近日，美國獨立新聞網站“灰色地帶”的創始人之一麥克斯·布魯門塔爾接受了《環球時報》的採訪，針對此前美國媒體鼓吹“病毒是從武漢病毒所洩漏的”等陰謀論的報道，介紹美國政府是如何通過與媒體聯合炒作，傳遞虛假信息，炮製各類關於中國的不實報道，阻止公眾獲取真相。
4月22日，“灰色地帶”發表了一篇題為《特朗普散播的新冠病毒起源於中國實驗室的陰謀論如何被炮製》的文章，披露了特朗普政府、美國右翼媒體以及接受反華勢力資助的非政府組織和智庫等團體共同推動反華議程、煽動對華敵意的全過程。
Max Blumenthal, an award-winning journalist and founder of the Grayzone, told Global Times that the conspiracy theory of COVID-19 escaping from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology, is the Trump administration's Iraqi WMD (weapon of mass destruction) and the unpacking of misinformation is blocking the American public from learning the truth about the epidemic and China's efforts to contain it.
The Grayzone published a story days ago busting the Chinese lab coronavirus conspiracy theory and revealed that the Trump administration, right-wing media outlets as well as NGOs and think tanks are together pushing the anti-China agenda. The website is a U.S.-based independent news outlet, and aside from the COVID-19 coverage, it also released many reports related to Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in recent months.
文章指出，“新冠病毒源自武漢實驗室“的陰謀論已成為美國政府的“伊拉克大規模殺傷性武器”。該說法最早在《華盛頓郵報》上出現，儘管當時沒有任何證據能夠支撐這一觀點，但這一論調仍然得到了民主黨和共和黨人的廣泛傳播。通過調查，作者發現，是美國政府通過“放假料”給媒體，散播關於中國的負面消息，最後由政客出面呼籲對華採取強硬政策，試圖通過渲染民眾仇恨情緒，推動反華輿論戰達到新高度。
布魯門塔爾直言，美國國務院是真正的幕後推手。福克斯新聞通過美國駐華大使館獲得“消息”，隨即對外刊發多篇帶有明顯政治傾向、聲稱“武漢實驗室存在安全問題”的新聞報道，並借美國政客推波助瀾，邀請鷹派參議員湯姆·科頓參加節目，提出“中國應對每一個死亡病例負責”、“中國必須受到懲罰”等可笑說辭，實現抹黑中國的效果。
The Wuhan lab conspiracy first appeared in the Washington Post on April 14 in the opinion section. Though the columnist himself admits there is no evidence to prove that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan lab, the piece gets shared widely by Democrats and Republicans.
Then Fox News on the following day quoted U.S. sources as saying officially that they believe the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. And the TV network invited Tom Cotton, one of the most extreme pro-war senators, who said "China is responsible for every death," "China has to be punished," and "China has to be sanctioned."
The Grayzone reported that the State Department was behind this, leaking cables from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to reporters and distorting them, claiming that there were safety issues at the lab.
"You can see very clearly that the State Department leaks information to the media. The media spins the story and presents it to the public. Then, politicians issue calls for new policies of militarism and extreme hostility to China," Blumenthal told Global Times.
實際上，這類不實報道一經發布，就遭到了多國科學家的駁斥。關於新冠肺炎病毒的真正來源，一個由美國、英國和澳大利亞研究專家組成的團隊在3月17日發表於《自然》雜誌上的文章中已經作出回答：“我們認為，任何關於新冠病毒出自實驗室的猜測都是不合理的……我們的分析已經清楚地表明，新冠病毒既非實驗室產物，也不是能夠人為操縱的病毒。”
來自8個國家的27名公共衛生科學家也於2月在著名醫學雜誌《柳葉刀》上籤署一封公開信，以支持中國科學家、公共衛生人員和醫學專家抗擊新冠病毒所付出的努力，該研究強烈譴責了相關陰謀論。他們在信中明確提到，新冠病毒與許多其他新興病原體一樣，源於自然界。
However, regarding the real source of COVID-19, a team of American, British, and Australian researchers concluded in a March 17 article published in the scientific journal Nature, that "we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible…. Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.”
A group of 27 public health scientists from eight countries signed an open letter in February in support of the scientists, public health professionals and medical professionals of China combating COVID-19 that strongly condemned conspiracy theories. They claimed that scientists from multiple countries have concluded that "this coronavirus originated in wildlife, as have so many other emerging pathogens.”
布魯門塔爾認為，美國政府藉助媒體之手，將反華言論通過“匿名美國官員”和各種不可靠的消息來源進行包裝並散播醜化中國的相關言論，把原本對中國的冷戰轉變為熱戰，以此轉移美國民眾對政府應對疫情不力的指責。
“這一切都表明了我們正處於一場信息戰中，事實變得無關緊要。美國人不會去探尋真相。我們的目標就是讓美國人民能夠獲取平衡的信息，中斷戰爭、制裁和敵對行動。”
"We are unfortunately in a kind of information war where the truth doesn't matter. The American people are not going to be exposed to the truth," Blumenthal said.
He believes that by planting fake news about China and COVID-19 through anonymous U.S. officials and dodgy document dumps, the White House is shifting blame, hoping that an escalated conflict abroad will paper over its failures at home.
這種做法背後更深層次的原因讓人擔憂。
布魯門塔爾介紹，最近美國媒體對中國的報道越來越消極，加上越來越多的美國民眾突然開始對中國的人權問題，尤其發生在新疆的暴恐事件表示出極大的興趣。與去年相比，美國民眾認可“中國威脅論”的比重顯著上升，已超過70%，這說明美國政府的反華宣傳已經發揮了作用。
他認為，美國政界極力推動反華運動的宣傳策略和新冷戰思維將會給美國留下很大隱患，因為“防控疫情的唯一途徑是合作”，同處於這樣一個相互依存的全球化環境中，美國無法獨善其身。
However, a deeper reason behind the practice is more revealing.
The founder of The Grayzone explained to Global Times that the reason why there has been increasingly negative coverage of China recently and more Americans all of a sudden have started to show interest in China's human rights, especially the conflict in Xinjiang, is that the U.S. government is campaigning to turn up the new Cold War and to advance Donald Trump's national security doctrine introduced in 2018, which declared that the U.S. was moving from the war on terror into great power competition with China and Russia.
He told Global Times that compared to last year, Americans view China in incredibly negative terms. And Americans now are being "dragged into greater hostility with other nations."
"I think 70 percent of Americans see China as the greatest threat to the U.S. Last year, it was lower than 50 percent. Propaganda works," Blumenthal said.
"I understand what's happening in my country and how dangerous this propaganda is and how dangerous a new Cold War will be to the U.S. "The only way out of the epidemic is through cooperation, because, unfortunately, we live in a globalized world where we're all interdependent. And, I don't think the U.S. actually has the ability to completely cut itself from a powerful country like China. It's just impossible."
隨著批評中國在美國變得“政治正確”，此次發表的文章讓布魯門塔爾和“灰色地帶”的其他作者面臨侮辱、謾罵和嚴厲批評，承受了巨大的壓力。但他們始終堅持“當公眾被謊言欺騙並導致對他國產生更強的敵對情緒，我們要戳穿謊言。”
“灰色地帶”成立於2015年，作為一家美國的獨立新聞媒體，從揭露敘利亞代理人戰爭開始，它通過對西方不實報道展開調查追蹤，旨在揭露美國外交政策的錯誤及其對國內的影響，並致力於為反戰人士和質疑西方敘事方式的人發聲。
The Grayzone was founded in 2015 and discusses sensitive topics regarding U.S. foreign policy, which Blumenthal believes is leading the U.S. to war. As criticizing China has become politically correct in the U.S., Blumenthal and other writers of the website are facing increasing insults and heavy criticism.
"But one thing that people cannot do to us is accuse us of factual inaccuracies or debate us. We've extended the opportunity for some of our critics to debate us and they usually say no."
關鍵字: Blumenthal 反華 Grayzone
