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Hello there, Fellow Learner—and Welcome to!
a Learner's Digest edition of Business Games, an educational series where we help you improve your strategic and critical thinking, make sense of the world and make better decisions under uncertainty.
This is episode "2022 and 11/12-ths".
I wish 2022 were better, but it's not.
Which, in a way, only underscores the importance of strategic thinking, good decision-making under uncertainty, interpreting weak signals, and everything else we've discussed to date on Business Games.
In a minute, there'll be an explanation for my hiatus.
But first, housekeeping…
New PricingWrapped Up Experimental SeasonHiatus ExplanationNext Steps

How I Lost Trust in the Western Mainstream Media and What to Do About It.
This is a "voice-over" of the first half of the NY Disinformation article available here: NY Times: Disinformation Central?
Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER here: Business Games
ContentI've done something different this time: instead of reading the script, I went through this article and did a "voice-over" of the first half (the NYT takedown + Summary) for the pod—the timestamps correspond to the parts where I go through these.
IntroThe Primary Purpose of This Takedown of NYT [03:14]Part 1: The "Russian Disinformation" Campaign [06:00]Part 2: 2014 v 2022 Narrative Change [24:48]Donbass Defenders from 2014 and Bitterness Towards Kyiv Killing Donbass CiviliansThe NYT Nazi Disappearance Act: "Dangerous Nationalists" From February, 2022 Become "Kremlin Propaganda" by July, 2022NYT Guest Writers: From "My Family Members Hated the Neo-Nazis and the US-Backed Kiev Government" to "Euromaidan Uprising Demanding Partnership With the EU"Part 3: Verifiable Lies as Exemplified by the "Systemic Rape as a Weapon" Hoax [41:09]Part 4: NYT Nepotism and Hit Jobs [56:03]Summary [1:00:05]

A word of caution: if you have an emotional response to the 2022-ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and especially if you believe the mainstream media narrative in the West and you are not ready to have this challenged, this might not be for you.
I'm happy to discuss the facts and my thinking, but I'd like to refrain from ad hominem attacks.
Finally, I have an agenda:
I'm trying to challenge your thinking in order to strengthen it. To do so, I'll present to you my way of analysis, the signals I use, and the questions I pose. I will build a narrative that may or may not be your narrative (certainly, isn't the mainstream western punditry narrative) and I will try and defend this narrative using evidence. You may or may not agree—my job is to make you think, and to help you think better.I'm trying to influence people to find a helpful, lasting peace solution for the benefit of common Ukrainians—in my opinion, the current western position is neither correct in its narrative nor helpful for this goal. This requires a separate investigation.
I wrote a more personal note with my history as a Ukrainian in the previous newsletter post 2022 and 11/12-ths.
This topic by its nature will most likely be the most controversial we touch on.
Recently, I wrote the blog post NY Times: Disinformation Central? Or: How I Lost Trust in the Western Mainstream Media and What to Do About It, in which I investigate the New York Times in their mis-representation of facts on 4 counts: "Russian disinformation" campaign, changes of the narrative on Ukraine and Donbass from 2014 through to 2022, outright lies such as the (fake) claim of "massive rapes" propagated by the former Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman Denisova (who was fired by the Ukrainian Government for this lie), and protecting the NYT ownership while running hit jobs on competitors.
Read the post OR listen to the previous episode to get the full picture about the NY Times transgressions.
In this newsletter episode, I take parts of the NY Times piece and expand the principles I use when reading the news and processing information.
If you're OK with the above, let's go.
ContentPreviously on Business Games Re: Information Processing [03:18]Narrative Versus Reality: You Are Being Manipulated [07:14]How Much of a Problem Is It? [08:55]A Dozen Thinking Principles I Use [11:56]Frame of Reference = The Most Important FactorOn Sources of Information [40:55]Is Wikipedia a Good Source? [41:20]Alternative Journalists to Follow on Ukraine and Beyond [43:50]Conclusion

2014 Maidan, 2022 Mariupol and Bucha. One is a proven false-flag massacre perpetrated by the Ukrainian far-right. The others fit similar patterns. Having already made a case for why this is not a coincidence, I discuss further implications.
Here, I give more background to my Mariupol & Bucha: Narrative v Reality article, how it came together, and what makes me confident about the conclusions.
The text version of this Newsletter episode with all the links is here: False Flags, False Narratives.
Subscribe to our free newsletter or support our analytical and educational work with a paid subscription at one of the two prices (you choose the price, they both have the same benefits): Normal Premium or Student (Recession-Proof).
ContentFalse Flags: Censoring Peer-Reviewed Academic Study as a "Political Decision" [00:00]False Narratives: War Crimes [04:32]Guilty Until Proven Innocent [09:16]Critically Thinking [18:52]Who Shot at the Mariupol Humanitarian Corridors [21:28]What Really Happened in Bucha [25:22]Conclusion [32:35]

In the modern discourse it seems, any political opponent is immediately a "Nazi", and any historical grievance is a "genocide".
The problem is obvious and three-fold:
Politically, the elites in a less wealthy and/or numerous nation want to use the victimhood status to gain potential reparations from the wealthier/more numerous nation, by any means possible—all's fair in love and war;The impacts on the (wrongfully) accused are also clear: accusing various historical governments of (alleged) genocides smears their modern successors as well as the whole nations, thus dehumanizing them in a way;And in turn, overusing such terms as "Nazi" and "genocide" cheapens these and diminishes the crimes of the actual Nazis, creates possibilities for denial of actual genocides such as the Holocaust or the Armenian Genocide, and whitewashes the Nazi revival such as various neo-Nazi movements.
I can think of no example more insane than the whitewashing of the Ukrainian Nazi collaborators Bandera and Shukhevich, their organizations OUN and UPA, and their modern Ukrainian equivalents such as Azov, S14, and the Right Sector—and at the same time bringing out all the decades of smear campaigns against the USSR and Russia, accusing them of multiple genocides.
Though maybe "Holodomor" myth is at least equally insane.
Russophobia deserves its own post, and so do the Ukrainian Nazis both historical and modern. For now, I'll look at genocide accusations against the historical and modern Russias.
ContentGenocide as a Weapon of Propaganda [00:00]Modern Days: 2022+ "Genocide" of Ukrainians [09:42]Goebbels Propaganda Rules and Brand Management [20:42]Russia's "History of Genocides" [32:17]Circassian "Genocide" [37:09]"Holodomor" as a National Foundation Myth [56:20]Final Thoughts [1:12:11]

In this episode, I'd like to address the brand image of LinkedIn, censorship, and pose a question: What's the point of LinkedIn?
As usual, feel free to disagree with my position—but please, listen through to the end, it won't be long.
Content1. What's the Point of LinkedIn? [03:09]1.1 LinkedIn's Purpose [03:11]1.2 A LinkedIn Problem [04:54]1.3 Damned If You Don't, Damned If You Do [06:50]2. LinkedIn's Misinformation Policy [11:12]3. My Posts on Bucha and Mariupol Humanitarian Corridors [13:22]4. Does LinkedIn Know What They Are Doing? [16:27]5. Go Get a Lawyer [29:35]6. Let's Ponder Free Speech and the Law [32:59]7. Let's Ponder Censorship and Brand Value [36:53]8. Conclusion [48:41]
Full Text:https://www.business-games.ai/the-linkin-lawyer-unprofessional-network/