False flag

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article may be deleted soon.
To oppose or discuss a nomination, please go to CZ:Proposed for deletion and follow the instructions.

For the monthly nomination lists, see
Category:Articles for deletion.


This article is a stub and thus not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

A false flag is a deception|deceptive technique where the manipulator leads others to believe he is the representative of a group they either admire or fear, in order to secure a benefit for his own cause, symbolically represented by a national flag. It can be applied in military, civilian, and clandestine contexts (e.g., clandestine human-source intelligence and counterintelligence). False flags are common in Internet-based fraud, such as assuming the identity of the widow of a wealthy dictator.

In the strictly military context, it is a subset of ruse of war|ruses of war, defined by Article 35 of the 1977 Additional Protocols to the First Geneva Convention: to include camouflage, decoys, mock operations and misinformation.[1]

References

  1. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977,