U.S. Funds Ukraine Groups Censoring Critics, Smearing Pro-Peace Voices

[revelarts]

U.S. Funds Ukraine Groups Censoring Critics, Smearing Pro-Peace Voices
American taxpayers are footing the bill for Ukrainian NGOs focused on smearing proponents of a diplomatic solution as "Russian disinformation" agents.
Lee Fang
Apr 11



This investigation was reported in collaboration with RealClearInvestigations (https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/04/11/us_helps_pro-ukraine_media_run_a_fog_machine_of_war_1023961.htm l).

Ukraine’s American-backed fight against Russia is taking place not only in the blood-soaked trenches of the Donbas region but also on what military planners call the cognitive battlefield – to win hearts and minds.

A sprawling constellation of media outlets organized with substantial funding and direction from the U.S. government has not just sought to counter Russian propaganda but has supported strong censorship laws and shutdowns of dissident outlets, disseminated disinformation of its own, and sought to silence critics of the war, including many American citizens.

Economist Jeffrey Sachs, commentator Tucker Carlson, journalist Glenn Greenwald, and University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer are among the critics on both the left and the right who have been cast as part of a “network of Russian propaganda.”

But the figures targeted by the Ukrainian watchdog groups are hardly Kremlin agents. They simply have forcefully criticized dominant narratives around the war.

Sachs is a highly respected international development expert who has angered Ukrainian officials over his repeated calls for a diplomatic solution to the current military conflict. Last November, he gave a speech at the United Nations calling for a negotiated peace.

Mearsheimer has written extensively on international relations and is a skeptic of NATO expansion. He predicted that Western efforts to militarize Ukraine would lead to a Russian invasion.

Greenwald is a Pulitzer Prize-winning independent journalist who has criticized not just war coverage but media dynamics that suppress voices that run counter to U.S. narratives. “What they mean when they demand censorship of ‘pro-Russia propaganda’ is anything that questions the US/EU role in the Ukraine war or who dissents from their narratives,” Greenwald has observed.

There’s no evidence of Kremlin influence over their viewpoints, but their comments alone are enough for a network of U.S.-backed Ukrainian media groups to tarnish these experts as Russian propagandists.

U.S. taxpayer dollars are flowing to outlets such as the New Voice of Ukraine, VoxUkraine, Detector Media, the Institute of Mass Information, the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine and many others. Some of this money has come from the $44.1 billion in civilian-needs foreign aid committed to Ukraine. While the funding is officially billed as an ambitious program to develop high-quality independent news programs; counter malign Russian influence; and modernize Ukraine’s archaic media laws, the new sites in many cases have promoted aggressive messages that stray from traditional journalistic practices to promote the Ukrainian government’s official positions and delegitimize its critics.... RealClearInvestigations (https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/04/11/us_helps_pro-ukraine_media_run_a_fog_machine_of_war_1023961.htm l)

FYI "NGO" often translates "CIA".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Central_Intelligence_Agency_front_organiz ations
https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/USG-NGOs-Do-More.pdf
https://gazettengr.com/cia-officer-reveals-how-she-leveraged-ngos-for-u-s-covert-operations-in-nigeria-under-buhari/
https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/04/03/cuban-twitter-and-other-times-usaid-pretended-to-be-an-intelligence-agency/

[Gunny]

U.S. Funds Ukraine Groups Censoring Critics, Smearing Pro-Peace Voices
American taxpayers are footing the bill for Ukrainian NGOs focused on smearing proponents of a diplomatic solution as "Russian disinformation" agents.
Lee Fang
Apr 11



This investigation was reported in collaboration with RealClearInvestigations (https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/04/11/us_helps_pro-ukraine_media_run_a_fog_machine_of_war_1023961.htm l).

Ukraine’s American-backed fight against Russia is taking place not only in the blood-soaked trenches of the Donbas region but also on what military planners call the cognitive battlefield – to win hearts and minds.

A sprawling constellation of media outlets organized with substantial funding and direction from the U.S. government has not just sought to counter Russian propaganda but has supported strong censorship laws and shutdowns of dissident outlets, disseminated disinformation of its own, and sought to silence critics of the war, including many American citizens.

Economist Jeffrey Sachs, commentator Tucker Carlson, journalist Glenn Greenwald, and University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer are among the critics on both the left and the right who have been cast as part of a “network of Russian propaganda.”

But the figures targeted by the Ukrainian watchdog groups are hardly Kremlin agents. They simply have forcefully criticized dominant narratives around the war.

Sachs is a highly respected international development expert who has angered Ukrainian officials over his repeated calls for a diplomatic solution to the current military conflict. Last November, he gave a speech at the United Nations calling for a negotiated peace.

Mearsheimer has written extensively on international relations and is a skeptic of NATO expansion. He predicted that Western efforts to militarize Ukraine would lead to a Russian invasion.

Greenwald is a Pulitzer Prize-winning independent journalist who has criticized not just war coverage but media dynamics that suppress voices that run counter to U.S. narratives. “What they mean when they demand censorship of ‘pro-Russia propaganda’ is anything that questions the US/EU role in the Ukraine war or who dissents from their narratives,” Greenwald has observed.

There’s no evidence of Kremlin influence over their viewpoints, but their comments alone are enough for a network of U.S.-backed Ukrainian media groups to tarnish these experts as Russian propagandists.

U.S. taxpayer dollars are flowing to outlets such as the New Voice of Ukraine, VoxUkraine, Detector Media, the Institute of Mass Information, the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine and many others. Some of this money has come from the $44.1 billion in civilian-needs foreign aid committed to Ukraine. While the funding is officially billed as an ambitious program to develop high-quality independent news programs; counter malign Russian influence; and modernize Ukraine’s archaic media laws, the new sites in many cases have promoted aggressive messages that stray from traditional journalistic practices to promote the Ukrainian government’s official positions and delegitimize its critics.... RealClearInvestigations (https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/04/11/us_helps_pro-ukraine_media_run_a_fog_machine_of_war_1023961.htm l)

FYI "NGO" often translates "CIA".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Central_Intelligence_Agency_front_organiz ations
https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/USG-NGOs-Do-More.pdf
https://gazettengr.com/cia-officer-reveals-how-she-leveraged-ngos-for-u-s-covert-operations-in-nigeria-under-buhari/
https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/04/03/cuban-twitter-and-other-times-usaid-pretended-to-be-an-intelligence-agency/Your thread title is pure 1950's yellow journalism. Counter intel is part of war. Rejecting propaganda is part of war. Government censorship is part of war.

What they are combatting is lies that result in capitulation labeled "peace". Not an original thought. Neville Chamberlain was all about "peace at all cost". IIRC, he gave away as if it was his right the Sudetenland-then the whole of Czechoslovakia, Austria, and the Rhineland in the name of a piece of paper that said "peace" on it. That worked. Until September :rolleyes:

[revelarts]

Your thread title is pure 1950's yellow journalism. Counter intel is part of war. Rejecting propaganda is part of war. Government censorship is part of war.

let's all take for granted that that's true.
The govt lies to & censors everyone during war.

Is what you're saying is that we are in fact at war with Russia so it's OK to lie & censor anything?
Including our own citizens who speak against the war lies or just speak against the govt position?
Do the people get a voice in whether or not we want to be at war? congress declare it or anything?
And if it's NOT a war. Is it illegal THEN for our gov't to lie to & censor the public including the media?

[Gunny]

let's all take for granted that that's true.
The govt lies to & censors everyone during war.

Is what you're saying is that we are in fact at war with Russia so it's OK to lie & censor anything?
Including our own citizens who speak against the war lies or just speak against the govt position?
Do the people get a voice in whether or not we want to be at war? congress declare it or anything?
And if it's NOT a war. Is it illegal THEN for our gov't to lie to & censor the public including the media?Did you vote? You had your say. So did everyone else.

Last time the government maintained a tight grip on the war and information, we won. Once it didn't, they turned into crap shoots like is going on in Israel right now. Results speak for themselves. Do you want to be right, or do you want to win? Without achieving the latter, the former is moot.

[revelarts]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GO558PeWkAASr0M?format=jpg&name=small


crazy offensive Alex Jones... and politico
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/30/biden-ukraine-weapons-strike-russia-00160731


So if Iran & Syria supplies Hamas with weapon that strike Israel that means that Iran & Syria are fair game for "strategic" retaliation.

So if the U.S. supplies weapons that strike Russian cities...?
WW3?

Call me whatever name you want this Sh!t need to stop.
You want to kill Russians for Ukrainian GO. But don't do it in my name. or send send troops or weapons in my name.

Looks to many like Biden is trying to be a "war time president" so he can keep the seat at this point.
Some of us are praying for peace.

[revelarts]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPUp7wRXQAAxiO0?format=jpg&name=small


Ukraine, Asia Drove 50% Increase in FY22 Arms Sales
Jan. 25, 2023 | By C. Todd Lopez, DOD News

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3277733/ukraine-asia-drove-50-increase-in-fy22-arms-sales/


Got to get those numbers up folks.

[revelarts]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GO558PeWkAASr0M?format=jpg&name=small


crazy offensive Alex Jones... and politico
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/30/biden-ukraine-weapons-strike-russia-00160731


So if Iran & Syria supplies Hamas with weapon that strike Israel that means that Iran & Syria are fair game for "strategic" retaliation.

So if the U.S. supplies weapons that strike Russian cities...?
WW3?

Call me whatever name you want this Sh!t need to stop.
You want to kill Russians for Ukrainian GO. But don't do it in my name. or send send troops or weapons in my name.

Looks to many like Biden is trying to be a "war time president" so he can keep the seat at this point.
Some of us are praying for peace.



SO here's a prediction. If Russia is hit with U.S. weapons then Russia will Strike Back HARD maybe nukes in Europe.
Then folks in the U.S. (and on this board) will say LOOK at Russia trying to take over the world.

[Gunny]

SO here's a prediction. If Russia is hit with U.S. weapons then Russia will Strike Back HARD maybe nukes in Europe.
Then folks in the U.S. (and on this board) will say LOOK at Russia trying to take over the world.

Facts: Not a secret. The permission is with limitations. Makes perfect sense Ukraine not be hobbled from striking troops amassing at its border for military ops to strike Ukraine. Duh :rolleyes:

[revelarts]

Facts: Not a secret. The permission is with limitations. Makes perfect sense Ukraine not be hobbled from striking troops amassing at its border for military ops to strike Ukraine. Duh :rolleyes:

You ask not long ago, "If it was your yard?"
You think Putin might have that mind set?
Or is he's going to, like you & Kath, understand the limitations of the U.S. bombs on Russia Soil on Russian troops?

[Gunny]

You ask not long ago, "If it was your yard?"
You think Putin might have that mind set?
Or is he's going to, like you & Kath, understand the limitations of the U.S. bombs on Russia Soil on Russian troops?Did you read and think about that statement before hitting "enter"? :rolleyes:

The lengths you will go to make excuses for the aggressor in the entire war never ceases to amaze me. Putin started this shit. Putin can end it. Yet not one word out of you about how simple and satisfactory a solution that would be. Ukraine's always the bad guys, for defending themselves and now for wanting to preempt further invasion.

[revelarts]

Did you read and think about that statement before hitting "enter"? :rolleyes:

The lengths you will go to make excuses for the aggressor in the entire war never ceases to amaze me. Putin started this shit. Putin can end it. Yet not one word out of you about how simple and satisfactory a solution that would be. Ukraine's always the bad guys, for defending themselves and now for wanting to preempt further invasion.

I think it's wrong that Russia has Attacked Ukraine.
I hope Russia, packs up and goes home.
I wish everyone would have accepted nearly any of the peace proposals that have been set out by ETHIER side.

enough words for you?
now

You ask not long ago, "If it was your yard?"
You think Putin might have that mind set?
Or is he's going to, like you & Kath, understand the limitations of the U.S. bombs on Russia Soil on Russian troops?

[Kathianne]

I think it's wrong that Russia has Attacked Ukraine.
I hope Russia, packs up and goes home.
I wish everyone would have accepted nearly any of the peace proposals that have been set out by ETHIER side.

enough words for you?
now

You ask not long ago, "If it was your yard?"
You think Putin might have that mind set?
Or is he's going to, like you & Kath, understand the limitations of the U.S. bombs on Russia Soil on Russian troops?

Rev, the assumption that Gunny, myself, and anyone else that doesn't just say, "Hell Yeah!" to nearly any of the peace proposals isn't a matter of war mongering, as much as a desire to find either a settled peace or the means to reach that settled peace, which unfortunately may involve much violence.

Right now, it's the Hamas that is jerking everyone around, as has Putin regarding Ukraine:

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-repels-raid-from-gaza-highlighting-border-concerns-f012c2e8?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink


Israel Repels Raid From Gaza, Highlighting Border ConcernsIncident comes as U.S. and Arab mediators push for a cease-fire deal


Mourners gathered Friday for a funeral in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, a focal point of Israel’s latest military operations. DOAA ROUQA/REUTERS
By Carrie Keller-Lynn
Updated June 7, 2024 8:35 am ET




TEL AVIV—Militants from Gaza tried to stage a raid into Israel on Thursday, the Israeli military said, an attempt that highlighted Israel’s fears that Hamas still poses a threat to its border security despite the group’s diminished military capabilities since it led the attacks of Oct. 7.


A group of fighters crossed the first of two border fences between Israel and Gaza before encountering an Israeli patrol, engaging in a firefight and retreating further back into Gaza, Israel’s military said. One Israeli soldier was killed in the clash, and three militants were killed by Israeli drone and tank fire.


The militants were carrying rifles and rocket-propelled grenades and were trying to infiltrate in the area of Kerem Shalom, home to one of the major land crossings for bringing humanitarian aid into the beleaguered Gaza Strip, the military said.


President Biden has urged Israel to end the war with Hamas, saying the group was incapable of conducting another Oct. 7-style attack. Thursday’s raid illustrates Israel’s concerns that it hasn’t sufficiently eliminated the military threat posed by Hamas.


“There are still lots of weapons and terrorists in Gaza and they have their own capabilities, from the IDF’s perspective there is still work to be done,” said an Israeli military official following the raid attempt, using an acronym for the Israel Defense Forces.




Israeli soldiers stand on a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip. PHOTO: AMIR LEVY/GETTY IMAGES
The incident comes as U.S. and Arab mediators are making a concerted push to broker a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas to end eight months of fighting that has led to tens of thousands of casualties and a humanitarian disaster across Gaza.


Last Friday, Biden urged Israel to stand behind the proposed deal, which was based on its own framework, saying that Israel’s security isn’t at risk because Hamas has already been degraded.


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel will continue its war until Hamas’s military and governance capabilities in Gaza are destroyed. Hamas on Thursday said it wouldn’t accept the proposal in its current form.


Netanyahu accepted an invitation to address a joint session of Congress on July 24 about Israel’s war in Gaza, the top two congressional Republicans announced on Thursday night.


Fighting continued across Gaza on Friday. The Israeli military said it was continuing its operations in central Gaza’s Bureij and Deir al-Balah, as well as Rafah in the south.


“There are still thousands of Hamas terrorists, armed, and capable of conducting terror attacks,” said Shalom Ben Hanan, a former senior Israeli security official. When Israel’s military is heavily deployed on the border and Hamas still dares to invade Israeli territory, “it hints to their abilities,” he said.




A Palestinian medic helps an injured girl at a hospital in Deir el-Balah. PHOTO: BASHAR TALEB/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES


The Israeli military has intensified its campaign against Hamas in the central Gaza Strip this week. PHOTO: AFP CONTRIBUTOR#AFP/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Biden last week made public details of a previously undisclosed Israeli cease-fire proposal, which would return some Israeli hostages held in Gaza since Oct. 7 in exchange for an end to the fighting. While Biden presented the deal as a map to a permanent cease-fire, Israel described it as a path toward “sustainable calm,” an Israeli official said, and Netanyahu’s office has repeatedly said that the deal wouldn’t end the war before Hamas is uprooted.


Hamas’s Gaza chief and architect of the Oct. 7 attack, Yahya Sinwar, said that he wouldn’t accept a proposal that didn’t lead to a permanent cease-fire, potentially stalling negotiations.


Thursday’s incident is one of several since Hamas-led militants burst through into southern Israel and killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The resulting war has killed more than 36,000 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to Palestinian health authorities. The figure doesn’t specify how many were combatants.


Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group based in Lebanon, has made several additional attempts to cross into Israel from that country, after opening its fight against Israel on Oct. 8. The undeclared war between Israel and Hezbollah has increased in intensity in recent weeks. Efforts to end the fighting between the two are unlikely to bear fruit until the war stops in Gaza, diplomats briefed on the process say.


Further complicating negotiation efforts, Netanyahu’s war-cabinet colleague Benny Gantz could resign his post as early as Saturday. Gantz, a centrist, in May said he would quit on June 8 if Netanyahu didn’t present a plan for ending the war and securing Gaza, and people close to Gantz say that is still his intention. Netanyahu’s government could survive the blow but would be more reliant on far-right politicians.

[Black Diamond]

I think Lincoln jailed reporters without trial.

[revelarts]

I think Lincoln jailed reporters without trial.
yes. he did. that was wrong too.
But did he do that because Ukraine was at war with Russia? & Was he selling cannonballs to Urkraine to fire at the Czar?

But we all know that Ukraine became an independent state in 1991 right?
Remember Chernobyl? that was in U.S.S.R. Russia... now Ukraine.

But POLAND IS NEXT!!!

[Black Diamond]

yes. he did. that was wrong too.
But did he do that because Ukraine was at war with Russia? & Was he selling cannonballs to Urkraine to fire at the Czar?

But we all know that Ukraine became an independent state in 1991 right?
Remember Chernobyl? that was in U.S.S.R. Russia... now Ukraine.

But POLAND IS NEXT!!!

No Poland isnt next. and putin =/=Hitler

[Gunny]

I think it's wrong that Russia has Attacked Ukraine.
I hope Russia, packs up and goes home.
I wish everyone would have accepted nearly any of the peace proposals that have been set out by ETHIER side.

enough words for you?
now

You ask not long ago, "If it was your yard?"
You think Putin might have that mind set?
Or is he's going to, like you & Kath, understand the limitations of the U.S. bombs on Russia Soil on Russian troops?No. You oversimplify along with your false equivalencies. Putin should go home, and leave every inch of Ukrainian soil to Ukraine.

You are willing to accept false "peace" at any price. It's never worked before and isn't going to work now.

How do you think Ukraine feels about N korean missiles, Iranian drones, and Chinese "dual purpose" materiel being dropped all over its cities and citizens? THAT is who Russia is bombing and killing. Ukraine wants to target military specifically being built up for use against Ukraine.

But of course, you can't see the difference:rolleyes:

[revelarts]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJZg87jWQAEUY3p?format=jpg&name=small
Why would Zelensky promote this Russian propaganda?


now
NATO has rejected Vladimir Putin's peace deal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNweOthtpYM

SO does NATO tell Ukraine what to do, Or is Ukraine a part of NATO?