Opinion

The weapon of information

photo_camera parlamento-europeo-ue

It is not necessary to be at war for an old and revealing maxim to be true: the first victim of a conflict is the truth. Each of the opposing sides will manipulate information and create as much fake news as it can to achieve the right pressure to benefit its interests in the most representative international institutions and, above all, in the various public opinions, those of Western democratic countries are more sensitive and their governments yield more easily.

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have witnessed all kinds of fake news, half-truths, outright manipulation of reality to achieve each one's own interests. In such situations it is very difficult for the more or less independent media and journalists to verify on the ground the truth of what is going on. It is very difficult to prove that Russian President Vladimir Putin is very ill, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently claimed.

Moscow has demonstrated over the last few years its expertise in fake news to achieve far-reaching interference in various electoral processes in the United States, and to try to do the same in Germany, France and Italy and destabilise governments such as Spain's with its support for Catalan independence supporters. Even now, Putin is using all the levers at his disposal in some left-wing parties to construct a narrative with a falsified reality and provoke a supposed crisis that will shake the European Union's relations with a neighbouring country such as Morocco.

With astonishing ease, several groups in the European Parliament managed to get a resolution voted on the human rights and journalism situation in the southern neighbour. In Morocco, not in Algeria where it would be necessary. Nor is there any question of pushing through such resolutions on Russia, China or other countries, such as Peru, where left-wing demonstrations against a judicial decision to remove a chaotic leader accused of corruption, Pedro Castillo, from the presidency have already caused more than 60 deaths. Judicial action in Spain was also called into question by the attempted coup d'état in Catalonia. Attempts are being made to impose the idea that justice is only good if it benefits certain interests.

The Moroccan High Council of Justice explains that the prison sentences given to three journalists are for ordinary crimes and have nothing to do with freedom of expression or information.

In this case, who is interested in boycotting the High Level Meeting between the governments of Spain and Morocco with the signing of important and numerous agreements in all sectors?