{"id":209301,"date":"2022-04-18T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=209301"},"modified":"2022-04-14T04:25:51","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T03:25:51","slug":"the-censorship-campaign-against-western-criticism-of-natos-ukraine-policy-is-extreme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/04\/the-censorship-campaign-against-western-criticism-of-natos-ukraine-policy-is-extreme\/","title":{"rendered":"The Censorship Campaign against Western Criticism of NATO\u2019s Ukraine Policy Is Extreme"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Preventing populations from asking who benefits from a protracted proxy war, and who pays the price, is paramount. A closed propaganda system achieves that.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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[Alisdare Hickson \/ CC BY-SA 2.0]<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

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13 Apr 2022 – <\/em>If one wishes to be exposed\u00a0to news, information or perspective that contravenes the prevailing US\/NATO view on the war in Ukraine, a rigorous search is required. And there is no guarantee that search will succeed. That is because the state\/corporate censorship regime that has been imposed in the West with regard to this war is stunningly aggressive, rapid and comprehensive.On a virtually daily basis, any off-key news agency, independent platform or individual citizen is liable to be banished from the internet. In early March, barely a week after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, the twenty-seven nation European Union \u2014 citing \u201cdisinformation\u201d and \u201cpublic order and security\u201d \u2014\u00a0officially banned<\/a>\u00a0the Russian state-news outlets RT and Sputnik from being heard anywhere in Europe. In what Reuters called \u201can unprecedented move,\u201d all television and online platforms were barred by force of law from airing content from those two outlets. Even prior to that censorship order from the state, Facebook and Google were already banning those outlets, and Twitter immediately announced they would as well, in compliance with the new EU law.<\/p>\n

But what was \u201cunprecedented\u201d just six weeks ago has now become commonplace, even normalized. Any platform devoted to offering inconvenient-to-NATO news or alternative perspectives is guaranteed a very short lifespan. Less than two weeks after the EU\u2019s decree, Google\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0that it was voluntarily banning all Russian-affiliated media worldwide, meaning Americans and all other non-Europeans were now blocked from viewing those channels on YouTube if they wished to. As so often happens with Big Tech censorship, much of the pressure on Google to more aggressively censor content about the war in Ukraine came from its own workforce: \u201cWorkers across Google had been urging YouTube to take additional punitive measures against Russian channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

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So prolific and fast-moving is this censorship regime that it is virtually impossible to count how many platforms, agencies and individuals have been banished for the crime of expressing views deemed \u201cpro-Russian.\u201d On Tuesday, Twitter, with no explanation as usual, suddenly banned one of the most informative, reliable and careful dissident accounts, named \u201cRussians With Attitude.\u201d Created in late 2020 by two English-speaking Russians, the account\u00a0exploded in popularity<\/a>\u00a0since the start of the war, from roughly 20,000 followers before the invasion to more than 125,000 followers at the time Twitter banned it. An accompanying podcast with the same name also exploded in popularity and, at least as of now, can\u00a0still be heard on Patreon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What makes this outburst of Western censorship so notable \u2014 and what is at least partially driving it \u2014 is that there is a clear, demonstrable hunger in the West for news and information that is banished by Western news sources, ones which loyally and unquestioningly mimic claims from the U.S. government, NATO, and Ukrainian officials. As\u00a0The Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0acknowledged<\/a>\u00a0when reporting Big Tech\u2019s \u201cunprecedented\u201d banning of RT, Sputnik and other Russian sources of news: \u201cIn the first four days of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, viewership of more than a dozen Russian state-backed propaganda channels on YouTube spiked to unusually high levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note that this censorship regime is completely one-sided and, as usual, entirely aligned with U.S. foreign policy. Western news outlets and social media platforms have been\u00a0flooded with pro-Ukrainian propaganda and outright lies<\/a><\/em>\u00a0from the start of the war. A\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0article from early March<\/a>\u00a0put it very delicately in its headline: \u201cFact and Mythmaking Blend in Ukraine\u2019s Information War.\u201d Axios was similarly understated in\u00a0recognizing this fact<\/a>: \u201cUkraine misinformation is spreading \u2014 and not just from Russia.\u201d Members of\u00a0the U.S. Congress<\/a>\u00a0have\u00a0gleefully spread<\/a>\u00a0fabrications that went viral to millions of people, with no action from censorship-happy Silicon Valley corporations. That is not a surprise: all participants in war use disinformation and propaganda to manipulate public opinion in their favor, and that certainly includes all direct and proxy-war belligerents in the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Yet there is little to no censorship \u2014 either by Western states or by Silicon Valley monopolies \u2014 of pro-Ukrainian disinformation, propaganda and lies. The censorship goes only in one direction: to silence any voices deemed \u201cpro-Russian,\u201d\u00a0regardless of whether they spread disinformation<\/em>. The \u201cRussians With Attitude\u201d Twitter account became popular in part because they sometimes criticized Russia, in part because they were more careful with facts and viral claims that most U.S. corporate media outlets, and in part because there is such a paucity of outlets that are willing to offer any information that undercuts what the U.S. Government and NATO want you to believe about the war.<\/p>\n

Their crime, like the crime of so many other banished accounts, was not disinformation but\u00a0skepticism about the US\/NATO propaganda campaign<\/em>. Put another way, it is not \u201cdisinformation\u201d but rather viewpoint-error that is targeted for silencing. One can spread as many lies and as much disinformation as one wants provided that it is designed to advance the NATO agenda in Ukraine (just as one is\u00a0free to spread disinformation provided<\/a>\u00a0that its purpose is to strengthen the Democratic Party, which wields its\u00a0majoritarian power in Washington to demand greater censorship<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0commands the support of most of Silicon Valley<\/a>). But what one cannot do is question the NATO\/Ukrainian propaganda framework without running a very substantial risk of banishment.<\/p>\n

It is unsurprising that Silicon Valley monopolies exercise their censorship power in full alignment with the foreign policy interests of the U.S. Government. Many of the key tech monopolies \u2014 such as Google and Amazon \u2014 routinely seek and obtain\u00a0highly lucrative<\/a>\u00a0contracts<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0the U.S. security state<\/a>, including both the CIA and NSA. Their top executives enjoy\u00a0very close relationships<\/a>\u00a0with top Democratic Party officials. And Congressional Democrats have repeatedly hauled tech executives before their various Committees to\u00a0explicitly threaten them<\/a>\u00a0with legal and regulatory reprisals if they do not censor more in accordance with the policy goals and political interests of that party.<\/p>\n

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But one question lingers: why is there so much urgency about silencing the small pockets of dissenting voices about the war in Ukraine? This war has united the establishment wings of both parties and virtually the entire corporate media with a lockstep consensus not seen since the days and weeks after the 9\/11 attack. One can count on both hands the number of prominent political and media figures who have been willing to dissent even minimally from that bipartisan Washington consensus \u2014 dissent that instantly provokes vilification in the form of\u00a0attacks on one\u2019s patriotism and loyalties<\/a>. Why is there such fear of allowing these isolated and demonized voices to be heard at all?<\/p>\n

The answer seems clear. The benefits from this war for multiple key Washington power centers cannot be overstated. The billions of dollars in aid and weapons being sent by the U.S. to Ukraine are flying so fast and with such seeming randomness that it is difficult to track. \u201cBiden approves $350 million in military aid for Ukraine,\u201d Reuters\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0on February 26; \u201cBiden announces $800 million in military aid for Ukraine,\u201d\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0<\/em>on March 16; on March 30,\u00a0NBC\u2019s headline<\/a>\u00a0read: \u201cUkraine to receive additional $500 million in aid from U.S., Biden announces\u201d; on Tuesday, Reuters\u00a0announced:\u00a0<\/a>\u201cU.S. to announce $750 million more in weapons for Ukraine, officials say.\u201d By design, these gigantic numbers have long ago lost any meaning and provoke barely a peep of questioning let alone objection.<\/p>\n

It is not a mystery who is benefiting from this orgy of military spending. On Tuesday, Reuters\u00a0reported that<\/a>\u00a0\u201cthe Pentagon will host leaders from the top eight U.S. weapons manufacturers on Wednesday to discuss the industry\u2019s capacity to meet Ukraine\u2019s weapons needs if the war with Russia lasts years.\u201d Among those participating in this meeting about the need to increase weapons manufacturing to feed the proxy war in Ukraine is Raytheon, which is fortunate to have retired General Lloyd Austin as Defense Secretary, a position to which he\u00a0ascended from the Raytheon Board of Directors<\/a>. It is virtually impossible to imagine an event more favorable to the weapons manufacturer industry than this war in Ukraine:<\/p>\n

Demand for weapons has shot up after Russia\u2019s invasion on Feb. 24 spurred U.S. and allied weapons transfers to Ukraine. Resupplying as well as planning for a longer war is expected to be discussed at the meeting, the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity. . .<\/p>\n

Resupplying as well as planning for a longer war is expected to be discussed at the meeting. . . . The White House said last week that it has provided more than $1.7 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the invasion, including over 5,000 Javelins and more than 1,400 Stingers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This permanent power faction is far from the only one to be reaping benefits from the war in Ukraine and to have its fortunes depend upon prolonging the war as long as possible. The union of the U.S. security state, Democratic Party neocons, and their media allies has not been riding this high since the glory days of 2002. One of MSNBC\u2019s most vocal DNC boosters, Chris Hayes, gushed that the war in Ukraine has revitalized faith and trust in the CIA and intelligence community more than any event in recent memory \u2014 deservedly so,\u00a0he said<\/a>: \u201cThe last few weeks have been like the Iraq War in reverse for US intelligence.\u201d One can barely read a mainstream newspaper or watch a corporate news outlet without seeing the nation\u2019s most bloodthirsty warmongering band of neocons \u2014 David Frum, Bill Kristol, Liz Cheney, Wesley Clark, Anne Applebaum, Adam Kinzinger \u2014 being celebrated as wise experts and heroic warriors for freedom.<\/p>\n

This war has been very good indeed for the permanent Washington political and media class. And although it was taboo for weeks to say so, it is now beyond clear that the\u00a0only goal that the U.S. and its allies have<\/a>\u00a0when it comes to the war in Ukraine is to keep it dragging on for as long as possible. Not only are there no serious American diplomatic efforts to end the war, but the goal is to ensure that does not happen. They are now saying that explicitly, and it is not hard to understand why.<\/p>\n

The benefits from endless quagmire in Ukraine are as immense as they are obvious. The military budget skyrockets. Punishment is imposed on the arch-nemesis of the Democratic Party \u2014 Russia and Putin \u2014 while they are bogged down in a war from which Ukrainians suffer most. The citizenry unites behind their leaders and is distracted from their collective deprivations. The emotions provoked by the horrors of this war \u2014 unprecedentedly shown to the public by the Western media which typically ignores carnage and victims of wars waged by Western countries and their allies \u2014 is a very potent tool to maintain unity and demonize domestic adversaries. The pundit class finds strength, purpose and resolve, able to feign a Churchillian posture without any of the risks. Prior sins and crimes of American elites are absolved and forgotten at the altar of maximalist claims about Putin\u2019s unprecedented evils \u2014 just as they were absolved and forgotten through the script which maintained that the U.S. had never encountered a threat as grave or malignant as Trump. After all, if Putin and Trump are Hitler or even worse, then anyone who opposes them is heroic and noble regardless of all their prior malignant acts.<\/p>\n

And that is why even small pockets of dissent cannot be tolerated. It is vital that Americans and Europeans remain entrapped inside a completely closed system of propaganda about the war, just as Russians are kept entrapped inside their own. Keeping these populations united in support of fighting a proxy war against Russia is far too valuable on too many levels to permit any questioning or alternative perspectives. Preventing people from asking who this war benefits, and who is paying the price for it, is paramount.<\/p>\n

Big Tech has long proven to be a reliable instrument of censorship and dissent-quashing for the U.S. Government (much to the\u00a0chagrin of corporate media employees<\/a>, Russian outlets\u00a0still remain available on free speech alternatives<\/a>\u00a0such as Rumble and Telegram, which is why so much ire is now directed at them). A rapid series of ostensible \u201ccrises\u201d \u2014 Russiagate, 1\/6, the COVID pandemic \u2014 were all exploited to condition Westerners to believe that censorship was not only justified but necessary for their own good. In the West, censorship now provokes not anger but gratitude. All of that laid the perfect foundation for this new escalation of a censorship regime in which dissent, on a virtually daily basis, is increasingly more difficult to locate.<\/p>\n

No matter one\u2019s views on Russia, Ukraine, the U.S. and the war, it should be deeply alarming to watch such a concerted, united campaign on the part of the most powerful public and private entities to stomp out any and all dissent, while so aggressively demonizing what little manages to slip by. No matter how smart or critically minded or sophisticated we fancy ourselves to be, none of us is immune to official propaganda campaigns, studied and perfected over decades. Nor is any of us immune to the pressures of group-think and herd behavior and hive minds: these are embedded in our psyches and thus easily exploitable.<\/p>\n

That is precisely the objective of restricting and closing the information system available to us. It makes it extremely difficult to remain skeptical or critical of the bombardment of approved messaging we receive every day from every direction in every form. And that is precisely the reason to oppose such censorship regimes. An opinion or belief adopted due to propaganda and reflex rather than autonomy and critical evaluation has no value.<\/p>\n

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Glenn Greenwald –\u00a0Journalist; co-founder, <\/em>The Intercept; author, <\/em>No Place to Hide and forthcoming book on Brazil; animal fanatic & founder of HOPE Shelter.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Go to Original \u2013 scheerpost.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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