Ukraine Detains Socialist Writer, Bans World Socialist Web Site | Russia Formally Charges WSJ Journalist with Spying for the CIA

Ukraine Detains Socialist Writer, Bans World Socialist Web Site | Russia Formally Charges WSJ Journalist with Spying for the CIA

At least Ukraine doesn’t discriminate, when it comes to detaining writers.

It should be noted that similar jailings are taking place in Russia, with some hitting close to home. This past December, Russians arrested Boris Kagarlitsky, a longtime Moscow Times contributor who was the main writer on the “Russian Dissent” Substack sponsored by this site. Boris, a socialist himself but not connected in any way to the WSWS, was denounced as an “inoagent” (a foreign agent) and given a five year sentence, which Russian authorities called “excessively lenient.” The case is one of the more absurd in the history of speech offenses. Kagarlitsky was initially accused of making light of a 2022 explosion on the Krimsky Bridge linking Russia to Crimea, thanks to a video titled “Explosive Congratulations to the Cat Mostik,” sarcastically putting a cat in the frame for the blast. The Russian news agency TASS noted Kagarlitsky’s “negative attitude toward authorities,” and Boris remains in prison. We’re trying to get more information about his status.

Mostik isn’t just any cat! Mostik = Bridge. Mostik is the mascot of the Crimean Bridge. Petty criticism, maybe. Anyway, I’m not surprised that the West is ignoring anyone detained in Ukraine for speech issues while screeching about ‘freedom of the press’ and ‘human rights’ in Russia.

Related:

Мостик Кот – Mostik the Cat

A ‘myriad’ of front organizations had “Media Unlocked” banned from TikTok

Original video.

China Daily’s ‘Media Unlocked’ TikTok account banned

Media Unlocked’s accounts on Facebook, YouTube, and X, which are not flagged as government media outfits, are still up, however. Felipe F. Salvosa II

Source

IN-DEPTH: AI bolsters China state media’s TikTok offensive to influence narrative on sea dispute

Seeking credibility, China Daily’s ‘Media Unlocked’ TikTok passes off opinion as news

CNN:

Erin Burnett OutFront May 23, 2024 1PM Transcript

“RIPLEY (voice-over): Chinese state media is using A.I.-enhanced videos on TikTok, altering the reporter’s voice and face. A disclosure on screen for just a few seconds, easy to miss.

[01:39:52]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Under China’s jurisdiction.

RIPLEY: The video is pushing Beijing’s narrative on the South China Sea.

Is this a threat to democracy?

FELIPE SALVOSA II, JOURNALISM PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS: Most definitely. I think China has found a more cost-effective way to get its message across.

RIPLEY: Turning today’s digital landscape into a battleground for truth, where seeing is no longer believing.

Every time I do a story about these deepfake videos, what strikes me is the quality keeps improving. Our researcher (INAUDIBLE) spent hours putting these through algorithms to determine with 99 percent accuracy whether these videos are real, whether they’re fake, whether the voice has been altered, the face has been altered. Who on social media has time for that and a lot of people don’t take the time which experts say is dangerous, particularly in democracies when people are watching these videos and then potentially using the information they hear to make decisions about how to vote.

Source
Read More »

06-10-2024 Reading update: Trotsky the Traitor

I just finished reading ‘Trotsky the Traitor’ and ‘Why I Resigned From the Trotsky Defense Committee’ by Mauritz A. Hallgren. While reading ‘Trotsky the Traitor’, I was reminded of what happens when so-called ‘pro-democracy’ activists are being investigated in their home countries, for treason, yet the corporate media sings their praises. Interestingly, Wikipedia states that the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky was a front organization.

Related:

Trotsky The Traitor – Selected Writings

Trotskyism

The InfoOp Continues in the Pacific Islands

Full video: Why Should We Care About the Pacific Islands?

John Hennessey-Niland currently works with ASPI on ‘soft power’ in the Pacific Islands.

Maintaining U.S. Credibility in the Pacific Islands (PDF)

Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI):

ASPI funding (Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, New Zealand, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Thales Australia, American Chamber of Commerce, Center for Strategic and International Studies, German Marshall Fund, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

Australian think tank ASPI found linked to prison labor, human trafficking

Front Organizations

Read More »

Newsy News and Views (Türkiye, India, Canada)

Newsy News and Views

Just leaving some links and some views

Aljazeera

  • India- Western media coverage is interesting. A clear pleasure in the election outcome is obvious. Advance polls had Modi winning another majority and contrary to those polls his party did not. Personally speaking, I wouldn’t be surprised if some western backed NGO’s tinkered with the election. The west has India on it’s radar for so many reasons. Continuing relations with China and Russia being just two of those reasons. The economy is in good shape. 

Turkey is looking to join the BRICS

Source

They may as well- It’s going to be the go to trading bloc by the looks of things. The EU has been giving Turkey the run around for nearly two decades, so why not.

Turkey would like to join BRICS and this issue will be discussed at the group’s ministerial meeting in Nizhny Novgorod, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said during his visit to China.

“Certainly, we would like to become a member of BRICS. So we’ll see how it goes this year,” the South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper quoted him as saying.

According to Fidan, some European countries are against Turkey joining the EU, so the Turkish authorities are considering BRICS as an alternative integration platform. “We cannot ignore the fact that BRICS, as an important cooperation platform, offers some other countries a good alternative,” he said. “We see potential in BRICS,” the top Turkish diplomat added.

According to the SCMP, Fidan also said that he was hoping to attend the group’s foreign ministers’ meeting in Russia. According to the newspaper, “one of the topics on the agenda is expected to be the possibility of Turkey, a NATO ally, joining the BRICS grouping.”

On June 10-11, Nizhny Novgorod will host a meeting of BRICS foreign ministers. According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, the event will be held in an expanded format, including non-member partners.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended a BRICS summit in 2018. Russian President Vladimir Putin said then that Ankara could join BRICS in 2022. By now Turkey has not taken any steps in this direction.

And the Bank of Canada cut rates .25%

Given the way things look globally, this may be the only rate cut this year? Or maybe one of two? It’s just looking too ugly every where.

French Journalist Christelle Néant on Ukraine’s Decade of War on Donbass Civilians

Back in Donetsk anew, I interviewed war correspondent and journalist, Christelle Néant. Christelle arrived in Donetsk in 2016 to report on what had already been two bloody years of Ukraine warring on its former population in the Donetsk and Lugansk Peoples Republics.

French Journalist Christelle Néant on Ukraine’s Decade of War on Donbass Civilians

H/T: Unorthodox Truth

Taiwan Continues Toward US-Engineered “Ukraine-ization”

The Chinese Island province of Taiwan continues to be targeted by the US and its political proxies through efforts to further consolidate political control over it and transform it into a geopolitical “battering ram” against the rest of China.

Taiwan Continues Toward US-Engineered “Ukraine-ization”

Previously:

Containing China: US Using Taiwan as East Asian “Ukraine”

Report: US Military Advisors Deployed to Taiwan-Controlled Islands on China’s Coast

The US-backed NED candidate Willy Lie from the NED-backed party won