On May 14, 2023, writer Merab Ratishvili published five photos showing a large beam coming from the sky in the area of fires, a flying machine with a large lens, and the cover of one of the issues of Time magazine, featuring the Earth is on fire. According to the description, the photos depict fires around the world that are artificially created by lasers fired from large aircraft to create the illusion of climate change and control people more easily.
The photos are being disseminated with a false description and are part of the conspiracy as if the fires in the world are artificially created by the United Nations to establish total control over the world population. In fact: 1) the cover of Time was dedicated to the importance of fighting climate change; 2) the aircraft is a “Boeing YAL-1” missile defence system for the destruction of tactical ballistic missiles, which has nothing to do with fires; 3) The beam shown in the photo is not the evidence of the existence of a huge laser, but the reflection of sunlight in the camera lens.
Time cover
Time magazine dedicated its April 2021 issue to the problem of climate change and related natural disasters. The cover of the issue featured an artistic installation of a world map made of 50,000 matchsticks, which were then set on fire. With this, the author of the project, Malaysian artist Red Hong Yi, wanted to show that the global climate crisis is a problem for absolutely everyone, no matter where they live in the world.
The artist and his team of 6 people worked on the project for two weeks: they created a 2.3×3 meter world map, placed matchsticks symbolizing trees with green tips and lit them on fire. “The whole idea behind that was it takes a long time to build something up, but it can be destroyed really quickly, too.” explains the artist.
Conspiracy on artificial fires and photo manipulations
The claim that fires across the world are being created with lasers is part of a conspiracy that has been circulating on the Internet since 2017. This conspiracy theory was especially popular in 2020, during the fires in California.
To prove this, conspiracy theorists often use photographs without any context. The photo shared by Merab Ratishvili was taken in 2018 during a fire in the Klamath National Forest. As park officials explained in a post on Twitter, the beam in the image is not evidence of a huge laser but a reflection of sunlight in the camera lens.
In fact, large-scale forest fires are not caused by lasers or other secret and super-technological devices, but by global warming or improper fire management. So the theory that someone is deliberately setting forests on fire with a huge laser is a conspiracy theory with no evidence.
The origin of the aircraft mentioned in the photo above, which allegedly takes part in starting a fire with a laser. In fact, “Boeing YAL-1” is a missile defense system, which was created to destroy tactical ballistic missiles in their acceleration phase. In 2011, the US government cancelled the airborne laser program. The main drawback of this ship was the complexity of the beam control system. Launching a stable and accurate beam from a moving platform such as an aircraft, compensating for atmospheric effects, and maintaining the required power and focus over long distances was a major technical hurdle.
Visual manipulations and other types of false information about the alleged falsified nature of global warming and intentional fires have been spread many times in the past. For more information, see the “Myth Detector” articles:
- Nino Nino or dato.okribelashvili – Who Spreads Disinformation regarding the Controlled Burning?
- Videompanipulations about Forest Fires (In Georgian)
As mentioned earlier, conspiracy theories related to fires are not new, as they resurface during large-scale fires in different parts of the world. Conspiracy theorists claim that the ultimate goal of such artificial actions is to establish a “new world order.”
About the Source
Merab Ratishvili is a Georgian businessman and writer. He is infamous for publishing conspiracies, anti-Western posts, including false and manipulative information that was debunked by “Myth Detector” a number of times in the past.
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