Thursday, April 3, 2014

'Smart mobs' renegotiate the balance of power between state and society

 By David Shaw

You reap what you sow: If you ever wondered how the Ukraine riots, sowed by the USA to the tune of $5 billion, triggered a coup that was then followed by the Russian annexation of Crimea, which in turn was followed by the West ratcheting up a new cold war and the USA returning to a me-first space war, this article about how the USA recently tried to foment 'smart mobs' in Cuba is instructive.

The Washington Post reports that:

Documents show the U.S. government planned to build a subscriber base through “non-controversial content”: news messages on soccer, music, and hurricane updates. Later when the network reached a critical mass of subscribers, perhaps hundreds of thousands, operators would introduce political content aimed at inspiring Cubans to organize “smart mobs” — mass gatherings called at a moment’s notice that might trigger a Cuban Spring, or, as one USAID document put it, “renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society.”

OK, this is nuts. Sarajevo, any one?


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