According to him, the purpose is not to strike out against the Russian media, but “it's essentially to regiment political discourse in general. To discourage others from speaking out, to make it known that criticism of the war is now impermissible, that further action may be taken by the government and that people should watch their step. That's what the message is.”
Lazare says, “Internet censorship is simply the logical next step” for the US as it is “raising the stakes by providing Kiev with medium-range missiles capable of striking deep within Russian territory while at the same time stepping up repression at home.”
“This is very dangerous, but this is what a government does when it is losing a war. So, what we see here is this growing panic in official circles,” Lazare remarks.
Having noted that the freedom of speech in the United States is now “under attack,” Lazare warns that “other nations will follow suit” and that “censorship is spreading.”
“Global censorship is increasing. It is increasing, but I must point out that given the internet, critical speech is impossible to stop. But nonetheless, they can dampen it, they can tamp it down and they can discourage it by essentially making it more and more difficult for people to speak out here in the US. It is very dangerous because the situation in Ukraine is increasingly dangerous,” he says.
Regarding the role of the Ukrainian conflict in this situation, Lazare points out that it “caused this war by pushing NATO ever further to the east and by backing the 2014 coup in Kiev, a coup that was spearheaded by neo-Nazi forces.”
“The results of that coup were explosive. They tore the country apart, ignited a civil war in eastern Ukraine, and they eventually laid the basis for this special military operation in February 2022. So the US, after provoking this war, is now losing this war. And as a consequence, it is just terrified of what the results will be, of what the repercussions will be, and they will spread very wide,” he says.
Other nations, argues Lazare, should “rethink NATO and rethink what the purpose of NATO is.”
“They should not allow themselves to be let around by the US, which is increasingly reckless and irresponsible. The US is putting NATO on a very dangerous course and the consequences will be severely damaging,” he adds.
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