Herrschaftswissen: Free or not, but “Engineered”

Wikileaks may have been useful in making some of the (Western or Arab) governments’ inside workings a bit more transparent – but it seems to me that what has been published by them doesn’t outweigh what is published by government themselves, or by their advisers, or by the mainstream press. We could have every government archive at our disposal, and would still face the problem of finding out what matters, and the problems of interpretation.

The Genius leads the spectators: engineering of consent in its early stages.

In this post, I will try to describe two examples of Herrschaftswissen, and one (rather old) example of methodology. A talk (not an article) on Wikipedia about enlightenment in Western secular tradition translates Herrschaftswissen as knowledge restricted to the rulers. I’m not sure if this should count as an exact translation, or just as a rough one.

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Example 1: David Cameron’s “Muscular Liberalism”

In February 2011, British prime minister David Cameron addressed the Munich Security Conference, an annual conference on international security policy held in Bavaria’s capital. It is an example of how politics and mainstream media work hand in hand – it was founded by a publisher in 1962, and that publisher was succeeded by a former high-ranking government bureaucrat in 1998.

In his speech, Cameron focused on radicalization among Muslims in many European countries. There isn’t much in the speech itself that I would object to, but what I view critically is the context of the speech.

While Cameron was focused on radical Islamists in Europe, the “Arab Spring” was in full swing. Cameron gave his talk on the eve of the outbreak of the Syrian civil war – a war described by the BBC‘s Jim Muir as a proxy struggle between the US-led western world and al-Qaeda international.

The West’s undertaking could also be described as a struggle to discern moderate and radically Islamist forces among the opposition fordes in Syria – a struggle European governments are facing at home, too. But that’s a problem the West could have spared itself. If Western governments (and their Arab and Turkish allies) succeeded in toppling Syria’s Baath regime and install a “moderate” new regime, chances are that the new regimes human rights record would be no better than that of the Baath party. Governments who encourage and support radicalism in mainly Muslim countries are hardly qualified to encourage moderation among Muslims in their own countries.

A few days ago, the European Union’s Counter-terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove told told the BBC that among the estimated 500 European citizens who were currently fighting in Syria, but most likely many of them will be radicalised there, will be trained.

When you want to undermine Islamist radicalization at home, the West’s strategy on Syria doesn’t look too reasonable. Those who Cameron purportedly wants to win over know very well how ambivalent muscular liberalism is about terrorism, when it is about practise, rather than about talk.

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Example 2. Trust in the CCP’s Central Committee

“Unity” is one of the supreme banners of the Chinese Communist Party. The downfall of Chongqing’s party chief Bo Xilai, only eight months ahead of the 18th National Congress of the CCP, came at a sensitive time. But if the power struggle about Bo Xilai was unpleasant or embarrassing already, the “visit” (or rather the tempoary getaway) of Chongqing’s Public Security Bureau head to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu in February 2012 should count as a PR disaster for the CCP.

The Chinese press had to pick up the pieces in the guidance of public opinion. Huanqiu Shibao, a CCP-owned but rather popularar Chinese paper, applied a mix of natural science (China’s rapid development is like a living body’s development, and there may always be some particulars we haven’t been familiar with) and orthodoxy (In China’s society of numerous and complicated voices, trust in the party’s central committee has become reason for society in its entirety). There was, Huanqiu elaborated, no contradiction between emancipation of mind and trust in the party’s central committee:

It is exactly for the diversity, for having several options, that we truly discover that trusting the party’s central committee, implementing the party’s road map, is more reliable than any other method other people may teach us, and more able to create the conditions that make the country and the individual develop.

This sounds like muscular socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Both Cameron and Chinese propaganda emphasize unity when it comes to fundamentals. The fundamentals are very different from each other, but the tools they are using to justify and legitimize their dominance are quite similar. However, Camaron’s game is easier to play than the CCP’s. When Chinese media openly bash dissidents, they risk getting unusually unharmonious responses from their recipients. When Cameron addresses radical Islamism, he will get his share of criticism, too, but that is nothing uncharacteristic in the British media.

And despite some inevitable criticism, when a European leader singles out radicalization among Muslims, chances are that the mainstream will respond rather favorably.

The problem for European politicians is that the political class is lacking the high degree of legitimacy – in view of the public – that it (reportedly) used to have. Or, as the Economist‘s Bagehot observed, the pomp of Margaret Thatcher‘s funeral met with shallow public interest. Even Mrs Thatcher’s enemies trusted that her motives were sincere, argues the Economist, but now all politicians are distrusted.

Not just among radical or not so radical Muslims. But if you pick a frequently disliked minority as Cameron does, you may still strike a chord with an increasingly resentful majority.

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3. Engineering of Consent

In 1955, an American public-relations counsel, Edward L. Bernays, wrote an article, summarizing what he referred to as the engineering of consent. Bernays didn’t necessarily invent it, but at the time when he wrote about it, he had probably been among the most successful thinkers about and propagandists and practitioners of the concept for decades. The engineering of consent should under no circumstances [...] supersede or displace the functions of the educational system, either formal or informal, Bernays wrote, in bringing about understanding by the people as a basis for their action. Rather, engineering of consent supplemented the educational process.

But in the previous paragraphs, Bernays had also written that

[..] it is sometimes impossible to reach joint decisions based on an understanding of facts by all the people. The average American adult has only six years of schooling behind him. With pressing crises and decisions to be faced, a leader frequently cannot wait for the people to arrive at an even general understanding. In certain cases, democratic leaders must play their part in leading the public through the engineering of consent to socially constructive goals and values. This role imposes upon them the obligation to use the educational processes, as well as other available techniques, to bring about as complete an understanding as possible.

Bernay’s essay leaves it essentially to the adopters how to make use of the toolkit he provided. Given that the tools are highly effective, it is obvious that they aren’t only used when the gap between public understanding and necessity (problem-solving) can’t be bridged in time, but whenever opportunists finds the engineering useful. Or, to put it more catchy: the dumber a policy, the dumber the public needs to be, and all the more, engineering of consent needs to supersede education.

Both democratically-elected and totalitarian politicians appear to be keen adopters, and it would be for the public itself to become more informed, to judge if the actons of politicians are in the public interest, or if they are not.

But the opposite is the case. While many European middlebrows regard the political class and their techniques as ethically rotten or even detest them for the manipulation, they are themselves adopters of spin-doctoring, too. Many blogs,  comments and other expressions of (political) opinion seem to apply the means and methods used by the political class to make their case. There seems to be an ambivalence among the ruled about the desire to belong to the political class, and to refute it.

Not to mention Wikileaks. Wikileaks doesn’t “educate”, either.

In that regard, the average Chinese netizen appears to be more aware of the manipulation he or she is subjected too, than the Western subject to the same PR technology – Chinese awareness states itself in terms like “we’ve been harmonized” [by Chinese authorities or media]. Or, when Huanqiu Shibao wrote in 2012 that opinion poll results published by American Gallup  showed that during the preceding three years, among the five BRIC states’ population, the Brazilians and Chinese had been most satisfied with their living standards, and only the Chinese felt during three successive years that the living standard had continuously improved, a commenter laconically replied that he had been satisfied (in a passive-voice sense) by the Americans. In certain ways, the experience of living under a totalitarian government seems to stimulate clear-sightedness.

Bernays reportedly liked to close his speeches and talks with an invariable summary: And everybody is happy.

There may not be a great future for public happiness. But quite probably, there is one for the engineering of consent.

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Related

» Battle of Opinion, Feb 13, 2013

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Obituary: Chris Kyle, 1974 – 2013

Chris Kyle was born in Odessa, Texas. His father, originally from Kansas, was a Sunday school teacher. Kyle studied ranch management in the 1990s and joined the US Marine Corps aged 24, after recovering from a rodeo accident.

As a sniper with SEAL Team 3, he earned himself the name of the Devil of Ramadi among the insurgents. He left the US Navy in 2009.

As of January 2012, he was believed to have been the most lethal soldier in American military history. 150 deaths resulting from his career were officially confirmed (or 160, according to the Beijing Morning Post), but Kyle himself believed that the actual number was more than 250, according to Outlook, a BBC documentary series first aired on January 5, 2012. He was mostly known for his role in Iraq during the Second Gulf War, and particularly for his role in the battles of Falluja, Ramadi and Sadr City. Insurgents put a bounty of 80,000-dollar bounty on his head, according to the BBC.

Kyle left for Iraq for the first time one week after the birth of his first child, a son. His wife “put on a strong face” and “made sure that I felt good”, he told the BBC in the Outlook documentary. But after the birth of their second child, a daughter, who was close to death for some time after birth, she told him that he had to make a choice between his family and his job. Divorce rate among SEALs was at 95 percent, according to Kyle, and he chose to save his marriage. Asked if he had regrets about any of the people he had killed, he said that about every person killed “I strongly believe they were bad and when I do go face God, there is going to be lots of things I have to account for, but killing anyone of those people is not one of them”.

After ending his military career, Kyle set up a company that trained troops, police, companies and individuals in the use of firearms. According to the Beijing Morning Post, he opposed tighter gun control legislation.

Chris Kyle and his neighbor Chad Littlefield were fatally shot on a shooting range near Glen Rose in Texas, on Saturday. Reportedly, the perpetrator was a veteran who was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. Kyle and Littlefield are said to have been trying to help him cope with the disorder.

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Related

» Mind of a Sniper, BBC, January 25, 2012
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Main Category: Obituary

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BBC: Taking Back their Gift to the World

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For many millions of people around the world the World Service is the voice of Britain overseas. The former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan described the World Service as quite possibly “Britain’s greatest gift to the World in the 20th Century”, and I see as Foreign Secretary the immense contribution it makes to how Britain is perceived internationally.  For 166 million listeners and viewers each week across the globe the World Service is a source of reliable and impartial information that transcends borders, regions and cultures.
[...]
one of our country’s most important sources of soft power, with an unparalleled ability to reach out across the globe.

William Hague, British Foreign Secretary, celebrating the BBC World Service‘s 80th birthday early this year.

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Goodbye, External Services, …

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By making these changes, we are achieving the savings required whilst crucially, ensuring our audiences continue to receive the best programming.

Peter Horrocks, BBC Global News director, quoted by the BBC in October this year.

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» … hello, Radio Scotland! Are you still there?

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The English short wave service will continue to all regions, but will be reduced from between seven and 19 hours per day, depending on region, to six hours per day across all regions.
[Arab and Middle-East English service cuts]
We estimate that the changes being announced today may result in a loss of up to 2.5 million listeners, an overall loss of 1% of the total Global News audience across all platforms. Any loss of audience is of course regrettable but we are not in a financial position to continue to distribute our services on all frequencies.

Peter Horrocks, in an e-mail to staff on October 25 this year.

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Related

» Stuff of the Past, April 2, 2011
» BBC drops Languages, Jan 28, 2011
» We all now speak English well enough, BBC, March 27, 1999
» Bruno Adler, Wikipedia, acc. 20121104

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Shortwave Log, Northern Germany, September/October 2012

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Radio Station Profiles: RTM Mali

Radiodiffusion Télévision du Mali, according to information on its QSL cards almost three decades ago, carried transmissions in French, English, Arabic and national vernacular languages during the 1980s on about five frequencies – two in the 60-m tropical band, and three from the 49- to the 31-m-band. The broadcasts I used to listen to in Europe back then were usually in French. These days, 5995 kHz in the 49-m band seems to work best in Germany, if recent video uploads on youtube are something to go by. The frequency 5995 kHz (49 m) shown there on youtube was also active during the 1980s, but at the time, the frequency was probably hardly audible, as European broadcasters, too, were rather active on shortwave. The tropical band was my medium to listen to Africa during the 1980s.

RTM Mali, QSL 1986

African domestic stations on shortwave – most of those audible in central and northern Europe came in most clearly in the 60-meter band – differed from each other in terms of formats at the time. Some were mostly boring official announcements and news, on other stations, there were also messages from and between listeners read out, and some stations also broadcasted pretty lively music. If I remember it right, RTM Mali devoted more time to regional music than most African domestic stations I listened to.

Private radio stations appear to be on air in Mali, too. According to Wikipedia, the law has allowed for privately-run stations since 1994. These days, Mali shortwave transmitters also relay broadcasts by China Radio International (CRI). The China Television Economic and Technical Cooperation Company, a state-owned company founded in 1991 for Chinese broadcasting projects abroad, provided Mali with shortwave broadcasting equipment, apparently in 2001, or somewhat earlier, “to help Mali develop a foundation for broadcasting”, and for CRI

to broadcast to Africa in Mandarin, Cantonese, English, French, Swahili, Hausa, and other languages, to let African listeners hear the voice from China more clearly and conveniently, to broaden Chinese influence in Africa, to promote Sino-African friendship and the development of broadcasting in African nations, their public welfare, national education and other important effects.

中广国际总公司 [in full: 中国广播电视国际经济技术合作总公司] 为马里提供并租用当地短波广播设备转播中国国际广播电台对非洲地区广播节 目的卡伊、莫普堤、卡蒂、塞古、锡卡索等地广播发射台工程项目的完成，既为马里国家广播事业的发展奠定了坚实基础，也实现了我国对非洲地区用普通话、广东 话、英语、法语、斯瓦希里语、豪萨语等多种语言在当地广播的目标，让非洲听众更加清晰、更加便捷地收听到来自中国的声音，为扩大我国在非洲地区的影响、促 进中非友谊以及发展非洲国家的广播电视事业、国家公益事业、促进国民教育事业等发挥了重要作用。

The China Television Economic and Technical Cooperation Company seems to work under the auspices of the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) and is located in Beijing’s Chaoyang district.

Obviously, during the 1980s, there weren’t too many ways to be familiar with musical genres and their protagonists. Local broadcasters could give you a taste of regional music, but as their target audience was familiar with the musicians anyway, there was no need for the announcers to explain the music they played. Things have changed with the internet, and you can get all kinds of background information now, as a recent blogpost by KT illustrates – it includes a number of samples/videos »

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Recent Logs

International Telecommunication Union letter codes used in the table underneath:
AIA – Anguilla; CUB – Cuba; EGY – Egypt; RUS – Russia; TIB – Tibet; TWN – Taiwan.

Languages (“L.”):
C – Chinese; E – English; G – German; S – Spanish.

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kHz	Station	Ctry	L.	Day	Time GMT	S	I	O
7240	CNR	TIB	C	Sep 2	22:42	4	5	3
7240	PBS Tibet	TIB	C	Sep 2	22:59	4	5	3
6090	Caribbean Beacon	AIA	E	Sep 20	01:28	4	4	4
5025	R. Rebelde	CUB	S	Sep 20	01:29	4	4	4
11560	R. Cairo 1)	EGY	G	Sep 22	19:00	4	5	4
15700	Vo Russia	RUS	G	Oct 2	09:00	5	5	5
9955	RTI Taipei 2)	TWN	G	Oct 3	17:00	4	4	4

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No impressive list for September and October, as I was much busier in recent weeks, than in August (see “Related” at the bottom of this post), and spent only little time in front of the radio.
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Notes

¹⁾ While modulation was much better on that day than what listeners had previously been used to, readability of the broadcast was still less than O=4. Modulation is still not up to the standards. To give you an idea, here is a short recording from the September 22 broadcast in German.

²⁾ Direct live broadcast from Taiwan on shortwave. Occasionally morse interferences, and growing (unid.) interference from five kHz further down during the last third of the broadcast.

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Related

» Previous Logs, Sep 2, 2012
» A State Secret in North Korea, Aug 1, 2012

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Is China Misunderstood? And if Yes, How?

• “People in China have as many freedoms as people in Europe, as long as they don’t organize to challenge CCP rule.”

Not really. Frequently, challenging one bureaucrat amounts to challenging the party. What you can and what you can’t do depends on your connections, and even if you are pretty well connected, no independent court will protect you and the liberties you have taken to do things when the party decides that it has a stake in your case.

• “The Chinese Communist Party has lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese people out of poverty.”

That’s conventional wisdom. But isn’t it the party’s decision to leave more space for  privately-owned business – i. e.  a withdrawal from business administration – which has led to that success?

• “Authors like Mo Yan show that you are quite free to criticize leadership decisions – even if you are formally part of the system.”

Mo Yan spoke up for Liu Xiaobo (with some disclaimers included in his talk), and that was a good decision – but if he wasn’t part of the system, and right in the limelight, such a public statement might have earned him an invitation for a cup of tea at the next public security office – or worse.

What is true is that China is much more of a mixed economy these days, than thirty years ago. What may also be true is that the cadres, too, have become much more affluent. Some leaders, especially top leaders, have become rich.

And this seems to amount to a strange excuse, frequently offered by CCP apologists: because the Communist leaders – and top leaders not least – are so corrupted, their theories can’t be taken seriously anymore. Or rather: even as a democrat, you don’t need to take their theories seriously anymore.

That’s a nice license to do business with the guys. Unfortunately, it’s a faked license.

It is true that what the CCP cadres do has little to do with their original theories. But that only means that their concept of class relations has changed. Contrary to what coverage frequently suggest,  that’s no bashful change. It’s clearly documented, not least in Jiang Zemin‘s Three Represents which are part of the official party theories. All this hasn’t hasn’t changed the CCP’s view of who should rule the country, and how they want to rule.

The CCP claims the function to decide what Chinese culture is, and what isn’t. They are the “standard bearers” and the “developers” of Chinese culture. They have left cultural organizations and individuals more leeway than during the Maoist days, just as they have left businesses more leeway – see above. But all that is revocable. It is part of the party’s development project. Obviously, people make use of the leeway they have – but given that the party has the last word on what will make it, and what won’t, its claim to be the developer is often taken remarkably lightly.

Above all, however, there is one constant: that while the outside world has certain good things to offer, it is, above all, a threat. The concept that an imagined innocence, “cultural” purity, or general well-being of the Chinese people can only be safeguarded by the CCP’s monopoly to power has never changed since the party came to power. A country that swallows the humiliations that come from this power monopoly and ultimately has to blame the outside world for exactly these humiliations can’t be a terribly friendly country.

The Libyan or the Syrian regimes have never been popular among Americans or Europeans. The Chinese regime isn’t, either. There is a lot of fault-seeking going on. Every incident, every blooper, and every corruption case among more senior officials are highlighted in the Western press, as if corruption was something particularly Chinese, or even something particularly CCP. But that seems to be arrogance, and wannabe virtue, rather than objectivity. Just as there was a preparedness to believe that basically, Libyans or Syrians were prepared to tolerate, if not support, their leaders, there is a preparedness to believe the same thing of China and the CCP.

When taking a benevolent view of Western governments and the Western public perception, they were also prepared to believe that at least the Syrian regime would give way to democracy (or theocracy) peacefully, rather than clinging to power by all means. If we may believe Western governments’ statements these days, they are absolutely shocked that, once having shown signs of vulnerability, such regimes aren’t tolerated by their own people anymore. By the same logic, Western governments are even more shocked to learn that such regimes would go “from house to house” to find and slaughter oppositionals, suspected or proven. By the same logic, Western governments and the Western public are outraged to learn that a regime may actually bomb its own cities, at war with many of its own people.

They would quite probably be just as “shocked” if such events occured in China. And then they would start explaining why they did have reasons to believe that the CCP regime was “responsible” and “accountable” to the people, why they did have reasons to believe that the party would put the people first, and put itself next.

And as long as shit doesn’t happen, they’ll tell you how the status quo in China is still better than any conceivable alternative. (That said, many foreign party apologists aren’t that much more interested in trying to imagining alternatives, than the CCP itself.)

People who are using excuses like the ones quoted at the beginning are most probably those who actually “misunderstand” China most fundamentally. But it’s a wishful misunderstanding. A less friendly word for it would be complicity.

That complicity is no crime. Or, if it is, this blogger, too, is complicit. I accept that our governments and businesses need to find compromises with totalitarian dictators, at least for the time being.  What I don’t accept is the beautification of the regime. Whoever justifies its existence needs to be prepared to accept the same standards in his home country – not necessarily as a ruler, but as a subject to such rule. (One problem among Western decision makers is that they themselves can only think of themselves as rulers, not as subjects.) But if you argue that, because of the “circumstances”, this or that has to be good enough for Chinese citizens, this or that has to be good enough for you, too – provided that the “circumstances” (seem to) demand it.

To be clear: this is no suggestion that Western intelligence services should sponsor underground organizations in China. It is a suggestion that people should stop thinking of China as some kind of “democracy”, or a “democratizing country”, only because it makes it easier for us to justify our business with China. The issue isn’t how Westerners could “westernize”, “democratize” or whatever-ize China. It is to make sure that our own values don’t become blurred in the process of interaction.

A paranoid scenario? Up to you. But take a look at the debate between U.S. president Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney on foreign policy. Not a single mention of China’s political system. Rather: long debates on how to “shape” the Middle East.

And all that – my take of it, that is – to flatter power delusions among the American public.

That’s where the circle closes. Power isn’t irrelevant. But without a conscience – an understanding of what we are doing -, it may be wielded in a pretty CCP way: self-flattering, self-serving, and oblivious.

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Related

» Enabling “Democracy in International Relations”, The Peking Duck (guest post), Oct 2, 2012
» Asma Al Assad, the All-Natural Beauty, The Richest People, Febr 23, 2011
» Huang Mengfu: It’s Complicated, Jan 7, 2009

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Information Warfare in the Far and the Middle East (and in Europe)

Links within blockquotes added during translation.

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1) To be Blown Away: Pyongyang continues Dialog with other Means

Xinhua/Enorth, Oct 20 —

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According to a KCNA report on Friday, North Korea’s People’s Army’s Western Front headquarters issued a statement condemning South Korean organizations’ plans to distribute leaflets among North Koreans, saying that once such distribution was detected, military strikes would be conducted right away and without prior warning.

据朝中社19日报道，朝鲜人民军西部前线司令部当天发表公告，谴责韩国团体计划向朝鲜散布传单，表示一旦发现有任何动向散布传单，将不做事先警告立即实施军事打击。

The notice said that YTN Television and other media reported that South Korea would insult North Korea’s supreme dignity and sacred system by disseminating leaflets from Imjingak Park in the city of Paju [in South Korea's northwestern, Gyeonggi Province. They schemed to write slanderous content against the sacred and supremely dignified North Korea on those leaflets, and use more than ten big balloons to fly them into North Korea.

通告说，韩国YTN电视台等新闻媒体报道，韩国将于22日上午11时30分在韩国京畿道坡州市临津阁散布侮辱朝鲜最高尊严和神圣体制的传单。他们图谋在传单上写进诋毁朝鲜神圣最高尊严的内容，并将其放入10多个大型气球向朝鲜地区放飞。

The notice said that this action was a move by South Korean authorities themselves, directed and carried forward by the [South Korean] military. This was an intolerable challenge against the North Korean army and people, a deliberate action to push North-South relations to the worst situation.

通告说，此次散布传单行动由韩国当局亲手策划，并由军方主导推进。这是对朝鲜军民不可容忍的挑战，是故意把北南关系推向最坏局面的行径。

Paju is situated near the Korean peninsula’s demarcation line. The notice said that from now on, Imjingak Park and surrounding areas, as a forthright site for leaflet dissemination, would become a target to be destroyed by North Korean troops. As soon as any dissemination activities from Imjingak Park and surrounding areas were detected, the North Korean People’s Army Western Command headquarters would conduct military strikes right away, mercilessly, and without prior warning.

坡州市临近朝鲜半岛军事分界线。通告说，从现在起，被公开为散布传单地点的韩国京畿道坡州市临津阁及其周边地区将成为朝鲜军队直接瞄准射击摧毁目标。一旦发现临津阁及其周边地区有任何散布传单的动向，朝鲜人民军西部前线部队将不做事先警告，立即实施毫不留情的军事打击。

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KCNA (Japan), Oct 19 —

Pyongyang, October 19 (KCNA) – The Western Front Command of the Korean People’s Army released the following notice Friday:

The Lee Myung Bak group of traitors, keen on escalating confrontation with fellow countrymen, is planning to scatter leaflets slandering the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK, being unaware of its fate on the verge of ruin.

According to YIN and other media of south Korea, leaflets slandering the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and insulting the noble social system in it will be scattered from Rimjin Pavilion in Phaju City, Kyonggi Province at 11:30 a.m. on October 22.

The south Korean group of traitors said that it would use the Association for Promotion of Democracy of North Korea, a collection of riff-raffs, in the operation with the aim to intensify psychological warfare against the DPRK. It is set to send more than 10 huge balloons carrying the leaflets to areas of the DPRK side.

What matters is that the plan was directly invented by the group of traitors and is being engineered by the south Korean military.

This is an unpardonable challenge to the army and people of the DPRK and a deliberate act aimed to push the north-south ties to the lowest ebb.

The Lee regime considers that aggravated north-south ties before the “presidential election” will be favorable for the conservative forces. Human scum under the patronage of the group has common mentality with the group. This resulted in the undisguised operation of scattering the leaflets.

It is the firm will of the army not to overlook any act of provoking the dignity of the supreme leadership of the country and its social system.

The Western Front Command of the KPA issues following notice upon authorization:

1. Rimjin Pavilion in Phaju City, location from where the puppet forces made public they would send leaflets and its surrounding area will become targets of direct firing of the KPA from now.

The location is the origin of provocation which can never be left as it is and a target of physical strike to be immediately blown away.

2. The moment a minor movement for the scattering is captured in Rimjin Pavilion and in its vicinity, merciless military strike by the Western Front will be put into practice without warning.

Scattering of leaflets amounts to an undisguised psychological warfare, breach of the Korean Armistice Agreement and an unpardonable war provocation.

3. South Korean inhabitants at Rimjin Pavilion and its surrounding area are requested to evacuate in anticipation of possible damage.

The KPA never makes an empty talk.

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2) Blatant Violation of TV regulations in Middle East

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Hello, Halab, can you hear us? (Archive)

Jon Williams on Twitter:

BBC World News being deliberately jammed from within Syria. Unclear who responsible, but blatant violation of international TV regulations.

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VoA News, Oct 19 —

The Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Voice of America and other U.S.-funded international broadcasters, has joined European public media outlets in condemning the jamming of satellite signals across the Middle East and Europe.

BBG Director Richard Lobo said in a statement Friday that the jamming of U.S. satellite signals and those of other broadcasters is a “blatant violation of international regulations.” He added that the deliberate interference of news and information programs in countries with restrictive media denies millions of people access to information.

[...]

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Deutsche Welle Chinese website, Oct 19, 2012

[...]

On Thursday morning (October 18, 2012), Deutsche Welle was first jammed. Deutsche Welle director Eric Bettermann protested against this interference with media freedom. Bettermann said that Deutsche Welle is preparing a resolution, together with other countries’ international broadcasters.

周四早上（2012年10月18日），先是德国之声的广播节目受到干扰。德国之声台长埃里克·贝特曼对这种再次干预媒体自由的行为提出抗议。贝特曼说，德国之声电台正在与其他国家的国际广播电台一起筹备一项联合决议。

Experts suspect Iran to be the mastermind behind the scene. According to media reports, this country has jammed Western broadcasters and television stations several times in recent years, preventing people to listen to some programs.

专家怀疑，伊朗是目前干扰行动的幕后策划者。据媒体报道，该国近年来已多次干扰西方电台和电视台的节目播出，阻止人们收听这些电台的节目。

Experts reckon that recent interference with Western broadcasters is related to European satellite Eutelsat ceased broadcasting 19 Iranian programs.  On Monday (October 15, 2012), the European satellite operator stopped Iranian Television network’s IRIB programs, making it impossible to listen to Iranian radio programs and watching Iranian television programs outside Iran, including international news channel 电视新闻.

据专家估计，最近针对西方电台和电视台节目发出的干扰信号，与欧洲通信卫星公司Eutelsat停止对伊朗19套节目进行转播的决定相关。周一，（2012年10月15日），欧洲通信卫星公司运营商停止了对伊朗广播电视联盟IRIB的节目转播，因此在伊朗境外无法再收听伊朗电台和电视台的节目，其中也包括伊朗的国际新闻频道”电视新闻”栏目。

The satellite operator says that the switch-off was a decision by the Council of the European Union in March. At the time, EU leaders included Iranian radio and television network IRIB in the EU sanctions list. In August 2009 and in December 2011, IRIB broadcasted the trials of people who had confessed after torture, which was in violation of international law.

欧洲通信卫星公司表示，停止转播伊朗电台电视台的节目是欧盟理事会今年3月做出的决定。当时，欧盟领导人将伊朗电台和电视台联盟IRIB的负责人列入了受欧盟制裁者名单。 IRIB曾在2009年8月和2011年12月播放刑讯逼供和公开审判的镜头，此举违反国际法。

[...]
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Die Zeit, Oct 19, 2012

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that Deutsche Welle suspects that Iran is behind the attack against their program. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the broadcaster, together with other foreign broadcasters, prepares a resolution. DW director Erik Bettermann protested against the disruptions.

Wie die FAZ berichtet, vermutet die DW den Iran hinter der Attacke gegen ihr Programm. Laut FAZ bereitet der Sender mit anderen Auslandssendern eine gemeinsame Resolution vor. DW-Intendant Erik Bettermann protestierte gegen die Störungen.

According to the report, Iran had repeatedly disrupted broadcasts from Deutsche Welle and the BBC. The latest infringement would thus be related with the cut-off of Iranian programs on the Hotbird satellite. Eutelsat and the British company Arqiva had switched them off in accordance with EU sanctions against Iran.

Dem Bericht zufolge hat der Iran in den vergangenen Jahren wiederholt die Ausstrahlung von DW und BBC gestört. Der jüngste Übergriff stehet demnach im Zusammenhang mit der Abschaltung der Übertragung von 19 iranischen Programmen über den Satelliten Hotbird. Eutelsat und das britische Unternehmen Arqiva waren mit der Abschaltung Sanktionen der EU gegen den Iran nachgekommen.

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IRIB, Oct 20, 2012

[Iranian lawmaker Hojjatollah Souri^*)] added that dozens of Western channels are working in Iran and many of them target the culture and beliefs of Iranians. He continued “But these countries cannot tolerate 19 Iranian international satellite channels and this shows that these 19 channels belonging to the Islamic Republic are more influential than … Western ones.”

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Note

^*) According to UK for Iranians, a man named Hojjatollah Souri is in charge of Evin Prison. The lawmaker quoted above may or not be the same person.

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Related

» Keep Shortwave, for Now, July 24, 2011
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“Religious Feelings” are no Excuse

There they go again: it is “wrong” to hurt other peoples’ religious feelings, it would be better to be “respectful” when criticizing religious practises or beliefs, etc.. That film was a provocation, they say.
There are Christians who are offering “thoughtful advice” about “angry Muslims”. Of course, they condemn violence like the assassination of the American ambassador and three of his compatriots in Libya. It seems to be taken for granted that the movie triggered the murder.

During the past decades, the Christian churches I know have become cute and chummy. Yes, you have the right to do your own thing, and no, you won’t be schooled in public, from the pulpit, even if you don’t follow what were once “the rules”.

What should baffle me (it doesn’t, really, because I’ve seen it before) is that the same faithful people who watch the “Life of Brian” and have a good laugh will also inform me that “Innocence of Muslims” is “offensive”. Something must be wrong when people – of whatever background – talk about “respect” as a reaction to murder. But the issue is murder, not respect. “Hurt feelings” may spell mitigating circumstances if the perpetrators can be brought to justice, but that will be that. In that context, the use of the term provocation may make some sense – but it doesn’t add any legitimacy to their crimes. It is, in fact, rather revealing: the “god-fearing” mob is unable to control itself.

It is a man’s own choice if he wants to go an a rampage, or if he wants to be a civilized member of human society. It’s his individual responsibility. A man and his god aren’t the same person. I fact, monotheistic religion is about people having choices. If religion helps to educate people, that may be a good thing. If it is here to put murder into perspective, even before the perpetrators can be brought to justice, it is trash.

Most Muslims don’t go on a rampage every time they are told that their religion has been insulted. The over-protective approach that defenders – Christian, Muslim, or other – of “religious feelings” are taking in this context makes no sense to me. Try that approach when people who feel offended are prepared to talk.

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Related

» Feelgood for the Day, June 4, 2011

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Shortwave Log, Northern Germany, August 2012

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Voice of Korea

The Voice of Korea (VoK), previously known as Radio Pyongyang, is the international broadcasting service of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. When I listened to the station in the 1980s, you got the national anthem at the beginning, and following that, some frequency announcements and the news. Since then, two not-so-collective leaderships, i. e. Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, have died, and all VoK programs begin with the national anthem, a song for Kim Il-sung, and another for Kim Jong-il (both military marches). But there’s still space for the news, readings from the works of Kim Il-sung, and a mixture of military marches and folk music (the latter of which is occasionally quite nice, but more frequently kitsch, sometimes with apparent Swiss characteristics).

Radio Pyongyang – renamed Voice of Korea since -, QSL card, 1989.

There is currently no interference on 13760 kHz at 13:00 GMT (click here, or picture above, for a digital recording), but the Chinese program, although more silently than the scheduled English program, can be heard in the background, too. It is probably on the same feeder between the studios and the shortwave transmitters.

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Recent Logs

Thanks to long vacations, it’s a pretty big list for August.

International Telecommunication Union letter codes used in the table underneath:
AFS – South Africa; AIA – Anguilla; ARG – Argentina; ASC – Ascension Island; CHN – China; CLN – Sri Lanka; CUB – Cuba; IND – India; IRN – Iran; ISR – Israel; KRE – North Korea; MNG – Mongolia; PAK – Pakistan; RRW – Rwanda; RUS – Russia; SYR – Syria; THA – Thailand; TIB – Tibet; UAE – United Arab Emirates.

Languages (“L.”):
C – Chinese; E – English; Fa – Farsi; G – German; H – Hebrew; K – Korean; Pa – Pashto; Th – Thai; R – Russian; T – Tibetan.

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kHz	Station	Ctry	L.	Day	Time GMT	S	I	O
5960	PBS Xinjiang	CHN	C	Aug 2	23:00	3	4	3
7240	PBS Tibet	TIB	C	Aug 2	23:13	3	4	3
9330	Radio Damascus	SYR	G	Aug 3	18:00	2	3	2
15700	Voice of Russia	RUS	G	Aug 4	09:30	4	5	4
9430	China Radio International	CHN	C	Aug 4	14:21	4	5	4
6000	RHC Habana	CUB	E	Aug 5	03:00	3	3	3
6090	Caribbean Beacon	AIA	E	Aug 8	00:41	4	5	3
11540	VoA Radio Deewa	CLN	Pa	Aug 8	01:36	3	5	3
15850	Galei Zahal	ISR	H	Aug 8	02:55	3	5	2
6973	Galei Zahal	ISR	H	Aug 8	03:05	3	3	3
13850	KOL Israel	ISR	Fa	Aug 8	13:59	4	4	4
15760	KOL Israel	ISR	Fa	Aug 8	14:35	4	4	4
4920	Tibetan Radio1)	TIB	T	Aug 8	21:58	4	4	4
4800	CNR	CHN	C	Aug 8	22:28	3	4	3
15235	Channel Africa	AFS	E	Aug 9	17:00	3	4	3
11290	Royal Air Force Volmet2)	ASC	E	Aug 9	19:18	4	4	4
9490	Deutsche Welle Kigali	RRW	E	Aug 9	20:27	4	4	4
12010	Voice of Russia	RUS	G	Aug 11	15:55	4	3	3
9855	Radio Australia	UAE	E	Aug 12	23:20	3	4	3
17895	All India Radio	IND	E	Aug 13	10:00	3	4	3
15180	Vo Korea	KRE	E	Aug 14	10:00	3	4	3
17820	Radio Thailand	THA	Th	Aug 14	10:31	4	5	4
15275	Radio Pakistan3)	PAK	E	Aug 14	11:00	?	?	?
9805	CNR	CHN	C	Aug 14	23:00	4	5	4
11710	CNR	CHN	C	Aug 14	23:05	4	5	4
9325	Vo Korea	KRE	K	Aug 15	20:01	4	5	4
15345	RAE Buenos Aires	ARG	G	Aug 15	20:55	4	3	3
9680	Radio Thailand4)	THA	G	Aug 20	20:00	4	4	5
21590	IRIB Tehran 5)	IRN	E	Aug 21	10:28	4	5	3
12085	Vo Mongolia	MGL	C	Aug 23	10:00	2	4	2
9330	Radio Damascus 6)	SYR	R	Aug 23	17:24	3	5	3

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Notes

¹⁾ SIO 444 on parallel frequency 4905 kHz
²⁾ probably Ascension Island
³⁾ SIO = 3, but modulation as bad as usual.
⁴⁾ Interference from 9675 kHz, probably Radio Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Turkish-language program.
⁵⁾ SIO 454 on parallel frequency 21640 kHz
⁶⁾ Modulation as bad as usual, but the better reception than later in the evening (as usual in August).

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Related

» Previous Logs, August 2, 2012

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