“Misinformation and disinformation”

Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski was recently in Washington, DC, for a dog-and-pony show where he met various politicians, bureaucrats, think tanks, and university professors, all part of an effort to show that Macedonia – and the prime minister – is loved, respected, and honored among the elite classes in Washington, DC while showing off for the public back in Macedonia.  These carnivals occur all the time for politicians from every country and mean little in terms of improving the lives of the citizens they represent.

In some cases, however, their various meetings can produce policies that make the lives of their citizens worse.

An example of this is the issue of information, or more to the point, “misinformation and disinformation” as the press release from the US Department of State noted.  One of the prime minister’s meetings was with James Rubin, the State Department’s U.S. Special Envoy and Coordinator for the Global Engagement Center who himself was in Macedonia last month talking about the same subjects. The two signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which “will enable closer cooperation in the increasingly vital effort to combat misinformation and disinformation, protect democratic processes, and build resilient information ecosystems,” according to that press release.  In that spirit, I do hope the Government of Macedonia and/or the US State Department will release a copy of that MOU.

Now, one problem with all of this – and this should not surprise you – is what the elite label as “misinformation and disinformation” these days.  For instance, to call Dylan Mulvaney (a “trans woman” who is a major influencer in the United States) a man, would be considered not just “misinformation and disinformation,” but also hate speech in some quarters, even though the fact remains that Dylan Mulvaney is a man, a flamboyant gay man, who is making millions of dollars by degrading women. 

To bring it closer to Macedonia (as I haven’t seen any local influencer men pretending to be women in Macedonia – yet), let’s take the example of James Rubin and his visit to Macedonia in April.  While urging Macedonians to accept Bulgaria’s childish demands and include Bulgarians in the Macedonian constitution, Rubin blamed “foreign misinformation” for the fact that most Macedonians reject the Bulgarian demands.  Rubin was insinuating that someone, somewhere, is spreading false or misleading information about the Bulgarian demands when the truth is that Macedonians are simply tired of being told that they must give away ever more of what sovereignty and identity they have left to join these various clubs.  

The entire EU accession process for Macedonia – like the NATO accession process – saw blame shifted to “misinformation or disinformation” when, again, Macedonians were simply tired of being told that they must give up their name, their identity, their sovereignty. 

This brings me back to the MOU and what this means, exactly, for Macedonia since the US Department of State is now party to that MOU and its embassy and ambassador on Kale will be closely following Macedonian government policy and how it relates to what both the Macedonian and US governments label as “misinformation and disinformation,” and how they will regulate or police such information, which they surely will.  The MOU states as much noting that there will be “cooperation between the two NATO allies in the fight against the manipulation of information.”  So, fair warning, expect a fight from them.

Will, for example, Macedonians be allowed to say, or write, publicly or on their social media platforms, that the Bulgarian government in World War II was made up of fascists?  Or that some members of the Bulgarian government still behave and act like fascists?  Will Macedonians still be able to say that marriage is a sacred obligation between a man and a woman, or will they be told this is “disinformation” and that they are bigots for saying so?  Will Macedonians be able to say that they think that ethnic Albanian politicians in Macedonia have far too much power and privilege and use the guise of victimhood – combined by threats – to get their way? 

The list goes on and you can add to it, but you get my point:  how will the US Department of State with their eyes and ears on Kale respond to such “misinformation and disinformation” especially when State and Kale are telling the Macedonian government (which is controlled by DUI at this point) what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.

I will write about this next some other time, but perhaps we should be looking at establishing an organization like the Free Speech Union, based in the UK, a non-partisan organization that stands up for free speech or the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in the US.

In the meantime, be on the lookout for ways in which the US and Macedonian governments are using their warped definitions and linguistic gymnastics to try to silence you.