Russian MoD says image from mobile game is "irrefutable evidence" of US helping ISIS

[midian182]

We know that Russia understands the value of social media when it comes to promoting fake news items, but the country’s Ministry of Defense is facing embarrassment after posting images of what it claimed was “irrefutable evidence” of cooperation between US troops and ISIS turned out to be a screenshot from a trailer for a mobile game.

"This is the irrefutable evidence that there is no struggle against terrorism as the whole global community believes," wrote the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation in a Facebook post, which was also shared on Twitter.

The Russian MoD deleted the statement, but, as you can read in this archived Facebook post, it’s claimed that Russia’s air force had supported Syrian troops in freeing the town of Abu Kamal from Isis.

According to the Ministry, the US refused to carry out strikes on ISIS fighters leaving Abu Kamal and allowed them to re-group in coalition-controlled territories. It added that the coalition’s aircraft tried to interfere with the Russian Aerospace Forces’ actions in the area in order to allow the terrorists to hide from Russian and Syrian strikes.

“The US are actually covering the ISIS combat units to recover their combat capabilities, redeploy, and use them to promote the American interests in the Middle East,” said the ministry.

But it turns out part of this “irrefutable” proof was a screengrab of a promotional video for mobile title AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron, a game set during the Vietnam war that involves providing air support for ground troops.

The @mod_russia uses images from a computer game as evidence the US is working with ISIS https://t.co/8uv2vbEHeQ pic.twitter.com/EvqP1Id5pR

— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) November 14, 2017

The other 4 ‘drone photos’ were actually images of Iraq’s air force bombing ISIS near Fallujah. These pictures came from videos released by the Iraqi Ministry of Defence in June 2016.

The Russian ministry is blaming the post on a civilian employee and says it is now investigating the matter. “However, the U.S. command’s refusal to carry out strikes on the convoys of ISIL terrorists retreating from Albu Kamal on November 9 is an objective fact reflected in the transcripts of the talks and therefore, fully known to the U.S. side,” it said.

This isn’t the first time the Russian government has used video game footage in such a way. Last year, the Russian Embassy in the UK Tweeted an image with the caption "Extremists near Aleppo received several truckloads of chemical ammo.” What the picture actually showed was the three variants of suicide bomb truck used by the GLA in the classic PC game Command and Conquer: Generals.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/71897-russian-mod-image-mobile-game-irrefutable-evidence-us.html

 

[VitalyT]

War is the most profitable business. And there is nothing in the US politics today that isn't business. The more political squabble for the public, the more cover-up to make profit, like from selling guns to the opposition.

 

[MoeJoe]

LMAO

 

[mattsie]

War is the most profitable business. And there is nothing in the US politics today that isn't business. The more political squabble for the public, the more cover-up to make profit, like from selling guns to the opposition.

And the beauty is it doesn't cost them a dime. If they f*** up or not.

In other news, CG graphics are out of this world so much that MOD confused them for real footage.

 

[Squid Surprise]

What's clear is that the majority of people don't bother to fact check anything, so claiming something and using video games as evidence is enough to fool most of your nation...

I wonder what the new leader of Zimbabwe will be posting on his Facebook account after Mugabe officially passes away....

 

[Vulcanproject]

About as sophisticated and subtle as RT's propaganda and 'alt news'

 

[kapital98]

War is the most profitable business. And there is nothing in the US politics today that isn't business. The more political squabble for the public, the more cover-up to make profit, like from selling guns to the opposition.

And the beauty is it doesn't cost them a dime. If they f*** up or not.

In other news, CG graphics are out of this world so much that MOD confused them for real footage.

I doubt there was confusion. What I'm surprised with is that they did this through an official channel (rather than a bot farm) and also that they acknowledged the clear mistake.

Russia's purpose in using digital media is to spread propaganda. Spam the hell out of the susceptible people and over time they will slowly accept it. Soon nothing will be reliable and everything will be fake news. If they have their way anyways.