Those Alt-Media Community influencers who aggressively gatekept all prior criticisms of Lula 3.0’s foreign policy and then “canceled” those who shared such views while continuing to insist that he’d never align himself with the US’ regime change operations in the region have just been exposed as frauds.
Uh-oh! Say no more; three words is more than enough here!
"...a cheap Brazilian knockoff of the US Democrats..."
Hmmm, what's that (all-too-familiar) smell? Does he play the piano (with his penis) and have a penchant for nose candy?
"...he’d never align himself..."
The problem here is 'never': it's an awfully long time. Always better to avoid it, whenever possible.
"...whatever else."
How about 'stupid', to use a bit of Latin-style invective?!
"...outdated perception..."
Bingo!
"...unlikely that they’ll ever be trusted again..."
That's an awfully long time, too. We all make mistakes. If they're genuine and recognised as lessons to be learnt, there's no reason why they shouldn't be forgiven.
"...irreparable unless these gatekeepers issue mea culpas."
Agreed. It would seem the least to be done; gnashing of teeth, wringing of hands and endless begging for forgiveness shouldn't be necessary, but recognition certainly is.
"...review the following analyses..."
No need (for me). Personally, I understood immediately, without too much background reading or convincing. The smell gave it away.
Congratulations, Andrew, so glad to see you vindicated!
Thank you! I was dragged through the dirt, maliciously defamed, and my intentions were lied about by SO MANY AMC INFLUENCERS over my analyses on this subject.
My book on Hybrid Wars went viral in Brazil and is super popular with the PT, yet most turned on me over the past 18 months, which honestly hurt me a bit.
I learned so much about Alt-Media, ideologically driven lies, and "cancel culture" after being stabbed in the back by people who previously supported me.
Without exaggeration, it was one of the most formative moments of my career over the past decade, I'll never forget it and I will never forgive those who literally betrayed me over this.
Imagine if you will how it felt to have this happen all of a sudden, to see "your own" (people who putatively support the same worldview as you) instantly accuse you of the craziest things, and to have top influencers to do too at that!
It was a dizzying experience, it turned part of my "online life" upside-down in an instant, and it made me lifelong enemies. I invested hours calmly and politely explaining myself, only to realize that most who were attacking me were insincere and not misled.
They hated me for a while and were just looking for a "pretext" to "cancel" me. I experienced it before with Syria (particularly my analyses about Russia and Israel), but this one hit me hard because my work used to be so widely respected in Brazil.
A clique of charlatans who command immense influence in the AMC jumped at the opportunity to try and destroy me so they could continue peddling their propaganda for clout, ideology, and/or to solicit donations. It was also fully coordinated too.
Leading PT influencers disowned me in unison, after which hundreds of average PT accounts emulated "NAFO" with their vicious personal attacks against me, it was even worse than what I experienced with Syria-Russia-Israel, way worse.
The most shocking part of my ideal was the naked bigotry, with countless folks attacking me solely on the basis that I was born in the US.
I understand that anti-Americanism, both the political (acceptable) and bigoted (unacceptable) forms, is popular in Latin America for obvious reasons.
But I never thought in my life that self-professed multipolar-socialists would embrace the same hateful bigotry that they accuse their right-wing foes of.
I was inundated with the most vicious attacks because of my nationality, with a conspiracy theory circulating that I'm an American spy in Russia or whatever.
It was overwhelming to be backstabbed by "former friends", let alone in such a vicious way, which is why I said I'll never forget that experience.
Even worse, some even started attacking me on the basis of my skin color, which was also very surprising because they claimed to be anti-racists.
The whole thing caught me off guard since I'd hitherto naively assumed that these folks appreciated accurate analyses, even if they were "politically incorrect".
Boy oh boy did I learn my lesson, and it'll stay with me for the rest of my life. I'll never publicly associate with the PT or related accounts again after this.
I have too much self-respect to ever buddy-up again with the same movement that I now know for a fact literally hates me for my nationality and even my skin color.
And naively enough, after having not learned that lesson, I did the same thing when Eritreans "canceled" me for my innocuous proposal for a Russian-brokered Ethiopian port in Djibouti.
That was another eye-opener and I literally spent three full evenings engaging with members of that community before I realized that they were being coordinated via WhatsApp (a dissident PM'd me to expose this plot).
I thought at the time that I could help alleviate regional tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea over this issue, but then I found out that the Eritrean government is obsessed with containing Ethiopia.
After all, free speech literally doesn't exist in Eritrea or among its pro-government diaspora, who have to pay taxes back home in order for the right to visit again without imprisonment.
It's very cultish and beyond the scope of Brazil, but the point is that I learned a lot about how that society and government interact with each other, and it was only due to dissidents that I found out what was really going on.
I'd suspected as much, and an Eritrean official who I was in contact with on social media hinted that there'd be consequences for my analytical series, but I didn't know for sure until that dissident spilled the beans and confirmed it.
That was another crazy experience because I was misled into thinking that Eritrea was another multipolar-socialist country that sincerely believed in the rhetoric that its officials espouse, but that's not true as I learned the hard way.
Yes, there could be consequences. Probably wiser, and safer, not to sail too close to the wind by inadvertently exposing too many too vulnerable online.
I follow you very closely, sir! There is an obvious association with you and Russian affairs, but going through the numerous articles you have linked at the end of this essay, you have demonstrated an enormous understanding of the deep (and dark) back-door meddling in L American affairs. Venezuela vs Guyana? 😲
I really wish this didn't come over as (self-) righteous as it unavoidably does...
BUT without wanting to sound too Christian, Buddha might say (something like) 'Give yourself a chance.' You hurt yourself far more than anyone else by forbidding yourself the opportunity to forgive.
I'm sorry that sounds so pretentiously high-minded and virtuous.
Let's focus on the positive side of it: congratulations; all those trials and tribulations may have paid off!
I just can't shake what I learned about many top AMC influencers. They don't really care about accurate analyses or supporting dissidents like they claim, it's all about ideology, cliquishness, power, and possibly also soliciting funds.
I realized that many of these same people probably don't really even support Russia, they just like the role that it currently plays in the global systemic transition and that's it.
They're worse than fair-weather friends, they're wolves in sheep's clothing, and will betray this country if it ever goes against one of their dogmas. That disappointed me so much because people running Russia's soft power ops have no idea.
A lot of it is just all about reacting to attacks and promoting the opposite view, it's all short-term and narrow-thinking, very rarely do we ever see anything long-term and strategic in their narratives, information products, etc.
Sure, exceptions exist and I've noticed some improvement in general, but by and large, those running Russia's soft power ops are dancing with the devil by promoting these people and they have no idea what they're getting into.
This isn't speculation either as I've seen it happen on several high-profile occasions. Take Eric Draitser, who used to be RT's top pundit till the 2015 Migrant Crisis, when he decisively turned and condemned Russia as "fascist", etc.
I was working at Sputnik at the time (a sister company) and privately passed along my concerns in writing that they were asking for troubling by continuing to platform someone who already repeatedly denounced them on social media.
The feedback, which I'll never forget, was that "guests can say whatever they want on their social media, even if it's anti-Russian, as long as they don't rant about it on our programs."
That was another eye-opener that shaped who I am today, and from what I can tell the problem hasn't really been rectified. It's not my responsibility though, I'm just sharing for context so that you and everyone else can better understand the issue.
To this day, Draitser is one of the loudest anti-Russian forces from the "American Left" (or so he presents himself as being aligned with though it's debatable whether he's a real leftist or just a liberal).
He continues doing damage precisely because of his history of being platformed by them despite them knowing what he was saying on social media, which imbues him with a false image of credibility "from the inside".
I love Russia, but some people in positions of influence here are irredeemable, misguided, and/or might even agree with these figures and thus want to embed them more deeply into Russian networks for maximum damage once these "sleeper cells" (IMO inevitably) awaken.
There aren't any viable feedback loops in Russia for the most part so fact-based concerns about impending problems often go unheeded, as I learned from Sputnik in this example and others that I'd prefer not to disclose.
"...those running Russia's soft power ops are dancing with the devil..."
Yes, I thought so; thought I could smell a rat.
So glad you're (there to) keep(ing) an eye on it!
"...the problem hasn't really been rectified. It's not my responsibility though..."
Well, from what I can tell, in my experience, without wanting to come over as all-Godly, or anything like that again, we learn what we learn and find ourselves where we are for good reason. Perhaps you'll feel good about accepting responsibility to rectify the problem one day? That's not to say there's any way of telling when that might be, nor even if it ever might come about at all. Just a thought.
Good article, Andrew! The alternative media here in Brazil is maintained almost entirely with government funds. Lula has always been a fraud, a branch of the US Democratic Party, which stages a FALSE POLARIZATION with Bolsonaro, with the aim of entertaining the depoliticized masses, giving them the perception that there is in fact an opposition. The reality is that both practice the same liberal economic policy in the service of the ruling class. They only differ in moral and customary trinkets. Both remain servants of American Imperialism. No wonder that here in the colony they are copies of the two American parties!
Are there concrete examples of "AMC lies" about Lula? Who, specifically, are these "AMC liars"?
Frankly, this all seems overwrought to me. Who cares what every little creature in the "AMC" is saying on any given subject? No doubt there are some who are so opposed to the current US-dominated world system that they exaggerate the cohesiveness, consistency and capacities of those countries and strategic partnerships that are opposed to it. And these wishful thinkers may paint an overly optimistic picture of the BRICS "alliance," the solidarity of Lula with Putin and Xi, and much else. But, in general, so what?
To me, it's enough to formulate and articulate a convincing argument about Lula's role in Latin America and the world. I see no need to worry about which "AMC influencers" are getting the topic right, which ones are getting it wrong (and which ones are allegedly "lying" about it.)
Thank you, Andrew! Ortega is, indeed, a legend in Latin America. I take his and Maduro's statements more seriously than any of this oligarch-controlled Lula.
I'm guilty of thinking Lula was true to his socialist reputation. I see now that his foreign policy is in line with USA. BUT what are his domestic programs? Bolsanaro privatized & destroyed the gains made by the last Lula term. Has much been gained back? Not easy to do so. What policies have been put in place?
Personally I never liked Lula, but I don't know about Brazil or Lula much. To me, the key point of this article is the so-called alternative-media-community. I picked up this term only recently from Andrew's articles and was not quite sure what they are or who they are, as I read mostly the so-called AMC yet I don't see anyone specifically against Andrew -- just my ignorance. I wonder if there is a larger unifying forces behind all these AMC, say, a Global Controlled-Opposition Group, or it is simply human nature, that too many otherwise reasonable people have certain one-issue ideologies. Say, against abortion, or against gun controls, against USA, against Russia, against communist China, etc.
I for one found myself to be a strange American Conservative: I am pro-abortion; I am for 2nd amendment but I believe all guns should be registered; I am against US deep state but my impression about most Americans are positive; I am pro-vax but against mRNA approach (methodologically flawed); I am strongly anti-communist and hostile to Russia up to about 2008 then changed side; I am strongly against Communist China and found Chinese (live) culture deeply flawed while Chinese history and philosophies have many outstanding works and lessons to learn. When everything added together, I am not only out of step for the "main stream", I am even out of step with the "alternative community". I try to put everything to reasons, and modify my viewpoints according to what I learn. Yet sooner or later someone would pick on me for certain issue.
I am sure Andrew has been through far more than I can imagine. Keep the spirits up!
"...exposed as frauds."
Uh-oh... Good picture! (Worth a thousand words.)
"...endorsed by Soros..."
Uh-oh! Say no more; three words is more than enough here!
"...a cheap Brazilian knockoff of the US Democrats..."
Hmmm, what's that (all-too-familiar) smell? Does he play the piano (with his penis) and have a penchant for nose candy?
"...he’d never align himself..."
The problem here is 'never': it's an awfully long time. Always better to avoid it, whenever possible.
"...whatever else."
How about 'stupid', to use a bit of Latin-style invective?!
"...outdated perception..."
Bingo!
"...unlikely that they’ll ever be trusted again..."
That's an awfully long time, too. We all make mistakes. If they're genuine and recognised as lessons to be learnt, there's no reason why they shouldn't be forgiven.
"...irreparable unless these gatekeepers issue mea culpas."
Agreed. It would seem the least to be done; gnashing of teeth, wringing of hands and endless begging for forgiveness shouldn't be necessary, but recognition certainly is.
"...review the following analyses..."
No need (for me). Personally, I understood immediately, without too much background reading or convincing. The smell gave it away.
Congratulations, Andrew, so glad to see you vindicated!
Thank you! I was dragged through the dirt, maliciously defamed, and my intentions were lied about by SO MANY AMC INFLUENCERS over my analyses on this subject.
My book on Hybrid Wars went viral in Brazil and is super popular with the PT, yet most turned on me over the past 18 months, which honestly hurt me a bit.
I learned so much about Alt-Media, ideologically driven lies, and "cancel culture" after being stabbed in the back by people who previously supported me.
Without exaggeration, it was one of the most formative moments of my career over the past decade, I'll never forget it and I will never forgive those who literally betrayed me over this.
Imagine if you will how it felt to have this happen all of a sudden, to see "your own" (people who putatively support the same worldview as you) instantly accuse you of the craziest things, and to have top influencers to do too at that!
It was a dizzying experience, it turned part of my "online life" upside-down in an instant, and it made me lifelong enemies. I invested hours calmly and politely explaining myself, only to realize that most who were attacking me were insincere and not misled.
They hated me for a while and were just looking for a "pretext" to "cancel" me. I experienced it before with Syria (particularly my analyses about Russia and Israel), but this one hit me hard because my work used to be so widely respected in Brazil.
A clique of charlatans who command immense influence in the AMC jumped at the opportunity to try and destroy me so they could continue peddling their propaganda for clout, ideology, and/or to solicit donations. It was also fully coordinated too.
Leading PT influencers disowned me in unison, after which hundreds of average PT accounts emulated "NAFO" with their vicious personal attacks against me, it was even worse than what I experienced with Syria-Russia-Israel, way worse.
The most shocking part of my ideal was the naked bigotry, with countless folks attacking me solely on the basis that I was born in the US.
I understand that anti-Americanism, both the political (acceptable) and bigoted (unacceptable) forms, is popular in Latin America for obvious reasons.
But I never thought in my life that self-professed multipolar-socialists would embrace the same hateful bigotry that they accuse their right-wing foes of.
I was inundated with the most vicious attacks because of my nationality, with a conspiracy theory circulating that I'm an American spy in Russia or whatever.
It was overwhelming to be backstabbed by "former friends", let alone in such a vicious way, which is why I said I'll never forget that experience.
Even worse, some even started attacking me on the basis of my skin color, which was also very surprising because they claimed to be anti-racists.
The whole thing caught me off guard since I'd hitherto naively assumed that these folks appreciated accurate analyses, even if they were "politically incorrect".
Boy oh boy did I learn my lesson, and it'll stay with me for the rest of my life. I'll never publicly associate with the PT or related accounts again after this.
I have too much self-respect to ever buddy-up again with the same movement that I now know for a fact literally hates me for my nationality and even my skin color.
Yeah, I can imagine. It pisses a lot of people off.
That's why we had riots in England and Wales (but not in Scotland, where the problem is far more deeply entrenched, funnily enough) not so long ago.
"I invested hours calmly and politely explaining myself..."
That's all you can do. You've just got to grin and bear the rest.
We all have our cross to bear.
And naively enough, after having not learned that lesson, I did the same thing when Eritreans "canceled" me for my innocuous proposal for a Russian-brokered Ethiopian port in Djibouti.
That was another eye-opener and I literally spent three full evenings engaging with members of that community before I realized that they were being coordinated via WhatsApp (a dissident PM'd me to expose this plot).
I thought at the time that I could help alleviate regional tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea over this issue, but then I found out that the Eritrean government is obsessed with containing Ethiopia.
After all, free speech literally doesn't exist in Eritrea or among its pro-government diaspora, who have to pay taxes back home in order for the right to visit again without imprisonment.
It's very cultish and beyond the scope of Brazil, but the point is that I learned a lot about how that society and government interact with each other, and it was only due to dissidents that I found out what was really going on.
I'd suspected as much, and an Eritrean official who I was in contact with on social media hinted that there'd be consequences for my analytical series, but I didn't know for sure until that dissident spilled the beans and confirmed it.
That was another crazy experience because I was misled into thinking that Eritrea was another multipolar-socialist country that sincerely believed in the rhetoric that its officials espouse, but that's not true as I learned the hard way.
Yes, there could be consequences. Probably wiser, and safer, not to sail too close to the wind by inadvertently exposing too many too vulnerable online.
Yeah, that really sucks!
But they were wrong, so fuck 'em.
I follow you very closely, sir! There is an obvious association with you and Russian affairs, but going through the numerous articles you have linked at the end of this essay, you have demonstrated an enormous understanding of the deep (and dark) back-door meddling in L American affairs. Venezuela vs Guyana? 😲
Thank you! Regarding that topic, here's what I previously wrote about it:
https://korybko.substack.com/p/the-venezuelan-guyanese-dispute-is
https://korybko.substack.com/p/guyanas-close-ties-with-china-challenge
https://korybko.substack.com/p/the-tit-for-tat-british-guyanese
"I will never forgive"
I really wish this didn't come over as (self-) righteous as it unavoidably does...
BUT without wanting to sound too Christian, Buddha might say (something like) 'Give yourself a chance.' You hurt yourself far more than anyone else by forbidding yourself the opportunity to forgive.
I'm sorry that sounds so pretentiously high-minded and virtuous.
Let's focus on the positive side of it: congratulations; all those trials and tribulations may have paid off!
'Never' is an awfully long time.
I just can't shake what I learned about many top AMC influencers. They don't really care about accurate analyses or supporting dissidents like they claim, it's all about ideology, cliquishness, power, and possibly also soliciting funds.
I realized that many of these same people probably don't really even support Russia, they just like the role that it currently plays in the global systemic transition and that's it.
They're worse than fair-weather friends, they're wolves in sheep's clothing, and will betray this country if it ever goes against one of their dogmas. That disappointed me so much because people running Russia's soft power ops have no idea.
A lot of it is just all about reacting to attacks and promoting the opposite view, it's all short-term and narrow-thinking, very rarely do we ever see anything long-term and strategic in their narratives, information products, etc.
Sure, exceptions exist and I've noticed some improvement in general, but by and large, those running Russia's soft power ops are dancing with the devil by promoting these people and they have no idea what they're getting into.
This isn't speculation either as I've seen it happen on several high-profile occasions. Take Eric Draitser, who used to be RT's top pundit till the 2015 Migrant Crisis, when he decisively turned and condemned Russia as "fascist", etc.
I was working at Sputnik at the time (a sister company) and privately passed along my concerns in writing that they were asking for troubling by continuing to platform someone who already repeatedly denounced them on social media.
The feedback, which I'll never forget, was that "guests can say whatever they want on their social media, even if it's anti-Russian, as long as they don't rant about it on our programs."
That was another eye-opener that shaped who I am today, and from what I can tell the problem hasn't really been rectified. It's not my responsibility though, I'm just sharing for context so that you and everyone else can better understand the issue.
To this day, Draitser is one of the loudest anti-Russian forces from the "American Left" (or so he presents himself as being aligned with though it's debatable whether he's a real leftist or just a liberal).
He continues doing damage precisely because of his history of being platformed by them despite them knowing what he was saying on social media, which imbues him with a false image of credibility "from the inside".
I love Russia, but some people in positions of influence here are irredeemable, misguided, and/or might even agree with these figures and thus want to embed them more deeply into Russian networks for maximum damage once these "sleeper cells" (IMO inevitably) awaken.
There aren't any viable feedback loops in Russia for the most part so fact-based concerns about impending problems often go unheeded, as I learned from Sputnik in this example and others that I'd prefer not to disclose.
"...possibly also soliciting funds."
Bingo (most likely)!
"...those running Russia's soft power ops are dancing with the devil..."
Yes, I thought so; thought I could smell a rat.
So glad you're (there to) keep(ing) an eye on it!
"...the problem hasn't really been rectified. It's not my responsibility though..."
Well, from what I can tell, in my experience, without wanting to come over as all-Godly, or anything like that again, we learn what we learn and find ourselves where we are for good reason. Perhaps you'll feel good about accepting responsibility to rectify the problem one day? That's not to say there's any way of telling when that might be, nor even if it ever might come about at all. Just a thought.
TL;DR Lula figured out that accepting the overlordship of the United States was the price of staying free and in office.
The alt-media community largely live in a fantasy world.
Good article, Andrew! The alternative media here in Brazil is maintained almost entirely with government funds. Lula has always been a fraud, a branch of the US Democratic Party, which stages a FALSE POLARIZATION with Bolsonaro, with the aim of entertaining the depoliticized masses, giving them the perception that there is in fact an opposition. The reality is that both practice the same liberal economic policy in the service of the ruling class. They only differ in moral and customary trinkets. Both remain servants of American Imperialism. No wonder that here in the colony they are copies of the two American parties!
Are there concrete examples of "AMC lies" about Lula? Who, specifically, are these "AMC liars"?
Frankly, this all seems overwrought to me. Who cares what every little creature in the "AMC" is saying on any given subject? No doubt there are some who are so opposed to the current US-dominated world system that they exaggerate the cohesiveness, consistency and capacities of those countries and strategic partnerships that are opposed to it. And these wishful thinkers may paint an overly optimistic picture of the BRICS "alliance," the solidarity of Lula with Putin and Xi, and much else. But, in general, so what?
To me, it's enough to formulate and articulate a convincing argument about Lula's role in Latin America and the world. I see no need to worry about which "AMC influencers" are getting the topic right, which ones are getting it wrong (and which ones are allegedly "lying" about it.)
The AMC is so eager to look for winners, that they totally ignore a Trojan horse being snuck in through the gates.
Beware Americans… What the Brazilian judges are doing against Twitter and other dissenting voices, is likely a test run for Democrat plans in the US.
Thank you, Andrew! Ortega is, indeed, a legend in Latin America. I take his and Maduro's statements more seriously than any of this oligarch-controlled Lula.
I'm guilty of thinking Lula was true to his socialist reputation. I see now that his foreign policy is in line with USA. BUT what are his domestic programs? Bolsanaro privatized & destroyed the gains made by the last Lula term. Has much been gained back? Not easy to do so. What policies have been put in place?
Really good chronicle about Lula’s changing foreign policy.
Personally I never liked Lula, but I don't know about Brazil or Lula much. To me, the key point of this article is the so-called alternative-media-community. I picked up this term only recently from Andrew's articles and was not quite sure what they are or who they are, as I read mostly the so-called AMC yet I don't see anyone specifically against Andrew -- just my ignorance. I wonder if there is a larger unifying forces behind all these AMC, say, a Global Controlled-Opposition Group, or it is simply human nature, that too many otherwise reasonable people have certain one-issue ideologies. Say, against abortion, or against gun controls, against USA, against Russia, against communist China, etc.
I for one found myself to be a strange American Conservative: I am pro-abortion; I am for 2nd amendment but I believe all guns should be registered; I am against US deep state but my impression about most Americans are positive; I am pro-vax but against mRNA approach (methodologically flawed); I am strongly anti-communist and hostile to Russia up to about 2008 then changed side; I am strongly against Communist China and found Chinese (live) culture deeply flawed while Chinese history and philosophies have many outstanding works and lessons to learn. When everything added together, I am not only out of step for the "main stream", I am even out of step with the "alternative community". I try to put everything to reasons, and modify my viewpoints according to what I learn. Yet sooner or later someone would pick on me for certain issue.
I am sure Andrew has been through far more than I can imagine. Keep the spirits up!