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Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategy for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism
The highest-ranking Soviet bloc intelligence official ever to defect to the West, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa is at it again.
A quarter century ago, in his international bestseller Red Horizons, Pacepa exposed the massive crimes and corruption of his former boss, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, giving the dictator a nervous breakdown and inspiring him to send assassination squads to the U.S. to find his former spy chief and kill him. They failed. On Christmas Day 1989, Ceausescu was executed by his own people at the end of a trial whose accusations came almost word-for-word out of Red Horizons.
Today, still living undercover in the United States, the man credited by the CIA as the only person in the Western world who single-handedly demolished an entire enemy espionage service--the one he himself managed--takes aim at an even bigger target: the exotic, widely misunderstood but still astonishingly influential realm of the Russian-born "science" of disinformation.
Indeed, within these pages, Pacepa, along with his co-author, historian and law professor Ronald Rychlak, expose some of the most consequential yet largely unknown disinformation campaigns of our lifetime. Here the reader will discover answers to many crucial questions of the modern era: Why, during the last two generations, has so much of the Western world turned against its founding faith, Christianity?
Why have radical Islam, jihad and terrorism burst aflame after a long period of apparent quiescence?
Why is naked Marxism increasingly manifesting in America and its NATO allies? What really happened to Russia after the Berlin Wall came down? Like the solution to a giant jigsaw puzzle lacking one crucial piece, Disinformation authoritatively provides the missing dimension that makes the chaos of the modern world finally understandable.
By its very nature, a disinformation campaign can work only if the seemingly independent Western press accepts intentionally fabricated lies and presents them to the public as truth.
Thus, Pacepa and Rychlak also document how the U.S. "mainstream media's" enduring sympathy for all things liberal-left has made it vulnerable to--indeed, the prime carrier of--civilization-transforming campaigns of lying, defamation and historical revisionism that turn reality on its head. In Disinformation, you'll discover:
How destroying the reputation of good leaders has been developed into a high art and science.
How Pope Pius XII --a generation ago the world's most high-profile Christian leader, who personally saved countless Jews from Hitler's Holocaust--was transformed, through the magic of disinformation, into a Nazi sympathizer.
How Christianity and Judaism have been targeted for constant denigration and defamation through an ongoing campaign of disinformation.
How the Soviet bloc planted 4,000 agents of influence in the Islamic world, armed with hundreds of thousands of copies of the most infamous anti-Semitic book in history, to fan the flames of ancient Arab resentments against the U.S. and Israel and sow the seeds of anti-Semitism that would later bloom in the form of violence and terror toward Jews and Christians.
How the defamatory attacks on American soldiers John Kerry made before Congress upon his return from Vietnam--charges later discredited and repudiated--were identical to a contemporaneous KGB disinformation campaign concocted to turn Americans against their own leaders.
How supposedly respectable institutions like the World Council of Churches have long been infiltrated and controlled by Russian intelligence.
How much of the world came to believe that the U.S. government itself masterminded the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
How the Soviet Union has been transformed into the first intelligence dictatorship in history.
How disinformation is still very much alive in the age of Obama, remaining a powerful engine in the ongoing socialist transformation of America.
All this and much more is meticulously documented in Disinformation, with the credibility of an eyewitness who was not only there, but actively involved as a Soviet bloc spy chief--who, thanks to a crisis of conscience, "left the dark side" and came to America to help shine a light on the greatest source of political evil of the modern age.
"This remarkable book will change the way you look at intelligence, foreign affairs, the press, and much else besides." - R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence
A quarter century ago, in his international bestseller Red Horizons, Pacepa exposed the massive crimes and corruption of his former boss, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, giving the dictator a nervous breakdown and inspiring him to send assassination squads to the U.S. to find his former spy chief and kill him. They failed. On Christmas Day 1989, Ceausescu was executed by his own people at the end of a trial whose accusations came almost word-for-word out of Red Horizons.
Today, still living undercover in the United States, the man credited by the CIA as the only person in the Western world who single-handedly demolished an entire enemy espionage service--the one he himself managed--takes aim at an even bigger target: the exotic, widely misunderstood but still astonishingly influential realm of the Russian-born "science" of disinformation.
Indeed, within these pages, Pacepa, along with his co-author, historian and law professor Ronald Rychlak, expose some of the most consequential yet largely unknown disinformation campaigns of our lifetime. Here the reader will discover answers to many crucial questions of the modern era: Why, during the last two generations, has so much of the Western world turned against its founding faith, Christianity?
Why have radical Islam, jihad and terrorism burst aflame after a long period of apparent quiescence?
Why is naked Marxism increasingly manifesting in America and its NATO allies? What really happened to Russia after the Berlin Wall came down? Like the solution to a giant jigsaw puzzle lacking one crucial piece, Disinformation authoritatively provides the missing dimension that makes the chaos of the modern world finally understandable.
By its very nature, a disinformation campaign can work only if the seemingly independent Western press accepts intentionally fabricated lies and presents them to the public as truth.
Thus, Pacepa and Rychlak also document how the U.S. "mainstream media's" enduring sympathy for all things liberal-left has made it vulnerable to--indeed, the prime carrier of--civilization-transforming campaigns of lying, defamation and historical revisionism that turn reality on its head. In Disinformation, you'll discover:
How destroying the reputation of good leaders has been developed into a high art and science.
How Pope Pius XII --a generation ago the world's most high-profile Christian leader, who personally saved countless Jews from Hitler's Holocaust--was transformed, through the magic of disinformation, into a Nazi sympathizer.
How Christianity and Judaism have been targeted for constant denigration and defamation through an ongoing campaign of disinformation.
How the Soviet bloc planted 4,000 agents of influence in the Islamic world, armed with hundreds of thousands of copies of the most infamous anti-Semitic book in history, to fan the flames of ancient Arab resentments against the U.S. and Israel and sow the seeds of anti-Semitism that would later bloom in the form of violence and terror toward Jews and Christians.
How the defamatory attacks on American soldiers John Kerry made before Congress upon his return from Vietnam--charges later discredited and repudiated--were identical to a contemporaneous KGB disinformation campaign concocted to turn Americans against their own leaders.
How supposedly respectable institutions like the World Council of Churches have long been infiltrated and controlled by Russian intelligence.
How much of the world came to believe that the U.S. government itself masterminded the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
How the Soviet Union has been transformed into the first intelligence dictatorship in history.
How disinformation is still very much alive in the age of Obama, remaining a powerful engine in the ongoing socialist transformation of America.
All this and much more is meticulously documented in Disinformation, with the credibility of an eyewitness who was not only there, but actively involved as a Soviet bloc spy chief--who, thanks to a crisis of conscience, "left the dark side" and came to America to help shine a light on the greatest source of political evil of the modern age.
"This remarkable book will change the way you look at intelligence, foreign affairs, the press, and much else besides." - R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence
449 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2013
227 people are currently reading
2076 people want to read
About the author
Ion Mihai Pacepa
11 books61 followersIon Mihai Pacepa (born 28 October 1928 in Bucharest, Romania, died 14 February 2021 in the United States) was the highest-ranking intelligence official ever to have defected from the former Eastern Bloc. He then became a United States citizen where he activated as a writer and a columnist.
In July 1978, Pacepa was a two-star Romanian Securitate general who simultaneously held the rank of advisor to President Nicolae Ceauşescu, acting chief of his foreign intelligence service and state secretary in Romania’s Ministry of Interior. He defected to the United States following President Jimmy Carter's approval of his request for political asylum.
Subsequently, he worked with American intelligence in various operations against the former Eastern Bloc. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) described his cooperation as "an important and unique contribution to the United States".
In July 1978, Pacepa was a two-star Romanian Securitate general who simultaneously held the rank of advisor to President Nicolae Ceauşescu, acting chief of his foreign intelligence service and state secretary in Romania’s Ministry of Interior. He defected to the United States following President Jimmy Carter's approval of his request for political asylum.
Subsequently, he worked with American intelligence in various operations against the former Eastern Bloc. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) described his cooperation as "an important and unique contribution to the United States".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
February 27, 2014
I have kind of admired the author, a secret service former big shot, who for many decades has betrayed and destroyed the lives of everyone around (friends, colleagues, innocent citizens, etc.) to his evil bosses and in the end, for mercenary reasons or self-preservation (it was routine for secret service criminals who knew too much to unexpectedly die and safely take their dirty secrets to the grave), has betrayed even his boss, the infamous Ceausescu, to the CIA. To me this was pure professionalism, like the contract killer who gets a better contract from the prospective victim and kills his initial mafia taskmaster. I and my friends, little guys crashed under Romanian communism yoke, have really enjoyed the defection of the author, Lt. General Pacepa, to the CIA, the subsequent disarray of the foreign secret services, the dramatic demotion of his unmasked colleagues and the public exposure of the criminal essence of communist regimes. It is funny that the remaining secret service bosses have walked in Pacepa’s steps and finally, in what seems to me a KGB-CIA combined staged plot with the show participation of incensed masses (and I am exceedingly grateful to Gorbacev for setting East Europe free), have betrayed their evil masters, Ceausescu and his wife, sentencing them to death after a half-an-hour kangaroo trial and executing them on the spot in the following minutes, like dogs they were, in the building courtyard; pure poetic justice. Secret police bosses have than taken up power, turned coat, become millionaires or billionaires by stealing the national wealth and to this day they rule the country with an iron fist behind the curtains. It is a pity that the lesson of this turn around scheme has not been followed in Iraq; it would have saved thousands of American lives. I found in the book that even in 2013, Lt. Gen. Pacepa’s two sentences for treason to death by Ceausescu are still valid, in clear defiance of the US power that otherwise the rulers of Romania easily accommodate on a profit-sharing base; they cannot forgive the author for their past troubles and make it a very personal vendetta against the expressed wishes of several American presidents. Sadly, to me it says a lot about who is now really in charge.
As for the book itself, I learned almost nothing I did not already knew, and I am disappointed that the spymaster in his several books has not revealed at least a few specific dirty secret crimes from the hundreds his criminal organization has committed and has limited the books content to concocted anecdotes and generalities already known from newspapers. Is he covering up something for his own preservation? I have a problem with his credibility also because in his previous book “Red horizons” he affirms witnessing Arafat’s homosexual orgies in Romania (how convenient this character assassination and no photos to blackmail him later on?) or Nicu Ceausescu (the dictator’s son, educated at Oxford), pissing at a banquet on other people dishes. It happened that for many years I have Nicu as my neighbor across the street and have known him as extremely polite and considerate with all the ordinary people, ants for him, to believe in such grotesque act nobody in Europe will do. And what is the point? Instead of attacking bad manners (real or invented) of the ruling class, why does he not focus on the real crimes of the regime? I do not have here the space to list all my reasons to distrust the author.
Half the book is spent on Pius XII, who according to the author was framed as Hitler’s Pope by the KGB, and his defense through a byzantine, boring and long lame analysis of the play ”The deputy” whose subject is the blind eye the Pope turned on the Holocaust, even when people and governments presented hard proof and conjured him to take attitude. Unfortunately for the author, nowadays, the most interested ones, the Jewish community is of the opinion that the Pope did just nothing when he could substantially help the Jews, the Gypsies, and others. Again, who is giving a dam about the integrity of Pius XII, given that nobody expect anything good from a pope (remember the instigations to countless religion wars, the inquisition, Galileo and Copernicus, the crusades, the ridiculous self-serving doctrine of Pope’s infallibility, the recent cover up of pedophiles, etc.).
Nobody is so naïve to ignore that all secret services, including the western ones, commit crimes and reprehensible activities, but to compare Jack the Ripper with Hitler or Stalin does not exonerate the first and the author offering always only one side of the story is disappointing. He is going to great lengths to affirm in the same style as Rush Limbaugh that KGB has brain washed Sen. John Kerry in testifying to Senate about crimes committed by soldiers in Vietnam, crimes that never existed according to the author, that president Obama is a crypto-socialist embarked on a sinister agenda to destroy US, and so on. Or he seriously ventures in childish fairy tales like the one about Oswald having been sent by Khrushchev to kill Kennedy, but Khrushchev having second thoughts has instructed Fidel Castro to stop the assassination plot by sending his Cuban agent, Jack Ruby, to kill Oswald, and so on. Therefore, in my opinion, most of the book is rubbish and a waste of time for the readers.
For the readers interested in a sincere and timeless indictment of the crimes of communism I rather recommend Solzhenitsyn (“Gulag Archipelago” at least), or interested in behind the doors KGB operations, the book “Special Tasks” by the soviet spymaster Sudoplatov, as well as the “The sword and the shield – the Mitrokhin archive”.
As for the book itself, I learned almost nothing I did not already knew, and I am disappointed that the spymaster in his several books has not revealed at least a few specific dirty secret crimes from the hundreds his criminal organization has committed and has limited the books content to concocted anecdotes and generalities already known from newspapers. Is he covering up something for his own preservation? I have a problem with his credibility also because in his previous book “Red horizons” he affirms witnessing Arafat’s homosexual orgies in Romania (how convenient this character assassination and no photos to blackmail him later on?) or Nicu Ceausescu (the dictator’s son, educated at Oxford), pissing at a banquet on other people dishes. It happened that for many years I have Nicu as my neighbor across the street and have known him as extremely polite and considerate with all the ordinary people, ants for him, to believe in such grotesque act nobody in Europe will do. And what is the point? Instead of attacking bad manners (real or invented) of the ruling class, why does he not focus on the real crimes of the regime? I do not have here the space to list all my reasons to distrust the author.
Half the book is spent on Pius XII, who according to the author was framed as Hitler’s Pope by the KGB, and his defense through a byzantine, boring and long lame analysis of the play ”The deputy” whose subject is the blind eye the Pope turned on the Holocaust, even when people and governments presented hard proof and conjured him to take attitude. Unfortunately for the author, nowadays, the most interested ones, the Jewish community is of the opinion that the Pope did just nothing when he could substantially help the Jews, the Gypsies, and others. Again, who is giving a dam about the integrity of Pius XII, given that nobody expect anything good from a pope (remember the instigations to countless religion wars, the inquisition, Galileo and Copernicus, the crusades, the ridiculous self-serving doctrine of Pope’s infallibility, the recent cover up of pedophiles, etc.).
Nobody is so naïve to ignore that all secret services, including the western ones, commit crimes and reprehensible activities, but to compare Jack the Ripper with Hitler or Stalin does not exonerate the first and the author offering always only one side of the story is disappointing. He is going to great lengths to affirm in the same style as Rush Limbaugh that KGB has brain washed Sen. John Kerry in testifying to Senate about crimes committed by soldiers in Vietnam, crimes that never existed according to the author, that president Obama is a crypto-socialist embarked on a sinister agenda to destroy US, and so on. Or he seriously ventures in childish fairy tales like the one about Oswald having been sent by Khrushchev to kill Kennedy, but Khrushchev having second thoughts has instructed Fidel Castro to stop the assassination plot by sending his Cuban agent, Jack Ruby, to kill Oswald, and so on. Therefore, in my opinion, most of the book is rubbish and a waste of time for the readers.
For the readers interested in a sincere and timeless indictment of the crimes of communism I rather recommend Solzhenitsyn (“Gulag Archipelago” at least), or interested in behind the doors KGB operations, the book “Special Tasks” by the soviet spymaster Sudoplatov, as well as the “The sword and the shield – the Mitrokhin archive”.
June 26, 2013
1st from pacepa for me. just out. 25 jun 13, tuesday, 8:24 p.m. e.s.t.
kindle version...not hardcover.
there is a dedication:
to mary lou, who helped me look at my past through american eyes.
--lt. gen ion mihai pacepa
to my daughter lindsey and all the lindseys in my life.
--professor ronald rychlak
a quote...the santayana quote all are familiar with:
those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. from the life of reason, vol 1, 1905
another: "in russia, "duck," aside from its normal meaning, is a term for disinformation. 'when the ducks are flying' means that the press is publishing disinformation.
--pavel sudoplatov, deputy chief of soviet foreign intelligence
special tasks (memoirs), 1994
brings new meaning to holden's question: where do the ducks go when the pond is frozen?
an author's note...about the translation
there is a table of contents...is divided into four parts, each part divided into chapters, 8-15 +/- chapters
there is an introduction: by r. james woolsey
a foreward by paul kengor, phd
part 1 is called glorifying the guilty, framing the innocent
that begins:
down through the ages, everyone who has sat on the kremlin throne--autocratic tsar, communist leader, or democratically elected president--had been preoccupied with transforming his country into a monument to himself, and with controlling all expressions of religion that might in any way impinge on his political ambitions.
okee dokee then, as the good doctor said. onward and upward.
update, finished, 6:56 a.m. 29 jun 13, saturday
this is a fascinating read. history is a fascinating subject. i've enjoyed other "spy" stories, historical stories like The Man Who Never Was...The House on Garibaldi Street...a handful of others.
disinformation...a kind of yeast that is possibly the main ingredient, and has been the soviet's/soviet-bloc's recipe for undermining freedom, attacking religion, and promoting terrorism. disinformation is a way of life for those who have used it. in reality, disinformation is as different from misinformation as night is from day. misinformation is an official government tool and recognizable as such.
the "science" of disinformation (and it was specifically and proudly termed a science) was born in russia, it was deeply rooted in the russian soil and in that country's history..."potemkin villages".
pacepa defines disinformation as a russian construct, provides examples to define the term--the april 2003 stories about the looting of the national museum in bagdad...blame for the americans...disinformation. "eventually it was reliably reported that museum employees had hidden the supposedly looted treasures in a safe place long before the iraq war started..."
he illustrates another from recent american history--the burning of churches--that i recall. disinformation. fascinating stuff.
part way into this read, i came here to look at reviews of books that also have a kind of review in this, pacepa's book. the soviet union's disinformation war against pope pius xii is covered herein. and here at goodreads, there are favorable reviews of cornwell's Hitler's Pope, a book that pacepa says "relies mainly on secondary sources, such as carlo falconi's the silence of pius xii, which was based on documents counterfeited by the communist government of croatia. disinformation.
and since then there have been other books printed, one in particular, that pacepa shows selectively edited a quote to disinform the reading public, suzan zuccotti's under his very windows..."selectively edited real quotations in order to transform positive information about pius xii into negative." pacepa's partner in writing this, this professor rychlak, has a title that counters, i believe, cornwell's book about pius xii.
"gutta cavat lapidem, non vi sed saepe cadendo"-- a drop makes a hole in stone not by force, but by constant dripping...or, tell a lie often enough, and eventually the world believes.
fascinating stuff here...about oswald, the kennedy assination. possibly some new ideas that the reader has not yet read, considered.
too...within the last eight years or so we've heard time and again how "the world hates america"...and we're given to understand this is entirely the fault of george bush. pacepa clearly illustrates that hatred for america and generating more of that hatred has been the m.o. of the soviet union and the new russia under putin...and like the drip drip drip, it has become all the rage here in america.
and i can't help but think of dostoyevsky's the idiot...(and to a degree his brothers k) where dosty writes about the animal-like hatred that was generated in russia during his day. hatred for all things russian. we know what happened after dosty. the same animal-like hatred for all things american is and has been generated, due in large part, to the disinformation war waged by the soviet union and her allies. and now taken up on a daily basis and sung by those in that pennant race to "utopia".
and this animal-like hatred for the past...a large part of disinformation, t'would seem...is also seen in the changing of the guard as has happened in russia/the soviet union. a new man comes on the scene...and animal-like hatred is thus generated for the man who held the reigns in the past. pacepa shows us that this has happened time and again in russia. consider it.
pacepa illustrates numerous disinformation campaigns. the protocols of the elders of zion...an old russian forgery...che's diaries, another russian forgery. how often do you see someone wearing a "che" tee-shirt?
anyway, fascinating read, more so, when the information he provides about pope pius xii clearly indicates the man was opposed to nazism, that he was not "anti-semitic" as the soviets would have the world believe. pacepa informs the reader that the cover of cornwell's book used a photo mislabeled as to the year, (used a photo of pius in the garments of the church, though not yet pope), the intent it is obvious, was to smear the church...and when that cover photo was changed, (the year corrected) etc etc... fascinating, as i said, because one can read reviews of the result of soviet/soviet-bloc disinformation campaigns here at goodreads.
too...there is a good amount of coverage of assassinations.
and by book's end, pacepa tells the reader of the disinformation campaign under way in his native romania...to rehabilitate (change the history of) ceausescu...to make him out to be a "good guy" after all...and to make pacepa out to be what he was not...disinformation.
and if current politics in america are any indication, disinformation is fast becoming a way of life here. be afraid. be very afraid. or stand and do something about it.
good read! there is much to this book...i've written in brief about only a few of the things that struck me.
too...the kindle "book" portion ends at 65% complete. there follows pages and pages...about 20% of notes....i skimmed through those. for the most, they are 'footnotes'....but more than a few contain paragraphs of additional info. there follows a bibliography and an index.
kindle version...not hardcover.
there is a dedication:
to mary lou, who helped me look at my past through american eyes.
--lt. gen ion mihai pacepa
to my daughter lindsey and all the lindseys in my life.
--professor ronald rychlak
a quote...the santayana quote all are familiar with:
those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. from the life of reason, vol 1, 1905
another: "in russia, "duck," aside from its normal meaning, is a term for disinformation. 'when the ducks are flying' means that the press is publishing disinformation.
--pavel sudoplatov, deputy chief of soviet foreign intelligence
special tasks (memoirs), 1994
brings new meaning to holden's question: where do the ducks go when the pond is frozen?
an author's note...about the translation
there is a table of contents...is divided into four parts, each part divided into chapters, 8-15 +/- chapters
there is an introduction: by r. james woolsey
a foreward by paul kengor, phd
part 1 is called glorifying the guilty, framing the innocent
that begins:
down through the ages, everyone who has sat on the kremlin throne--autocratic tsar, communist leader, or democratically elected president--had been preoccupied with transforming his country into a monument to himself, and with controlling all expressions of religion that might in any way impinge on his political ambitions.
okee dokee then, as the good doctor said. onward and upward.
update, finished, 6:56 a.m. 29 jun 13, saturday
this is a fascinating read. history is a fascinating subject. i've enjoyed other "spy" stories, historical stories like The Man Who Never Was...The House on Garibaldi Street...a handful of others.
disinformation...a kind of yeast that is possibly the main ingredient, and has been the soviet's/soviet-bloc's recipe for undermining freedom, attacking religion, and promoting terrorism. disinformation is a way of life for those who have used it. in reality, disinformation is as different from misinformation as night is from day. misinformation is an official government tool and recognizable as such.
the "science" of disinformation (and it was specifically and proudly termed a science) was born in russia, it was deeply rooted in the russian soil and in that country's history..."potemkin villages".
pacepa defines disinformation as a russian construct, provides examples to define the term--the april 2003 stories about the looting of the national museum in bagdad...blame for the americans...disinformation. "eventually it was reliably reported that museum employees had hidden the supposedly looted treasures in a safe place long before the iraq war started..."
he illustrates another from recent american history--the burning of churches--that i recall. disinformation. fascinating stuff.
part way into this read, i came here to look at reviews of books that also have a kind of review in this, pacepa's book. the soviet union's disinformation war against pope pius xii is covered herein. and here at goodreads, there are favorable reviews of cornwell's Hitler's Pope, a book that pacepa says "relies mainly on secondary sources, such as carlo falconi's the silence of pius xii, which was based on documents counterfeited by the communist government of croatia. disinformation.
and since then there have been other books printed, one in particular, that pacepa shows selectively edited a quote to disinform the reading public, suzan zuccotti's under his very windows..."selectively edited real quotations in order to transform positive information about pius xii into negative." pacepa's partner in writing this, this professor rychlak, has a title that counters, i believe, cornwell's book about pius xii.
"gutta cavat lapidem, non vi sed saepe cadendo"-- a drop makes a hole in stone not by force, but by constant dripping...or, tell a lie often enough, and eventually the world believes.
fascinating stuff here...about oswald, the kennedy assination. possibly some new ideas that the reader has not yet read, considered.
too...within the last eight years or so we've heard time and again how "the world hates america"...and we're given to understand this is entirely the fault of george bush. pacepa clearly illustrates that hatred for america and generating more of that hatred has been the m.o. of the soviet union and the new russia under putin...and like the drip drip drip, it has become all the rage here in america.
and i can't help but think of dostoyevsky's the idiot...(and to a degree his brothers k) where dosty writes about the animal-like hatred that was generated in russia during his day. hatred for all things russian. we know what happened after dosty. the same animal-like hatred for all things american is and has been generated, due in large part, to the disinformation war waged by the soviet union and her allies. and now taken up on a daily basis and sung by those in that pennant race to "utopia".
and this animal-like hatred for the past...a large part of disinformation, t'would seem...is also seen in the changing of the guard as has happened in russia/the soviet union. a new man comes on the scene...and animal-like hatred is thus generated for the man who held the reigns in the past. pacepa shows us that this has happened time and again in russia. consider it.
pacepa illustrates numerous disinformation campaigns. the protocols of the elders of zion...an old russian forgery...che's diaries, another russian forgery. how often do you see someone wearing a "che" tee-shirt?
anyway, fascinating read, more so, when the information he provides about pope pius xii clearly indicates the man was opposed to nazism, that he was not "anti-semitic" as the soviets would have the world believe. pacepa informs the reader that the cover of cornwell's book used a photo mislabeled as to the year, (used a photo of pius in the garments of the church, though not yet pope), the intent it is obvious, was to smear the church...and when that cover photo was changed, (the year corrected) etc etc... fascinating, as i said, because one can read reviews of the result of soviet/soviet-bloc disinformation campaigns here at goodreads.
too...there is a good amount of coverage of assassinations.
and by book's end, pacepa tells the reader of the disinformation campaign under way in his native romania...to rehabilitate (change the history of) ceausescu...to make him out to be a "good guy" after all...and to make pacepa out to be what he was not...disinformation.
and if current politics in america are any indication, disinformation is fast becoming a way of life here. be afraid. be very afraid. or stand and do something about it.
good read! there is much to this book...i've written in brief about only a few of the things that struck me.
too...the kindle "book" portion ends at 65% complete. there follows pages and pages...about 20% of notes....i skimmed through those. for the most, they are 'footnotes'....but more than a few contain paragraphs of additional info. there follows a bibliography and an index.
March 5, 2014
I read about 10% of the book, and then decided to stop. The topic is supposed to be about disinformation, the writer being a top soviet era officer in a notorious intelligence agency. Four or more chapters into the book, the story goes like: I reached the higher positions in soviet intelligence hierarchy, but I'm a good man, and I'll spend the rest of this book repeating boring anecdotes, and try to look credible.
What a terrible book, I'm quite surprised it gets good reviews. Stopped reading.
What a terrible book, I'm quite surprised it gets good reviews. Stopped reading.
December 21, 2019
Reading this book made me realize why Trump's winning speech for the american people hinted at the recent loss and ridicule of authentic american values and virtues. After two Obama administrations, paved with the worst guilt trip anyone has ever seen, it is time once again to bring back the western ideas that make this time and age the best to be alive.
I am curious to read other publications from this author.
I am curious to read other publications from this author.
July 2, 2020
Impressionante o que é relatado no livro. Somos inocentes, essa é a verdade. Enquanto o mundo discute fakenews via internet, outro mundo é especialista no assunto, usando e abusando de fakenews para destruir e construir reputações. Muito do que a gente acredita hoje no ocidente, é resultado de notícias geradas na máquina de noticias. Tudo relatado por seu principal agente, o romeno Ion Mihai Pacepa, ex-alto funcionário do governo Romeno (na época do Nicolai Ceasescu), que em algum momento da sua vida resolveu romper com o comunismo e fugir para os EUA. Ganhou cidadania, e publicou livros anteriores sobre o que era especialista em fazer enquanto agente romeno. Este livro, em particular, todo factual, muitas referências e citações de fatos reais, tem um conteúdo denso, e que nos mostra o quanto fomos enganados desde antes da guerra fria. Mesmo que o relato não seja totalmente verdadeiro e que possa conter parcialidades do autor, a mensagem é clara. Minha opinião é a de que o livro deve ser lido na primeira oportunidade, se você quer entender melhor os acontecidos, e nosso amadorismo no assunto.
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It is very impressive what is reported in the book. We are innocent, that is the truth. While the world discusses fakenews via the internet, another world specializes in the subject, using and abusing fakenews to destroy and build reputations. Much of what we believe in the West today is the result of news generated by a fakenews machine. Everything reported by its main agent, the Romanian Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former high official of the Romanian government (at the time of Nicolai Ceasescu), who at some point in his life decided to break with communism and flee to the USA. He gained citizenship, and published previous books on what he specialized in doing as a Romanian agent. This book, in particular, all factual, many references and quotations from real facts, has a dense content, which shows us how much we have been deceived since before the cold war. Even if the report is not entirely true and may contain partialities from the author, the message is clear. My opinion is that the book should be read at the first opportunity, if you want to better understand what happened, and our amateurism in the matter.
==============================
It is very impressive what is reported in the book. We are innocent, that is the truth. While the world discusses fakenews via the internet, another world specializes in the subject, using and abusing fakenews to destroy and build reputations. Much of what we believe in the West today is the result of news generated by a fakenews machine. Everything reported by its main agent, the Romanian Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former high official of the Romanian government (at the time of Nicolai Ceasescu), who at some point in his life decided to break with communism and flee to the USA. He gained citizenship, and published previous books on what he specialized in doing as a Romanian agent. This book, in particular, all factual, many references and quotations from real facts, has a dense content, which shows us how much we have been deceived since before the cold war. Even if the report is not entirely true and may contain partialities from the author, the message is clear. My opinion is that the book should be read at the first opportunity, if you want to better understand what happened, and our amateurism in the matter.
October 28, 2019
I got about 90% through it and it makes some really interesting points and then Pacepa started referring to British Prime Ministers as secret Soviet Agents and slandering many famous politicians and to be honest I found that Pacepa was ironically guilty of spreading disinformation himself and I couldn't go on.
Again; there are some great points and anecdotes but the writing is repetitive and I feel the sources are bullshit and he keeps referring to "when I was head of Romanian intelligence" over and over again. I was a bit pissed off that Pacepa would use the propaganda techniques and unsubstantiated claims he was trying to criticize himself and the guy clearly hates a socialist Welfare system. I hate finishing books so close to the end but calling Attlee an undercover, secret Marxist was slanderous and I was too angry to continue.
Again; there are some great points and anecdotes but the writing is repetitive and I feel the sources are bullshit and he keeps referring to "when I was head of Romanian intelligence" over and over again. I was a bit pissed off that Pacepa would use the propaganda techniques and unsubstantiated claims he was trying to criticize himself and the guy clearly hates a socialist Welfare system. I hate finishing books so close to the end but calling Attlee an undercover, secret Marxist was slanderous and I was too angry to continue.
May 6, 2017
Some good information on there but most of it should be taken with a grain of salt. Lots less personal anecdotes and plenty of repetitive discourse make this a long read. Overall, Pacepa gives a very simplistic version of our world: black and white, US food, Russia evil, etc. Unfortunately our world is mostly made of gray so things aren't that simple.
January 27, 2016
waste of time. pacepa uses a black vs white dialectic portraying US as the best thing that happened to human kind and Russia being pure evil.
February 25, 2016
This is a disappointing book because of its self-satisfied tone and lack of author credibility. The author, Pacepa, never really says what he did as the top Romanian intelligence officer, except that he spent time in Germany and once looked for a hairdresser for Mrs Ceausescu. He assures us that he never killed anybody. It is hard to engage with him, although the book is written in the first person.
The basic premise, however, is excellent and promising: Pacepa has worked out that the Russian trump card is disinformation that was practised in all of the Soviet bloc, Romania included, and the idea has not died even now. It is fascinating to read what dictionaries and even publishers make of the word. So far so good. The central story of Hitler's Pope is interesting in places and takes us beyond the half-way mark. After that, however, comes a lot of anti-American rant that is hard to tie to the core of the book. Maybe I just lost interest.
The basic premise, however, is excellent and promising: Pacepa has worked out that the Russian trump card is disinformation that was practised in all of the Soviet bloc, Romania included, and the idea has not died even now. It is fascinating to read what dictionaries and even publishers make of the word. So far so good. The central story of Hitler's Pope is interesting in places and takes us beyond the half-way mark. After that, however, comes a lot of anti-American rant that is hard to tie to the core of the book. Maybe I just lost interest.
September 7, 2015
Disinformation is a book that needs to be on every English speaking library shelf, and needs to be read by every English-speaking history teacher.
Disinformation explains of post WWII history from the perspective of one who was on the inside.
Author Ion Pacepa, former Romanian spy chief, brings modern world history alive. With this as a backdrop, it's clear who orchestrated JFK's assassination, and who initiated world-wide anti-American sentiment and whipped it into a fury.
The answer was probably not on many Americans' radars. These are the true stories behind our history that now make it all make sense,
This is a book that every politically aware, thinking American needs to read.
Disinformation explains of post WWII history from the perspective of one who was on the inside.
Author Ion Pacepa, former Romanian spy chief, brings modern world history alive. With this as a backdrop, it's clear who orchestrated JFK's assassination, and who initiated world-wide anti-American sentiment and whipped it into a fury.
The answer was probably not on many Americans' radars. These are the true stories behind our history that now make it all make sense,
This is a book that every politically aware, thinking American needs to read.
February 12, 2022
Desinformação é um livro escrito por um desertor da Romênia comunista que fugiu para os EUA e que expõe os métodos soviéticos de manipulação informativa através de diferentes táticas e crimes.
O autor nos traz conceitos como glasnot, desinformação, enquadramento e outros. A primeira parte se dedica mais à perseguição dos comunistas aos judeus, cristãos e o assassinato de reputação do Papa Pio XII, rotulado de " O papa de Hitler ".
A segunda parte do livro é mais atual, falando de Obama e Putin. Em todo o livro o assunto trata da KGB, do Comunismo e seus líderes, da influência que a desinformação Soviética teve e tem até hoje, dos seus crimes e do seu papel no médio oriente.
A primeira parte do livro achei bem chata e a última já gostei mais. O livro é ótimo em termos de história, política e para abrir os olhos em relação à esquerda e seu ódio pelos EUA, capitalismo e mundo ocidental em geral. Em relação a estratagemas e ao mundo da espionagem esperava mais para quem teve um cargo tão importante, mas dá sim pra aprender algumas poucas coisas.
O autor nos traz conceitos como glasnot, desinformação, enquadramento e outros. A primeira parte se dedica mais à perseguição dos comunistas aos judeus, cristãos e o assassinato de reputação do Papa Pio XII, rotulado de " O papa de Hitler ".
A segunda parte do livro é mais atual, falando de Obama e Putin. Em todo o livro o assunto trata da KGB, do Comunismo e seus líderes, da influência que a desinformação Soviética teve e tem até hoje, dos seus crimes e do seu papel no médio oriente.
A primeira parte do livro achei bem chata e a última já gostei mais. O livro é ótimo em termos de história, política e para abrir os olhos em relação à esquerda e seu ódio pelos EUA, capitalismo e mundo ocidental em geral. Em relação a estratagemas e ao mundo da espionagem esperava mais para quem teve um cargo tão importante, mas dá sim pra aprender algumas poucas coisas.
January 5, 2016
My experience with this was a bit up and down: there was a lot of good information and interesting story tidbits about the author Pacepa's experience and what he knew about the Soviet bloc's activities, but the writing isn't real engaging. Many sections get very detailed in a "this is what he said and this is what she said" way that is hard to get through. And towards the end, Pacepa has complaints about events in recent US history that aren't supported as well as they need to be in order to be real believable. His accusations that Barack Obama is very socialist, for example, based on the number of locations (mainly schools) in the US that have been named for him since he was elected president. Partly the problem is that we've seen this kind of accusation from a number of untrustworthy sources, so when it's made the argument has to be really good to differentiate it from what we've seen before. Then again, the author has seen a number of actual hard-line socialist dictators, so he would recognize similarities much better than most who live in the West. Again, though, I'm not going to be convinced by the number of times Obama says "I" or "me" in his speeches, particularly when I don't have comparable counts from other presidents or western leaders.
A lot of the material is good, though. Pacepa's relating of events from his experience make for good information and the best reading, like the time he had to break the news to his boss Ceaucescu that they couldn't build a nuclear program because they just didn't have the engineering talent in Romania, or when he decided to defect and did. Even his reports of meeting with prominent USSR KGB leaders are absorbing.
Pacepa's main message is that even more than gathering information about what is going on in the world, Communist countries' intelligence efforts were (and are) directed at disseminating false information to promote lies those countries wanted others to believe. One of the largest examples in the book, the framing of Pope Pius XII as "Hitler's Pope", is reviewed in too much detail for me. The author is good at showing how, once the original generation that remembers the truth gives way to a new one, those lies often take root and eventually form a large part of public opinion. One example: that the assassination of JFK was a conspiracy by US sources. I had guessed Oswald had done it based on Soviet-provided training and direction simply based on his having moved there after becoming disaffected with the US, but then moving back here again. However, Pacepa provides a lot more information, including how the USSR got cold feet but was then unable to stop Oswald, and how Oswald may well have provided the USSR with the information it needed to bring down a U2 plane during the Eisenhower administration. I had no idea those might be linked.
In any case, most tyrants spend a lot of time polishing their image to the masses, but Pacepa shows how Communist tyrants and the USSR in particular raised it to an art form.
A lot of the material is good, though. Pacepa's relating of events from his experience make for good information and the best reading, like the time he had to break the news to his boss Ceaucescu that they couldn't build a nuclear program because they just didn't have the engineering talent in Romania, or when he decided to defect and did. Even his reports of meeting with prominent USSR KGB leaders are absorbing.
Pacepa's main message is that even more than gathering information about what is going on in the world, Communist countries' intelligence efforts were (and are) directed at disseminating false information to promote lies those countries wanted others to believe. One of the largest examples in the book, the framing of Pope Pius XII as "Hitler's Pope", is reviewed in too much detail for me. The author is good at showing how, once the original generation that remembers the truth gives way to a new one, those lies often take root and eventually form a large part of public opinion. One example: that the assassination of JFK was a conspiracy by US sources. I had guessed Oswald had done it based on Soviet-provided training and direction simply based on his having moved there after becoming disaffected with the US, but then moving back here again. However, Pacepa provides a lot more information, including how the USSR got cold feet but was then unable to stop Oswald, and how Oswald may well have provided the USSR with the information it needed to bring down a U2 plane during the Eisenhower administration. I had no idea those might be linked.
In any case, most tyrants spend a lot of time polishing their image to the masses, but Pacepa shows how Communist tyrants and the USSR in particular raised it to an art form.
October 17, 2013
When I first learned of this book in an article in Britain's Telegraph, I was excited. Why? Because I've always had the unsettling feeling that something simply isn't right about the so-called collapse of the Soviet Union. I've always looked at America's war with Islamic terrorism as something of a proxy war years of work by both the Soviets and the Chinese developed. After all, what better way than reigniting the Western world's oldest argument with an adversary as a way to exhaust American military and economic might than these piddly wars?
However, I was disappointed with Pacepa's obsession with some sort of Soviet plot to incinerate the reputation of Pope Pius, the so-called "Hitler's Pope". Here, Pacepa goes into arcane detail about playwrights and propaganda, that if true, is indeed something to think about, but not enough to ruin the West.
Pacepa himself is an expatriate refugee and former head of the Romanian secret service. His claim that the former Soviet Union is the first intelligence-communtiy-led totalitarian state in history is close to the mark, but I believe there is much more to this picture than Pacepa himself reveals.
It is indeed true that the Soviets send thousands of operatives into the Islamic world to build schools and teach children about the so-called evils of capitalism, and it's not too surprising to suss-out the Marxist inclinations in the beliefs of Osama bin Laden and the entire Islamic fundamentalist movement. Pacepa does make a good case for this, but the book is a little too breathless, a little too sensationalistic and a little too tone-deaf to the rigors of the fact-based community in America to be the tour de force it could have been.
However, I was disappointed with Pacepa's obsession with some sort of Soviet plot to incinerate the reputation of Pope Pius, the so-called "Hitler's Pope". Here, Pacepa goes into arcane detail about playwrights and propaganda, that if true, is indeed something to think about, but not enough to ruin the West.
Pacepa himself is an expatriate refugee and former head of the Romanian secret service. His claim that the former Soviet Union is the first intelligence-communtiy-led totalitarian state in history is close to the mark, but I believe there is much more to this picture than Pacepa himself reveals.
It is indeed true that the Soviets send thousands of operatives into the Islamic world to build schools and teach children about the so-called evils of capitalism, and it's not too surprising to suss-out the Marxist inclinations in the beliefs of Osama bin Laden and the entire Islamic fundamentalist movement. Pacepa does make a good case for this, but the book is a little too breathless, a little too sensationalistic and a little too tone-deaf to the rigors of the fact-based community in America to be the tour de force it could have been.
October 8, 2017
This book is, in my opinion, one of the most essential works you have to read. The greatest reason is that, it makes question whether you should or trust anything at all. And even if you do trust, for example, a seemingly reliable source, you have to keep in mind that it my just be the exterior of it. That is basically what is learned in this book, and for examples of this concept of disinformation, is the full use of it by KGB, the russian communist regime during the Cold War.
The author reveals some of the strategies and techniques by KGB and the Socialist Republic of Romania, the comunist version of Romania before 1989. He reveals the results and all the damage inflicted into the world by the almost artistic use of disinformation.
He mostly talks about what KGB did during his stay in Romania before he left the country in secret in 1978. It's mostly what he heard of, or what he did before his departure, and all the subjects about disinformation that he talks about in this book, might not be really nice to hear, in general, about such stuff. But this is the reality of the world, and doing some research about some subjects, it is all entirely true.
The only "bad " thing about this book, which is also too much that is bad, are some of subjects at the end of the book, which I don't think he had access to that information, but it is my opinion entirely.
Overall, this book is one of the most important works regarding the history of the world, and you can learn something from it. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about world history and can appreciate not-so-nice subjects in general.
The author reveals some of the strategies and techniques by KGB and the Socialist Republic of Romania, the comunist version of Romania before 1989. He reveals the results and all the damage inflicted into the world by the almost artistic use of disinformation.
He mostly talks about what KGB did during his stay in Romania before he left the country in secret in 1978. It's mostly what he heard of, or what he did before his departure, and all the subjects about disinformation that he talks about in this book, might not be really nice to hear, in general, about such stuff. But this is the reality of the world, and doing some research about some subjects, it is all entirely true.
The only "bad " thing about this book, which is also too much that is bad, are some of subjects at the end of the book, which I don't think he had access to that information, but it is my opinion entirely.
Overall, this book is one of the most important works regarding the history of the world, and you can learn something from it. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about world history and can appreciate not-so-nice subjects in general.
September 27, 2018
Not much actionable information here if you are already skeptical of authority.
The author is a bit biased. Towards the end of the book he accuses democrats as being socialist and dwells on this point for a while without trying to test counter-theories. While I disliked many things Obama did (and while some of the things he did were socialist leaning), its hard for me to take a government who bailed out both banks and auto manufacturers and call them socialist. It's especially hard to take this as a truth from someone who considers have lots of things named after a president an indication that the president is socialist. I can see that socialist leaders would have lots of things named after them but that also holds true for other unquestioned leaders or in this case potentially leaders who's association has positive virtue signalling in certain communities.
The author is a bit biased. Towards the end of the book he accuses democrats as being socialist and dwells on this point for a while without trying to test counter-theories. While I disliked many things Obama did (and while some of the things he did were socialist leaning), its hard for me to take a government who bailed out both banks and auto manufacturers and call them socialist. It's especially hard to take this as a truth from someone who considers have lots of things named after a president an indication that the president is socialist. I can see that socialist leaders would have lots of things named after them but that also holds true for other unquestioned leaders or in this case potentially leaders who's association has positive virtue signalling in certain communities.
July 1, 2018
I believe him and thought it made a lot of sense, until he started claiming the outrageous inaccuracy that Obama had a secret socialist agenda... Nothing Obama did or tried to do was secret or socialist. He tried to improve a healthcare system that was terribly broken (no one should go bankrupt because they are sick) and he saved the country from the next great depression (caused by Bush's stupid tax cuts). Of course his hard work will shortly be undone by Trump's even more idiotic tax cuts. So I had to stop reading the last two chapters... he was just wrong. What he wrote about historic events in the Cold War - if true - is terrifying and explains Putin's actions today.
August 21, 2018
So incredibly important for those who want to cut through the political Russia talking points and realize just how pervasive Russian influence really is. He spends a disproportionate amount of time on Pope Pius XII because of the author's personal experience, but it's his inside baseball on JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, the World Peace Movement, Vietnam, disinformation tactics, the middle east etc. that really caught my attention. if you currently live in geopolitical naivety/ignorance, You will see things differently after reading this book.
April 9, 2014
This book contains a long, long section of notes and a bibliography, so I was surprised that I finished it at only 65%!
This book is very interesting. There are many good, informative, substantiated sections, particularly the cowritten parts involving Pope Pious XII.
However, I feel it is trying to be many things, and would have been better off split into two, or even three, separate books. There didn't seem to be a lot of order between the seconds. It's part history, part memoir, part political manifesto, part score-settling, part response to criticism, part nonfiction.
Where I feel this book really falls down is when the author attempts to discuss events in the Middle East and terrorism. His understanding, or displayed understanding, is shallow, and this was the least substantiated section. There are several reasons to account for this:
The first is that old adage, that when all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail. The author spent his life working in disinformation campaigns for Romania's intelligence service and was well acquainted with the KGB. That the KGB funded, trained, and participated in Middle Eastern politics is no surprise to anyone-- yet so has every other three letter intelligence agency under the sun, regardless of what country it belonged to. Moreover, it was not the source of many of the issues addressed in the book, nor a sufficient explanation for the events it discussed.
The second is that, this is a book about disinformation, by a defector to the United States who was familiar with it. One cannot read such a book without being careful not to take what is presented at face value. Furthermore, one must ask, what does the author gain by publishing this book? It becomes clear when he moves into his section on current day politics-- Pacepa believes Russia is ascendent, still up to its old tricks, and that the democratic party is unconsciously being used by it. It becomes clear who the intended audience of this book is-- American conservatives. And what is written in a good part of it is written with them in mind.
I believe Pacepa chose to link KGB/FSB involvement to terrorist attacks, because he does wants a strong America that will check the rising power of Russia, a power that is a threat to himself, as he is a high-level defector living under a new identity in the US, and Russia has demonstrated itself quite capable of carrying out assassinations of defectors or dissidents. He points out that he believes people view Russian aggression as part of the Cold War, something that has passed, something that is a part of history, no longer important. Yet, he tries to give examples of why that is not true, and I think anyone who is watching what is happen in Ukraine right now can believe that. Some of what he wrote about Russia and Putin is very prescient at these current times.
Regardless, I believe the spurious connections he discusses in the terrorism sections of the book, are put there to serve an agenda with his intended audience-- those who are not isolationists, and who are hawks when it comes to foreign policy. Those hawks have been focused on the threat of terrorism, so if he can effectively link terrorism with Russia, then perhaps they will put more energy and pressure on their own government to do something about Russia. In my opinion, however, he weakens his case with this whole section. In the political section, discussing current day politics, he says, "it is not my place to play arm chair general, but--" That "but" is basically the entire section. I'm not sure how well it will serve his aims, all things considered.
Pacepa cites Reagan's maxim of "trust, but verify" in this book-- and that is exactly what you should do with the book itself. A good part of it can be verified. Some of it can not. Some of the facts can be verified, but how they are linked up is suspect, in my opinion.
There are many valuable things in here, but take it with a major, major grain of salt.
This book is very interesting. There are many good, informative, substantiated sections, particularly the cowritten parts involving Pope Pious XII.
However, I feel it is trying to be many things, and would have been better off split into two, or even three, separate books. There didn't seem to be a lot of order between the seconds. It's part history, part memoir, part political manifesto, part score-settling, part response to criticism, part nonfiction.
Where I feel this book really falls down is when the author attempts to discuss events in the Middle East and terrorism. His understanding, or displayed understanding, is shallow, and this was the least substantiated section. There are several reasons to account for this:
The first is that old adage, that when all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail. The author spent his life working in disinformation campaigns for Romania's intelligence service and was well acquainted with the KGB. That the KGB funded, trained, and participated in Middle Eastern politics is no surprise to anyone-- yet so has every other three letter intelligence agency under the sun, regardless of what country it belonged to. Moreover, it was not the source of many of the issues addressed in the book, nor a sufficient explanation for the events it discussed.
The second is that, this is a book about disinformation, by a defector to the United States who was familiar with it. One cannot read such a book without being careful not to take what is presented at face value. Furthermore, one must ask, what does the author gain by publishing this book? It becomes clear when he moves into his section on current day politics-- Pacepa believes Russia is ascendent, still up to its old tricks, and that the democratic party is unconsciously being used by it. It becomes clear who the intended audience of this book is-- American conservatives. And what is written in a good part of it is written with them in mind.
I believe Pacepa chose to link KGB/FSB involvement to terrorist attacks, because he does wants a strong America that will check the rising power of Russia, a power that is a threat to himself, as he is a high-level defector living under a new identity in the US, and Russia has demonstrated itself quite capable of carrying out assassinations of defectors or dissidents. He points out that he believes people view Russian aggression as part of the Cold War, something that has passed, something that is a part of history, no longer important. Yet, he tries to give examples of why that is not true, and I think anyone who is watching what is happen in Ukraine right now can believe that. Some of what he wrote about Russia and Putin is very prescient at these current times.
Regardless, I believe the spurious connections he discusses in the terrorism sections of the book, are put there to serve an agenda with his intended audience-- those who are not isolationists, and who are hawks when it comes to foreign policy. Those hawks have been focused on the threat of terrorism, so if he can effectively link terrorism with Russia, then perhaps they will put more energy and pressure on their own government to do something about Russia. In my opinion, however, he weakens his case with this whole section. In the political section, discussing current day politics, he says, "it is not my place to play arm chair general, but--" That "but" is basically the entire section. I'm not sure how well it will serve his aims, all things considered.
Pacepa cites Reagan's maxim of "trust, but verify" in this book-- and that is exactly what you should do with the book itself. A good part of it can be verified. Some of it can not. Some of the facts can be verified, but how they are linked up is suspect, in my opinion.
There are many valuable things in here, but take it with a major, major grain of salt.
July 17, 2017
Desinformação foi escrito pelo Tenente-General Ion Mihai Pacepa em conjunto com o historiador Ronald J. Rychlak. O livro mostra como os comunistas, especialmente da União Soviética, manipularam diversas informações históricas, seja para se vangloriar como para denegrir a imagem de seus inimigos, tudo isso com base nos relatos do General Pacepa, que trabalhou para a polícia política romena entre as décadas de 1950 e 1970 e chegou a ocupar o mais alto cargo do Serviço de Inteligência da Romênia, sendo um conselheiro próximo do ditador Nicolae Ceaușescu. Pacepa desertou para os Estados Unidos em 1978.
O livro trata muito da manipulação de informações e, embora apresente diversos exemplos, dedica grande parte de seu conteúdo ao "ataque" feito pelo regime comunista ao Papa Pio XII, enquadrando-o (isto é, alterando sua imagem) como o "Papa de Hitler", embora ele tenha sido, de acordo com o que defendem os autores, um forte defensor dos judeus e também um ferrenho anti-comunista. O livro também passa por outros membros da Igreja Católica que foram "enquadrados", as diversas operações de "desinformação" do Kremlin (governantes da URSS/Rússia) contra os Estados Unidos e brevemente sobre a Rússia de hoje com Putin e como os Estados Unidos supostamente estariam se deixando levar pela desinformação comunista.
Achei o livro interessante para abrir os olhos, perceber como temos que ter cuidado com as "informações" que saem na mídia, com os julgamentos feitos pelos meios de comunicação que muitas vezes acatamos sem questionar, sem pesquisar pontos de vista divergentes. É realmente muito fácil manipular. No entanto esse cuidado eu também tenho com o próprio livro "Desinformação". Muitas das críticas feitas pelo Pacepa à imprensa, aos "agentes" de desinformação, como o uso de fontes questionáveis, foram expedientes usados no próprio livro. Além disso, Pacepa o tempo todo retrata a Rússia/URSS como o mal do mundo e os Estados Unidos como o grande salvador, de forma bem parcial.
A leitura é razoavelmente repetitiva e alguns pontos foram confusos - este último item pode ter relação com a tradução também. É um livro para ler aos poucos, tentando refletir, buscando informações complementares.
No fim das contas, acredito que valeu a pena ler "Desinformação". Como dito, o livro serve no mínimo para nos deixar mais alerta e rever a forma como consumimos o que é repassado pela mídia.
O livro trata muito da manipulação de informações e, embora apresente diversos exemplos, dedica grande parte de seu conteúdo ao "ataque" feito pelo regime comunista ao Papa Pio XII, enquadrando-o (isto é, alterando sua imagem) como o "Papa de Hitler", embora ele tenha sido, de acordo com o que defendem os autores, um forte defensor dos judeus e também um ferrenho anti-comunista. O livro também passa por outros membros da Igreja Católica que foram "enquadrados", as diversas operações de "desinformação" do Kremlin (governantes da URSS/Rússia) contra os Estados Unidos e brevemente sobre a Rússia de hoje com Putin e como os Estados Unidos supostamente estariam se deixando levar pela desinformação comunista.
Achei o livro interessante para abrir os olhos, perceber como temos que ter cuidado com as "informações" que saem na mídia, com os julgamentos feitos pelos meios de comunicação que muitas vezes acatamos sem questionar, sem pesquisar pontos de vista divergentes. É realmente muito fácil manipular. No entanto esse cuidado eu também tenho com o próprio livro "Desinformação". Muitas das críticas feitas pelo Pacepa à imprensa, aos "agentes" de desinformação, como o uso de fontes questionáveis, foram expedientes usados no próprio livro. Além disso, Pacepa o tempo todo retrata a Rússia/URSS como o mal do mundo e os Estados Unidos como o grande salvador, de forma bem parcial.
A leitura é razoavelmente repetitiva e alguns pontos foram confusos - este último item pode ter relação com a tradução também. É um livro para ler aos poucos, tentando refletir, buscando informações complementares.
No fim das contas, acredito que valeu a pena ler "Desinformação". Como dito, o livro serve no mínimo para nos deixar mais alerta e rever a forma como consumimos o que é repassado pela mídia.
July 9, 2018
This book is highly relevant today in so many ways. We are inundated today by disinformation from our enemies as well as from our own government and politicians. Read this book and learn about Lee Harvey Oswald, Yasser Arafat, and the succession of Soviet & Russian premiers. Remember when Mitt Romney said Russia was the US's #1 strategic adversary, only to be mocked by Barack Obama? Guess what? Mitt was right. Learn why.
[Update July 2018: I wrote this review in mid-2014, and Mitt made his comment in 2012. Russia may or may not be the #1 strategic adversary today. Also, now we have the term "fake news". We are being manipulated with disinformation by so many. The book remains highly relevant.]
The prose itself is good, but nothing extraordinary. It's the content, the POV, that makes this such a vital book.
Two quibbles. First, Pacepa covers all of the Soviet/Russian leaders from Lenin on in some detail with the exception of Chernenko who he mentions just once. Chernenko was the head of the Soviet Union only for a short time, but so was Andropov and Andropov gets covered thoroughly. It may simply mean that Pacepa has nothing to say about Chernenko, but I thought the omission was curious. I wish he had devoted at least a page or two to Chernenko.
The other quibble is the use of end notes instead of footnotes. Pacepa documents his work well. It is MUCH easier for the reader to glance at the references at the bottom of the page instead of at the end of the book. Yes, I know, hardly anyone does footnotes anymore. End notes are the norm. I'm hoping one day publishers will see the light and put the references and supplemental information at the bottom of the relevant page where they belong. Just as I hope the American League will abandon the Designated Hitter. End notes and the DH are each in their own way travesties of the modern era. But don't let that dissuade you from picking up this essential book.
[Update July 2018: I wrote this review in mid-2014, and Mitt made his comment in 2012. Russia may or may not be the #1 strategic adversary today. Also, now we have the term "fake news". We are being manipulated with disinformation by so many. The book remains highly relevant.]
The prose itself is good, but nothing extraordinary. It's the content, the POV, that makes this such a vital book.
Two quibbles. First, Pacepa covers all of the Soviet/Russian leaders from Lenin on in some detail with the exception of Chernenko who he mentions just once. Chernenko was the head of the Soviet Union only for a short time, but so was Andropov and Andropov gets covered thoroughly. It may simply mean that Pacepa has nothing to say about Chernenko, but I thought the omission was curious. I wish he had devoted at least a page or two to Chernenko.
The other quibble is the use of end notes instead of footnotes. Pacepa documents his work well. It is MUCH easier for the reader to glance at the references at the bottom of the page instead of at the end of the book. Yes, I know, hardly anyone does footnotes anymore. End notes are the norm. I'm hoping one day publishers will see the light and put the references and supplemental information at the bottom of the relevant page where they belong. Just as I hope the American League will abandon the Designated Hitter. End notes and the DH are each in their own way travesties of the modern era. But don't let that dissuade you from picking up this essential book.
February 7, 2015
Lieutenant General Ion Mihai Pacepa was a 3 star general in Communist Romania’s secret police the Securitate. Lt Gen Pacepa was chief of foreign intelligence and the state secretary for Romania’s Ministry of Interior. His defection and subsequent work with Central Intelligence Agency in the USA led to the annihilation of secrets held by Ceaucescu’s intelligence network in communist Romania.
His latest book, Disinformation, analyzes and reveals a diverse landscape of campaigns in propaganda. In the chapter Global War On Religion, he goes into fine detail about Christianity and Judaism being targets of defamation through disinformation campaigns. In one example, he describes how Stalin’s paranoia of a mass exodus by Russian Jews discovered by a two month mail interception by State Security results in dissolution of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee along with the closures of Jewish schools, theaters, and synagogues.
In another chapter, Operation “Dragon”, Lt Gen Pacepa unveils enormous amounts of detail regarding Oswald’s relationship with KGB and their zheleznaya yavka (“iron meeting”) between him and Kostikov in Mexico City. Valery Kostikov was an officer of the Soviet foreign intelligenc PGU’s Thirteenth Department for “wet affairs” (wet being a euphemism for bloody).
Even further revealed are inner working details around Andropov’s disinformation machinerey to persuade the Islamic world of Israel and the United States’ intention to transform the world to a Zionist fiefdom. In this chapter From Disinformation To Terrorism, a list of “anti-Zionist” operations are listed spanning 1968-1978 which are attacks while Pacepa was still in Romania.
The book is gripping and full of intriguing questions of the modern era. It authoritatively provides a missing dimension to understanding how the media remains vulnerable to historical revisionism and lying campaigns while shining a light on the political evils of propaganda.
His latest book, Disinformation, analyzes and reveals a diverse landscape of campaigns in propaganda. In the chapter Global War On Religion, he goes into fine detail about Christianity and Judaism being targets of defamation through disinformation campaigns. In one example, he describes how Stalin’s paranoia of a mass exodus by Russian Jews discovered by a two month mail interception by State Security results in dissolution of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee along with the closures of Jewish schools, theaters, and synagogues.
In another chapter, Operation “Dragon”, Lt Gen Pacepa unveils enormous amounts of detail regarding Oswald’s relationship with KGB and their zheleznaya yavka (“iron meeting”) between him and Kostikov in Mexico City. Valery Kostikov was an officer of the Soviet foreign intelligenc PGU’s Thirteenth Department for “wet affairs” (wet being a euphemism for bloody).
Even further revealed are inner working details around Andropov’s disinformation machinerey to persuade the Islamic world of Israel and the United States’ intention to transform the world to a Zionist fiefdom. In this chapter From Disinformation To Terrorism, a list of “anti-Zionist” operations are listed spanning 1968-1978 which are attacks while Pacepa was still in Romania.
The book is gripping and full of intriguing questions of the modern era. It authoritatively provides a missing dimension to understanding how the media remains vulnerable to historical revisionism and lying campaigns while shining a light on the political evils of propaganda.
November 11, 2016
I was scared that this book would take me ages to read, given my total lack of education on and knowledge of the field of intelligence. I was pleasantly astonished - I finished the book in about a week. Pacepa's writing is remarkably approachable considering the subject matter. He regularly repeats himself in a way that benefits the reader, who may be overwhelmed by the flood of Romanian and Russian names and dates. He also builds on each previous revelation, so that you find yourself remembering and drawing connections by the end of the book.
I confess that the second half of the book - focusing on JFK's assassination and continued KGB influence in America - was occasionally too much for me. I'm not great at geopolitics, so I floundered in several chapters. However, the first half - focusing on how the KGB constructed the myth of Pope Pius XII being 'Hitler's Pope', despite abundant evidence of Pius' protection of Jews - was tremendous. I was more familiar with the history and theology for that episode, and flew through the pages, riveted by Pacepa's information.
There is also a brief yet fascinating (and unsurprising, frankly) subplot on the Marxist roots of liberation theology.
I did not expect this book to increase my patriotism and pride for my country. Pacepa frequently shows his love for America, and it is quite difficult not to be affected by that. Reading about the bloody history (past and present) of so many countries should make the reader realize what a gift we have in America, as a bastion and defender of liberty.
I confess that the second half of the book - focusing on JFK's assassination and continued KGB influence in America - was occasionally too much for me. I'm not great at geopolitics, so I floundered in several chapters. However, the first half - focusing on how the KGB constructed the myth of Pope Pius XII being 'Hitler's Pope', despite abundant evidence of Pius' protection of Jews - was tremendous. I was more familiar with the history and theology for that episode, and flew through the pages, riveted by Pacepa's information.
There is also a brief yet fascinating (and unsurprising, frankly) subplot on the Marxist roots of liberation theology.
I did not expect this book to increase my patriotism and pride for my country. Pacepa frequently shows his love for America, and it is quite difficult not to be affected by that. Reading about the bloody history (past and present) of so many countries should make the reader realize what a gift we have in America, as a bastion and defender of liberty.
March 5, 2014
Dezynformatzia is everywhere you look. Even in our own government's treatment of dissident factions, or in the media's demonization of the religious right. Look at the way Ruby Ridge was portrayed to the public. Do you know the real story behind what happened? I suspect you only know the dezynformatzia that was hand fed to the media by the FBI. We learned the craft well after men like General Pacepa helped our government understand it. I had just finished a book on making the case against LBJ as Kennedy's assassination ring leader. General Pacepa laid that idea to rest solidly, and at the same moment showing me how effective dezynformatzia really is.
Immediately after finishing the book, a friend posted an article on Facebook claiming that Pope Francis I, had recently said that Adam and Eve were a fable and that there was no literal hell. It was a story posted in English on a web site in Nigeria. What a beautiful example of how dezynformatzia works. It had been reposted over a hundred times on Facebook and Twitter by proponents of same-sex marriage who failed to do any checking of the source. I expect fully to see it several times in my life in a modern chain letter form (currently a Facebook post, but in the future who knows what we will see), to which I will gleefully reply Dezynformatzia!
I highly recommend this read for anyone who wants to gain insight into how we are being fooled on a regular basis by fools who regurgitate dezynformatzia as gospel.
Immediately after finishing the book, a friend posted an article on Facebook claiming that Pope Francis I, had recently said that Adam and Eve were a fable and that there was no literal hell. It was a story posted in English on a web site in Nigeria. What a beautiful example of how dezynformatzia works. It had been reposted over a hundred times on Facebook and Twitter by proponents of same-sex marriage who failed to do any checking of the source. I expect fully to see it several times in my life in a modern chain letter form (currently a Facebook post, but in the future who knows what we will see), to which I will gleefully reply Dezynformatzia!
I highly recommend this read for anyone who wants to gain insight into how we are being fooled on a regular basis by fools who regurgitate dezynformatzia as gospel.
February 19, 2022
Ion Pacepa had been part of Romania’s Cold War era Foreign Intelligence Directorate (DIE) and was even in charge of it when he defected in 1978. His story is quite interesting. As a youth he admired the U.S. and intended to emigrate there after he completed his college education in Romania. However, by that time, the Communist Party had secured a stranglehold on the nation, and he was conscripted into the intelligence community. During his time in the DIE, he participated in a number of Romanian and Soviet disinformation efforts and even became an advisor to President Nicolae Ceauşescu. Although he was less than thrilled with Communism and the work with which he was tasked, he remained in Romania because he had family there and he associated defection with treason. It wasn’t until he was ordered by Ceauşescu to arrange for the assassination of Noël Bernard, the director of Radio Free Europe's Romanian program, that he had to chose between being a traitor or a murderer. He chose to defect.
The disinformation efforts discussed in this book include some in which he participated. Furthermore, he also discusses the aftermath of some disinformation campaigns. As has been said, “A lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth.” In other words, people fooled by a disinformation campaign can become unwitting disseminators of a lie they wholeheartedly believe to be true.
For example, there was a prolonged disinformation campaign or series of campaigns against the Catholic Church that started around the end of World War II because church leaders maintained a persistent anti-communist stance that was as strong as their earlier anti-Nazi stance. On account of their resistance to varios communist demands, eastern European church leaders such as Cardinal Stepinac (Croatia), Cardinal Mindszenty (Hungary), Cardinal Wiszynski (Poland) and Archbishop Slipyi (Ukraine) were charged with collaborating with the Nazis and imprisoned. The big prize, Pope Pius XII, was out of reach, but there was a diabolical plan for him, as well, although the objectives of the plan morphed over the years.
While the Pope opposed Nazi policies, including the holocaust, his hands had been somewhat tied on account of the Vatican’s location behind enemy lines for much of World War II. Furthermore, he advised his clerics in Nazi controlled territory to be cautious in their anti-Nazi activities. Propaganda must be built around a kernel of truth, and the Soviets used that caution as the kernel of truth for a charge that Pius was Hitler’s pope, intending to undermine his anti-communist church policies. Immediately after World War II, the charge didn’t stick; Pius’ anti-Nazism was just too well known. However, a generation later, the charge was more credible to people who lacked that familiarity and who, in the position of armchair quarterbacks, failed to appreciate the risks he had been taking. Mr. Pacepa highlights a play and a book:
• The Deputy, by Rolf Hochhuth, 1963, was a play that portrayed Pius as having done nothing in the face of the holocaust. Mr. Pacepa is unsure whether Hochhuth was engaging in deliberate misinformation or just a stooge taken in by Soviet disinformation. However, The Deputy, coupled with Hochhuth’s earlier play The Soldiers, which attempted to discredit Winston Churchill, an ardent anti-communist after World War II, displayed a pattern of slandering opponents of Soviet Communism. By the time of The Deputy, the goals of the disinformation effort had changed. If they could succeed in convincing people that he was a Nazi, perhaps the Catholic Church would recoil from Nazism, perceived as right-wing, and select a pro-communist the next time there was an opening in the papacy. Ultimately, this effort failed when John Paul II, one of the great anti-communists of the 80’s, became pope.
• Hitler’s Pope, by John Cornwell, 1999, was a book that described Pius as pro-Nazi. As noted, this book was published almost a decade after the fall of Soviet communism. At one level, this illustrates the staying power of a lie that has become “truth” because enough people believe it. At another level, Mr. Pacepa considers it to be part of a different disinformation campaign, an effort by Progressives to promote the future selection of a Progressive-leaning pope by a Catholic Church recoiling from “right-wing” Nazism. They failed with the selection of Benedict XVI but may ultimately have succeeded with his resignation and replacement by Francis.
While this book emphasizes Soviet disinformation, Mr. Pacepa associates it with a longer tradition of Russian disinformation that goes back at least to the Potemkin villages of the time of Catharine the Great and has continued beyond the fall of the Soviet Union. In fact, he gives examples of disinformation efforts by both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin. His primary experience had been with Soviet disinformation, but Soviet communism had been the medium through which Russian nationalism was channeled from 1917 to 1991. It had been channeled through the tsar prior to Lenin and is now channeled through a different system of government. While governments may change, the use of disinformation has not changed.
Having been liberated from the shackles of communism by his defection, Mr. Pacepa became strongly strong anti-communist and anti-Russian, as well as pro-American. Because of his background in the Romanian DIE, the focus on Russian disinformation tactics is understandable although it can sometimes lead to the false impression that he considered disinformation to be Russia’s exclusive purview. Personally, I think he was trying to warn us not be lulled into complacency, a valid concern.
Regarding disinformation, it is a form of propaganda. As a Christian I desire to better understand it, in part because of an incident described in 1 Kings 13. As part of consolidating his reign over the northern tribes of Israel, Jeroboam set up idols and altars in Dan and Bethel. God sent a prophet from Judah to prophesy against the altar. When he did so, Jeroboam commanded his men to seize him, only to have his arm wither. Chastened, Jeroboam asked the prophet to pray for the restoration of his arm, which he did. After Jeroboam’s arm was restored, he offered to host the prophet. The prophet refused his hospitality, informing him that God had told him not to eat or drink on this trip and to return to Judah by a different route from the one he traveled to Bethel. He then set out for home. Hearing about this, a different prophet approached the prophet of Judah and offered to host him, falsely claiming that God had instructed him to hose the prophet of Judah. As they were eating at the house of the second prophet, the word of the LORD came upon the second prophet, condemning the prophet of Judah for his disobedience and informing him that he would not return home. On his return trip, he was killed by a lion. The prophet of Judah had disobeyed God because he believed a lie and was held accountable for his disobedience. So, if we fall for disinformation and take sinful action in response to it, we are no less accountable to God. This book is a warning to be alert for lies that masquerade as gospel truth. Take that warning to heart.
The disinformation efforts discussed in this book include some in which he participated. Furthermore, he also discusses the aftermath of some disinformation campaigns. As has been said, “A lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth.” In other words, people fooled by a disinformation campaign can become unwitting disseminators of a lie they wholeheartedly believe to be true.
For example, there was a prolonged disinformation campaign or series of campaigns against the Catholic Church that started around the end of World War II because church leaders maintained a persistent anti-communist stance that was as strong as their earlier anti-Nazi stance. On account of their resistance to varios communist demands, eastern European church leaders such as Cardinal Stepinac (Croatia), Cardinal Mindszenty (Hungary), Cardinal Wiszynski (Poland) and Archbishop Slipyi (Ukraine) were charged with collaborating with the Nazis and imprisoned. The big prize, Pope Pius XII, was out of reach, but there was a diabolical plan for him, as well, although the objectives of the plan morphed over the years.
While the Pope opposed Nazi policies, including the holocaust, his hands had been somewhat tied on account of the Vatican’s location behind enemy lines for much of World War II. Furthermore, he advised his clerics in Nazi controlled territory to be cautious in their anti-Nazi activities. Propaganda must be built around a kernel of truth, and the Soviets used that caution as the kernel of truth for a charge that Pius was Hitler’s pope, intending to undermine his anti-communist church policies. Immediately after World War II, the charge didn’t stick; Pius’ anti-Nazism was just too well known. However, a generation later, the charge was more credible to people who lacked that familiarity and who, in the position of armchair quarterbacks, failed to appreciate the risks he had been taking. Mr. Pacepa highlights a play and a book:
• The Deputy, by Rolf Hochhuth, 1963, was a play that portrayed Pius as having done nothing in the face of the holocaust. Mr. Pacepa is unsure whether Hochhuth was engaging in deliberate misinformation or just a stooge taken in by Soviet disinformation. However, The Deputy, coupled with Hochhuth’s earlier play The Soldiers, which attempted to discredit Winston Churchill, an ardent anti-communist after World War II, displayed a pattern of slandering opponents of Soviet Communism. By the time of The Deputy, the goals of the disinformation effort had changed. If they could succeed in convincing people that he was a Nazi, perhaps the Catholic Church would recoil from Nazism, perceived as right-wing, and select a pro-communist the next time there was an opening in the papacy. Ultimately, this effort failed when John Paul II, one of the great anti-communists of the 80’s, became pope.
• Hitler’s Pope, by John Cornwell, 1999, was a book that described Pius as pro-Nazi. As noted, this book was published almost a decade after the fall of Soviet communism. At one level, this illustrates the staying power of a lie that has become “truth” because enough people believe it. At another level, Mr. Pacepa considers it to be part of a different disinformation campaign, an effort by Progressives to promote the future selection of a Progressive-leaning pope by a Catholic Church recoiling from “right-wing” Nazism. They failed with the selection of Benedict XVI but may ultimately have succeeded with his resignation and replacement by Francis.
While this book emphasizes Soviet disinformation, Mr. Pacepa associates it with a longer tradition of Russian disinformation that goes back at least to the Potemkin villages of the time of Catharine the Great and has continued beyond the fall of the Soviet Union. In fact, he gives examples of disinformation efforts by both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin. His primary experience had been with Soviet disinformation, but Soviet communism had been the medium through which Russian nationalism was channeled from 1917 to 1991. It had been channeled through the tsar prior to Lenin and is now channeled through a different system of government. While governments may change, the use of disinformation has not changed.
Having been liberated from the shackles of communism by his defection, Mr. Pacepa became strongly strong anti-communist and anti-Russian, as well as pro-American. Because of his background in the Romanian DIE, the focus on Russian disinformation tactics is understandable although it can sometimes lead to the false impression that he considered disinformation to be Russia’s exclusive purview. Personally, I think he was trying to warn us not be lulled into complacency, a valid concern.
Regarding disinformation, it is a form of propaganda. As a Christian I desire to better understand it, in part because of an incident described in 1 Kings 13. As part of consolidating his reign over the northern tribes of Israel, Jeroboam set up idols and altars in Dan and Bethel. God sent a prophet from Judah to prophesy against the altar. When he did so, Jeroboam commanded his men to seize him, only to have his arm wither. Chastened, Jeroboam asked the prophet to pray for the restoration of his arm, which he did. After Jeroboam’s arm was restored, he offered to host the prophet. The prophet refused his hospitality, informing him that God had told him not to eat or drink on this trip and to return to Judah by a different route from the one he traveled to Bethel. He then set out for home. Hearing about this, a different prophet approached the prophet of Judah and offered to host him, falsely claiming that God had instructed him to hose the prophet of Judah. As they were eating at the house of the second prophet, the word of the LORD came upon the second prophet, condemning the prophet of Judah for his disobedience and informing him that he would not return home. On his return trip, he was killed by a lion. The prophet of Judah had disobeyed God because he believed a lie and was held accountable for his disobedience. So, if we fall for disinformation and take sinful action in response to it, we are no less accountable to God. This book is a warning to be alert for lies that masquerade as gospel truth. Take that warning to heart.
May 25, 2014
Disinformation by Ion Mihai Pacepa
Well worth reading through the repeats to lock on to how we're being bamboozled by a KGB and willing accomplices in our American political life. Attack your predecessor to elevate one Russian leader after another (the Russian word is glasnost!), and forge documents to discredit Moscow's enemies (Pope Pious XII, protector and savior of many Jewish people becomes "Hitler's Pope").
Who finances the Palestine Liberation Organization? Was Yassar Arafat Palestinian? Questions that bear looking into, as Pacepa does.
Maybe there was only one shot which killed John F. Kennedy (as a recent NOVA described the evidence and reenactment), but Lee Harvey Oswald had deep ties to the KGB, as did his wife. I came away very scared- knowing the former KGB officer now in charge of Russia has staffed the government and the Russian Orthodox church, with agents. All those "insurgents" in Ukraine, I wonder . . .
As former head of DIE, the Romanian Secret Police, Pacepa knows his facts, and co-author Rychlak documents them. I wholehearted recommend this book.
Well worth reading through the repeats to lock on to how we're being bamboozled by a KGB and willing accomplices in our American political life. Attack your predecessor to elevate one Russian leader after another (the Russian word is glasnost!), and forge documents to discredit Moscow's enemies (Pope Pious XII, protector and savior of many Jewish people becomes "Hitler's Pope").
Who finances the Palestine Liberation Organization? Was Yassar Arafat Palestinian? Questions that bear looking into, as Pacepa does.
Maybe there was only one shot which killed John F. Kennedy (as a recent NOVA described the evidence and reenactment), but Lee Harvey Oswald had deep ties to the KGB, as did his wife. I came away very scared- knowing the former KGB officer now in charge of Russia has staffed the government and the Russian Orthodox church, with agents. All those "insurgents" in Ukraine, I wonder . . .
As former head of DIE, the Romanian Secret Police, Pacepa knows his facts, and co-author Rychlak documents them. I wholehearted recommend this book.
November 19, 2017
A massive tome on dis-info, or "dezynformatzia" as the author calls it to emphasize that this is not something used by the truth loving Americans, that in and of itself is dezynformatzia at its finest.
Its basically describing how information is misrepresented in order to strengthen your own authoritative position and undermine others, and in so doing, frames one "actor" as the purveyor of truth, justice and freedom in the world. "Gawd bless Murrca"...
"All this and much more is meticulously documented in Disinformation, with the credibility of an eyewitness who was not only there, but actively involved as a Soviet bloc spy chief--who, thanks to a crisis of conscience, left the dark side and came to America to help shine a light on the greatest source of political evil of the modern age. This remarkable book will change the way you look at intelligence, foreign affairs, the press, and much else besides." - R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence
Its basically describing how information is misrepresented in order to strengthen your own authoritative position and undermine others, and in so doing, frames one "actor" as the purveyor of truth, justice and freedom in the world. "Gawd bless Murrca"...
"All this and much more is meticulously documented in Disinformation, with the credibility of an eyewitness who was not only there, but actively involved as a Soviet bloc spy chief--who, thanks to a crisis of conscience, left the dark side and came to America to help shine a light on the greatest source of political evil of the modern age. This remarkable book will change the way you look at intelligence, foreign affairs, the press, and much else besides." - R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence
March 9, 2015
This is a must read if you have any question about what and what the world and our government is moving the way it is today. Why hasn't this information been available earlier? Thaky you past President Carter, protecting Billy and the relationship with Communist Romania's dictator. Where did President Obama get his program of blaming President Bush as a worthwhile policy? Interesting answers found here!
March 28, 2017
This is a rather meandering set of memoires with hyperbolic claims supported only by circumstantial evidence. I also feel like there is a lot of unnecessary political posturing. Pacepa thinks of himself as a hero, and goes out of his way to demonize his villains.
Nonetheless, it has its merit, particularly when it breaks from Pacepa's own life and opinions and has more objective analysis of the soviet mindset, and it is written in a direct, engaging style.
Nonetheless, it has its merit, particularly when it breaks from Pacepa's own life and opinions and has more objective analysis of the soviet mindset, and it is written in a direct, engaging style.
April 6, 2015
Quite good book on disinformation, but not easy to read. Lots of hard facts, I expected to read an analysis of disinformation techniques - this is not found in the book. The section on Pope Pious XII was hard to get through for me. The ending seems to be an example of disinformation, praising the US and condemning anyone who dares criticize them.
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