RT America was a big part of that, and that report offers extensive documentation of the US government’s thoughts about RT and what it feels threatened by. So, the most detailed thing we have so far from the government, and actually what the government followed from was the DNI report last January on alleged Russian meddling in the US election. Max, so you mentioned that the Justice Department has not provided any evidence to substantiate its designation of RT America as a foreign agent. MAX BLUMENTHAL: You can’t really establish that.ĪARON MATÉ: Right. How are these broadcasters any different? The BBC does the same, France 24, i24 out of Israel, CCTV, the Chinese broadcaster. The US government has also done nothing to demonstrate how RT is different from Al Jazeera which is funded by the Qatari government, and definitely promotes the Qatari line on foreign policy in many cases. These are, I wouldn’t call them Gestapo tactics but they are definitely anti-democratic. It was threatened with the arrest of its News Director, Misha Solodovnikov, and the freezing of its assets. The mainstream reports on RT America have framed it as RT agreeing to register as a foreign agent, but RT America did not agree.
They have to demonstrate that they have lobbied Congress on behalf of a foreign government or disseminating information materials on behalf of that government at the orders of that government.
#LEE CAMP REDACTED TONIGHT REGISTRATION#
The government has done absolutely nothing to demonstrate how RT American programs or the journalists who work for RT are taking direct orders from the Kremlin, which is what’s required under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. The Russian consulate in San Francisco was actually raided by FBI agents. Hillary Clinton likening it to 9/11, so this was another aspect of the unprecedented sanctions that have been imposed on Russia under the watch of the Trump administration. They succeeded amidst this McCarthyite atmosphere where you have democratic lawmakers howling about Russia attacking the US, and the attack being worse than Pearl Harbor.
Kind of sounds like a foreign agent there, in order to pressure the US government into doing this. They’ve worked through organizations like the Atlantic Council, which is funded by NATO, as well as the Saudi, Turkish, Bahraini and Qatari governments. This foreign agent listing is actually the product of a years long campaign, beginning really in earnest in 2014, that was initiated by a small cadre of neoconservative operatives: Peter Pomerantsev, Michael Weiss, Jamie Kirchick and Anne Applebaum, who’s a columnist for the Washington Post. The ironic thing is that they goaded the Trump Justice Department into doing this. MAX BLUMENTHAL: Well, this is the attack on press freedom that the liberal resistance and mainstream journalists had been warning of ever since Trump came into power. Your thoughts on this decision by the Justice Department to force RT America to register as a foreign agent? I’m joined now by Max Blumenthal, Senior Editor for AlterNet’s Grayzone Project and co-host of the podcast “Moderate Rebels.” Welcome Max. As have many of RT’s colleagues in the media. While a few civil liberties advocates have voiced concerns about RT being forced to register as a foreign agent, many have been completely silent. RT compiled on Monday to avoid the risk of having its assets seized by the US government or even its executives put under arrest. The move is a retaliation to the Justice Department which has just forced the Russian state financed network RT America to register also as a foreign agent. The Russian Parliament has just voted to require all mass media outlets in Russia that receive overseas funding to register as a foreign agent. The controversy known as Russiagate has dominated media attention over the past year, and now it’s directly impacting the media itself. We speak to author and journalist Max BlumenthalĪARON MATÉ: It’s The Real News, I’m Aaron Maté. The Justice Department’s move forcing RT America to register as a foreign agent has received little to no criticism, or in some cases notice, from prominent media outlets and civil liberties groups.
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