Can you hear the balalaikas ringing out, Marianna Spring takes us Back to the USSR.
In this article I’m going to look at two questions.
Who is Marianna Spring?
What’s the ‘Verify’ project really about?
So who is Marianna Spring? She’s 27. She studied French and Russian at Pembroke College, Oxford where she wrote for and edited the student newspaper. She spent her year abroad in Moscow and Paris, contributing news articles to The Moscow Times, The Local, and Le Tarn Libre. Post graduation, she applied for various journalism programmes including at the BBC but was not successful. However, it was suggested that she contact various BBC journalists whom she admired asking for an opportunity, oddly enough Emily Maitlis replied to Spring and gave her an opportunity to work on Newsnight. Gee, I wonder what the odds of that happening spontaneously are? Sounds like one of those unlikely celebrity success stories. Alex Thompson of Eastern Approaches noted on UK Column that any Oxford students studying Russian and going to Russia as part of their experience are bound to come on the radar of MI5/6. We know that language professors at Oxford do recruit for MI5/6. So she could potentially be an intelligence asset. We will never know.
Lets quickly consider other graduates of Pembroke College, Oxford: Pete Buttigieg, Viktor Orban, Abdullah II King of Jordan, Sir Peter Ricketts (Chairman of Joint Intelligence Committee), Lord Heseltine, J William Fulbright (of Fulbright award, Sunak was a recipient), Walter Isaacson (Aspen Institute), Richard Lugar (Senate Committee on Foreign Relations), JRRR Tolkien, Sir Geoffrey Archer (former Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee).
“By their fruits you will know them. Do you
gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?!”
What’s this ‘Verify’ project really about?
1. Audience
The first thing I wondered is, who is this program or podcast for? Surely anyone still watching BBC News or it’s spin offs, is hopelessly devoted to the establishment narrative, they are possibly suffering from a trifecta of long COVID, Slava Ukraina and Trump Derangement Syndrome. Or perhaps they enjoy being talked down to by smug and pompous or matronly BBC stooges. This group need no convincing that conspiracies are nonsense, merely products of the morbid imagination of misfits, weirdos and troublemakers. So, why spend all this money preaching to the converted?
I think they are aiming this at their fellow BBC, ITV, LBC, Guardian journalists etc to give them topics for their shows and to provide numerous straw man arguments for know-it-alls like James o’ Brian to shoot down.
I believe it’s also going to facilitate more doxing opportunities by Hope Not Hate and the Centre for Countering Digital Hate.
2. Lowering Trust
Twitter under Elon Musk has become freer and more people are posting interesting content and people are commenting and engaging with verve.
However, if word spreads that various fake accounts are being used by Marianna and her colleagues to infiltrate Telegram groups, comments sections or Twitter threads to entrap, ensnare or gain the confidence of regular people commenting in good faith, this could undermine trust in the alternative community, as who can you trust?
This could dusuade people from entering debate, thus dampening engagement.
3. Infiltration
Infiltrating alternative groups and opposition to the establishment is an age old communist tactic.
4. Problem Reaction Solution
This Verify project obviously has the core aim of demonisation. The objective will certainly be to hype up fear and paranoia about the extent and the danger of conspiracy theories and theorists, to insinuate that they threaten peace and could encourage violence or attacks on journalists, politicians and community leaders.
Any pushback on Marianna Spring’s social media accounts will be used as examples of hate and extremism.
Conspiracy and domestic terrorism, subversion and underworld activities, even espionage will be conflated.
The devotees of the BBC and the establishment line will demand a solution to this ‘huge and scary’ emerging problem.
The solution will be ready and legislation against free speech will flow.
5. Punching Down
Marriana Spring is not speaking truth to power, she’s using the full might of the establishment and it’s vast resources to crush ordinary people with little or no power who are using social media to voice concerns and ask legitimate questions.
She’s Punching Down.
6. Right Wing
I notice on her white board, her arrows point to the ‘Far Right’ as a key avenue she’ll be exploring relating to conspiracies.
Notice that conspiracy theories are only being linked to the the fabled ‘Far Right’, obviously there’s never any conspiracy theories happening on the left, far left, within minority ethnic or religious groups, as part of green radicalisation, within politics or international organisations?
This is an investigation with the outcome already decided. It’s about the demonisation of the Right from which the only pushback is happening.
7. Social Media Emphasis
Spring is focusing mainly on the social media arena in terms of conspiracies.
She’s not interested in conspiracies happening in
*Unions
*Boardrooms
*International Corporations
*NGOs
*Foundations
*Lobbying Groups
*The Press
*Governments
*Charities
*Big Pharma.
Once again, she’s punching down. This is all about protecting authority and power structures and coming down hard on the concerned citizen.
Summing Up
This is about dampening free speech and creating fear of doxing or even arrest by merely speaking openly to the wrong person on social media.
This will create a demand for the legislation already lined up to stifle free speech and strangle the influence of alternative voices on social media.
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