Monday, October 17, 2016

Brits squeeze Russian agitprop

When a banking entity turns away a revenue stream, it is hard not to think that something fishy is afoot. In this case, it feels a bit like, "my propaganda is better than your propaganda."
The UK bank accounts of Russian TV broadcaster Russia Today have been shut down, its editor-in-chief has said, in a move that the UK government appears to have been aware of.
In a tweet in Russian Margarita Simonyan said that “all the accounts” had been closed in the UK. She said the decision was final, adding sarcastically: “Long live freedom of speech!”...
It was unclear whether the British government was behind the move, but the foreign office was aware of the news when contacted by the Guardian and referred inquiries to the Treasury. The move – if confirmed – casts into doubt the ability of the Kremlin-backed news channel to carry on broadcasting. RT said on Monday it will continue operating.
Most of the propaganda I used to listen to as a teenager was pretty inept when it came from Moscow or Beijing. Clumsy. Sort of like Fox News these days. But the ascendance of Fox News has helped elevate all propaganda outlets. Dumb and loud has a new cachet.

2 comments:

  1. Someone's punishing someone for something. And we'll pro'lly never know who or why.

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  2. Waling on this planet is a very wonderful thing to do. When astronauts return to Earth, one of the things that they're most happy to do is to take a walk. Coming back to their home, they can enjoy the grasses, the plants, the flowers, the animals, and the birds with each step. How long do you thinkthey enjoy walking on the Earth after they've returned from space? I'd guess that the first ten days are wonderful. But eventually they get used to it, and maybe a year later they don't feel as happy as they did in the first few months after coming home. Every time we take a step on this Earth, we can appreciate the solid ground underneath us.

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