False flag operation

[[File:Red flag waving.svg|thumb|right|165px|If you wave it hard enough, they won't notice that you're actually crossing your fingers behind your back.]]
{{conspiracynav}}
A '''false flag operation''' is an operation conducted by one party or government and made to appear as though it were sponsored by another party or government. The term (although not the tactic) has its origins in the traditions of "honourable" naval warfare, where ships were required to sail under their own national flag so that they could be identified. As people learned that being a sneaky bastard was 
much more fun
 much more effective than playing by the rules, ships began sailing under "false" colours, i.e. flying their enemy's flag in order to get close to their enemy, before swapping to their true colours and opening fire.<ref group=note>Note that the "swapping to their true colours" part is considered obligatory under the conventions of war, which consider using false flag to sneak up on an enemy fair game, but not actually attacking under a false flag.</ref> 

In the modern use of false flag tactics and operations, this final step is avoided entirely, making it difficult to identify what is really a false flag operation, and what is just some [[conspiracy]] nuts not trusting their own government.

==Examples==
A list of such attacks either determined or widely held to be false flag attacks follows:
*Nero burns Rome, blames it on the Christians.<ref>[http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/rome.htm The Burning of Rome, 64 AD]</ref><ref>[http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide03/timeline17.html AD 64 - The great fire of Rome]</ref>
*The [[Zinoviev letter]].
*{{wpl|Mukden Incident||:}} A railroad in Manchuria owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway was sabotaged in 1931, probably by Japanese provocateurs, and used as a pretext by Japan to invade, occupy, and set up a puppet government in Manchuria. Japan ended up leaving the League of Nations on March 27, 1933 when it became clear that the world was against the Japanese control of Manchuria, with the famous "Our Empire deems it essential to respect the independence of the new State <nowiki>[Manchuria puppet state]</nowiki> and to encourage its healthy development, in order that the sources of evil in the Far East may be eradicated and an enduring peace thereby established."
*{{wpl|Gleiwitz incident||:}} [[Germany]] fakes an attack on themselves by [[Poland]], then invades Poland to 'counter Polish aggression', thereby initiating [[World War II]].
*{{wpl|Operation Susannah|Operation Susannah, also known as the "Lavon Affair"|:}} Israeli agents conduct minor terrorist attacks against American and British interests in Egypt while trying to make it appear as though radical Muslims were responsible, in a complex scheme to discredit the Egyptian President Nasser's government. Never mind that Nasser ''suppressed'' those same radical Muslims.
*[[Russia]] has been accused of false flag operations in [[Ukraine]], including an arson attack on a Hungarian cultural centre in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, which was blamed on Ukrainian nationalists: a Polish neo-nazi testified that he had been paid to launch the attack by a German journalist with links to Russia and far-right German party [[AfD]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/27/polish-far-right-trial-raises-spectre-of-false-flag-tactics-german-journalist-russia-ukraine-fire-court Polish far-right trial raises spectre of 'false flag' tactics], The Guardian, 27 Jan 2019</ref> On the other hand, Ukraine in 2018 staged the murder of a journalist which they blamed on Russian assassins; it turned out he wasn't dead after all.<ref>[https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2018/05/ukraine-s-assassination-hoax-has-played-vladimir-putin-s-hands Ukraine’s assassination hoax has played into Vladimir Putin’s hands], The New Statesman, 31 May 2018</ref>

Literal false ''flag'' incidents:
*Attendees of the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference were tricked into waving [[Russia]]n flags with the word "[[Donald Trump|Trump]]" written on them.<ref>https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/false-flag-operation-at-cpac/517842/</ref>
*At the {{wpl|Eurovision Song Contest 2017|Eurovision Song Contest 2017,}} Ukrainian prankster {{wpl|Vitalii Sediuk}} ran onto the stage and {{wpl|Mooning|mooned}} the crowd whilst draped in the flag of Australia.<ref>https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-14/eurovision-streaker-takes-to-stage-draped-in-australian-flag/8524784</ref>
*BBC [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-60434579 article] of February 2022 lists some examples.

==Conspiracy theories==
[[Conspiracy theory|Conspiracy theorists]] have claimed that the terrorist attacks of [[9/11|September 11, 2001]] were a false flag operation by the United States Government, notably in the "documentary" [[Loose Change]]. Their claims are not seen as credible by most investigators. It is interesting that the concept of a false flag operation is a staple of almost all conspiracy theories — that a government would attack their own people to justify something is appropriately dramatic and evil to be attractive to anyone already predisposed to the idea that the world is secretly being controlled by dark hidden forces. Similar claims were launched within an hour after the Boston Marathon bombing of 15 April 2013, and, two days later, after the West, TX fertiliser plant explosion, citing the monkey that jumps up and down in [[Alex Jones]]' head.<ref>http://www.salon.com/2013/04/15/alex_jones_labels_boston_explosion_a_false_flag/</ref>

On 11 January 2015, in the Project Camelot Portal blog, [[Kerry Cassidy]] wrote that the [[Charlie Hebdo#2015 attacks|Charlie Hebdo massacre]] was obviously a False Flag operation by the French government.<ref>[http://projectcamelotportal.com/blog/31-kerrys-blog/2395-police-chief-investigating-paris-false-flag-suicided Project Camelot, 11 Jan 2015]</ref>

In fact, since the arrival of 9/11 truthers, [[Sandy Hook massacre|no]] [[Malaysia Airlines Flight 17|tragedy]] [[Aurora shootings|goes]]<ref>[http://naturalnews.com//036536_James_Holmes_shooting_false_flag.html Natural News brings the crazy]</ref> [[Ukraine|by]]<ref>[http://www.infowars.com/soldier-killed-in-crimea-possible-false-flag-to-start-war/ infowars too]</ref> [[Boston Marathon bombing#Reactions|without]] '''[[Alex Jones|someone]]''' claiming it was a false flag.

[[Paranoid]] [[Crank|wackjobs]] on both the left<ref>http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/naomi-wolf-edward-snowden-false-flag-conspiracy.html</ref> and the right<ref>http://investmentwatchblog.com/snowden-a-limited-hangout-cia-op/</ref> have argued that [[Edward Snowden]] is, or likely is, a [[limited hangout]] or a false flag operation. This is especially ironic given that Snowden's NSA documents have revealed actual false flag capabilities by the Canadian government,<ref>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/24/snowden_dossier_details_canadian_spies_running_false_flag_operations_online/</ref> and a British "dirty tricks" program — including false flag operations — shared with the U.S., New Zealand, and Australian (and Canadian) governments.<ref>https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/</ref>

The 1999 {{wpl|Russian apartment bombings||,}} which killed 293 people, were generally blamed on Muslim terrorists, but the attacks are claimed by some to be a false-flag operation by the Russian government to get support for their war in Chechnya and Dagestan, justified as a war against Muslim terrorists.

==Political cases==
''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported on [[Elon Musk]]'s false-flag [[propaganda]] operation to get [[Donald Trump]] elected [[2024 U.S. presidential election|president in 2024]].<ref name=scherer/> Historian Timothy Snyder labeled this operation as part of a pattern started by [[Russia]] in 2014. He labeled it as targeted demotivational propaganda, while citing and not disputing the ''Washington Post'' article's use of the term false-flag.<ref name=snyder/>

Since 2014, Russia has pioneered a technique based on the mixing-of-lies-and-misrepresentation in the form of targeted demotivational propaganda. Snyder describes the technique as creating political [[advertisement]]s that at first appear to be truthful and appealing characteristics for a particular demographic, but end with a very unappealing [[lie]] that is likely to be unappealing to the demographic. Different demographics are targeted with different ads. The technique was first known to have appeared with the 2014 Russian invasion of [[Ukraine]], and was repeated in the [[2016 U.S. presidential election]] election against [[Hillary Clinton]] and the 2024 presidential election against [[Kamala Harris]]. Snyder describes the structure behind the technique as: oligarchical money ([[Vladimir Putin]] and Elon Musk) + psychographic information about individuals + [[social media]] delivery system + demotivational message.<ref name=snyder>[https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-phantom-campaign The Phantom Campaign] by Timothy Snyder (Nov 17, 2024) ''Thinking about…'' (Substack).</ref><ref name=scherer>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/15/republican-ads-false-flag/ Inside the Republican false-flag effort to turn off Kamala Harris voters: A multipronged dark money effort by advisers to Elon Musk targeted liberals, Jews, Muslims and Black voters with ads that were not quite what they seemed.] by Michael Scherer & Josh Dawsey (November 15, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EST) ''The Washington Post''.</ref><ref>''The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America'' by Timothy Snyder (2018) Tim Duggan Books. ISBN 0525574468.</ref> In the US, such dark money was enabled the highly-controversial [[Supreme Court]] 2010 decision in ''[[Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission]]'' that allowed unlimited corporate funds to influence elections.

==See also==
*[[Agent provocateur]]
*[[Propaganda|Black propaganda]] — its equivalent in propaganda
*[[Reverse psychology]] — a somewhat related tactic
*[[Kerry Cassidy]]
*[[Deep cover liberal]]
*[[James Fetzer]]
*[[Predictive programming]] — the claim that clues are planted in popular media prior to a false flag operation
*[[Reddit]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Political terms]]
[[Category:Deceit]]

Categories: Political terms, Deceit