The Organ? Nope.
“The Might Wurlitzer” is a 1950s quip by Frank Wisner, who was the first director of the Central Intelligence Agency ‘s Office of Special Projects, soon renamed the Office of Policy Coordination. As the New York Times put it succinctly, “For most of the [first] three decades of its existence, the Central Intelligence Agency…engaged in an unremitting, though largely unrecognized, effort to shape foreign opinion in support of American policy abroad.”[1] It acted through a series of conduits or information gateways and individuals, which CIA used to direct information to targeted publics. The official name for Wisner’s complex of front organizations was the “Propaganda Assets Inventory.” To those inside CIA, however, “it was ‘Wisner’s Wurlitzer’.” (Foreign Policy Research Institute[2])
Frank Wisner, Sr.
And It Goes On. This hasn’t stopped. The CIA is working closely with its clients in America’s news media (as well as those abroad) to shape attitudes supporting the illegal and unconstitutional war against the Russian Federation. While it is very successful in persuading people to back the extremist Nazi president of the Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, it is failing to hide the disaster it and the Neocons have created.
Look at the Washington Post. It daily prints articles glorifying the “hugely successful” Ukrainian offensive or counter offensive or no offensive against Russia. The paper also devoted a river of ink to the bizarre rebellion of Evgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, against the Russian armed forces. Of course, without a word being printed about the involvement, if any, of the Agency’s Moscow Station.
For example, on Friday, June 30, 2023, Washington’s “paper of record” carried a front-page piece headlined “Elite on edge, Putin on display after revolt”. Datelined Latvia (not Russia), the article asserted, in brief, that the Kremlin was trying to “consolidate control and project an image of normalcy”. And that the “elites” (whoever they are) are terrified at how close Prigozhin got to Moscow. On Thursday, June 29, 2023, the second headline (again from Latvia) claimed “Mutiny shakes Putin’s standing. Lack of tough response dents image of strongman with firm grip on power.” On Wednesday, June 28, the headline claimed Putin’s standing as global strongman in jeopardy after revolt. Written by Liz Sly, one of many of the journal’s propagandists who avoid fact-based drafting, it ran: “The weekend mutiny by the Wagner Group and its chaotic aftermath have jeopardized that image [restoring Russia as a World Power and promoting Putin as an alternative to the West], jolting many assumptions about Putin’s autocratic credentials, Russia’s stability and the likely course of the war in Ukraine.” The principal caption on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 read Putin works to reassert control.
So. What ARE The Facts? In 2022, Zelensky lost half his army. (cf. ARE THE UKRAINE & NATO WINNING THE RUSSIAN WAR? (substack.com)) From reporting that, surprisingly appears in U.S. media, the Ukrainians are losing NATO-supplied tanks and armored fighting vehicles, along with substantial numbers of their soldiers.
On June 30, 2023, RT reported:
Writing in his latest Substack article on Thursday, [astute journalist Seymour] Hersh outlined the progress of Ukraine’s offensive operations, claiming it would need a “miracle” to reverse Russian gains after Moscow took “total control” of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye regions.
While a short-lived rebellion by Russia’s Wagner Group last weekend offered a brief distraction from “Ukraine’s failing counter-offensive,” Hersh went on to argue that Kiev is heading for “disaster.” He said this could be politically damaging for Biden, who will seek to sell Ukraine as a foreign policy success as he campaigns for re-election in 2024.
“It may be prudent for Joe Biden to talk straight about the war, and its various problems for America – and to explain why the estimated more than $150 billion that his administration has put up thus far turned out to be a very bad investment,” the journalist added.
The U.S. and its NATO puppets evidently believed that the Wagner Group’s alleged mutiny would weaken Russia. They most devoutly hoped that this would lead to civil war and great bloodshed, as Western intervention did in the early days of the Soviet Union (cf. (2) THE 100 YEAR WAR - by J. Michael Springmann - Hausfrauleaks (substack.com)). Moreover, they undoubtedly expected that Russian forces would be pulled away from the Ukraine and devoted to domestic disturbances, much as the West tried to create in destabilizing the countries along the Federation’s southern border. (cf. LOOKING FOR TROUBLE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES (substack.com)). On June 28, 2023, RT published an in-depth analysis of this: Taking a dagger to the ‘soft underbelly’: How the West has opened yet another front against Russia. Central Asia has become a key focus for the EU and the US in their ongoing attempts to weaken Moscow (Taking a dagger to the ‘soft underbelly’: How the West has opened yet another front against Russia — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union).
What Did They Know & When Did They Know it? As noted in AntiWar.Com, June 25, 2023,
Several US media outlets are claiming that US intelligence was aware Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was planning to take military action against Russia’s defense establishment before his short-lived uprising began on Friday [June 23].
According to a report from The New York Times, US intelligence officials briefed senior military and Biden administration officials on Wednesday about Prigozhin’s plans. The report said congressional leaders were briefed on the plot on Thursday, which was also reported by CNN.
The Washington Post reported that US spy agencies picked up intelligence in mid-June about Prigozhin planning an armed action and quickly informed the White House and other government agencies. An anonymous US official told the Post that Prigozhin’s exact plans weren’t clear but that “there were enough signals to be able to tell the leadership … that something was up.”
Pellucidly Clear—Or Not? One former diplomat, a keen observer of the international scene, noted in a telephone call to me that nothing about the “mutiny” explained the situation. Sure, the West wanted a violent, sanguineous civil war but there were no indications that the CIA was working with Prigozhin. Within Russia, he added, there appeared to be a failure of intentions and communications. Additionally, he thought that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain’s equivalent GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), adept at listening, picked up only “chatter”, i.e., volume of intercepted signals without significant information. They did not have a direct line to the Wagner Group, which worked well in Syria and North Africa—but may have had problems with Russian army control.
COMMENT: Nobody knows nothin’. The Mighty Wurlitzer is playing the same old tune, America and NATO mighty, Russia weak. Hoping for the Federation’s collapse is more wishful thinking and speculation than anything. After wrecking the U.S. and EU economies, as well as pouring weapons into the Ukraine (at the expense of Western armories), the dimwitted politicians in Europe and America need excuses to explain their failures.
J. Michael Springmann is an attorney, author, political commentator, and former diplomat, with postings to Germany, India, and Saudi Arabia. He previously authored, Visas for Al Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked the World: An Insider’s View, recounting how the U.S. created and used Islamic Terrorism. Additionally, he penned Goodbye, Europe? Hello, Chaos? Merkel’s Migrant Bomb, an analysis of the alien wave sweeping the Continent. He currently practices law in the Washington D.C. Area. He is a frequent commentator on Arab and Russian news programs.
He is also on the Ukraine’s “Enemies List”, having questioned, inter alia, the country’s refusal to honor the Minsk Accords and for stating that its government is Nazified.
Hausfrauleaks is a reader-supported publication.