Listen to a reading of this article:
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If you’ve been following the news about Ukraine but still don’t understand that it’s the single most aggressively narrative managed and psyop-intensive war in human history, there is a 100 percent chance you believe false things about what’s happening there.
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It’s not a question of if the US played a role in Imran Khan’s removal but how and to what extent.
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We’re about to see a judge sign off on Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States for exposing the empire’s war crimes while that same empire blasts us all in the face with an unprecedented war propaganda campaign about rescuing Ukraine’s freedom and democracy.
“Russia must be held accountable for its war crimes,” said the empire while imprisoning a journalist for trying to hold it accountable for war crimes.
Just the fact that the US and UK are imprisoning a journalist for exposing the war crimes of a war criminal president—just that one fact by itself—completely invalidates all criticisms of Russia from Washington and its allies.
Fun little factoid: if you subtract all the narratives being used to justify it, the Assange case looks exactly the same as the world’s most powerful government imprisoning a journalist for telling the truth.
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Again: if this is not a proxy war, then there has never been a proxy war. https://t.co/1eodev8r5x
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) April 11, 2022
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“Opinion” segments and articles in mainstream news media exist not to give you an idea of what opinions are out there but to define what opinions are permissible. The front page teaches you what to think, the opinion section teaches you how to think.
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Once you figure out that corporations are part of the government it becomes clear what corporate media propaganda and corporate internet censorship really are.
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The Russiagate psyop got “liberals” okay with internet censorship, cold war brinkmanship, and being lied to by the mass media day after day for the greater good, and now the US empire just so happens to be ramping up all three of those things to facilitate agendas against Russia.
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Public consent for Silicon Valley censorship has been used to justify a wider and wider radius of speech suppression to the point that we’re now seeing the hammer dropped on people whose only crime is criticizing the most dangerous agendas of the world’s most powerful government.
Many of us warned from the beginning that protocols to silence figures like Alex Jones would be expanded to include things like anti-imperialists being purged en masse for their political speech. The only ones who disputed this are idiots who now regret their position and those who wanted to suppress dissent all along.
Are you listening now, assholes? Do you still think our opposition to this was about “supporting Alex Jones,” or do you now see that it was always about resisting government-tied monopolistic megacorporations being given the authority to censor worldwide speech for the US empire?
In order to avoid a Twitter ban I would like to once again affirm that Russia is 1000% guilty of any and all possible war crimes real or imagined and pledge my eternal loyalty to the Immaculate Heart of President Zelensky.
Slava Ukraini! Slava Biden! Slava Pentagon! Slava CIA! pic.twitter.com/bYYTuzBEw7
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) April 13, 2022
Free speech is important not because it’s nice to be able to say what you want, but because it creates a check on the powerful. The ability to freely share ideas and information is what makes it possible to bring attention to problems, change minds, stir the zeitgeist, and organize mass resistance.
For this reason there should be no speech restrictions on the platforms where people have come to congregate to share ideas and information besides illegal activities like child pornography. Not because it makes Johnny Proudboy sad if he can’t speak, but to put a check on power.
That’s why it’s a moot point whether censorship on those giant platforms technically violates free speech laws or not; it violates the spirit behind the very reason those legal speech protections were created in the first place, namely to move power from the government to the people. And for this spirit to be upheld it’s necessary that all ideas and information are allowed to be shared freely, not just some of them. Because there’s no institution you could trust as an official arbiter of what ideas and information are valid without creating a power imbalance.
People should be allowed to scrutinize any and all narratives of the powerful. They should be allowed to share unauthorized ideas and information. They should even be allowed to lie, because otherwise the only people allowed to lie will be the powerful. Democratizing information sharing is democratizing power.
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Remember after 9/11 when Republicans got it into their heads that you need to torture people all the time to prevent terrorism, and then a TV series started on Fox where the hero tortures people all the time to stop terrorists? Propaganda was way more ham-fisted back then.
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Oh yeah well what about the RUSSIAN empire, huh?? What about CHINESE imperialism? What about the IRANIAN unipolar world hegemon? How come you never criticize CUBA for circling the planet with hundreds of military bases?? What about VENEZUELAN nuclear brinkmanship, you hypocrite?
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My haters are a fun mix of uninformed imperialists who think I’m crazy for saying the US is trying to rule the world and informed imperialists who think I’m naive for saying the US shouldn’t try to rule the world.
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Never let anyone shame you for focusing your criticisms on the world’s most powerful and destructive government. It’s not strange and suspicious that you do that, it’s strange and suspicious that more people don’t.
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Humanity will either extinguish itself in a cataclysm of its own making or awaken from its delusion-based conditioning and become a conscious species. And whichever one happens, all our partisan bickering and sectarian spats will look pretty ridiculous in retrospect when it does.
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38 responses to “The Assange Case Invalidates US Criticisms Of Russia: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix”
While it’s certainly worth being concerned about freedom of speech in the West, including the US, and while Assange shouldn’t be jailed, I do think that there’s a very real risk of drawing a false equivalency here. In the US, you might have your Facebook or Twitter account suspended if you say certain things that are construed as offensive. In Russia, you can and will be arrested if you do so much as hold up a blank sign.
There’s a clear, and very real and significant, difference between having your account on a privately-owned app suspended (particularly when there are multiple other ways to chat or make your voice heard), and being arrested and jailed by a government.
I think you as well are presenting a false equivalency. Russia has a very long history of many kinds of attacks from the ‘liberal’ West, not limited to military but information as well. Thus, she is more than a little paranoid and justified being so.The shoe on the other foot is pretty small; nevertheless, we cannot ignore the destruction of America’s liberal values of free speech just because somewhere else there are limits.
@Tedder – You wrote, “…we cannot ignore the destruction of America’s liberal values of free speech just because somewhere else there are limits.”
Absolutely – I entirely agree. We should criticise *both* sides. But Caitlin’s article is saying that because Assange was arrested, then that means the US cannot criticise Russia. However, although I vehemently disagree that Assange was arrested, there’s a very significant difference between arresting one person (by the US) and arresting or assassinating multiple journalists and shutting down newspapers and TV stations (Russia). Therefore, it’s entirely correct and proper to criticise both – otherwise, as the old saying goes, we let perfect be the enemy of good.
The recent sinking of the Russian naval ship, Moskva, in the Black Sea may have been a British or American operation.
If so, this would be a major escalation and signal that the British/Americans are coming out of the closet and no longer fighting a so-called proxy war.
If the British or the Americans are guilty of this sinking, they should prepare to be on the receiving end of all that they have sown.
Let’s stay positive. Maybe the nuclear exchange will escalate slow enough for terror to overtake insanity.
I am pretty sure that Russian insistence that Moskva’s sinking was an accidental fire and internal explosion is precisely to defuse the reality that a Ukrainian missile attack could not have succeeded without NATO or US targeting information.
The depth of pure insanity at play now is truly astounding . And it shows [to varying degrees] just how much the few critical thinkers that remain have been completely blindsided ,and lost control of the narrative and direction humanity is heading ,and how much those that blindly and unquestionably follow the twisted narrative have been zombified. Please do join our little youtube channel as we use our music and messages to shine some light in these challenging and transformative times. All is not lost, Unity in Diversity. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ9yImXXaDjRpbTG7V_0NBA
“Julian Assange is not a journalist!”
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1133420953264951298
In a “profession” filled with frightened bunnies, Chuck Todd is the most timorous little rabbit of them all.
Jimmy Dore is not an award winning journalist, however, Max Blumenthal is. Now can I tell the difference between the two? Not really. They both seem to do the same thing. They try ascertain what the truth is to the best abilities, and then report it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWlNK3sEsg8
Maybe that’s why they get along so good. Their job is easy, if you think about it. Lying for a humongous paycheck is tough action, especially if you’re surrounded by nothing but cunning, and in many cases, demented, cut-throat liars. In comparison, spending time in the company of a friendly fellow truthteller must be a fairly serene experience.
Chris Martenson at Peak Prosperity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G__wIceF_hw
Covers pretty much everything in this episode, excluding perhaps what was happening in the moments before the Big Bang. But really, it’s all about the Death of the Media, which is leading death of the truth, and without truth there is no reality, and without reality, there is only batshit insanity and at a time in the evolutionary process when humans most need to on their game!
TOMORROW! WATCH: CN Live! — ‘Crushing Dissent’ With George Galloway, Chris Hedges, Scott Ritter and Jill Stein. Join us Friday at 10 am EDT, 3 pm BST as we examine the information warfare being waged to enforce a single narrative about the war in Ukraine. https://youtu.be/-9tB59pJXJY
Thanks for the link. Looking forward to it. Quite the line-up of cancelled truthtellers.
Jill Stein was an existential threat to the established order. Almost 10 years ago it was now when she got cancelled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnam1yi5bVs&list=UUukxQJsxZWcyv_0IgqGR6-Q&index=71
I miss her. She was only human being I ever voted for. Or ever will.
Last news from the “brave Ukrainians fighting for our freedoms” :o)
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/americans-are-charge-war-says-french-journalist-who-returned-ukraine
Excerpt: The assertion [that the Americans are in charge of the war on the ground in Ukraine} was made by Le Figaro senior international correspondent Georges Malbrunot.
Malbrunot said he had accompanied French volunteer fighters, two of whom had previously fought against ISIS.
“I had the surprise, and so did they, to discover that to be able to enter the Ukrainian army, well it’s the Americans who are in charge,” said Malbrunot.
Can’t make that stuff up!
We would have hope if there were people to turn their back. But i see only those who believe the narrative. I am not sure if i am the only one in Finland who does not.
The last two sentences really summed it up. Humanity has advanced from the natural struggle for survival to the man made struggle against self extinction. Our capacity for self extinction will continue to increase exponentially. I wish enlightenment luck, but I’m not putting any money on it.
I never took online platforms like twitter and facebook seriously. All organizations trend toward corrupt, and I didn’t expect them to be any different. Facebook and twitter don’t censor this site, and they didn’t censor my site when I was a political candidate. I sort of feel like anybody going to facebook or twitter for serious discussion on war or government is too stupid to bother with, though I can’t say that attitude is going to get you elected.
But so, it the Machine speaks only power, and it’s going to imprison and abuse Assange, and the mass of humanity is too simian to not go along with it, what do you do? Keep complaining and hope for the best? Send Assange candy and magazines?
Plus a lot of people with darker skin and fewer well-off supporters than Assange are getting imprisoned and abused by the same system. May it hasten the revolution.
For me, FB and Twitter are venues to push back against the dominant narrative, to contradict the disinformation machine from Washington and Kiev about the war in Ukraine and its causes.
Don’t forget the conspiracy to start the VietNam war in 1964 where LBJ and his cronies all presented the USA public with the outright lie that the North Vietnam had made an “unprovoked” attack on US Navy ships. This lie resulted in the infamous Tonkin Gulf Resolution.
No comment – only sharing – is necessary.
I recall a story which I believe is true where a group of Klansmen got a permit for a march through a small town where they were not welcome. The ACLU insisted that they should be allowed to march.
The town gathered on the sidewalk of the streets where the Klan was going to march. Instead of jeering and insulting the Klansmen, they silently turned their backs. The Klan marched through and the only press was about the superb non-violent protest by the townspeople.
I wish we could all just turn our backs. The problem is, the propaganda comes at us from all directions. The neutral/apposing narrative is being sidelined more and more. Turning your back in today’s information world would be for the few gifted contortionists among us.
If you’re getting a bit concerned about Putin threatening your investment portfolio or your job at your state’s war corporations, when you walk into the voting booth this November, just vote for another R or D, makes no difference which, and you’ll get More Of The Same until the 2024 election, when you can do the same. Just keep in mind that by so doing you’re also voting for nuclear WWIII.
Will not voting get you any less More Of The Same?
All I can say is “Thank God for the Military-Industrial Complex, Big Pharma, and Big Oil for keeping us safe and standing up for freedom at home and around the world.” Not that I actually believe that nonsense, it’s just all I can say.
The whole trinity…
Yeah, funny that they ‘elected?’ not only an ACTOR but a COMEDIAN to be umm ‘President’ of UKRAINA, who actually played being ‘President of Ukraine.’ On TV.
Who is the joke on?
The US and UK re-elected known war criminals Bush and Blair as President and Prime Minister respectively. Mistakenly or not, the Ukrainian electorate might have assumed a comedian would have some semblance of humanity and some sense of perspective.
They like using clowns as puppet leaders because the have zero respect for the voters.
We were first though. Reagan wasn’t a comedian, but he certainly was an actor. He played “president” quite well, and he didn’t muff his lines. The joke, of course, is always on us.
Whilst many make fun of the Ukrainians electing an “actor” for their President, let’s not forget, the United States Of America, did exactly the same thing. Difference is, the Americans didn’t think it was so funny or ridiculous at the time. I wonder why ?
some of us did. and also saw the dementia.
But SPECIFICALLY…….
‘the PRETEXT,’ or should that be ‘pre-TEXT?’ Presidentially speaking.
“Slava Biden! Slava Pentagon! Slava CIA!”
Does that mean “[I’m a] slave of Biden, the Pentagon , and the CIA”?
I think it means “hail” as in “hail mary pass”.
Hail Hitler is more fashionable in those parts :o)
this situation has been coming for some time, and it has been aided by weak and cowardly governments the world over especially in Europe and Britain, the US is like a demented monster cavorting around the world determining what is right or wrong, the Ukraine is of course a way of attacking Russia both militarily and financially and that’s not to mention the biolabs the us set up in Ukraine, my word what a wonderful nation they are .
They are weak and they remember war not 80 years ago, crazy fascist war. UK was ruled by horrible warmongering kings who terrorized their subjects and conquered the world. The USA is the new evil empire. I apologize as an American, we can’t do anything about it. I always hoped to see an era of peace and human development.
@Paul – Which country actually invaded Ukraine? It wasn’t the US. If you disagreed with the US invasions of various countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, then it logically follows that you should also disagree with, and oppose, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Yes, we can condemn many foreign policy decisions made by the US – but we can *also* condemn Russia’s actions. One does not preclude the other.
You write like someone who has not paid attention to world events since 2003. The US has steadily advanced NATO, steadily abandoned treaties, ran a coup and then steadily armed and corrupted the Ukraine all this time. How did you not notice?
Any person who is anti-war can condemn war per se, but it is foolish and juvenile to simply say there was no reason for combat, that we just grab the ears of both little boys fighting and scold them both. That is unjust.
I heard a wonderful analogy, I paraphrase: in a Chekhov play, if there is a gun on the wall in act one, surely by act five that gun will be fired. We know that Putin pulled the trigger, but who put the gun on the wall?
The West chose to malignly assault Russia in many ways in all but a very few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These “foreign policy decisions made by the US” eventually brought about a reaction. The US poked the bear and poked the bear. Finally, the bear struck back. Who is more in error, the bear (who is a bear) or the US?
Without understanding this context, Americans are helpless before a deranged, neocon leadership bent on WW III.