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## sabang

*American Commissars*


*Social media platforms are aggressively censoring all who challenge the dominant narrative on Ukraine, the ruling Democratic Party, the wars in the Middle East and the corporate state.*




The ruling class, made up of the traditional elites that run the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, is employing draconian forms of censorship on its right-wing and left-wing critics in a desperate effort to cling to power. The traditional elites were discredited for pushing through a series of corporate assaults on workers, from deindustrialization to trade deals. They were unable to stem rising inflation, the looming economic crisis and the ecological emergency. They were incapable of carrying out significant social and political reform to ameliorate widespread suffering and refused to accept responsibility for two decades of military fiascos in the Middle East. And now they have launched a new and sophisticated McCarthyism. Character assassination. Algorithms. Shadow banning. De-platforming.

Censorship is the last resort of desperate and unpopular regimes. It magically appears to make a crisis go away. It comforts the powerful with the narrative they want to hear, one fed back to them by courtiers in the media, government agencies, think tanks and academia. The problem of Donald Trump is solved by censoring Donald Trump. The problem of left-wing critics, such as myself, is solved by censoring us. The result is a world of make-believe.

YouTube disappeared six years of my RT show, “On Contact,” although not one episode dealt with Russia. It is not a secret as to why my show vanished. It gave a voice to writers and dissidents, including Noam Chomsky and Cornel West, as well as activists from Extinction Rebellion, Black Lives Matter, third parties and the prison abolitionist movement. It called out the Democratic Party for its subservience to corporate power. It excoriated the crimes of the apartheid state of Israel. It covered Julian Assange in numerous episodes. It gave a voice to military critics, many of them combat veterans, who condemned US war crimes.

It no longer matters how prominent you are or how big a following you have. If you challenge power, you are at risk of being censored. Former British MP George Galloway detailed a similar experience during an April 15 panel organized by Consortium News in which I took part:

]I have been threatened with travel restrictions were I to continue the television broadcast I had been doing for almost an entire decade. I have been stamped by the false label ‘Russian State Media,’ which I never had, by the way, when I was presenting a show on Russian state media. It was only given after I ceased to have a show on Russian state media, ceased because the government made it a crime for me to do so.

My 417,000 Twitter followers had been gaining a thousand a day, going like a runaway train, then suddenly it hit the buffers when the Elon Musk story emerged. I expressed the view that oligarch that he no doubt is, I prefer Elon Musk to the kings of Saudi Arabia, who it turns out are presently major shareholders in the Twitter company. As soon as I joined that fight, my numbers literally crashed to a halt, with shadow bans and all the rest of it.

All of this is happening before the consequences of the economic crash brought about by western policy and our misnamed leaders has really hit yet. When economies begin to not just slow down, not just hiccup, not just experience levels of inflation not seen for years, or decades, but becomes a crash, as well it might, there will be even more for the state to suppress, especially any alternative analysis as to how we got here and what we must do to get out of it.

Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq and Marine Corp intelligence officer, called out the lie about weapons of mass destruction prior to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Recently, he was banned from Twitter for offering a counter narrative about dozens of killings in the Kyiv western suburb of Bucha. Many of the victims in Bucha were found with gunshot wounds to the head and with their hands tied behind their back. International observers and eyewitnesses have blamed Russia for the killings. Ritter’s alternative analysis, right or wrong, saw him silenced.

Ritter lamented the Twitter ban at the forum:

It took me three years to get 4,000 followers on Twitter.I thought that was a big deal. Then this Ukraine thing comes up. It exploded. When I got suspended for the first time for questioning the narrative in Bucha my account had just gotten over 14,000. By the time my suspension was lifted I was up to 60,000. By the time they suspended me again I was close to 100,000. It was out of control, which is why I am convinced the algorithm said: You must delete. You must delete. And they did. The excuse they gave was absurd. I was abusive and I was harassing by telling what I thought was the truth. 

I don’t have the same insight in the Ukraine I had in Iraq. Iraq, I was on the ground doing the job. But the techniques of observation and evaluation that you are trained as an intelligence officer to apply to any given set apply to Ukraine today. Simply looking at the available data set, you cannot help but draw the conclusion that it was Ukrainian national police, mainly because you have all the elements. You have motive. They don’t like Russian collaborators. How do I know? They said so on their website. You have the commander of the national police ordering his people to shoot people in Bucha on the day in question. You have the evidence. The dead bodies on the street with white armbands carrying Russian food packets. Could I be wrong? Absolutely. Could there be data out there I am not aware of? Absolutely. But it is not there. As an intelligence officer I take the available data. I access the available data. I provide assessments based on that available data. And Twitter found that objectionable.

Two pivotal incidents  contributed to this censorship. The first was the publication of classified documents by Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. The second was the election of Donald Trump. The ruling class was unprepared. The exposure of their war crimes, corruption, callous indifference to the plight of those they ruled and extreme concentration of wealth shredded their credibility. The election of Trump, which they did not expect, made them afraid they would be supplanted. The Republican Party establishment and the Democratic Party establishment joined forces to demand greater and greater censorship from social media.

American Commissars - The Chris Hedges Report (substack.com)

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## sabang

Lets enter the great Censorship debate!

Is it the right thing to do? Are dissenting opinions dangerous?
Is it only right if you don't like what is being said?
If so, who gets to decide that- Big Tech? Government/ Oligarchy? You?
Or is it a sinister development that does not bode well for the future....

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## tomcat

...*sigh*..."Hedges hosted the television program On Contact for RT America from 2016 to 2022. He is an outspoken critic of American liberalism, and has described himself as a socialist and an anarchist." ...he also appears to be just another crank Sabang has trotted out for attention...

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## sabang

He was a Pulitzer Prize winning foreign correspondent for the NYT for a number of years. But OK, you reckon he is a 'Crank', *sigh*.
Should he therefore be censored?  ::chitown:: Because you reckon he is a crank?

As a matter of interest, should you also be censored if I reckon you are a crank?  :Smile:

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## tomcat

> 'Crank





> crank





> crank


...you're getting warmer... :rofl:

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## Switch

Postingbullshit that has already been discredited on a new thread? Way to go lost guy Sabang!

Adding George Galloway to the list does not attach any credit to your opinion, it adds fire to your many critics.

Who said you had no sense of humour? Oh that’s right I did. You have two responses to your continued failure.
Pretend to be serious and repost nonsense, or try and laugh your way out of it. Both massive fails for you!

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## sabang

Totally avoiding the subject matter, thus proving yourself a total ignoramus yet again? Way to go Swish!
So, is it OK to censor you because you are obviously so dumb? And if so, who gets to decide?  ::chitown::

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## cyrille

Huxley and Orwell would be shocked at the number of nutters whose causes they are co-opted to defend.

Increasing one's followers on Twitter 25 fold by slagging off Ukraine would appear pretty easy. Maybe you should start up an account, sabang? How about @nuttyasafruitcake.

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## sabang

Ukraine is just the flavour du jour syb, 'War of the Day'- this is about much more than that. Much more. That is why it is a separate thread.

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## pickel

Your link crying about American censorship is from an American website.

Nobody does censorship like Russia does. You're a fucking hypocrite sabang.

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## sabang

You could add China too, Nth Korea and several other places. So is it OK that we copy them, take a leaf from their book? I will ignore your childish petulance, but do try to consider this like an adult might.

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## cyrille

> Ukraine is just the flavour du jour.


No, the Ukraine invasion and who’s lying is the central topic of the thread. All sensible people happen to know who the liars are, slobdong.

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## pickel

> You could add China too, Nth Korea and several other places. So is it OK that we copy them, take a leaf from their book? I will ignore your childish petulance, but do try to consider this like an adult might.


You post endless links to Western media, so their viewpoints aren't really censored, are they? If you have a genuine concern about censorship, one would think you should be focusing on the worst offenders, no? Yet you don't. You're a fucking hypocrite.

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## Switch

> Ukraine is just the flavour du jour syb, 'War of the Day'- this is about much more than that. Much more. That is why it is a separate thread.


Incorrect. As I already pointed out, your so called links on here have already been discredited. You have the nerve to accuse another poster of going off topic?
I didn’t go off topic, I accused you of being disingenuous by starting a new thread with the same failed and discredited links. You Also quoted George Galloway, which is a startling choice given his previous form.

Notcontent with fouling the Ukraine threads with your propaganda, you use the same bullshit on a new thread.
Don’t expect others to agree with such rancid behaviour.

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## tomcat

> Don’t expect others to agree with such rancid behaviour.


...well, backspit maybe...he does rancid very well...

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## Shutree

> As soon as I joined that fight, my numbers literally crashed to a halt, with shadow bans and all the rest of it.


I have absolutely no idea what that whining attention seeker is whining about. Someone did something that didn't please him?






> The excuse they gave was absurd. I was abusive and I was harassing


So, maybe he was abusive and harassing? I don't care enough to look into it further.

The platforms that these people use are simply megaphones for their viewpoints, there is nothing to stop them writing to The Times or standing at Speakers' Corner or setting up a website to bang on about their ideas. They are not, in fact censored. What they are complaining about is that they have been kicked off commercial platforms for breaches of their conditions, it isn't some kind of universal human right to be on Twatter. If you don't like it, find another platform or do a Trump and build your own.

Broadly I agree with freedom of speech, I don't think the pieces you are quoting help your argument much.

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## panama hat

> Lets enter the great Censorship debate!


Sure:
Massive state censorship in Russia, China, N Korea, Iran, Sudan etc...  enforced by the threat of lengthy imprisonment, even death.

Small, if any censorship in Germany, Australia, NZ, France, Italy, Canada, the US, GB, The Netherlands etc.... 

See a pattern there?



*Thanks for the debate. 
*

Speaking of censorship - I'm banned from World News for some reason - perhaps I should adopt a posting style like you or OhWr or Bacskpit - seems to work.
Also banned from the Sports section for some unfathomable reason.

I EXPECT you and your two horsebuddies to fight for my freedom of expression

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## nidhogg

> Are dissenting opinions dangerous?


The problem is, we have moved very far from dissenting opinions.  We are now into an area of "manufactured realities".  

Doubts about the election - no problem.  Knowingly falsely claiming that there was evidence of extensive vote manipulation - big problem.

What you are really arguing about is whether people have the right to make up any old shite, and have that speech protected.

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## harrybarracuda

More sabang bollocks. It's not even worth entering his idea of a "debate" because as usual he's just posting bullshit.

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## sabang

> I'm banned from World News for some reason
> Also banned from the Sports section for some unfathomable reason.


No idea about that mate- have you asked the Mods why? Is it a suspension, or ban?
Maybe you mentioned the All Blacks in the Sports section- that deserves a ban.  :Smile: 

The OP is a bit too focused on the "Po' pity me" stories of Hedges, Scott Ritter & George Galloway, I think that is a valid criticism- because they are just the tip of the iceberg. But I certainly think it is wrong to cancel them for questioning the narrative. Whatever narrative. I bet David Icke's child sacrificing reptilian overlords conspiracy theory is not cancelled or censored though. Why? because it is so outlandish, it poses no threat. Think about that. Only cancel that which might just have credibility? H'mmm. 

On a broader topic, search engines like Google, Yahoo, Duck Duck Go and social media sites like Twitter have admitted to altering their algorithms to filter out perceived 'pro-Russian' content- presumably because of Ukraine war. Personally I think that is childish, and ridiculous. It also begs the question- where does it end? What else might they choose to filter out, or minimalize? Will we even be informed? And who decides?

Ironically, this nonsense has made at least one Russian billionaire a lot richer! The owner of Telegram, which proudly boasts that it does not filter content or opinion. It has boomed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine- given that Twitter and ilk have gone down the censorship route. I have joined myself! So you'll be pleased to know- he doesn't like Putin. But even if you love Vlad, he won't censor you.  :Smile:

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## Hugh Cow

Despite supporting pro russian propaganda and being wrong about the invasion and just about everything else you seem to be trying to divert attention from your reputation, currently lying in the deepest darkest recesses of some disgusting sewer, by saying "hey guys dont shoot the messenger who is just trying to offer an alternative viewpoint"

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## sabang

^FAIL, but I'm sure you get used to that.




> "hey guys dont shoot the messenger who is just trying to offer an alternative viewpoint"


Yeh, that is basically what I am saying. You are bringing it back to Ukraine again, but the Pov of the foreign policy realists is quite valid, especially in light of the disastrous outcome we are now witnessing. You are certainly free to disagree- but you should also have the freedom to read and consider it. Just as the Pov of those who called out the bullshit being spruiked in the lead up to the disastrous Iraq invasion was proven right- but was widely disparaged at the time. Ditto those who called out the impending quagmire in Afghanistan, and so on. Dissidents are often proven right you know. Maybe that is why they are so resisted?

Such viewpoint and analysis should not be censored, filtered, or kept from the public because it is inconvenient to the powers that be, and does not fit in with their short term agenda. So I find the current trends, and apparent public complacency about it alarming. That is the topic of this thread.

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## harrybarracuda

Realistically stupid people should be banned from posting bollocks in discussion threads.

They have a drivel thread where they can post all the bollocks they want.

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## Cujo

> Social media platforms are aggressively censoring all who challenge the* dominant narrative on Ukraine,
> *


What's that? That Russia invaded a sovereign nation?
FFS.

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## Iceman123

It is indeed a very worrying trend when the major social media companies can dictate what and whose points of view are permissible to be read.

Controlling the narrative seems to be the order of the day.

TD itself is hardly a bastion of free speech, Eg any posters that do not totally support the Ukraine in its struggle are shot down immediately with repetitive name calling and puerile insults.

I remember in the UK when Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were not allowed to be seen on TV. To circumvent this censorship we heard their viewpoints via actors. 
Were the UK govt frightened we would hear the truth?

A few years later they were meeting with the Queen and Prince Charles and were welcome everywhere.

On a personal note I like to hear both sides of the debate, reasoned argument should be allowed to prevail.
I am totally against censorship.

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## sabang

^ Goodonya mate!  :Smile:  But given your accomplishments, it is also clear you are one of the smart guys here. I too don't like being surrounded by Yes men and clones. Best ideas come from elsewhere.




> Realistically stupid people should be banned from posting bollocks in discussion threads.


Oh, and who gets to decide that 'arry- your opinion leaders? Here you are posting away anyway. Good! You are free to post bollocks, and think it too- but try to stay on topic.

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## harrybarracuda

> ^ Goodonya mate!  But given your accomplishments, it is also clear you are one of the smart guys here. I too don't like being surrounded by Yes men and clones. Best ideas come from elsewhere.
> 
> 
> Oh, and who gets to decide that 'arry- your opinion leaders? Here you are posting away anyway. Good! You are free to post bollocks, and think it too- but try to stay on topic.


Even a fucking simpleton knows to whom I'm referring.

Your endless fucking drivel should be cut and pasted to the drivel thread almost as quickly as you post it.

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## sabang

And of course, it is equally clear who the losers are too.  :Smile:

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## helge

> On a personal note I like to hear both sides of the debate, reasoned argument should be allowed to prevail.


That's about it

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## cyrille

That isn't in dispute though, obviously. 

It isn't about stifling reasoned debate.

It's about blocking ridiculous made up  :poo:  of the type sabang peddles.

But yeah, sure, Orwell would be horrified.

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## harrybarracuda

> And of course, it is equally clear who the losers are too.


No-one loses if your shit is relegated to the drivel thread where it belongs. The rest of the four wanketeers can still come running to cheer you on.

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## cyrille

In the past it was publishing that muted all the nutty crap.

If insufficient people would have paid money to read something then it never got published.

That check is no longer available.

This is linked to the high percentage of lying wankers who reach positions of responsibility these days.

Too many people conclude 'well he's a lying irresponsible bullshitter, but oh well...there's a lot of it about'.

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## sabang

I would hardly describe people of such calibre as John Mersheimer, Noam Chomsky, Jack Matlock Jr, Alastair Crooke etc as 'lying wankers'. The fact that you do shows two things, only. First being that you disagree with them- or more accurately the narrative that you have been peddled does. Second, your utter childishness and inability to debate.

Be careful what you wish for, because in the absence of free speech and expression, the common peasantry can routinely be executed for insulting people like that, whose general quality, educational attainment, seniority and overall achievement in life so far exceeds their own.  :Smile:

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## DrWilly

> reasoned argument should be allowed to prevail.


You will not find Oh woe, sabang and. backspit engaging in anything remotely resembling reasoned debate.





> I am totally against censorship


As am I. I am against repeated posting and spreading of clear propaganda.

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## sabang

> John Mersheimer, Noam Chomsky, Jack Matlock Jr, Alastair Crooke


Russian propagandists?  ::chitown::

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## pickel

> I would hardly describe people of such calibre as John Mersheimer, Noam Chomsky, Jack Matlock Jr, Alastair Crooke etc as 'lying wankers'. The fact that you do shows two things, only. First being that you disagree with them- or more accurately the narrative that you have been peddled does. Second, your utter childishness and inability to debate.


Most of them say that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is an illegal invasion. Something you can't seem to agree with.

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## sabang

It is, as I have said before. The Maidan Revoluton was also illegal. The Iraq invasion also. Also the various Thai coups. And so on. Did you have a point? Oh, it's illegal.

Catty does, so here's one for her devoted fan club-


*How Much Are We Prepared To Sacrifice To Help The US Win A Propaganda War Against Putin?*


_One severely under-discussed aspect of the latest round of escalations in Silicon Valley censorship which began at the start of the Ukraine war is the fact that it’s an entirely unprecedented order of censorship protocol. While it might look similar to all the other waves of social media purges and new categories of banned content that we’ve been experiencing since it became mainstream doctrine after the 2016 US election that tech platforms need to strictly regulate online speech, the justifications for it have taken a drastic deviation from established patterns.

What sets this new censorship escalation apart from its predecessors is that this time nobody’s pretending that it’s being done in the interests of the people. With the censorship of racists the argument was that they were inciting hate crimes and racial harassment. With the censorship of Alex Jones and QAnon the argument was that they were inciting violence. With the censorship of Covid skeptics the argument was that they were promoting misinformation that could be deadly. Even with the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story it was argued that there was a need to protect election integrity from disinformation of potentially foreign origin.

With censorship relating to the Ukraine war there is no argument that it’s being done to help the people. There is no case to be made that letting people say wrong things about this war kills Ukrainians, Americans, or anyone else. There is no case to be made that disputing claims about Russian war crimes will damage America’s democratic processes. It’s just, “Well we can’t have people saying wrong things about a war, can we?”_
Full- ​How Much Are We Prepared To Sacrifice To Help The US Win A Propaganda War Against Putin? – Caitlin Johnstone


Should Catty be censored too?  ::chitown::

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## Switch

“Should Catty be censored too?“

What a shock! sabang usually wanders off topic when the narrative goes against his opinion.  :Smile:

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## sabang

I assume you agree then, she shouldn't be censored. But her point is an interesting one, I think. This increase in censorship is a creeping thing- and nobody has consulted We the People about it. This is all happening over our heads, and without our consent.

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## cyrille

> I would hardly describe people of such calibre as John Mersheimer, Noam Chomsky, Jack Matlock Jr, Alastair Crooke etc as 'lying wankers'.


You missed the ‘this is linked to…’ part.

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## pickel

> It is, as I have said before. The Maidan Revoluton was also illegal. The Iraq invasion also. Also the various Thai coups. And so on. Did you have a point? Oh, it's illegal.


So, you don't support illegal invasions, unless it's Russia doing the invading?

I guess I've already made my point. You're a fucking hypocrite.

You come across as being the only one on TD being against the Iraq War. Other than Boon Mee, socal, and a couple of urine drinkers, pretty much the whole forum was against that war. As they are against this one. But you're not. You cry censorship while supporting the worst offenders of it.

Get my point yet?

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## sabang

Oh, Brave New World that has such idiots in it. So do you support this creeping censorship pickle, are you wary of it, opposed to it, or do you outright deny it is happening?  ::chitown::

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## pickel

> So do you support this creeping censorship pickle, are you wary of it, opposed to it, or do you outright deny it is happening?


I don't support censors as much as you do.

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## cyrille

That's rather the point, isn't it.

He sides with Putin and Xi and posts against censorship.

It's like Backspin claiming to oppose vacuity.

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## harrybarracuda

Yes, the irony of a Putin and Mr. Shithole sycophant bleating about censorship appears to be completely lost on the fucking moron.

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## bsnub

> That's rather the point, isn't it.
> 
> He sides with Putin and Xi and posts against censorship.
> 
> It's like Backspin claiming to oppose vacuity.


That about sums it up in a nutshell.

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## helge

> So do you support this creeping censorship pickle, are you wary of it, opposed to it, or do you outright deny it is happening?





> I don't support censors as much as you do.





> That's rather the point, isn't it.
> 
> He sides with Putin and Xi and posts against censorship.


 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

Dodgers or lynch mob ?

Both ?

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## pickel

> Dodgers or lynch mob ?
> 
> Both ?


Boring contrarian or devils advocate?

Both?

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## helge

> Boring contrarian or devils advocate?
> 
> Both?


Both

Dodging ?

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## sabang

*Cancel culture is inbuilt in the techno-feudalist project: conform to the hegemonic narrative, or else.  Journalism that does not conform must be taken down.

**This month, several of us – Scott Ritter, myself, ASB Military News, among others – were canceled from Twitter. The – unstated – reason: we were debunking the officially approved narrative of the Russia/NATO/Ukraine war.

As with all things Big Tech, that was predictable. I lasted only seven months on Twitter. And that was long enough. Contacts in California had told me I was on their radar because the account grew too fast, and had enormous reach, especially after the start of Operation Z.

..... The late Pompeo-era report demonizes “fringe or conspiracy-minded” websites who happen to be extremely critical of U.S. foreign policy. They include Moscow-based Strategic Culture Foundation – where I’m a columnist – and Canada-based Global Research, which republishes most of my columns (but so does Consortium News, ZeroHedge and many other U.S. websites). I’m cited in the report by name, along with quite a few top columnists.

*_The report’s “research” states that Strategic Culture – which is blocked by Facebook and Twitter – is directed by the SVR, Russian foreign intel. This is ridiculous. I met the previous editors in Moscow – young, energetic, with enquiring minds. They had to quit their jobs because after the report they started to be severely threatened online.So the directive comes straight from the State Department – and that has not changed under Biden-Harris: any analysis of U.S. foreign policy that deviates from the norm is a “conspiracy theory” – a terminology that was invented and perfected by the C.I.A.__

FULL_ PEPE ESCOBAR – Big Tech’s ‘Cancel Culture’ Love Affair – Consortium News_

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## Backspin

> What's that? That Russia invaded a sovereign nation?
> FFS.


And the USA overthrew a democratically elected government in Ukraine in 2014. But you don't believe they did.

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## Backspin

> I don't support censors as much as you do.


Before the war, all the major western networks were in Russia. BBC, DW ect. The Economist had a Russian language TV program. Radio free Europe had a radio station. All the major US social media companies were in Russia. But you don't seem to comprehend these facts.

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## Backspin

> Oh, Brave New World that has such idiots in it. So do you support this creeping censorship pickle, are you wary of it, opposed to it, or do you outright deny it is happening?


He's dodging the question and arguing in bad faith.

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## pickel

> Before the war, all the major western networks were in Russia. BBC, DW ect. The Economist had a Russian language TV program. Radio free Europe had a radio station. All the major US social media companies were in Russia. But you don't seem to comprehend these facts.


And since the war? You fucking idiot.

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## pickel

> He's dodging the question and arguing in bad faith.


There are plenty of questions I've asked you that remain unanswered. Now fuck off and go look at some more memes.

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## pickel

*The Tightening Grip of Censorship in Russia*

*Since  the start of the war in Ukraine, social media has been restricted or  banned in Russiabut a few outlets continue their coverage.*

*By Finley Muratova*



While President Putins regime has been  known for its propaganda and censorship efforts, in recent weeks, since  the start of the war in Ukraine, the situation has worsened  dramatically. Escalating media shutdownsimposed by the Russian  government and the companies themselves because of the increased  sanctionshave affected news outlets, social media and streaming services.

 Last week Russian authorities blocked Facebook and restricted access to Twitter. In response, Twitter has banned  accounts belonging to RT and Sputnik in the European Unionin accord  with EU sanctions. These media outlets are often accused of promoting a  pro-Putin agenda. Instagram began marking pages of pro-Putin or state-funded outlets with a Russian state-controlled media tag. TikTok chose to temporarily stop  allowing users in Russia to post on the platform, and Netflix suspended  its streaming services inside the country. This list of restrictions  goes on and expands to messengers such as Telegram and larger platforms such as YouTube, OnlyFans, Twitch, and others. Notably, the platforms with restricted or blocked access can still be accessed from Russia through a VPN service placing you in a different country.

Arguably, the worst of this censorship hit the press. There have  been multiple new laws implemented to prevent the media from publishing  anything divergent from the official party line of Putins government.  Heres a breakdown of a few of them, as analyzed by _Novaya Gazeta_:


*Criminal Code of Russia, article 207.3*: Public  dissemination of preemptively false information about the use of the  Russian military. Breaking this law can be punished by up to 3 years in  prison and a fine of 1.5 million rubles if there was no selfish  (which can be interpreted widely) motive. With such a motive or if the  investigation determines the disseminated information led to damages,  the prison sentence can be anywhere between five and 15 years, with the  fine rising up to 5 million rubles.*Criminal Code of Russia, article 280.3*: Public  activity aimed at discrediting the use of the Russian military with the  goal of protecting Russia and its citizens as well as supporting  international peace and safety. Breaking this law is punished by a  fine, lower for individuals and higher for any legal entity, which  newsrooms would be considered to be; a person who repeats the offense  within one year can be sentenced to three years in prison.*Criminal Code of Russia, article 284.3*: Calls to  and encouragement of restrictive mechanisms [i.e., sanctions] against  Russia, Russian citizens, and Russian entities. Breaking this law can  be punished by a fee of half a million rubles and a prison sentence of  up to three years if the offense is repeated three times within 180  days. 
_Novaya Gazeta_ captioned the Instagram post  explaining these newly introduced laws with an ominous line: From now  on a journalist, just like a person working with land mines, can make a  mistake only once. _Novaya_ itself opted to continue to work and  publish limited content relating to the war as well as subjects such as  torture of the arrested anti-war protesters. The limitations _Novaya_  imposed on itself include: not referring to the war as such and calling  it what the government doesnt let us name,as well as pausing its  news desk operations so it can continue the coverage of the war without  endangering its journalists or the newspaper. _Novaya_ has also removed a number of articles, in accordance with the governments demands, to avoid the blocking of its website.

 Sadly, _Novaya_ was alone in continuing reporting, at least among the Russian media considered free and not state-controlled. _Echo of Moscow_, _Novaya Gazeta_s  longtime colleague, published numerous anti-war letters, and as a  result was taken off air and, then, liquidated on March 3, 2022. TV Rain (also known as Dozhd) had access to its website blocked across Russia and, on March 4, 2022, it paused  its operations to navigate the rapidly changing situation and to  protect its journalists from possible criminal charges. Unfortunately,  the number of outlets unavailable in Russia without a VPN grew and  included Meduza, DOXA, and others. IStories (also known as Important Stories) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project  were even declared unwanted entities under the Russian law, meaning  any collaboration with them can lead to criminal charges for the  collaborator. 

What do these grim developments mean for  the already weak state of freedom of speech in Russia? It might mean  censorship will become absolute, even though theres still an  independent outlet (i.e., _Novaya Gazeta_) operating inside the  country. The reality, while bleak, might worsen once journalists begin  getting arrested. The independent press in Russia as well as the Russian  media in exile need the international communitys support now more than  ever. Theres an idea spreading among some editors in Russia to support  organizations such as Reporters Without Borders as well as potentially  setting up a separate non-profit to enable journalists from across the  globe in exile to continue their work. While foreigners cant donate to  Russia-based outlets without repercussions for said outlets, you can  donate to the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without  Borders, each working with the Russian press. But, most importantly,  just dont stop paying attention. Dont avert your eyes from the  devastating news. If you follow the war in Ukraine and the censorship in  Russia you will find out in time once an action item arises.

The Tightening Grip of Censorship in Russia | The Nation

----------


## sabang

^ Fair play. The specific point as it applies to "Us" is that we have always prided ourselves, and certainly not been backward in saying, that we are an Open Society, that does not practise censorship outside of criminal conduct such as incitement to violence, outright libel etc- and allows freedom of speech and expression. We also praise our independent media, and openly denigrate other societies and cultures that do not allow that freedom of the press.

Do we still have that right, that moral high ground? I believe not.

It is a bit ironic that a Russian owned messaging and social media site, Telegram, has been thrust into the spotilght for not practising censorship, filtering, or cancel culture- whatever your 'narrative'. It is booming as a result.

----------


## pickel

*The great firewall of China: Xi Jinpings internet shutdown*


In  December 2015, thousands of tech entrepreneurs and analysts, along with  a few international heads of state, gathered in Wuzhen, in southern  China, for the countrys second World Internet  Conference. At the opening ceremony the Chinese president, Xi Jinping,  set out his vision for the future of Chinas internet. We should  respect the right of individual countries to independently choose their  own path of cyber-development, said Xi, warning against foreign  interference in other countries internal affairs.

No  one was surprised by what they heard. Xi had already established that  the Chinese internet would be a world unto itself, with its content  closely monitored and managed by the Communist party. In recent years,  the Chinese leadership has devoted more and more resources to  controlling content online. Government policies have contributed to a  dramatic fall in the number of postings on the Chinese blogging platform  Sina Weibo (similar to Twitter), and have silenced many of Chinas most  important voices advocating reform and opening up the internet.

It  wasnt always like this. In the years before Xi became president in  2012, the internet had begun to afford the Chinese people an  unprecedented level of transparency and power to communicate. Popular  bloggers, some of whom advocated bold social and political reforms,  commanded tens of millions of followers. Chinese citizens used virtual  private networks (VPNs) to access blocked websites. Citizens banded  together online to hold authorities accountable for their actions,  through virtual petitions and organising physical protests. In 2010, a  survey of 300 Chinese officials revealed that 70% were anxious about  whether mistakes or details about their private life might be leaked  online. Of the almost 6,000 Chinese citizens also surveyed, 88% believed  it was good for officials to feel this anxiety.

For Xi Jinping,  however, there is no distinction between the virtual world and the real  world: both should reflect the same political values, ideals, and  standards. To this end, the government has invested in technological  upgrades to monitor and censor content. It has passed new laws on  acceptable content, and aggressively punished those who defy the new  restrictions. Under Xi, foreign content providers have found their  access to China shrinking. They are being pushed out by both Xis  ideological war and his desire that Chinese companies dominate the  countrys rapidly growing online economy.

The great firewall of China: Xi Jinping’s internet shutdown | China | The Guardian

----------


## bsnub

> And the USA overthrew a democratically elected government in Ukraine in 2014. But you don't believe they did.


Because they didn't, you lying sack of shit. It was the people of Ukraine by the thousands, and it was all on camera for months, you brain-dead clown.

----------


## sabang

> Chinese citizens used virtual private networks (VPNs) to access blocked websites


They still do- literally millions of them. So you might say, it has devolved into a two tiered society in this respect. Firstly, you have the intelligentsia or 'urban elites'. They have VPNs, commonly read and write English, even have Twitter, FB etc accounts if they so want- in the multiple millions. Basically they enjoy the same internet access we do. Then you have the proverbial 'Great Unwashed'. Most neither speak or read English, probably have no great interest anyway outside of the Celestial kingdom, no VPN (might not even know what that is)- so what they get is what they are fed. I don't like the fact it is going the same way in the west.

----------


## pickel

> Do we still have that right, that moral high ground? I believe not.


Has the US Gov't attempted to revoke Fox News broadcasting license? Censored Breitbart from the internet? You know the answer.

As for private social media companies, they are, well, private businesses. Allowed to set their own terms and conditions that users agree to in order to use the platform. Don't like it, then start your own.

----------


## VocalNeal

> Realistically stupid people should be banned from posting bollocks in discussion threads.
> 
> They have a drivel thread where they can post all the bollocks they want.


Punctuation? I like to think I'm realistic, but not sure if that makes me stupid. Although I am responding to a post on TD.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Basically they enjoy the same internet access we do.


You fucking moron.

 :rofl:

----------


## cyrille

> You fucking moron.


It's almost like he's _trying_ to be absurd. 

'Thailand has the same weather as the UK. Except for the climate.'

----------


## panama hat

> Basically they enjoy the same internet access we do.


Except that they don't.  Nice try.  That's as silly as OhWoe stating that Chinese can voice their opinions openly






> Most neither speak or read English, probably have no great interest anyway outside of the Celestial kingdom


And yet English isn't the only language out there - a bit odd coming from you, as you are usually anti-Anglo in many instances.






> I don't like the fact it is going the same way in the west.


Luckily it isn''t. 






> Do we still have that right, that moral high ground? I believe not.


In this instance?  Definitely 'we' do . . . and who is 'we'?

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Do we still have that right, that moral high ground? I believe not.


No-one gives a fuck what you "believe", as it's usually bullshit.

----------


## OhOh

*Migratory birds of mass destruction*

April 21, 2022 by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR


Albatross, famous migratory bird, is also a love bird. It is  known for being monogamous, forming long-term bond with one partner that  is rarely broken. Mated pairs never split up until one bird dies.

_"The UN Security Council held an extraordinary event on April 6 under  the rubric Arria Formula Meeting on Biological Security regarding the  biological activities in countries including Ukraine. Predictably, the  US and UK representatives didn’t show up at the event and the western  media also blacked out the proceedings. But that does not detract from  the profound significance of what transpired. The  highlight of the Security Council proceedings lasting over two hours  was the disclosure by General Igor Kirillov, chief of the Radiation,  Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, that  Washington is creating biological laboratories in different countries  and connecting them to a unified system.

He said the US has spent  more than $5 billion on military biological programs since 2005 and  detailed that in territories bordering Russia and China alone, about 60  facilities have been modernised during this period. The Ukrainian  network of laboratories is designed to conduct research and monitor the  biological situation consisting of 30 facilities in 14 populated  locations.

Highly sensitive materials from the Ukrainian  biological laboratories were exported to the US in early February just  before the Russian special operation began, and the rest were ordered to  be destroyed lest they fell into Russian hands. But the cover-up was  only partially successful. Indeed, Russia is in possession of highly  incriminating evidence. 

Previously  also, Russia had released a number of documents related to the  biological military activities of the Pentagon, which pointed toward a  worldwide project to set up biological laboratories in rival countries  with the goal of developing targeted viral weapons against those  countries. 
The proceedings of the Security Council conference on April 6 are in the public domain and are accessible.

Russia has made specific allegations, pointing finger at: 
_
_Pentagon funding for the bio-labs in Ukraine;
__Location of these bio-labs(not only in Ukraine but in 36 countries around the world);
__Diseases  and epidemics on which research work is going on, focusing on the means  for their release, the countries where they are being tested (even  without the knowledge of the governments of these countries); and, of  course,
__Experiments relating to coronavirus (and bats used to transmit this virus). 
_ 
_
However,  the US has so far point-blank refused to accept any supervision and  verification of such incriminatory evidences and has stonewalled the  demand for a verification mechanism. It is unlikely that the US will  permit an international verification process that holds the potential to  expose it as indulging in crimes against humanity — although there are  appropriate frameworks in place including the Biological Weapons  Convention (BWC) and the UN, to hear the clarifications from the  relevant country in a fair and impartial manner. 

A  mind-boggling “discovery” that Russian forces in Ukraine stumbled upon  is the use of numbered birds by the Pentagon-funded labs. This almost  falls out of science fiction and Sir Alfred Hitchcock could have made an  epic movie out of it where deception mixes with innocence and man’s  cruelty to nature becomes unbearably grotesque. The project works like  this: 
To begin with,  the Pentagon accesses the scientific data available with environmental  specialists and zoologists after studying the migration of birds and  observing them throughout the seasons, relating to the path these birds  take each year on their seasonal journey from one country to another and  even from one continent to another. 

On  the basis of this data, groups of migratory birds are caught, digitised  and capsules of germs are attached to them that carry a chip to be  controlled through computers.  They birds are then released to the flock  of the migratory birds in those target countries toward which the US  intelligence has malevolent intentions. 

Of  course, these migratory birds travel great distances. The wandering  albatross, for instance, is known to migrate at least 8500 km eastward  across the South Pacific to the coast of South America, and many shy  albatrosses migrate westward across the Indian Ocean to the coast of  South Africa.

During the long flight of the birds that have been  digitised in the Pentagon bio-labs, their movement is monitored step by  step by means of satellites and the exact locations are determined.  The  idea is that if the Biden Administration (or the CIA) has a requirement  to inflict harm on, say, Russia or China (or India for that matter),  the chip is destroyed when the bird is in their skies.  

Plainly put, kill the bird carrying the epidemic. Sadly, my mind goes back to the novel by the American author Harper Lee To Kill a Mocking Bird, the haunting story of innocence destroyed by evil. 

To  return to reality, once the “digitised” bird is killed and the capsule  of germs it carries is released, the disease spreads in the “X” or “Y”  country. It becomes a highly cost-effective method of harming an enemy  country without any need of war or coup d’état or colour revolution.

The  Russians have made the shocking claim that they are actually in  possession of such migratory birds digitised in the Pentagon’s bio-labs. 
International  law expressly forbids the numbering of migratory birds because they  freely criss-cross the blue sky and air of other countries.  By  supplying them with germs, these birds become weapons of mass  destruction. What human ingenuity! But the US enjoys total immunity from  international law.

The bottom line is that only the US  intelligence — and President Biden, perhaps, if he remembers — would  know where all humans have been infected so far in this century by the  Birds of Mass Destruction. Was Ebola that devastated Africa a test case  and precursor of things to come?
What about Covid-19, which is  known to have originated from funded laboratories that were administered  by the US? It is very likely that the US might have used migratory  birds to kill Chinese citizens. Clearly, the US in its desperation to  reverse its global decline is pulling out all the stops to restore its  hegemony in a world order that is inexorably moving toward  multipolarity."
_
Migratory birds of mass destruction - Indian Punchline

----------


## Switch

^ That’s right. The Chinese deliberately released a virus, hoping to screw the rest of the world.

Now that same virus has come back mutated to screw the Chinese in the ass.  :rofl: 

You are so amusing.  :Smile:

----------


## harrybarracuda

If there's any analogy for chinkystan that involves birds, it would be Cuckoos, for a whole lot of reasons.

----------


## sabang

> Except that they don't. Nice try.


With a VPN, you can set your 'proxy location' as anywhere you want in the world. Presumably, you would not set it to Nth Korea. Kindly explain how a tech savvy Chinese person with VPN does not enjoy the same level of internet access we do. Furthermore, using a web browser like Tor, you can avoid the recent epidemic of 'filtered content' (ie censorship) plaguing the west. Of course, we can do the same too. More tech patents are coming out of China these days than any other country, by a considerable margin. It is not at all difficult for such people to avoid the 'national firewall'- and there is no real evidence that it bothers the CPC at all. I mean, it is endemic.

----------


## Switch

Do you mean Chinese tech patents, or stealing intellectual property from others and copying it?

----------


## sabang

You can not patent stolen and copied intellectual property Einstein.

----------


## Switch

> You can not patent stolen and copied intellectual property Einstein.


The Chinese have been doing it for decades, Einstein. When the fuck will the drugs you are taking wear off?

HK must seem like wet dream to mainland Chinese. They don’t have anything like that back home you know.

----------


## sabang

Guess you must love this  :Smile: -

----------


## bsnub

> Guess you must love this


Neat! The top three Chinese corps are state owned crap-heaps. You really are dumb as fuck.

----------


## sabang

Guess that must make a lot of these people dumb as fuck too-



 ::chitown::

----------


## sabang

Why would they think such a thing, those oppressed masses?







Western Innumeracy & Chinese Growth - by Godfree Roberts

  snubs- "because they're dumb as fuck".  :sexy:

----------


## misskit

Jeez, sabang, wonder what the poll would show in 2022.

----------


## sabang

Plenty of dissent in Shanghai and HK about Covid policy, for sure (I'm with them too). But how might that effect "Is my country headed in the right direction?". I don't reckon it would be that dramatic a change.

----------


## Switch

_Its  not Brave and its certainly not new.

Its Sabangs version of a bad dream, with facts Made in China. More cheap plastic gimicks for the masses. More broken disappointments._

----------


## sabang

IMF estimates 'Made in China'?
IPSOS (listed French multinational) 'Made in China'?

I don't think so swish- but you certainly help explain why the Chinese are winning.  :Smile:

----------


## Switch

> IMF estimates 'Made in China'?
> IPSOS (listed French multinational) 'Made in China'?
> 
> I don't think so swish- but you certainly help explain why the Chinese are winning.


The Chinese, and their leader are under pressure to revise the current disastrous policies on Covid. Even now, the leader is trying to bully the members who will decide if his future is valid or not. His future is far from assured because he dare not fail.
He needs another term as leader to justify his failure. That is not guaranteed and he can’t back down now. It will be a long six months for the leader to convince his fellow communists that he knows best.
Its all falling apart but you are too blinkered to see it.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Mr. Shithole will be "reeducating" anyone who decides they don't like him staying on.

----------


## OhOh

> More cheap plastic gimicks for the masses.


The buyer defines the spec. 

Who are the buyers that are satisfied with:




> cheap plastic gimicks


NaGastan, total annual world imports     US$ 318,000,000,000. 

China, total annual exports to NaGastan US$ 100,000,000,000

United States Imports - March 2022 Data - 1950-2021 Historical - April Forecast

China Exports - March 2022 Data - 1981-2021 Historical - April Forecast - Calendar

What NaGastan buyers considers to be "cheap plastic gimicks" you'll need to check with them.

----------


## Switch

> The buyer defines the spec. 
> 
> Who are the buyers that are satisfied with:
> 
> 
> 
> NaGastan, total annual world imports     US$ 318,000,000,000. 
> 
> China, total annual exports to NaGastan US$ 100,000,000,000
> ...


I believe that you deliberately misunderstood my post.
Cheap plastic rubbish was a metaphor, for the third rate faux copies of other countries technology, that the Chinese are flooding the market with today.

It has nothing to do with buyer specifications. It’s based on price, because the Chinese have an almost inexhaustible supply of cheap labour.

You being thick does not change that, however gullible you might wish to appear. These products are bought by stupid people everywhere. The danger is, some western companies might try to hide the country of origin for these toys, just because people like you are so gullible.

----------


## bsnub

This video by Roman the Russian explains why all the "polls" that morons like the Three Stooges quote all the time are total horseshit...

----------


## sabang

*Former Intelligence Officials, Citing Russia, Say Big Tech Monopoly Power is Vital to National Security*

*When the U.S. security state announces that Big Tech's centralized censorship power must be preserved, we should ask what this reveals about whom this regime serves.*


*A group of former intelligence* and national security officials on Monday issued a jointly signed letter warning that pending legislative attempts to restrict or break up the power of Big Tech monopolies — Facebook, Google, and Amazon — would jeopardize national security because, they argue, their centralized censorship power is crucial to advancing U.S. foreign policy. The majority of this letter is devoted to repeatedly invoking the grave threat allegedly posed to the U.S. by Russia as illustrated by the invasion of Ukraine, and it repeatedly points to the dangers of Putin and the Kremlin to justify the need to preserve Big Tech's power in its maximalist form. Any attempts to restrict Big Tech's monopolistic power would therefore undermine the U.S. fight against Moscow.

While one of their central claims is that Big Tech monopoly power is necessary to combat (i.e., censor) “foreign disinformation,” several of these officials are themselves leading disinformation agents: many were the same former intelligence officials who signed the now-infamous-and-debunked pre-election letter fraudulently claiming that the authentic Hunter Biden emails had the "hallmarks” of Russia disinformation (former Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Obama CIA Director Michael Morrell, former Obama CIA/Pentagon chief Leon Panetta). Others who signed this new letter have strong financial ties to the Big Tech corporations whose power they are defending in the name of national security (Morrell, Panetta, former Bush National Security Adviser Fran Townsend).

The ostensible purpose of the letter is to warn of the national security dangers from two different bipartisan bills — one pending in the Senate, the other in the House — that would prohibit Big Tech monopolies from using their vertical power to "discriminate” against competitors (the way Google, for instance, uses its search engine business to bury the videos of competitors to its YouTube property, such as Rumble, or the way Google and Apple use their stores and Amazon uses its domination over hosting services to destroy competitors).

One bill in the Senate is co-sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), and has attracted ample support in both parties, as has a similar House bill co-sponsored by House Antitrust Committee Chair David Cicilline (D-RI) and ranking member Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO). The amount of bipartisan support each bill has garnered — and the widespread animosity toward Big Tech reflected by this Congressional support — has shocked Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook lobbyists, who are accustomed to getting their way in Washington with lavish donations to the key politicians in each party.

This letter by former national security officials is, in one sense, an act of desperation. The bills have received the support of the key committees with jurisdiction over antitrust and Big Tech. In the Senate, five conservative Republican Committee members who have been outspoken critics of Big Tech power — Grassley, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MI), Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) — joined with Democrats to ensure the passage of one bill out of the Judiciary Committee by a 16-6 vote, with a companion bill passing that Committee with the support of 20 of twenty-two Senators. As _The Intercept_'s Sara Sirota and Ryan Grim report: “Both bills have Big Tech reeling” since “a floor vote would likely be a blowout for Big Tech.”

The extreme animus harbored by large parts of the left and right toward Big Tech make it very difficult for any lawmaker to go on record in opposition to these proposed bills if they are forced to publicly take a position in a floor vote. Many Senators with financial ties to Big Tech — including the two California Senate Democrats who represent Silicon Valley and are recipients of their largesse (Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla) — have expressed reservations about these reform efforts and have refused to co-sponsor the bill, yet still voted YES when forced to vote in Committee. This shows that public pressure to rein in Big Tech is becoming too large to enable Silicon Valley to force lawmakers to ignore their constituents’ wishes with lobbyist donations. These politicians will work behind the scenes to kill efforts to rein in Big Tech, but will not vote against such efforts if forced to take a public position.

As a result, Big Tech's last hope is to keep the bill from reaching the floor where Senators would be forced to go on record, a goal they hope will be advanced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York due to his close ties to Silicon Valley. “Both [Schumer's] children are on the payroll of companies the proposals would seek to rein in,” reported _The New York Post_: “Jessica Schumer is a registered lobbyist at Amazon, according to New York state records. Alison Schumer works at Facebook as a product marketing manager.” Despite that, Schumer claimed to _The Intercept_ that he supports both bills and will vote in favor of them, even though he has engaged in maneuvers to impede the bills from getting a full floor vote.


FULL_ https://greenwald.substack.com/p/for...9gS1ztTYU8&s=r

----------


## harrybarracuda

More sabang cut and paste bollocks. He's on a roll.

----------


## bsnub

Since we all watched Romans YT vid we understand why polls in Russia are total shit. So dunce cap propagandists like subwang and the other Three Stooges have been exposed like the clowns they are.

----------


## nidhogg

> Since we all watched Romans YT vid we understand why polls in Russia are total shit. So dunce cap propagandists like subwang and the other Three Stooges have been exposed like the clowns they are.


Not seen the video.  Let me guess.  People are afraid to do anything other than to toe the line.

----------


## Switch

Sabang =
Getting ever more desperate.
When you have to resort to criticism of US politics, you flogging a dead horse.

----------


## sabang

As opposed to- if you have to resort to criticism of Chinese politics, given the results it is producing, you are not flagellating a dead horse?  ::chitown::

----------


## Switch

> As opposed to- if you have to resort to criticism of Chinese politics, given the results it is producing, you are not flagellating a dead horse?


Do try to remain relevant and on topic. I suspect you are not as dumb as you obviously want everyone to think you are. You could do so much better, but you don’t.

----------


## sabang

China is whooping your lily white ass whiteboy. Is that on topic enough for you? So that is their fault, right?  ::chitown:: Not your ruling class.

----------


## panama hat

> You can not patent stolen and copied intellectual property Einstein.


 :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl: 

Roughly $600 billion is lost in the US alone in IP theft, much of which is then patented in China as 'original'.

A company I was working for did exactly that - reverse-engineer and patent.


Yet again, sabang, you talk shit

----------


## sabang

I just love failed businessmen lecturing me about business.

----------


## harrybarracuda

You shouldn't talk about the parasitic chinkies stealing IP around the world. It upsets sabang.

----------


## Switch

> China is whooping your lily white ass whiteboy. Is that on topic enough for you? So that is their fault, right? Not your ruling class.


Thank you for the insults and for proving my original point.

When you intend to use humour, test it first. Another summary fail.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Thank you for the insults and for proving my original point.
> 
> When you intend to use humour, test it first. Another summary fail.


Don't worry, it's four wanketeers SOP to try and change the conversation when they're getting their arses handed to them on a plate.

----------


## sabang

As opposed to you getting your collective ass handed to you on a silver platter?  :Smile: 

Fun guys.

----------


## Switch

> As opposed to you getting your collective ass handed to you on a silver platter? 
> 
> Fun guys.


The result of Putin’s war is yet to be decided. Unlike your self declared win, Putin will pay for it with his job.

----------


## panama hat

> I just love failed businessmen lecturing me about business.


It's basic facts you have a problem with . . . Canada not being part of NATO, Putin never invading Ukraine, no western bank tellers in HK, HK losing out to SG in the financial hub race . . . etc ad infinitum

Yea, facts . . . 

Facts (here) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sabang (here)

----------


## cyrille

He does post an extraordinary volume of utter bollocks.

----------


## sabang

So it would seem most of the TD lowbrow herd are right on board with this censorship thing...

----------


## cyrille

It’s been explained to you, and you’re just pretending it hasn’t.

----------


## Switch

> It’s been explained to you, and you’re just pretending it hasn’t.


Hence his constantly changing direction, and shifting goalposts, trying to find a win for him.
At least he is not resorting to ad hom and personal attacks (much).

----------


## panama hat

It's the Backspit-esque switch and bait tacit - sabang has learned well from his TD master.

----------


## bsnub

> It’s been explained to you, and you’re just pretending it hasn’t.


He is a bit thick, you know.




> Hence his constantly changing direction, and shifting goalposts, trying to find a win for him.


Par the course for the Three Stooges. Obfuscation and dishonesty is their stock-in-trade.




> It's the Backspit-esque switch and bait tacit - sabang has learned well from his TD master.


Indeed, it is. After the bait in switch, skiddy these days just resorts to posting outright lies and falsehoods.

----------


## sabang

*On Being Smeared As Russian Disinformation Agents*


*The Nixon Administration Pioneered Evidence-Free ‘Russian Spy’ Smears Against Daniel Ellsberg*

NYCBC News
–
You may have noticed a reiterative theme trending in the corporate mainstream media (MSM) of late, whereby anything untoward the Common Single Truth Narrative is called out as Russian Disinformation.

If you are to believe recent *corporate media maelstroms*, it was *Russian agents* who d*erailed Hillary Clinton* (Pizzagate) and *made Trump president*. 

. 

Did they really ignore Russian calls for brokered treaty regarding the growth and border encirclement of NATO enforced allies? Really? And those stories about Western-founded biolabs in Ukraine? Absolutely positively 100% Russian disinformation. Right?

The MSM is working the Russian Disinformation story now the way they worked us over to imprint their Final Covid-19 Narrative on us. Their agenda is to ensure that any outliers who would question their version of this war face a harsh, defamatory pushback. Whether it be from friends, relatives, the media, or society at large. This is how the so-called ‘press’ operates, these days. They press us into conformity. Or else.

And so it’s fortunate we have this post from *Trevor Timm,* Executive Director of *Freedom of the Press Foundation*, to remind us that this tactic of blaming the Russians has *roots going back to the early 70’s*, at least. As originally published here:

Full- https://notcbc.ca/2022/04/22/on-bein...mation-agents/


Interesting article.

----------


## panama hat

> Interesting article.


It's not, really . . .  :rofl:  . . . it's utter shit.  Seriously, dude . . .

----------


## sabang

I had rather forgotten about Daniel Ellsberg actually. I found it an interesting read- others might too. Linked for those interested.

----------


## Switch

_NATO Enforced Allies?
_What the holy fuck are you gibbering about now?

All the recent additions to NATO are countries that experienced life under Kremlin rule. They much preferred the uncomplicated honesty of membership with a defensive and supportive alliance which they *chose* to join *
voluntarily. 
*
Sorry but you can’t blame Nixon for that. NATO is not an American organisation. It is a defensive alliance with rules of engagement designed to prevent any one nation trying to lord it over others. Unlike Putin’s War, decisions are made by consensus, not by vermin murderers.

Your offerings of any connection between history and dishonesty in the US is speculative at best. In the west, media and hooky journalists can speak freely about such ideas. It enables me and others to rubbish them. It never, ever happens in Russia or China.
All speculation and policy comes from the state and no one is allowed to survive if they disagree with it in public.

----------


## bsnub

> All the recent additions to NATO are countries that experienced life under Kremlin rule.


Why that should not be so crystal clear to anyone who lived through the Cold War leads me to believe that for the sake of pushing his bogus fake narratives he is deliberately and conveniently forgetting about such things.




> It never, ever happens in Russia or China.


Of course it doesn't those journalists would be in prison.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> I had rather forgotten about Daniel Ellsberg actually. I found it an interesting read- others might too. Linked for those interested.


Post it in the drivel thread, you'll have at least three avid readers.

----------


## sabang

In a rare move, the ABC has removed a 25-minute interview with a former Australian diplomat that “unduly favoured Russia’s perspective” and contained a number of assertions that were “highly contentious and were not adequately challenged or contextualised”.

“The ABC deeply regrets these misjudgements,” the correction, posted on Saturday, read.

As the Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border in early February, the former diplomat, Tony Kevin, told Radio National’s Big Ideas host Paul Barclay that the Russians didn’t really want Ukraine because “they think it’s a very sad country; pretty much a failed state”.

“There’s been huge emigration from Ukraine, a huge demoralisation, and Nazi elements, Ukrainian Nazi elements, have assumed positions of real power from which they can intimidate people,” Kevin said. “I think if the truth be known most Ukrainians, more than 50%, would be very glad to be part of the Russian world again, not necessarily lose their political independence but to regain the ability to get on with Russia in a normal way.”

After complaints from academics the ABC’s editorial standards team examined the interview and found “insufficient efforts were made to ensure that material facts were accurate and presented in context”.

When contacted by Weekly Beast, Kevin was shocked to learn the program had been deleted. “What a slur on Paul Barclay, one of ABC’s best and most experienced broadcasters of ideas,” Kevin said. “I was never informed that our interview might be subjected to this incredible censorship days after it went to air.”

To Russia with love: ABC takes down interview sympathetic to Moscow’s stance on Ukraine (msn.com)

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Tony Kevin, told Radio National’s Big Ideas host Paul Barclay that the Russians didn’t really want Ukraine because “they think it’s a very sad country; pretty much a failed state”


I'm pretty sure the Russians don't give a shit.

It's Putin that is behind the invasion, no-one else.

ABC were right to remove this drivel.

----------


## sabang

I reckon the views of an ex-Diplomat are well worth reading, even if you don't agree with them. read all about him here if ya want, but it's the blatant censorship that is germane to this thread-

Please Wait... | Cloudflare

Tony Kevin

----------


## bsnub

> I reckon the views of an ex-Diplomat are well worth reading


Anyone who calls Ukraine a failed state is a moron whose opinion is not worth listening too. Somalia and Afghanistan are failed states, Ukraine was a relatively modern European nation before the criminal Russian invasion. 

I had a friend living in Kyiv at the outset of the war, he is back in the states now. I just spoke with him this evening and happened to mention that there are some blowhards in TD referring to Ukraine as a failed state, and he broke into laughter. Utterly ridiculous claim and just more of your bogus propaganda.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> I reckon the views of an ex-Diplomat are well worth reading, even if you don't agree with them. read all about him here if ya want, but it's the blatant censorship that is germane to this thread-


It's not censorship, it's fact checking you wanker.

----------


## cyrille

> It's not censorship, it's fact checking you wanker.


Quite. 

The term 'failed state' is one of most misused terms around, and frequently a giveaway of a bullshitting idiot.

----------


## cyrille

> At least he is not resorting to ad hom and personal attacks (much).


Your 'go to' choice on the BREXIT and Boris threads, which won't be forgotten.

----------


## panama hat

> It's not censorship, it's fact checking you wanker.


Ah, at least in Russia, NKorea and China there is neither . . . or was it both?  Ask OhWoe and the other two assclowns

----------


## sabang

*The online payment system gave no warning or reason why Consortium News‘ account has been “permanently limited.” PayPal indicated that only if “applicable” will the balance be returned.**By Joe Lauria
*_Special to Consortium News

_*P*ayPal has canceled _Consortium News_‘ account without any prior notice or due process and with virtually no explanation.As _Consortium News_ is today launching its Spring Fund Drive, it has lost one of its most important ways for its viewers and readers to show their support through donations.  Clicking on the yellow PayPal donate button on our home page now yields this message:



PayPal has sent an email to _CN_ that says:

“You can’t use PayPal anymore. … We noticed activity in your account that’s inconsistent with our User Agreement and we no longer offer you PayPal services. … Because of potential risk exposure, we’ve permanently limited your account. You’ll no longer be able to use the account for any transactions.”


The message says that “any money in your PayPal balance will be held for up to 180 days,” after which, “if applicable, we’ll email you with information on how to withdraw any remaining money.”_Consortium’s_ PayPal account page now shows a similar message

*No Prior Notice or Explanation*There was no prior notice sent nor was_ Consortium News_ afforded any due process. A PayPal customer service agent confirmed in a telephone call on Sunday that the “back office” gave no specific reason for “permanently limiting” _CN_‘s account other than that an “investigation and review” of _CN_‘s “history found some potential risk associated with this account.”   She said the “potential risk” from_ CN_ is “not exactly specified by the back office.”  The agent said, “It has something to do with the history of this account.”  Asked whether any agency, government or private, or any individual had complained to PayPal about _CN_, the customer service agent replied, “I don’t see any existing case.”The agent could not explain why _Consortium News_ was given no notice or any due process, but promised to ask the “back office” to contact _CN_ to explain. Regarding the $9,348.14 balance in _CN_‘s PayPal account, the agent said that after a 180-day review PayPal would decide whether to return it. “If there was a violation,” she said “it is possible” the money could be kept as “damages” to PayPal.  Violations under the Restricted Activities of the User Agreement  include providing “false, inaccurate or misleading information” to PayPal, other PayPal customers “or third parties.”Given the current political climate it is more than conceivable that PayPal is reacting to _Consortium News’_ coverage of the war in Ukraine, which is not in line with the dominant narrative that is being increasingly enforced. _Last week PayPal also froze the account of the alternative news site MintPressNews. PayPal was_ _sued_ _in California in January in a class action for similarly shutting down accounts._ 


*Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and numerous other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times.  He can be reached at joelauria@consortiumnews.com and followed on Twitter @unjoe 

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/05/0...seize-balance/*

----------


## bsnub

:smiley laughing:

----------


## sabang

I'm finally gonna open a Bitcoin account.

----------


## bsnub

> I'm finally gonna open a Bitcoin account.


You are a bit late to the party.

----------


## sabang

Homeland Security chief says the task force is the exact opposite of George Orwell’s infamous brainchild

The newly unveiled ‘Disinformation Governance Board’, operating within the US Department of Homeland Security, has triggered a massive pushback, forcing DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas to make several appearances on national TV in an attempt to clarify how the unit will operate.

Many critics, including top Republicans, have blasted the initiative as a crackdown on free speech, akin to a ‘Ministry of Truth’ taken from the pages of George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘1984’.

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Mayorkas dismissed the criticism by claiming that thought policing is _“precisely the opposite of what this small working group within the Department of Homeland Security will do.”
_
_“What it will do is gather together best practices in addressing the threat of disinformation from foreign state adversaries from the cartels and disseminate those best practices to the operators that have been executing in addressing this threat for years,”_ he explained, after CNN’s Dana Bash said it was still not clear _“how this governance board will act.”

The DHS chief also repeatedly reassured Americans that the unit has absolutely no intention, “operational authority,” or “capability” to spy on US citizens.
_
The new body is headed by Nina Jankowicz, whose resume includes working with the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and overseeing the Russia and Belarus programs at the National Democratic Institute lobby group. Detractors also scrutinized her for dismissing the New York Post’s suppressed Hunter Biden laptop story as a fake _“Russian influence op,”_ only for it to be later verified by major media outlets.

In a separate appearance on Fox News Sunday, Mayorkas defended the qualifications and objectivity of Jankowicz, calling her _“eminently qualified”_ and a _“renowned expert in the field of disinformation.”

__I don’t question her objectivity. There are people in the department who have a diverse range of views and they’re incredibly dedicated to mission. We’re not the opinion police.

_
White House press secretary Jen Psaki also attempted to play down the ‘anti-disinformation’ initiative as an alleged _“continuation of work that began at the Department of Homeland Security in 2020, under former President Trump.”_

The new censorship push was announced on Wednesday, just two days after billionaire Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for $44 billion and vowed to restore freedom of speech on the platform.

Responding to news of Musk’s Twitter takeover, Jankowicz said, _“I shudder to think about if free speech absolutists were taking over more platforms, what that would look like for the marginalized communities, which are already shouldering disproportionate amounts of this abuse.”

US government defends 'Ministry of Truth' — RT World News_

----------


## harrybarracuda

You can understand why the Republicans are so against it: They are the ones peddling the bullshit.

----------


## sabang

*PayPal Blocks Multiple Alternative Media Figures Critical Of US Empire Narratives*_
"In the era of a declining US empire, censorship has become the last resort of an unpopular regime and its forever wars to make the truth disappear and critical thinking all but dead. With the war in Ukraine raging on, we’ve entered war time and Big Tech giants, including Paypal, are working hand in hand with the New Cold War architects themselves to sanction dissenting journalists. If you read the board of any of these tech giants from Google, Twitter, Facebook and Paypal, they read like a rogues' gallery of war mongers and their agenda is clear: To control the free flow of information and target the bank accounts of anyone who dares question the official narrative of the Pentagon or State Department.

_
_"It is outrageous to be told that tech giants, which are run by those who directly profit from the New Cold war including the crisis in Ukraine, could limit any journalist’s ability to fund their work. Can you imagine if this was the norm in Russia, China or Iran? Our media would be screaming about free speech and first amendment rights. Yet, when we do it’s ok because it’s under the guise of fighting 'Russian propaganda'.

_https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/paypal-blocks-multiple-alternative?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoyOTEwNjc5OCwicG9z  dF9pZCI6NTMwNjg4NDIsIl8iOiIybmZnTCIsImlhdCI6MTY1MT  U0MDc0NywiZXhwIjoxNjUxNTQ0MzQ3LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItODIx  MjQiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.69SKCqxtPpCrLB  56S47yyaccBfDIoi2gk21A-X_bL10&s=r

 ::chitown::

----------


## harrybarracuda

Paypal blocking misinformation scammers from making money.

What a cracking idea.

----------


## sabang

Thought you might love that 'arry. Would you like to be Big Brother, one day?  :yerman:

----------


## bsnub

> It is outrageous to be told that tech giants, which are run by those who directly profit from the New Cold war including the crisis in Ukraine


What a crock of shit.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Thought you might love that 'arry. Would you like to be Big Brother, one day?


I can understand why you would desperately try and criticise it, since all you post is bollocks as well. But the truth is a lot of people would like to see pathological liars on the internet exposed, and certainly deprived of the opportunity to make money from their bullshit.

----------


## cyrille

> Thought you might love that 'arry. Would you like to be Big Brother, one day?


Private companies making their own decisions about how they conduct their business is the complete antithesis of ‘big brother’.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that you can’t possibly have read ‘1984’.

----------


## bsnub

> Private companies making their own decisions about how they conduct their business is the complete antithesis of ‘big brother’.


Exactly! Really simple for those of us more reasoned folks. 

 ::chitown:: 




> It’s becoming increasingly apparent that you can’t possibly have read ‘1984’.


 :Smile:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> It’s becoming increasingly apparent that you can’t possibly have read ‘1984’.


Unless it's pop-up or colouring, unlikely he's read anything.

----------


## OhOh

> *Private companies* making *their own decisions*





> *Exactly*!


 :rofl: 

Surely abiding to this NaGastan government agency "rules", you mean:

*Bidens disinformation czar Nina Jankowicz accused of being a Democratic propogandist*


May 02, 2022 - 11:58AM






_"The  White House has been forced to defend its decision to create a  Disinformation Governance Board to combat disinformation online.

_
_The board, which is under the purview of the Department of Homeland security, will be headed up by Nina Jankowicz."_

Bidens disinformation czar Nina Jankowicz accused of being a Democratic propogandist | Sky News Australia

----------


## bsnub

Nice shit source, OhDoh you fucking moron.

----------


## sabang

> Private companies making their own decisions about how they conduct their business is the complete antithesis of ‘big brother’.


The 'Disinformation Governance Board' is a government agency, and part of the Dept of Homeland Security. Curious to know how you consider that to be the antithesis of big brother?

----------


## bsnub

Except you are not telling the truth, you are pushing fantasist propaganda nonsense.

----------


## cyrille

> The 'Disinformation Governance Board' is a government agency, and part of the Dept of Homeland Security. Curious to know how you consider that to be the antithesis of big brother?


Curious to know how you've mixed up my response to your clueless comments about PayPal with ohno's off topic drivel? 

Well not really - it's disingenuous nonsense, which is what you two do.

----------


## sabang

> fantasist propaganda nonsense.


Lets examine some, from recent history.


10/7/2002, *George W. Bush*, President


_“The Iraqi regime . . . possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons. We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas.”
_

03/16/2003,* Dick Cheney*, Vice President


_“My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . . I think it will go relatively quickly, . . . [in] weeks rather than months.”
_

03/22/2003, *General Tommy Franks

*
_“There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them.”_ 


Just wondering how under the new censorship regime and recently established government Truth agency, these criminals could have been defunded, and their vile lies shielded from a vulnerable and gullible public?  :Smile: 


Instead of, y'know the Truthtellers being sidelined, demonized, and losing their jobs if in MSM.  ::chitown:: Is that what you reckon the new 'regime' will accomplish?  ::chitown::

----------


## bsnub

More whataboutism nonsense crap. You always resort to that when you have no retort. 

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

Like a cornered rat.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Curious to know how you've mixed up my response to your clueless comments about PayPal with ohno's off topic drivel? 
> 
> Well not really - it's disingenuous nonsense, which is what you two do.


Straw clutching is SOP for the four wanketeers.

----------


## sabang

Whataboutism?? And you think of yourself as a Patriot. Maybe you should listen to an actual Patriot-






„This is a book about a lie and the liars who told it to the American people. It is also about citizenship and the responsibility of all Americans to hold themselves to the highest standards of citizenship, including holding accountable those we elect to represent us in higher office. It is about truth, justice and the rule of law and the danger imposed on us all by those who lie, pervert justice, and absolve themselves from the rule of law.“ —  Scott Ritter, book Frontier Justice

Source: Scott Ritter quotes (13 quotes) | Quotes of famous people



„This is not about the security of the United States. This is about domestic American politics. The national security of the United States of America has been hijacked by a handful of neo-conservatives who are using their position of authority to pursue their own ideologically-driven political ambitions. The day we go to war for that reason is the day we have failed collectively as a nation.“ —  Scott Ritter

Source: Scott Ritter quotes (13 quotes) | Quotes of famous people


Funny how Scott Ritter is one of those being censored in this Brave New World.

----------


## bsnub

> Maybe you should listen to an actual Patriot-


This clown again. You are repetitive. He is a discredited convicted felon. Do you have a more credible source to back up your repetitive crap?

----------


## pickel

> Funny how Scott Ritter is one of those being censored in this Brave New World.


He literally gets paid from a state owned Russian propaganda service. A state that censors, no, jails, people who's opinions go against the official state narrative. And he's crying about censorship. He's a fucking hypocrite just like you sabang.

----------


## misskit

^ And, apparently married to a woman who is suspected to be a Russian asset. Rumor only, you know.

“Ritter has also long been suspected of being recruited by the Soviets "who honey potted him, with a woman he would eventually marry", U.S. former intelligence officer and Newsweek editor-at-large Naveed Jamali tweeted on Thursday.

Jamali said Ritter met his wife in 1988 while in the Soviet Union doing weapons inspection. His wife Marina Ritter was part of a group of "young girls" introduced to American inspectors. The New York Times reported that the FBI continously questioned Marina, because the agency believed she was a former KGB agent. Ritter described the investigation into his wife as "harassment".”

Scott Ritter's Twitter Reinstated After Suspension Over Ukraine Remarks

----------


## bsnub

> apparently married to a woman who is suspected to be a Russian asset.


No surprise there. Sabwang and his strange bedfellows.

----------


## sabang

^^ Out of date kitty. Scott Ritter has been permanently banned from Twitter in the Brave New World.


*Twitter Re-Ban of Scott Ritter, Kafkaesque Support of Impersonator, Is All About Anti-Russia Propaganda*

Posted on April 14, 2022 by Yves Smith

Scott Ritter has the misfortune to be articulate, well-reasoned, and tenacious in staking our officialdom-offending views. That has put him on Twitter’s permanent shit list. We’ll recap his current must-read article on Consortium News describing in painful detail why his second ban this month is on obviously fabricated charges. And to add insult to injury, Twitter has allowed a Scott Ritter impersonator to set up shop, despite that clearly violating Twitter’s own policies as well as identity theft laws in New York, where Ritter lives, and California, where Twitter is headquartered.

Ritter is far from the only once-prominent Twitter voice to be suspended for wrong-think on Ukraine:





And even though it would require discovery to prove it to the “preponderance of evidence” standard, Twitter’s posture as Enforcer of the Narrative sure makes it walk and talk like a state actor.

By way of background, the former UN weapons inspector was one of the loudest, most persistent, and effective critics of the bogus “WMD in Iraq” claim, which was the basis for our invasion. Ritter has now been making the rounds, mainly on non-mainstream leftish shows like CN Live! Greyzone, Maverick Multimedia, and the Antiwar Coalition as well as what is stereotyped as the bro-ish libertarian right, such at The Duran and Gonzalo Lira. Oh, and he has the temerity to still appear on the verboten RT.

Ritter’s view of the war has been decisively opposed to the version pumped out by the press: Russia is winning and will win decisively. He’s been overly bullish on the timetable, but has given detailed accounts of how Russia has engaged in classic “maneuver warfare” to shape the battlefield and dictate the nature and timing of the engagement. He’s also stressed that media employees and supposed military experts who’ve never seen a day of combat keep projecting US methods onto Russia and thus completely misconstruing what is going on. Russia has not gone the US route of taking out electricity, cell towers, the Internet, and railroads at the onset. Nor has it bombed cities into rubble, which it could easily have done. It has instead gone easy on civilians, taken more military losses, and has prosecuted the war in a more step-by-step, grinding manner, slowly but systematically destroying Ukraine’s ability to wage war while avoiding its cities as much as possible. Russia follows Clausewitz, and Clausewitz argued the fastest path to victory was destroying armies, not cities.

Twitter Re-Ban of Scott Ritter, Kafkaesque Support of Impersonator, Is All About Anti-Russia Propaganda | naked capitalism

----------


## bsnub

> He’s been overly bullish on the timetable, but has given detailed accounts of how Russia has engaged in classic “maneuver warfare” to shape the battlefield and dictate the nature and timing of the engagement.


They are a disorganized band of rapists, murders and thieves who have no tactics and shit logistics. Your shill is shoveling propaganda shit.

----------


## sabang

So, he was right about those WMDs, but he is wrong now?  ::chitown:: Any monkey can wave a US flag snub.

----------


## bsnub

> So, he was right about those WMDs, but he is wrong now?


More whataboutism crap. He is very wrong and just a paid propaganda shill. His words do not even come close to what is actually happening on the battlefield. But you keep buying the nonsense "Mister this war will never happen"

 :rofl: 




> Any monkey can wave a US flag snub.


Just debunking the propaganda BS you post. You cling to Ritter because he is the only shill trying to claim the Russians are actually winning.

----------


## sabang

So, Russia will be driven out of "Ukraine" snubs, by a triumphant Ukrainian army?  ::chitown:: Yes or No.

----------


## pickel

> So, Russia will be driven out of "Ukraine" snubs, by a triumphant Ukrainian army? Yes or No.


All occupiers are eventually driven out. Either by conventional war, or an insurgency, or protests at home. Just a matter of time. Russian Mothers are starting to get the picture.

----------


## bsnub

> So, Russia will be driven out of "Ukraine" snubs, by a triumphant Ukrainian army?


I am not such a big idiot to say one way or the other. You were when you swore that this war would never happen. You made a complete fool of yourself, and remarkably you continue to do so, choosing to be on the wrong side of history. 

Russia is in a bad place right now, and its northern front at Kharkiv is on the verge of collapsing. The advance in the south is progressing at a snails pace. So no matter how you slice it, Russia is not doing well in this war.

Remember, the Donbass was supposed to be taken in less than six days.

 :rofl:

----------


## sabang

> its northern front at Kharkiv is on the verge of collapsing.


 ::chitown::

----------


## harrybarracuda

I don't understand. Why is sabang so keen to defend a convicted paedophile?

 ::chitown::

----------


## sabang

He is a very good military analyst, ex US Marine Intelligence officer, and UN senior weapons Inspector. The fact that he talked dirty to two FBI agents posing as teenaged girls in an admitted FBI sting operation does not change that. I neither need to defend or condemn his private life, any more than I do LTGEN the now Canadian Prisoner of War and alleged sex offender.

Scott Ritter - Wikipedia

----------


## bsnub

*



Russia showing clear 'casualty aversion', as troops forced to retreat from Kharkiv 
*
*Ukrainians are pushing Russians back from Kharkiv, Pentagon says; evacuations continue from Mariupol*

----------


## bsnub

> He is a very good military analyst, ex US Marine Intelligence officer, and UN senior weapons Inspector.


He is a shill and a lying propagandist. Nothing more. He has not a shred of credibility.

----------


## sabang

^^ Already covered in Ritters excellent analysis.

_
__“Pity the nation, whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced, and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.”_

----------


## harrybarracuda

> He is a very good military analyst, ex US Marine Intelligence officer, and UN senior weapons Inspector. The fact that he talked dirty to two FBI agents posing as teenaged girls in an admitted FBI sting operation does not change that. I neither need to defend or condemn his private life, any more than I do LTGEN the now Canadian Prisoner of War and alleged sex offender.
> 
> Scott Ritter - Wikipedia


Do you like him because he's a wanker too?

----------


## pickel

> _
> __“Pity the nation, whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced, and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.”_


That is Russia described to a T.

----------


## DrWilly

> The fact that he talked dirty to two FBI agents posing as teenaged girls in an admitted FBI sting operation does not change that.


An FBI sting does not change the fact he is a nonce.

And he did more than just 'talk dirty'.

Why are trying to minimise his crimes?

----------


## bsnub

> Already covered in Ritters excellent analysis.


Nope and I read his "analysis" it is total shit propaganda not based in reality.




> Why are trying to minimise his crimes?


Because Ritter is pro Russian shill and supports Sabwangs bullshit narrative.

----------


## sabang

An intelligent person is quite capable of reading it and deciding for themselves, General.


*Ukraine is winning the battle on Twitter, but in the real world Kiev is losing the fight for the Donbass*Claims that Ukraine is set for victory on the ground are Kiev and Washington’s wishful thinking at best
DDOS-GUARD


You however, wish to prevent intelligent people doing exactly that. Which would seem to add to the cogency of actually reading said article.  ::chitown::

----------


## sabang

... Gatekeeping discourse is a surefire way to control the narrative, controlling what people see, what they say, and ultimately – what they believe. It’s also an effective means to silence dissent, and quash those who might speak out against the regime’s approved narrative – or even the regime itself.

The new Ministry of Truth is a tool, and there is no reality in which this tool will not be used for bad intent – and it’ll claim to be doing it all in the name of the greater good.

Unsurprisingly, the Ministry of Truth was rushed into creation seemingly as a reaction to “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk’s purchase of the social media platform, Twitter, the de facto town square of political discourse and public narratives.

With the relinquishment of Twitter to Musk, those who control mainstream narratives fear they will lose out on an important resource, and will no longer be able to promote narratives and fix algorithms to sway public opinion – at least not with ease. There will be pushback, and their positions are not ones they are willing to defend, hence why the creation of this new tool is necessary. It keeps the plebeians in check.

Free speech, which in Musk’s belief is “_essential to a functioning democracy,_” *flies directly in the face of the Biden administration’s attempts to crack down on viewpoints that contradict the regime’s official narrative*. And who better to head the Disinformation Governance Board than Nina Jankowicz, who herself perpetuated several regime-approved falsehoods?...

Full- https://www.rt.com/news/554906-biden-disinformation-governance-board/

----------


## bsnub

> An intelligent person is quite capable of reading it and deciding for themselves, General.


An intelligent person would recognize it as propaganda shit, not based on what is actually happening on the battlefield.

You clearly are having trouble finding credible sources to back up your shit narrative, since you keep reposting this trash.

----------


## sabang

So let intelligent people decide for themselves, and stop spamming every thread.  :Spam:  Almost like, you're scared of something....

----------


## Switch

> So let intelligent people decide for themselves, and stop spamming every thread.  Almost like, you're scared of something....


when you start using RT as the source for your proof, he’s probably worried for your sanity and your levels of desperation!

----------


## cyrille

I'm afraid that ship has clearly sailed...and sunk.  :Sad:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> An FBI sting does not change the fact he is a nonce.
> 
> And he did more than just 'talk dirty'.
> 
> Why are trying to minimise his crimes?


One word: Empathy.

----------


## bsnub

> So let intelligent people decide for themselves, and stop spamming every thread.


It is you, not me, that is spamming threads with that Scott Ritter shit article.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> It is you, not me, that is spamming threads with that paedophile's article.


FTFY.

----------


## sabang

*Shut Up, the Disinformation Governance Board Explained*


*The only way to overcome lies is with truth, and the government can’t be the arbiter of what that is.*



It’s always exciting for progressives when they create a new government office of something or other. They live for this: another excuse to spend piles of taxpayer dollars; another polysyllabic title and flashy logo; another opportunity to extend the long, comforting arm of the bureaucracy into the business of ordinary citizens who never knew how impoverished their lives were without it.

So there was a tangible buzz of excitement around Washington last week when the Department of Homeland Security proudly inaugurated the Disinformation Governance Board.

Other than its title and the identity of its executive director, there’s not much we know about this exciting-sounding new body. Its job, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told a congressional committee last week, is to tackle falsehoods that threaten the national security of the U.S. He made it sound over the weekend as though it is all about preventing human traffickers and smugglers from misrepresenting themselves—all harmless enough.

But we also learned last week that it will be headed by Nina Jankowicz. Her Twitter feed makes her look like a cross between Madame Mao and Bette Midler—a mix of impeccably conformist left-wing views about politics and media misinformation—the Hunter Biden story was Russian disinformation, the Steele Dossier was all true, etc.—with excruciating political parodies of musical-theater numbers. Watching her videos is a little like being an audience member at a Christmas concert in a prisoner-of-war camp.

The institution she heads—let’s call it the DGB, which has a nice ring to it and is close enough alphabetically and in spirit to another three-initialed organization from another country that was tasked with enforcing the official version of the truth—is potentially a vehicle for all kinds of new rules to stop the left’s version of untruths emanating from media and tech firms.

But how might it work? Will it have investigative powers? Will it be given its own enforcement resources? Is it going to solicit referrals from the public? Will operators be available around the clock to answer calls from concerned neighbors about violations of information protocols?

“Hello? Is that the DGB? I think the people next door are watching Fox News again.”

Ms. Jankowicz and her little corner of the proliferating bureaucracy sound so preposterous that they’re easy targets to mock. Mr. Mayorkas tried to clean up some of the mess, insisting free speech was safe.

But our progressive overlords are on the warpath against what they define as misinformation and disinformation, and it’s no laughing matter. You can see it in their hysterical reaction to Elon Musk’s planned acquisition of Twitter. When the site banned various accounts and people on the right it was, we were told, simply a private company, with no special public obligations. Now the prospect of a wider range of voices on the platform is a dagger aimed at the heart of democracy and must be regulated.

“People are dying because of misinformation,” Barack Obama told a Silicon Valley audience last month. You may remember Mr. Obama. He’s been a tireless warrior for years in the twilight struggle for truth in politics. If you have a long enough memory you’ll recall that he was the president who gave a speech in 2009 to promote his signature healthcare measure, in which he attacked critics of the plan for their “scare tactics and fear-mongering.”

Summoning his famous oratorical skills at a crucial moment, he was as determined then as he is now to lay to rest all the misinformation his opponents were peddling: “No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.”

We don’t know how many people died because of that piece of misinformation—a whopper of such proportions that even PolitiFact, the self-appointed arbiter of truth and lies, awarded it its coveted “Lie of the Year” title in 2013—five years after rating it “true”—by which time it had become clear that what critics had been saying about ObamaCare was in fact neither scare tactics nor fear-mongering but the truth.

It was certainly a consequential falsehood—one that in 2009-10 helped shore up what little popular support there was for ObamaCare and perhaps persuaded some doubtful Democrats to vote for it.

Yet, even as it was exposed, no one, as far as I recall, was saying the president should be prohibited from contributing to national discussions on a major tech platform.

You don’t promote truth by banning error. You don’t have a monopoly on truth in the first place, and you may discover your “truths” are errors or lies. Even if you’re right, and epistemically 100% certain, it doesn’t give you the authority to ban someone from saying something different.

The only proven effective way to counter bad information is with good information. The only way to overcome lies is with truth.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/jankowi...=hp_opin_pos_4


Seems to me, Lib'rul America and the trainwreck, moribund Biden administration have totally lost the plot.
_[Thanks for the article OhOh_ _]_

----------


## DrWilly

No one is fukking banned you twat.

----------


## sabang

Defunded
Deplatformed
Cancelled
Filtered
And yes, Banned too

*COMPANIES THAT HAVE RESTRICTED ACCESS TO RT*


Microsoft has removed RT from its Windows app store globally. The company is also de-ranking RT and Sputnik in Bing and will not show ads from Russian state-sponsored media, Reuters reports.Roku initially barred RT on its streaming devices in Europe, but is now removing the app in all markets including the United States.Google has blocked RT’s Android app in Ukrainian territory at the request of the government there, Reuters reports, though the app remains available elsewhere. It has also blocked the YouTube channels for RT and Sputnik in Europe, and has barred RT from earning ad revenue on YouTube.Meta (Facebook’s parent company) has blocked users from accessing RT and Sputnik content in Europe and barred the outlets from earning ad revenue on its platforms.TikTok has also blocked users from accessing RT and Sputnik content in Europe.After this story was published, DirecTV confirmed to Axios that it is immediately dropping RT America from its channel lineup.Apple pulled the RT and Sputnik apps from the App Store on Tuesday afternoon, while also pausing sales of its products in Russia.Amazon confirmed on Thursday that it had joined its peers, removing the RT app on Fire TV streaming devices and smart TVs.
*COMPANIES THAT HAVE NOT*


RT does not have a large presence on cable and streaming services, but remains available on Dish Network and Dish’s Sling TV streaming service. A Dish spokesperson told CNN that it is “closely monitoring the situation.”
https://www.fastcompany.com/90726527...crosoft-google

_Can still get RT on the internet though. It has some interesting stuff. Some dross too, of course-.
_
https://www.rt.com/

----------


## pickel

^
And what stations has Russia banned?

----------


## sabang

Do some research and tell us pickle! I recall reading they expelled some Euro channels in retaliation for the EU banning RT.

----------


## pickel

RT is banned because it is a monetary source for the Russian government. Non state owned pro Russian channels are still available.

----------


## OhOh

> Russia banned


Branston pickle still available in Russia, for now. The recipe doesn't change much. Apparently delivered in 1943, a welcome British enhancement to Lend Lease.

----------


## OhOh

> Thanks for the article OhOh

----------


## harrybarracuda

> RT is banned because it is a monetary source for the Russian government. Non state owned pro Russian channels are still available.


It's also banned because it's just a medium for Puffy Putin to push his lies.

Plus it's shit.

----------


## panama hat

> I don't understand. Why is sabang so keen to defend a convicted paedophile?





> He is a very good military analyst


Umm . . . ok.

----------


## bsnub

> And what stations has Russia banned?





> _First published Mar 2, 2022.  Last updated to include latest blocked sites Russia relating to Ukraine  invasion, including Google News, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, BBC  News, NPR and Bild, and Amnesty International._
> 
> We analyzed over 14,500 entries to Russia’s central registry of blocked websites and found *1,330 domains* relating to the Ukraine invasion have been banned since Feb 24.*Notable bans:* Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google News, BBC  News, NPR, Bild, Ukrayinska Pravda, Meduza.io, Interfax-Ukraine, Radio  Free Liberty sites, Voice of America, Bellingcat, Amnesty International  and Chess.com*News sites:* 849 domains now blocked, mainly Ukrainian news  services but growing numbers of independent Russian and foreign services  with local language sites.*Anti-war sites*: Russia has blocked 239 domains that feature prominent anti-war and pro-Ukraine propaganda.*Financial sites:* 148 foreign exchange and cryptocurrency platforms blocked since the devaluation of the rouble.


List of Websites Blocked in Russia Since Ukraine Invasion

----------


## Switch

> Defunded
> Deplatformed
> Cancelled
> Filtered
> And yes, Banned too
> 
> *COMPANIES THAT HAVE RESTRICTED ACCESS TO RT*
> 
> 
> ...


Are you suggesting that these filters apply only to western media?

Should they not equally apply to RT, OhOh’s Chinese regurgitations, and your own choice of (oft discredited) links?

----------


## misskit

I read RT and Tass every day. You don’t need an app. WTF? 

The one I can’t get in is Meduza.

----------


## sabang



----------


## harrybarracuda

Putin apologist and supporter of war crimes.

Shame they let him out already.

----------


## sabang

So he was 'right' when he criticised Yanukovich, but he is 'wrong' now to criticise the magnificent Zelensky, and deserves to be incarcerated indefinitely. Or worse.  ::chitown:: 
In this complex world, what would you do with a person who is sometimes right, and sometimes wrong in your (very humble) opinion 'arry? Ban Opinions, perhaps?
_[Except for Yours of course, as fed to you]. "Brave New World, that has such people in it..."_

----------


## harrybarracuda

> So he was 'right' when he criticised Yanukovich, but he is 'wrong' now to criticise the magnificent Zelensky, and deserves to be incarcerated indefinitely. Or worse. 
> In this complex world, what would you do with a person who is sometimes right, and sometimes wrong in your (very humble) opinion 'arry? Ban Opinions, perhaps?
> _[Except for Yours of course, as fed to you]. "Brave New World, that has such people in it..."_


He published information that was useful to the Russian military.

Personally I think they should chuck him in the slammer for life, he is an accomplice to war crimes.

----------


## Switch

> So he was 'right' when he criticised Yanukovich, but he is 'wrong' now to criticise the magnificent Zelensky, and deserves to be incarcerated indefinitely. Or worse. 
> In this complex world, what would you do with a person who is sometimes right, and sometimes wrong in your (very humble) opinion 'arry? Ban Opinions, perhaps?
> _[Except for Yours of course, as fed to you]. "Brave New World, that has such people in it..."_


What exactly is this guys beef?

BTW your world is not brave, and certainly not new.

----------


## bsnub

> He published information that was useful to the Russian military.


That is a high crime for sure and charges of treason are justified, especially in wartime.

----------


## sabang

^^ Shakespeare's The Tempest is absolutely not new swish. Did you say you were a teacher, sigh?
^ Of course you do snubs. A big fan of extrajudicial rendition, aren't you?

----------


## bsnub

> Of course you do snubs. A big fan of extrajudicial rendition, aren't you?


Nice try with the false assumption, but this guy is bad news. Not surprising, you are trying to spin it into something else. Just more shilling on your part.

----------


## sabang

> That is a high crime for sure and charges of treason are justified, especially in wartime.


In Spain? Spain isn't at war you know.  ::chitown::

----------


## bsnub

> In Spain? Spain isn't at war you know.


He will be deported to Ukraine to face the charges.

----------


## sabang

I guess Julian Assange knows all about that.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> I guess Julian Assange knows all about that.


Oh here we go, sabang cheerleads another Putin stooge.

----------


## Switch

> ^^ Shakespeare's The Tempest is absolutely not new swish. Did you say you were a teacher, sigh?
> ^ Of course you do snubs. A big fan of extrajudicial rendition, aren't you?


No one ever said I was a teacher, least of all me!

You are still not new or brave. Do try to stay on topic please.

----------


## DrWilly

> You are still not new or brave.



He dearly likes to believe he is in much the same manner that Backspit thinks he is edgy and cool. 


.


> Do try to stay on topic please.


He literally cannot. It’s a tactic particularly when he has no rebuttal or run out of argument. It’s as transparent as a Grade 8 debate team.

----------


## panama hat

> He dearly likes to believe he is in much the same manner that Backspit thinks he is edgy and cool.


At least he impresses Backspit . . . whereas OhWoe just sees him as a tool, in many ways.






> In Spain? Spain isn't at war you know.


You've shown your idiocy many times here but this is fairly well up there.

----------


## sabang

Elon Musk said he will reverse Twitter's permanent ban of former President Donald Trump should the Tesla CEO conclude his deal to acquire the social media company for $44 billion.

Musk, speaking virtually at a Future of the Car summit hosted by the Financial Times, said Twitter's Trump ban was a "morally bad decision" and "foolish in the extreme." He said permanent bans of Twitter accounts should be rare and reserved for accounts that are scams or automated bots.

"I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice," Musk said. "So I think this may end up being frankly worse than having a single forum where everyone can debate. I guess the answer is that I would reverse the permanent ban."

Musk has repeatedly criticized Twitter's content moderation decisions, including the Trump ban, but had mostly avoided saying what he would do about Trump's account until he was pressed for more details Tuesday by Peter Campbell, a Financial Times automotive correspondent. Twitter banned Trump's account in January 2021 for "incitement of violence" following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. 
FULL- Elon Musk says he will lift Twitter's ban on Trump (newstalkzb.co.nz)


Hurrah. The twitteratti have as much right to be exposed to The donalds idiocy as slowjoe & co's.

----------


## sabang

As populism rises in the West, so do crackdowns on narratives that deviate from those of the state
_Rachel Marsden is a columnist, political strategist, and host of independently produced talk-shows in French and English._


When US President Joe Biden announced on April 27 that a new Disinformation Governance Board would serve the Department of Homeland Security, it was just the latest turn of the screw on freedom. This time, it’s an affront to citizens’ right to a diversity of information.

It’s one thing to correct inaccurate information, but this new entity seems more oriented towards narrative-policing that cracks down on the interpretation of information rather than the accuracy of it. Headed by a former communications advisor to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Nina Jankowicz, one of the board’s first responsibilities will be to address _“disinformation coming from Russia as well as misleading messages about the US-Mexico border,”_ according to CBS News. Interesting that these two issues – immigration and foreign conflicts – are currently viewed as two of Washington’s most significant failures, which have given rise to populist dissent. Make no mistake, it’s the dissent that’s the ultimate target.

The fact that a former Ukraine government spin doctor was viewed as the best person to head up the new initiative tells you everything you need to know about its true purpose. Jankowicz published a book in 2020 whose title suggests that she believes the West to be in an online war with Russia. ‘How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict,’ portrays Western narratives as truthful and Russian narratives as _“fake news.”_ Doing so obscures the fact that the mainstream Western media has not been immune to propagating narratives peddled by the state that could retroactively be considered fake news or war propaganda. Meanwhile, Russian media has often provided a platform for those seeking to express – or access – dissenting analysis or information that falls outside of the Western media bubble. Clearly, there are some ‘democracies’ that are bothered by this.

The appetite of Western nations to ensure that their citizens are only fed information that they control through their own highly concentrated government or corporate subsidized media isn’t new. It’s just getting more voracious. Perhaps it’s because the more authoritarian their agenda becomes, the more populist sentiment increases and gives rise to events such as Brexit or the election of Donald Trump, as well as trends such as opposition to US-backed conflicts, the rise in popularity of various populist political parties in Europe, and demonstrations against pandemic mandates, which just happen to be associated with government-issued QR codes.

Dissent is the enemy of authoritarian ambition. Supposedly free countries have manipulated their citizens into believing that censorship of certain views is for people’s own safety and security – hence why the military in Canada, the UK, and France, and now Homeland Security in the US, are involved in narrative policing. In reality, their efforts seem to be more about ensuring citizens’ compliance with their own agenda.

The fusion of domestic security and disinformation came to light as early as 2016, when the European Parliament grotesquely conflated Islamic terrorist propaganda with Russian media, in what seemed to be itself a propaganda effort to undermine the Russian media by equating these two totally unrelated   things. But one by one, Western governments have placed free speech under national security control.

France, for example, handed off responsibility for online information arbitration to its domestic intelligence agency (the DGSI) and has reportedly considered involving defense-funded startups in the effort.

Canada has also turned to its security apparatus to shape Canadians’ information landscape – at least twice. The Communications Security Establishment, the country’s electronic spying agency, has been tweeting its own interpretations of disputed events occurring in the fog of the conflict in Ukraine as indisputable fact, while routinely denouncing Russia’s interpretation as invalid.

But Canada’s security establishment isn’t at its first rodeo in attempting to prevent citizens’ thinking from deviating from the state’s messaging. Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the country’s armed forces deployed a months-long, military-grade propaganda campaign, which employed tactics honed during the war in Afghanistan, to mind-bend unsuspecting Canadians towards Trudeau’s Covid narrative, CBC News reported last year.

Not to be outdone, the psychological warfare specialists of the 77th brigade of Britain’s armed forces have also worked to shape messaging both in favor of the government’s Covid policies and against anything contrary out of Russia. _“One current priority is combating the spread of harmful, false and misleading narratives through disinformation. To bolster this effort, the British Army will be deploying two experts in countering disinformation. They will advise and support NATO in ensuring its citizens have the right information to protect themselves and its democracies are protected from malicious disinformation operations used by adversaries,”_ Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said last year.

The fact that public safety and disinformation have suddenly become routinely conflated should be worrisome to defenders of whatever remnants of democracy that we still have left. Terrorism, health and now disinformation have all served as pretexts for the rapid erosion of our freedoms – all under the guise of protecting us from bad actors. But are we really safer? Or are we just increasingly less free?

https://www.rt.com/news/554978-us-di...ernance-board/

----------


## harrybarracuda

You have to wonder just how retarded people can be to quote Russian state propaganda claiming other countries control their media.

 :rofl:

----------


## sabang

You have to wonder just how retarded we have become when Russian state media can knock us for our censorship!

----------


## harrybarracuda

> You have to wonder just how retarded we have become when Russian state media can knock us for our censorship!


Russia state propaganda can say whatever it likes dumbarse (and it does). It's all bollocks.

----------


## panama hat

> He published information that was useful to the Russian military.
> 
> Personally I think they should chuck him in the slammer for life, he is an accomplice to war crimes.





> In Spain? Spain isn't at war you know.





> You've shown your idiocy many times here but this is fairly well up there.


So, still no explanation why you think Spain not being at war hinders the country extraditing someone . . . you're really an idiot. 






> You have to wonder just how retarded we have become when Russian state media can knock us for our censorship!


You have to be retarded to think Russia/Soviet Union hasn't been doing that for decades

----------


## misskit



----------


## sabang

*The NATO to TikTok Pipeline: Why is TikTok Employing So Many National Security Agents?
*

*TikTok has become an enormously influential medium that reaches over one billion people worldwide. Having control over its algorithm or content moderation means the ability to set the terms of global debate and decide what people see. And what they don’t.
*

]_by Alan Macleod


CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA – As the bloody conflict in Ukraine continues to escalate, so does the online propaganda war between Russia and the West. A prime example of this is the White House directly briefing influencers on popular social media app TikTok about the war and how to cover it. As the crisis spirals out of control, Americans have turned to TikTok to view real time videos and analysis of the invasion. With the app estimated to have around 70 million U.S. users, the White House is keenly aware of its impact. “We recognize this is a critically important avenue in the way the American public is finding out about the latest … so we wanted to make sure you had the latest information from an authoritative source,” President Joe Biden’s director of digital strategy, Rob Flaherty, told 30 top TikTok influencers.

TikTok itself has taken steps to align itself with U.S. government policy, deleting more than 320,000 Russian accounts and removing at least 41,000 videos peddling misinformation about the war. In addition to this, it has placed warning labels marked “Russia state-controlled media” on 49 accounts linked to the Russian government. Like other big social media platforms, it has not done the same to Western state-owned outlets such as the BBC, RTÉ, or the CBC.

All this is a far cry from 2020, when President Donald Trump signed an order that would shut down TikTok within 45 days unless it was sold to an American buyer. The Chinese-owned platform, the U.S. government alleged, posed a severe national security threat to the United States. Although TikTok is a Chinese company, it is, ironically, completely blocked inside China, their domestic market being served by a sister app, Douyin, which functions in a similar way but is separated by the Great Firewall. Thus, there is no contact or overlap between the two. After Douyin’s success in China, its parent company ByteDance launched a global platform.

ByteDance first reached a deal to sell TikTok to Microsoft, then to Oracle and Walmart. Yet the new Biden administration, without explanation, quietly dropped the sale requirement indefinitely in early 2021, saying in a court filing that it had begun a review of security concerns cited by the Trump administration.

That decision left buyers and onlookers alike perplexed. Yet studying the backgrounds of dozens of key TikTok employees brought on since the 2020 scare suggests that, instead of destroying TikTok, perhaps the U.S. national security state has co-opted it instead.

High-placed NATO recruits

Since 2020, there has been a wave of former spooks, spies and mandarins appointed to influential positions within TikTok, particularly around content and policy – some of whom, on paper at least, appear unqualified for such roles.

For example, while simultaneously being the Content Policy Lead for TikTok Canada, Alexander Corbeil is also the vice president of the NATO Association of Canada, a NATO-funded organization chaired by former Canadian Minister of Defense David Collenette. In order to join TikTok, Corbeil left his job at the SecDev Foundation, a U.S. State Department-funded security think tank. Corbeil’s work focused on Middle Eastern security and in particular on the war in Syria and what NATO’s role should be.

Another NATO-linked new recruit is Ayse Koçak, a Global Product Policy manager at the company. Before joining TikTok last year, she spent three years at NATO. Like Corbeil, Koçak had special expertise in Middle Eastern politics, including a year’s tour in Iraq as the organization’s deputy senior civilian representative.

Foard Copeland, who works on TikTok’s trust and safety policy, is also an ex-NATO man. Copeland previously worked as a desk officer for NATO, as well as for the Department of Defense. Between 2011 and 2021, he also worked for U.S. contractor Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI), spending much of that time in Afghanistan. DAI has long been accused of being a CIA front group, perhaps with some justification. In 2009, for example, DAI agent Alan Gross was arrested in Cuba and sentenced to 15 years in prison for spying, espionage, and his part in efforts to destabilize the government.

Perhaps the most worrying NATO alumnus, from a public perspective, is new Feature Policy Manager Greg Andersen. According to his own LinkedIn profile, until 2019, Andersen worked on “psychological operations” for NATO. This fact, according to MintPress contributor Lowkey, was removed after his tweet raising concerns about the relationship between big tech and the national security state went viral. Lowkey wrote:

So, the White House is briefing TikTok users about Ukraine. It is also alarming that the current Livestream Policy Manager for Europe, Middle East & Africa at TikTok, Greg Anderson, worked in psychological operations for NATO. A free society is not shaped like this.

FULL- https://www.mintpressnews.com/nato-t...agents/280336/_

----------


## Norton

> A prime example of this is Putin directly briefing influencers on popular social media app Teakdoor about the war and how to cover it


Are influencers paid in rubles or $ Sab?

----------


## pickel

> Although TikTok is a Chinese company, it is, ironically, completely blocked inside China, their domestic market being served by a sister app, Douyin, which functions in a similar way but is separated by the Great Firewall. Thus, there is no contact or overlap between the two.


That kind of censorship doesn't bother sabang one bit though.

----------


## sabang

I'm pretty sure the 'high placed Nato recruits' are paid in $ norts. Even Vlad can't influence that.

----------


## pickel

> I'm pretty sure the 'high placed Nato recruits' are paid in $ norts. Even Vlad can't influence that.


Try reading Nortons quote again. Take your time.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Sabang probably doesn't even understand why this is funny.





> World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has become the latest target of China’s censors, as Beijing attempts to manage discontent with its draconian “zero-COVID” policies.
> At a media briefing Tuesday, Dr. Tedros said the WHO believes China’s pandemic approach “will not be sustainable” and recommended a shift in policy.
> “The virus is evolving, changing its behaviours, becoming more transmissible,” he told reporters. “When we talk about a ‘zero-COVID’ strategy, we don’t think it’s sustainable.”
> Speaking after Dr. Tedros, WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said governments “need to balance the control measures against the impact they have on society, the impact they have on the economy.”
> The WHO officials’ comments were initially shared on Chinese social media, including by verified accounts linked to the United Nations, but the posts were later deleted. Posts under a hashtag on Weibo – “WHO says China’s zero policy is unsustainable” – were also disabled.
> 
> China censors WHO chief after he warns ‘zero COVID’ policy not sustainable - The Globe and Mail

----------


## HuangLao

As the universal dumbing down continues on. 
Part and parcel.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> As the universal dumbing down continues on. 
> Part and parcel.


Surely you must be close to the nadir by now Jeff?

It certainly comes across that way.

----------


## OhOh

> That kind of censorship doesn't bother sabang one bit though.


You may wish to read one companies analysis, prior to confirming your prejudices to all here at TD.

*TikTok and Douyin Explained*

                                        March 22, 2021

_"Laws and regulations in China restrict a broad range of speech online,  and companies are held liable for the content on their platforms."

TikTok and Douyin Explained - The Citizen Lab
_
Similar to many countries actions around the world. Are some more restrictive than others? Are all countries "laws and Regulations" the same? Are some authorities "laws and regulations" backed by laws or just a Government appointed "department/person" for example:

*Department Of Homeland Security Announces New Disinformation Board

https://www.state.gov/disarming-disinformation/#nav__primary-nav* 

*About the Citizen Lab*

_"The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk  School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto,  focusing on research, development, and high-level strategic policy and  legal engagement at the intersection of information and communication  technologies, human rights, and global security._ _We use a “mixed methods” approach to research combining practices  from political science, law, computer science, and area studies. Our  research includes: investigating digital espionage against civil  society, documenting Internet filtering and other technologies and  practices that impact freedom of expression online, analyzing privacy,  security, and information controls of popular applications, and  examining transparency and accountability mechanisms relevant to the  relationship between corporations and state agencies regarding personal  data and other surveillance activities."_

About the Citizen Lab - The Citizen Lab

----------


## pickel

> prior to confirming your prejudices to all here at TD.


I'm quite happy to confirm my prejudices to all here.

I think China is an authoritarian shithole, and I think you're a wanker.  :Smile:

----------


## sabang

O Canada!  :France: 




*Rhea Goikoetxea

* · Follow
Updated 5h

*Do you regret moving to Canada?*

Yes I did.

Canada is SEVERELY overhyped! Canada is surprisingly underdeveloped in a HUGE number of ways!

I lasted two years plus some months until I couldn’t take it anymore and drove myself down to the US.


Cost of living is high. Internet/phone unbelievably expensive. 275 CAD a month with Rogers. But it’s not just phone/internet. Even flying out of Canada is unbelievably expensive. That is supposedly because the country lacks competition as Air Canada runs the show. Which takes me to the next point.Everything is a monopoly so customer gets screwed with poor service, huge prices. From the airlines industry, to telephone companies, to cable, to whatever, you’re at the mercy of the monopoly and they DO NOT care about you! Trust me, you can ROT IN CANCEROUS HELL and they won’t bend a finger to help you because THEY TRULY BUT TRULY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU!Canadians are brainwashed into believing they are unbelievably lucky for living in Canada so they do not question anything, they are passive and accepting of the maple leaf penis that gets shoved down their butts everyday courtesy of Ottawa. The government is UNBELIEVABLY intrusive! To the point is big brother like.Fake friendliness which never goes beyond hello…. Everything is a “sorry”, I am so sick of the damn “sorry’s”. Here is the thing, they do not mean it, it’s EMPTY! Sorry means nothing, it’s not being polite, it’s a custom and it’s largely fake! I’ll be an asshole but I’ll say sorry so it’s ok!It sucks when it comes to dating, passive men almost afraid of approaching women. DULL DULL DULL. At times I would question myself, “damn I must be very ugly”, I mean men act as if I do not exist. But then I would head into the Us, Colombia, Spain, Belgium and guys would hit on me. Back into Canada and back to being invisible because men are extremely passive!Canadian homes are badly insulated and cheaply made, it’s January -35C/negative Fahrenheit outside and homes feel drafty. My friend had frozen canned items in her cabinets because turns out the kitchen pantry was not insulated. Of course, the rent was up in the sky!Cities are dull, monotonous with little focus on urban beauty judging by the cement block boxes they call buildings. Everything is made out of cardboard and sheetrock so you get the feeling of being a run down movie set. And the suburbs are even more depressing with this gray like homes that follow the car dependent US design with almost no charm.More racist and more backwards than it likes to admit. Especially after all the finger-pointing they do when it comes to Americans.A nation whose identity is based off on having an Angel complex towards the US. Canada is obsessed with demonizing Americans while patting themselves on the back.Mediocre job market.Extremely bureaucratic. Dealing with bureaucracy in Ontario is traumatizing!HORRENDOUS Weather! From October to April expect snow, freezing temperatures, endless gray. Canadians convince themselves it’s fun to have cities covered in melting-muddy snow paired with awful grey skies for four months out of the year.Canadian experience is a way for them to fuck highly qualified immigrant workers by condemning to do jobs no Canadian wants. I’ve never seen so many engineers from India and the Middle East driving cabs or delivering food!Repetitive landscapes. Forget diversity of landscapes… The whole driving from arid west coast through deserts, then endless flatlands, ending up in semi tropical rainforests on the American south kind of thing does not happen in Canada. From Nova Scotia to Vancouver it’s all the same… Pine tree after pine tree until the eye can see and then random lake. Thousands of kilometers/miles of nothing but that until it all looks the same to you.Canada has the charm of Cleveland OH and the efficiency of New Orleans LA. Dull cities, dull people, dull weather for most of the year, no creativity, no dynamism, no energy. Just dull people working in whatever mediocre job, going home in their foreign made cars, buying useless cheap stuff from foreign chains, and being dull watching foreign American TV because even that they can’t produce!Cultureless, soulless. They claim Quebec city is like Europe but its fortress was built by an American in the late 19th century.The only place in Canada that does not feel like an airport lounge is Montreal. Too bad the weather makes it unlivable.Mediocre mindset, things halfway done are acceptable and if you’re thriving they’ll look at you with suspicion. Do not expect a dynamic society!Extremely high cost of utilities with below par salaries and a tax system that completely bleeds you outta your a**. Bonus time is a fun time when people literally shed years because govt takes almost half of your lump sum bonus. And if you want to buy a house! HAAAAAA good luck! It’s so overpriced you don’t stand a chance!

BTW, every time you mention the cons of Canada to Canadians, they overcompensate by telling you the Us is dangerous (regardless of how unrelated the US is to the subject) and how Americans have no health insurance. (Once again, even if the topic does not relate to US folks in any way)
Ironically in Canada the healthcare system is abysmally mediocre!


https://www.quora.com/Do-you-regret-moving-to-Canada


I guess people have different tastes. I thought Vancouver was OK.  ::chitown::

----------


## pickel

^
There's a lot of non truths in that, but it's not worth the time to point them out. She comes across as a narcissist so Im not surprised she didnt like it. Canada has its faults for sure, but not as many as most countries. Australia is the most racist one I've been to.

And if China is so great, why do so many of them live here?

----------


## Switch

> ^
> There's a lot of non truths in that, but it's not worth the time to point them out. She comes across as a narcissist so Im not surprised she didnt like it. Canada has its faults for sure, but not as many as most countries. Australia is the most racist one I've been to.
> 
> And if China is so great, why do so many of them live here?


Canada is ok, apart from SoCal and the French, they have not filled every space with unsustainable property growth.
Pretty much every country on earth has a sizeable Chinese population. They are everywhere, because even countries that have major downsides are a better alternaive than subsisting in the dark, in China!

The Chinese who managed to escape the claustrophobic conditions in China are the lucky ones, unless they landed in Russia ….

----------


## sabang

This rather intelligent Chinese person does not seem to agree.  ::chitown:: 




*Mika Jiang
* studied International Law at Harvard University
Updated Nov 30, 2019

It was the right decision at the time when China was not a good place to be. Now that China has surpassed Canada in many aspects moving here is starting to feel like a big mistake. I’ve been in Canada for 20 plus years but not much as changed unlike other countries. Here are some major issues:

1.) The taxes are very high and become progressively higher as you make more money. So success basically yields diminishing returns and effectively punishes success and rewards failure. This lead to a huge brain drain problem where the most industrious Canadians move to the US where they are treated better.
2.) The universal healthcare is very inefficient. I’ve waited in the ER for 15 hours once. Getting a specialist could take months. Check-ups are not covered. You can’t even opt out of this system as they’ve made private health insurance illegal.
3.) No matter how much stellar work experience you have from other developed countries they won’t be recognized. I think they do this to protect local Canadians so they don’t have to compete with international talent. Very ironic as they set a very high bar for skilled immigration when they don’t even utilize those skills. There are doctors from Russia that end up as taxi drivers because their license and experience is null and void here. To me this is institutional racism.
4.) The culture is very much rooted in all the trappings of left-wing ideology. You are taught from a very young age to look at wealth and upward mobility with suspicion. There’s a general mentality of victimhood and entitlement. If you’re not successful it must be the fault of corporations or rich people. The gov’t is supposed to solve all your problems. I find this to be very demoralizing and depressing. I don’t think this is the message you should send to young people.
5.) There’s a drug problem on the streets. I’ve never seen so many meth heads anywhere else in the world. I’m not sure what caused this. Maybe the laws are too lenient towards drug dealing and usage? In major cities downtown you will find a lot of druggies panhandling for money. Mostly young people.
6.) The media is very biased. Almost everything reported on China and any other non OECD countries is 100% negative and nobody ever questions its validity. The exception is US, they are also viewed as evil. The people here see themselves as the good guys and the rest of the world is problematic or straight up unethical.

I think when we left China we thought we were escaping an oppressive regime to live in a democratic utopia. What we learned is that democracy may not be the best form of gov’t (even though they train you to believe it is) and western media does just as good of a job brainwashing their own people. The narrative Canada sells is not necessarily a reflection of reality. Perhaps freedom is just a concept.

_Edit: I just want to add that I think the reason Canada sits on its high horse of ethics and points the fingers at others is because they only have one neighbor and it’s a friendly one. They have plenty of natural resources and low population. They never have to worry about starvation or invasion. It’s easy to be ethical when you don’t have to make the tough decisions to defend your territory and secure resources. It’s not fair for them to judge.__
Do you regret moving to Canada? - Quora

_I guess yours is not the only opinion (thank goodness).  :UK:

----------


## Switch

Woman makes decision she later regrets. Well colour me shocked.

Are you suggesting that the worlds China towns are populated by unhappy people?One woman changes her mind v millions of happy settled residents who have no intention of returning.

----------


## bsnub

> I guess yours is not the only opinion (thank goodness).


More crap off of quora. Your desperation is apparent as you are really scrapping the bottom of the barrel. As usual, just making a fool of yourself.

----------


## sabang

Actually, I find your desperation abundantly apparent.  ::chitown:: Rather childish too.

And I quite like a bit of a wind-up.  :Smile:

----------


## panama hat

> The TikTok War


You must be disappointed that in thsi war there are no murdered babies.






> That kind of censorship doesn't bother sabang one bit though.


sabang's hypocrisy is legend, of course






> And if China is so great, why do so many of them live here?


According to sabang China is the happiest country in the wor
d with 107% of the population happy with the gobvernment





> And I quite like a bit of a wind-up.


You should be used to being wound up by now

----------


## DrWilly

> FULL- https://www.mintpressnews


Mint Press News again.

----------


## bsnub

> Actually, I find your desperation abundantly apparent.


Utterly laughable. I am not the one posting idiotic shit off Quora.

----------


## OhOh

> I thought Vancouver was OK


An hour's drive east of Calgary, for a few years of never ending prairies, the "village" had a dozen houses and a general store. Hares and hawks, kept the dogs and me fit. The grain silos ment some life at harvest time when the farmers trucks/grain trains arrived. 

Moved to an hour's drive south-west of Calgary, two houses on a 640 acre "section". 90% highway 10% rural roads - wide gravel roads, Rocky Mountains foothills, lakes, coyotes, deer, hawks ..... was idyllic for me. Not so much for wife no. 1. At that time thought marriage was sacrosanct, returned to Huddersfield, UK.

Loved Canada and living there. Stayed long enough, seven years, to be granted citizenship.

----------


## OhOh

Posted on May 13, 2022 by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR
*Indo-Pacific strategy adrift in an illusion*_
"The Chinese daily Global Times featured a political cartoon marking  the US-ASEAN summit meeting in Washington on May 12-13. It showed the US  President Joe Biden seeking help from a bus load of ASEAN officials to  give a push to his battle tank hopelessly stuck on slush and mud and is  sinking._ 



_Biden’s tank is of course on the road to China.  The  cartoon captures the US’ desperate need to get the ASEAN countries  align with its so-called Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at containing  China. The ASEAN countries live by trade, but Washington’s obsessive  focus is on security and coercive diplomacy, and the mismatch hinders  the Indo-Pacific strategy from gaining traction.

__The summit is a pivotal moment when the ASEAN leaders get to see  whether Biden has anything to offer by way of economic cooperation —  trading and investing, etc. — or will continue to cede regional economic  integration with their region to China. In 2021, China’s trade with the  ASEAN countries had touched US$878.2 billion, by far outstripping the  US’ trade with ASEAN ($362 billion per last available 2021 figures.)     
_
_The  summit is not expected to yield much substance. Biden is placing store  on its symbolism. He hopes to impress the ASEAN leaderships that even at  such a fateful juncture with a war raging in Europe, the Indo-Pacific  strategy remains his heart’s desire. 
_
_No  doubt, Biden hopes to push the Ukraine issue with the ASEAN leaders  seeking a coalition with them against Moscow. But the ASEAN countries  have mixed views on Ukraine. Myanmar at one end is supporting Russia,  while Singapore instinctively embraces Washington’s sanctions against  Russia. Vietnam and Laos, with strong connections to Moscow since Soviet  era, abstained at the UN General Assembly votes reprimanding Russia.  The ASEAN countries are concerned over the increases in the cost of oil,  gas, grains and fertilisers due to the conflict in Ukraine and call for  a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
_
_Washington’s entreaties to  exclude Russia from the G-20, East Asia Summit and APEC later this year  have been disregarded by the host countries (Jakarta, Phnom Penh and  Bangkok.) Washington’s projection of Ukraine crisis as a confrontation  between democracy and autocracy won’t fly in Southeast Asia, which  widely practises hybrid forms of authoritarianism (Indonesia and  Malaysia being exceptions.) The ASEAN countries do not want another  bipolar world order. Nor do they want to get caught in the US-China  rivalry trap. Besides, Russia is one of those rare countries that offers  space for ASEAN to navigate the US-China relationship. 
_
_It  will be interesting to see whether Biden pushes the envelope by  coercing the ASEAN leaders to cut back on weapons purchases from Moscow  or threaten them with secondary sanctions on Russian oil. Vietnam,  Myanmar, Malaysia, and Indonesia have purchased a significant amount of  military hardware from Russia. 
_
_Fundamentally,  the US holds a weak hand in the absence of a robust economic and trade  strategy to counter China’s increasing influence in the region. The  Biden Administration is averse to negotiating any new free trade  agreements. With with protectionist sentiments running high, opening  American market access is viewed as politically perilous._ 
_The  ASEAN, on the contrary, revel in free trade options. It is currently  negotiating a FTA with Canada and its members are signatories to the  Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership  (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP).  Beijing is a bird of the same feather — it has even applied for  membership to CPTPP, while through RCEP, it aims to become even more  integrated with ASEAN. Equally, the US lags far behind China in  infrastructure investment. Washington has tom-tommed a Build Back Better  World initiative to counter Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, but it  remains in words.
_
_The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which was  announced in February as part of the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy, is  unlikely to seduce the ASEAN leaders. The point is, for ASEAN countries,  the bigger market by far is China. They are not going to be persuaded  to build a supply chain completely decoupled from China._ 
_Singaporean  Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said that Southeast Asia “does not  want to choose” between China and the US. Indeed, ASEAN strives to  maintain positive relations with both Washington and Beijing. The  paradox is, while there could be strategic convergence between some  ASEAN countries and US over China’s rise, there is also divergence with  regard to the US approaches — in particular, Washington’s goals to  counter the rise of China by building a US-led security order that might  undermine ASEAN and by weaponising sanctions in its diplomatic toolbox.
_
_The  Indo-Pacific strategy visualises sees the development of a ‘free’ and  ‘open’ region bolstered by strong alliances and partnerships. Such goals  entice the Quad, which savours attempts to manage the rise of China.  But where the ASEAN does not see eye to eye with Quad is in its desire  (and need) for more robust economic engagement with Beijing and its  preference for inclusive cooperation. Again, Beijing has come up with an  alternative to a US-led security order when it counter-proposed its  Global Security Initiative at the recent Boao Forum for Asia focusing on principles such as indivisible security. 
_
_On  the South China Sea, the Washington Summit will make the usual noises  about upholding international law, the UN Convention on the Law of the  Sea and the peaceful resolution of disputes, but here too, how far the  ASEAN is convinced about genuine US respect for its centrality in the  regional security architecture is a moot point._ 
_Meanwhile,  a new factor is the election victory of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as the  next president of the Philippines. His running mate Sara Duterte is the  daughter of outgoing president, Rodrigo Duterte, who had skilfully  carved out a middle position between Beijing and Washington, resisting  attempts by the US to raise tensions in the South China Sea, and opting  instead to work with Beijing on territorial disputes and keeping  high-level channels of communication open with Beijing on issues of  mutual concern, including direct contact with President Xi Jinping. 
_
_As  his presidential legacy, Marcos Jr. has vowed to sign a bilateral deal  with China to settle the South China Sea issue. Xi Jinping’s congratulatory message  to Marcos suggests that Beijing apparently senses an opportunity to  reset the balance of relations with Manila. Conceivably, if Philippines  and China enter into deeper cooperation as well as finally resolve their  South China Sea issue, it will shake up the Asia-Pacific, undermine the  US efforts to militarise the southeast Asian region and render  hopelessly obsolete Biden’s Indo-Pacific strategy itself._ 
_Interestingly,  Philippines, which was the US’ closest regional ally historically, is  giving a miss to the Washington Summit, pleading the political  transition in Manila. During his entire 6-year presidency, Duterte never  once visited the US.__"_

Indo-Pacific strategy adrift in an illusion - Indian Punchline

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Rodrigo Duterte, who had skilfully carved out a middle position between Beijing and Washington, resisting attempts by the US to raise tensions in the South China Sea, and opting instead to work with Beijing on territorial disputes and keeping high-level channels of communication open with Beijing on issues of mutual concern, including direct contact with President Xi Jinping.


Translation: Duterte has kept his gob shut while the chinkies ravaged his country for fear of interrupting the flow of _cake tins_. With a Marcos and his daughter taking over, they will also keep their gobs shit like good chinky stooges so the money should keep flowing in to the personal bank accounts of these thieving fucking families.

----------


## Switch

OhOh, sorry to report, but China is shut!

----------


## OhOh

^Nay problem. The elderly Chinese will relish a bit of peace.

 Thai express always deliver come heatwave, tornado or monsoon.

----------


## Hugh Cow

Not one Asian country including Japan Sth Korea or China has made it to developed world status or anything approaching it by not dealing with the 40 plus trillion economy of the west. 
Russia is about to find out even a country of its vast size needs the west and the results when it chooses to provoke the west into isolating Russia from their economies.
China will try to separate and bully small countries but even the CCP understands the perils of isolation from western markets. Western countries are already looking at product substitution from China.

----------


## sabang

_That willingness to conceal Ukraine’s corruption and authoritarianism has grown even worse since the outbreak of war with Russia.
__
_The U.S. news media’s treatment of the Ukraine issue has long been characterized by flagrant favoritism. Reports from organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Transparency International, and Freedom House showing that Ukraine’s actual conduct differed markedly from its carefully crafted image as a dedicated young democracy received little coverage in the mainstream press.

That willingness to conceal Ukraine’s corruption and authoritarianism has grown even worse since the outbreak of war with Russia. Media coverage moved quickly from ignoring or minimizing inconvenient information about Kyiv’s political and economic system to channeling outright Ukrainian propaganda.

For example, multiple unfiltered stories from _Ukrayinska Pravda and other Ukrainian news outlets have become a nearly daily feature on Yahoo’s news feed. Official statements and press releases from Ukraine’s government also appear on Yahoo and other outlets, frequently without an acknowledgment that the accuracy of those accounts could not be confirmed.
_
_Contents in the Washington Post and the New York Times, which set the agenda and tone throughout much of the US news media on any issue, similarly have conveyed a solidly pro-Ukraine perspective. Moreover, there are very few competing accounts in those outlets from Russian news sources or even from American analyses that challenge the dominant narrative.
_
_The willingness of the US press to foster a favorable image of Ukraine knows few bounds. During the early weeks of the war, American news outlets even circulated the story about the “Ghost of Kyiv” – the fighter pilot who supposedly became an ace in a matter of days by shooting down numerous Russian warplanes.
_
_That account had all the earmarks of transparent propaganda, and the Ukrainian military ultimately conceded that the story was fictional. In the meantime, however, it had served its purpose well as propaganda for credulous Western audiences, and the US press aided that effort. Indeed, the coverage of Kyiv’s retraction of the story was noticeably limited.
_
_An especially egregious performance has occurred with respect to the role of the Azov battalion (now the Azov regiment) in Ukraine’s defense effort. The Azov battalion was notorious for years before the Russian invasion as a bastion of extreme nationalists and outright Nazis.
_
_That aspect proved to be more than just a source of embarrassment for Ukraine’s supporters when the unit became a crucial player in the battle for the city of Mariupol. The Western (especially US) press sought to portray Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian siege as a heroic effort similar to battle of Stalingrad in World War II.
_
_The prominence of the Azov regiment among the defenders certainly should have complicated that media portrayal. Yet most accounts simply focused on the suffering of Mariupol’s population, the heartless villainy of the Russian aggressors, and the tenacity of the city’s brave defenders.
_
_Such accounts typically ignored the presence of Azov fighters among the defenders or failed to disclose their ideological pedigree. A Washington Post story, for example, merely described the Azov regiment as “a nationalist outfit.” Other news accounts referred to the Azov forces in a similar vague manner, occasionally with a perfunctory acknowledgment that the regiment was controversial.
_
_One article, though, engaged in a more extensive whitewash. A May 11, 2022, Wall Street Journal column by Jillian Kay Melchior featured an interview she had conducted with Bohdan Krotevych, the Azov regiment’s chief of staff in Mariupol. The following passage was typical of the article’s tone.
__The Azov Regiment is known for its courage – and controversy. US media has reported that some members espoused neo-Nazi ideology, a claim the Kremlin has taken up. I asked Mr. Krotevych about the unit’s reputation. “Like in other units, including military units of the US army, there are some individuals who hold Nazi views,” he says. But labeling the entire regiment neo-Nazi “is like calling all Americans racist because the KKK exists in the US”_
_Amazingly, Melchior let that absurd, self-serving statement pass without making an effort to provide a clarification or rebuttal. Even a brief counterpoint might have mentioned that the Azov regiment uses banners and insignia that bear a striking resemblance to counterparts used by the Nazi SS and other portions of Adolf Hitler’s regime. Most Americans (much less the US military) do not openly display KKK regalia. The rest of the story is nearly as defective, allowing Krotevych to come across to readers as a heroic figure.
_
_It is hardly a new aspect of the US media’s performance regarding foreign conflicts that journalists are willing to sanitize the image of whatever faction Washington favors. Most of the mainstream media did that with respect to the Kosovo Liberation Army during the conflict in the Balkans. The same has been true of news stories and commentaries on insurgents trying to unseat Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad. Very few accounts accurately describe the most influential components of the rebel forces as the jihadists that they are.
_
_However, the coverage of the Ukraine war threatens to achieve a new low in media integrity and credibility. When the establishment press whitewashes the behavior of outright neo-Nazis, something is terribly amiss.
_
Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow in defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, is the author of 12 books and more than 950 articles on international affairs.
_
https://www.veteranstoday.com/2022/0...h-grows-worse/_
[/COLOR]

----------


## pickel

Is Russia balanced in the news it shows its people sabang? Or are you just being a hypocrite again?

----------


## bsnub

> veteranstoday.com


A fake news tin foil site. Surprise surprise.

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## helge

> That willingness to conceal Ukraines corruption and authoritarianism has grown even worse since the outbreak of war with Russia. Media coverage moved quickly from ignoring or minimizing inconvenient information about Kyivs political and economic system to channeling outright Ukrainian propaganda.


That's pretty much like everybody I know sees it.






> Is Russia balanced in the news it shows its people sabang?


Pickel's last resort

 :Smile:

----------


## pickel

> Pickel's last resort


Another hypocrite that claims they hate corruption and censorship, but gives the worst offender a pass.

----------


## helge

> Another hypocrite that claims they hate corruption and censorship, but gives the worst offender a pass.


 :Smile: 

Pickel the Dodger tries again.

No cigar as you well know, that I find Putin and his regime repulsive, but you will dodge that too, won't you, Poor Pickel.

"Can't find a box to fit helge in.  WahWah"




Not a fan of Zelensky either, as you might have noticed.

Take it that you have a poster over your bed with Wlodomir.

Hypocrite

----------


## pickel

> "Can't find a box to fit helge in. WahWah"


Trust me helge, I've found a box to put you in, and it's labeled "boring".

----------


## helge

:Smile: 

Well I'm out of the "hypocrite box" then ?

Trust me, Pickel; I can live with you finding me boring.

I don't really want to have anything to do with people without principles, like you.

You lot are more than often only good for watch tower recruitment.


Cause you are so good at following orders.

----------


## pickel

^
Yup. Still boring.

----------


## sabang

Why not- some American propaganda about Russian propaganda.  ::chitown:: 



_Current and former employees describe Russian state television as an army, one with a few generals and many foot soldiers who never question their orders.

_Six nights a week, Vladimir Solovyov, one of the dominant voices in Russian propaganda, gathers a half-dozen pundits for more than two hours of what appears to be unscripted political crosstalk. Most recent episodes have been devoted to mocking Ukraine and its allies—especially the United States and President Biden—and debating Russia’s options. “Should we just turn the world to dust?” Solovyov asked during his show on April 29th. His guests—seven middle-aged men—laughed heartily. Later, Solovyov grew sombre. “I’d like to remind the West of two statements of historic significance,” he said. “The President of the Russian Federation has asked, ‘What is the point of a world in which there is no Russia?’ ” This is a quote from an interview Solovyov himself conducted with Vladimir Putin, in 2018, in which Putin responded to a question about the possibility of a nuclear war. The second statement Solovyov quoted was also from Putin in 2018: “If they start a nuclear war, we will respond. But we, being righteous people, will go straight to Heaven, while they will just croak.” Solovyov quotes this one a lot, sometimes as a sort of call-and-response with his guests.

All broadcast television in Russia is either owned or controlled by the state. The main evening newscasts on the two main state channels, Channel One and Russia One, cover more or less the same stories, in more or less the same order. On April 30th, for example, Channel One led with a report from a village recently “liberated from the neo-Nazis”; Russia One began its newscast with a general update on the gains made by Russian troops—“Hundreds of neo-Nazis liquidated, tens of airborne targets hit, and several hits against command centers and equipment stockpiles.” Both newscasts reported on atrocities ostensibly committed by Ukrainian troops. “The Ukrainian Army once more bombed civilian targets,” Russia One claimed. Channel One carried a detailed confession supposedly made by a Ukrainian prisoner of war, who said that he had raped a Russian woman and murdered her husband. Both channels carried reports from a military hospital where a group of young men in identical striped pajamas received medals for their heroic roles in “liberating” Ukrainian towns and villages.

Coverage is repetitive not just from day to day, television channel to television channel; nearly identical stories appear in print and online media, too. According to a number of current and former employees at Russian news outlets, there is a simple explanation for this: at weekly meetings with Kremlin officials, editors of state-controlled media, including broadcasters and publishers, coördinate topics and talking points. Five days a week, a state-controlled consultancy issues a more detailed list of topics. (The organization did not respond to a request for comment.) I have not seen these lists myself—individuals with access to them said that they were too scared of being prosecuted under new espionage laws to share them—but they agreed to analyze the lists during the course of a couple of weeks. They said that the lists generally contained six to ten topics a day, which appear designed to supplement the Ministry of Defense’s war updates that constitute mandatory coverage. Those among my sources who have seen these lists work for non-broadcast media, but the talking points they described invariably appeared in the news lineups on Channel One and Russia One.

Topics fall into four broad categories: economic, revelatory, sentimental, and ironic. Economic stories should show that Western sanctions against Russia have made life harder in Europe than in Russia: people in Britain can’t afford heat, Germans could be forced to ride bikes because gas prices are rising, stock markets are falling, and Western Europe may be facing a food crisis. Revelatory topics focus on misinformation and disinformation in the West. These may include stories about Ukrainian refugees exposing their true criminal selves by shoplifting in a Western European country, or a segment about Austin Tice, an American journalist who was kidnapped in Syria, in 2012, narrated to suggest that he was punished for telling the truth about the United States. Sentimental stories focus on connections between Russians in Russia and in eastern Ukraine: a couple getting married in newly “liberated” Berdyansk, humanitarian aid from Russia arriving in the Donetsk region, and Russian doctors providing medical treatment to children injured in Ukraine. Finally, ironic stories focus on mocking the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and, frequently, Joe Biden’s supposed mental decline. For these, Russian television often uses segments from Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News.

In the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I was in Moscow, watching television, and I was struck by the ways in which channels downplayed the war: the tone was matter-of-fact, the length of newscasts unchanged. I assumed that this was a strategy aimed at making Russians pay little attention to what the Kremlin was calling a “special military operation.” But, according to my sources, what I was observing was not a deliberate strategy but a lack of strategy. At least some of the Kremlin’s media managers hadn’t known that the invasion was coming. Now television is all war all the time; in addition to talk shows and newscasts, there are special reports that claim to debunk Western and Ukrainian propaganda or to expose the roots of so-called Ukrainian fascism, and fictional dramas on the Great Patriotic War, Russia’s term for the Soviet part of the Second World War. In the past, journalists in television and print media would be instructed to pursue specific angles on stories. But people who have seen the lists describe a less prescriptive process today. “It’s this, not that—for example, Mariupol, and not Bucha,” one of my sources said. “And within that space you can even have a discussion.”

Solovyov, whose show airs on Russia One, is a master of orchestrating what sounds like discussion, within the narrow space defined by authorities. On April 26th, he and Margarita Simonyan, who runs both Rossiya Segodnya, a domestic state-news holding, and RT, the international arm of the television-propaganda machine, discussed a purported plot to assassinate them and several other propagandists that had ostensibly been foiled by the secret police a day earlier. Footage of the raid looked like a parody—among the evidence police claimed to have found was a pendant with a swastika on one side and a Ukrainian trident on the other, Molotov cocktails in plastic bottles (not a thing), and three video-game cartridges. Simonyan mused that the assassination was planned on orders from the opposition politician Alexey Navalny, in collaboration with Zelensky, because both are neo-Nazis.

In 2020, Navalny himself survived an assassination attempt that appears to have been carried out by Russia’s security service, the F.S.B.; he has been in prison for more than a year. “Can you even imagine the things he would have done here, if he hadn’t been jailed?” Simonyan said. Before I dived into watching Russian propaganda, Lev Gudkov, an independent sociologist, told me that television rhetoric was based on “ascribing their own traits to the opponent.” It really is that simple. Solovyov and his guests, along with the other news anchors, reporters, and hosts on Channel One and Russia One, sound like aggrieved kids on a playground: “No, _you_ are the Nazi!”; “_You_ are shelling residential neighborhoods!”; “_You_ kill journalists!”; “_You_ rape and kill civilians!”; “_You_ are genocidal!” (I asked Solovyov and Simonyan for interviews; Solovyov didn’t respond, and Simonyan used her Telegram channel, which has about three hundred thousand subscribers, to announce that she would not speak to me.)

The Yale historian Timothy Snyder has coined the term “schizo-fascism” to describe actual fascists who call their enemies “fascists.” Snyder has said that the tactic follows Hitler’s recommendation to tell a lie so big and outrageous that the psychic cost of resisting it is too high for most people—in the case of Ukraine, an autocrat wages a genocidal war against a democratic nation with a Jewish President, and calls the victims Nazis. The talking heads on Russian television regularly acknowledge the apparent absurdity of the situation they claim to describe. “The world has gone mad,” Dmitry Drobnitsky, a political scientist, said on Solovyov’s show, on April 29th. “Russians are Russophobic, and Jews are the worst anti-Semites.” A few days later, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, in an interview on Italian television, repeated the same canard about anti-Semitic Jews, adding that Hitler was part-Jewish. Solovyov, who is Jewish, has referred to Zelensky as “a supposed Jew.”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/annal...d=CRMNYR012019


Doesn't seem much different to our propaganda TBH.

----------


## bsnub

> Doesn't seem much different to our propaganda TBH.


Clueless as usual.

----------


## sabang

Emphasize rape and other atrocities, mock the opposition leadership, push 'good news'- same shit, different language.

----------


## bsnub

> same shit, different language.


Most definitely not, but you keep smoking your fake news.

----------


## sabang

Glasnost your Perestroika Comrade!

----------


## harrybarracuda

Sabang has gone full hoohoo.

What a cretin.

----------


## sabang

*As divisions in society deepen, an understanding of a common reality is eroding, social scientists warn.*_


On a crisp, sunny day in Maryland, United States, in March 2021, President Joe Biden sprang onto the red carpet-lined steps of Air Force One. Four seconds after he began climbing to the aircraft’s entrance, he slipped. He reached down, steadied himself on one of the steps with his left hand, and started climbing again. He tripped a second time. Two steps later, he fell yet again – this time landing awkwardly on his left leg. He stood, grasping the guide-rail, brushed down his suit trousers, and moved once more – more slowly this time – towards the plane’s door.

The White House press office quickly issued a statement that the president was “100 percent fine” and that he’d been blown off balance by a gust of wind. But the incident, just 58 days into his presidency, was seized upon by Biden’s opponents as evidence that the 78-year-old leader was simply not physically robust enough to carry out his job.


After a savage 2020 election campaign, it is not surprising that images of Biden tripping repeatedly would attract damning comment from Republicans who lost to Biden. After all, similar concerns over fitness for office were raised by Democrats just eight months earlier when then-President Donald Trump was seen walking unsteadily down a ramp at West Point Military Academy in New York (Trump, who had turned 74 the day before his visit to West Point, later claimed that his “leather-bottomed shoes” made it difficult for him to manage the “slippery” walk).

Differing interpretations of the two leader’s physical abilities might be dismissed as petty partisan sniping, but reactions within the US to these two moments point to perhaps one of the most challenging issues facing America today: What is the truth?

Was Biden really blown off his feet by the wind, or did he stumble? Were the soles of Trump’s shoes really to blame for the way he walked at West Point, or was there another reason? Have physical slip-ups by the two men been re-versioned by people who wish to alter the reality of what actually took place?

_*Welcome to truth’s parallel universe.*_

This is a place where disagreements on a shared reality have caused widening – and hardening – divisions across the US. Where once-respected authorities – teachers, scientists, journalists, politicians and others – are now suspected of twisting facts to push their own radical agendas.

That willingness to twist facts was made shockingly clear by Donald Trump’s lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, in a television interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd on the Meet the Press programme in August 2018.

“Truth isn’t truth,” Giuliani declared.

Quassim Cassam is a professor of philosophy from Warwick University in the United Kingdom who writes on self-knowledge, Kantian epistemology, and perception. He likens that remark to the moment in George Orwell’s novel, 1984, in which the character Winston Smith is being tortured by a representative of Big Brother to force him to believe that two plus two equals five.


“And Winston has great difficulty believing that two plus two is five,” Cassam says. “And he has great difficulty believing that for the simple reason that two plus two is not five.”

Indeed, it is not.

But it seems that there are many out there now who will do anything they can to convince you otherwise.


An implosion of trust

Ethan Zuckerman, a civic media scholar at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, says there has been an implosion of trust across the US.

“Americans don’t trust big business. And we don’t trust schools. We don’t trust unions. We don’t trust newspapers. You name it, we don’t trust it,” he says.

Zuckerman, named by Foreign Policy as one of its top global thinkers, believes that lack of trust can be directly tied to an erosion of faith in US leadership.

“In the 1960s, if you asked Americans whether they had faith in the government to do the right thing all or most of the time, 77 percent of them said: ‘Yes, I’ve got faith in the government,’” he says.

“By the time we hit the 1980s and Reagan, we’re down to about 25 percent of Americans who say they trust the government. By the time we get to Obama and then Trump, we’re under 15 percent.”

“So, if you don’t trust the media and you don’t trust the government, and you don’t trust your employer, and perhaps you don’t trust your neighbours, who can you trust?” Zuckerman continues.

“And the answer is: You trust people on the internet who share the same points of view that you do.”


The invasion of Iraq

Suzanne Schneider, who specialises in political theory and history at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, says that has fed a surge in conspiratorial thinking in the US as people, having turned their backs on traditional sources of knowledge, search elsewhere for “truth”.

“Conspiratorial thinking takes advantage of moments when there are cracks in an official discourse, and it uses those cracks as an opening to implant counter-narratives,” she explains.

“Conspiracy theories proliferate when the kind of standard ideological narratives start to break down, and they offer some sort of reassurance that someone is in charge of this mess.”

Schneider cites the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US as an example of how the government deliberately distorted reality in order to justify going to war. On February 5, 2003, the US provided the United Nations with what it said was “solid evidence” of Iraq manufacturing and stockpiling weapons of mass destruction as a pretext for the invasion. That “evidence” was later revealed to have been falsified.

“Certainly, a generation that lived through that war and various aspects of the ‘war on terror’ cannot look back and think that the government has been forthright with them,” Schneider says.


Donald Trump’s inauguration

“We like to think that facts lead to beliefs, but in fact, beliefs affect how we approach facts,” explains Brian Schaffner, a professor of civic studies at Tufts University in the US. He specialises in the study of public opinion, political campaigns, and elections.

“When people already believe in something, showing them a fact doesn’t necessarily help because they want to basically look at that fact through the prism of what they believe.”

The question of the crowd size at Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration is a classic case in point.

Though a photograph of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration showed far fewer people than those photographed at Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, Trump’s Press Secretary Sean Spicer declared that Trump drew “the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe”.

Many journalists scoffed at Spicer’s defiant distortion of the truth, but Senior Counselor to President Trump, Kellyanne Conway, came to his defence with the extraordinary claim that the press secretary had simply been using “alternative facts”.

“Part of me is thinking, how many people are really buying this right now?” Schaffner says, recalling his reaction to Spicer’s inauguration remarks at the time.

He decided to conduct a survey to determine whether anyone would support Spicer’s false claims. His experiment would involve showing 1,388 American adults photographs of the two inaugurations, side by side, and asking the participants to say which photo showed more people.

“This was a case where we could show them factual evidence, like photographic evidence, and see if they would still tell us that, you know, something that’s not true right before their eyes is true to them.”

The results of the survey were astonishing. People seemed willing to believe that two plus two equals five – with no torture needed.
“Our experiment showed that 15 percent of American adults said that they saw… in the picture that had fewer people in it, they said that’s the one that had more people in it. And that was the one from Trump’s inauguration,” Schaffner says.

How could it possibly be that people could seriously make such easily refutable claims?


Todd May is a professor of philosophy from America’s Clemson University and a specialist in post-structuralism – how power structures influence our understanding of reality. He said he believes that is because those people were so deeply invested in seeing a large crowd that they were prepared to say they were certain the photograph contained images that were not really there.

“What we see here is not simply a cynical form of lying, but real self-deception,” May explains.

“If people are not willing to believe their own eyes, but believe a false ideology, then we’re not going to be able to meet in reality.”
And that is a fundamental part of the problem.

Neoliberal ideologues and ‘the politics of manipulative populism’

Like those who peddled the story that Joe Biden’s slip on the stairs of Air Force One confirmed that he was not up to the job of leading America, many who claim to be purveyors of “truth” are conniving to distort reality for their own political benefit.

British author Peter Oborne, whose book, The Assault on Truth, explores the manipulation of reality by politicians, believes the twisting of truth was supercharged by neoliberal ideologues who gained influence in the US after the Vietnam War.

Oborne says the neoliberal movement “had a very dangerous effect in enfranchising politicians to create new truths which aren’t actually true – i.e., to convert truth to myth. This is important because it means that truth doesn’t become something which is related to anything real. It becomes a manifestation of power.”

“So, what you are doing, quite deliberately, as a political strategy in order to win elections, is to create enormous divisions, perilous divisions in the long term, in society itself.”

“The politics of manipulative populism is the best way of describing it,” Oborne says.

“Manipulative populism is not about doing real things. It’s about constructing false emotions built on anger and hatred.”

The result: distrust, unease, suspicion, intolerance, rage-filled demonstrations, violence.

President Donald Trump was quick to use those inflamed emotions as a sign that America was in decline. And he publicly identified those he claimed were to blame.

“Trump tells people: ‘Don’t trust institutions of higher learning, don’t trust universities, don’t trust professors, don’t trust scientists,’” says civic studies professor Schaffner.

“And so, I think he’s given voice to something that has really resonated with some people in a way that previous presidents just were not willing to go there.”

As if channeling the German Nazi Party’s propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, who once declared that “If you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth,” Trump delivered more than 30,500 “false or misleading claims” during his tenure as President, according to the Washington Post newspaper.

The January 6 attack on the US Capitol

One of the most damaging of those lies was Trump’s announcement that he won the 2020 presidential election “by a landslide” and that any claims to the contrary were evidence that the election had been “stolen” from him.

“You don’t concede when there’s theft involved,” Trump proclaimed on January 6, 2021, to a seething crowd of supporters. He then directed the mob to march on the US Capitol.

The group smashed its way into the building, calling for the vice president, Mike Pence, and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to be dragged onto the street and publicly executed. The uprising left five people dead.

Though television footage showed violent battles at Congress between Trump supporters and an overwhelmed police force, one member of Congress, Republican Andrew Clyde, later claimed that the storming of the Capitol had simply not happened.

Clyde said TV footage of the Trump supporters bashing police officers “showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes, taking videos and pictures”.

“You know, if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.”
Is it even remotely possible that Clyde believed what he said?

In truth’s parallel universe – the world of shape-shifting realities – a genuine answer to that question may never be found.

“We are in a world where the accounts of events, what politicians say, what others say, are completely detached now from a meaningful, underlying reality,” Oborne says.

So, to many, it would seem, it doesn’t matter that two plus two is not five. Or six. Or three. They are living, now, in a different reality altogether.

Social media and an alternative reality

Increasingly, social media provides a vehicle for them to create those alternative realities.

“You can pull on any number of threads and very quickly find yourself in a world not only where someone is trying to sell you a conspiracy theory, but where they’re pointing you to dozens of other sources that will confirm that same sort of narrative,” says media scholar Zuckerman.

“And I think that reality, by which I mean a shared vision of the world and how it works, is now up for grabs,” Zuckerman reflects.
“We now have a media system that is so diverse and also so divided that the struggles, politically, over the next 10 or 20 years, are not about the interpretation of facts, they’re about what reality we actually live in.”

Professor May suggests that people are now finding it easier to believe false narratives because they are being influenced by political power structures that manipulate the truth much more easily than before – by using social media.

“Two plus two will never equal five,” he says. “You can’t construct your own truth, independent of that reality. On the other hand, you can intervene and get people to think certain things or act in certain ways and that might influence them to modify the reality that they’re living in.”

Like a woman I met at a pro-Trump rally in Washington, DC, in January 2021, who was convinced that Trump had been “robbed” of a legitimate election win. The distance between those who speak “the truth” and those who do not had become so wide, she said, that she no longer felt safe anywhere, not even in the once-comfortable suburbs of Pennsylvania, where she had lived for years.

“I fear life,” she said. “I was just talking with a friend of mine about learning how to hunt for deer with a bow and skinning it myself – we call it ‘living off the grid’.”

Just in case things became even more dangerous, in case she had to flee the mobs of roving criminal immigrants – rapists and killers – that Trump had so often warned were surging into America from Mexico and elsewhere.

Just in case society fractured even further, in case the riots she’s seen on the news – triggered by the killing of Black men by white police – crept closer to her home.

“My goal, the goal of America, is to have a better life for the next generation to proceed further, and we’re not going to,” she told me as she stepped back to the pro-Trump rally. She held a sign aloft reading “Stop the Steal” and her voice was lost in the chant of those around her: “USA! USA! USA!”.


‘When democracy dies’

Many Americans like her give a common message that we are living in an increasingly frightening world. Life was better, once, they believe. They are convinced of that; Donald Trump and others have told them so often, that it must be true.

The communications revolution that we are experiencing is changing our lives dramatically – and how it will transform future generations remains a matter of significant danger.

It seems that whole swaths of American society are volunteering to enter the house run by Orwell’s Big Brother. Unlike the character Winston Smith, they do not need to be forced to believe that two plus two equals five, but appear to do so voluntarily.

May says that, in the future, as we cease to relate to each other according to the grand narratives that once held society together, we may be unable to share a “common reality”.

“That may well be when democracy dies,” according to Zuckerman. “If we have a sufficiently divergent fact pattern that we can’t agree on a single reality to try to collectively govern.”

That is, indeed, a perilous thought for the future of Western democracy.

George Orwell must be turning in his grave.

How ‘alternative facts’ threaten US democracy | Investigation | Al Jazeera

_

----------


## harrybarracuda

> _“I fear life,” she said. “I was just talking with a friend of mine about learning how to hunt for deer with a bow and skinning it myself – we call it ‘living off the grid’.”_


Oh that would be a great fucking video.

"What do we do now?"

 :rofl:

----------


## panama hat

Are sabang's cnp's getting longer and longer?

----------


## sabang

It's a rather good article, if you care to read it. I am sure several intelligent members & viewers will.

----------


## Switch

> Are sabang's cnp's getting longer and longer?


…. Yes …. and less and less relevant!

----------


## sabang

I have already stated my posts are not aimed at the boneheads. So do not expect any change.

----------


## HuangLao

> It's a rather good article, if you care to read it. I am sure several intelligent members & viewers will.



......and appears to be a trend [this type of critique] among a wide variety of similar challenging punditry. 
That is, of course, highly dependent on what one cares to absorb beyond their hard wired and pre-disposed _beliefs._ ​

----------


## panama hat

> I have already stated my posts are not aimed at the boneheads. So do not expect any change.


Of course you won't change, you have your audience in Backspit and OhWoe, though I doubt even they read your rubbish

----------


## sabang

Oh, many many more than that. Just look at the viewer figures,

----------


## Switch

> Oh, many many more than that. Just look at the viewer figures,


But it’s nothing new, and it’s certainly not brave. Why choose such a disconnected Thread title?

----------


## bsnub

> Just look at the viewer figures,


3700 views is very low for an eleven-page thread. For example the pudding thread is ten pages and has 7000 views but nice try tooting your own horn.  :Smile:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> It's a rather good article, if you care to read it. I am sure several intelligent members & viewers will.


No it's not, it's vacuous shit.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> I have already stated my posts are not aimed at the boneheads.


No, but they're sure as shit created by one.

----------


## bsnub

> No it's not, it's vacuous shit.


Actually, in all fairness, it is a good article, however there is a degree of hypocrisy in Sabang posting it since he is of the same ilk as a trumpanzee which the article describes. He swallows the same propaganda, but his comes straight from Russia and China.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Actually, in all fairness, it is a good article, however there is a degree of hypocrisy in Sabang posting it since he is of the same ilk as a trumpanzee which the article describes. He swallows the same propaganda, but his comes straight from Russia and China.


Even you must realise the "divisions in society" come from a country that is moving steadily to the left and a cretinous bunch of right wingers that don't want to give anything up and refuse to transition.

Think of trying to pull a curtain across when one end is fixed: Sooner or later it's going to tear.

----------


## panama hat

> I doubt even they read your rubbish





> Just look at the viewer figures



Are you really that thick?   Calling Backspit and OhWoe . . . your halfwit friend needs help.






> For example the pudding thread is ten pages and has 7000 views


Quality thread

----------


## bsnub

> Even you must realise the "divisions in society" come from a country that is moving steadily to the left and a cretinous bunch of right wingers that don't want to give anything up and refuse to transition.


I am fully aware, and many of those "right-wingers" are baby boomers who happen to be dropping like flies. Speaking of aging boomers, what ever happened to Rpeater666 he seems to have spit the dummy.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> I am fully aware, and many of those "right-wingers" are baby boomers who happen to be dropping like flies. Speaking of aging boomers, what ever happened to Rpeater666 he seems to have spit the dummy.


Who honestly gives a fuck?

----------


## bsnub

> Who honestly gives a fuck?


 :rofl: 

I don't.

----------


## sabang



----------


## harrybarracuda

What's he fucking wittering on about now?

----------


## DrWilly

He resorts to memes when he runs out of cnps

----------


## bsnub

Sabwang watches South Park. Who woulda thought? 

 :rofl:

----------


## panama hat

> What's he fucking wittering on about now?


This:


> He resorts to memes when he runs out of cnps


He's not as resilient as OhWoe and has a thin skin compared to Backspit . . .

----------


## sabang

^^ Definitely.  :Smile:

----------


## Switch

> ^^ Definitely.


That’s a shallow old world then! Much more your style. Can you think of another childish poster who likes cartoons?  :Smile:

----------


## Seekingasylum

What Sabang and his dreary propagandising ilk continually overlook is the not entirely insignificant fact their champion polemicists are but a function of the internet and represent nothing other than a bunch of graffiti artists scribbling their cant on cyber toilet walls, a torrent of cod philosophy churned out as manifestos of so-called truth only swallowed by the credulous stupid so ably represented by him. 
God, what a fucking bore that man is.

----------


## sabang

Interesting to note that I am allegedly selling propaganda by warning you of the extent you are being propagandised

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Interesting to note that I am allegedly selling propaganda by warning you of the extent you are being propagandised


No, he's right, you're just a bore.

Like the other wanketeers, you haven't got an original thought in your head and rely instead on propagandists to provide them.

----------


## bsnub

> warning you of the extent you are being propagandised


 :smiley laughing:

----------


## panama hat

> Interesting to note that I am allegedly selling propaganda by warning you of the extent you are being propagandised��


Yes, it is ironic that you don't see what a fool you are

----------


## bsnub

> Yes, it is ironic that you don't see what a fool you are


It really is odd being that twelve or so years ago he was a rational, well reasoned poster.

----------


## DrWilly

> It really is odd being that twelve or so years ago he was a rational, well reasoned poster.



Indeed so. Age is a terrible thing. My father used to be a well respected and intelligent engineer before retirement. He also declined. He now witters on about the weather, climate change conspiracies and mooslem ray guns.

----------


## sabang

https://www.fridayeveryday.com/everything-is-being-weaponised-in-an-information-war/


Good read. Consider it a primer on the Brave New World. Nothing new of course about propaganda, psy-ops, Black-ops, censorship, filtering and even outright lies emanating from our political/ media complex- but the extent of it and outright blatancy these days I find startling.

----------


## panama hat

> but the extent of it and outright blatancy these days I find startling.


What is startling is growing up and living in a free society yet championing fascism and totalitarianism.

Kind of like the champagne socialists who espouse socialist ideals while living it large . . . a prime arsehole example is 



Hypocritical pricks like a few here on this forum

----------


## harrybarracuda

> https://www.fridayeveryday.com/everything-is-being-weaponised-in-an-information-war/
> 
> 
> Good read. Consider it a primer on the Brave New World. Nothing new of course about propaganda, psy-ops, Black-ops, censorship, filtering and even outright lies emanating from our political/ media complex- but the extent of it and outright blatancy these days I find startling.


Are you going to post every link you found on this chinky kiss-arse's site?

You definitely need your own drivel thread.

----------


## sabang

Only the ones I find worthy and pertinent 'arry- but of course any reader can Google the "Fridayeveryday" site in HK, and check any and all articles out for themself. That is what intellectually curious people often do.

----------


## panama hat

> That is what intellectually curious people often do.


You're clearly not one of them

----------


## bsnub

> You definitely need your own drivel thread.


I have been saying so for some time.  :Smile: 




> You're clearly not one of them


Definitely not.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Only the ones I find worthy and pertinent 'arry- but of course any reader can Google the "Fridayeveryday" site in HK, and check any and all articles out for themself. That is what intellectually curious people often do.


But you're an intellectual amoeba, and a retarded one at that.

----------


## hallelujah

Sabang's heaven:

North Korea: The moment 
brave mother Jihyun Park fled her hell as told in The Hard Road Out | Daily Mail Online

----------


## sabang

Sabangs hell-






"This is terrible. Sarah is one of the people I follow most carefully on Twitter. She is brilliant. I can think of absolutely nothing she has said that could remotely justify a ban."

https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1533366478312988672?cxt=HBwWgICzpYOszscqAAAA&cn=Zm  xleGlibGVfcmVjcw%3D%3D&refsrc=email


_A'hhh, Brave New World._  ::chitown:: 





Seyed Mohammad Marandi
@s_m_marandi
· 16h


Twitter deleted @sahouraxo. Sarah Abdallah had well over two hundred thousand followers. She was punished for opposing apartheid in Palestine.

----------


## Switch

> Sabangs hell-
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "This is terrible. Sarah is one of the people I follow most carefully on Twitter. She is brilliant. I can think of absolutely nothing she has said that could remotely justify a ban."
> 
> ...


The thread title is completely misleading. Happy that you agree.  :Smile: 

Twitter …… seriously? Rearrange the following words. Sabang, plot, lost, the.

----------


## hallelujah

> Sabangs hell-
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "This is terrible. Sarah is one of the people I follow most carefully on Twitter. She is brilliant. I can think of absolutely nothing she has said that could remotely justify a ban."
> 
> ...


As was pointed out by Shutree earlier in the thread:




> The platforms that these people use are simply megaphones for their viewpoints, there is nothing to stop them writing to The Times or standing at Speakers' Corner or setting up a website to bang on about their ideas. They are not, in fact censored. What they are complaining about is that they have been kicked off commercial platforms for breaches of their conditions, it isn't some kind of universal human right to be on Twatter. If you don't like it, find another platform or do a Trump and build your own.
> 
> .

----------


## sabang

But they were not previously, you see. This is a recent phenomenon, and a concerning one. And why on Earth should an advocate who opposes the illegal Israeli invasion and occupation of Palestine be banned from Twitter? What next- should Twitter ban those who oppose the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine too? Oh, of course not- Twitter bans those who support it, or at least try to rationalise it. The Hypocrisy is so bloody obvious.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Twitter deleted @sahouraxo. Sarah Abdallah had well over two hundred thousand followers. She was punished for opposing apartheid in Palestine.



No she wasn't, she is an habitual liar and - oh what a surprise that sabang is taking her side - puffy putin supporter.

And of course the other stupid, drunk Puffy fan is the one supporting her.

You and your stupid propaganda bullshit.

Syria war: The online activists pushing conspiracy theories - BBC News

----------


## harrybarracuda

> But they were not previously, you see. This is a recent phenomenon, and a concerning one. And why on Earth should an advocate who opposes the illegal Israeli invasion and occupation of Palestine be banned from Twitter?


Because she posts pro-Putin bullshit like you do?

Twitter has always made it clear that it will ban people who repeatedly use its platform to post misinformation (i.e. fucking lies).

----------


## OhOh

> Syria war: The online activists pushing conspiracy theories - BBC News


If you oppose the BBC lies you are deleted then?




> to post misinformation (i.e. fucking lies).


One wonders how politicians survive on a paper or electronic "media" platform? And how the paper or electronic media employees who publish the lies remain.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> If you oppose the BBC lies you are deleted then?
> 
> 
> One wonders how politicians survive on a paper or electronic "media" platform? And how the paper or electronic media employees who publish the lies remain.


I don't know what the fuck you are wittering on about. Try and make sense or post it in your drivel thread.

----------


## panama hat

> I don't know what the fuck you are wittering on about. Try and make sense or post it in your drivel thread.


Give him a break, translation from Mandarin to English isn't easy.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Don't you find it hilarious that the two biggest whiners claiming censorship on this thread both support the two biggest proponents of it on the planet?

 :rofl:

----------


## sabang

*Leaked emails reveal British journalist Paul Mason plotting with an intel contractor to destroy The Grayzone through “relentless deplatforming” and a “full nuclear legal” attack. The scheme is part of a wider planned assault on the UK left.*

A former Trotskyist and BBC journeyman, journalist Paul Mason has made a career as the establishment’s favorite gatekeeper of the UK left. Since the Russian military incursion into Ukraine, he has cemented his position as one of Britain’s most vocal “left” cheerleaders for Western military intervention.

While leading a “U.K. left” delegation to Kiev and a demonstration through the streets of London in support of NATO military escalation against Russia, Mason has accordingly used his platform to assail journalists, academics, Labour party members and private citizens who oppose shipping piles of advanced weaponry to Ukraine. 
In a series of recent columns, Mason called for the state-enforced suppression of facts and perspectives he considers overly sympathetic to the Kremlin, and demanded “state action” against members of the media that oppose the NATO line on Ukraine. He placed The Grayzone at the top of his fantasy censorship target list.

Mason has since announced a run for parliament on the Labour ticket to wage his crusade against “disinformation” from inside the House of Commons.

The Grayzone, meanwhile, has learned through anonymously leaked emails and documents that Mason has been engaged in a malicious secret campaign that aims to enlist the British state and “friendly” intelligence cut-outs to undermine, censor and even criminalize antiwar dissenters.

In one leaked email, Mason thundered for the “relentless deplatforming” of The Grayzone and the creation of “a kind of permanent rebuttal operation” to discredit it.
In another, the celebrity journalist declared that “the far left rogue academics is who I’m after,” then rants that he is motivated by fear of an emergent “left anti imperialist identity” which “will be attractive because liberalism doesn’t know how to counter it.”

Mason is joined in his covert crusade by Amil Khan, the founder of a shadowy intelligence contractor called Valent Projects. In the cache of leaked emails, Khan proposed to Mason the initiation of a “clever John Oliver style stunt that makes [The Grayzone] a laughing stock,” as well as a “full nuclear legal to squeeze them financially.”

The Grayzone has previously revealed Khan’s extensive involvement in the Syrian dirty war, during which he provided public relations guidance to jihadist groups, trained anti-government activists in communication strategies, and secretly oversaw supposed citizen journalist collectives backed by foreign governments. His goal was to flood international media with pro-opposition propaganda, destabilize the government of Bashar Assad, and ready the ground for Western regime change.

This ethically dubious work was conducted for a variety of intelligence-adjacent British Foreign Office contractors, such as ARK, a firm founded by probable MI6 operative Alistair Harris, and IncoStrat, which has been plausibly accused of producing propaganda for the blood-stained UK and Saudi-backed insurgents.

After leaving the Middle East, Khan reinvented himself as an expert in countering “disinformation”, and has since charged a number of blue chip clients a premium for his dubious services. As this outlet reported, the same techniques of manipulation and information warfare that Khan honed in Syria were turned against Western citizens when he oversaw a British quasi-state funded astroturf YouTube project designed to counter public skepticism of Covid-related restrictions.

Khan’s email communications with Mason illustrate the grudge he has harbored since The Grayzone exposed his devious exploits. In the missives, he descends into self-delusion, insisting this outlet’s factual reporting was, in fact, state-sponsored retaliation for his crusading work “opposing military dictators and kleptocrats.”

Together, Khan and Mason plotted to assemble a coalition of anti-Grayzone actors, including the US and UK government-funded “open source” outlet Bellingcat, which Mason revealingly described as a channel for “intel service input by proxy.” Khan proposed convening the de facto Victims of Grayzone Memorial Foundation at an in-person summit to “come up with a plan that addresses [The Grayzone’s] objectives and vulnerabilities.”

At one point, he even reached out across the Atlantic for advice from Nina Jankowicz, the disgraced former head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board.

It is uncertain how Mason and Khan became acquainted, but their mutual coincidence of needs, motives and vendettas is obvious. The public interest in releasing the pair’s private communications is also abundantly clear. If their planned criminalization of The Grayzone for publishing facts and opinions they abhor is successful, it will have dire ramifications for any and all journalists and independent media institutions seeking to challenge the status quo.

When approached by The Grayzone, Paul Mason declined to comment on the incriminating correspondence with Khan, and claimed to have informed local police that “an attempt was made” to hack his email account. While dismissing the leaked content as “likely to be edited, distorted or fake,” he went on to pledge he would “not cease to identify and rebut Russian disinformation operations masquerading as journalism.”

In other words, Mason implied he plans to carry on with the very activity exposed in the leaked emails.

*Khan and Mason collude to form anti-Grayzone coalition and shatter Corbynite left*

On April 30 this year, Paul Mason emailed Amil Khan, making clear he was “keen to help” de-platform The Grayzone.

He attached a bizarrely constructed “dynamic map of the ‘left’ pro-Putin infosphere” that resembled a spider’s web, with a mess of arrows linking the names of members of parliament, media outlets, activists, causes, and British minority communities.

The barely coherent, racially-tinged chart connected the Russian government, Russian state broadcaster RT, the People’s Republic of China, and Beijing-based tech millionaire-financier Roy Singham to the “Muslim Community,” “Young Networked Left” and “Black Community” through a series of leftist outfits and UK Labour figures. No evidence was provided to support Mason’s linkages.

At the center of Mason’s chart (see below) is Jeremy Corbyn. When Corbyn served as Labour leader, Mason plotted against him in private while simultaneously posing as one of his most ardent public supporters. He also sought to influence Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell in a pro-war direction.

The implication behind Mason’s Nixonian enemies chart was clear: Russia and China have weaponized the British left to corrupt key Labour constituencies – therefore the left must be neutralized.





Mason suggested to Khan that he enlist the help of “pro traffic analysts to map” how these “different echo chambers interact, where their material begins – and work out who _might [emphasis added] be pulling the strings.”
_
_He nonetheless seemed certain about the dark forces animating The Grayzone, bombastically charging that its “attacks” on Khan and others are “fed by Russian and Chinese intel,” including hacking, “electronic warfare” and human intelligence.
_
_Mason compared this process to Bellingcat receiving “a steady stream of intel from Western agencies.” The US and UK government-funded outlet Bellingcat has frequently been accused of laundering CIA and MI6 dirt, a charge which the operatives behind it aggressively repudiate. However, Khan – a long-time advocate and associate of the outlet – did not once challenge Mason’s repeated characterization of the supposed citizen journalist collective as a clearing house for friendly spy agencies.
_
_Underlining the sensitivity of the pair’s malicious plans for The Grayzone, Mason stressed the need for their work to be conducted via “white label organisations operating with firm infosec – Signal/ProtonMail, clean phones.”



_
Khan was clearly amenable to his suggestions. Five days later, he outlined two options for taking down The Grayzone: “some sort of clever John Oliver style stunt that makes them a laughing stock” – referencing a sting operation targeting academic Paul McKeigue conducted by the dubious, intelligence-linked Commission for International Justice and Accountability back in 2021 – “or full nuclear legal to squeeze them financially.”

Mason was enthused by the latter prospect, submitting that it should be “combined with relentless deplatforming,” including cutting off The Grayzone from donation sources such as PayPal, in the manner of Consortium News and MintPress, and setting up “a kind of permanent rebuttal operation.”

FULL-  https://thegrayzone.com/2022/06/07/p...ence-grayzone/


There is more, if you want to follow the Linky. A nice little Takedown of the Brave New World in action.

----------


## harrybarracuda

WTF is that shite.

Are you trying to bore everyone to death?

----------


## sabang

Bit above your head 'arry.

----------


## DrWilly

> You definitely need your own drivel thread.







> I have been saying so for some time. 
> 
> t.


To be fair, that's _what_ this thread is for...

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Bit above your head 'arry.


Nonsense blogs such as this one are around the window licking level you occupy:




> It is known for its misleading reporting and sympathetic coverage of authoritarian regimes


Gosh, just fancy that.

----------


## Backspin

Jackson Hinkle , a left wing guy, is already being banned by Vinmo and partially banned from Paypal. Why ? Opposing the Ukraine war.

From Sabangs post up above.

Mason was enthused by the latter prospect, submitting that it should be combined with relentless deplatforming, including cutting off The Grayzone from donation sources such as PayPal, in the manner of Consortium News and MintPress, and setting up a kind of permanent rebuttal operation.

Hmmmmm

----------


## Backspin

Richie Medhurst was put on some disinfo bullshit list from a Canadian university. He's pretty pissed

----------


## bsnub

They should be banned. They are fucking lying Russian shills pushing falsehoods and propaganda. The same horseshit you swallow you fucking lemming.

----------


## sabang

The most amazing thing about this Brave New World, imo, is that some of these idiots actually want to be lied to. Then the same idiots berate other countries for not having a Free press. They clearly do not know what the term even means.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Sabang still having a "great time" in his "friend's villa".

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## bsnub

> The most amazing thing about this Brave New World, imo, is that some of these idiots actually want to be lied to.


You are one of them, you blinkered buffoon, and a perfect example of it is how you were utterly convinced that Putin would never invade Ukraine. Your propaganda puppet masters had you believing that hook line and sinker. You swallowed the bait, only to be made a complete fool of. 

I am literally on  the floor rolling in laughter that you are too stupid to see that. 

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## sabang

Putin still having his ass handed to him on a plate snubs? Them sanctions brought Putins Russia to its knees yet snubs? Talk about pissing.  :rofl:

----------


## panama hat

> WTF is that shite.
> 
> Are you trying to bore everyone to death?


He can't even describe it.






> Sabang still having a "great time" in his "friend's villa".


Purportedly in Thailand . . . he even posted a picture of 'his house'.   :Smile:   Cute, really.  Posting hundreds of times on a forum while  . . . etc...

----------


## bsnub

> Putin still having his ass handed to him on a plate snubs?


Nothing about his war has been a success, you buffoon. Did you read the post I made above, Mr. This war would never happen?

 :rofl:

----------


## sabang

What a shame for you it did- pooty is handing out an ass whipping to your nazi mates, the US taxpayer is around $60bn more in debt and counting, and oh dear- the ruble is soaring, and Russia is enjoying it's highest ever trade surplus. Senile Joe fecked up big time, and US citizens are counting down the days to the Mid terms.

----------


## hallelujah

Sabang's posts are pretty much indistinguishable from OhOh's these days. 

This last couple of weeks have seen him fall even deeper into the abyss.

----------


## bsnub

> Sabang's posts are pretty much indistinguishable from OhOh's these days.
> 
> This last couple of weeks have seen him fall even deeper into the abyss.


A full stop loon who basically is rabid all the time and making a fool of himself constantly.  :Smile:

----------


## sabang

Diddums fellas, this war won't last forever. Lets just see what Putin wants.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Sabang still having a "great time" in his "friend's villa".

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## sabang

No, mine and my ex'es. More than one TDer has been there. Not you, unfortunately. We have WiFi you know.   :bananaman:

----------


## bsnub

Was the dude in the pic you posted the ex'es new squeeze? 

 :Smile:

----------


## sabang

Haha, no. That's another geezer, nice bloke actually.  :Smile: 
That's my BF in the picture, luvvie.

----------


## bsnub

> That's my BF in the picture, luvvie.


I knew you and Tomcat had things in common. All you homophobes love the boys. 

 :Smile:

----------


## OhOh

> Sabang's posts are pretty much indistinguishable from OhOh's these days.


Both are causing doubt in your mind, no doubt, excellent result.

----------


## Backspin

> Sabang's posts are pretty much indistinguishable from OhOh's these days. 
> 
> This last couple of weeks have seen him fall even deeper into the abyss.


And yours are indistinguishable from harriets

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Both are causing doubt in your mind, no doubt, excellent result.


If you mean both of you post nothing but a load of unintelligible garbage and cut and pastes, you'd be right,.

----------


## misskit

Chinese researchers build ‘mind reading’ device that detects when men watch porn


Chinese researchers have reportedly developed a device that can detect when a man is watching pornography by ‘reading his mind’.


The new device, as reported by the South China Morning Post, would benefit Chinese internet censors by detecting the brainwaves triggered by lewd content. Pornography is illegal in China.


The prototype device was made “for bad information detection”, said Xu Jianjun, director of the electrical engineering experiment centre at Beijing Jiaotong University, who published the work in Journal of Electronic Measurement and Instrumentation.


It was tested on 15 male university students who would wear the device while sat in front of a computer screen – with an alarm going off when explicit imagery was detected by the brain.

The developers say the new device can automatically adapt to the brainwaves of a human censor, able to filter out other signals that would come from emotions or weariness.


Chinese authorities employ professional censors called jian huang shi - porn appraisers – to check social media for what they deem inappropriate content.


Usually artificial intelligence can be used to detect explicit pictures and videos, but sometimes the algorithm makes errors. Human brains can still detect pornographic content more quickly and with greater accuracy.


Many of these appraisers are women, but since the test was only ran on men researchers believe there could be differences between genders. The accuracy of the machine is reportedly 80 per cent.


However, one unnamed researcher said that there could be ethical issues. “There is no law to regulate the use of such devices or protect the data they collected,” an individual from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei reportedly said.

Chinese researchers build ‘mind reading’ device that detects when men watch porn

----------


## sabang

They will know as much as FB & Google soon.  ::chitown::

----------


## harrybarracuda

Interesting story about pervasive chinky censorship and sabang thinks it's worth one of his pathetic attempts at a smug remark.

----------


## sabang

Sure do, seeing as Big Tech are the government mandated Gatekeepers now.

----------


## panama hat

> It was tested on 15 male university students


 I'm guessing the results were 100% correct in that they watch porn. 
Science at work

----------


## OhOh

23 Jun, 2022 08:30  HomeWorld News

*EU and BRICS launch key summits     * 

                     European countries and leading non-Western economic  powers discuss global challenges and expansion at separate gatherings.
_
"Two major economic integration organizations  the European Union and  BRICS  are holding key summits this week. The leaders of EU member  states are gathering in Brussels on Thursday for a two-day meeting,  while BRICS countries are holding a virtual gathering hosted by China on  the same dates.__The situation in Ukraine and its bid to become  part of the Union top the agenda at the EU summit. European leaders will  discuss economic crises around the world and how they affect the  continent, as well as key foreign policy issues.
_
_Meanwhile,  Beijing will this week be hosting the 14th summit of BRICS emerging  economies, uniting Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Member  states will chart plans for closer economic, security and public health  cooperation, and set goals for reviving the global economy in the wake  of the Covid-19 pandemic._

_Beijing, which holds the rotating presidency of BRICS, has  argued for expanding the group by including Argentina as a full member.  The Latin American nation has expressed its desire to join BRICS and  will be attending the summit.
_
_The virtual meeting of BRICS leaders  will be the highest-profile international event for Russian President  Vladimir Putin since he ordered an attack against Ukraine in February.  As Western nations have sought to punish Moscow with economic sanctions,  Russia has prioritized trade with nations including China and India, to  mitigate the impact of Western trade restrictions."_

EU and BRICS launch key summits  RT World News

----------


## harrybarracuda

> _Russia has prioritized trade with nations including China and India, to  mitigate the impact of Western trade restrictions."_


We know hoohoo, we've already discussed India picking up that lovely, heavily discounted Russian oil.

Can't you fucking read or something??

----------


## OhOh

*BRICS+ meeting*

   Vladimir Putin attended a BRICS+ meeting involving the leaders of several invited states, held via videoconference.

 June 24, 2022  17:30

  Moscow Region

_"The meeting’s topic is Foster Partnership for Global Development in a New Era Towards Joint Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.__ Taking part in the BRICS+ meeting were:

 President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping, 

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, 

President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, 

Vice President of Brazil Hamilton Mourao, 

President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune, 

President of Argentina Alberto Fernandez, 

President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, 

President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, 

President of Iran Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi, 

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, 

Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen, 

Prime Minister of Malaysia Ismail Sabri Yaakob, 

President of Senegal Macky Sall, 

Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha, 

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, 

Prime Minister of Fiji Voreqe Bainimarama, 

and Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed.

_
_* * *

_
_Speech by the President of the Russian Federation at the BRICS+ meeting


_
_President of Russia Vladimir Putin: 

Colleagues, friends,_


_First, I would like to welcome the guests of the BRICS Summit and express gratitude to President Xi Jinping for organising this meeting in such a broad format.
_
_We  believe that it is very useful to hold BRICS+ meetings attended by the leaders of states that are interested  in developing mutually beneficial cooperation with our association based  on a similarity of views on current global political and economic issues and ways  of dealing with them.
_
_It is notable that the leaders of the countries who are attending our meeting today stand for developing a truly democratic multipolar world order based on the principles of equality, justice and mutual respect where global trade and finance are free from obstacles and politically driven restrictions._
_I would  like to point out that the importance of interaction with our partners who share our values has increased dramatically amid the current imbalances in international relations.  This situation has been developing for a long time and is the inevitable  result of a policy of those who advocate a so-called liberal world order  towards eroding international law and undermining multilateral institutions. Seeking  to preserve their domination, some countries have been working  consistently to replace the existing global architecture that relies  on the central role of the United Nations with a rules-based order. But  it is not clear who invented these rules and what they are.
_
_Attempts  to hinder the development of the states that are unwilling to live  according to somebody’s rules and the reckless use of illegal sanctions  instruments, compounded by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, have aggravated the downturn in the global economy.
_
_Global trade is deeply mired in disputes, the settlement of which is deviating increasingly further from WTO norms and principles. Our colleagues mentioned the WTO today, but we know well what turn the situation within that organisation has taken over the past years. The international monetary system is being destabilised, and industrial, logistics and investment chains are being broken.
_
_Rapid  price increases for food, energy and commodities is having a serious socioeconomic effect, especially on the development  of countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Colleagues  and friends, I would like to stress once again: this is not the result of the past few months  and by no means a consequence of Russia’s special military operation  to protect Donbass._ 
_Once  again, this jump in inflation did not happen yesterday. It has been happening over the past several years as a result  of the long-term, and I want to stress this, irresponsible  macroeconomic policy of the G7 countries, uncontrolled money creation  and accumulated unsecured debts. This process was accelerated by the pandemic when both the supply and demand  for goods and services drastically dropped on a global scale. 
_
_The food market has been disrupted most severely. I said this at the recent St Petersburg International Economic Forum, and I want to say it again: they printed money, distributed it in their wealthy countries and, like a vacuum cleaner, started scooping up all the food from the global market. Only recently, the United States was a food exporter – a net exporter – but now, I think, their imports are about US$17 billion more than their exports. This is a dismal indicator for food markets around the world. 
_
_Meanwhile,  the soaring cost of essential agricultural commodities such as grain has hit the developing countries and markets  the hardest as this is where bread and flour are vital for the survival  of most of the population._ 
_I think it was French Queen Marie Antoinette who, looking over a crowd of starving citizens from her palace, reportedly said with indifference: “If they have no bread let them eat cake.” 
_
_This  is the same cynicism that certain Western countries are now showing by destabilising the global production of agricultural  products and dealing with this matter by restricting, for example, supplies  of Russian and Belarusian fertilisers and impeding exports of Russian  grain to world markets. Speaking of which, we are expecting a good harvest. God willing, everything will  be fine and, if we supply 37 million tonnes to the world market this year, we  would most likely be able to supply 50 million tonnes of grain. However, it is  becoming more difficult to insure the transport that carries grain, bulk  carriers, transactions under trade contracts, and so on. 
_
_At the same time, they are artificially fuelling hysterics over, say, the suspension of Ukrainian grain shipments via Black Sea ports. Meanwhile, according to American, and our, estimates, this is about 5 or 6 million tonnes of wheat plus 7 million tonnes of corn – this is something, but it does not resolve the problems in the world grain market.
_
_But that’s not even the point. I have said publicly many times, and want to emphasise again, that Russia is not preventing the export of Ukraine’s grain from its territory; we are ready to ensure safe passage of grain ships via international waters if, of course, the Ukrainian military demines the ports and nearby waters.
_
_In addition, we have a relevant understanding with representatives of the UN Secretariat. As before, we lack one thing – a constructive approach from the current Kiev authorities.
_
_I would  like to emphasise that Russia is a major and responsible participant in the world food market. We are certainly  willing to continue fulfilling our contractual obligations on the supply  of agricultural products, fertiliser, energy and other critical  commodities in good faith._
_I would like to note that Russia continues rendering humanitarian aid to many countries that need it. Russia recently delivered foodstuffs to Lebanon, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Cuba, Sudan and others, without cost. 
_
_Colleagues,_
_I would like to note again that we have every opportunity to build up practical cooperation between the BRICS countries and its partners, the countries represented here. We feel your mutual interest in maintaining close business contacts._
_It  is equally important for BRICS to expand cooperation with regional associations like ASEAN, the African Union,  the Association of Caribbean States, the Gulf Cooperation Council  and the Indian Ocean Rim Association._
_Of course, serious potential is opening up for cooperation between our states in the context of working in the integration processes between the Eurasian Economic Union and China’s huge One Belt One Road infrastructure and trade project.
_
_In general, we are convinced that many serious problems on the global agenda can and must be resolved only by pooling efforts, and this summit is an example of constructive work in this respect._
_Thank you for your attention."_

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/68700

51.74% of the world's citizens (2020) represented at the meeting.

https://www.worldometers.info/world-...on-by-country/

----------


## VocalNeal

Can't we censor all this US based BS?

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Can't we censor all this US based BS?


They moved the kremlin to the US?

----------


## OhOh

> Can't we censor all this US based BS?


Censorship/deletion are at the discretion of the TD mods only. 

We are partially outside the world's digital "Fact Checkers". 

In the Brave New World it's facts, facts, facts.

 :Smile:

----------


## OhOh

> They moved the kremlin to the US?


According to the POTUS, *THE LORD* is capable of anything.




Президент России во время митинга в "Лужниках" исполнил гимн России.

(The President of Russia during a rally in Luzhniki sang the Russian anthem."

Without a teleprompter it seems, amazing.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> According to me, *THE LORD* is capable of anything.


Definitely FTBFY.

----------


## sabang



----------


## panama hat

So, we're doing the cartoon thing here now as well?  


Let's all quote a comedian and paste a cartoon . . . that'll support any argument

----------


## sabang

GIYF- "Thomas Merton ".

----------


## panama hat

Did - same.


By the way, are you still in Thailand?   Seriously, go out and enjoy . . . this place will still be here when you get back to Adelaide

----------


## OhOh

25 Jun, 2022 10:39  HomeBusiness News

*South American nation wants to join BRICS*                     President Fernandez says Argentina wants to be a full member of the emerging economies’ alliance.

_"__Argentina wants the BRICS emerging economies to admit it as a full  member, President Alberto Fernandez said on Friday at the group’s 14th  summit.
__“Argentina wants to join this space and offer its contributions as a member of it,” Fernandez said via video link.
_
_The  BRICS nations, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South  Africa, account for over 40 percent of the global population and nearly a  quarter of the world’s gross domestic product.
_
_The 14th BRICS summit was hosted by China, which currently holds the rotating presidency._
_The Argentinian head of state said the group “constitutes  a platform with enormous capacities to discuss and implement an agenda  for the future that will lead to a better and fairer time.”

Continues at:

South American nation wants to join BRICS — RT Business News
_

----------


## harrybarracuda

Anyone looking at getting into bed with Russia or the Chinkies should look at Ukraine and Sri Lanka for guidance...

----------


## harrybarracuda

I'm sure sabang had Puffy in mind when he started this thread.

This is an interactive link so feel free to click it and explore when you've finished reading.




> When vladimir putin was first elected president of Russia in 2000, he changed little in the office he inherited from Boris Yeltsin. Yet in place of a pen on the desk, Mr Putin put a television remote control, one visitor noted. The new president would obsess over the media, spending the end of his days watching coverage of himself. One of his first moves was to bring under Kremlin control the country’s television networks, including ntv, an independent oligarch-owned channel, which had needled the new president with unflattering depictions of him as a dwarf in a satirical show called Kukly, or Puppets.
> 
> After more than two decades in power, today Mr Putin is the puppet master. The state controls the country’s television channels, newspapers and radio stations. The Kremlin gives editors and producers metodichki, or guidance on what to cover and how. As young audiences shift online, the Kremlin seeks to control the conversation there, leaning on social networks and news aggregators, blocking or undermining unco-operative digital media and flooding popular platforms, such as the messaging app Telegram, with state-approved content. Propaganda has long propped up Mr Putin's regime. Now it fuels his war machine.
> 
> Since the president announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24th, control over information has become even tighter. Censorship laws bar reporting that cites unofficial sources. Calling the war a “war” is a crime. Protesters are detained for holding signs that contain eight asterisks, the number of letters in the Russian for “no to war”. Many Western social networks and platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, have been banned or blocked. The last remaining influential independent media bastions have been pushed off air. Dozhd, an online tv station, has suspended its streams; Novaya Gazeta, a liberal newspaper whose editor recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, has halted publication; Echo Moskvy, a popular liberal radio station, no longer broadcasts from its longtime Moscow home on 91.2FM.
> 
> As Mr Putin’s regime shifts from a relatively open authoritarianism towards a more closed dictatorship, its propaganda is changing, too. Television hosts and guests present the “special military operation” as part of a grander conflict in defence of Russia. State media have long intoned about the West’s supposed intention to undermine Russia and Mr Putin’s efforts to protect the motherland. But where propaganda once sought mostly to breed passivity, cast doubt on reality and discourage political participation, it increasingly seeks to mobilise popular support for Mr Putin’s war, by convincing people that Russia is under attack and victory is the only way out. “The old rules of authoritarian life are breaking down, active participation is being demanded,” says Greg Yudin, a sociologist.
> 
> As in any country, the exact picture depends on the media you consume. For Russians with the desire and a bit of tech-savvy, unofficial information is still accessible. But those who follow the official news, as The Economist did on May 11th, see a world solely of the Kremlin’s making. Here is a day in the life of a follower of The Putin Show.
> ...

----------


## panama hat

> Argentina


 . . . to add to the world-beaters.  :rofl:

----------


## harrybarracuda

I'm sure sabang will be along soon to warn us all about "Western media censorship".

 :smiley laughing: 





> MOSCOW, July 18 (Reuters) - Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google was fined 21.1 billion roubles ($373 million) on Monday by a Moscow court for a repeated failure to remove content Russia deems illegal, such as "fake news" about the conflict in Ukraine, Russia's communications regulator said.
> Moscow has long objected to foreign tech platforms' distribution of content that falls foul of its restrictions. But the simmering dispute has erupted into a full-on battle since Moscow assembled its armed forces before sending them into Ukraine in February.
> 
> Alphabet's YouTube has been a particular target of the state's ire but, unlike Twitter (TWTR.N) and Meta Platforms' (META.O) Facebook and Instagram, it has not been blocked.
> The regulator, Roskomnadzor, said the Tagansky District Court had fined Google 21.1 billion roubles for repeatedly failing to restrict access promptly to banned materials, and singled out YouTube for particular criticism.
> It said YouTube had not deleted "fakes about the course of the special military operation in Ukraine, discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation".
> 
> Russia fines Google $370 million for repeated content violations, regulator says | Reuters

----------


## harrybarracuda

News comes that a major online Word Processing package is now being used to block access to users' documents if they contain "sensitive material".

Hey sabang, have a wild fucking guess which country we're talking about in this "brave new world" of yours.

 :rofl: 

No?

I'll give you a clue.

It starts with "chinky" and ends with "stan".

MORAL OF THE STORY: DON'T USE SHITTY CHINKY SPYING SOFTWARE.

If you use Kingsoft,  migrate all your documents to a more secure platform and delete your Kingsoft account. Fuck the chinky bastards.





> Chinese software developer Kingsoft Corp is facing a crisis of trust after being accused of locking a novelist out of her own work written in the word processing software WPS over sensitive content, a practice the company denies.
> 
> After trending on social media, the issue has caught the attention of state media and other users have come forward with their own experiences about being locked out of their files.
> 
> At the heart of the issue is the WPS cloud platform, which like Microsoft 365 allows users to work with files stored on company servers or locally through desktop programs. The writer, who goes by the pseudonym Mitu, claimed she was unable to access her unpublished 1.3 million-character document either from the cloud or the desktop WPS client, which told her “the file may contain sensitive content and access has been disabled”. It could still be opened with other tools, including Microsoft Word and Tencent Docs.
> 
> Chinese word processor WPS accused of censorship after author says she was locked out of 1.3 million-character document | South China Morning Post

----------


## Backspin

PETER HITCHENS: Freedom for all means freedom for nasty people  | Daily Mail Online

Graham Phillips. 

Not been charged or convicted of a crime in the UK or abroad. 

His assets have been frozen. His bank accounts are blocked. He also cannot pay those to whom he owes money. His home insurance has now been cancelled because his insurers are forbidden to accept his premiums. All his bills will now bounce, the utilities at his London home will soon be cut off. He cannot even pay his council tax. He will face incessant claims for debts, which he can do nothing about.


As he says: ‘How can I pay these debts when I don’t have access to funds? If it goes to court, how can I defend myself when I won’t be able to pay for legal representation? Actually, how will I even find the money to travel to the court without money, or even feed myself?’ Franz Kafka, the great Czech author of The Trial, a classic about oppression, could not have invented a legal mantrap as inescapable as this.




Britain is not, in fact, at war with Russia. So there is no legal duty on any of us to support that war or refrain from saying things which upset the Kiev government. This is the dictatorial use of arbitrary power by the State against an individual it does not like. It is a straightforward outrage against the rule of law.

----------


## Switch

> PETER HITCHENS: Freedom for all means freedom for nasty people  | Daily Mail Online
> 
> Graham Phillips. 
> 
> Not been charged or convicted of a crime in the UK or abroad. 
> 
> His assets have been frozen. His bank accounts are blocked. He also cannot pay those to whom he owes money. His home insurance has now been cancelled because his insurers are forbidden to accept his premiums. All his bills will now bounce, the utilities at his London home will soon be cut off. He cannot even pay his council tax. He will face incessant claims for debts, which he can do nothing about.
> 
> 
> ...


Since when did the rule of law apply to those beneath the age of criminal responsibility?

That is the only reason your stupid gets a pass.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Sounds like the horrible puffy brown noser deserves all he gets.

Fuck him.

----------


## sabang

Like Julian Assange then?  ::chitown::

----------


## sabang

Most of fact-checking organisations Facebook uses to police content on Ukraine are directly funded by the US government either by the US embassy or through notorious CIA front group, the NED.

In light of Russias invasion of Ukraine, an information war as bitter as the ground fighting has erupted, and Meta (Facebooks official name) announced it had partnered with nine organizations to help it sort fact from fiction for Ukrainian, Russian and other Eastern European users. These nine organizations are: StopFake, VoxCheck, Fact Check Georgia, Demagog, Myth Detector, Lead Stories, Patikrinta 15min, Re:Baltica and Delfi.

To reduce the spread of misinformation and provide more reliable information to users, we partner with independent third-party fact-checkers globally, the Silicon Valley giant wrote, adding, Facebooks independent third-party fact-checkers are all certified by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). The IFCN, a subsidiary of the journalism research organization Poynter Institute, is dedicated to bringing together fact-checkers worldwide.

The problem with this? At least five of the nine organizations are directly in the pay of the United States government, a major belligerent in the conflict. The Poynter Institute is also funded by the NED. Furthermore, many of the other fact-checking organizations also have deep connections with other NATO powers, including direct funding.

FULL-https://www.mintpressnews.com/facebook-fact-checking-organizations-ukraine-funded-washington/281618/

----------


## misskit

*Russia Has Blocked 138K Websites Since Ukraine Invasion*

Russian authorities have blocked or deleted some 138,000 websites since Moscow launched its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February, the country’s prosecutor general said Monday. 


Following over 300 requests from prosecutors, Russia’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has censored thousands of websites in a bid to combat “fake news,” according to prosecutor general Igor Krasnov. 


“After the start of the special military operation, we have strengthened our counteraction to the spread of calls for extremism and terrorism, mass riots and fake news on the internet,” Krasnov told the Kommersant business daily. 

The Kremlin has sought to strictly control the narrative of the war at home since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24.


Many of the blocked websites have criticized the war or in Ukraine or referred to it as a “war” or “invasion” rather than the Kremlin’s preferred term “special military operation.”

Websites publishing information contradicting Moscow's versions of events in Ukraine, which it considers "fake news," are also subject to being blocked.


Criticizing the war or sharing non-Kremlin-approved information about it are both punishable under new laws passed shortly after the invasion.


All of Russia’s independent media has either been blocked or shut down since February, with many journalists fleeing the country to escape prosecution. 


Russian authorities have also outlawed Facebook and Instagram as “extremist” organizations since the war began and restricted access to Twitter.

Russia Has Blocked 138K Websites Since Ukraine Invasion, Prosecutor Says - The Moscow Times

----------


## OhOh

> All of Russia’s independent media has either been blocked or shut down since February, with many journalists fleeing the country to escape prosecution.


Any, Russian or foreign, "video blogger"/"journalists" been sanctioned by the Russia government.

Any, Russian or foreign, "video blogger"/"journalists" been banned from western media sites?

*British pro-Kremlin video blogger added to UK government Russia sanctions list*

Graham Phillips is accused of being a conduit for pro-Russian propaganda and is first UK citizen put on list

_"Phillips – who faces a freeze of his assets – is described on the  sanctions list as “a video blogger who has produced and published media  content that supports and promotes actions and policies which  destabilise Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity,  sovereignty or independence of Ukraine”."

"Phillips says his work is self-funded and regularly solicits donations  from his 264,000 YouTube subscribers. He also earns money from YouTube  adverts paid for by big western companies. YouTube has so far declined  to take down Phillips’ videos, despite calls from politicians to remove  the channel."_

British pro-Kremlin video blogger added to UK government Russia sanctions list | Russia | The Guardian

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Any, Russian or foreign, "video blogger"/"journalists" been sanctioned by the Russia government.
> 
> Any, Russian or foreign, "video blogger"/"journalists" been banned from western media sites?
> 
> *British pro-Kremlin video blogger added to UK government Russia sanctions list*
> 
> Graham Phillips is accused of being a conduit for pro-Russian propaganda and is first UK citizen put on list
> 
> _"Phillips – who faces a freeze of his assets – is described on the  sanctions list as “a video blogger who has produced and published media  content that supports and promotes actions and policies which  destabilise Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity,  sovereignty or independence of Ukraine”."
> ...


Excellent, let him move in with Ed Snowden, since Assange doesn't seem to need the sofa bed.

----------


## sabang

*More and More Are Seeing Through the Lies*






....... *The “Absolute Truth”*

When it comes to Ukraine a new, dangerous and lavishly funded weapon in the counter truth war has been deployed by western governments and media, I call it “Absolute Truth”. The Absolute truth doesn’t tolerate any challenges, when its allegations are proven false those realities are suppressed and ignored.

It immediately and efficiently targets any dissent from the prescribed narrative and brands challengers as “enemies,” “foreign agents,” or “useful idiots.” Critically there is no room for debate of any kind, there is no analysis of facts, there is only their Absolute Truth.

Should a journalist, State or individual question this Absolute Truth or merely suggest an objective analysis of the facts they are immediately and brutally marginalised and then targeted for retribution. This determined and choreographed punishment can range from the loss of a job to the isolation of an entire nation with threats of violence commonplace.


The fact that the West’s “Absolute Truth” narrative relies implicitly on mass censorship and the wholesale destruction of freedom of speech is apparently irrelevant to its architects and disciples, if these pillars of liberal democracy must be abandoned in this war against the facts, so be it.

Absolute truth also has a selective attitude when it comes to the behavior of its idols, when Mr Zelensky’s election with the assistance, cash and muscle of a corrupt oligarch is highlighted this is ignored, when his antidemocratic banning of all opposition and the imprisonment of its leaders comes up, its fine. if the Absolute Truth requires the acceptance and deployment of brutal Nazi militias against civilians, (previously designated by the west as terrorists) that is again entirely acceptable.

Indeed, the Absolute truth brigade have a magical ability to erase history, assign hero status to mass murders (Stepan Bandera) and demonise those that defeated Nazism in Europe. The Absolute Truth now defines the narrative, the facts do not, facts and independent evidence will be selectively deployed if at all, those that challenge this are immediately designated as collaborators, war mongers and enemies of democracy.

Another sinister element of the cult of Absolute Truth is the reluctance to correct the record or admit when you get it wrong, from the “massacre” at Snake Island that never happened to the fake headlines about the Mariupol maternity hospital to name but a few, there is never any attempt to correct the record which begs the question how sincere were the allegations in the first place?


Interestingly, when the internationally respected Amnesty international bravely countered the Absolute truth with indisputable facts, it was itself attacked by an increasingly paranoid Zelensky. There is now a distinct element of “the boy who cried wolf” about Zelensky’s persistent and now routine allegations of genocide, targeting of civilians and the apparent desire to “erase Ukraine from the map”.

Any cursory examination of the facts around the Ukrainian Army’s “counter terrorist” operation against its own people in 2014 in Donbas would suggest it was an increasingly radicalised Ukrainian military that first assaulted the ethnic Russian populations in the east in 2014.

As NATOs exceptionally costly and increasingly destructive proxy war against Russia grinds on, the prospect of any military victory for Ukraine fades almost hourly, the likelihood that Russia will seek settlement also fades by the day, any incentive to do so now strategically valueless.

Western support for Zelensky’s seemingly rudderless and incompetent regime is privately wavering as the impact of ham-fisted sanctions against Russia threatens social cohesion in Europe and America alongside a global energy crisis.


Promised counter offensives in the south have not materialized, the much vaunted “Million-man army” has failed to appear and yet again, the American and European press that presented this as fact have not rowed back on their outlandish claims.

The harsh reality of war is seemingly lost on the “absolute Truth” brigade who are happy to “stand with Ukraine” but will never stand in Ukraine.

The western public are a fickle audience, given the lack of initial scrutiny generally applied to the mainstream narrative on Ukraine it’s likely that as more of the inconvenient truths about Zelensky, his junta and the realities of this conflict appear, more and more westerns will be creeping into their yards in the dead of night to take down their hastily hoisted Ukrainian flags.

Contrary to the best efforts of those that have funded, molded and justified this proxy war the truth has a habit of resurfacing. It will be impossible to “manage” the oncoming tide of reality that will gush out of Ukraine as the western powers refocus on their self-inflicted domestic troubles this winter, Zelensky himself may become the fall guy for the failed NATO escapade in Ukraine.

That’s the thing about those inconvenient facts, they keep persisting under the surface, the truth doesn’t have a sell by date, and it is patient, the memory of the countless dead demands it to be.

And of course, as good old Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool part of the people some of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time.”


So good, it is worth reading in FULL-  War Propaganda About Ukraine Starting to Wear Thin - CovertAction Magazine

----------


## bsnub

> CovertAction Magazine


 :smiley laughing: 

Everything on that site is fake news horseshit. Just look at a fake photoshopped pic of one of the "journalists"...



 :smiley laughing:

----------


## harrybarracuda

Hysterical. One of TD's top puffy propagandists is trying to convince us Ukraine is telling fibs because of some propaganda he read on the internet.

 :rofl:

----------


## sabang

Thought that would get a rise from the usual suspects.  This of course makes it even more worth reading in full. Thanks for the compliment.  :Smile: 

^^ Yes, the Dutch journalist is well worth reading too. Obviously  not what you want to read, or be disseminated. Just go to the Homepage. Why are you scared of what other people might read?  :yerman:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Thought that would get a rise from the usual suspects.


If that is a translation of you saying people would think you're posting utter fucking shite as usual, you'd be right.

----------


## panama hat

> More and More Are Seeing Through the Lies



Quite right, Putin should stop lying

----------


## bsnub

> Just go to the Homepage.


I did, how do you think I got the fake pic? It all utter trash, lies and propaganda.

----------


## sabang

POLITICS
JULY 18, 2022
*Media Confidence Ratings at Record Lows*



*STORY HIGHLIGHTS*


16% of Americans have a great deal/quite a lot of confidence in newspapers11% have some the degree of confidence in television newsDemocrats' confidence low but higher than Republicans', independents'

Gallup has tracked Americans' confidence in newspapers since 1973 and television news since 1993 as part of its annual polling about major U.S. institutions. The latest readings are from a June 1-20 poll that saw declines in confidence ratings for 11 of the 16 institutions measured and no improvements for any.

Television news and newspapers rank nearly at the bottom of that list of institutions, with only Congress garnering less confidence from the public than TV news. While these two news institutions have never earned high confidence ratings, they have fallen in the rankings in recent years.

FULL- Media Confidence Ratings at Record Lows

----------


## cyrille

> Lincoln said, You can fool part of the people some of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time.
> 
> 
> War Propaganda About Ukraine Starting to Wear Thin - CovertAction Magazine


These idiots couldn't even get that right. 

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## bsnub

> These idiots couldn't even get that right.


 :smiley laughing:

----------


## Seekingasylum

Sabang is an idiot.

Hitchens is a Daily Mail polemicist whose diatribes increasingly are little more than an exercise in juvenile dogmatism devoid of any intelligent syllogisms and rely on nothing other than a cheap sophistry. The UK, Russia and the US signed the Budapest memorandum on security assurances in 1994 guaranteeing their support for the sovereignty and borders of Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus in return for those countries relinquishing their nuclear arsenals and their accession to the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of nuclear weapons. Russia by virtue of its invasion is in breach and accordingly has been sanctioned by the UK together with Putin's supporters who derive a benefit from their contribution to his attack on the 1994 memorandum which seeks to undermine the UK's international policy of adhering to its sovereign commitments. Sanctioning the prick Graham Phillips is not only lawful and logical, it is just and proportionate. Hitchens never was as intelligent as his brother, Christopher, and is in truth little more than a perverse reactionary suckling on the soma of his hypocrisy and addiction to Christianity.

----------


## sabang

> Gallup


Seekingaslum is a bonehead. But that is hardly news.  ::chitown:: 


Gallup (company) - Wikipedia

----------


## Switch

> Seekingaslum is a bonehead. But that is hardly news. 
> 
> 
> Gallup (company) - Wikipedia


According to your posts, you chose to ignore MissKits post #357?

Another example of your self imposed ignorance. :fake applause:

----------


## sabang

So your 'argument' is "Oh, but They do it too. So it's OK if We do it too". That argument doesn't wash with me, and neither should it wash with any citizen of a free society. Unless of course, you don't want it to be a free society any more- in which case, you are no different to those 'Others' you lambast for their lack of liberties. Our hard won freedoms and rights are there for a reason, and it is downright shameful to see so many people voluntarily allowing themselves to be systematically stripped of them. Even, encouraging it.

----------


## Backspin

> Sabang is an idiot.
> 
> Hitchens is a Daily Mail polemicist whose diatribes increasingly are little more than an exercise in juvenile dogmatism devoid of any intelligent syllogisms and rely on nothing other than a cheap sophistry. The UK, Russia and the US signed the Budapest memorandum on security assurances in 1994 guaranteeing their support for the sovereignty and borders of Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus in return for those countries relinquishing their nuclear arsenals and their accession to the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of nuclear weapons. Russia by virtue of its invasion is in breach and accordingly has been sanctioned by the UK together with Putin's supporters who derive a benefit from their contribution to his attack on the 1994 memorandum which seeks to undermine the UK's international policy of adhering to its sovereign commitments. Sanctioning the prick Graham Phillips is not only lawful and logical, it is just and proportionate. Hitchens never was as intelligent as his brother, Christopher, and is in truth little more than a perverse reactionary suckling on the soma of his hypocrisy and addiction to Christianity.


Do you think OhOh should be personally sanctioned for what he posts on this forum ? Graham Phillips was going the video blog equivalent. 

His fucking brother would have totally opposed personal sanctions on Graham Phillips too. Phillips is a very boring guy. A video blogger who happened to like going to Russia even before the war started. Its just fucking amazing where the government can move the line and everyone just supports it. 




> which seeks to undermine the UK's international policy of adhering to its sovereign commitments. Sanctioning the prick Graham Phillips is not only lawful and logical, it is just and proportionate.

----------


## panama hat

> Do you think OhOh should be personally sanctioned for what he posts on this forum ?


You and him . . . Yes. 


Now, I'd suggest you think about your response carefully (a joke, of course), because you're going to look the fool if you don't . . . not that that is anything new to you.






> According to your posts, you chose to ignore MissKits post #357?
> 
> Another example of your self imposed ignorance. :fake applause:


Yes, and bringing the discussion back to facts simply makes you a bonehead in sabang's world.

----------


## bsnub

> You and him . . . Yes.


I agree, especially skiddy. He is the biggest imbecile on TD, a multi-nick, and he contributes nothing of value to the forum. He belongs in the doghouse.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> So your 'argument' is "Oh, but They do it too. So it's OK if We do it too". That argument doesn't wash with me, and neither should it wash with any citizen of a free society. Unless of course, you don't want it to be a free society any more- in which case, you are no different to those 'Others' you lambast for their lack of liberties. Our hard won freedoms and rights are there for a reason, and it is downright shameful to see so many people voluntarily allowing themselves to be systematically stripped of them. Even, encouraging it.


There are no "hard won freedoms and rights" in Chinkystan OR Russia. They are both run by dictators who crush anyone who opposes them.

This whole thread is a fucking joke, and so are you.

----------


## sabang

So ignore it 'arryboy. Your absence will not be missed.  ::chitown::

----------


## pickel

> So your 'argument' is "Oh, but They do it too. So it's OK if We do it too". That argument doesn't wash with me, and neither should it wash with any citizen of a free society


You are pretty much the King of whataboutism. Russia and China are not free societies. You've lost your mind.

----------


## bsnub

> You are pretty much the King of whataboutism.


It is all he has.




> You've lost your mind.


Sometime ago, in fact.

----------


## cyrille

> He is the biggest imbecile on TD.



While yasojack is resting.  :Very Happy:

----------


## panama hat

> So ignore it 'arryboy. Your absence will not be missed.


Says the poster who is leading all these threads by a large margin . . . you're simply trying too hard at being an imbecile . . .






> Our hard won freedoms and rights are there for a reason, and it is downright shameful to see so many people voluntarily allowing themselves to be systematically stripped of them. Even, encouraging it.


You're a keyboard warrior on an open forum . . . espousing the wonders of murderous dictatorships.  

Impressive

----------


## Backspin

Speaking of 1984, there are 1000's of  different news broadcasts in the US saying the exact same words.

----------


## misskit

> Speaking of 1984, there are 1000's of  different news broadcasts in the US saying the exact same words.


Backspin, this is a flat out lie. There were not 1000s broadcasts repeating the exact words. There were a couple of hundred. You really need to link your bullshit and control your hyperbole. Also, there is a whole thread devoted to just this subject somewhere in SC.



This thread has slid off into lalaland and needs to recover some reality or going bye bye.

----------


## misskit

^^^I posted this just the other day. You must have missed it.

*Russian Anti-War Journalist Marina Ovsyannikova Placed Under House Arrest In Moscow, Faces 10-Year Prison Sentence*

Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who became a symbol of fearless dissent when she interrupted a live TV broadcast in March to protest her country’s invasion of Ukraine, has been placed under house arrest in Moscow pending a trial related to a fresh anti-war protest in July.


Ovsyannikova was arrested on August 10 in a police raid on her Moscow home. She appeared in court on Thursday (August 11) where she was charged with spreading fake news about the military, an offense that carries up to ten years in prison under Russian law.


The charges are not related to her original TV protest but rather a fresh action in mid-July in which she stood opposite the Kremlin, holding a placard with slogans criticizing President Vladimir Putin and the Russian army. At her feet lay two dolls covered in red dye to highlight the deaths of children in the conflict.

Following her first protest in March, which resulted in a brief arrest and $527 fine (30,000 rubles), Ovsyannikova left Russia and worked briefly for the German newspaper Die Welt on a temporary contract.


She returned to Russia in early July to fight for access to her two children after her ex-husband filed a lawsuit asking for sole custody in Moscow.


Ovsyannikova said in an Instagram post that she knew she could be arrested on her return but despite these fears, she staged further public protests against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


She continued her protests in the courtroom on Thursday. Sitting in the glass defendant’s cage, she defiantly held up an A4 piece of paper bearing the words “May the murdered kids haunt your dreams tonight.”


Local media outlets and human rights groups reported that Ovsyannikova had been placed under house arrest until October 9, pending her trial.


There has been a widespread crackdown on anti-war protests and dissent across Russia since the start of its war in Ukraine on February 24.


Russian independent human rights watchdog OVD-info, estimates that there have been more than 15,000 detentions and at least 178 people are currently going through the courts and could face lengthy prison sentences.

Russian Journalist Marina Ovsyannikova Faces 10-Year Prison Sentence – Deadline





So, sabang, when the world’s eyes were on her protest, the Russians made out like her protest was allowed. Now she’s in the lock-up.

----------


## sabang

She is under house arrest, to be precise.  In Australia we call that home detention. And whatever MSM may say she' faces', let's see what she actually gets. Then compare that to Julian Assange.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> She is under house arrest, to be precise.  In Australia we call that home detention. And whatever MSM may say she' faces', let's see what she actually gets. Then compare that to Julian Assange.


You should compare it to Alexei Navalny. Or Alexander Litvinenko. Or Boris Nemtsov. Or Sergei Ivanov. Or Valery Kondakov. Or Yuri Shchekochikhin. Or Aleksei Sidarov. Or Ivan Safronov. Or Magomed Yevlovev. Or Natalya Estemirova. Or Mikhail Beketov.  Or....

You witless fucking moron.

----------


## sabang

Or Boris the bore, or Ivan the insufferable. If you actually have any details to provide witless child, do feel free to post them here.

----------


## pickel

> Have you read the Moscow Times?


The Moscow Times had to move their offices to Amsterdam, because puffy Putin would have shut them down and had them arrested. Brave New World, eh?

----------


## harrybarracuda

Gosh, imagine facing jail for having an opinion.

This must be the "brave new world" that sabang keeps banging on about.

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 




> The former mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city — and a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin — was arrested on Wednesday for speaking out against the war in Ukraine.
> Yevgeny Roizman, 59, who served as the mayor of Yekaterinburg from 2013 to 2018, was taken into custody by police following raids on his apartment and office — as part of the Kremlin’s nationwide crackdown against dissidents.
> Roizman told reporters he was charged with discrediting Russia’s military, which is illegal under a law that was adopted after the invasion of Ukraine in February. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
> 
> Ex-Russian mayor and Putin critic arrested for blasting Ukraine war

----------


## sabang

Does Julian Assange's extended period of detention have something to do with discrediting America's military? Still, if we do it it must be alright.

----------


## Switch

> She is under house arrest, to be precise.  In Australia we call that home detention. And whatever MSM may say she' faces', let's see what she actually gets. Then compare that to Julian Assange.


Did Assange start a war and blame it all on NATO? If this is the way Putin deals with criticism from a well known media figure, how do you think they deal with the general public.

No need to wait. Her career is over already.

----------


## panama hat

> This must be the "brave new world" that sabang keeps banging on about.





> Does... whatbaoutism whatbaoutism whatbaoutism whatbaoutismwhatbaoutism whatbaoutismwhatbaoutism whatbaoutismwhatbaoutism whatbaoutismwhatbaoutism whatbaoutismwhatbaoutism whatbaoutismwhatbaoutism whatbaoutismwhatbaoutism whatbaoutism


Whatamoron

----------


## sabang

Free Julian!

----------


## Switch

You have make that price to get offers?

----------


## misskit

> Free Julian!


Poor Julian. I bet he gets out before some of these poor sods do.


*Six months in, 16500 Detained in Russia for War Opposition*

Almost 16,500 people have been detained across Russia for protesting the war in the 6 months since the invasion of Ukraine, according to data published Wednesday by an independent human rights group.


The overwhelming majority of detentions came in the first month of the fighting before Russian lawmakers passed legislation criminalizing virtually any speech or act criticizing the war, the OVD-Info website said.


Since then, according to OVD-Info, there has been a fall from 800 detentions between March 24 and June 24 to 89 in the two subsequent months. 


Moscow and St. Petersburg had the highest number of detentions.


More than 3,800 of those detained have been charged with offenses that carry fines as punishment. Such cases fell from close to 900 at their peak in April to 333 so far in August.


At least 224 people face criminal prosecution for acts like referring to Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine as a “war” or “invasion,” OVD-Info said in its roundup of the legal fallout from the conflict. 


Some of them face up to 15 years in prison for spreading what authorities determine to be “fake” information about the Russian Armed Forces.


In addition, Russia has designated 74 organizations “foreign agents” and another 15 “undesirable” over the last six months, according to OVD-Info. 


Meanwhile, Russia’s independent internet watchdog Roskomsvoboda reported Tuesday that around 7,000 websites, including those of prominent Russian and international independent news media, have been blocked for their content about the war.


Russia’s prosecutor general said earlier this month that 138,000 websites have been blocked or deleted since the start of the war.

Six months in, 16,500 Detained in Russia For War Opposition – Rights Group - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

^*First person incarcerated in Russia for calling the invasion of Ukraine ‘a war’ says he’s being denied vital medical aid in prison*

The first person to be incarcerated in Russia for spreading supposed “disinformation” about the invasion of Ukraine says his health is rapidly deteriorating behind bars. Former Moscow municipal deputy Alexey Gorinov was sentenced to seven years in prison for calling Russia’s attack “a war” in a speech to his fellow council members.


In a handwritten letter shared on Telegram, Gorinov said he’s developed a persistent cough and difficulty breathing, eating, and sleeping. “I’m not getting any medical assistance, and my condition is getting worse. I’m asking for help.” According to his lawyer, Gorinov has also lost a dangerous amount of weight in prison.

On July 8, a Moscow court sentenced municipal deputy Alexey Gorinov to seven years in prison for spreading “false information” about the Russian army. The 60-year-old was charged with violating military censorship laws introduced after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. His crime? Calling the invasion a war during a session of the local assembly where he is a deputy. Throughout the trial, Gorinov insisted that his statements reflected nothing more than his personal opinion. But Judge Olesya Mendeleeva, who has presided over a number of high-profile cases, found him guilty nevertheless. Gorinov’s verdict marks the first time a Russian court has sent anyone to prison for sharing “disinformation” about the military. 

Here is his story. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/07...-need-this-war

----------


## panama hat

> Free Julian!





> oor Julian. I bet he gets out before some of these poor sods do.
> 
> 
> Six months in, 16500 Detained in Russia for War Opposition


Oh dear . . . that'd hurt sabang's feelings (though I do agree with his Assange stance)

----------


## harrybarracuda

Another dictator at work.




> Istanbul (CNN)Turkish pop star Gulsen Colakoglu has been jailed on charges of "inciting or insulting the public to hatred and enmity" after she made a joke about religious schools in Turkey, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
> 
> The charges appear to be related to a video circulating on social media from a Gulsen concert in April, when she joked about one of the musicians.
> He "graduated from Imam Hatip (religious schools). That's where his pervert side comes from," she said.
> 
> 
> Several Twitter users could be seen sharing the video on Thursday with a hashtag calling for her arrest and saying it is offensive to associate the schools with perverts.
> 
> 
> ...

----------


## sabang

No one, including the most bullish supporters of Ukraine, expect the nation’s war with Russia to end soon. The fighting has been reduced to artillery duels across hundreds of miles of front lines and creeping advances and retreats. Ukraine, like Afghanistan, will bleed for a very long time. This is by design.

On August 24, the Biden administration announced yet another massive military aid package to Ukraine worth nearly $3 billion. It will take months, and in some cases years, for this military equipment to reach Ukraine. In another sign that Washington assumes the conflict will be a long war of attrition it will give a name to the U.S. military assistance mission in Ukraine and make it a separate command overseen by a two- or three-star general. Since August 2021, Biden has approved more than $8 billion in weapons transfers from existing stockpiles, known as drawdowns, to be shipped to Ukraine, which do not require Congressional approval.

Including humanitarian assistance, replenishing depleting U.S. weapons stocks and expanding U.S. troop presence in Europe, Congress has approved over $53.6 billion ($13.6 billion in March and a further $40.1 billion in May) since Russia's February 24 invasion. War takes precedence over the most serious existential threats we face. The proposed budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in fiscal year 2023 is $10.675 billion while the proposed budget for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is $11.881 billion. Our approved assistance to Ukraine is more than twice these amounts.

The militarists who have waged permanent war costing trillions of dollars over the past two decades have invested heavily in controlling the public narrative. The enemy, whether Saddam Hussein or Vladimir Putin, is always the epitome of evil, the new Hitler. Those we support are always heroic defenders of liberty and democracy. Anyone who questions the righteousness of the cause is accused of being an agent of a foreign power and a traitor.

The mass media cravenly disseminates these binary absurdities in 24-hour news cycles. Its news celebrities and experts, universally drawn from the intelligence community and military, rarely deviate from the approved script. Day and night, the drums of war never stop beating. Its goal: to keep billions of dollars flowing into the hands of the war industry and prevent the public from asking inconvenient questions.

In the face of this barrage, no dissent is permitted.CBS News caved to pressure and retracted its documentary which charged that only 30 percent of arms shipped to Ukraine were making it to the front lines, with the rest siphoned off to the black market, a finding that was separately reported upon by U.S. journalist Lindsey Snell. CNN has acknowledged there is no oversight of weapons once they arrive in Ukraine, long considered the most corrupt country in Europe. According to a poll of executives responsible for tackling fraud, completed by Ernst & Young in 2018, Ukraine was ranked the ninth-most corrupt nation from 53 surveyed.

There is little ostensible reason for censoring critics of the war in Ukraine. The U.S. is not at war with Russia. No U.S. troops are fighting in Ukraine. Criticism of the war in Ukraine does not jeopardize our national security. There are no long-standing cultural and historical ties to Ukraine, as there are to Great Britain. But if permanent war, with potentially tenuous public support, is the primary objective, censorship makes sense.

War is the primary business of the U.S. empire and the bedrock of the U.S. economy. The two ruling political parties slavishly perpetuate permanent war, as they do austerity programs, trade deals, the virtual tax boycott for corporations and the rich, wholesale government surveillance, the militarization of the police and the maintenance of the largest prison system in the world. They bow before the dictates of the militarists, who have created a state within a state. This militarism, as Seymour Melman writes in _The Permanent War Economy_: _American Capitalism in Decline_, “is fundamentally contradictory to the formation of a new political economy based upon democracy, instead of hierarchy, in the workplace and the rest of society.”

“The idea that war economy brings prosperity has become more than an American illusion,” Melman writes. “When converted, as it has been, into ideology that justifies the militarization of society and moral debasement, as in Vietnam, then critical reassessment of that illusion is a matter of urgency. It is a primary responsibility of thoughtful people who are committed to humane values to confront and respond to the prospect that deterioration of American economy and society, owing to the ravages of war economy, can become irreversible.”

If permanent war is to be halted, as Melman writes, the ideological control of the war industry must be shattered. The war industry’s funding of  politicians, research centers and think tanks, as well as its domination of the media monopolies, must end. The public must be made aware, Melman writes, of how the federal government “sustains itself as the directorate of the largest industrial corporate empire in the world; how the war economy is organized and operated in parallel with centralized political power — often contradicting the laws of Congress and the Constitution itself; how the directorate of the war economy converts pro-peace sentiment in the population into pro-militarist majorities in the  Congress; how ideology and fears of job losses are manipulated to marshal support in Congress and the general public for war economy; how the directorate of the war economy uses its power to prevent planning for orderly conversion to an economy of peace.”

Rampant, unchecked militarism, as historian Arnold Toynbee notes, “has been by far the commonest cause of the breakdown of civilizations.”

This breakdown is accelerated by the rigid standardization and uniformity of public discourse. The manipulation of public opinion, what Walter Lippman calls “the manufacture of consent,” is imperative as the militarists gut social programs; let the nation’s crumbling infrastructure decay; refuse to raise the minimum wage; sustain an inept, mercenary for-profit health care system that resulted in 25 percent of global Covid deaths — although we are less than 5 percent of the world’s population — to gouge the public; carries out deindustrialization; do nothing to curb the predatory behavior of banks and corporations or invest in substantial programs to combat the climate crisis.

Critics, already shut out from the corporate media, are relentlessly attacked, discredited and silenced for speaking a truth that threatens the public’s quiescence while the U.S. Treasury is pillaged by the war industry and the nation disemboweled.

You can watch my discussion with Matt Taibbi about the rot that infects journalism 

.

The war industry, deified by the mass media, including the entertainment industry, is never held accountable for the military fiascos, cost overruns, dud weapons systems and profligate waste. No matter how many disasters — from Vietnam to Afghanistan — it orchestrates, it is showered with larger and larger amounts of federal funds, nearly half of all the government’s discretionary spending. The monopolization of capital by the military has driven the U.S. debt to over $30 trillion, $6 trillion more than the U.S. GDP of $24 trillion. Servicing this debt costs $300 billion a year. We spend more on the military, $813 billion for fiscal year 2023, than the next nine countries, including China and Russia, combined.

An organization like NewsGuard, which has been rating what it says are trustworthy and untrustworthy sites based on their reporting on Ukraine, is one of the many indoctrination tools of the war industry. Sites that raise what are deemed “false” assertions about Ukraine, including that there was a U.S.-backed coup in 2014 and neo-Nazi forces are part of Ukraine’s military and power structure, are tagged as unreliable. Consortium News, Daily Kos, Mint Press and Grayzone have been given a red warning label. Sites that do not raise these issues, such as CNN, receive the “green” rating” for truth and credibility.  (NewsGuard, after being heavily criticized for giving Fox News a green rating of approval in July revised its rating for Fox News and MSNBC, giving them red labels.)

The ratings are arbitrary. The Daily Caller, which published fake naked pictures of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was given a green rating, along with a media outlet owned and operated by The Heritage Foundation. NewsGuard gives WikiLeaks a red label for "failing" to publish retractions despite admitting that all of the information WikiLeaks has published thus far is accurate. What WikiLeaks was supposed to retract remains a mystery. The New York Timesand The Washington Post, which shared a Pulitzer in 2018 for reporting that Donald Trump colluded with Vladimir Putin to help sway the 2016 election, a conspiracy theory the Mueller investigation imploded, are awarded perfect scores. These ratings are not about vetting journalism. They are about enforcing conformity.

NewsGuard, established in 2018, “partners” with the State Department and the Pentagon, as well as corporations such as Microsoft. Its advisory board includes the former Director of the CIA and NSA, Gen. Michael Hayden; the first U.S. Homeland Security director Tom Ridge and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former secretary general of NATO.

Readers who regularly go to targeted sites could probably care less if they are tagged with a red label. But that is not the point. The point is to rate these sites so that anyone who has a NewsGuard extension installed on their devices will be warned away from visiting them. NewsGuard is being installed in libraries and schools and on the computers of active-duty troops. A warning pops up on targeted sites that reads: “Proceed with caution: This website generally fails to maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability.”

Negative ratings will 

 the evils of U.S. militarism.

In an exhaustive rebuttal to NewsGuard, which is worth reading, Joe Lauria, the editor-in-chief of Consortium News, ends with this observation:
 _is hiding behind its reasons, but CN trades in information and nothing else. 

__NewsGuard’s accusations against Consortium News that could potentially limit its readership and financial support must be seen in the context of the West’s war mania over Ukraine, about which dissenting voices are being suppressed. Three CN writers have been kicked off Twitter. 

PayPal’s cancellation of Consortium News’ account is an evident attempt to defund it for what is almost certainly the company’s view that CN violated its restrictions on “providing false or misleading information.” It cannot be known with 100 percent certainty because PayPal

__CN supports no side in the Ukraine war but seeks to examine the causes of the conflict within its recent historical context, all of which are being whitewashed from mainstream Western media.

Those causes are: NATO’s expansion eastward despite its promise not to do so; the coup and eight-year war on Donbass against coup resisters; the lack of implementation of the Minsk Accords to end that conflict; and the outright rejection of treaty proposals by Moscow to create a new security architecture in Europe taking Russia’s security concerns into account. 

Historians who point out the onerous Versailles conditions imposed on Germany after World War I as a cause of Nazism and World War II are neither excusing Nazi Germany nor are they smeared as its defenders.
_
The frantic effort to corral viewers and readers into the embrace of the establishment media — only 16 percent of Americans have a great deal/quite a lot of confidence in newspapers and only 11 percent have some degree of confidence in television news — is a sign of desperation.

As the persecution of 

 his fellow Germans in World War I, are the enemy within.
Share

https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/u...s-of-permanent


Chris Hedges should need no introduction. As always, an excellent article

----------


## Switch

The blame for this elongated, perpetual war can be laid quite seriously at the feet of one man alone. PUTIN started what he initially viewed as a victory in 3 days. Seven days might have been acceptable, but no, he continues to target some kind of victory for himself.

You can post all you like about the reasoning behind it. Some of it might be relevant, but not all, and certainly not the inclusion of a mention for your favourite hobby horse, Assange. He has nothing to do with the blame for this war. That lay at the feet of the idiot Tyrant PUTIN.

Got it? OK now move on.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Chris Hedges should need no introduction.


As a stupid vegan lefty.





> As always, an excellent article




No, a load of fucking shite. He's another tosser that points the finger everywhere but at the Putin, the one that did, you know, the actual invading.   :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

And if he's supporting the other Putin arse kisser then you know exactly who's pulling his strings.

----------


## sabang

Your simplistic invective comes down to, "M'ehhh it's all His fault _[insert Villain du jour]"._ Thanks for sharing, but I am sure the kind of readership that can read and appreciate Chris Hedges Tour de Force do not see the World, or current geopolitics and political trends, in such black and white terms. But tally ho old chap, pip pip- we need people like you in the trenches.  :Smile: 

^ He's won more Journalistic prizes than you've had AVO's 'arry. Including the Pulitzer. But thanks for the highbrow commentary, always good for a larf.

Chris Hedges - Wikipedia

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Your simplistic invective comes down to, "M'ehhh it's all His fault _[insert Villain du jour]"._ Thanks for sharing, but I am sure the kind of readership that can read and appreciate Chris Hedges Tour de Force do not see the World, or current geopolitics and political trends, in such black and white terms. But tally ho old chap, pip pip- we need people like you in the trenches. 
> 
> ^ He's won more Journalistic prizes than you've had AVO's 'arry. Including the Pulitzer. But thanks for the highbrow commentary, always good for a larf.
> 
> Chris Hedges - Wikipedia



He's a worthless plagiarist and an inveterate liar.

Bit like you really.

The fact he managed to con a few gongs before anyone noticed does not detract from the truth.




> *The Troubling Case of Chris Hedges*
> 
> *Pulitzer winner. Lefty hero. Plagiarist.*
> 
> 
> Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Winner, a Lefty Hero, & a Plagiarist. | The New Republic

----------


## sabang

Perhaps you could get a job polishing his shoes  .

----------


## panama hat

> He's a worthless plagiarist and an inveterate liar.


sabang would see this as a compliment . . . oh, no surprise:


> Perhaps you could get a job polishing his shoes �� .


Perhaps you could enjoy your holiday in 'Thailand' instead of posting thousands of times . . . a bit like NPT.

----------


## sabang

Perhaps you could post something containing actual content, instead of constantly whining about other posters Walter mitty.

----------


## misskit

^ I agree with Sabang here one hunled percen.

You are an (place your insult here.) No, you are a (place your insult here) is getting repetitive. And, it is on just about every thread now.

----------


## bsnub

::chitown::

----------


## panama hat

> ^ I agree with Sabang here one hunled percen.


Of course you do, you have form for that which includes threats - you also mentioned that you like Taxexile's posts, so you agreeing with sabang is actually a good thing.





> You are an (place your insult here.) No, you are a (place your insult here) is getting repetitive. And, it is on just about every thread now.


If that's what you think the you're not looking enough - but I thank you for your selective critique.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Perhaps you could post something containing actual content, instead of constantly whining about other posters Walter mitty.


This from someone whose content is almost exclusively bullshit state propaganda.

 :rofl:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Perhaps you could get a job polishing his shoes  .


You could probably get a job licking them.

----------


## sabang

*‘Yes, we’re propagandists,’ say western journalists, as public confidence falls*

By Nury Vittachi


_TRUST IN THE MAINSTREAM media has collapsed, a series of new studies show. Western journalists openly see their role as propagandists for their beliefs, in contrast with their readers, who seek balanced coverage.
_

*Majority of U.S. reporters oppose ‘balanced’ news, preferring to take sides*

*Confidence in mainstream media plummets in the U.S. and worldwide*

*Massive financing enables industrial-level vilification of the Chinese*

The overwhelming majority of ordinary U.S. citizens, 76%, believe news should balance both sides of a debate, a Pew Research Center survey showed. In contrast, the majority of mainstream journalists, 55%, believe it should not be balanced, but should push a political agenda. Only 22% of the public agree with the reporters.
“The disdain for even-handed reporting is even worse among younger journalists and those from left-leaning outlets: 63 percent of reporters ages 18 to 29 say both sides do not deserve equal coverage, as do 69 percent of journalists who say their outlet’s audience leans left,” said Marc Theiseen, reporting on the survey for the _Washington Post.
_
*Bias cannot be denied
*
That means it is no longer possible to deny that the _Washington Post_ itself, plus the _New York Times_, AP, CNN, MSNBC, and most of the dominant forces in global media, are biased – because they are happy to admit it. Western journalists, especially younger ones, are open propagandists, no different to the reporters on the _People’s Daily_ of China, although with an infinitely bigger and better distribution network to push their agenda. But the result is that the huge amount of trust that mainstream media used to have is evaporating.
This was predicted by venture capitalist and Chinese media boss Eric Xun Li in a Fridayeveryday interview last year. It’s clear that the western media is “highly biased”, but ultimately that factor damages itself and western society, he said.

*They ‘just don’t care’
*
International journalists believe they have a job to do, and it is to push the superiority of western liberal democracy, with emphasis on _liberal_, research indicates. “They don’t believe in objectivity,” says Ari Fleischer, author of a statistics-filled new book, _Suppression, Deception, Snobbery, and Bias: Why the Press gets So Much Wrong – and Just Doesn’t Care_. “They don’t believe in two sides. They believe that their side, particularly on social issues and on racial matters, is the only right side.”
Separately, a July 2022 Gallup study shows a massive decline of trust in the mainstream media (see graphic below) by the American public. From a figure of 72% of people having high confidence in the press in 1977, numbers fell to 51% in 1979 and have plummeted to just 16% today. (In TV news, the figure is 11 per cent, and among right-of-centre voters, it is just five per cent.)

*Global fall in trust
*
A regular global poll known as the Edelman Barometer shows that the fall of trust in mainstream media is a worldwide phenomenon. (A graphic summarising the results appears further down on this page.)
The world’s three big news agencies and all major news media slant their presentation of the news through a western prism, representing roughly 12% of humanity, largely ignoring or discarding the views of the 88% of people not in the west.
The distortion is magnified through “news reports” issued by media outlets such as Radio Free Asia, the BBC, Voice of America, and literally dozens of smaller groups which hide their finding sources. In addition to long-term financing for these, a new U.S. “poison pen” fund of more than US$1.5 billion to be used against China (see below) by 2024 means vilification of the Chinese is happening at an industrial level worldwide, and will continue to happen.
Specific events likely caused the loss of trust to accelerate. Numerous reports, over months, said that Russia and China interfered in the U.S. 2016 elections. This was later admitted to have _not_ happened – while widespread political interference by the U.S. _was_ taking place around the world, in Hong Kong, Cuba, Sri Lanka and other places.
US Democrats pushed the Steele Dossier, later discredited, while US Republicans used Hong Kong’s Trump-worshipping _Apple Daily_ to create a Hunter Biden dossier attributed to a journalist who was later shown to have been generated by an artificial intelligence program.

*Decades old
*
On a geopolitical level, the distortion process is decades old. A mainstream media campaign to vilify China by ascribing atrocities to them in coverage of Xinjiang and Hong Kong, was stepped up from 2018 onwards, but was built on the back of many years of demonisation. “For 20 or 30 years, they’ve been telling the public that China would fail, that there’s no way the Communist Party will succeed,” said Eric Li. The media led Westerners to believe that “history was on their side” and China was in danger of imminent collapse. But what happened? “Whoops! One morning they wake up and find China is so big and so successful,” he said.
To cover their embarrassment, some reporters work hard to falsely portray Hong Kong and Mainland China as dystopian police states, although this is clearly untrue. It is a low crime city with a free, critical press, and extraordinary levels of achievement in generating health and wealth.

*Readers are fact checking
*
The problem for the western media is that truth has a tendency to leak out, and people know how to do their own fact checking.
So, for example, the media tells the world that press freedom in Hong Kong has gone, and quote as evidence “press freedom indexes” from NGOs that it is clear the US has influenced, infiltrated or funded.
Foreign correspondents push this fake narrative, fooling the world, but fail to deceive Hong Kong people, who see evidence for the real story in every pavement newspaper kiosk, 


And it takes literally seconds for anyone in the world to surf to Hong Kong news sites to find that there has been no change in critics’ ability to criticise the government.

*Who’s behind it
*
Who’s the dark power behind the problem? It’s not one individual or group, but a deep-set problem of confirmation bias from journalists who have spent years nurturing hostility for societies which are different, several commentators say. Fleischer says that there is “no central source of propaganda” for the media because there is no need for one. “It’s worse than that. It comes naturally to the media because they’re too much alike—they have a diversity problem.”
This is nothing to do with skin colour, but mindset. Years of indoctrination have to be undone.
Observers reckoned that one day, mainstream media journalists will have to set aside their prejudices and realise that the world is a big place, with societies which have a wide variety of ways of governing themselves—or they will lose their audiences to voices who do realise that, and who can see it around them.
“So their narrative is in trouble. They can’t deal with it,” Eric Li said.

https://johnmenadue.com/yes-were-pro...fidence-falls/

----------


## harrybarracuda

> ‘Yes, we’re propagandists,’ say western journalists, as public confidence falls - Pearls and Irritations


Another worthless blog that tells us Chinkystan and Russia are good, the West is bad and the Jooos are the ones behind it all.

Witless propaganda bullshit.

----------


## Switch

Menadue = Another bureaucrat, left winger who hasn’t had a job since 1980. Living in the past has that effect.

Your barrel bottom is getting very close, as you dig deeper for sources to support those silly theories. Does this Australian remind you of anyone?

----------


## sabang

If I wanted to dig to the bottom of the barrel, I have plenty of sources here.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> If I wanted to dig to the bottom of the barrel, I have plenty of sources here.


Yes but we really don't want you to repost your shit. Once is already too much.

----------


## sabang

Right on time.  :Smile:

----------


## Switch

> If I wanted to dig to the bottom of the barrel, I have plenty of sources here.


This we have worked out already. Hence the friendly heads up.  :Smile:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Right


I'm glad you agree with me.

----------


## panama hat

> Another worthless blog that tells us Chinkystan and Russia are good, the West is bad and the Jooos are the ones behind it all.


Careful, sabang claims Jewish blood but 'hates the kikes' . . . among others

----------


## misskit

*Russia Revokes Novaya Gazeta Newspaper Print License*

A Moscow court on Monday revoked the print license of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose chief editor last year was co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.


"The Basmanny court of Moscow invalidated the registration certificate of the print version of Novaya Gazeta," the outlet said on social media.


Novaya Gazeta's chief editor, Dmitry Muratov, told reporters the court decision was “political.”


“The newspaper was killed today,” Novaya Gazeta said Monday in an official statement following the court ruling.


“Today [they] killed our colleagues again, who had been already killed by this state for the fulfillment of their professional duty,” the editorial said.“[But] it [the newspaper] was, is and will be.”


Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor had previously said Novaya Gazeta failed to provide its editorial statute within a required timeframe.


Novaya Gazeta suspended publication in March following a crackdown on independent media amid the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. 


Some of its staff left Russia and launched a new edition from Europe. 


The license decision comes less than a week after the death of the Soviet Union’s last leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, a key supporter of Novaya Gazeta who donated a part of his 1990 Nobel Peace Prize money to set up the newspaper.


Six of Novaya Gazeta’s reporters have been killed in assassinations that the newspaper and human rights groups say were connected to their reporting.


Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for efforts to” safeguard freedom of expression.”

Russia Revokes Novaya Gazeta Newspaper Print License - The Moscow Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

To be honest I'm surprised it was allowed to operate that long. We all know how puffy hates hearing the truth. Kills people for it.

----------


## misskit

Poor Julian! At least we know what Julian actually did.



*Russia Jails Journalist for 22 Years on Treason Charges*

A Moscow court sentenced reporter Ivan Safronov to 22 years in prison Monday, Russia’s first treason conviction for a journalist since 2001.


Safronov, a defense journalist at top Russian newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti who went on to work for state space agency Roscosmos, was convicted of collecting secret information about the Russian military and handing it to spies for the Czech Republic. 


The reporter denies the accusations and says his prosecution is “directly related to his journalism.” Supporters believe the case is revenge for reporting on Russian arms deals. 


Safronov’s supporters chanted “freedom” and applauded the journalist as the verdict was read out. His legal defense team said they will appeal the verdict, which was two years less than the 24 years requested by prosecutors. 


“I will write to everyone. Write to me. I love you,” Safronov, 32, said before he was taken out of the courtroom.


The verdict was quickly condemned by supporters, lawyers and human rights activists.


“Ivan Safronov has been sentenced to a savage, demonstratively cruel punishment, that reflects the current realities in Russia,” human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov posted on Telegram. Russian human rights advocate Marina Litvinovich said after the court hearing that the verdict was designed “so that everyone would be afraid.”


The case has involved significant legal violations, according to Safronov’s legal team, who point out that even prosecution witnesses said in court that Safronov “did not break the law.” 


“Any prison term — even one year — is too much,” said lawyer Ivan Pavlov, who was involved in Safronov’s defense before fleeing Russia last year. 


The case against Safronov was retaliation for a 2019 article in newspaper Kommersant on Moscow’s sale of fighter jets to Cairo that triggered a diplomatic scandal, the BBC Russian Service reported last week, citing correspondence between Egyptian and Russian officials. 

MORE Russia Jails Journalist Safronov for 22 Years on Treason Charges - The Moscow Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Supporters believe the case is revenge for reporting on Russian arms deals.


And they're probably right. With Puffy the war criminal having complete control over state security and the judicial system, he can just invent charges on the fly - and does.

----------


## panama hat

> he can just invent charges on the fly - and does.


That's one of the many things China, North Korea and Russia have in common

----------


## harrybarracuda

> That's one of the many things China, North Korea and Russia have in common


Don't forget Iran.

----------


## sabang

In the 1970s, I met one of Hitler’s leading propagandists, Leni Riefenstahl, whose epic films glorified the Nazis. We happened to be staying at the same lodge in Kenya, where she was on a photography assignment, having escaped the fate of other friends of the Fuhrer.

She told me that the ‘patriotic messages’ of her films were dependent _not on ‘orders from above’ but on what she called the ‘submissive void’ of the German public.
_
_Did that include the liberal, educated bourgeoisie? I asked.  ‘Yes, especially them,’ she said.
_
_I think of this as I look around at the propaganda now consuming Western societies.
_
_Of course, we are very different from Germany in the 1930s. We live in information societies. We are globalists. We have never been more aware, more in touch, better connected.
_
_Are we? Or do we live in a Media Society where brainwashing is insidious and relentless, and perception is filtered according to the needs and lies of state and corporate power?
_
_The United States dominates the Western world’s media. All but one of the top ten media companies are based in North America. The internet and social media – Google, Twitter, Facebook – are mostly American owned and controlled.

_
In my lifetime, the United States has overthrown or attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, mostly democracies. It has interfered in democratic elections in 30 countries. It has dropped bombs on the people of 30 countries, most of them poor and defenceless. It has attempted to murder the leaders of 50 countries.  It has fought to suppress liberation movements in 20 countries.

The extent and scale of this carnage is largely unreported, unrecognized; and those responsible continue to dominate Anglo-American political life.

In the years before he died in 2008, the playwright Harold Pinter made two extraordinary speeches, which broke a silence.‘US foreign policy,’ he said, is ‘best defined as follows: kiss my arse or I’ll kick your head in. It is as simple and as crude as that. What is interesting about it is that it’s so incredibly successful. It possesses the structures of disinformation, use of rhetoric, distortion of language, which are very persuasive, but are actually a pack of lies. It is very successful propaganda. They have the money, they have the technology, they have all the means to get away with it, and they do.”

In accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature, Pinter said this:The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.”

Pinter was a friend of mine and possibly the last great political sage – that is, before dissenting politics were gentrified. I asked him if the ‘hypnosis’ he referred to was the ‘submissive void’ described by Leni Riefenstahl.

‘It’s the same,’ he replied. ‘It means the brainwashing is so thorough we are programmed to swallow a pack of lies. If we don’t recognise propaganda, we may accept it as normal and believe it. That’s the submissive void.’

In our systems of corporate democracy, war is an economic necessity, the perfect marriage of public subsidy and private profit: socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor. The day after 9/11 the stock prices of the war industry soared. More bloodshed was coming, which is great for business.

Today, the most profitable wars have their own brand. They are called ‘forever wars’: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and now Ukraine. All are based on a pack of lies.

Iraq is the most infamous, with its weapons of mass destruction that didn’t exist. Nato’s destruction of Libya in 2011 was justified by a massacre in Benghazi that didn’t happen. Afghanistan was a convenient revenge war for 9/11, which had nothing to do with the people of Afghanistan.

Today, the news from Afghanistan is how evil the Taliban are – not that Joe Biden’s theft of $7billion of the country’s bank reserves is causing widespread suffering. Recently, National Public Radio in Washington devoted two hours to Afghanistan – and 30 seconds to its starving people.

At its summit in Madrid in June, Nato, which is controlled by the United States, adopted a strategy document that militarises the European continent, and escalates the prospect of war with Russia and China. It proposes ‘multi domain warfighting against nuclear-armed peer-competitor. In other words, nuclear war.

It says: ‘Nato’s enlargement has been an historic success’.

I read that in disbelief.

A measure of this ‘historic success’ is the war in Ukraine, news of which is mostly not news, but a one-sided litany of jingoism, distortion, omission.  I have reported a number of wars and have never known such blanket propaganda.

In February, Russia invaded Ukraine as a response to almost eight years of killing and criminal destruction in the Russian-speaking region of Donbass on their border.

In 2014, the United States had sponsored a coup in Kyiv that got rid of Ukraine’s democratically elected, Russian-friendly president and installed a successor whom the Americans made clear was their man.


In recent years, American ‘defender’ missiles have been installed in eastern Europe, Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, almost certainly aimed at Russia, accompanied by false assurances all the way back to James Baker’s ‘promise’ to Gorbachev in February 1990 that Nato would never expand beyond Germany.

Ukraine is the frontline. Nato has effectively reached the very borderland through which Hitler’s army stormed in 1941, leaving more than 23 million dead in the Soviet Union.

Last December, Russia proposed a far-reaching security plan for Europe. This was dismissed, derided or suppressed in the Western media. Who read its step-by-step proposals? On 24 February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy threatened to develop nuclear weapons unless America armed and protected Ukraine.  This was the final straw.

On the same day, Russia invaded – according to the Western media, an unprovoked act of congenital infamy. The history, the lies, the peace proposals, the solemn agreements on Donbass at Minsk counted for nothing.

On 25 April, the US Defence Secretary, General Lloyd Austin, flew into Kyiv and confirmed that America’s aim was to destroy the Russian Federation – the word he used was ‘weaken’. America had got the war it wanted, waged by an American bankrolled and armed proxy and expendable pawn.

Almost none of this was explained to Western audiences.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is wanton and inexcusable. It is a crime to invade a sovereign country. There are no ‘buts’ – except one.
When did the present war in Ukraine begin and who started it? According to the United Nations, between 2014 and this year, some 14,000 people have been killed in the Kyiv regime’s civil war on the Donbass. Many of the attacks were carried out by neo-Nazis.
Watch an ITV news report from May 2014, by the veteran reporter James Mates, who is shelled, along with civilians in the city of Mariupol, by Ukraine’s Azov (neo-Nazi) battalion.

In the same month, dozens of Russian-speaking people were burned alive or suffocated in a trade union building in Odessa besieged by fascist thugs, the followers of the Nazi collaborator and anti-Semitic fanatic Stephen Bandera.  The _New York Times called the thugs ‘nationalists’.
_
_‘The historic mission of our nation in this critical moment,’ said Andreiy Biletsky, founder of the Azov Battaltion, ‘is to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival, a crusade against the Semite-led Untermenschen.’
_
_Since February, a campaign of self-appointed ‘news monitors’ (mostly funded by the Americans and British with links to governments) have sought to maintain the absurdity that Ukraine’s neo-Nazis don’t exist.
_
_Airbrushing, a term once associated with Stalin’s purges, has become a tool of mainstream journalism.
_
_In less than a decade, a ‘good’ China has been airbrushed and a ‘bad’ China has replaced it: from the world’s workshop to a budding new Satan.
_
_Much of this propaganda originates in the US, and is transmitted through proxies and ‘think-tanks’, such as the notorious Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the voice of the arms industry, and by zealous journalists such as Peter Hartcher of the Sydney Morning Herald, who labeled those spreading Chinese influence as ‘rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows’ and called for these ‘pests’ to be ‘eradicated’.
_
_News about China in the West is almost entirely about the threat from Beijing. Airbrushed are the 400 American military bases that surround most of China, an armed necklace that reaches from Australia to the Pacific and south east Asia, Japan and Korea. The Japanese island of Okinawa and the Korean island of Jeju are loaded guns aimed point blank at the industrial heart of China. A Pentagon official described this as a ‘noose’.
_
_Palestine has been misreported for as long as I can remember. To the BBC, there is the ‘conflict’ of ‘two narratives’. The longest, most brutal, lawless military occupation in modern times is unmentionable.
_
_The stricken people of Yemen barely exist. They are media unpeople.  While the Saudis rain down their American cluster bombs with British advisors working alongside the Saudi targeting officers, more than half a million children face starvation.
_
_This brainwashing by omission has a long history. The slaughter of the First World War was suppressed by reporters who were knighted for their compliance and confessed in their memoirs.  In 1917, the editor of the Manchester Guardian, C.P. Scott, confided to prime minister Lloyd George: ‘If people really knew [the truth], the war would be stopped tomorrow, but they don’t know and can’t know.’
_
_The refusal to see people and events as those in other countries see them is a media virus in the West, as debilitating as Covid.  It is as if we see the world through a one-way mirror, in which ‘we’ are moral and benign and ‘they’ are not. It is a profoundly imperial view.
_
_The history that is a living presence in China and Russia is rarely explained and rarely understood. Vladimir Putin is Adolf Hitler. Xi Jinping is Fu Man Chu. Epic achievements, such as the eradication of abject poverty in China, are barely known. How perverse and squalid this is.
_
_When will we allow ourselves to understand? Training journalists factory style is not the answer. Neither is the wondrous digital tool, which is a means, not an end, like the one-finger typewriter and the linotype machine.
_
_In recent years, some of the best journalists have been eased out of the mainstream. ‘Defenestrated’ is the word used. The spaces once open to mavericks, to journalists who went against the grain, truth-tellers, have closed.
_
_The case of Julian Assange is the most shocking.  When Julian and WikiLeaks could win readers and prizes for the Guardian, the New York Times and other self-important ‘papers of record’, he was celebrated.
_
_When the dark state objected and demanded the destruction of hard drives and the assassination of Julian’s character, he was made a public enemy. Vice President Biden called him a ‘hi-tech terrorist’. Hillary Clinton asked, ‘Can’t we just drone this guy?’
_
_The ensuing campaign of abuse and vilification against Julian Assange – the UN Rapporteur on Torture called it ‘mobbing’ — brought the liberal press to its lowest ebb. We know who they are. I think of them as collaborators: as Vichy journalists.

_
When will real journalists stand up? An inspirational_ samizdat  already exists on the internet: Consortium News, founded by the great reporter Robert Parry, Max Blumenthal’s  Grayzone, MintPress News, Media Lens, Declassified UK, Alborada, Electronic Intifada, WSWS, ZNet, ICH, Counter Punch, Independent Australia, the work of Chris Hedges, Patrick Lawrence, Jonathan Cook, Diana Johnstone, Caitlin Johnstone and others who will forgive me for not mentioning them here.
_
_And when will writers stand up, as they did against the rise of fascism in the 1930s? When will film-makers stand up, as they did against the Cold War in the 1940s? When will satirists stand up, as they did a generation ago?
_
_Having soaked for 82 years in a deep bath of righteousness that is the official version of the last world war, isn’t it time those who are meant to keep the record straight declared their independence and decoded the propaganda? The urgency is greater than ever._
_Feature photo | Illustration by MintPress News_

_John Pilger has twice won Britain’s highest award for journalism and has been International Reporter of the Year, News Reporter of the Year and Descriptive Writer of the Year. He has made 61 documentary films and has won an Emmy, a BAFTA the Royal Television Society prize and the Sydney Peace Prize. His ‘Cambodia Year Zero’ is named as one of the ten most important films of the 20th century. This article is an edited version of an address to the Trondheim World Festival, Norway. He can be contacted atwww.johnpilger.com

John Pilger: Silencing the Lambs. How Propaganda Works_

----------


## panama hat

> In my lifetime, the United States has overthrown or attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, mostly democracies. It has interfered in democratic elections in 30 countries


The Soviet Union subjugated half of Europe to its dystopian helhole phantasies for half a century . . . fomented unrest in dozens of countries and sent the populations into untold suffering through their instigated revolutions

----------


## bsnub

> John pilger


Oh look, Sabang wheels out another sniveling Russian apologist to support his shit narrative. Another steaming turd.

----------


## panama hat

And even after the Soviet Union collapsed the imbecile in Moscow still tries . . . and shows his country is still a 'superpower' by nuclear weapons alone, unable to feed its own population and beholden to a KGB egomaniac

----------


## sabang

The great John Pilger- his partial resume' above demonstrates that. He even mentioned Catty Johnstone- going up in the world catty.  :Smile:  Bondi boy too cobber.

----------


## pickel

^^^^
I've liked some of John Pilgers reporting, but if you pen an article called "How Propaganda Works" and don't include the worst offenders, you're not doing your job.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> The great John Pilger- his partial resume' above demonstrates that. He even mentioned Catty Johnstone- going up in the world catty.  Bondi boy too cobber.


Pilger's like Chomsky.

He's just turned into a senile, anti-West, Jooooo hater.

----------


## panama hat

> He's just turned into a senile, anti-West, Jooooo hater.


Also sounds like sabang . . . odd that . . . and a bit sad.

----------


## sabang

Oh, so it is sad that I do not feel the need to be at war with the developing world (ie, most of the world)? I think the intelligent reader knows exactly who is the sad case here. The days of slavery and colonialism are over. But hey, tell sambo to go fetch your pipe and slippers if you can afford it.

----------


## hallelujah

> Oh, so it is sad that I do not feel the need to be at war with the developing world (ie, most of the world)? .


So why don't you criticise Putin for invading Ukraine?

----------


## cyrille

> Oh, so it is sad that I do not feel the need to be at war with the developing world (ie, most of the world)? I think the intelligent reader knows exactly who is the sad case here.


Oh yes, most definitely. And you've been told.




> But hey, tell sambo to go fetch your pipe and slippers if you can afford it.


But wtf are you wittering about here?

----------


## panama hat

> But wtf are you wittering about here?


Just proving yet again what a racist he is - nothing new

----------


## bsnub

> Just proving yet again what a racist he is - nothing new


Oh, is he doing that again? 

 ::chitown::

----------


## harrybarracuda

Thanks to Beijings sprawling internet censorship apparatus, content critical of the Chinese government rarely survives on the internet for long. As a result, users have become adept at using code like Martian language, emojis, and braille to evade censors.

Sometimes, however, even everyday language is enough to confound online censorship mechanisms.

In the southern city of Guangzhouwhere officials have imposed strict lockdowns in several residential areas and stepped up restrictions for schools and restaurantscitizens have taken to the Chinese social media site Weibo to vent their frustrations.

Remarkably, numerous angry posts directed at authorities, replete with expletives and references to genitalia, have remained accessible online for days, according to China Digital Times (link in Chinese).

Several posts lambasted the inconveniences of having to obtain PCR tests within 24 hours just to travel between city districts.

I did a PCR test at 10pm last night, and only got results this afternoon. Fuck, based on these policies, theres no way to go out if an emergency arises. The stupid fucks are really messing the fuck around, wrote one user, using three different Cantonese expletives that all roughly translate to fuck. Another user said local officials should resign and cursed their mothers.

One possible reason that censors didnt expunge these posts is that they are written in the Cantonese vernacular, not the standard Mandarin that is the official language of China.

Perhaps because Weibos content censorship system has difficulty recognizing the way Cantonese words are written and spelled, many relevant postings with spicy, bold and blunt language still survive, noted China Digital Times, a bilingual news site affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley. However, if the same content is written out in Mandarin, it is likely to be blocked or deleted.

https://qz.com/china-censors-stumped...ese-1849496778

----------


## panama hat

Kani nabu chau cibai . . . teu lei loh mah!  (It pays to have caught a lot of taxis while working in Hong Kong - Cantonese is excellent for this)

----------


## Backspin



----------


## Switch

ASTROLOGY? Really?

You have gone from zero credibility to minus points, simply by failing to listen.

Social media influencers have eaten what is left of any freedom contained in your tiny head. You are a fool, being led by other so called ‘spiritual’ fools.

Social media is awash with it, and unfortunately for you, who lack any other form of education, it is all you have. That is a very sad indictment of what is available to children today!

----------


## misskit

*Russia Detains Moscow Times Journalist in Border City*

A reporter working for The Moscow Times’ Russian service was detained Saturday in the southwestern Russian border city of Belgorod.


Kirill Ponomarev was reporting an article about refugees displaced in the wake of Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive near Kharkiv, which saw Kyiv’s forces retake large swathes of territory next to the border with Russia.


Belgorod is less than 40 kilometers from Ukraine.


“Ponomarev was working on an editorial assignment and was talking to citizens of Russia and Ukraine who had been evacuated from shelling,” The Moscow Times’ Russian service said in a Telegram post late Saturday.


Ponomarev is currently being questioned in a Belgorod police station, according to the post. 


The journalist has not been allowed to see his lawyer more than five hours after his detention, according to a subsequent post by The Moscow Times’ Russian service. 


The reason for his detention is unclear. 


A local anti-war group called the Belgorod Anti-War Committee said on Telegram that Ponomarev was detained at 4:40 p.m. on suspicion of spying for Ukraine. 


Telegram channel Osotorozhno Novosti cited local police as saying that Ponomarev was being charged for an administrative offense.  


The Moscow Times’ Russian service was set up last year to offer independent Russian-language reporting on Russia. It is editorially separate from The Moscow Times.

Russia Detains Moscow Times Journalist in Border City
 - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Hong Kong Harmonica Player Arrested at Queen Elizabeth Vigil for ‘Seditious Acts’*

A man who played a harmonica to a crowd gathered outside Hong Kong’s British consulate during Elizabeth II’s funeral was arrested for “seditious acts” on Monday night, according to police and local media reports. The man, a 43-year-old identified only by the surname Pang, is reported to have played several songs, including “Glory to Hong Kong,” a tune that gained traction as a pro-democracy protest anthem in 2019. The mourners applauded the performance, some flashing their phone lights, singing along, or shouting the protest slogan: “Hongkongers add oil!” The man also played the British national anthem before police approached, questioned, and detained him on suspicion of carrying out an “act with seditious intent,” they said. The queen’s death has triggered colonial nostalgia for many Hong Kong residents, according to the Associated Press, with some still fondly referring to the late British monarch as “boss lady.” Hong Kong was returned by the British to Chinese rule in 1997.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/hong-k...th-ii?ref=home

----------


## harrybarracuda

Dear God the chinky government are terrified of everything, aren't they?

----------


## misskit

Yes. That is really a sad situation. A harmonica player!

----------


## misskit

The real Brave New World.
*
Russia drafts anti-war protesters into military amid nationwide demonstrations: monitoring group*

More than 1,300 people were detained across Russia on Wednesday for participating in nationwide anti-war protests – with some directly conscripted into the military, according to a monitoring group, after leader Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of citizens for his faltering invasion of Ukraine.


Images and videos show police cracking down on demonstrators in multiple cities, with footage showing several protesters at a demonstration in central Moscow being carried away by the police and authorities in St. Petersburg attempting to contain a crowd chanting “no mobilization” outside Isakiivskiy Cathedral.


Police detained the protesters across 38 cities in Russia on Wednesday, according to figures released shortly after midnight by independent monitoring group OVD-Info. The group’s spokeswoman Maria Kuznetsova told CNN by phone that at at least four police stations in Moscow, some of the protesters arrested by riot police were being drafted directly into Russia’s military.


One of the detainees has been threatened with prosecution for refusing to be drafted, she said. The government has said that punishment for refusing the draft is now 15 years in jail. Of the more than 1,300 people detained nationwide, more than 500 were in Moscow and more than 520 in St. Petersburg, according to OVD-Info.


Just over half the detained protesters whose names were made public are women, OVD-Info also said, making it the biggest anti-government protest by share of women in recent history. The watchdog specified the full scale of the arrests remains unknown, however.


Nine journalists and 33 minors are also among the detained, it said, adding that one of the minors was “brutally beaten” by law enforcement.

Russia drafts anti-war protesters into military amid nationwide demonstrations: monitoring group | CNN

----------


## sabang

There is no draft- only Army reservists have been called up, and a fraction of them at that. What on earth is that article on about?  :Confused:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> There is no draft- only Army reservists have been called up, and a fraction of them at that. What on earth is that article on about?


Only fucking idiots trust Putin, he's a lying c u n t.




> The announced "partial mobilization" would see 300,000 reservists called up, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Putin said those with military experience would be subject to conscription, and stressed that the decree -- which was already signed -- was necessary to "protect our homeland, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity."
> _Putin's decree appears to allow for wider mobilization than he suggested in his speech._
> The first paragraph talks about a "partial mobilization," but _it does not define those eligible as narrowly as Russia's leader did in his address. Instead, it says that the only people to which it does not apply are those who are ineligible because of age, sickness, or imprisonment._
> Ekaterina Schulmann, a Russian political scientist and associate fellow at the Chatham House think tank, said on Telegram that while the decree "describes the mobilization as partial,"_ it "sets no parameters of this partiality, either territorial or categoric."_


Russia drafts anti-war protesters into military amid nationwide demonstrations: monitoring group - CNN

----------


## misskit

> There is no draft- only Army reservists have been called up, and a fraction of them at that. What on earth is that article on about?



*Anti-war protesters in Russia reportedly handed draft papers*

More than 1,000 people have been arrested across Russia, according to a local monitoring group, following protests against Moscows partial mobilisation order on Wednesday.


Independent news outlets said some of those arrested were served a summons to report to military enlistment offices on Thursday, the first full day of conscription.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked about reports that men detained were being given draft papers, said it was not against the law.

MORE Anti-war protesters in Russia reportedly handed draft papers | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera

----------


## Norton

> There is no draft- only Army reservists have been called up, and a fraction of them at that. What on earth is that article on about?


And there is no war in Ukraine. Merely a special operation.
A rose by any other name would still smell like bullshit.
Norton, 23 Sept 2022.

----------


## misskit

Sabang must have had COVID. It has wrecked his sense of smell.  :Smile: 
*



‘We Just Started Crying’: Call-Up Gains Steam as Russians Receive Draft Papers*

Thousands of men across Russia were handed draft papers and NGOs helping conscripts were flooded with requests for help Thursday amid the military mobilization launched by President Vladimir Putin to provide extra manpower for the Ukraine war.


One Muscovite who was detained with her husband at an anti-mobilization demonstration told The Moscow Times that male protesters were given draft papers at the police station.


“There was a military recruiting officer who gave the detained men draft notifications,” she told The Moscow Times. 


“When the first person was asked to go to a separate room, we did not understand what was going on — but when he returned with a draft slip, we just started crying.”


While Putin said Russia would only implement a “partial” mobilization targeting reservists with military experience in his televised announcement of the measure Wednesday, evidence from across the country as conscription got underway suggested some men were being drafted despite having spent no time in the Armed Forces. 


Long lines of cars were reported at Russia’s borders with neighboring states, including Finland, Georgia and Mongolia, as men apparently tried to flee the country, while prices for flights to countries accepting Russian travelers skyrocketed. 


One father of five children with no military experience was contacted by the authorities in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude on Thursday, his wife Yanina Nimaeva told The Moscow Times.


“The local authorities called my husband yesterday and asked him about his whereabouts. We were shocked and just switched off our phones,” she said. 

“On Thursday morning they visited our apartments where we are registered to check if he was there,” she added. “We are trying to get in touch with human rights activists.”


According to Russian law, draft papers must be handed to the recipient in person, who is then required to sign to confirm they have been received. 


An unidentified man mobilized in the city of Chita near the Chinese border told state news agency RIA Novosti on Thursday that he was handed his draft summons at home.


“They told me to turn up [to the enlistment center] at about 10:00 with warm clothes,” he said. 


Dozens of videos appeared online apparently showing groups of men gathering near military enlistment offices, or boarding coaches and planes, in cities across Russia. 


More than 10,000 reservists were conscripted in the first twenty-four hours of mobilization, rear admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky told journalists late Thursday.


Additional recruitment offices reportedly opened their doors across Russia, from St. Petersburg to Russia’s Far East.


Amid growing fears that almost any man aged between 18 and 60 could be at risk of mobilization, human rights groups offering help to soldiers, or potential conscripts, were overwhelmed by inquiries. 


“The panic is huge,” said Sergei Krivenko, the head of the Citizen. Army. Law. group that provides legal assistance to Russian soldiers.


“Previously, we had around 50 requests a day, but over the past two days we have received 14,000,” he told The Moscow Times.  

Alexandra Garmazhapova, the co-founder of the Free Buryatia Foundation, an anti-war organization supporting conscientious objectors from the Siberian republic of Buryatia, said that up to 5,000 men had likely already been mobilized there.


“This is not a limited mobilization; the situation in Buryatia is very much a full mobilization,” she told The Moscow Times, recounting an incident in which one man was woken at 4 a.m. by military officials. 


“The number of requests [for help] didn’t just grow, it slammed us. Before there were…two or three messages every day… but now, in two days, each member of our team received thousands of messages,” she said.


Back in Moscow, protest monitoring group OVD-Info said that anti-war protesters were served with draft papers inside at least 15 police stations following Wednesday’s demonstrations against mobilization.


“There have been cases of psychological pressure,” said Eva Levenber, who works on legal issues for OVD-Info. “Oftentimes, the draft papers were issued by people in plain clothes without any identification marks,” she told The Moscow Times.  


Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that the practice of issuing draft orders inside police stations was “not against the law.”


Russian journalist Artyom Krieger, who was detained while covering the protests in Moscow, said he received draft papers stating he must attend a recruitment office.


“There were around a dozen men at the police station who also received these documents,” he told The Moscow Times from inside of a police van ahead of a court hearing Thursday. 


“I’m a student and I have a military exemption. I just hope everything will be fine.”

‘We Just Started Crying’: Call-Up Gains Steam as Russians Receive Draft Papers  - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

An Army Reservist being handed his 'draft papers' is not in fact being drafted- he is being 'called-up'. A rather loose use of language to suit a one sided narrative.

More fascinating is this allegation from that infamously pro-Putin publication the Moscow Times, that detained Peacenik demonstrators are being handed draft papers. Will they be used as front line stormtroopers? I kinda doubt that- it is hard to beat your opponent to death with a pansy. Or perhaps they will be conscripted as medical orderlies, kitchen hands and the like? I wonder. No I retain my sense of smell MK, and this one doesn't smell quite right.  :Smile:

----------


## misskit

Apparently, most Russian men are considered reservists because a year of military service is required of all men 18-27.

----------


## harrybarracuda

What better example of chinky propaganda could you have than this gem:

Chinkystan did it's usual of ensnaring Ecuador in it's loan-sharking "belt and owed" scam:




> Ecuador is one of several Latin American countries that in recent years benefited from China’s lending spree. Like other loans China has made in the region, those to Ecuador are partially payable with shipments of natural resources — oil, in Ecuador’s case — which China needs to stoke its fast-growing economy.
> 
> Correa was a close ally of Venezuela’s socialist, anti-U.S. President Hugo Chavez and saw Chinese loans as attractive because the Asian giant made no political or ideological demands, and the loans were a way of thumbing his nose at Uncle Sam, analysts say.
> 
> But terms of Ecuador’s $6.5 billion in Chinese debt have become onerous with the global decline in the price of oil, Ecuador’s main source of revenue from exports. Moreover, some developments financed by the loans, including hydroelectric plants, are not producing the revenue that was anticipated.
> 
> Correa also made deals to sell the Chinese millions of barrels of oil in advance on favorable terms, committing the country to ship 90% of all its exportable crude to the Asian giant through 2024. Terms of the deals, by which he mortgaged to China much of the country’s future production of crude, its principal source of export dollars, remain shrouded in mystery.
> 
> Ecuador is just the latest Third World borrower to have trouble making payments to China; the list includes Sri Lanka and the Maldives.


Poor Ecuador has now had to go back to the loan sharks to try and renegotiate.

The chinky version:



 :Smile:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> An Army Reservist being handed his 'draft papers' is not in fact being drafted- he is being 'called-up'. A rather loose use of language to suit a one sided narrative.
> 
> More fascinating is this allegation from that infamously pro-Putin publication the Moscow Times, that detained Peacenik demonstrators are being handed draft papers. Will they be used as front line stormtroopers? I kinda doubt that- it is hard to beat your opponent to death with a pansy. Or perhaps they will be conscripted as medical orderlies, kitchen hands and the like? I wonder. No I retain my sense of smell MK, and this one doesn't smell quite right.


Sounds like you're got learning difficulties again. Which bits of this do you need help with?




> _The announced "partial mobilization" would see 300,000 reservists called up, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Putin said those with military experience would be subject to conscription, and stressed that the decree -- which was already signed -- was necessary to "protect our homeland, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity."_
> _Putin's decree appears to allow for wider mobilization than he suggested in his speech._
> _The first paragraph talks about a "partial mobilization," but_ _it does not define those eligible as narrowly as Russia's leader did in his address. Instead, it says that the only people to which it does not apply are those who are ineligible because of age, sickness, or imprisonment._
> _Ekaterina Schulmann, a Russian political scientist and associate fellow at the Chatham House think tank, said on Telegram that while the decree "describes the mobilization as partial,"__it "sets no parameters of this partiality, either territorial or categoric."_

----------


## sabang

^^ Wrong thread 'arry.

None of the recent posts have anything to do with 'Brave New World'.  There are Ukraine threads too, you know.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Japan too. An interesting comment in that article.




> There is no law requiring people to wear masks, but they are still near-ubiquitous in public places like trains and shops, *with many Japanese willing to sport masks* _when ill_* even before the pandemic.*



Japan to lift Covid restrictions on foreign tourists from October

----------


## misskit

[QUOTE=sabang;4432797]^^ Wrong thread 'arry.

None of the recent posts have anything to do with 'Brave New World'.  There are Ukraine threads too, you know.

[QUOTE]

Yes they do. Go protest the war and end up getting drafted immediately. I’d say that is censorship!

----------


## David48atTD

> There is no draft- only Army reservists have been called up, and a fraction of them at that. What on earth is that article on about?


This is great news from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (who) said on Russian television Wednesday morning ...




> “Like those who serve under conscription, they are not subject to being  sent to the zone of a special military operation; our conscripts  continue to serve on the territory of the Russian Federation.”  Russia to call up 300,000 reservists, Defense Minister says


The 300,000 will not be cannon fodder in Ukraine!

But, I suppose Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's statement does beg the question, just what will the 300,000 be doing on the Motherlands soil?

Surely Sergei Shoigu doesn't include the Donbas and Crimea region as the 'territory of the Russian Federation'?   :ourrules:

----------


## misskit

> This is great news from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (who) said on Russian television Wednesday morning ...
> 
> 
> 
> The 300,000 will not be cannon fodder in Ukraine!
> 
> But, I suppose Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's statement does beg the question, just what will the 300,000 be doing on the Motherlands soil?
> 
> Surely Sergei Shoigu doesn't include the Donbas and Crimea region as the 'territory of the Russian Federation'?



They will consider Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia territory of the Russian Federation when they finish their sham referendums this weekend! That’s the whole point of the exercise.

----------


## Norton

> They will consider Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia territory of the Russian Federation when they finish their sham referendums this weekend! That’s the whole point of the exercise.


Of course they will. Reckon a few will be sent to Crimea become fodder at a bit later date.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Deleted


This Covid one is in the wrong thread.

The one about the chinkies lying about loan sharking to Ecuador is your "Brave New World".

The one about Puffy lying about who could get conscripted is your "Brave New World".

The biggest fucking liars in sabang's "Brave New World" are Putin and the chinkies. He's a bit of thicko.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Yes they do. Go protest the war and end up getting drafted immediately. I’d say that is censorship!


sabang can't even spell Huxley, let alone read his works (unless they do pop-up versions).

If he had two brain cells to rub together, he'd realise Brave New World is a book about totalitarian state control.

You know, the sort you see from the chinkies and putin.

He really is an uneducated thicko.

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## bsnub

> He really is an uneducated thicko.


The fact he is in the dark about this has been laughable from the start of this thread.

----------


## OhOh

> Poor Ecuador has now had to go back to the loan sharks to try and renegotiate.


As your post lacks a source or a date, your post is irrelevant China bashing, as usual.

However, two days ago facts are:

*Ecuador reaches $1.4bn debt restructuring deal with China*

Subscribe to read | Financial Times

The rest is behind a paywall.

However, for all who wish to comment, here are two days ago published facts, as reported *by the* Financial Times*.*

*Ecuador and China reach $1.4bn debt deal*

September 21, 2022

_"Ecuador announced on Monday night that it reached a debt relief  restructuring agreement with Chinese banks worth $1.4 billion until  2025, as Beijing increasingly offers bailouts to countries at risk of  financial crises, reports the Financial Times.
_
_
The government of center-right president Guillermo Lasso said it had  reached agreements with the China Development Bank and the Export-Import  Bank of China (Eximbank) worth $1.4 billion and $1.8 billion,  respectively. The deals will extend the loans’ maturity and reduce  interest rates and amortization.
_
_ 
Overall, these agreements will provide $1.4 billion in debt service  relief as repayments to the China Development Bank will be reduced by  more than $745 million over the next three years and repayments to China  Eximbank will be reduced by about $680 million to 2025"

Ecuador and China reach $1.4bn debt deal | China Economic Review

_Another damp crutch from 'arry.

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## OhOh

> Surely Sergei Shoigu doesn't include the Donbas and Crimea region as the 'territory of the Russian Federation'?


As M"k posts




> They will consider Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia territory of the Russian Federation


Subject to the areas peoples voting for it.

Crimea has been Russian territory for some years. De facto and Du jour.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Yes hoohoo we know the chinkies are keeping Ecuador afloat so they can suck some more out of it later, you idiot.

That's what they do.

----------


## Hugh Cow

> As your post lacks a source or a date, your post is irrelevant China bashing, as usual.
> 
> However, two days ago facts are:
> 
> *Ecuador reaches $1.4bn debt restructuring deal with China*
> 
> Subscribe to read | Financial Times
> 
> The rest is behind a paywall.
> ...


The problem is these Chinese debt traps keep occurring, requiring countries to sign over leases in some cases or needing total debt restructuring. Many projects are not viable in the first place and in many cases why they cannot get western finance. It leads one to think either the Chinese are incredibley bad at due diligence or their motives go far beyond finance and more into a degree of financial and political control. There are many examples of this poor due diligence finance but the following is an example. This was a project that was considered not viable by western banks and then financed through the chinese. As far as I'm aware the first large project in Europe by the Chinese.
Montenegro’s billion-dollar road to nowhere - Reporters

----------


## sabang

_Well done Craig Murray._



Do you believe that the Russians are propagandised into supporting this war but westerners are not? Here is an interesting experiment you can repeat. Go to google and do a google image search on “Swastikas on Ukrainian tanks”. I get this, and I suspect you will get something very similar:

Google Image Search “Swastikas on Ukrainian Tanks”






The large majority of those images link to articles claiming that the “Z” symbol used by the Russian forces is a (previously unnoticed) Nazi symbol.
The one thing google does not give you is any swastikas on Ukrainian tanks, which is what you asked for.

Now go to yandex.ru and enter an identical image search for “Swastikas on Ukrainian tanks”. This is what I get:

Yandex Image Search “Swastikas on Ukrainian Tanks”





That is a rather strikingly different set of images, is it not?

Now which one looks more like what I asked for?

Crucially, the first two images top left on the yandex search link to the German NTV station report that captured the swastika on the Ukrainian tank which Max Blumenthal had tweeted about. That is what I was searching for, to check on Max’s facts. Google hides this; I have no doubt whatsoever that this is deliberate.

It is also worth noting that while the Google results totally exclude any material about Nazi symbols used by Ukrainian troops in the current conflict, the yandex.ru search does include images from pro-Ukrainian sites that claim to debunk these images, rightly or wrongly.

In other words, while the google search results are highly censored to exclude the Russian viewpoint, the yandex results include pro-Ukrainian viewpoints and appear to be much more what you would expect on a random, uncensored internet search on the subject.

As I said at the start, if you are in the west you are being conditioned to support the war, to at least as great an extent as people are being conditioned to support it in Russia. That little experiment with google is the tip of an iceberg of suppression: on twitter, on facebook, by paypal defunding, and by all of western TV, radio and newspapers.

On any matter relating to any aspect of the Ukraine war, you are seeing one side of a story. Russians are seeing only another side. The space for truth is very limited, as the world crashes into full dystopia.

*I might add that the chilling effect is so great that I personally have serious qualms about publishing this article, in case its querying of aspects of the western narrative lead to cancellation of social media and paypal accounts.*

FULL-  Diplomacy Is Always an Option - Craig Murray

----------


## misskit

Ooh so chilling! I don’t know how I will get through the day.

Almost as chilling as snatching anti-war protesters off the street and immediately pressing them into the military.

----------


## misskit

*Newspeak in the New Russia*

_George Orwell must be spinning in his grave._

In 1949 George Orwell published his last novel, “1984,” and it was translated into Russian and published in 1957 — but not in the Soviet Union. More than 30 years would pass before it was published officially in Moscow. Both the самиздат (self-published work) and bound book version were instant hits — after all, it was one of the first books to describe Soviet reality.


It was “1984” that gave the world Newspeak — in Russian called Новояз, a translation that captures the meaning and even has a whiff of the snappy abbreviations of the early Revolutionary period. A while back the linguist Maxim Krongauz wrote that новояз has developed three meanings in Russian: Orwell’s fictional language, the language of totalitarian systems, and ненормативный язык (non-normative speech) — itself a lovely example of новояз since ненормативный язык can include what we call expletives in Oldspeak.  


To that we can now add a fourth category: the language of 2022.


Let’s start with cамозащита России (Russia’s self-defense), which actually means “attacking a sovereign neighbor that has not threatened Russia or any other state.”


This was known in Oldspeak as война (war), but it is now a специальная военная операция (special military operation) or спецоперация (special op), which was meant to sound like — and meant to be — a quick in-and-out operation that would end with a new president and parades down main streets. This is also called операция по денацификации и демилитаризации Украины (an operation to deNazify and demilitarize Ukraine). Neither новояз version went well, the first because there is no new president or parades, the second because no one could find any Nazis.


But no matter. In новояз they say: всё идёт по плану (everything is going according to plan).


Another bit of новояз concerning the war is the phrase принуждение к миру (peace enforcement), which was patented, as it were, way back in 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia and annexed part of its territory. Президент Дмитрий Медведев убеждён, что проведённая Россией операция по принуждению Грузии к миру была верным решением (President Dmitry Medvedev is convinced that forcing Georgia to accept peace was the right decision).


In новояз the enemies in Ukraine are called неонацисты (neo-Nazis) and нацисты (Nazis) —even if no one has seen one, captured one, or shown one on television. The enemies of the special operation in Russia are called экстремисты (extremists), even though no one has ever figured out what they are extreme about.


In this language, you don’t conquer territory, you liberate it, like an official said in July: Территорию ДНР полностью освободят от присутствия Вооружённых сил Украины до конца августа (The territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic will be completely liberated from Ukrainian Armed Forces by the end of the August). This was said by deputy of what seems like another Orwellian term, министр информации (the minister of information). The minister should have double-checked that information.


When the territory that has been liberated gets liberated back to the original residents and authorities, the Russian armed forces’ hasty retreat is called жест доброй воли (a gesture of good will). There are suddenly many good will gestures, starting with Snake Island. Представитель Министерства обороны РФ заявил, что "в качестве шага доброй воли" российский контингент покинул остров (A representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that as a “gesture of good will” the Russian contingent left the island.)


Ликвидация (liquidation), the term usually used to describe, say, closing out a company, is used now to describe death and total destruction.  Ликвидировано за сутки более двух десятков боевиков (More than 20 soldiers were liquidated in the past day). The word смерть (death) is not used. For the most part, Russian soldiers are not said to have been killed, not even with the euphemism of the Covid period — летальный исход (fatal outcome). Here’s how it is usually described: Во время чрезвычайного происшествия, повлёкшего гибель танка, солдат был объявлен пропавший без вести " (During an emergency situation — that is, an attack — which resulted in the tank being ruined — that is, completely destroyed — the soldier was listed as missing in action — that is, he was not MIA but KIA — killed in action).


During this non-war there might be an инцидент (incident), which really means some kind of major accident or natural disaster. It might be an explosion, now called хлопок (a pop) in новояз. This makes for strange official descriptions: Пострадавшие от хлопка газа жители вернутся в квартиры (The residents affected by the pop of gas — that is, gas explosion — will return to their apartments). Ночью были сильные хлопки в Белгородской области (Loud pops — that is, major explosions — could be heard at night in Belgorod oblast).


That инцидент can cause another инцидент — пожар (fire). But fire in новояз is either задымление (smoke, smokiness) or возгорание (flare up). Поступило сообщение о возгорании магазина, в результате чего повреждено потолочное перекрытие и продукция смешанных товаров на площади 72 кв м. (There was a report about a fire breaking out in a store, which resulted in damage to the ceiling and to 72 square meters of mixed merchandise).


Новояз is an important part of censorship, which is now called защита русскоговорящих и особенно русскоговорящих детей (the protection of Russian speakers and especially Russian-speaking children). People in Russia must be protected from many terrible things: провокация (provocative statements) — that is, criticism of the powers that be; фейки (fakes) — that is, any information that does not come from official Russian sources; and дискредитация российской армии (defamation of the Russian army) — that is, any criticism of the armed forces. And if the media fails to protect them properly, Роскомнадзор предупредит о мерах технологического воздействия (the Russian media watchdog organization will warn that they will take “measures of technical intervention.”) That is, they’ll block them.


And that’s today’s not-news from the not-war.

Russia Proxies Hold Breakaway Polls in Ukraine - The Moscow Times

----------


## bsnub

More of Sabangs utter garbage repetition. What a pathetic moron.

----------


## sabang

Then why don't you try that same simple experiment yourself? Or is Yandex censored in the USA?   ::chitown:: _ [Hint- VPN]_

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Crimea has been Russian territory for some years. De facto and Du jour.


Hoohoo doesn't know how to spell 'occupied illegally'.

----------


## misskit

^^ I did. No VPN needed. Just Russian propaganda on Yandex.

----------


## sabang

Such as Ukrainian tanks with swastikas? Did you find the Google and Yandex searches to be similar?

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Such as Ukrainian tanks with swastikas? Did you find the Google and Yandex searches to be similar?


Yeah because I'm sure the Russian propaganda factories never use Photoshop or the like.

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## sabang

And I'm equally sure no Ukrainian tanks are painted with swastikas.  ::chitown::

----------


## misskit

I don’t think anyone thinks that. Nazis are everywhere a bunch of white people get together for a while.

----------


## cyrille

The idea of Putin rescuing people from them in Ukraine is farcical for anyone who isn't a complete fool, though.

----------


## bsnub

> The idea of Putin rescuing people from them in Ukraine is farcical for anyone who isn't a complete fool


Well, you found the complete fool.  :Smile:

----------


## sabang

They are more scared of the Ukrainians than the Russians in these areas- but that's ok, they will soon be Russian again. Very soon.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> They are more scared of the Ukrainians than the Russians in these areas


Said some bullshit russian blogger that sabang slavishly follows.

----------


## David48atTD

> Crimea has been Russian territory for some years. De facto and Du jour.


Says who?  Russia?   :kma:

----------


## bsnub

> They are more scared of the Ukrainians than the Russians in these areas- but that's ok, they will soon be Russian again. Very soon.


Your propaganda horseshit is done. Your lies have been exposed. Every territory that Ukraine liberates, people are cheering in the streets.

----------


## hallelujah

> Your propaganda horseshit is done. Your lies have been exposed. Every territory that Ukraine liberates, people are cheering in the streets.


The despised Russians. The terrible memories of life in the Soviet Union under Moscow rule will never be forgotten for most people in Eastern Europe.

----------


## misskit

> They are more scared of the Ukrainians than the Russians in these areas- but that's ok, they will soon be Russian again. Very soon.


Right, sabang. Everyone looks forward to some Russian police treatment. Brave New World stuff. 

Poor Asange! So abused!


*Poet Artem Kamardin beaten and raped by Russian police*

Activist and poet Artem Kamardin has been beaten and raped by Moscow police, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported on Monday.


A source reportedly told the outlet that security agents “beat Kamardin severely and shoved a dumbbell into his anus.” They then forced him to apologize on camera for saying the words “Glory to Kyivan Rus — Novorossiya can suck it" at an anti-mobilization gathering.


Earlier on September 26, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that police had gone to the apartment where Kamardin lives to “inspect the premises,” citing Kamardin’s lawyer, Leonid Solovyov. After the “inspection,” Solovyov said, the police took Kamardin, along with activists Alexandra Popova and Alexander Menyukov, who he lives with, to a police station.


The Telegram channel 112 posted a video that shows Kamardin apologizing “to the multi-ethnic Russian people” with what appear to be bruises and cuts on his face.


OVD-Info reported later on September 26 that Alexandra Popova has been released from police custody. She told the independent outlet that officers pulled out her hair, applied superglue to her mouth and face, threatened to rape her, and showed her a video of them raping Kamardin.


On September 25, Artem Kamardin took part in a poetry reading dedicated to opposing Russia’s mobilization. It was there that he read the words he was later forced to apologize for.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/09/27...russian-police

----------


## sabang

We will soon see the results of the Referenda. Then it is up to Russia to proceed with annexation.

----------


## bsnub

> Then it is up to Russia to proceed with annexation.


 :smiley laughing: 

Russia is getting its teeth kicked in. The referendum will not change that.

----------


## sabang

I don't waste time with kids. Developments on the ground will provide your answers.

----------


## bsnub

> I don't waste time with kids.


 :smiley laughing: 




> Developments on the ground will provide your answers.


They have been. Maybe you missed what's been going on the last few weeks. Putin is having his ass handed to him on a plate.  :Smile:

----------


## sabang

Let's see what they have to say about that in Luhansk,  Donetsk,  Kherson and Zapo. Not long to wait now.

----------


## misskit

I reckon they might get a dumbbell up their anus if they voted against joining Russia.

If people were not being coerced, they would have some qualified international observers in.

----------


## bsnub

> If people were not being coerced, they would have some qualified international observers in.


I posted a twitter link here showing video of Armed Chechen's going door to door collecting votes. How many people would have the courage to vote no under those circumstances? But it all matters not, as the Ukrainians are going to kick the Russians out either way.

----------


## sabang

> dumbbell up their anus


H'mmmm. Seriously? That would cause massive trauma, if not death. Photos please!

----------


## misskit

^ You think they made that up?

----------


## harrybarracuda

> ^ You think they made that up?


No, but I think sabang wants to know how to get involved.

 :Smile:

----------


## misskit

An anti-mobilization activist was hospitalized in Moscow after he was apparently raped and abused by police, independent media outlet Novaya Gaztea Europe reported Monday.


Police raided the home of Artyom Kamardin and other anti-war activists filmed reading poems critical of the Russian military on Mayakovsky Square on Sunday.


Russia has made public criticism of what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine punishable by fines or prison time.


Officers “beat up Kamardin very badly and stuck a dumbbell in his anus,” according to Novaya Gazeta Europe.


His lawyer Leonid Solovyov corroborated that account to the Kommersant newspaper Tuesday, but said Kamardin was not in need of hospitalization.

MORE Japan Slams ‘Unbelievable’ Treatment of Diplomat Detained in Russia - The Moscow Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

Stop it misskit, you'll get sabang all excited.

----------


## misskit

For singing a song, for Pete’s sake. What a wonderful Brave New World they have in Russia.


*'Miss Crimea 2022' fined for singing Ukrainian song*

A Russian court has fined 2022 Miss Crimea pageant winner Olga Valeyeva 40,000 rubles ($681) for singing the patriotic Ukrainian song Chervona Kalyna (“Red Guelder Rose”) in a video posted to Instagram, RIA Novosti reported on Monday. A friend of Valeyeva who also appeared in the video was sentenced to 10 days in prison.


Both women were charged with “discrediting” the Russian army and spreading propaganda for an extremist organization. According to the Russian news outlet Life, Valeyeva was given a lighter sentence because she has young children.


A video posted on the Crimean Interior Ministry’s Telegram channel Monday shows the women apologizing for singing the song.

The song Chervona Kalyna has long been a symbol of Ukrainian independence. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a number of Ukrainian artists, as well as Pink Floyd, have released recordings of the song. Russian state media has written that the song is “considered an anthem of Ukrainian nationalist formations, including groups banned in Russia.”

https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/10/04...ukrainian-song

----------


## panama hat

> For singing a song, for Pete’s sake. What a wonderful Brave New World they have in Russia.


Our three stooges remind me of the Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore who extol the virtues of the land of their heritage, lambast the 'west' . . . but would never move to China.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> For singing a song, for Pete’s sake. What a wonderful Brave New World they have in Russia.
> 
> 
> *'Miss Crimea 2022' fined for singing Ukrainian song*


Putin is a terrified man. "Brave" is not a word you associate with such cowards.

----------


## OhOh

> Lets enter the great Censorship debate!
> 
> Is it the right thing to do? Are dissenting opinions dangerous?
> Is it only right if you don't like what is being said?
> If so, who gets to decide that- Big Tech? Government/ Oligarchy? You?
> Or is it a sinister development that does not bode well for the future....


The UK Labour Party.

*Labour conference delegate suspended(?) after speaking out against Nato*


_"A delegate to the Labour Party conference who criticised NATO  yesterday (September 27) has been suspended today, it is being  reported._ _Angelo Sanchez, Leicester CLP delegate, was speaking on a motion on Ukraine. Here’s what he said:_




_It seems free speech and debate is unwanted in Keir Starmer’s  Labour Party. What does that presage for the UK as a whole, if he ever  becomes prime minister?"

Labour conference delegate suspended(?) after speaking out against Nato | Vox Political_

To be fair, the speaker was supported by the moderator, calling for the delegates to listen to all views. 

Surprised, if he was suspended, nope.

----------


## bsnub

> Putin is a terrified man. "Brave" is not a word you associate with such cowards.


His end is coming.

----------


## helge

> For singing a song, for Petes sake. What a wonderful Brave New World they have in Russia.
> 
> 
> 'Miss Crimea 2022' fined for singing Ukrainian song
> 
> A Russian court has fined 2022 Miss Crimea pageant winner Olga Valeyeva 40,000 rubles ($681) for singing the patriotic Ukrainian song Chervona Kalyna (Red Guelder Rose) in a video posted to Instagram, RIA Novosti reported on Monday. A friend of Valeyeva who also appeared in the video was sentenced to 10 days in prison.
> 
> 
> Both women were charged with discrediting the Russian army and spreading propaganda for an extremist organization. According to the Russian news outlet Life, Valeyeva was given a lighter sentence because she has young children.
> ...


Just to piss you off  :Smile:  :

UKRAINE
*I dont want this virtual war  Alina Pash withdraws from Eurovision following Crimea travel controversy*


POSTED ONFEBRUARY 16, 2022BYWILLIAM LEE ADAMS
Pictures: Suspilne


Alina Pash will not sing at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. In a post shared on Wednesday afternoon, she made it clear that the ongoing saga of her 2015 visit to Crimea has become too much for her.
I dont want to be part of this dirty story anymore, she said, just hours after it was revealed that one of her team members had forged travel documents to make it look like shed traveled to the region legally.
In her statement she said:
I am a citizen of Ukraine. I follow the laws of Ukraine. I try to carry the traditions and values of Ukraine into the world. Whats been poured into this story is not at all what I put into my song.
I am an artist, not a politician. I do not have an army of PR people, managers, lawyers to resist all these attacks and pressure, the break-in of my social networks, the threats. And also the absolutely unacceptable words that people allow themselves without understanding the situation and forgetting about the dignity of every citizen of Ukraine. I dont want this virtual war and hatred. The main war now is an external one, which came to my country in 2014.
I dont want to be in this dirty story anymore. With a heavy heart I unfortunately withdraw my candidacy as the representative of Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest. Im really sorry.
We will contact the public broadcaster [Suspilne] and sign all the necessary documents.
Separately, I want to thank everyone who supports and helps me, who hears my song and important message, rather than gossiping about me. Thanks! We have a story going on with you, and we have to decide what it will be.
She finished her statement with a heart em

----------


## helge

> lambast the 'west' . . . but would never move to China.


I agree with this part  :Smile:

----------


## panama hat

> I agree with this part


Only that???  :Sad:

----------


## sabang

I would happily move to China, but I would need a Chinese spouse. I certainly would not move to the USA, with it's health care costs, awful public transport, crime and drug problems, and general overall expensiveness (+ tip) for a bucket of shit. OK, anywhere is fine if you are a multi- millionaire, but I prefer places where average people enjoy some dignity of life.

----------


## OhOh

> His end is coming.


We shall see if he survives the upcoming midterms successfully.

----------


## panama hat

> I would happily move to China


Of course you would . . . said no-one ever. 





> but I would need a Chinese spouse.


Ah, there's the out . . . you never would.





> I prefer places where average people enjoy some dignity of life.


Like the Tibetans, Falung Gong, Christians, Uighurs, basically anyone who wants to voice their opinion of dissent, can't travel unless the government approves of your life






> OK, anywhere is fine if you are a multi- millionaire


You want to live a wester-style life you have to be a millionaire or you can live in a hovel without running water, crappy workmanship, drive a Great Wall piece of crap and pray for electricity.

Sure you would

----------


## helge

> Our three stooges remind me of the Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore who extol the virtues of the land of their heritage, lambast the 'west' . . . but would never move to China.





> I agree with this part





> Only that???


I don't know any chinese in Malaysia or Singapore, and I don't know if any posters on TD would like to move to China...or not.

As I posted; an attempt at a joke and on top of that..the truth, I'll never move there.


I was in my youth at times told to move to Moscow because of my political beliefs.

 :Smile: 

You know, criticise policies of our gowernment and being told to fuck off.

Then you know, that you won that little debate.  :Smile: 


I live in the west; it's my right and duty to lambast it.

----------


## bsnub

> I was in my youth at times told to move to Moscow because of my political beliefs.


I wish you had. Then maybe would have gotten mobilized and been eating a shit sandwich right now. 




> I live in the west; it's my right and duty to lambast it.


That is all well and good, but to grovel and snivel at the feet of a mass murdering dictator is another.

----------


## helge

> I wish you had. Then maybe would have gotten mobilized and been eating a shit sandwich right now.


That's not very nice



> That is all well and good, but to grovel and snivel at the feet of a mass murdering dictator is another.


Link for the grovel and snivel posts, ...please

Nah you can't


Am I supposed to forgive and forget your lies because you are drunk ?

Again ?

----------


## misskit

*Russia Labels Star Rapper Oxxximyron a “Foreign Agent”*

Russia on Friday labeled superstar rapper Oxxxymiron, popular among young Russians, a "foreign agent," according to the interior ministry's website.


Oxxxymiron, the stage name of 37-year-old Miron Fyodorov, has called the Kremlin's Ukraine offensive a "catastrophe and a crime."


His name was added to a register of "foreign agents" — a term used to crack down on Kremlin critics — on the ministry's website.  


The rapper is one of thousands of Russians who left Russia since the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine and has organized concerts in support of Ukrainian refugees from abroad.


Popular Russian science fiction writer Dmitry Glukhovsky — who also denounced the offensive and was put on a wanted list for "discrediting" the Russian army — was also labeled a "foreign agent."


The author of a 2002 post-apocalyptic fiction novel, "Metro 2033," was put on the list after a Russian court ordered his arrest in absentia for his criticism of the offensive.


Feminist politician Alena Popova — who has long campaigned for domestic violence legislation in Russia — and a journalist for Radio Free Europe/Liberty, Irina Storozheva, were also added to the foreign agent list. 


The label, which is reminiscent of the "enemy of the people" of the Soviet era, has been used extensively against opponents, journalists and human rights activists accused of conducting foreign-funded political activities. 

Russia Labels Star Rapper Oxxxymiron a 'Foreign Agent' - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*60-Year-Old Jailed for Telling Vladimir Putin’s Parents What a Shithead He Is*

A 60-year-old Russian woman has been tossed in jail for visiting the gravesite of Vladimir Putin’s parents and leaving a note expressing her desire for him to join them in the earth.


Amazingly, Irina Tsybanyeva is not the first Russian citizen to take her grievances straight to the Russian leader’s eternally resting parents, but she appears to be the first to be snatched up by police as a result.

“What is in the note is not known for certain. But she said that it had a wish [for him] to die,” Maksim Tsybanyev, Irina’s son, told Mediazona.


Tsybanyeva reportedly visited the St. Petersburg cemetery last Thursday to leave the note, and police showed up at her door on Monday.


“She didn’t open the door for a long time, but in the end he [a policeman] promised to pry it open and she opened it. She was taken away yesterday at 3 p.m. to the [police department.] They pissed around for a long time. As a result, by nighttime she called and said there would be a raid,” her son was quoted saying, adding that he went to her house right after but saw neither his mother nor any traces of a police search.


Tsybanyeva was brought to court Tuesday to face charges of desecration of the bodies of the dead and their burial places, committed on the grounds of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity. The charge carries a maximum punishment of five years behind bars.


Less than two weeks before Tsybanyeva’s graveyard visit, several anti-war activists left a similar note for Putin’s parents, Maria and Vladimir.


“Dear parents, Your son is misbehaving! He is skipping history lessons, fighting with classmates, and threatening to blow up the whole school! Do something!”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/60-yea...grave?ref=home

----------


## harrybarracuda

That must have hurt his widdle feewings.

----------


## misskit

No kidding. So put some old woman in jail for a note on a grave.

*Big Brother is Watching YOU!*


But, poor Julian!

----------


## panama hat

> No kidding. So put some old woman in jail for a note on a grave.
> 
> Big Brother is Watching YOU!
> 
> 
> But, poor Julian!


You can see, though, that sympathies must lie with Putin on the war . . . enough even to move there.

What a joke

----------


## misskit

*Russian journalist says he was signed up as a volunteer for the war without his knowledge*


Vasily Krestyaninov, a journalist with Russian publication The Insider, says that his online state services account was hacked and he was signed up as a volunteer for the war in Ukraine. 


On October 11, he received an email from state services saying that his application to volunteer had been accepted, and that he had been assigned a date to appear at the enlistment office. However, Krestyaninov himself never put in any application to state services.


The journalist reviewed his login sessions and found that his account had been entered from IP addresses in Moscow, Lyuberets just outside of Moscow, and Yerevan.


Krestyaninov left Moscow in November 2021 because of FSB persecution and until recently lived in Georgia. Since September he has been located in Yerevan, after Georgian border control refused him reentry into the country.


The logins from Russian IP addresses were made from Windows systems and through the Yandex web browser, which Krestyaninov says he doesn’t use. The logins from Armenia don’t correspond to times that he was online. 


He said that he views the hacking as a political persecution for his journalism and activism.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/10/13...-his-knowledge

----------


## sabang

*Yikes, now this is a long read, a la Glen Greenwald. 


**The rapid escalation* of online censorship, and increasingly offline censorship, cannot be overstated. The silencing tactic that has most commonly provoked attention and debate is the banning of particular posts or individuals by specific social media platforms. But the censorship regime that has been developed, and which is now rapidly escalating, extends far beyond those relatively limited punishments.

*The Consortium of State and Corporate Power




*

There has been some reporting — by me and others — on the new and utterly fraudulent “disinformation” industry. This newly minted, self-proclaimed expertise, grounded in little more than crude political ideology, claims the right to officially decree what is “true” and "false” for purposes of, among other things, justifying state and corporate censorship of what its “experts” decree to be "disinformation.” The industry is funded by a consortium of a small handful of neoliberal billionaires (George Soros and Pierre Omidyar) along with U.S., British and EU intelligence agencies. These government-and-billionaire-funded “anti-disinformation” groups often masquerade under benign-sounding names: The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, The Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Research Lab, Bellingcat, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. They are designed to cast the appearance of apolitical scholarship, but their only real purpose is to provide a justifying framework to stigmatize, repress and censor any thoughts, views and ideas that dissent from neoliberal establishment orthodoxy. It exists, in other words, to make censorship and other forms of repression appear scientific rather than ideological.

That these groups are funded by the West's security state, Big Tech, and other assorted politically active billionaires is not speculation or some fevered conspiracy theory. For various legal reasons, they are required to disclose their funders, and these facts about who finances them are therefore based on their own public admissions. So often the financing is funneled through well-established front groups for CIA, the State Department and the U.S. National Security State, such as “National Endowment for Democracy.”






As has always happened with censor-happy tyrants throughout history, the more centers of power inject themselves with the intoxicating rush of silencing their adversaries, the more intense the next hit has to be. Every movement that has wielded censorship as a political weapon tells itself the same story to justify it. In ordinary times, they will casually recite, free speech is a vital value. But these are no ordinary times in which we are living. Our enemies and their ideas are different. They are uniquely hateful, false, inflammatory, and dangerous. The ideas they espouse will destabilize society, cause direct harm to others, deceive people, and incite violence against institutions of authority and their followers. Thus, they reason, we are actually not censoring at all. We are simply preventing evil people from doing harm to society, the government, and to citizens.

Look to any government or society in which censorship prevailed — either today or throughout history. This narrative about why censorship is not just justified but morally necessary is always present. Nobody wants to think of themselves as a censorship supporter. They need to be supplied with a story about why they are something different, or at least why the censorship they are led to support is uniquely justified.

And it works because, in the most warped sense possible, it appeals to reason. If one really believes, as millions of American liberals do, that the U.S. faces two and only two choices — either (1) elect Democrats and ensure they rule or (2) live under a white nationalist fascist dictatorship — then of course such people will believe that media disinformation campaigns, censorship, and other forms of authoritarianism are necessary to ensure Democrats win and their opponents are vanquished. Once that self-glorifying rationale is embraced — _our adversaries do not merely disagree with us but cause harm with the expression of their views_ — then the more suppression, the better. And that is exactly what is happening now.


*Banishment From the Financial System




*

*One of the latest,* and perhaps most disturbing, new frontiers of censorship is the escalating means of _excluding citizens from the financial system_ as extra-judicial punishment for expressing views or engaging in political activism disapproved of by establishment power. In one sense, this is not new.

In 2012, I co-founded the group Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) — along with the Oscar-winning _CitizenFour_ director Laura Poitras, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and others. The creation of that group was in response to the 2010 demands made by then-Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), in his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, along with other war hawks in both parties, that financial services companies such as the online payment processor PayPal, credit card companies MasterCard and Visa, and the Bank of America all terminated the accounts of WikiLeaks as punishment for the group's publication of the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs: a trove of documents which proved systemic war crimes and lying by the U.S. Security State and its allies. Watching U.S. national security state officials pressure and coerce private companies over which they exert regulatory control to destroy their journalistic critics is exactly what is done in the tyrannies we are all conditioned to despise.

All of those corporations obeyed, thus preventing WikiLeaks from collecting donations from the public _even though the group had never been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crimes._ Amazon then booted WikiLeaks off of its hosting platform, removing the group from the internet for weeks. This was nothing less than extra-legal banishment of WikiLeaks from the financial system. We created FPF in order to circumvent that ban by collecting donations for WikiLeaks and then passing those funds to the group. When I announced the group's creation in a 2012 _Guardian_ article, and while reporting on these pressure campaigns against WikiLeaks in a separate _Guardian_ article, I explained how dangerous it would be if the U.S. Government could simply prohibit any journalistic groups it dislikes from participating in the financial system without even charging them with a crime:


So this was a case where the US government - through affirmative steps and/or approving acquiescence to criminal, sophisticated cyber-attacks - all but destroyed the ability of an adversarial group, convicted of no crime, to function on the internet. Who would possibly consider that power anything other than extremely disturbing? What possible political value can the internet serve, or journalism generally, if the US government, outside the confines of law, is empowered - as it did here - to cripple the operating abilities of any group which meaningfully challenges its policies and exposes its wrongdoing?. . . In sum, [by forming FPF], will render impotent the government's efforts to use its coercive pressure over corporations to suffocate not only WikiLeaks but any other group it may similarly target in the future. 

Last week — in response to numerous reports this year of PayPal's expanding use of expulsion from the financial system as punishment for what it deems “extremist” political views and activities — the tech investor Stephen Cole recalled this then-unprecedented 2010 silencing campaign against WikiLeaks that was led by PayPal. Cole wrote: “I was an engineer at eBay/PayPal when PayPal censored donations to Wikileaks in 2010. That’s the first time I remember wondering… are we sure we’re the good guys?”


Back in 2010, this ominous tactic was depicted as just a one-time exception, an isolated case for a particularly threatening group (WikiLeaks). But in the last year, there is no question that exclusion from the financial system is becoming the tool of choice for Western censors in both the public and private sector, who work together — just as Big Tech and the U.S. Security State do — to identify and punish dissidents too dangerous to be permitted to speak.

The most alarming harbinger of this tactic came in February of this year when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an emergency decree granting himself the power to freeze the bank accounts of any Canadian citizen who he determined, in his sole discretion, was participating in or otherwise supporting the truckers’ protest against vaccine mandates and passports. As a result of Trudeau's extraordinary seizure of unchecked power, “Canadian banks froze about $7.8 million (US $6.1 million) in just over 200 accounts under emergency powers meant to end protests in Ottawa and at key border crossings.” The _BBC_ called this tactic “unprecedented,” as it empowers the Prime Minister to freeze the personal bank accounts of anyone “linked with the protests …. with no need for court orders.” If it is not considered "despotic” for a political leader to wield the power to unilaterally seize the personal funds of citizens as punishment for peaceful protests against the government's policies, then nothing is.

But this tactic worked to end the peaceful protest which Trudeau opposed — people cannot survive if they cannot access their funds or participate in the financial system — and it is thus now being aggressively expanded. Perhaps the leading weaponizer is PayPal. Last year, PayPal announced a new partnership with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a once-respected group that battled anti-Semitism and defended universal civil liberties, before becoming yet another standard liberal Democratic Party activist group devoted to censoring adversaries of neoliberal orthodoxy (the ADL has, just as one example, repeatedly demanded the firing of America's most-watched host on cable news, Fox News's Tucker Carlson). The stated purpose of this PayPal/ADL partnership was “to investigate how extremist and hate movements in the United States take advantage of financial platforms to fund their criminal activities,” with the ultimate goal of “uncovering and disrupting the financial flows supporting [what the ADL claims are] white supremacist and anti-government organizations.”

But predictably — indeed, by design — this “partnership” was nothing more than an ennobling disguise to enable PayPal to begin terminating all sorts of accounts of people and businesses who expressed political views disliked by its executives. Over the past year, a wide range of individuals have had their PayPal accounts canceled due solely to disapproved political views and activism.

The lesbian activist Jaimee Michell was notified by PayPal last month that the account of her activist group, Gays Against Groomers, was being immediately canceled due to unspecified rules violations. Moments later, the group — created _by gay men and lesbians_ to oppose attempts by trans activists to teach trans dogma and highly controversial gender ideology to young schoolchildren — was notified that their account with PayPal's subsidiary, Venmo, was also canceled immediately, leaving them with few options to continue to collect donations. Around the same time, the British anti-woke and right-wing commentator Toby Young, who had created a group called the Free Speech Union to oppose speech-based cancellations of accounts, was notified by PayPal that the group's account, used to accept donations, was also being cancelled; though PayPal refused to notify Young of the reason for the cancellation, it told _The Daily Mail "_it was trying to balance ‘protecting the ideals of tolerance, diversity and respect’ with the values of free expression.”
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At the time of his PayPal expulsion, Young had become a vocal opponent of the U.K. Government's escalating involvement in the war in Ukraine. Two of the sites on which this long-time right-wing figure relied for his opposition to NATO involvement in Ukraine were MintPress and Consortium News, two populist left-wing sites long devoted to anti-war and anti-imperialism policies. Several months earlier, those two anti-establishment left-wing sites were notified by PayPal that their accounts were being immediately closed, and that the balances in their account would be seized and may never be returned. PayPal refused to tell either news site, or Coinbase, which reported on the account closures, what its reasons were. It was just an arbitrary decree by unseen authorities who not only closed their accounts but threatened to seize their donations without bothering to provide a reason. Now _that_ is real tyrannical power. MintPress writer Alan MacLeod said that “this is a warning shot fired at anyone even remotely antiestablishment,” adding that “alternative media operations run on shoestring budgets and rely on enormous corporations like PayPal to operate correctly. If they can do this to us, they can do it to you.”

Earlier this month, PayPal announced that it would _fine_ account holders $2,500 if, in PayPal's sole discretion, it was determined that those users were guilty of “promoting misinformation.” In other words, PayPal would just steal their own users’ funds from their account as extra-judicial punishment for the expression of views that PayPal — presumably working in conjunction with liberal activists groups such as ADL and billionaire-funded “disinformation experts” — decrees to be false or otherwise unacceptable. When this new policy provoked far more anger than PayPal evidently anticipated, they claimed it was all just a big mistake — as if some PayPal computer on its own accidentally manufactured a policy advising users about this seizure of funds. Regardless of whether PayPal returns to this policy — and there are, as _Forbes_ noted, some unconfirmed reports that it is starting to do so — the intent is clear, because it is so consistent with so many other new frameworks: fortifying a multi-faceted regime of state and corporate power to silence and punish dissent.

*Union of Big Tech, U.S. Security State and Corporate Media Giants




*

In May, the Department of Homeland Security's attempted appointment of a clearly deranged partisan fanatic, Nina Jankowicz, to effectively serve as “disinformation czar” sparked intense backlash. But liberal media corporations — always the first to jump to the defense of the U.S. Security State — in unison maligned the resulting anger over this audacious appointment as “itself disinformation,” without ever identifying anything false that was alleged about Jankowicz or the DHS program.

Though anger over this classically Orwellian program was obviously merited — it was, after all, an attempt to assign to the U.S. National Security State the power to issue official decrees about truth and falsity — that anger sometimes obscured the real purpose of the creation of this government program. This was not some aberrational attempt by the Biden administration to arrogate unto itself a wholly new and unprecedented power. It instead was just the latest puzzle piece in the multi-pronged scheme — created by a union of U.S. Security State agencies, Democratic Party politicians, liberal billionaires, and liberal media corporations — to construct and implement a permanent and enduring system to control the flow of information to Western populations. As importantly, these tools will empower them to forcibly silence and otherwise punish anyone who expresses dissent to their orthodoxies or meaningful opposition to their institutional interests.

That these state and corporate entities collaborate to control the internet is now so well-established that it barely requires proof. One of the first and most consequential revelations from the Snowden reporting was that the leading Big Tech companies — including Google, Apple and Facebook — were turning over massive amounts of data about their users to the National Security Agency (NSA) without so much as a warrant under the state/corporate program called PRISM. A newly obtained document by _Revolver News_’ Darren Beattie reveals that Jankowicz has worked since 2015 on programs to control “disinformation” on the internet in conjunction with a horde of national security state officials, billionaire-funded NGOs, and the nation's largest media corporations. Ample reporting, including here, has revealed that many of Big Tech's most controversial censorship policies were implemented at the behest of the U.S. Government and the Democratic-controlled Congress that openly threatens regulatory and legal reprisals for failure to comply.





_Wall Street Journal_ Editorial, Sept. 9, 2022

Every newly declared crisis — genuine or contrived — is immediately seized upon to justify all new levels and types of online censorship, and increasingly more and more offline punishment. One of the core precepts of the Russiagate hysteria was that Trump won with the help of Russia because there were insufficient controls in place over what kind of information could be heard by the public, leading to new groups devoted to "monitoring” what they deem disinformation and new policies from media outlets to censor reporting of the type that WikiLeaks provided about the DNC and Clinton campaign in 2016. This censorship frenzy culminated in the still-shocking decision by Twitter and Facebook to censor _The New York Post_'s reporting on Joe Biden's activities in China and Ukraine based on documents from Hunter Biden's laptop that most media outlets now acknowledge were entirely authentic — all justified by a CIA lie, ratified by media outlets, that these documents were “Russian disinformation.”

The riot at the Capitol on January 6 was used in similar ways, though this time not merely to un-person dissidents from the internet but also to use Big Tech's monopoly power to destroy the then-most-popular app in the country (Parler) followed by the _banning of the sitting elected President_ himself, an act so ominous that even governments hostile to Trump — in France, Germany, Mexico and beyond — warned of how threatening it was to democracy to allow private monopolies to ban even elected leaders from the internet. Liberal outlets such as _The New Yorker_ began openly advocating for internet censorship under headlines such as “The National-Security Case for Fixing Social Media.”

The COVID pandemic ushered in still greater amounts of censorship. Anyone who urged people to use masks at the start of the pandemic was accused of spreading dangerous disinformation because Dr. Anthony Fauci and the WHO insisted at the time that masks were useless or worse. When Fauci and WHO decided masks were an imperative, anyone questioning _that_ decree by insisting that cloth masks were ineffective — the exact view of Fauci and WHO just weeks earlier — was banned from Big Tech platforms for spreading disinformation; such bans by Google included sitting U.S. Senators who themselves are medical doctors. From the start of the pandemic, it was prohibited to question whether the COVID virus may have leaked from a lab in Wuhan — until the Biden administration itself asked that question and ordered an investigation to find out, at which point Facebook and other platforms reversed themselves and announced that it was now permissible to ask this question since the U.S. Government itself was doing so.

In sum, government agencies and Big Tech monopolies exploited the two-year COVID pandemic to train Western populations to accept as normal the rule that the only views permitted to be heard were those which fully aligned with the views expressed by institutions of state authority. Conversely, anyone dissenting from or even questioning such institutional decrees stood accused of spreading "disinformation” and was deemed unfit to be heard on the internet. As a result, blatant errors and clear lies stood unchallenged for months because people were conditioned that any challenging of official views would result in punishment.

We are now at the point where every crisis is seized upon to usher in all-new forms of censorship. The war in Ukraine has resulted in escalations of censorship tactics that would have been unimaginable even a year or two ago. The EU enacted legislation _legally prohibiting_ any European company or individual from broadcasting Russian state-owned broadcasters (including RT and Sputnik). While such legal coercion would (for now) almost certainly be banned in the U.S. as a violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech and free press rights, non-EU companies that decided in the name of open debate to allow RT to be heard — such as Rumble — have faced a torrent of threats, pressure campaigns, media attacks and various forms of retribution.

One of the easiest and surest ways to be banned these days from Big Tech platforms is to reject the core pieties of the CIA/NATO/EU view of the war in Ukraine, even if that dissent entails simply affirming the very views which Western media outlets spent a decade itself endorsing, until completely changing course at the start of the war — such as the fact that the Ukrainian military is dominated by neo-Nazi battalions such as Azov, especially in the Eastern part of the country. Regardless of one's views on the Biden administration's involvement in this war, surely it requires little effort to see how dangerous it is to try to impose a full-scale blackout on challenges to U.S. war policy, especially given the warning by Biden himself that this war has brought the world closer to nuclear armageddon than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

It cannot be overstated how closely aligned Big Tech censorship is with the agenda of the U.S. Security State. And it is not hard to understand why. Google and Amazon receive billions in contracts from the CIA, NSA and Pentagon, and, as we reported here in April, the most vocal lobbyists working to preserve Big Tech monopoly power are former Security State operatives. Illustrating this alignment, Facebook — at the start of the war in Ukraine — implemented an exception to its rule banning praise for Nazi groups by exempting the Azov Battalion and other neo-Nazi Ukrainian militias.

This regime of censorship is anything but arbitrary. Its core function is to shield propaganda that emanates from ruling class centers of power from critique, challenge and opposition. It is designed to ensure that Western populations hear only the assertions and proclamations of state and corporate elites, while their adversaries and critics are at best marginalized (with warnings labels and other indicia of discredit) or banned outright.

*Pro-Censorship Corporate “Journalists”




*

No discussion of this growing and limitlessly dangerous censorship regime would be complete without noting that central role played by the West's largest media corporations and their largely-millennial, censorship-obsessed liberal employees who bear the deceitful corporate Human Resources job title of “journalist.” The most beloved journalists of modern-day American liberalism are not those who divulge the secret crimes of CIA, or the chronic lies that emanate from the Pentagon and other arms of the U.S.'s endless war machine, or monopolistic abuses of Big Tech. Indeed, journalists who do _that_ work — challenging and exposing the secrets of actual power centers — are the ones most hated by liberals in light of their adoration for those institutions. That is what explains their support for Julian Assange's ongoing imprisonment and Edward Snowden's ongoing exile as the only way to avoid the same fate as Assange is suffering.

Today's journalistic icons of American liberalism are not those who confront establishment power but rather serve it: by relentlessly attacking ordinary citizens as punishment for expressing views declared off-limits by these journalists' establishment masters. As I have previously reported, there is a horde of corporate employees at media behemoths with the classic mindset of servants of petty tyrants, whose only function — and passion — is to troll the internet searching for upsetting dissent, and then agitate for its removal by centers of corporate powers: NBC News’ disinformation unit employees Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny; _The Washington Post_'s “online culture” columnist Taylor Lorenz; and _the_ _New York Times_’ tech reporters (Mike Isaac, Ryan Mac and countless others). At the time I first reported on what they are assigned to do, I dubbed this “tattletale journalism": the fixation with demanding the immediate cessation of “unfettered conversations” and the constant attempt to confront and expose ordinary citizens for the crime of expressing prohibited views





Clockwise from top left: censorship advocates Brandy Zadrozny (NBC News’ "disinformation unit”); Taylor Lorenz (_The Washington Post_); Ben Collins (NBC News’ "disinformation unit”); and Ryan Mac (_The New York Times_ tech unit)

.In September, Matthew Price, CEO of Cloudflare — a major tech company that provides services constituting the backbone of the internet, including security protections — refused to capitulate to the pressure campaign to cancel the site called KiwiFarms. The cancellation demands were based in the claim that the forum was allowing "harassment” and doxing of a Twitch streamer named "Keffals,” whom Lorenz in _The Washington Post —_ under the headline “The trans Twitch star delivering news to a legion of LGBTQ teens” — had months earlier christened the Patron Saint of Trans Victimhood. Price, the CEO, warned that because Cloudflare is a security company and a hosting service, not a social media site, it would be extremely dangerous for them to start closing accounts based on public dislike of the content that appears on those sites. This is how he explains the company's steadfast refusal to capitulate to censorship demands — such cancellations, he explained, would be akin to demanding that AT&T refuse telephone service to right-wing commentators by arguing that they use their telephones to spread harmful views: Some argue that we should terminate these services to content we find reprehensible so that others can launch attacks to knock it offline. That is the equivalent argument in the physical world that the fire department shouldn't respond to fires in the homes of people who do not possess sufficient moral character. Both in the physical world and online, that is a dangerous precedent, and one that is over the long term most likely to disproportionately harm vulnerable and marginalized communities. 

 Today, more than 20 percent of the web uses Cloudflare's security services. When considering our policies we need to be mindful of the impact we have and precedent we set for the Internet as a whole. Terminating security services for content that our team personally feels is disgusting and immoral would be the popular choice. But, in the long term, such choices make it more difficult to protect content that supports oppressed and marginalized voices against attacks. 

But Cloudflare's refusal to capitulate to censorship advocates infuriated NBC News’ Ben Collins — whose primary purpose in life is to agitate for greater and more repressive control over the internet to stifle views that deviate from establishment liberalism — and, along with his NBC colleague and fellow censorship advocate Kat Tenbarge, used the massive corporate platform of NBC News to pressure Cloudflare to obey, claiming Cloudflare's refusal to censor on command endangers trans people. Within less than 24 hours of the publication of Collins’ article — blasted to millions of people across the various platforms owned by NBC and Collins’ corporate owner, the Comcast Corp. — the CEO of this powerful company reversed himself, groveling before the media's censorship advocates and vowing that this would be a one-time exception. “This is an extraordinary decision for us to make and, given Cloudflare's role as an Internet infrastructure provider, a dangerous one that we are not comfortable with,” he wrote, as he announced that he would do it anyway (it will, needless to say, be the opposite of a one-time exception, since any millennial censor at _The Huffington Post_ or _Vo_x can now easily force Cloudflare to keep censoring by exploiting this new precedent with new articles about their censorship target using the “worse-than-Kiwifarms” formulation).

And thus did this corporate "journalist” once again usher in a brand new escalation in the strengthening censorship regime: tinkering with the infrastructure of the internet to expel sites and people anathema to liberal pieties. As usual, not just liberals but also the left cheered this forced capitulation, as they are somehow convinced that the world will be a better place when the power to silence voices and ideas is in the collective hands of the U.S. Security State, their oligarchical partners who own Big Tech, and their servants who masquerade as "journalists” deep within the bowels of the West's largest media corporations. Polls leave no doubt that Democrats are vastly more supportive of internet censorship _not only by large corporations but also by the state_, and that is the mindset that asserts itself over and over to cheer these censorship schemes by the West's most powerful institutional actors.






_This_ is the regime of censorship whose tentacles grow each month and whose power expands inexorably. Like all censors, the consortium that controls and funds this regime recognizes that whoever controls the flow of information will wield unchallenged power, and that few powers are more potent and tyrannical than the ability to relegate one's critics to the most distant fringes or to silence them altogether.

*Our New Nightly Live Program on Rumble




*

*Any article that simply reports on* these vital developments with free speech and systemic censorship is, by itself, journalistically worthwhile, even necessary. With so many Western corporate journalists supportive of or (at best) indifferent to the grave dangers this system imposes, the truth behind this censorship regime — who is constructing it and for what purposes — is far too rarely revealed. Any news article reporting on the component parts of this escalating regime would be inherently valuable.

But when it comes to this sinister regime of information control, I long ago ceased believing it sufficient merely to report on it. I regard the need to fight against this regime of censorship, to destabilize and subvert it, and ultimately to defeat it as a paramount cause, the journalistic and political cause I prioritize above all others. Little is possible, including meaningful journalism, if we are prevented from being heard, if our discourse is strictly controlled and policed by the very power centers our rights allow and encourage us to challenge. Few other values can be defended, and few other injustices exposed and combated, if ruling class elites continue to acquire the defining tyrannical power of information control and silencing of dissent.

Action, not just words, is required. That is why I have been devoting myself to supporting only those sites and companies genuinely determined to resist pressures and other forms of coercion to censor on behalf of Western establishment institutions, and instead to preserve and fortify spaces for free speech and free inquiry online, with the ability to reach large numbers of people. It does nobody any good — other than one's adversaries — if one willingly ghettoizes oneself into fringe and marginalized precincts. What is required is a cause-driven commitment to free speech along with the strategic ability to attract large audiences — and that, to me, means doing my journalism only on platforms with a demonstrated commitment to these values and an demonstrated ability to reach large numbers of people.

For this reason, the platforms with which I have worked over the past two years are ones that have proven not just a willingness but an eagerness to express defiant contempt for these censorship pressures and an impressive commitment to ensuring free expression: Substack for written journalism, Callin for podcasts, and Rumble for video journalism. Each has been the target of pressure campaigns of the type that caused the Cloudflare CEO so pathetically to reverse his own refusal to obey censorship orders after less than a day. Each of these platforms has refused to accede to these demands in the way that Cloudflare and so many others before it have done. That is precisely what is needed to subvert the growing censorship regime: people and companies that simply refuse to obey.

Rumble in particular has been the target of intense attacks — in part because it agreed to allow RT to broadcast on its platform in order to protest the EU's outlawing of that network and thus incurred the wrath of the Russia-obsessed corporate media, but also because it has experienced massive growth largely as the result of growing anger toward Big Tech censorship. Rumble has begun attracting not only political commentators banished in unison by Big Tech — such as the recent banning Andrew Tate, who promptly moved his large audience to Rumble — but also cultural commentators and Gen Z personalities increasingly angry at the repressive climate imposed by Google on its YouTube platform. This is driving more and more growth to the platform, which in turn is causing establishment media corporations to devote more and more energy to disparaging it.





Crickey, Aug. 29, 2022

Rumble's lawsuit against Google for antitrust violations — alleging that Google is using its market dominance of search engines to hide Rumble videos in order to protect Google's YouTube — created a significant win for Rumble, as we reported here in August, as the judge refused Google's request to dismiss the lawsuit. That ruling allows Rumble to obtain invasive discovery about how Google manipulates its search engine algorithms, and for whose benefit.

As a result of what appeared to be the genuine commitment of Rumble's founders to the cause of free speech and anti-censorship efforts, I was part of a group last year — that included former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and frequent Joe Rogan guest Bridget Phetasy — which agreed to create video journalism exclusively for that platform. Our show, called System Update, was a great success, surpassing all of my expectations. Several of our video broadcasts — with little promotional budget or regularly scheduled programming — exceeded 750,000 viewers, while our shows routinely exceeded 200,000 views. Pursuant to our agreement, we uploaded each video to YouTube several hours after they debuted on Rumble, and with the exception of one or two videos, the Rumble videos performed significantly better.






(Notably, _The Washington Post_ article announcing our move attempted to disparage Rumble as a toxic sewer of disinformation. To do so, it cited one of those benign-sounding groups — what _The Post_ heralded as “the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a counter-extremism think tank in London” — to call Rumble “one of the main platforms for conspiracy communities and far-right communities in the U.S. and around the world.” As I documented in a detailed video report on Rumble, that “Institute” cited by _the Post_ as its disinformation expert is one funded by and serves as a partner to the U.S. and UK Security states as well as Big Tech itself. In other words, _the Post_ unwittingly illustrated how this sham "disinformation” industry is weaponized by institutions of establishment power to deceive the public into believing that their decrees are apolitical proclamations based in science rather than what they are: extremely politicized schemes on behalf of Western power centers designed to make crude censorship appear enlightened and scientific.


FULL- https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the...ng-the-growing

----------


## Norton

Damn Sab. Wtf is that. Suggestion. Rather than pasting a wall of text, how about a summary in your own words and a link to the site.

----------


## misskit

Really. I started reading it, then zzzzzzz.

----------


## bsnub

Just posting more crap from a known Russian shill. Next he will start putting up clips of Tucker Carlson.

----------


## sabang

It's way above your pay grade, Shitposter.

----------


## bsnub

> It's way above your pay grade, Shitposter.


No its just shit.

----------


## panama hat

> It's way above your pay grade, Shitposter.





> No its just shit.


 Yup.





> Damn Sab. Wtf is that. Suggestion. Rather than pasting a wall of text, how about a summary in your own words and a link to the site.


No-one is going to read that - why not take Nort's suggestion as it too you a bit to format the thing - but then you knew that. 






> The Consortium Imposing the Growing Censorship Regime


Yea, you should stop doing so

----------


## sabang

Glen Greenwald is worth reading in full. I pasted it, then edited for size and colour. Not sure if norts saw the post edit version or not. Anyway, no apologies- worth reading in full.

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## Norton

> Not sure if norts saw the post edit version or not.


He didn't. Hence the wtf.  :Smile:

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## harrybarracuda

> Glen Greenwald is worth reading in full.


Nah. He isn't. He just talks the sort of shit idiots like you lap up.

----------


## misskit

*Putin Gags Russian Officials Who Dared to Criticize War*

The Kremlin has been icing out Russian politicians who have criticized the course of the war in Ukraine in recent days, blocking state media from quoting them even as Russian losses stack up, according to Russian news outlet Verstka.

The Kremlin has zeroed in on silencing a group of State Duma deputies who have been critical of the war and Russia’s military in recent months, according to Verstka, which cites a source close to the lower house and a source familiar at a media operation that received the instructions.

The list, which the first deputy head of the presidential administration Sergei Kiriyenko reportedly made, includes the head of the Duma's Defense Committee, Andrei Kartopolov, who last month called for the Kremlin to “stop lying” to the Russian people about the casualties Moscow has sustained in the war.


A senior member of the lower house of Russia’s parliament, Andrei Gurulev, is also on the alleged blacklist. Gurulev said that Russia’s defeat in Lyman just weeks after Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive in Kharkiv was a product of those surrounding Russian President Vladimir Putin being too fearful to bring him bad news.


“It’s a problem of total lies and positive reports from top to bottom,” Gurulev said.

The Kremlin has reportedly targeted at least three others for ostracism in state media, including Viktor Zavarzin, a deputy of the State Duma and member of the defense committee who has criticized sending children to war and has suggested the war effort is flagging. Andrei Krasov—who is Kartapolov’s first deputy and in charge of Russia’s political aims in Zaporizhzhia—and Nina Ostanina, the head of the committee on family, women and children who discussed ending Russia’s “partial mobilization” in October, are also named.


Moscow’s apparent blacklisting effort is just the latest sign the Kremlin has grown increasingly desperate for support back home and sensitive to criticism as setbacks and losses have exposed how poorly planned and executed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is.

MORE Putin Gags Russian Officials Who Dared to Criticize War

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## misskit

^ Luckily they were only gagged and not given some special tea.

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## panama hat

> ^ Luckily they were only gagged and not given some special tea.


I'm sure the 'guidelines of behaviour' were made perfectly clear to them

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## HermantheGerman

> Really. I started reading it, then zzzzzzz.


Can I join zzzzzzzzzz

----------


## misskit

Who’s new world is braver? 


*Russian Culture Ministry bans ‘Famine’ documentary from theaters*

The Russian Ministry of Culture has revoked the screening license issued to “Famine,” a documentary made by Alexander Alrkhangelsky, Maxim Kurnikov, and Tatiana Sorokina. 


The film reconstructs the history of a famine that took millions of Russian lives during the Civil War in the 1920s. Affecting most severely the Volga and Southern Ural regions, the famine ended when the Soviet government appealed to the world community. The United States was one of the countries that heeded this call for help.


The ministry’s press release says that the film was banned in response to a public outcry, following “numerous complaints” from the public, whose members


point out that the film contains provocative and shocking audio-visual information. This, in the viewers’ opinion, can lead to an acute negative reaction in the society. In this connection, a decision was made to revoke the license.
Alexander Arkhangelsy, the screenwriter behind “Famine,” was among the first to learn that the film was being banned, and that it supposedly contains “information whose spread is prohibited by the federal law.” In a Facebook post, Arkhangelsky criticized the revocation:


What law is it, exactly, that forbids talking about the fact that there was a famine in 1921–1923? That more than five million people died, and that the world (far from the entire world, by the way) managed to overcome ideological barriers in solidarity with the suffering Russian people? And that, thanks to this, more than 10 million lives had been saved? This is a betrayal of our history and of our family memories.
Arkhangelsky pointed out that the film contains no narrative apart from quotations: the entire script is put together from the texts of documents found in Russia’s publicly accessible archives.


“Famine” is now banned from all Russian theaters. “We’re going to screen it in museums, galleries, and universities. We hope it might appear on YouTube towards the end of this year,” said the screenwriter.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/11/14...-from-theaters

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## harrybarracuda

> The ministry’s press release says that the film was banned in response to a public outcry, following “numerous complaints” from the public


That would be a Mr. "Voldimir Puton" and a Mr. "Sargey Livrov" then.

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## panama hat

I don't like history, it needs to be erased. 

There. 


Simple

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## sabang

*Because Russia and Iran are both viewed as enemies of Washington, Western news media often feel comfortable publishing any old claim about them as fact regardless of sourcing or evidence.


Two false news reports went viral this week due to sloppy sourcing and journalistic malpractice. As usual they both featured bogus claims about U.S.-targeted nations, in this case Russia and Iran.

An article in Responsible Statecraft titled “How a lightly-sourced AP story almost set off World War III” details how the propaganda multiplier news agency published a one-source, one-sentence report claiming that Russia had launched a deadly missile strike at NATO member Poland, despite evidence having already come to light by that point that the missile had probably come from Ukraine. This set off calls for the implementation of a NATO Article 5 response, meaning hot warfare between NATO and Russia in retaliation for a Russian attack on one of the alliance members.


Mainstream news reports circulated the narrative that Poland had been struck by a “Russian-made” missile, which is at best a highly misleading framing of the fact that the inadvertent strike came from a Soviet-era surface-to-air missile system still used by Ukraine, a former Soviet state.

Headlines from the largest and most influential U.S. news outlets including The New York Times, CNN and NBC all repeated the misleading “Russian-made” framing, as did AP’s own correction to its false report that Poland was struck by Russia.

All current evidence indicates that Poland was accidentally hit by one of those missiles while Ukraine was defending itself from Russian missile strikes.

President Joe Biden has said it’s “unlikely” that the missile which killed two Poles came from Russia, while Polish President Andrzej Duda and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg both said it looks like it was an accidental strike from Ukrainian air defenses. Russia says its own missile strikes have been no closer than 35 km from the Polish border.

The only party still adamantly insisting that the strike did come from Russia is Ukraine, leading an exasperated diplomat from a NATO country to anonymously tell Financial Times:  “This is getting ridiculous. The Ukrainians are destroying [our] confidence in them. Nobody is blaming Ukraine and they are openly lying. This is more destructive than the missile.”

It is very sleazy for AP to continue to protect the anonymity of the U.S. official who fed them a lie of such immense significance and potential consequence. They should tell the world who it was who initiated that lie so we can demand explanations and accountability.
Another false story that went extremely viral was one that Newsweek has been forced to extensively revise and correct that was initially titled “Iran Votes to Execute Protesters, Says Rebels Need ‘Hard Lesson’,” but is now titled “Iran Parliament Chants ‘Death to Seditionists’ in Protest Punishment Call.” The latest correction notice now reads,“This article and headline were updated to remove the reference to the Iranian Parliament voting for death sentences. A majority of the parliament supported a letter to the judiciary calling for harsh punishments of protesters, which could include the death penalty.”





Moon of Alabama explains how the Newsweek piece was the springboard that launched the viral false claim that the Iranian government had just sentenced 15,000 protesters to death, which was circulated by countless politicians, pundits and celebrities throughout social media. This claim has been debunked by mainstream outlets such as NBC News, which explains that “There has been no evidence that 15,000 protesters have been sentenced to death. Two protesters had been sentenced to death as of Tuesday, although they can appeal, according to state news agencies.”


An article by The Cradle, “Fact check – Iran has not sentenced ‘15,000’ protesters to death,” explains that the Iranian parliament actually just signed a letter urging the Iranian judiciary to issue harsher sentences upon protesters who’ve been demonstrating against Tehran. Those sentences can include the death penalty as noted above, but up to this point have more often entailed prison sentences of five-to-10 years.

The Cradle also notes that even the “15,000” figure is suspect, as its sole source is an American organization funded by the U.S. government’s National Endowment for Democracy:“Further muddying the waters, the figure of 15,000 protesters detained by Iranian authorities originates from the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

US-based HRANA is the media arm of the Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI), a group that receives funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) – a CIA soft power front that has for decades funded regime-change efforts across the globe.”


Indeed, it’s public knowledge that NED is funded directly by the U.S. government, and that according to its own cofounder was set up to do overtly what the C.I.A. used to do covertly. It’s possible that the 15,000 figure could be more or less accurate, and it’s possible that a great many more Iranian protesters will be sentenced to death for their actions, but reporting such possibilities as a currently established fact is plainly journalistic malpractice.

In April, Newsweek published an article titled “Russians Raped 11-Year-Old Boy, Forced Mom to Watch: Ukraine Official.” In May, Newsweek published an article titled “Ukraine Official Fired Over Handling of Russian Sexual Assault Claims.” It was the same official. Newsweek made no mention of the fact that its source for its sexual assault story had just been fired for disseminating unevidenced claims about sexual assault. To this day its April report contains no updates or corrections.

Contrast this complete dereliction of journalistic responsibility with Newsweek’s extreme caution when one of its reporters tried to report on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, scandal which disrupted the U.S. government narrative about an alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government. Reporter Tareq Haddad was forbidden by his superiors to write about the many leaks coming out exposing malfeasance in the Douma investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, on the basis that NED-funded Bellingcat had disputed the leaks and that other respectable outlets had not reported on them.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting has published numerous articles documenting what Adam Johnson calls the North Korea Law of Journalism, which holds that “editorial standards are inversely proportional to a country’s enemy status.” In other words, the more unfavorably a foreign government is viewed by the U.S. empire, the lower the editorial standards for reporting claims about them. Because Russia and Iran are both viewed as enemies of Washington, Western news media often feel comfortable just publishing any old claim about them as fact regardless of sourcing or evidence.

We saw this highlighted during the insanity of Russiagate, where mainstream news outlet after mainstream news outlet was caught publishing unevidenced conspiratorial hogwash that it was often (though not even always) forced to retract. This was possible because when it comes to implicating Russia the evidentiary standards for reporting are much lower than they would be for implicating a government that is held in favor by the U.S.

And this is the case because the Western mainstream media are the propaganda services of the U.S.-centralized empire. They do not exist to tell people the truth, they exist to manipulate the public into hating the official enemies of the empire and into consenting to foreign-policy agendas that they would not otherwise consent to.

Imperial propagandists lower their editorial standards when reporting on official enemies not because they are bad at their job, but because they are very good at their job. It’s just that their job isn’t what we’ve been told.

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/11/1...ndards-vanish/
*

----------


## Norton

Way too much of this going on. Pressures from news media to be the first to break the news are the primary cause but regardless of cause, the hard work and time to make damn sure what is reported is correct must be done. Until it is STFU!

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## bsnub

> Way too much of this going on.


It is just more of Sabangs propaganda crap. That women is a complete nutcase and a useful idiot of putin.

----------


## russellsimpson

> The only party still adamantly insisting that the strike did come from Russia is Ukraine, leading an exasperated diplomat from a NATO country to anonymously tell Financial Times: “This is getting ridiculous. The Ukrainians are destroying [our] confidence in them. Nobody is blaming Ukraine and they are openly lying. This is more destructive than the missile.”


Indeed.

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## panama hat

> When Journalism Standards Vanish


 . . . totalitarian state run media propaganda is what you have.

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## harrybarracuda

> *Caitlin Johnstone: When Journalism Standards Vanish*


Is this the title of her autobiography?

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## Norton

> It is just more of Sabangs propaganda crap. That women is a complete nutcase and a useful idiot of putin.





> . . . totalitarian state run media propaganda is what you have.


Doesn't matter who or where Sabs post came from. Fact is this is exactly what happened in this particular case.




> Way too much of this going on. Pressures from news media to be the first to break the news are the primary cause but regardless of cause, the hard work and time to make damn sure what is reported is correct must be done. Until it is STFU!


I stand by this, not just in this case but across the entire "news media".

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## sabang

November 18, 2022


AP's source claimed Russian missiles hit Poland. This seemed calculated to set off a frenzy and trigger NATO articles to create a wider war. Why won't the AP tell us n Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that a “senior U.S. intelligence official says Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people.”

This story ripped through big media outlets which blared “BREAKING NEWS” — see from CBS:who the

One story AP ran was not bylined and just one sentence: “A senior U.S. intelligence official says Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people.” This violated AP’s already minimal rules: “Stories that use anonymous sources must carry a reporter’s byline.”

World War III was trending on Twitter.

Reuters would report by late afternoon “Poland Likely to Invoke NATO’s Article 4, Will Raise Missile Blast With UN – Officials.”

The _Hill_ reported: “Biden convenes emergency meeting with G-7 allies after missile kills two in Poland.”

By Tuesday evening, the _Washington Post_ would use the frenzy to queue up an extreme distillation of the NATO Charter: “Poland is a member of NATO. A strike on the country could thus invoke NATO’s Article 5, which states ‘an armed attack against one or more of [the members] in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all’ and force may be used.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would claim: “I have no doubt that it was not our rocket.”

But even as AP was putting out their false stories Tuesday afternoon, others were pointing to evidence that Russia didn’t fire the missiles that hit Poland. And others raised good points — some effectively arguing that AP shouldn’t have run with the story. Responsible Statecraft in “How a lightly-sourced AP story almost set off World War III” the following day gave a breakdown of how some of this played out, especially how local players falsified or tried to leverage the story.

On Wednesday morning, I contacted AP, asking a series of questions beyond the obvious. In particular, would the AP name the falsifying source? Nicole Meir from AP finally replied Wednesday evening, but didn’t answer any of the questions. She simply pointed me to the “Correction: Russia-Ukraine-War story” they had just issued.





But, a central question remains: Why is the AP still protecting a source it now says fed it false information?

FULL-  https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/18/wh...-poland-story/



falsifying source is?

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## harrybarracuda

> But, a central question remains: Why is the AP still protecting a source it now says fed it false information?


Perhaps Putin would have them thrown out of a window, with him having run out of Polonium and all.

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## misskit

^^
*AP Fires Reporter Behind Retracted ‘Russian Missiles’ Story
*
The Associated Press scared much of the world last Tuesday when it alerted readers that “a senior U.S. intelligence official” said “Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people.”

That report, which was widely cited across the internet and on cable news, was taken offline the following day and replaced with an editor’s note admitting the single source was wrong and that “subsequent reporting showed that the missiles were Russian-made and most likely fired by Ukraine in defense against a Russian attack.”


On Monday, the AP fired James LaPorta, the investigative reporter responsible for that story, Confider has learned.


The piece, which was originally co-bylined with John Leicester (who is still working at the AP), attributed the information to a single “senior U.S. intelligence official,” despite the AP’s rule that it “routinely seeks and requires more than one source when sourcing is anonymous.”

The only exception, according to its statement of news values and principles, is when “material comes from an authoritative figure who provides information so detailed that there is no question of its accuracy”—a situation that seemingly did not occur, as the report was fully retracted last Wednesday.


When reached for comment, an AP spokesperson did not comment on LaPorta’s ouster but instead wrote: “The rigorous editorial standards and practices of The Associated Press are critical to AP’s mission as an independent news organization. To ensure our reporting is accurate, fair and fact-based, we abide by and enforce these standards, including around the use of anonymous sources.”


LaPorta, a former Daily Beast contributor, declined to comment. His firing comes nearly a decade after the news wire fired reporter Bob Lewis over an erroneous report alleging then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe lied to a federal investigator. That report, published in October 2013, was retracted two hours after it went up. Two editors were also fired for the mistake, including Lewis’ direct editor and the editor to whom he filed the flawed story.


It is unclear who edited LaPorta’s reporting in question or whether they faced any discipline for the error.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ap-fir...story?ref=home

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## harrybarracuda

“The rigorous editorial standards and practices of The Associated Press are critical to AP’s mission as an independent news organization".

So the Editor of that piece should be getting fired too.

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## panama hat

> Why Is AP Still Protecting the Source Behind Its False Russia-Bombed-Poland Story?





> AP Fires Reporter Behind Retracted ‘Russian Missiles’ Story


in other words there are consequences to this kind of shit.  Luckily Russians, Chinese etc.. haven't implemented this yet.  Well, lucky for them

----------


## harrybarracuda

More news from that bastion of free speech, chinkystan:




> Senior journalist and cameraman Ed Lawrence was filmed being led away and telling his colleague: "Call the consulate now."
> 
> Another video showed three officers pinning him down before lifting him up and leading him away.
> British officials have reportedly spoken with Mr Lawrence, who has now been released.
> A BBC spokesperson tonight told LBC: “The BBC is extremely concerned about the treatment of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering the protests in Shanghai. He was held for several hours before being released.
> 
> "During his arrest, he was beaten and kicked by the police. This happened while he was working as an accredited journalist. “It is very worrying that one of our journalists was attacked in this way whilst carrying out his duties.
> "We have had no official explanation or apology from the Chinese authorities, beyond a claim by the officials who later released him that they had arrested him for his own good in case he caught Covid from the crowd. We do not consider this a credible explanation.”
> 
> BBC journalist arrested in Shanghai during COVID protest - LBC

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## harrybarracuda

"Brave New World" *snigger*




> Protests in China are featured heavily on English-language sites across the world – but for citizens within the country, what are they seeing?
> With a history of heavily controlled state media, it is unsurprising that China's larger sites are relatively quiet on any news of the protests.
> News of a planned spaceship launch features heavily instead...
> Searches for "protests" brings up either old stories about foreign protests, or no news at all.

----------


## sabang

How do we stop the next war built on lies from being waged?

by William J. Astore Posted onDecember 20, 2022

_Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.

_
(I prepared these notes 

 also spoke.)


I served in the U.S. military for 20 years, and for the last 15 years I’ve been writing articles that are generally critical of that military and our nation’s drift into militarism and endless warfare. Here are two lessons I’ve learned:


1. I agree with I.F. Stone that all governments lie.


2. As a historian who’s read and studied military history for most of my life, I agree that the first casualty of war is truth.

Because all governments lie and because lies are especially common during war, a healthy democracy must have an outspoken and independent media that challenges and questions authority while informing the public.


But the mainstream media (MSM) in America is neither outspoken nor independent. The MSM in America serves as stenographers to the powerful. Far too often, the US military/government lies and leaks, the MSM believes and repeats.


The result is clear: disastrous wars (Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq) from which little is ever learned, enabled by a media culture that is deeply compromised by, or openly in league with, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s military-industrial-congressional complex (MICC).


Here’s the fundamental issue: We need a skeptical and powerful media to deter the MICC from wars, war profiteering, and folly. The MSM should, and must, serve as a check on the MICC while holding it accountable when it fails. By doing neither, it serves various “big lies,” enabling future abuses of power by the national security state. There is no accountability for failure, so failure is neither punished now nor is it curtailed in the future.


Even when the MICC fails, and since the Vietnam War it has failed frequently, it gets more money. Consider the FY2023 Pentagon budget, which sits at $858 billion, a nearly inconceivable sum and which is roughly $45 billion more than the Biden administration asked for.


The challenge, as I see it: How do we stop the next war built on lies from being waged?


Something to ponder: Could a more critical, more courageous, truly independent media have shortened or stopped the Vietnam War? Iraq? Afghanistan?


In his famous speech warning Americans about the MICC in 1961, Eisenhower (Ike) said that only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry could guard against the acquisition of power by the MICC. This may indeed be why most citizens are not kept informed or are misinformed about the US military and its wars. It’s hard to act when you’re kept ignorant. You’ll also be reluctant to act when you’re told to defer to the “experts” in the MSM, most of whom are deeply compromised, often by conflicts of interest that are kept hidden from you.


*Military Mendacity

*
Put simply, the US military, in its upper ranks, lacks honor. What matters most is reputation and budgetary authority. Sharing negative news with the media is the absolute last thing the military wants to do. Surprisingly, most in the MSM are willing to look the other way, assuming they even know of military mendacity and malfeasance.


What this means, essentially, is that the MICC is unaccountable to the people – the very antithesis of democracy.


Three big examples of MICC mendacity: The Pentagon Papers revealed by Daniel Ellsberg during the Vietnam War; the Iraq War and lies about WMD (weapons of mass destruction); and the Afghan War Papers. Even as the US military was losing these three wars, military commanders and government officials spoke publicly and confidently of lights at the end of tunnels, of corners being turned toward victory. (Privately, however, they talked of serious problems and lack of progress.)


The MSM (with notable exceptions) largely repeated the happy-talk lies. Since 9/11, this is unsurprising, since the MSM leans heavily on senior retired military officers, CIA officials, and the like to “interpret” events in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. As journalist David Barstow showed, these “interpreters” were and are fed talking points by the Pentagon. Whatever this is, it’s not honest reporting. It’s not journalism. It’s state propaganda.


It’s not that the American people can’t handle the truth about “their” military. It’s that the MICC prefers to keep a lid on the truth, because the truth is often unfavorable to their positions, power, prestige, and profits.


There are many ways the MICC works with a complicit media (and a compliant Congress) to keep the truth from us.

1. Bad news is not reported. Or it’s classified or otherwise hushed up. Consider the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam or the “collateral murder” video from the Iraq War revealed by Chelsea Manning and WikiLeaks.


2. Critical information is omitted. Coverage is edited. Consider the ban on showing flag-draped coffins by the Bush/Cheney administration, or official reports about drone strikes that omitted the true number of civilian/non-combatant casualties.


3. The military has its own PAOs (public affairs offices and officers) who feed news of “progress” and similar “good news” stories to the media. This is also true of the State Department. (See Peter Van Buren’s account, “We Meant Well,” of his Potemkin Village-like experience in Iraq.)


4. Ever-present appeals to patriotism and warnings that critical information will give aid and comfort to the enemy. Even worse, portraying critics as pro-Putin, as possible traitors, as in the NBC smear campaign against Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, abetted also by Hillary Clinton.


5. Run-of-the-mill propaganda. Consider, for example, how almost all U.S. sporting events include glowing coverage of the military and veterans. If all military members are “heroes,” how dare we question them! Instead, you’re encouraged to salute smartly and remain silent.


*Media Complicity
*

Why is the MSM so hobbled and often so complicit with the MICC?


1. Intimidation. 

 of US missiles.


2. Ratings/Economics. Recall that MSNBC fired Phil Donahue over concerns that his critical coverage of the Iraq War was turning off viewers, i.e. that the network wasn’t being seen as “patriotic” as rivals like CNN or Fox News, thereby losing market share and money.


3. Embedding Process. Reporters who want to cover war are often embedded with US military units. They come to identify with “their” troops, who, after all, are protecting them from harm. The embedding process forges a sense of dependency and camaraderie that interferes with disinterested and balanced reporting.


4. Reliance on deeply conflicted experts from the MICC instead of independent journalists. Whatever else they are, retired generals and CIA directors are not reporters or journalists.


5. Corporate advertising dollars. Why air a report critical of Boeing or Northrop Grumman when that company is a major advertiser on your network? Why bite the hand that feeds you?


You don’t need a top secret “Mockingbird” project by the CIA to infiltrate and influence the MSM, as we witnessed during the Cold War and Vietnam. Today, the MSM and its owners acquiesce in their own infiltration, hiring retired CIA agents and similar senior government officials to give/sell their “unbiased” opinions.

Again, military contractors pay for ads and sponsor shows on TV. The media is not about to challenge or criticize a big revenue stream. And it’s not always a weapons maker like Boeing or Raytheon. Think of ExxonMobil. Their thirstiest customer is the US military; ExxonMobil is unlikely to support media reports that criticize its biggest customer.


Meanwhile, there are precious few reporters and journalists willing to risk their careers to challenge the MICC. With so-called access journalism, if you reveal uncomfortable facts, you’ll likely lose access to the powerful, alienate your bosses, and probably lose your job.


Food for Thought: Journalists are selected and groomed for compliance to mainstream militarized agendas. They’ve learned and internalized what is acceptable and what isn’t. If they refuse to play along, they’re fired or shunted aside. (See Noam Chomsky and the manufacturing of consent.)


For the US military, full-spectrum dominance includes information and the control of the same, including most especially in America.


A final shocking truth: The US military lost in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere while avoiding responsibility. Indeed, its cultural authority and its command over the media have only grown stronger. Worse, the military promulgates, or goes along with, various stab-in-the-back myths that exculpate itself while mendaciously blaming the few good media outlets for accurate reporting about the MICC’s failings.


A crucial step in preventing future disastrous wars is a media culture that sees the MICC for what it is: a danger to democracy and liberty, as Ike warned us in 1961 in his farewell address. How we get there is a crucial issue; the failures above suggest remedies.


One remedy I wrote about in 2008: the major networks need to develop their own, independent, journalists who are experts on the military, rather than relying largely on retired military officers and other senior government officials.


We are told that America has independent media rather than state media like China or Russia. Yet, if America had official state media, would its coverage differ from today’s content? The MSM supports state and corporate agendas because that’s how it makes money even as it claims it’s “independent.”


*A Couple of Anecdotes
*

A journalist colleague told me of his experience teaching students at one of America’s universities. His sense: most students today don’t want to be Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. They aspire to be on-air personalities who make six-figure salaries while being invited to all the right parties. They don’t want to afflict the comfortable while comforting the afflicted; they want to be among the most comfortable. Crusading for truth isn’t what they’re about. They seek to be insiders.


From the Robert Redford movie, Three Days of the Condor: If a whistleblower goes to the MSM (in the movie, it’s The New York Times), will the truth ever see the light of day? More to the point, if the American people do see it, will they even care?


What we’re witnessing in America, according to Matt Taibbi, is an “elaborate, systematized method of censorship and opinion control.” Taibbi mentions agencies like Homeland Security and Justice/FBI and their focus on “collecting domestic intelligence on a grand scale … seeking to distort the public’s perception of reality through mass moderation, via programs we’ve been told little to nothing about.”


While Taibbi, in his latest investigation, focused on social media and especially Twitter, the reality is that the MSM (and social media as well) is complicit with the government/military, collaborating on what “truths” are fed to the people while suppressing facts that are deemed dangerous, embarrassing, inconvenient, and otherwise not in the interest of the MICC.


With so many Americans now getting their news from social media sites rather than the MSM, that the government serves as a powerful content-moderator for what counts as “reliable” news on social media should disturb us all.


Again, it’s hard for Americans to serve as Ike’s “alert and knowledgeable” citizenry when they are fed lies, disinformation, and propaganda by the government and MSM.


Even more fundamentally, when corporations are elevated and protected as super-capable “citizens” and when citizens themselves are reduced to passive consumers – when corporations own the MSM while profiting greatly from war and militarism – there’s little hope of fostering freedom and of ever escaping from a state of permanent warfare.

*This is where we are today.
*
_William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views.

_https://original.antiwar.com/William_Astore/2022/12/19/the-mainstream-media-and-the-us-military/


An excellent Tour de Force summation of the way things is.

----------


## panama hat

Well, here's an idea . . . e can stop the next war by not invading a militarily vastly inferior country that posed no danger.

Simples

----------


## bsnub

> An excellent Tour de Force summation of the way things is.


 :smiley laughing: 

It is one big tub of shit from your usual propaganda sites.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Again, it’s hard for Americans to serve as Ike’s “alert and knowledgeable” citizenry when they are fed lies, disinformation, and propaganda by the government and MSM.
> 
> An excellent Tour de Force summation of the way things is.


It's nice to see sabang trying to inject a little humour into the thread for Christmas.

Before he goes back to posting from TASS, Pravda and a dazzling array of Putin propaganda sources.

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## misskit

*Putin’s Idealization of Death Reflects Russia’s Growing Nazification*

The carnival of violence that has for years permeated Russia's state-controlled media has in recent months given way to a new tone of solemnity and calls for national acts of heroism as the country's invasion of Ukraine continues to falter.


While the ominous laughter of the authorities can still be heard on Russian television screens as state propagandists discuss the destruction of Ukrainian cities or the use of nuclear weapons, new characters have come to the fore.


Until recently, it seemed that Russia had elevated the behavior of the gopnik (street gang member) to an officially approved style of conduct, one that condoned mocking one's victims with carnivalesque swagger.


One example of such thuggish behavior was the Wagner Group publishing a video in which one of its mercenaries is brutally murdered with a sledgehammer for surrendering to Ukrainian forces. Days later the group's founder sent another sledgehammer to the European Parliament covered in fake blood.


This type of sinister performance — openly demonstrating the rejection of morality and law, and taking joy in the humiliation of the weak — appears designed to demonstrate Russia's sovereignty to its enemies and to stress that the conventions of Western civilization, with its norms of basic decency, do not apply here.


Watching all this from their sofas, Russian TV viewers were persuaded that, even if they lived in poverty, Russians were still tougher than everyone else and were not to be messed with.

However, this state of affairs started to change when the military defeats in Ukraine began piling up and mobilization was declared.


It now appears to be time for the public to be aware of the gravity of the moment — after all, the male population of the country is being sent to the slaughter. This is the subject of "Let's Stand Up," a song by Russian singer Shaman that serves up the dark glamour of death to an audience of millions.


Zombie-like artists, including many elderly pop stars from the late Soviet years, have begun exhorting the population to "stand up" to those who "look down" on them from above, and in so doing, emulate their own dead ancestors.


Singing about Russian heroes with deep melancholy, the performers now seen on state TV sport sallow complexions, dark make-up, and mourning clothing that combine to create a funereal atmosphere.


The visuals consist of images of sacrifice: soldiers go to the front with looks of stern determination on their faces, while billboards list the names of dead children from the Donbas alongside those of soldiers who fell in World War II. A woman sheds a tear while a boy wearing a military cap salutes passing soldiers. All mention of hope and victory is absent — this is a requiem for a Russia doomed to fight eternal wars.


Even the president has performed similar theatrics to remind people of the need for sacrifice. In early November, national TV showed Putin visiting an exhibition on the World War II defense of Moscow. Walking slowly across Red Square, Putin languidly rotated the propeller of a replica plane while a choir dressed as World War II soldiers sang a war-time anthem. The symbolism of such actions is no longer about the coming victory but rather concerns the sacred duty of Russia's citizens.

The concept of death giving life meaning was also raised during Putin’s recent meeting with the mothers of mobilized conscripts. Amid the president's soulless musings, his deep misunderstanding of Russian culture and tradition was most evident when he said that their sons’ lives had lacked meaning before they were sent to war, urging them to rejoice in their heroic deaths.


"He did not live his life in vain,” Putin said, contrasting the meaninglessness of a peaceful life with the meaningfulness of dying for the state.


Such an appeal is alien to Russian and even Soviet culture, both of which portray the mother of a dead soldier as an inconsolably tragic figure. The right of mothers to attempt to save their sons was recognized even during the Chechen wars, as demonstrated by the respectful attitude taken by the military authorities towards the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers.


But Putin is clearly devoid of this cultural understanding. The concept of a mother rejoicing in the death of a son is taken from Nazi ideology, in which women are depicted as the producers of children required by the state.


The accelerated Nazification of Russian life has dovetailed with a growing public awareness that the authorities are indifferent to their well-being. Telling soldiers' mothers to see the death of their sons as the realization of their destiny is never going to be an easy sell.


At the same time, the sadistic carnival of state propaganda that was so prevalent until September is not only now inappropriate in light of mounting Russian defeats on the battlefield, but also, according to TV ratings, no longer in demand.


Brash spectacle can no longer obscure the reality of loss, grief, and death. What we can expect to see in the year to come is the slow but steady victory of reality over the fantasy world created by Russia's state propaganda machine.


A version of this article originally appeared in Novaya Gazeta Europe.

Putin's Idealization of Death Reflects Russia's Growing Nazification - The Moscow Times

----------


## OhOh

> It is one big tub of shit from your usual propaganda sites.


The source shouldn't stop you posting your opinion of the post's content.

Which, by not, we can assume you are unable to.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> The source shouldn't stop you posting your opinion of the post's content.
> 
> Which, by not, we can assume you are unable to.


He did post an opinion.

He - correctly - said it's "one big tub of shit".

Are you unable to read even basic English?

----------


## harrybarracuda

Sabang still doesn't get it.




> VOLOGDA, Russia -- Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his country’s military into Ukraine in late February, Vladimir Rumyantsev began posting and even broadcasting news from independent media about the invasion from his apartment, highlighting many of the atrocities Russian troops were alleged to have committed.
> Rumyantsev, who lives in Vologda some 500 kilometers north of Moscow, says he is no admirer of Putin or his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. He says he began his posts and broadcasts because Russians needed independent information -- much of which contradicts the official narrative -- “to evaluate the actions of the authorities.”
> The authorities didn’t agree. Like others before him, Rumyantsev has been targeted for his anti-war views. A court found him guilty of spreading “false information” about the Russian Army and sentenced him to three years in a penal colony.
> 
> https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukrai.../32194451.html

----------


## bsnub

> Do you want to get every speakers corner thread thrown in the Doghouse recruit snubski? No skin off my nose.


Every thread that you are guilty of posting lies in should be prosecuted and locked. The time of Russian spam and lies needs to come to an end.

----------


## sabang

Are you gonna start insulting the Mods again, junior recruit? Do you have any plans to ever travel to Thailand?

----------


## bsnub

> Are you gonna start insulting the Mods again, junior recruit? Do you have any plans to ever travel to Thailand?


More excuses then.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Meanwhile, in the Cowardly New World:




> Thousands of users on China's Twitter-like Weibo criticised the removal of a viral video made by local outlet Netease News that collated real-life stories from 2022 that had captivated the Chinese public.
> Many of the stories included in the video, which by Saturday could not be seen or shared on domestic social media platforms, highlighted the difficulties ordinary Chinese faced as a result of the strict COVID policy.
> Weibo and Netease did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
> One Weibo hashtag about the video garnered almost 4 million hits before it disappeared from platforms around noon on Saturday. Social media users created new hashtags to keep the comments pouring in.
> "What a perverse world, you can only sing the praises of the fake but you cannot show real life," one user wrote, attaching a screenshot of a blank page that is displayed when searching for the hashtags.
> The disappearance of the videos and hashtags, seen by many as an act of censorship, suggests the Chinese government still sees the narrative surrounding its handling of the disease as a politically sensitive issue.
> 
> New Year Eve spurs hope in China, censors target online COVID content | Reuters

----------


## harrybarracuda

Sometimes Mr. Shithole's bullshit is quite funny.




> Xi Jinping suggested it was acceptable for citizens to disagree with Chinas government in his first public remarks since protests prompted a U-turn on Beijings zero-COVID policies.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> The remarks contrasted with Beijings censorship of online criticism of the governments COVID response.
> Yesterday, a popular video highlighting the difficulties facing ordinary people during lockdowns was removed from social networking site Weibo.
> 
> The public has also been blocked from sharing videos related to the wave of new infections.
> 
> Xi Jinping suggests dissent is OK, while internet videos are removed from Weibo

----------


## HuangLao

> It is one big tub of shit from your usual propaganda sites.


Which could easily be applied to every sort of news/info/commentary source. 
Everyone has an agenda of one variety or another.

----------


## helge

Correct !

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Which could easily be applied to every sort of news/info/commentary source. 
> Everyone has an agenda of one variety or another.


You're trying to compare competing news sources with state-run propaganda from dictatorships?

Fucking hell Jeff, I thought you had an ounce or two of intelligence.

----------


## helge

> You're trying to compare competing news sources with state-run propaganda from dictatorships?


Competing news sources ?  :Smile: 

Your 'competing news sources' get their information/talking points from the other side.

If they don't abide, they will have their accreditation taken away.







> I thought you had an ounce or two of intelligence.


Coming from you  :Smile:

----------


## OhOh

> You're trying to compare competing news sources with state-run propaganda from dictatorships?


 *Latest ‘Twitter Files’ point to CIA involvement in pressure campaign to censor speech*                                 Feds met regularly with executives in pressure campaign

Latest 'Twitter Files' point to CIA involvement in FBI pressure campaign to curb speech - Washington Times

----------


## misskit

> Competing news sources ? 
> 
> Your 'competing news sources' get their information/talking points from the other side.
> 
> If they don't abide, they will have their accreditation taken away.


Is this true? Do you have a situation where this actually happened?

----------


## bsnub

> Is this true?


Of course not. It is just more of his utter crap. He, however, was fine with quoting fake Russian MOD causality numbers earlier today. Just another useful idiot flinging shit on the wall.

----------


## helge

> Is this true? Do you have a situation where this actually happened?


DR'''s Matilde Kimer ma ikke laengere arbejde i Ukraine: Beskyldt for at lave russisk propaganda | Udland | DR

Danish reporter from our state radio and tv.

The government is pissed off, cause this questions their narrative.

Hope you can open and translate or I might be able to help.

Headline:

DR's Matilde Kimer is no longer allowed to work in Ukraine: Accused of making Russian propaganda
Denmark's foreign minister is surprised, and the Danish Association of Journalists calls it "a setback for press freedom".

----------


## misskit

^ You can translate.

----------


## helge

:Smile: 
It's a long article and can't do it at one time.

Might be messy too

----------


## helge

DR's Matilde Kimer is no longer allowed to work in Ukraine: Accused of making Russian propagandaDenmark's foreign minister is surprised, and the Danish Association of Journalists calls it "a setback for press freedom".DR correspondent Matilde Kimer in front of a damaged building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Archive photo. (Photo: © Lau Svensson, DR)OFCecilie Kallestrup19 DEC 2022https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/udland/drs-matilde-kimer-maa-ikke-laengere-arbejde-i-ukraine-beskyldt-lave-russiskDR's Russia and Ukraine correspondent, Matilde Kimer, has been stripped of her press accreditation and may no longer work as a journalist in Ukraine.She was briefed back in August when she received an email from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which issues the accreditations. It said that the accreditation was canceled and that it was done by order of the Ukrainian Security Service, SBU.The accreditation gives access to journalistic work in active war zones where the armed forces operate. And now that the country is at war, the same applies almost everywhere in the country.It was not until Thursday 8 December that it was possible for Matilde Kimer to have a meeting with SBU. It was set up with the help of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it took place at the security service's office in Kyiv.Here she was told that some of her "posts" look like she sympathizes with Russia, she says. She suspects that the security service is referring to posts on her professional Facebook profile.But she herself cannot recognize that image. She does not believe that they could show her anything at the meeting to substantiate their accusations.- I can't see what they see at all. I don't understand it, says Matilde Kimer.The bands on the tanks are old Soviet symbols. The pictures here are from Matilde Kimer's Facebook profile, and it is possibly a post like that that has led the Ukrainian security service to get the impression that Matilde Kimer is carrying out Russian propaganda.- I don't think my journalism has a punch line. It is one of the things that I have put the most effort into in my entire journalistic career. Not to put on feel-feel glasses, but to report what is going on.The canceled accreditation does not mean that Matilde Kimer is supposed to be admitted to Ukraine. But she believes that it deprives her of all the opportunity to function as a journalist in the country.- I cannot make a single report that shows the consequences of this war or the suffering of the Ukrainian people or the acts of war themselves, she says.
DR's Matilde Kimer is no longer allowed to work in Ukraine: Accused of making Russian propagandaDenmark's foreign minister is surprised, and the Danish Association of Journalists calls it "a setback for press freedom".DR correspondent Matilde Kimer in front of a damaged building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Archive photo. (Photo: © Lau Svensson, DR)OFCecilie Kallestrup19 DEC 2022https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/udland/drs-matilde-kimer-maa-ikke-laengere-arbejde-i-ukraine-beskyldt-lave-russiskDR's Russia and Ukraine correspondent, Matilde Kimer, has been stripped of her press accreditation and may no longer work as a journalist in Ukraine.She was briefed back in August when she received an email from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which issues the accreditations. It said that the accreditation was canceled and that it was done by order of the Ukrainian Security Service, SBU.The accreditation gives access to journalistic work in active war zones where the armed forces operate. And now that the country is at war, the same applies almost everywhere in the country.It was not until Thursday 8 December that it was possible for Matilde Kimer to have a meeting with SBU. It was set up with the help of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it took place at the security service's office in Kyiv.Here she was told that some of her "posts" look like she sympathizes with Russia, she says. She suspects that the security service is referring to posts on her professional Facebook profile.But she herself cannot recognize that image. She does not believe that they could show her anything at the meeting to substantiate their accusations.- I can't see what they see at all. I don't understand it, says Matilde Kimer.The bands on the tanks are old Soviet symbols. The pictures here are from Matilde Kimer's Facebook profile, and it is possibly a post like that that has led the Ukrainian security service to get the impression that Matilde Kimer is carrying out Russian propaganda.- I don't think my journalism has a punch line. It is one of the things that I have put the most effort into in my entire journalistic career. Not to put on feel-feel glasses, but to report what is going on.The canceled accreditation does not mean that Matilde Kimer is supposed to be admitted to Ukraine. But she believes that it deprives her of all the opportunity to function as a journalist in the country.- I cannot make a single report that shows the consequences of this war or the suffering of the Ukrainian people or the acts of war themselves, she says.

----------


## misskit

I found an article in English. Not really clear why she was kicked out of Ukraine (or Russia.)

Why Matilde Kimer, the Famous Danish Journalist, was Kicked out of Ukraine - Заборона

----------


## helge

Deeply problematic'
DR's news director Sandy French believes that the accusation against Matilde Kimer is unfounded and unfair.

- We are actually quite shaken by that, she says.

- One of the most important and invariable principles for DR is our editorial and independent freedom to conduct fair and credible journalism for the Danes. Therefore, it is also deeply problematic when someone – regardless of who it is – tries to restrict that freedom.

She emphasizes that DR still has full faith in Matilde Kimer's independence.

- No one has done a more fair and sober coverage of the war in Ukraine than her, which has been recognized and awarded on several occasions.

Matilde Kimer has just now been nominated for the biggest journalistic prize, the Cavling prize.

Matilde Kimer was expelled from Russia this summer.

Foreign Minister Lars Løkke is surprised
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Denmark has been informed about the case since August. And since the end of September, they have tried to help DR to get through to the authorities in Ukraine.

At DR, News Director Sandy French hopes that the ministry will continue to help solve the problem.

- My expectation is that they take it as seriously as I do, and therefore I also expect them to take responsibility for a solution being found as soon as possible, so that Matilde can once again practice journalism in Ukraine.

And at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, newly appointed minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen assures that his predecessor has done everything he could. He also promises that he will look into the matter himself.

- What is our task is to emphasize to the Ukrainian authorities that we emphasize freedom of the press highly. And the fact that we also have a state radio station, which we ourselves have an impression of, conducts sober journalism.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen explains that he understands that Ukraine is in a special situation right now. Still, it is important that the free press works so that the Danes can get an impression of what is going on in the war, he says.

- Here we have a journalist whose journalistic integrity, as far as I know, has not been questioned. Then we have to hope and believe that it can be enough to convince the Ukrainian authorities.

Ukraine has seen examples of Russian agents among journalists
At the Ukrainian embassy in Copenhagen, ambassador Mykhailo Vydoinyk is generally happy with DR's coverage of the war.

- We are grateful for DR's coverage of the war, especially via the office in Kyiv, and we encourage you to continue the work, he says.

----------


## helge

"Crimean spring", reads the banner behind the dancing women. It was taken around the anniversary of Russia's invasion of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. The post is from Matilde Kimer's Facebook page, and possibly one of those that the Ukrainian security service has perceived as propaganda for Russia. According to the Ukrainian authorities, there was a ban on traveling to Crimea at this time, but according to Matilde Kimer, that ban was only adopted a few months later.
As ambassador, he will not comment on Matildes Kimer's specific case. But he believes that the security service SBU has valid reasons to review – and sanction – journalists working at the front in Ukraine.

- Unfortunately, we have seen examples of Russian agents among the journalists who shared the positions of the Ukrainian army. Therefore, we will have to dig deeper and check everything. We're at war, guys, this is real, he says.

'outrageous'
They do not share that view with the Danish Journalists' Association, which organizes journalists in Denmark. Here, chairman Tine Johansen is strongly critical of the sanctioning of Matilde Kimer.

- This is outrageous. As a world community, we need to have eyes and ears on the ground. We need proper journalistic coverage of what is going on in these historic events. And therefore it is really a setback for freedom of the press and our own ability to inform ourselves that a skilled journalist is rejected in this way.

Matilde Kimer is still in the process of convincing the Ukrainian security service that she is not carrying out propaganda for the Russians.

She has collected 10 of her stories, translated them, and sent them to the security service. Her hope is that they see the type of journalism she does on a daily basis.

So far, she has been offered one solution. She says that the security service will reassess her case if she agrees to write what they call "good stories" about Ukraine. At the same time, she must use the material that the security service makes available to her.

Matilde Kimer has refused to do that.

- As an independent journalist, I will not present stories with material produced by anyone other than myself. After all, I can't sit at a desk in the DR city and post propaganda for any intelligence service. Nor the Ukrainian one.

----------


## helge

> I found an article in English. Not really clear why she was kicked out of Ukraine (or Russia.)


The excuse is in my translation

(big work, that was  :Smile: )

----------


## helge

> Why Matilde Kimer, the Famous Danish Journalist, was Kicked out of Ukraine - Заборона



Skimmed it and has most.

But atleast one misunderstanding:




> Defense Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen (he represents the leftist party)


His party are called "left", but they are rightwing  :Smile:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> I found an article in English. Not really clear why she was kicked out of Ukraine (or Russia.)
> 
> Why Matilde Kimer, the Famous Danish Journalist, was Kicked out of Ukraine - Заборона


She'd done numerous interviews with Russians, and entered Crimea through Russia to interview someone.

While it seems, _prime facie_, that she was just doing her job, obviously Ukraine is a little touchy about it.

----------


## sabang

Does she appear on the notorious Ukrainian 'Kill list' yet?

----------


## Norton

“One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.”
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

----------


## HuangLao

Brave New World. 
BRICS and it's continued growth and influence.

----------


## misskit

^^^ Tell us why the wonderful Russians deported her. 

After the business trip to Mykolaiv, Matilde Kimer went to Moscow. From there, on August 1, immediately upon arrival, she was deported “for security and defense reasons”. The journalist was also banned from entering Russia for 10 years.

----------


## sabang

Wow, cancelled by both the Russians and Ukrainians. Sounds like a decent investigative journalist.  :Smile:

----------


## misskit

Exactly.

----------


## helge

Well what do you know:


Matilde Kimer, who is DR's correspondent in Russia and Ukraine, can now work as a journalist in Ukraine again.

 After a long tug-of-war, she got her press accreditation back after it was canceled last summer by order of the Ukrainian security service, SBU.

 - Matilde Kimer's accreditation to work as a journalist in Ukraine is active again, and she can therefore work freely in Ukraine, just as she could until August 22,  "

Ukraine is a country at war, but it is also a country that wants Europe, and of course that also includes wanting the freedom of the press, so I am happy that this has been resolved." says MINISTER OF FOREIGN LARS LØKKE RASMUSSEN

The message from Ukraine has been sent to DR via email, but it does not include an explanation of why Matilde Kimer is now again allowed to wear her work clothes on Ukrainian soil. 

- I hope and believe, however, that this is because the matter has been investigated and one on Matildes and our journalism and saw that there is no way to put a finger on Matildes Kimer's integrity, independence and credibility as a journalist.

 DR has worked hard to get the decision from the Ukrainian security service overturned.

 Early in the process, Matilde Kimer contacted the Ukrainian authorities herself, and DR has, among other things, been in dialogue with the Ukrainian embassy in Denmark and had close contact with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, is aware of the matter regarding Matilde Kimer's accreditation.
 Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has discussed it with him several times.

 Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmusen therefore takes a positive view of the Ukrainian turn of events. He talks about several telephone meetings with the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, where the matter of Matilde Kimer's accreditation has been on the agenda. 

- There I emphasized that there is great public support for Ukraine in Denmark - which you must be careful not to gamble with. The support rests, among other things, on the fact that Danmarks Radio and Matilde Kimer have been able to report from the war in a nuanced and proper way.- Ukraine is a country at war, but it is also a country that wants Europe, and of course that also includes , that you want freedom of the press, so I am happy that it has gone well, says Lars Løkke Rasmussen.


Was told 'post' sympathized with Russia
Already back in August, Matilde Kimer was informed that her accreditation was canceled and that it was done by order of the Ukrainian security service.

On Thursday 8 December, it was possible for Matilde Kimer to have a meeting with the security service. The meeting, which took place at the SBU's office in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, was set up with the help of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Here, Matilde Kimer was told that some of her "posts" looked as if she sympathized with Russia. She suspects that the security service was referring to posts on her professional Facebook profile. A picture that Matilde Kimer herself could not recognize in any way.


The bands on the tanks are old Soviet symbols. The pictures here are from Matilde Kimer's Facebook profile, and it is possibly a post like that that has led the Ukrainian security service to get the impression that Matilde Kimer is carrying out Russian propaganda.
However, back in August, Matilde Kimer was expelled by Russia, where the Russians' justification at the time was that it happened "for security and defense reasons".


In addition, Kimer said that she was told at the meeting that the Ukrainian Security Service would reconsider her case if she said 'yes' to writing what they call "good stories" about Ukraine. At the same time, she had to use the material that the security service would make available to her.

Matilde Kimer refused to do that


__

----------


## panama hat

> Wow, cancelled by both the Russians and Ukrainians. Sounds like a decent investigative journalist.





> Exactly.


Yup, well done.

----------


## sabang

*German Journalist Criminally Charged, Bank Account Seized, for Deviating From the Official Narrative on Ukraine*


By Victor Westerkamp
Victor resides in the Netherlands and writes about freedom and governmental and social changes to the democratic form of nations.



Published: June 26, 2022



German reporter Alina Lipp faces criminal charges and three years imprisonment because she reported on the situation in the Donbas region, where she sympathized with Russia. Currently living in Donetsk, Lipp saw her bank account frozen and raided for €1.600 without further explanation. German authorities say that she may not defend herself in court as that may thwart the investigation. (Image: YouTube Screenshot)


A German independent journalist living in eastern Ukraine’s renegade Donbas area has been labeled a Russian terrorist, harassed, and criminally charged by German authorities for her pro-Russian reporting.

Independent reporter, 28-year-old Alina Lipp, born to a German mother and a Russian father, has set her objective to report the Russian-Ukrainian conflict objectively. 
To this goal, she has undertaken several trips to the Crimea peninsula and the Donbas; the region where it all started; the Russian-speaking separatists have challenged Ukraine, a nation they deem a Nazi state.

Lipp raised eyebrows in March this year, shortly after the Russian invasion, which both she and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin calls a de-Nazification operation, over comments she made in a video that there were no atrocities committed by the Russians and that the Ukrainian hostilities against its own (Russian speaking) citizens over the past eight years should be highlighted.

*READ MORE:*

*Ukraine Struggles With Optics of Ultra-Nationalist Neo-Nazi Azov Militia**‘Killer Robots’ Are Playing an Increasing Role In the War in Ukraine**Washington Further Provokes Moscow With Rumors of Pending Hellfire Missile Drone Sale To Ukraine**Videos of Domestic Terrorism, Violence Against Russian POWs Shade Ukraine’s Public Image*
Lipp further alleged that the Donbas locals supported the Russian troops and celebrated the de-Nazification operation as a liberation.

In her infamous video she uploaded to her Telegram channel, Lipp alleged that the Donbas citizens had been “thankful that Russia finally did something,” she said.

“Finally, the people here have been liberated from the terror that they’ve been experiencing for the last eight years,” under continuous shellings by Ukrainian national army, Lipp added.

*The German empire strikes back*

However, German authorities would not stand how Lipp, “the mouthpiece of Russian propaganda,” as she’s been referred to by the German “fact checker” KORREKTIV, just kept on disseminating “misinformation.”

Since then, the agency took no half-measures to make life or work impossible for the Hamburg resident.

Soon after the video went viral, Lipp’s YouTube channel was closed, forcing her to move to Telegram. Her PayPal account was also blocked. Then, they came not only for her bank account, but that of her father, a Russian who lives on the Crimean peninsula.

On top of that, the German prosecutor allegedly seized €1,600 from her bank account without further ado or any notice or explanation.

However, apparently inspired by the anti-Russian position of the German government, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has forged a criminal case against Lipp on the justification that she “encourages or tolerates crimes regulated by the Criminal Code,” the Prosecutor stated in a document that Lipp showed in another, recent video.

*A special case*

The case against Lipp is a peculiar one, nonetheless. Not only is she charged, but she will also not be heard, the letter said.

“At the end of the letter, he says that they are not going to invite me to a hearing because this would ‘disturb the investigations,’ and that is very interesting, so they are chasing me, but they do not want to listen to me,” she said in the video.

Apparently, Lipp is already considered guilty by decree as she is denied her human right to defend her case in court—a novelty in German legal history—at least since the Third Reich succumbed almost eighty years ago.

Another curious feature about the document, Lipp points out, is that one of the pages bears a big capital Z on top. This is remarkable as many Russian tanks and armored vehicles since the incursion have been emblazoned with an elusive capital Z on them.

Since then, the capital Z has become a symbol of support for the Russian operation, and showing the symbol is therefore considered a crime in Germany.

At the end of the video, Lipp asserted, “What is happening to me can happen to all independent journalists and bloggers, and that is why I would like to propose to you, dear colleagues, that we start working together to support each other against the censorship of the West.”

https://www.visiontimes.com/2022/06/...reporting.html

_This sound more like the Deutschland of yore_ _ rather than modern Germany. No right of due process- not even allowed to testify, assets arbitrarily seized. Astonishing. Clearly, "They" do not want you to hear what She has to say, or witnesses- so I will make a point of subscribing to her Telegram channel.

_
Also-  https://dailytelegraph.co.nz/world/watch-german-authorities-to-prosecute-journalist-alina-lipp-for-reporting-from-donbass/

And why not-

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## bsnub

Good. There should be a penalty for pushing Russian state propaganda. She is not a "reporter" much less a journalist. She is a useful idiot of the Russian government just like you are Sab you fucking clown.

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## sabang

> There should be a penalty for pushing Russian state propaganda.


 :yerman:  Bring back ze Third Reich!!  :yerman:   But they already have, in 'Ukraine'.

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## helge

Fahrenheit 451 could be a place to start for him

It's about the "dangers" of knowledge

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## bsnub

> Bring back ze Third Reich!!





> But they already have, in 'Ukraine'.


No retard. The fascists are in Moscow and you grovel at their feet. You could give two shits about freedom of speech, you disingenuous clown. 






> Fahrenheit 451 could be a place to start for him


Don't attempt to lecture me, you propagandist clown. The last time you did, I had to educate you on the salinity of the waters around the Kerch Bridge. Remember? The very bridge you claimed was inside the Sea of Azov.

 :rofl:

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## helge

> I had to educate you on the salinity of the waters around the Kerch Bridge. Remember? The very bridge you claimed was inside the Sea of Azov.


That has never happened

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## bsnub

> That has never happened


 :smiley laughing: 

Now the useful idiot lies. So you and sabang are both confirmed liars now.

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## helge

My dear friend.

I tried to explain you about the inflow of freshwater into Asov from the rivers.

It's brakish water which have less salt, meaning less rust.
Fact

There will be an inflow of saltwater from the Black Sea.

Saltwater is heavier than freshwater, why it tends to go.....where ?....correct, to the lower layers.


Fact

I won't tell you again

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## bsnub

That is not what you said. I guess I am going to have to go back to the "mega thread" to dig out your comments. You specifically said the bridge was inside the Sea of Azov. Now you are back peddling and shifting gears.




> I won't tell you again


Good, I am tiring of your shit anyway.

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## pickel

> Bring back ze Third Reich!!   But they already have, in 'Ukraine'.


Nope. That would be Russia.




> Eighteen media workers, including eight from Ukraine, are currently imprisoned in Russia, where all independent media have virtually been banned, it said.


And China.




> China has the most media workers in jail, according to the RSF. Including Hong Kong, 110 media workers are in detention there.


Number of journalists imprisoned worldwide hits new record: RSF | Freedom of the Press News | Al Jazeera

Get your head out of the sand, hypocrite.

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## sabang

*Western Journalists Are Cowardly, Approval-Seeking Losers*


Research conducted by New York Universitys Center for Social Media and Politics into Russian trolling behavior on Twitter in the lead-up to the 2016 US presidential election has found no evidence of a meaningful relationship between exposure to the Russian foreign influence campaign and changes in attitudes, polarization, or voting behavior.

Which is to say that all the years of hysterical shrieking about Russian trolls interfering in US democracy and corrupting the fragile little minds of Americans  a narrative that has been used to drum up support for internet censorship and ever-increasing US government involvement in the regulation of online speech  was false.

And to be clear, this isnt actually news. It was established years ago that the St Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency could not possibly have had any meaningful impact on the 2016 election, because the scope of its operations was quite small, its posts were mostly unrelated to the election and many were posted _after_ the election occurred, and its funding was dwarfed by orders of magnitude by domestic campaigns to influence the election outcome.

Whats different this time around, six years after Trumps inauguration, is that this time the mass media are reporting on these findings.

The Washington Post has an article out with the brazenly misleading headline Russian trolls on Twitter had little influence on 2016 voters. Anyone who reads the article itself will find its author Tim Starks acknowledges that Russian accounts had no measurable impact in changing minds or influencing voter behavior, but the insertion of the word little means anyone who just reads the headline (the overwhelming majority of people encountering the article) will come away with the impression that Russian trolls still had some influence on 2016 voters.

Little influence could mean anything shy of tremendous influence. But the study did not find that Russian trolls had little influence over the election; it failed to find _any_ measurable influence at all.

Starks does some spin work of his own in a bid to salvage the reputation of the ever-crumbling Russiagate narrative, eagerly pointing out that the report does not explicitly say Russia definitely had zero influence on the elections outcome, that it doesnt examine Russian trolling behavior on Facebook, that it doesnt address Russian hack-and-leak operations, and that it doesnt say doesnt suggest that foreign influence operations arent a threat at all.

None of these are valid arguments. Claiming Russia definitely had no influence on the election at all would have been beyond the scope of the study, the reports authors do in fact argue that the effects of Russian trolling on Facebook were likely the same as on Twitter, the (still completely unproven) Russian hack-and-leak operations were outside the scope of the study, as is the question of whether foreign influence operations can be a threat in general.

What Starks does _not_ do is make any attempt to address the fact that mainstream news and punditry was dominated for years by claims that Russian internet trolls won the election for Donald Trump. He does not, for example, make any mention of his own 2019 Politico article telling readers that the Russian Twitter troll operation ahead of the 2016 election was larger, more coordinated and more effective than previously known.




Starks also does not take the time to inform The Washington Posts readership about the false reporting this story has received over the years from his fellow mainstream news media employees, like The Washington Posts David Ignatius and his melodramatic description of the St Petersburg troll farm as a sophisticated, multilevel Russian effort to use every available tool of our open society to create resentment, mistrust and social disorder in an article hysterically titled How Russia used the Internet to perfect its dark arts. Or The New York Times Michelle Goldberg in her article Yes, Russian Trolls Helped Elect Trump, in which she argues that it looks increasingly as though the Internet Research Agency changed the direction of American history. Or NBCs Ken Dilanian (a known CIA asset), who described Russian trolling on Twitter in the lead-up to the election as a vast, coordinated campaign that was incredibly successful at pushing out and amplifying its messages, a claim that was then repeated by The Washington Post. To pick just a few out of basically limitless possible examples.

Starks and his editors could easily have included this sort of information in the article. It would have greatly helped improve clarity and understanding among The Washington Posts audience if they had. It would have been entirely possible to clearly spell out the fact that all those other reports appear to have been incorrect in light of this new information, or at least to acknowledge the fact that there is a glaring difference between this new report and previous reporting. It would do a lot of good for awareness to grow, _especially_ among Washington Post readers, that theres been a lot of inaccurate information circulating about Russia and the 2016 election these past several years.
But they didnt. And nobody else in the mass media has done so either. Even The Intercepts report on the same story, despite having the far more honest headline Those Russian Twitter bots didnt do $#!% in 2016, says new study, doesnt name any names or criticize any outlets for their inaccurate reporting on Russian trolls stealing the election for Donald Trump.

Indeed, its very rare in the west to see mainstream journalists hold other mainstream journalists accountable for their false reporting, facilitation of propaganda, or journalistic malpractice, unless its journalists whose approval they dont care about like members of the opposite political faction or independant media reporters. This is because western journalists are worthless, obsequious cowards whose entire lives revolve around seeking the approval of their peers.

The most important reporting a journalist can do in the western world today is help expose the lies, propaganda and malpractice of other western journalists and news outlets. But that is also the last thing a western journalist is ever likely to do, because western journalists seek praise and approval not from the public, but from other western journalists.

You can see this in the way they post on Twitter, with their little in-jokes and insider references, how theyre always cliquing up and beckoning and signaling to each other. Twitter is a great window through which to observe western journalists, because they really lay it all out there. Watch their bootlicking facilitation of status quo power, their ingratiating tail-wagging with each other, the way they gang up on dissenters like zealots burning a heretic. To see what Im talking about you have to pay attention not to their viral tweets that go off but to all the rest that receive little attention, because the ones that take off are the ones the public are interested in. If you watch them carefully it becomes clear that for most of them the intended audience of the majority of their posts is not the rank-and-file public, but their fellow members of the media class.

Look at this Twitter conversation between Australian journalists right after the Ecuadorian embassy cut off Julian Assanges internet access in 2018 for a good illustration of this. Former ABC reporter Andrew Fowler (now a vocal supporter of Assange) questions ABCs Michael Rowland for applauding Ecuadors move, and ABCs Lisa Millar rushes in to help Rowland argue that Assange is not a journalist and doesnt deserve the solidarity of journalists, and that Fowler is putting himself on the outside of the groupthink consensus by claiming otherwise. Millar and Rowland are part of the clique, Fowler is being ostracised from it, and Assange is the heretic whose lynching theyre braying for:



Western journalists have a freakish herd-like mindset that makes the derision and rejection of their class the most nightmarish scenario possible and the approval of their class the most powerful opiate imaginable. Theyre terrified of other journalists turning against them, of being rejected by the people whose approval they crave like a drug, of being kicked out of the group chat. And thats exactly what would happen if they began leveling valid criticisms at mass media propaganda in public. And thats exactly why that doesnt happen.

The western media class is a cloistered, incestuous circle jerk that only cares about impressing other members of the cloistered, incestuous circle jerk. It doesnt care about creating an informed populace or holding the powerful to account, it cares about approval, inclusion and acclaim from its own ranks, regardless of what propagandistic reporting is required to obtain it. The Pulitzers are mostly just a bunch of empire propagandists giving each other trophies for being good at empire propaganda.

A journalist with real integrity would spurn the approval of the media class. It would nauseate and repel them, because it would mean youve been aligning yourself with the most powerful empire in history and the propaganda machine which greases its wheels. They would actively make an enemy of the mainstream western press.
Journalists without integrity  which is to say the overwhelming majority of journalists  do the opposite.


None of this will be news to any of my regular readers, who will likely understand that the role of the mass media is not to inform but to manufacture consent for the agendas and interests of our rulers. But we shouldnt get used to it, or lose sight of how odious it is.

Its important to be clear about how gross these people are. You can never be sufficiently disdainful of these freaks.

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2023/01...eeking-losers/

You tell 'em girl!!  :bananaman:

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## harrybarracuda

> You tell 'em girl!!

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## HuangLao

^^ I suspect that this broad brush accusation and criticism applies to establishment-fused journalists?

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