Fact checking — Paul Robinson

The big news from Italy this week is the seizure by Turin police of a massive arsenal of weapons held by a neo-Nazi group. Among the weapons was a stonking-big air-to-air missile. Reporting the story, the BBC links the neo-Nazis to ‘Russian-backed separatist forces’ in Ukraine….

Naughty separatists. Despite all that talk of fighting ‘fascism’, it appears that they’re in bed with neo-Nazis. But then again, maybe not. For as Mark Ames points out on Twitter, there’s a problem with the BBC report. The official police statement says something very different. In fact, it says the following:…

Which for those of you who don’t speak Italian, translates as:

The investigations had begun about a year ago when the police headquarters in Turin, coordinated by the Central Directorate of Prevention Police, monitored some people linked to political movements of the ultra-right who had fought in the Ukrainian region of Donbass against the separatists.

So it turns out that they fought not ‘for the separatists’ but ‘against the separatists’....

But here’s the thing. It’s not just the BBC which makes that claim. CNN, for instance, reports that:

The stockpile was discovered by police who were investigating Italians ‘with extremist ideology’ who had fought alongside Russian-backed separatist forces in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, last July, according to the police statement.Similarly The Guardian writes that:

Police said that the discoveries stemmed from a previous investigation into Italians who took part in the Russian-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

This is word for word what the Associated Press (AP) writes. And that perhaps explain why so many media outlets are repeating the same story. They’ve just copied it from AP without verifying it.

There is one exception, however. One media organization seems to have actually checked what the police statement said, telling us that:

The police say the groups had fought “against the separatists” in the Donbass region of Ukraine – the forces of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in the east of the country.
Who’s this? The answer – RT....

Irrussianality

Fact checking
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

See also

RT

Media link Italy neo-Nazi missile to ‘pro-Russian separatists’ despite police saying the OPPOSITE

Italian police seize MISSILE, guns and neo-Nazi material in raid on far-right militants

RT — Russian media covered the Yellow Vest protests; now France is investigating Russian ‘interference’

It's becoming clearer that "Russian interference" means RT and Sputnik journalism rather than hacking and "dirty tricks." Russian state-sponsored media are covering news that the Western news media is either blacking out completely, suppressing, or spinning according to the controlling narrative.

RT
Russian media covered the Yellow Vest protests; now France is investigating Russian ‘interference’

See also

RT
WikiLeaks skewers Guardian writer for zany theory that RT is, wait for it... reporting news

See also

SouthFront
Ukraine’s SBU, British Media, US Think Tank: Russia Is Behind “Yellow Vest” Protests In France

Robin Andersen — Backlash Against Russian ‘Fake News’ Is Shutting Down Debate for Real

Three important takeaways here.

1. There is no evidence that RT or Sputnik pushed fake news. They featured accurate news reports that the US establishment didn't like and hosts and guests that contested the US establishment message.

2. The US tech industry and Google in particular have enormous control over the US information system and they use it the interest of the US establishment.

3. The US intelligence apparatus revealed its high degree of politicization and involvement in domestic propaganda.

The real concern should be the close integration of the private and public sectors in advancing the interest of the US establishment rather than Russian influence in US domestic affairs.

FAIR
Backlash Against Russian ‘Fake News’ Is Shutting Down Debate for Real
Robin Andersen

See also

Excellent interviews both.

Russia Insider
'Russian Media Are Very Diverse' - a Veteran Russian Pundit Explains (Dmitry Babich)

Eric van de Beek interviews Russian journalist Dmitry Babich, a self-declared 'conservative leftist' and a political analyst for Sputnik International, and sometime commentator on BBC, Al Jazeera and CNN.

Putin's 'Russiagate' Ambassador Opens Up, Has a Good Laugh (TV Talk Show - Kislyak)

Leo Standish

See also

Today the U.S. State Department hit the ball of hypocrisy out of the park.
It remarked that "legislation that allows .. to label media outlets as 'foreign agents' ... presents yet another threat to free media". It noted that "freedom of expression—including speech and media ... is a universal human rights obligation".

The remark came after the U.S. Department of Justice required the Russian outlet RT Americato register as a 'foreign agent' under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). RT registered as ordered on November 13.But the State Department statement was NOT in response to the DOJ requirement against RT. The State Department reacted to a new

Russian law that was issued in response to the demand against RT. The new Russian law is a mirror to the U.S. FARA law. It demands that foreign media which are active in Russia register as 'foreign agents'. (The EU poodles followed the State Department nonsense with an equally dumb statement.)

With its criticism of the Russian version of the FARA law while ignoring the U.S. FARA action against RT, the State Department confirmed the allegations of hypocrisy RT and other media have raised against the U.S. government.

Moon of Alabama
State Department Condemns* Designation Of Media As Foreign Agents (*only applies to Russia)

b

Also

It's now become obvious with the latest sanctions that the US conducting economic warfare to take Russia down. This is really serious. It's not "slouching" toward war; it is rushing toward military conflict with a nuclear power.

 Putin has declared that US aggressiveness is a result of a perception that the homeland cannot be reached. Putin has state that should war come, the US will be disabused of the illusion in order to end its aggressiveness. This is basically saying that Russia, having the capability, is morally obliged to hit the US homeland in case of aggression against it.

Fort Russ
New US sanctions against Russia come into force

KtovKurse - translated by Inessa Sinchougova

Russia has just warned the US that freezing its assets will be taken as a hostile act.

War News Update
Russian Finance Minister: If Additional E.U. - U.S. Sanctions Means Seizing Foreign Exchange Reserves, It Would Be A Declaration Of Financial War

Zero Hedge
Russia Warns Washington: Confiscating Gold Reserves Would Be "Declaration Of Financial War"

Tyler Durden

Moreover, Putin has directed that steps be taken to shift to full wartime mobilization on a moment's notice to defend the homeland from attack.

It's looking like Moscow is preparing for the prospect of military conflict.

Viable Opposition

How Russia is Preparing for War
A Political Junkie

Yves Smith — What Do Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Dick Cheney, Oprah Winfrey, Erin Brockovich, Stephen Hawking, Harrison Ford, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Jon Krakauer, Michelle Obama, Dan Rathers, Malcolm Gladwell, and Yours Truly Have in Common? Smeared by a Soros-Funded Think Tank for Appearing on RT

The New McCarthyite program of demonizing anyone and anything associated with Russia continues apace. A Soros-funded think tank called European Values has put out a screed (no exaggeration, read the hyperventilating tone of the “report”) which has as its major aim chilling the participation of guest speakers on RT, per its title, The Kremlin’s Platform for ‘Useful Idiots’ in the West.

This self-styled think tank posted a list of people who had appeared on RT on a series of its shows since 2013. Despite its claims of being comprehensive, the former producer of the RT show Boom Bust, Ed Harrison, quickly identified some names that were missing, and I am sure if he thought further, he could come up with more.

The list is so lengthy and includes so many highly respected people that I doubt including will hurt them in any way. But some were mighty annoyed anyhow:

Blowback.

Naked Capitalism
What Do Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Dick Cheney, Oprah Winfrey, Erin Brockovich, Stephen Hawking, Harrison Ford, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Jon Krakauer, Michelle Obama, Dan Rathers, Malcolm Gladwell, and Yours Truly Have in Common? Smeared by a Soros-Funded Think Tank for Appearing on RT

Yves Smith

RT — Twitter’s multi-million dollar US election pitch to RT revealed in FULL

RT was thereby forced to reveal some details of the 2016 negotiations during which Twitter representatives made an exclusive multi-million dollar advertising proposal to spend big during the US presidential election, which was turned down.

Having since been banned, and in order to set the record straight, we are publishing Twitter’s presentation and details of the offer in full.

RT
Twitter’s multi-million dollar US election pitch to RT revealed in FULL

Sputnik — Twitter’s RT Ad Ban Violates First Amendment - Former Deputy Attorney Gener

Brian Becker and John Kiriakou of Sputnik Radio's Loud & Clear spoke to journalist and author Max Blumenthal and former Assistant Attorney General of the United States Bruce Fein, a constitutional lawyer, to discuss Twitter's announcement....

Sputnik International
Twitter’s RT Ad Ban Violates First Amendment - Former Deputy Attorney General

RT — Twitter decision on RT & Sputnik aggressive step, retaliation to follow – Russian Foreign Ministry

The move by social media company Twitter to ban two Russian news outlets from placing advertisements on the site is a "blatant violation" of international norms, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said, adding that retaliation measures are unavoidable. 

RT
Twitter decision on RT & Sputnik aggressive step, retaliation to follow – Russian Foreign Ministry

Also

Twitter bans all RT advertising, citing ‘election interference’

See also

Sputnik International
Russia Will Respond to Twitter's RT, Sputnik Ad Ban - Foreign Ministry

Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Says Twitter's Decision to Ban Ads 'Regrettable'

Reuters — Twitter bans ads from two Russian media outlets – RT and Sputnik

Censorship spreads.

Reuters
Twitter bans ads from two Russian media outlets

Paul Robinson — Not a ‘useful idiot’

I’m disappointed. Crushed even. The European Values think tank has just produced a report entitled The Kremlin’s Platform for Useful Idiots in the West: An Overview of RT’s Editorial Strategy and Evidence of Impact. The report contains a spreadsheet with the names of 2327 ‘useful idiots’, that is to say people who have appeared on RT and, says the report, ‘either due to unawareness of RT’s political agenda, or indeed explicit support of it, lend their names and credibility to a pseudo-news network and proxy agent of the Kremlin.’ And what do you know? I’m not on the list! In fact, I’ve appeared on RT twice, once on their news section, and once on Crosstalk, but for some reason they don’t seem to have bothered analyzing the Crosstalk guest list, so I’ve slipped through the cracks. I’m not a ‘useful idiot’ after all, and have been deprived of the opportunity to express moral outrage at being publicly named and shamed....

Irrussanlity
Not a ‘useful idiot’

Paul Robinson, Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa

RT — NGO publishes names of 2,300+ RT guests, labels them ‘useful idiots who undermine Western democracy

Neo-McCarthyism flourishes.

An NGO called the European Values Think-Tank has published a report on RT featuring an extensive list of US and European public figures who have been accused of “undermining western democracy” just by appearing in RT shows.

The report, claiming to be an “overview of RT’s editorial strategy and evidence of impact,” comes with an Excel list of 2,327 people who have appeared on RT over the last four years. The names are carefully arranged in seven categories, including US politicians, UK politicians, European politicians and so on, and are arranged in alphabetical order. The list mentions the shows the guests appeared on, the total number of their appearances, and gives hyperlinks to all the relevant episodes.

The report states that appearing on the network is counterproductive and makes the guest a “useful idiot” to a “hostile foreign power.”Expressing one’s opinion on RT is considered by the NGO as equivalent to “complicity with the Russian propaganda machine.”

Although the list looks like a really thorough effort at cataloguing all of the RT guests, it’s got a number of strikingly weird blunders. For example, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is there, but only the link attached leads to a satirical show featuring someone impersonating him. Meanwhile, US Senator John McCain’s daughter is mistaken for the senator himself and “Politicking with Larry King” is unexpectedly referred to as “Politicking with Larry David.

The report generally claims that RT is “an instrument of hostile foreign influence,” which has the sole purpose of “undermining public confidence in the viability of liberal democracy.”

It repeatedly discourages any public figures from potentially appearing on any of RT’s shows in the future, as those on the list are accused of boosting RT’s “credibility as a legitimate news network.”

De facto censorship instead of de jure.

RT
NGO publishes names of 2,300+ RT guests, labels them ‘useful idiots who undermine Western democracy

See also

A new report by a US-funded Czech think tank that targeted RT’s on-air guests is an attempt to stifle any views that go outside the accepted US neocon foreign policy of interventionism, Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute, told RT.

‘Report listing RT’s guests is designed to intimidate'

Russia Insider — RT Employees in the US Are Quitting en Masse Over Security Fears

They know at the very least they'll be spied upon and become permanently unemployable. 

Russia Insider

RT Employees in the US Are Quitting en Masse Over Security Fears

MMT on RT

MMTer Marshall Auerback appears on RT's BoomBust. 

How long before MMT is accused for being Russian propaganda?

RT
Jobs and Bonds: The rise before the fall?

RT — Dataminr terminates RT access to Twitter news discovery tool, gives no official reason

Censorship is here. US establishment scared.

RT
Dataminr terminates RT access to Twitter news discovery tool, gives no official reason

Also

"Many US media outlets work in Russia, including television channels, they have the same rights and opportunities as the other outlets. If the unprecedented pressure on RT from US media and social networks leads to restrictions on the work of the Russian channel, we will have to prepare an active response," Alexander Zharov told RIA Novosti.

Sputnik International
Russian Telecom Watchdog to Respond to Any US Restrictions of RT - Head

A recent decision of Facebook to temporarily ban the RT broadcaster from uploading videos, images and links to its page on the social network has followed a complaint filed by one of the projects of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the RT press service said Thursday, citing a notification from Facebook….

Sputnik International

RT Facebook Restrictions Follow Complaint From RFE/RL Project

David Henderson — Reflections on my Latest RT Appearance

As I noted in yesterday's post, there's always an issue of the bias of the news network on which one appears, and one is right to be skeptical. The fact that RT is funded by the Russian government ought to make one, all else equal, even more skeptical.... 

EconLog
Reflections on my Latest RT Appearance

David Henderson | co-editor at EconLon, Associate Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy, Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and a Research Fellow with the Hoover Institution, as well as former Senior Economist for Health Policy and Energy Policy with President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers

Free Thought Project — BREAKING: RT’s Bank Accounts Frozen, Assange’s Internet Cut In Apparent Move to Silence West’s Critics

Desperation takes hold. The sunshine is too much.

Free Thought Project
BREAKING: RT’s Bank Accounts Frozen, Assange’s Internet Cut In Apparent Move to Silence West’s Critics

The "state actor" that cut off Assange's internet access was apparently Ecuador. Speculation is that the US pressured President Correa. Ecuador uses the USD and is a currency user in the dollar zone.

Zero Hedge
Wikileaks Provides An Update On The Assange Internet Outage

RT — RT beats internet to break #Podestaemails6 & everybody loses their minds (conspiracy theory warning)

RT breaking the latest Podesta emails before WikiLeaks sparked accusations of collusion with the whistleblowing organization. Actually, no conspiracies were involved – just good journalism.

The US Establishment is losing its collective mind over the leaks that showing it up for what it is — a conspiracy against the people.

RT
RT beats internet to break #Podestaemails6 & everybody loses their minds (conspiracy theory warning)

See also

#PodestaEmails7: WikiLeaks releases 7th batch of emails from Clinton campaign chair

Jill Dougherty — How the Media Became One of Putin’s Most Powerful Weapons

Interesting presentation of a Western take on Russian media, without comparison with similar matters in the Western media, which are controlled by a small group of the ruling elite like Rupert Murdoch, who has a lock on the popular media in the US, UK, and Australia. So one needs to read between the lines while reading this.

The interesting point is that Putin concluded that the West was weaponizing the media and that Russia needed to counter. This is a political duel with a lot of money at stake, too. So it is a tale of money and power. What else is new?

Interesting section on Margarita Simonyan, too. She became chief of RT (Russia Today) in when she was only 25, and now at 34, she is one of the world's primary influencers.

The Atlantic
How the Media Became One of Putin’s Most Powerful Weapons
Jill Dougherty, public-policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and formerly Moscow bureau chief for CNN.

I will be on RT today at 1pm New York time

I will be appearing on RT today at 1pm NY time talking about whether or not the Davos gathering is a waste of time. Guess what my response will be? Hahaa.

Nick Cohen — Russia Today: why western cynics lap up Putin’s TV poison

The Guardian
Russia Today: why western cynics lap up Putin’s TV poison


Nick Cohen

My interview on Capital Account with Lauren Lyster

Pretty good interview, I thought!