A Russian Disinformation Reporter’s Disinformation Report on Miles Guo

On August 5, “The Saker”, an anti-American, pro-Russian English-language news and blog site, published a self-proclaimed “exclusive” report titled “The fugitive who tried to spark a U.S.- China war” on Aug 5th.

The report begins with an introduction to Miles and provides a thorough look at his ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Judging from the tone of the author and the details of the Chapter 11 case disclosed in the report, readers are surprised to find that the author is a Brazilian correspondent from Istanbul named Pepe Escobar.

As reported, Escobar was born in 1954, and is a Brazilian journalist and geopolitical analyst, who is “well known for breaking stories in the Arab and Muslim worlds.”; his articles reporting on “Central Asia’s Oil pipelines” have been re-published in Al Jazeera, Grist, Mother Jones, The Nation, and elsewhere. The United States State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) has identified several outlets that publish or republish work by Escobar as being used by Russia for propaganda and disinformation. In 2020, the GEC stated that both the Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) and Global Research, two online journals where Escobar’s work has appeared, acted as pro-Russian propaganda sites. According to the GEC, “Pepe Escobar began writing articles for Global Research in 2005 and ten years later became an SCF author. Escobar has also been a commentator for RT and Sputnik News; both outlets were highlighted in a 2022 GEC report as members of “Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem.” Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Yermolenko describes Escobar as an example of “anti-Western intellectuals” hosted by RT, adding that Escobar suggests “dividing Ukraine between Poland and Russia.”

Among the media outlets Escobar has been re-published on, Al Jazeera and Mother Jones have both published disinformation reports on Miles; Escobar’s “exclusive” report on Miles Guo’s Chapter 11 case was later re-published on Aug 10 by ZeroHedge, another pro-Russia news feed aggregator platform, its re-publish of Escobar’s report has helped the original report on “The Saker” gain at least 10 times more reads compared to each of its regular articles.

During a Livestream on Gettr, the fellow fighters of the Whistleblower Movement questioned the release of the report, just before an upcoming court hearing on Aug 12; it was also revealed, that Luc A. Despins, the appointed trustee for the Chapter 11 case, has cited HBO VICE‘s disinformation report on Miles in his motion requesting the Court to authorize his discovery of “various legal and financial advisors” to Miles Guo; the fellow fighters wonder whether the aforementioned report by Escobar is going to be cited by Despins in his next Motion?”.