False Flag

 A false flag is an operation done by government officials of one country to put the blame of an attack on another country. With the goal of harming another nation without taking the blame for it. There have been countless examples of false flags throughout history. But the term itself originated in the 16th century to describe how pirates would wave the flag of a different nation to deceive merchants, therefore making the merchants believe they were selling their products to a nation they were on good terms with. The term has evolved over time, now it is used for when one nation wants to declare war on another. To pull this off, they will use an attack that takes place in their homeland as means to attack the nation of their choosing. One of the earliest examples of this newly evolved false flag took place in 1898 when the Hearst newspaper placed the blame on Spain for the explosion that sank Havana harbor, an explosion that killed over 200 U.S. soldiers. They did this to incite war with Spain. The real cause for the explosion is unknown, some claim the explosion was from inside the U.S. ship, others will claim Spain set the trap. This is an instance of the U.S. using a false flag to incite war with Spain.

While the United States has countless examples of false flags throughout history, many other countries have used them to get the upper hand in situations as well. German soldiers used a false flag to invade Poland in 1939. They did not use a direct approach with explosives like the previous example. They used the more subtle approach of dressing as Polish soldiers to ambush them from the inside. They stormed their own radio tower, one that was on the border of Germany and Poland. Dressed up as Polish soldiers, they proceeded to raid their own radio tower. To cover their tracks, they did end up with some blood on their hands. They ended up killing a civilian who they also dressed up as a soldier, so they could deepen their lie of Polish soldiers attacking Germany. Finally, German soldiers broadcast a message saying the radio tower was in Polish possession even though it was not. This stunt prompted Adolf Hitler to justify Germany invading Poland despite Poland having no part in this attack.

A modern example of a false flag takes place just a few years ago in 2020. As tensions rose between India and Pakistan, they went back and forth accusing one another of using false flags along their shared border of Kashmir. A piece of land they have been at odds with for many years. These past flags have just been accusations. But after years of going back and forth, there was a legit false flag along the border of Kashmir.  Pakistan's foreign ministry accused Indian troops of firing at a vehicle that was located on Pakistan's side of the border. Pakistan accuses India of harming their international relations. In a letter to the U.N. they state that this was India creating a false flag so they could try invading and taking over the border. Anurag Srivastava, a spokesman for India’s External Affairs Ministry, clarifies the accusation of a false flag was indeed false and India did nothing to harm Pakistan or the border of Kashmir.

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60434579

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ajes.12534

https://www.britannica.com/topic/false-flag 

https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-india-kashmir-islamabad-c6ffad3af64682ce875d1e58790626a6