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China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

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Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#191

Post by saalweachter »

OminousWeapons wrote: post #173
maratc wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question: Why would the US Department of Defence fund "medical research to fight against diseases"?

The DoD funds a lot of medical research to improve combat readiness. When I was an academic researcher, we were working on a project that was partially DoD funded to develop a diagnostic device which was meant for personalizing medication for patients undergoing cardiac procedures, but the military was interested in using it for developing personalized versions of QuikClot for soldiers who experienced battlefield tra…

It's also worth noting that science funding in the US government is decentralized. Each branch of the military as well as a half dozen "civilian" departments each have their own separate programs for funding basic science research. If I recall correctly, when I was an undergraduate research assistant working for a cognitive psychologist studying how humans solve the traveling salesman problem, that research was funded by the US Navy.

So the DOD funding research could mean it thought the research could mean it had potential as a weapon, or a defense against weapons, or was just a random thing being funded to promote basic science research.

You can't really draw a line from "This was funded by this department, so it had this intent" in US science funding.

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#192

Post by JBorrow »

somenameforme wrote: post #89
hkmaxpro wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know about the ads, but here are their state media reports: They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons in Ukraine: https://www.newsweek.com/china-peddles-russias-claim-that-us... And here’s CGTN’s article on “biolabs” in Ukraine, citing Russia media outlets and officials: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1254330.shtml Edit: As pointed out by a commenter, the above article is from GlobalTimes, not…

The existence of biolabs is completely genuine. You can read more (from a .gov site) here [1]. They seem to have removed the fact-sheets from the site, but you can still access them on archive.org, like here [2]. The fact sheets don't have anything especially seedy on them but do confirm that the labs were funded by the US Department of Defense, and do work with pathogens. Point being you don't need the quotes. There…

Can anyone say strawman?

Having labs is not equal to having bioweapons

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#194

Post by whimsicalism »

thepasswordis wrote: post #138
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biological material, especially if it is disease related, can be easily misused. This sounds like the effort the USA had 20+ years ago in helping Ukraine in securing and eliminating their nuclear arsenal. Not because the USA was interested in more nuclear weapons, but because they didn’t want terrorist getting ahold of them.

What would you call a lab which studies and looks to defend against diseases which could be weaponized?

BSL-4 CDC labs have smallpox, that doesn't make them bioweapon labs.

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#195

Post by waffleiron »

hkmaxpro wrote: post #42
waffleiron wrote: post #13

> Many of the ads, which are mostly clips of CGTN newscasts, sprinkle in pro-Russia, anti-NATO talking points and downplay Russia's actions in launching an unprovoked invasion of its neighbor. So what exactly did they say?

I don’t know about the ads, but here are their state media reports: They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons in Ukraine: https://www.newsweek.com/china-peddles-russias-claim-that-us... And here’s CGTN’s article on “biolabs” in Ukraine, citing Russia media outlets and officials: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1254330.shtml Edit: As pointed out by a commenter, the above article is from GlobalTimes, not…

>They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons in Ukraine

According to Newsweek, but the CGTN article actually doesn't use "bioweapons".

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#196

Post by waffleiron »

JBorrow wrote: post #192
somenameforme wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The existence of biolabs is completely genuine. You can read more (from a .gov site) here [1]. They seem to have removed the fact-sheets from the site, but you can still access them on archive.org, like here [2]. The fact sheets don't have anything especially seedy on them but do confirm that the labs were funded by the US Department of Defense, and do work with pathogens. Point being you don't need the quotes. There…

Can anyone say strawman? Having labs is not equal to having bioweapons

The CGTN article doesn't claim bioweapons. It's Newsweek who said they did and build that strawman.

edit: removed snark

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#197

Post by 9wzYQbTYsAIc »

itsoktocry wrote: post #184
chipgap98 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are they helping maintain global geopolitical harmony? Their actions seem to be doing the opposite

> How are they helping maintain global geopolitical harmony? Their actions seem to be doing the opposite That depends on where you sit, doesn't it? Balance of power. The West constantly talking about spreading democracy around the globe isn't appealing to non-democratic governments.

> The West constantly talking about spreading democracy around the globe isn't appealing to non-democratic governments.

Arguably, the level of pro-democracy proselytizing could be construed as an act of war through clandestine psychological operations.

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#198

Post by itsoktocry »

wil421 wrote: post #74
gunfighthacksaw wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is selling products or services not political propaganda in its own way?

“Visit Thailand” is both selling services and propaganda. “Russian war is Ok” is a different kind of propaganda. It’s easy to see the difference between the two and online ad platforms should be able to make a reasonable distinction in most cases.

>“Russian war is Ok” is a different kind of propaganda. It’s easy to see the difference between the two

As an American company, sure. I'm not sure it's that easy if you consider yourself a global company. There is support (or at least acceptance) for this invasion, including parts of Ukraine.

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#200

Post by qiskit »

Good. Lets hear all sides. Everyone should check out as many state propaganda around the world they can and not rely on just one state propaganda for "truth". All propaganda has innate biases and they all spin stories for their agenda. The easiest way to understand this is by looking at state propaganda around the world on a single topic like ukraine. Then you'll understand that truly, the truth is the first casualty of war. It's a luxury afforded to people not in war at the moment. So we should enjoy this privilege while we can.
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