we probably haven't reached the top of this sprawling network.)

Conclusion: This is truly a broad array of resources as might be expected for a group that wants to wipe out an entire media industry. The question must then be asked with a mixture of hope and anxiety: How does President Trump fit in?

Editor’s Note: Some of this might seem like politics-as-usual, though of a very dirty variety, but the ramifications could certainly affect the alternative media that has already been accused of co-conspiring with Russia to affect the elections. The Daily Bell is a libertarian publication and its articles have often stated that people ought to look out for their own interests first as best they can because politics are unpredictable and usually don’t change much – or just make things worse. Additionally, as a libertarian publication, DB has published articles in the past explaining that RT and Putin himself are part of the larger questionable dialectic being presented by East and West. In no way can DB be considered a proponent of Russian propaganda.

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