As planned for sometime now [1], Nato is accusing Russia of interfering in the German legislative elections after rigging both the US and French presidential elections.

To date, there is no proof supporting these accusations. The most Nato can do is emphasize that in these three elections, the Russian government media took positions against Hillary Clinton (US), Emmanuel Macron (France) and Angela Merkel (Germany).

The Federal Office to Protect the Constitution (BfV by its German acronym) has multiplied the denouncements of a possible Russian interference. BfV has created a team of 180 technicians to install a firewall to protect government sites. This measure is presented as proof that a secret war is going on, however, such a measure would be nothing out of the ordinary, whether or not there is a Russian threat, given that there are thousands of other sources for potential attacks.

ARD, a public television group, has set up a site, Faktenfinder, to denounce “Fake News”. The Brost Foundation (bearing the name of a family which had made its fortune in the press by serving the US, when it occupied Germany) has created Correctiv, modelled on the French daily newspaper, Le Monde’s, Décodeur. Finally, the German Marshall Fund co-ordinates this entire effort.

The federal elections will take place on 24 September 2017. A new law penalizing the broadcasting of fake news will enter into force on 1 October 2017. Those who infringe it will be subject to a maximum fine of 50 million euro.

Translation
Anoosha Boralessa

[1The NATO campaign against freedom of expression”, “The New Media World Order”, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Pete Kimberley, Voltaire Network, 5 December 2016 and 7 March 2017.