The Biden administration signaled that it would continue to clamp down on alternative media Wednesday with the announcement of several measures against figures connected to Russian outlets.
"Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated ten individuals and two entities as part of a coordinated US government response to Moscow’s malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 US presidential election," read a statement released Wednesday morning.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland claimed individuals connected to Russian media outlets were involved in a campaign to spread “disinformation” in the months leading up to November’s election, a favored talking point the Biden administration has repeatedly used to justify its heavy-handed tactics in regulating social media.
The account for RT on the video sharing giant YouTube was removed in 2022 and Biden signed legislation earlier this year likely to result in the social media app TikTok becoming unavailable in the United States after this fall’s election.
Writer and historian Dr. Gerald Horne joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program Wednesday to discuss the surprising development, which he attributed to the United States’ concern over the rise of Russia, China and Iran and the emergence of an increasingly multipolar world.
“It's difficult to judge what you just described without judging simultaneously what's unfolding in the Tampa, St. Petersburg area of Florida, where Chairman Omali and his comrades and the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru movement are now facing trial in the halls of injustice for reasons eerily similar to these charges,” said Horne, referring to the Biden administration’s ongoing persecution of Black radical groups.
“Certainly, we should not forget what has befallen Scott Ritter, the former arms inspector, now viewed widely as a dissident who has been a frequent guest on numerous platforms including your own, as I understand it, rebuking and reprimanding US foreign policy, particularly as it relates to the escapade in Ukraine,” he continued.
“Not to mention the funding and financing an army of the radical regime in Israel. We are also aware of what has befallen Richard Medhurst who is a frequent speaker on issues related to Iran in particular. He was detained in London summarily just a few days ago in a blatant violation of civil rights and civil liberties, causing some commentators to suggest that England, Great Britain is moving towards a unique kind of fascism.”
Horne claimed a “hysteria” is gripping the US political class over an emerging counterhegemonic bloc of countries increasingly able to challenge the political and economic might of the United States. Former US Army officer Gen. Wesley Clark reflected the anxieties of Washington officialdom in an editorial in USA Today recently, casting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping as enemies of “democracy.”
But a recent survey found that almost half of Amercans believe there is “not enough democracy” in the United States while 57% of people polled said the US government only serves a minority of its population. Russia and China ranked higher than the United States on most questions regarding their citizens’ self-perception of their country’s democracy, with Chinese people being among the most likely in the world to consider their country democratic.
Clark drew attention to improving relations between Beijing and Moscow, something the United States worked to undermine throughout the Cold War.
“Recall that the late national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser under Jimmy Carter in the 1970s, in one of his final books The Grand Chessboard suggested that US imperialism would justifiably be fearful if there was a de facto alliance developing between Russia, China, and Iran, and that is precisely what's happening as we speak,” said Horne.
The leadership of Iran has long been critical of the United States owing to the long history of US interference in the country. Recent polling reveals that people in countries throughout the Muslim world now overwhelming view the US negatively as the country backs Israel’s violent military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which has killed almost 41,000.
Horne said the US is likely particularly disturbed by Beijing’s growing influence in Africa as dozens of heads of state from across the continent meet in China this week to discuss economic development.
“The way in which the North Atlantic countries were able to soar to global preeminence was precisely by the battering and bludgeoning of the African continent,” said the historian. “When Africa begins to rise, particularly when it begins to rise and lead with China – now the number two economy on planet Earth – to use the expression ‘with a bullet,’ it's understandable why there is hysteria gripping Washington.”