Friday, September 06, 2024

Biden DoJ Charges Russian Influencers

The Nashville Tennessean newspaper reports:
An indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges that a Russian state-controlled media outlet financed a Tennessee company. The indicitment doesn't name the company, but a description of the firm matches the online content creation company Tenet Media. The indictment accuses two Russian nationals, employed by Kremlin-operated media outlet Russia Today, of funneling nearly $10 million to covertly fund and direct the Tennessee company. ...

The indictment accuses two Russian nationals who worked for Russia Today, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, of funneling nearly $10 million to a Tennessee-based online content creation company to publish English-language videos on social media sites like TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube.

The Tennessee company is part of an "entire empire of covert projects" created to "shape public opinion in ‘Western audiences,’” according to the indictment. Many of the videos contained commentary on events and issues like immigration, inflation, and domestic and foreign policy in the United States, according to the indictment.

The two Russian suspects accused of funneling the money to the company are Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, also known as Kostya, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, also known as Lena. They were both at large. They are charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carry a five-year and 20-year sentence, respectively, if convicted.

Okay, I guess the Russians should have registered as foreign agents. But why is this a bid deal?

I am sure the Russians put out self-serving propaganda on RT, but isn't that how free speech works?

I have occasionally linked to RT stories. I have linked to a lot of sources that I consider propaganda. I identify the sources. In some cases, I saw a story on RT that seemed to be true and I did not see it elsewhere.

Here is a current story:

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter has announced that the latest US sanctions imposed on RT mean he will no longer be able to contribute to the Russian media outlet. Ritter insisted that his engagement with RT has been nothing but “legitimate journalism.”

A former US Marine Corps major who also served as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq during the 1990s, Ritter came into the spotlight in 2003 when he opposed the US military operation against the Middle Eastern country. He argued that Saddam Hussein’s government did not possess weapons of mass destruction, despite Washington’s claims.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Ritter stressed that the content of his contributions for RT and several other sanctioned media outlets “has been factually correct and analytically sound, and always of my own creation.” ...

Last month, Ritter accused the US government of committing an “act of intimidation” and “declaring war” on him after FBI agents raided his house in New York State. The journalist said at the time that officials suspected him of working “on behalf of the Russian government” in violation of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Ritter is hated by the Deep State, but I do not think he is a Russian agent.

1 comment:

CFT said...

DOJ: How DARE the Russians try to influence our elections illegally... because...that's our job now.

The so called department of justice has literally nothing to stand on at this point. They work for the pleasure of the president in the executive branch, they are basically (and have always been) a flunky office trying to lend legal credibility to what they often know isn't legal (pretend dossiers by oppo research, claims of Russian collusion of acting CIA assets, claims of laptops not existing when they are in direct possession of them, accusations of collusion against one party when they knew the other party was actively engaged in it, etc.), it's merely the office of unspoken desires of the CINC or DNC in the case of senile office holders.