https://sputnikglobe.com/20240809/us-hypocrisy-on-full-display-as-gov-makes-dubious-fara-claims-against-scott-ritter-1119698844.html
US Hypocrisy on Full Display as Gov Makes 'Dubious' FARA Claims Against Scott Ritter
US Hypocrisy on Full Display as Gov Makes 'Dubious' FARA Claims Against Scott Ritter
Sputnik International
The US' latest effort to target Scott Ritter have fully put on display the government's hypocrisy as it picks and chooses when to stay its hand and when to weaponize the Foreign Agents Registration Act against Americans.
2024-08-09T20:20+0000
2024-08-09T20:20+0000
2024-08-09T20:22+0000
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The US' latest effort to target Scott Ritter have fully put on display the government's hypocrisy as it picks and chooses when to stay its hand and when to weaponize the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) against Americans, US attorney John Jackman told Sputnik.The Wednesday raid took place at Ritter's home in New York as investigators have sought to argue that the former weapons inspector's journalistic work is being framed at the direction of the Russian government. However, the claims could not be further from the truth."FARA, kind of by its very nature, is enforced ambiguously, which leads to very unequal levels of enforcement and basically, you know, there's potential for it to be weaponized against political speech that the United States, especially our foreign policy establishment, finds problematic," Jackman told Radio Sputnik's Fault Lines on Friday.Potential FARA offenders are flagged by the US government if they fall under certain specifications, such as an individual who is documented as having been directed at the sole discretion of a foreign principal. That said, there are exemptions that protect "bonafide" media services, which Jackman noted its exact definition is "somewhat ambiguous.""I think this comes down to where they can kind of find these ambiguities in foreign agent laws since it's been enacted and then also sort of play upon some of the jingoism and fear that the government is really trying to stoke, especially toward Russia but also toward countries in the Middle East as well, which Scott Ritter has been sympathetic to."Jackman, who also serves as the regular co-host of DD Geopolitics, contrasted the government's accusations against Ritter to that of the relationship between the Israeli lobby in the US and Congress. "The hypocrisy is so profound," he said."The Israeli lobby being able to literally buy [congressional] seats, yet the United States treats all the deference that our media, that our politicians give to Israel, literally the exact propaganda lines that the Israeli government will say to justify, you know, the war and occupation going in Gaza, in the West Bank," Jackman told Thomas.The Wednesday raid also came the same week court documents revealed Hunter Biden took in million from Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu in exchange for attempting to exert his influence on the US government during his father's vice presidency. Additionally, former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway registered as a foreign agent who would be lobbying on behalf of pro-Ukrainian interests.Unlike in the Biden findings, where evidence shows an agent-principal relationship had been established between the two parties, that isn't the case for Ritter. "This is one of the meaningful differences with Scott," Jackman said."It would be a lot easier in this country, for example, to take advantage of a Ukrainian interest who's willing to pay you to go on the airwaves and spout Ukrainian propaganda. It would be a lot easier to get that into the mainstream than it would to, you know, take the other side of it in this country, which requires just kind of by its very nature - and you all know - a lot of independence."
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what is fara, what is the foreign agents registration act, who is scott ritter, what happened to scott ritter, us use of fara, political persecution, political censorship, censorship, repression, witch hunt, red alert
what is fara, what is the foreign agents registration act, who is scott ritter, what happened to scott ritter, us use of fara, political persecution, political censorship, censorship, repression, witch hunt, red alert
US Hypocrisy on Full Display as Gov Makes 'Dubious' FARA Claims Against Scott Ritter
20:20 GMT 09.08.2024 (Updated: 20:22 GMT 09.08.2024) Under the orders of the US Justice Department, the home of former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter was raided this week under allegations of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. More than two dozen boxes were pulled from his home, including an archive that backed Ritter's allegations that there were never any WMDs in Iraq in 2003.
The US' latest effort to target Scott Ritter have fully put on display the government's hypocrisy as it picks and chooses when to stay its hand and when to weaponize the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) against Americans, US attorney John Jackman told Sputnik.
The Wednesday raid took place at Ritter's home in New York as investigators have sought to argue that the former weapons inspector's journalistic work is being framed at the direction of the Russian government. However, the claims could not be further from the truth.
"FARA, kind of by its very nature, is enforced ambiguously, which leads to very unequal levels of enforcement and basically, you know, there's potential for it to be weaponized against political speech that the United States, especially our foreign policy establishment, finds problematic," Jackman told
Radio Sputnik's Fault Lines on Friday.
Potential FARA offenders are flagged by the US government if they fall under certain specifications, such as an individual who is documented as having been directed at the sole discretion of a foreign principal. That said, there are exemptions that protect "bonafide" media services, which Jackman noted its exact definition is "somewhat ambiguous."
"I'm looking at the totality of those factors together and these accusations of him acting as a foreign agent and, just on its face, the claims are extremely dubious and uncredible in my view," Jackman told hosts Jamarl Thomas and Melik Abdul.
"I think this comes down to where they can kind of find these ambiguities in foreign agent laws since it's been enacted and then also sort of play upon some of the jingoism and fear that the government is really trying to stoke, especially toward Russia but also toward countries in the Middle East as well, which Scott Ritter has been sympathetic to."
Jackman, who also serves as the regular co-host of DD Geopolitics, contrasted the government's accusations against Ritter to that of the relationship between the Israeli lobby in the US and Congress. "The hypocrisy is so profound," he said.
"The Israeli lobby being able to literally buy [congressional] seats, yet the United States treats all the deference that our media, that our politicians give to Israel, literally the exact propaganda lines that the Israeli government will say to justify, you know, the war and occupation going in Gaza, in the West Bank," Jackman told Thomas.
"Yet, when it comes to talking about the interests of, you know, other countries or even the sovereign interests of the people in the United States, right, to make sure that our tax dollars are being used in an accountable way that's going to the infrastructure of this country, rather than going to continue to fuel war and foreign aid in, you know, the tens and hundreds of billions of dollar to countries, like, Ukraine and Israel and Taiwan, for example. So, the hypocrisy to me is just very evident," the attorney emphasized.
The Wednesday raid also came the same week
court documents revealed Hunter Biden took in million from Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu in exchange for attempting to exert his influence on the US government during his father's vice presidency. Additionally, former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway registered as a foreign agent who would be lobbying on behalf of pro-Ukrainian interests.
Unlike in the Biden findings, where evidence shows an agent-principal relationship had been established between the two parties, that isn't the case for Ritter. "This is one of the meaningful differences with Scott," Jackman said.
"At every turn you know Scott is, what he's talking about when it comes to his commentary on foreign policy and the work that he's doing, for example, to organize this anti-war rally and draw attention to the specter of nuclear war has been done under his own volition," he noted. "Due to his own, you know, freedom of thought and freedom of speech which actually, you know, is very tough to do in this country because it cuts against a lot of financial interests that he could potentially be taking advantage of, right?"
"It would be a lot easier in this country, for example, to take advantage of a Ukrainian interest who's willing to pay you to go on the airwaves and spout Ukrainian propaganda. It would be a lot easier to get that into the mainstream than it would to, you know, take the other side of it in this country, which requires just kind of by its very nature - and you all know - a lot of independence."
