The world was resetting itself after the Covid pandemic. Relationships among nations were taking a u-turn. Globalization was in the reverse direction as countries were moving towards self-sufficiency due to the lessons learned in the pandemic. But, the Ukraine war altogether changed the situation & has given birth to Cold War II. Now countries are once again using the classical instrument of Cold War I to influence their satellite countries to form alliances.
Working on the principles of manufactured consent, the ‘Anonymous Sources’ have become the prime source of fake news peddlers to form a narrative. Using these sources, vested groups are now trying to influence Indian defense deals through information warfare.
Halted Kamov Helicopters Deal: Sources Anonymous
In a news article published in the DefenseNews, on the condition of ‘anonymity’ an Indian Defense Ministry official said that “India has halted negotiations with Russia for the former to acquire 10 Kamov Ka-21 airborne early warning helicopters for $520 million, following uncertainties in arms supplies amid Russia’s invasions of Ukraine”.
Further, the report, quoting ‘officials’ stated that “ The suspension is due to concerns over Moscow’s ability to execute orders as well as issues related to payment transfers”.
After the publication, news spread like fire, and owing to this, the CEO of Rosoboron export, Alexander Mikheyev released a statement and said that “the work with India on this issue continues. The Ka-31 has no rivals and is the world’s sole deck-based radar surveillance helicopter. It perfectly copes with the task of controlling the air and sea situation and monitoring economic zones and water areas”. He further added that “Russia continues working with India on the delivery of Kamov Ka-31 deck-based radar picket helicopters”.
Moreover, the CEO of the sole Russian weapons exporting company, Alexander Mikheyev at the HeliRussia-2022 exhibition said that “Now the Internet and foreign media are teeming with fakes. The American and Western propaganda machines against Russia are working at full capacity to discredit our country, the army, and our military equipment. They are making attempts to oust Russia from the arms market, declaring to our partners about the allegedly low combat capability of Russian weapons”.
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Sig Sauer deals with misinformation
Earlier, a report was published in The Wire, that “The supplementary procurement of SIG716 7.62×51 mm rifles had been abandoned following several “operational glitches” which had surfaced soon after they were issued to Indian Army units deployed along the Line of Control in Kashmir and on counter-insurgency operations in the region from December 2019 onwards”.
In the report, the same “official sources’ or ‘a senior IA (Indian Army) officer’ was quoted by the news agency to substantiate its claim. But after some time news reports claimed the Sig Sauer deals were fine and “Indian Army is all set to go in for a repeat order”.
India to ink ‘repeat order’ deal for 73,000 SiG 716 rifles from the US
Snehesh Alex Philip @sneheshphilip reports#ThePrintDefence https://t.co/z1EcgfPcLK
— ThePrintIndia (@ThePrintIndia) May 19, 2022
A new trend has been developed by the fake news peddlers and narrative holders to claim any theory is based on ‘An Anonymous Source”. In the name of these virtually existing invisible sources, they try to plant or manufacture any narrative and supplement their fake theories.
It’s not that they can not verify any news reports from original sources, they can. But the purpose to create sensations and narrative will be demolished if the original source is being quoted.
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It’s a war, a war of misinformation, fake narrative, and manufacturing consent to serve the original masters. They, under the veil of news reporting, try to lobby and form opinions in public to influence the policies of the Indian government.
The same modus-operandi was followed in the Cold War by the countries to influence the public policies of their satellite states. With the support of large finance and ideologies, they create an atmosphere conducive to suit their agenda.
Same Modus operandi to defame India
Following the same school course, in recent years, quoting from ‘sources’ many ‘intellectuals’ and public figures tried to defame the nation on various issues. Sometimes the source becomes an auto or cab driver, some unknown farmer, some officials, or even some anonymous street vendors. To manufacture an artificial narrative, they invent the source and substantiate their theories.
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Recently, with the conflict between India and China, fake news peddlers constantly tried to create fake reports that India is on the losing side of the conflict. In order to defame the Modi government, they showed India weak conditions. A fake narrative was built by Islamo-Leftist groups to show that in Galwan, the Indian Army has been defeated. But when the reports came that China itself admitted that “it lost less than 20 soldiers in a clash with India”, the fake theory of Indian weakness was debunked.
China finally admits it lost 'less than 20' soldiers in clash with Indiahttps://t.co/J8D3YKzbYc
— India TV (@indiatvnews) June 22, 2020
Now in the recent case both the news was debunked by the original sources after the successful spread of misinformation. In the post-truth world, people first lie and till the time original sources clarify the fact, the lies will already spread like fire. The purposeful agenda-driven news has now become a weapon to spread its narrative and in modern warfare, it will be used extensively. Moreover, the developing Cold War II situation will further amplify the modus-operandi.
