'Only Hearing One Side of The Story': US Cracks Down on Its Own Journalist Due to Fear of Russia
© AP Photo / Michael Conroy
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The US government’s investigation will present some challenges, because targeting Americans who work with news organizations, even those which are state run could clash with the US First Amendment’s protection of rights to free speech, the newspaper admitted.
The US Department of Justice has begun a broad criminal investigation in US citizens who have worked with Russian state television networks, according to a report released this week from New York-based newspaper. This month, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who is a critic of US foreign policy and Dimitri K. Simes, an advisor to former President Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, had their homes searched by FBI agents. Charges have not been made against either men.
However, electric equipment was seized from Ritter, while Simes said agents removed artwork from his home in Virginia and froze multiple bank accounts. The journalist and author Caleb Maupin joined The Critical Hour on Friday to discuss the hypocrisy of the US government’s accusations of propaganda in foreign media.
“I mean, if we heard a leader around the world saying that, we would obviously consider that to be tyrannical, a repression of freedom of speech, a repression of freedom of expression. It's based on this premise that there couldn't possibly be anything good about Russia. So, the fact that anyone would do it must be some kind of conspiracy or foreign propaganda or something,” Maupin explained. “I mean, the level of arrogance that goes into it.”
“They're just kind of assuming that their perspective and their view on the world is very tainted and biased and written by the military industrial complex and the big monopolies that see Russia as a competitor. Their view is the only way to see things. And so, if people are seeing things another way, they must be part of a malign conspiracy," he added.
“...for years it's been known that the way mainstream media outlets function and the way they get the access they need is by being vehicles for the American government. That if you want to get the inside scoop and you want to get the quotes and you want to get what you need as a journalist and a mainstream outlet, you have to show that you can be useful for them in spreading the narrative that they want to promote,” Maupin explained.
“...assuming that you only ever heard one side of the story. Assuming that only one side of the story could ever possibly have any truth in it. I mean, there's an element of just extreme arrogance here. And when they start speaking in these terms, that's when you can tell that they are blatantly lying,” he added.
“When they can't even acknowledge the arguments of the other side, they can't even acknowledge there could be any validity, any critique or any pro-Russian statement or anything about the war in Ukraine that doesn't exactly match their view. That's because they know their arguments are not strong, that they don't really have truth on their side. They can't even acknowledge any critical view.”
According to the New York paper, more government searches are expected to occur soon, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. They also said that criminal charges are possible. The Biden administration’s intelligence has accused Russia’s state news companies of the American favorite entertainment - interference in other countries' domestic affairs and distorting elections.
“...[Americans] who think that things might not be great with the inflation and the crumbling infrastructure while we spend billions on wars, they are denigrating the country and how dare they by questioning things. I mean, this is the level of discourse that we’ve got here. Just this kind of love it or leave it,” said Maupin.
“You know, don’t question authority. If you are thinking negative thoughts about the country, if you’re questioning what the leaders are doing, it’s probably because Putin hacked your brain, right? You’ve got communist brain worms that have infected your mind and you need to be deradicalized in a camp set up by our government authorities to help us think the right ways so we can carry out the mission of spreading freedom,” he suggested.
“...this is the level of totalitarianism that the discourse is starting to take. It reminds you of, you know, the John Birch Society of the early 1960s or something. I mean, it's that level of do not question anything, march blindly behind our leaders, and if you don't, you're probably working for the enemy.”
The Czech Republic’s Petr Pavel has said that the Nord Stream pipelines were a “legitimate target” for Ukraine in its conflict against Russia, RT reported on Thursday. Pavel, who is a former NATO general, did stress that he had no data to prove that Kiev was behind the attack which provided Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Western Europe. A US paper claimed that the explosion was first approved by Volodymyr Zelenksy who later tried to call it off under pressure from the CIA. But Ukraine’s then-commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny allowed the operation to continue.
“...the idea that it's completely legitimate for Ukraine to attack something that is the property not just of Russia, but of Germany, right, which is supposed to be their ally, as part of NATO and as part of the NATO alliance, the idea that that's somehow a legitimate thing to do is such an absurd double standard,” Maupin said. “If a NATO country is attacked, all the countries in NATO are supposed to go to war with the attacker, according to the treaty.”
“So, if Ukraine did indeed blow up the pipeline, which I don't think is the case, I think it was the US. But, regardless, if Ukraine did indeed blow up the pipeline, according to the NATO treaty, all the NATO countries should go to war not against Russia, but against Ukraine for attacking one of their NATO allies. So, the whole thing is absurd, and it shows how heavily political all this is,” he added.
