The Wire - January 31, 2025

//The Wire//2300Z January 31, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: RECOVERY EFFORTS CONTINUE AT CRASH SITE IN WASHINGTON, FALSE INFORMATION SURROUNDING THE INCIDENT BECOMES MORE PERVASIVE. AMERICAN TRADE TARIFFS ON CHINA, MEXICO, AND CANADA ANNOUNCED.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----
 
-International Events-
 
Sweden: Wednesday night, local counter-Islam activist Salwan Momika was murdered in Stockholm. Five assailants were arrested after one shot him in his apartment that evening. AC: Momika was a highly controversial figure who gained notoriety for being the pro-Israel activist at the heart of the Koran burnings in Sweden in 2023, and for his legal activism with regards to Islam in Sweden. Of note, local media did not know of his murder until the next morning, as he was scheduled to appear in court for one of the many cases he was the defendant in. When he did not show up, the court noted that the defendant was deceased, leading to the media inquiry. No further details have been provided regarding the details of this murder.

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): The conflict has continued to escalate, both domestically and internationally. The Rwandan-backed M23 rebels are in complete control of Goma, which has led to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to voice concerns regarding their medical facilities in the city. Specifically, the ICRC facility in Goma was partnered with the local medical institute that served as the leading authority for Ebola research throughout the region. The ICRC is concerned that the instability throughout the region could result in a lab leak.

-HomeFront-

Washington D.C. - Recovery operations continue in the Potomac, with more wreckage and remains being recovered overnight. The remains of 41x people have been recovered so far, with 28x being identified as of this afternoon.

Throughout the continent, American trade policy is taking form, with the White House announcing the implementation of a 25% tariff on most Canadian and Mexican trade imported into the United States. A separate 10% tariff on trade with China has also been announced as being in the works. AC: As of right now, these trade polices are not in place, however press statements this afternoon have suggested that at least some of the tariffs will be implemented tomorrow. However, the documentation pertaining to these policies has not been published, so the exact impact of these trade policies (and also the impact of negotiations) is unknown at this time.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: On the information front, the false information circulating on social media surrounding the aircraft collision in Washington D.C. has become staggering. Overnight, seemingly out of nowhere, many well-known engagement farming accounts on Twitter/X made posts claiming that the pilot of the crashed Blackhawk was a transgender individual. By morning, all big accounts had deleted their posts citing this news story.
The source of this claim can be traced back to a handful of single accounts (all of which bear many markers of deception) who made these claims without a single shred of evidence. For one, the female pilot of the Blackhawk has not yet been identified by authorities. The transgender person claimed to have been the pilot during this incident did not match the unit either; he was from a completely different unit and service branch altogether (National Guard vs. the Active Duty pilots involved in the crash). Perhaps the most damning bit of evidence to prove that this story is false is that the transgender pilot is still alive, and he is making the rounds on the media circuit, having been granted a platform to speak by this story surging through social media.

Though largely speculative, this could have been the general plan for the scam, which is in line with fairly typical con jobs within the realm of information exchange.

1 - Random account posts a story, without any evidence. Note: In this case, it's possible that several accounts originally posted the story at the very same moment, indicating some level of collusion.
2 - Nearly instantaneously, at least a dozen very large social media accounts take the story and run with it. Either out of pure naivety, or out of willful intent (i.e. to engagement farm the content, regardless of it's truth).
3 - A few hours later, when the truth comes out, all the big accounts delete their posts, issue a brief "whoops, I'm sorry" post, and pretend like it never happened. Or even better, gaslight their audience by shifting the anger. This is usually achieved by adopting the position of "hey guys, I'm just as mad as you are, let's go after the REAL cause of the misinformation". This is fairly effective in shifting the blame away from themselves, after they've pocketed the ad revenue already.
4 - Social media users dutifully shift their anger toward other sources, so as to not taint their favorite social media giants in their own eyes. In this case, after the truth came out, the criticism that really should be placed on the purveyors of fake information, was placed on the transgender community.
5 - Since this outrage was misplaced in this case, the transgender community now have been granted platforms by mainstream media, and have taken the opportunity to push their ideology further, in addition to having more maneuvering space to discredit the counter-transgender policy changes in government positions, such as military aviation.
6 - Since most users on social media have short memories, when this snowball of fake information starts again...pushed by the same exact accounts...most people will forget this grand lie, and the cycle continues. In this particular case, the initial motive remains unclear: was this fake story amplified for financial reasons, or to grant the trans movement a platform to discredit their ban from the military, or was it to muddy the water for some other reason?

Right now, most people don't get their news from mainstream media...but this doesn't automatically mean that all "independent journalists" are honest either. Often times, the same exact people who will chastise others for listening to mainstream media, will hang on every word uttered by a random social media account, that never seems to provide any of their independent analysis, logic, or line of thinking...only the inflammatory headlines.

As of this report, two of the crew members onboard the Blackhawk have been identified, however the identity of the third is reportedly being withheld at the request of the family. Additionally, though this is unconfirmed at this time, the third unidentified crewmember is reportedly being classified as Duty Status - Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN), indicating that their remains have not been recovered yet. Considering the fallout that has emerged on social media regarding all of the false information regarding this incident, it would not be unreasonable for a grieving family to want things to cool down before releasing the name. However, any mystery that is allowed to fester will result in even more suspicion from the terminally-online nature of most people on social media. The identity of the final crew member will be released at some point as this detail is public record and subject to the Freedom of Information Act, so someone will file a request eventually. For now, the best course of action is to wait for the investigation report to come out and shed some insight on this incident.

Analyst: S2A1
Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
//END REPORT//