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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Russian Lawmakers Order Probe of RFE/RL, VOA, CNN

    The lower house of the Russian parliament has ordered a probe into whether RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Voice of America, and CNN are in compliance with Russian laws.

    The move by the State Duma on March 17 comes just days after Democratic U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen introduced a bill that would empower the U.S. Justice Department to investigate possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act by RT, the state-backed Russian TV channel.

    The Russian initiative was introduced by Konstantin Zatulin, a member of President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, which holds an overwhelming majority in the Duma.

    Approved by lawmakers on March 17, the move instructs the Duma’s committee on information policy to probe compliance with Russian laws by VOA, CNN, and RFE/RL’s Russian Service, known locally as Radio Svoboda.

    Zatulin specifically linked the probe to Shaheen’s bill, which cited an assessment by U.S. intelligence that RT was used as part of a Kremlin-directed hacking and public-influence campaign aimed at helping President Donald Trump defeat his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in last year’s presidential election.

    RT and the Kremlin reject the accusation. RT is funded by the Russian government, but argues it is editorially independent from the Kremlin.

    Both RFE/RL and VOA are overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a U.S. agency that supervises international civilian government broadcasting and media operations.

    VOA is a federal entity, while RFE/RL is a private, nonprofit organization funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress.

    CNN has also come under fire from Moscow over its coverage of alleged Russian meddling in the presidential election and purported ties between associates of Trump and Russian officials.

    Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier this month accused the Atlanta-based international news network, which Trump has repeatedly criticized as well, of spreading “false news.”

    Shaheen told RFE/RL that it appeared her legislation had struck a nerve with the Kremlin and some Duma members.

    “My bill is straightforward: RT News has made public statements boasting that it can dodge our laws with shell corporations, and this legislation gives the Department of Justice the authority it needs to fully investigate,” Shaheen said in a statement.

    The Foreign Agents Registration Act is a decades-old law that requires anyone working in the United States on behalf of a foreign government, “in a political or quasi-political capacity," to register with the Justice Department.

    Russian Lawmakers Order Probe of RFE/RL, VOA, CNN

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Why would they obey a "regional powers" laws when they don't obey their own constitution and international laws.

  3. #3
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    Why would they obey a "regional powers" laws when they don't obey their own constitution and international laws.
    Why do you even give a shit about this nonsensical propaganda?

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by misskit
    The lower house of the Russian parliament has ordered a probe into whether RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Voice of America, and CNN are in compliance with Russian laws.
    I wonder if they'll expand the probe into NBC, Politico, NY Times and the Washington Post....

    I'm guessing like Trump, Putin loves Shawn Hannity....

  5. #5
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    nonsensical propaganda
    Makes you go all twitchy eh. Some facts can disturb the force.

  6. #6
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    nonsensical propaganda
    Makes you go all twitchy eh. Some facts can disturb the force.
    No, I think the twitching has been Vlad's arsehole watching all this CNN coverage.

    Hence his ludicrous posturing.

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    And you take time to reply, another 2 gms of AU. Thanks, Have a nice day.

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    And you take time to reply, another 2 gms of AU. Thanks, Have a nice day.
    I'll never stop trying to bring you back to reality OhOh.

    It would be inhumane to let you wallow in a faux conspiratorial misery of your own making.

  9. #9
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Thanks, Would you like to try with my daughter, she has been away with the faeries too long.

  10. #10
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    Thanks, Would you like to try with my daughter, she has been away with the faeries too long.
    The apple never falls far from the tree eh?

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    Thanks, Would you like to try with my daughter, she has been away with the faeries too long.
    The apple never falls far from the tree eh?
    Except, of course, in the case of the increasingly rare Ballistic Apple of New Caledonia. Now severely endangered as 90% of them burn up on re-entry.

  12. #12
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    The apple never falls far from the tree eh?
    Unfortunately for her, she lived with her mum during her crucial teen years. My other three, boys, are doing very well for themselves. So yes 1 out of 4 is a good average.

  13. #13
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    RFE/RL Correspondents Beaten, Robbed in Southern Russia

    Two RFE/RL correspondents have been beaten and robbed by masked assailants in southern Russia.

    Several assailants attacked RFE/RL Russian Service reporter Sergei Khazov-Cassia and cameraman Andrei Kostyanov on the morning of March 28 as they were leaving their hotel in Kropotkin, a town in Krasnodar Krai. They were there to cover a planned protest by farmers.

    RFE/RL President Thomas Kent called the attack "unacceptable" and demanded a thorough investigation, with a focus on the actions of local police, saying that crimes against journalists must not be "met with impunity.”

    Khazov-Cassia said that at least 10 attackers, who wielded cans of pepper spray, knocked the journalists down and repeatedly kicked them. The assailants seized personal belongings and equipment -- some of which was later returned -- and fled the site in a white minibus.

    Kostyanov was hospitalized with a broken rib.

    Khazov-Cassia said that the police had visited the two journalists twice before the attack, which occurred in the morning.

    "First they came yesterday [March 27] to ascertain who was staying in the hotel room, and then they visited us this morning, about one hour before we left the hotel and were attacked," he said. He also said that police later told him that no records were available from the closed-circuit TV cameras around the hotel.

    “This thuggish attack on our reporters, who were acting in their professional capacity and covering an event, is unacceptable," said Kent, the RFE/RL president. "We demand a full investigation, with a focus on the role of local police in the incident, to ensure that this is not another crime against journalists in Russia that is met with impunity."

    Khazov-Cassia said he provided police, who came hours after being called following the attack, with the license-plate number of the minibus used by the attackers. However, he said the vehicle had not yet been located.

    On Facebook, Khazov-Cassia said that when a police officer learned that he worked for RFE/RL, the officer said, "'Well, I have lost the desire to help you.' After I urged him to perform his professional duties and assist me, he said. 'Okay, okay.'"

    The Krasnodar Krai police department told RFE/RL that the attack was being investigated. They said that police in Kropotkin were "performing all necessary measures to identify and locate the individuals involved in inflicting bodily harm on the radio station's representatives and in stealing their equipment," the police said.

    When the journalists returned to the hotel with police, they found that some of the stolen items had been returned to their room, including the laptop and a camera, Khazov-Cassia said. But a backpack with personal belongings was still missing.

    Khazov-Cassia and Kostyanov had planned to report on a "Tractors' March" protest by farmers on March 28, but it did not take place.

    Several farmers driving tractors were stopped and detained in the Krasnodar Krai town of Tikhoretsk on their way to Kropotkin, according to OVD-Info, a website that monitors arrests and other police activity in Russia.

    VIDEO RFE/RL Correspondents Beaten, Robbed in Southern Russia

  14. #14
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    I would avoid drinking tea for the rest of the stay if I were them.

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