Talk:False flag

Add more examples, change the format, or create a new page exclusively for a list of examples.

I think the page could improve greatly, by having at least a couple sections that mimic the "examples" section that are in the spanish version of this page.

There there is a list of examples like this: 1930 - USA did a false flag operation in vietnam. 1940 - Rusia did a false flag operation on England.

Etc etc....

Requested move 12 December 2024

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Not moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) Adumbrativus (talk) 02:57, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

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False flag → False flag operationFalse flag operation – The current name sounds too vague as the title is "False flag" while the beginning of this article says "A false flag operation". 67.209.130.128 (talk) 00:42, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

Oppose current title is more succinct and is the common name when it comes to referring to this in most contexts. What other things are you going to call a false flag, except things named after it? PARAKANYAA (talk) 02:27, 13 December 2024 (UTC)

• Oppose Per WP:COMMONNAME and WP:CONCISE. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 10:28, 14 December 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Why no mention of Chechnya?!

Surely the most dramatic example of a "successful" false-flag operation in the past quarter-century is that of the FSB's bombing of Russian apartment buildings and malls in 1999 as a pretext to re-invade Chechnya. So why is it not even mentioned here?!
Bricology (talk) 22:16, 28 March 2025 (UTC)

Because cited sources at the 1999 Russian apartment bombings article do not characterize it the way you have. This article can only cite false flag attacks using widely accepted historical examples, not "some writers say X was a false flag attack". Nobody here is a fan of the FSB, but we'd need an independent tertiary source that explicitly states that "the most dramatic example of a "successful" false-flag operation in the past quarter-century is that of the FSB's bombing of Russian apartment building". - LuckyLouie (talk) 12:44, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Originally figurative

It's normal to expect that the literal meaning would be the origin of the term, but the evidence shows that all of the original uses of "false flag" were figurative and didn't involve any flag. The literal usage started much later, and now we can use it either way. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 15:29, 6 May 2026 (UTC)