In late June, Julian Assange returned to Australia a free man after years of suffering in harsh conditions in a Britain prison with the threat of extradition to the United States hanging over him. Since then, the WikiLeaks founder, who the US government sought to prosecute for exposing US dirty secrets including related to US military actions, has not spoken publicly. That will change by October 1. ● WikiLeaks announced in a Tuesday press release that Assange will next Tuesday, October 1, at the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg, France “give evidence before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).” The press release further states:

💬 This comes following the release of the PACE inquiry report into the Assange case, authored by Rapporteur Thórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir. The report focuses on the implications of his detention and its broader effects on human rights, in particular freedom of journalism. The report confirms that Assange qualifies as a political prisoner and calls on the UK conduct an independent review into whether he was exposed to inhuman or degrading treatment. Read the press release here.

Dmitrij Ljubinskij (Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Austria) | The Russian ambassador in Vienna responds to the guest commentary by his Ukrainian colleague.

■ On September 18, a guest commentary by the Ukrainian ambassador in Vienna was published here in the "Presse". Given the Austrian reader's obvious fatigue with the omnipresent, almost daily repetition of Ukrainian propaganda, I would have liked to have spared myself a polemic at this point. However, I will allow only a few comments on the principle here.

■ The Kyiv ambassador's wild assertion that the Ukraine crisis is one of the most important election campaign issues in Austria can only be seen as an attempt at brazen interference in domestic affairs. Such a thesis sounds particularly obscene in light of the immense damage recently caused by the devastating natural disaster in this country and the associated concerns of ordinary Austrians.

■ As far as Ukraine is concerned, it has become nothing more than a pawn in the collective West's large-scale confrontation with Russia in recent years. The so-called Selensky formula can play no role in a sustainable settlement of the crisis, which incidentally began long before 2022. It is totally out of touch with reality, even its authors understand that.

■ Today's world politics is about much more than Ukraine. The world majority is fighting for a new, fairer and progressive multipolar world order that will be based exclusively on international law and free from US-dictated "rules". This will also be discussed at the upcoming BRICS summit in Kazan (October 22-24) in a broad format and under the chairmanship of Russia.

■ As far as Austria is concerned, it risks getting stuck in a group of countries that are throwing everything imaginable into the bottomless pit of support for Ukraine ("Whatever the cost ..."). Not only to the detriment of their people but also to further aggravate the international strategic situation. The total ceiling of the so-called European Peace Facility, in which Vienna is also making a substantial financial contribution, now amounts to more than twelve billion euros. Wouldn't these funds have deserved a more sensible use than being senselessly squandered on the war economy in the interests of a laughing third party outside Europe?

The facts speak for themselves: Unlike representatives of Ukraine and their Western puppeteers, we never seek to impose our opinion on others as the only correct one. However, the decision-makers in Austria are not only reluctant to hear it, they fear it. The facts speak for themselves. For example, the recent de facto expulsion of two young Russian journalists from Austria for no reason and without explanation, a total ban on Russian media in the country, or the constant refusal to publish our articles in domestic newspapers. The Austrian government and media are denying their citizens access to a different perspective on world events. The question of why such a thing happens and is even conceivable in a country that supposedly champions freedom of expression and media freedom remains up in the air. You conclude yourself. (DeepL + Grammarly)

Hugely popular video-sharing platform TikTak removed Sputnik International's account without warning on Saturday, providing no explanation for its decision. Sputnik asked a leading US military and intelligence analyst and former Washington insider about the likely motive of the move. | While it has no legal leg to stand on and an utter lack of domestic support for a ban on TikTok, what the US State Department does have is “unlimited resources with which to prosecute TikTok as a company,” and the latter may have chosen to cooperate with the state by scrubbing Sputnik’s channel to try to “get the feds off their backs,” retired Pentagon analyst Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik.

■ How US Deep State Co-Opted TikTok (Sputnik News)

The Telegram messenger's cooperation with the French justice system after the detention of its founder Pavel Durov has led to requests for information from other countries as part of the investigation into cybercrime, Le Figaro newspaper reported, citing sources. | According to the report, the messenger's cooperation with the French authorities benefits all European countries that are members of Eurojust (European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation). ● Thus, one of the EU member countries was able to receive a response to its requests regarding a group in Telegram that had ordered about 100 murders. In addition, "a major international power" also decided to take advantage of the messenger's willingness to cooperate, it said. ● The report said some cases from other countries, including South Korea, are in the process of being registered in the French justice system.

Meta has not yet responded to a request from TASS to comment | Meta Corporation, which is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation, has blocked the accounts of a number of Russian media outlets on its platforms, including RT and the Rossiya Segodnya media group, NBC reported citing a statement from a Meta representative. [...] On September 4, the US Department of the Treasury announced that it was imposing sanctions on RT TV channel editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and her two deputies. In addition, the US Department of State is tightening the rules for working with the Rossiya Segodnya media group, RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly and Sputnik. Since 2022, the countries of the so-called collective West have introduced about 150 different restrictions against Russian media and journalists, according to statistics from the Russian Foreign Ministry, published on the ministry’s official website.

■ Meta bans RT as Western crackdown continues: A 2022-2024 overview (RT.com)
■ Meta’s Ban on Sputnik ‘Very Bad’ and Politicized Decision – Analyst (Sputnik News)
✅ RT Is Being Scapegoated For The US’ Global Soft Power Failures (Andrew Korybko)

The news outlet will continue to work to reach audiences in every corner of the world, the deputy editor-in-chief has said | The new US sanctions against RT are further proof that Washington does not want people to hear views that diverge from the mainstream narrative, RT Deputy Editor-in-Chief Anna Belkina has said. ● The latest restrictions against the news outlet were announced by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who accused it of being “engaged in covert influence activities” and “functioning as a de facto arm of [Russian] intelligence.” Earlier this month, the US authorities also sanctioned several Russian nationals, including RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan and three other senior RT employees, over alleged efforts to influence the upcoming US election.

■ US Recognizes Russian Media Play Important Role in Reporting Truth - Experts (Sputnik News)
■ US imposes sanctions on Rossiya Segodnya media group, TV-Novosti, Eurasia NGO (TASS)
✅ RT Is Being Scapegoated For The US’ Global Soft Power Failures (Andrew Korybko)

US journalist says that Israel is killing journalists who are democracy observers because the nature of the regime is not democratic, adding that Tel Aviv resorts to 'democracy' like a prostitute who wears a lot of 'perfume'. | The Israel-Gaza war has taken an unprecedented toll on Gazan journalists since the Israeli regime started the invasion of Gaza on October 7, 2023. ● According to the Journalist Syndicate in Gaza, the total number of journalists killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023 has become 157. OHCHR has raised similar serious concerns about killings of journalists in the past in the context of the current escalations in Gaza. ● Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict during the Israeli regime's ground assault, including devastating airstrikes, disrupted communications, supply shortages, and extensive power outages. This has meant that it is becoming increasingly hard to document the situation.

CIA and U.S. State Departments Anti-Russia Internet Troll Boiler Rooms - HACKED | For a long time, K Street firms in Washington, DC, operating “Internet Opinion Management” houses/boiler rooms, have been run by the State Department and the CIA. Today, two of those . . . anti-Russian operations . . . have been HACKED and their info, leaked. Databases from the anti-Russian funds The U.S. Russia Foundation (USRF) and Free Russia Foundation (FRF) have now been leaked online. Among the leaked documents are the organizations' payrolls, information about correspondences and their participants, and other data. [...] The documents reveal that the foundation's employees were destabilizing the situation in Russia using a bot farm, for which a special guide was written as part of an anti-Russian campaign overseen by intelligence services. It turned out that the employees of this "elf factory" posted calls for protests, criticized the authorities, and even pretended to be wives of mobilized men. The documents show that "elves" were essentially given ready-made messages where they only needed to insert, for example, the name of a city or square where demonstrations were planned. Bots were also encouraged to spread complaints about "local administration," though exactly which administration was left for the employees to decide. This is hardly surprising since they had to meet a daily quota of 100 "dumps" over an eight-hour workday. [...] The revelations in these hacked documents proves the United States has been waging an information war against Russia for years; even before the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The clear intent of these operations was to sew social discord, create upheaval, and destabilize the Russian government at all levels: local, state, and national.

France-Soir Editorial | Rassurez-vous, ce n'est pas de la troisième guerre mondiale dont il s'agit. Mais, c'est quand même une guerre ou plutôt des guerres qui sont menées sur l'ensemble de la planète. Par qui ? Par une poignée d'individus éminemment malintentionnés. | La caste dirigeante qui s'accroche au pouvoir quoi qu’il nous en coûte, à nous, peuples du monde. Pourquoi ? Parce que si le pouvoir venait à leur échapper, la population aurait accès à des éléments de preuve, qui démontrent que, effectivement, « dans leur immense majorité » (1), les marionnettes politiques que les lobbys (principalement) du pétrole, l'armement, l'industrie agroalimentaire, l'industrie pharmaceutique et le BTP ont placées au pouvoir, mènent, depuis plus de 80 ans et contre tous les peuples du monde, une guerre sans merci. Une guerre politique, militaire, économique, culturelle et spirituelle, et qui, depuis environ 10 ans, est aussi, désormais, une guerre hégémonique.

The First Amendment to the US Constitution lists a number of rights considered most important by the country’s founding fathers, including freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom of speech and the press. | This week brought further developments in the Biden administration’s ongoing war against alternative media in the United States just days after the Federal Bureau of Investigation promised “more searches” of figures connected to Russian media. The US Justice Department brought charges against two Russian media executives Wednesday, accusing them of not disclosing their support for a Tennessee-based media company that published edgy viral videos.

■ The Latest Russiagate Scandal Aims To Discredit Alt-Media & Trump (Andrew Korybko)

Two individuals identified as employees of the Russian network were criminally charged and four more sanctioned | The US Department of Justice has charged two Russians it identifies as RT employees with money laundering and working as foreign agents for their alleged role in pushing video content that sowed “discord and division” in the US. ■ In a criminal indictment unsealed on Wednesday, US prosecutors claimed that Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva financed and directed a Tennessee-based production company that published English-language videos to various social media platforms aimed at amplifying “domestic divisions in the United States.” ■ These videos were viewed more than 16 million times on YouTube alone, the indictment alleged, and, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray, represented an attempt to “trick Americans into unwittingly consuming foreign propaganda.” ■ Producing videos that highlight social and political divisions in the US is not a crime. However, the Justice Department claimed that Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva broke the law by not registering as foreign agents.

■ Biden to take ‘law enforcement action’ against RT – CNN (RT.com)
■ Scott Ritter Says Ending Cooperation With RT, Sputnik Due to US Sanction (Sputnik)
■ US seeking to 'sterilize' national information space from dissent — Russian diplomat (Maria Zakharova/TASS)

Harold Turner | Using the same PCR Tests as they did last time - which are **NOT** designed to diagnose **ANY** illness -- the flaming liars who fooled everyone into thinking a seasonal Flu was some deadly new disease "COVID," are once again claiming "COVID" is rising fast. | Here's the punch line: ******** ALL ******** of these cases . . . . are folks who are "vaccinated." The flaming liars go on to report . . . ."The most notable increases this week were reported in New Mexico (+122%), West Virginia (+64%), Kentucky (+27%), Ohio (+25%), New Jersey (+15%), and Colorado (+11%). ■ Then they employ the new scare tactic by reporting "Note: Only 33% of hospitals in the U.S. submitted COVID data this week, which is similar to last week but down from 91% in May. This means actual case numbers and hospitalizations are substantially higher than reported." It is worth repeating they still use the same scam PCR testing kits that weren't meant to used the way the use them because they give false positives on anything. The good news is the liberals of the general public will be lining up for their boosters. Maybe someone should suggest they get an extra one just to be safe?

Persecution of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France is by no means a coincidence, but part of the disturbing trend of curtailing free speech, investor and host of the largest show on X, Mario Nawfal, told Sputnik. | X giant Mario Nawfal sat down with Sputnik on Friday to discuss Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's arrest, globalist attack on free speech, and what's next for X and Elon Musk. According to the entrepreneur, Pavel's arrest is "a reminder that free speech and even privacy is becoming more and more of an illusion, rather than reality."

💬 "We’ve seen the censorship that happens in every single country around the world, including... Europe, the US, Brazil. Pavel’s arrest takes another social media platform off the list of those who want to censor, those who want power," Nawfal said, suggesting that Rumble and X could become the next targets.

💬 "We’ve seen in the UK recently as well with the riots what happens when free speech is cracked down [on], and it’s not pretty. We’ve seen people arrested and go to jail for months and years for things they said online," Mario said, referring to warnings from the UK Crown Prosecution Service against "online violence" earlier this month and subsequent arrests over online posts.

The X Spaces host doesn't rule out that he also has a target on his back. Commenting on reports that in fact Durov came to France at the invitation of Emmanuel Macron, Mario revealed that he himself was invited to interview an unnamed country’s president just days before Durov’s arrest. Nawfal now believes that it could have been a trap

The French Ministry of Defense reacted to some news about the UAE freezing the implementation of the contract of purchasing 80 fighter jets from this country. | The statement of the French Ministry of Defense said that the claims published on social networks about the UAE's opposition to the purchase of 80 fighter jets due to the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France are baseless. [...] "The United Arab Emirates is considering the possibility of a complete blockade of military-technical cooperation with France after being detained in Paris of Telegram founder Pavel Durov," Avia.pro reported with reference to the media. The media also report that after Durov's arrest, the UAE has already frozen the implementation of the contract for the purchase of 80 fighters from France, the portal noted.

■ Kremlin monitoring developments surrounding Telegram CEO Durov's arrest, charges brought against him (Anadolu)
■ Serbia inks 'Rafale' deal with France while dodging Western pressure for Russia ties (Drago Bosnic)

Journalists waiting outside the court building failed to reach him for comments | Co-founder of the Telegram messenger app Pavel Durov has left the court building after being charged with numerous offences related to Telegram administration, a TASS correspondent reported. He left the territory of the court in a black minivan. Journalists waiting outside the court building failed to reach him for comments. ● Earlier, the court charged him with six offences out of 12 named previously, the capital prosecutor’s office said in a statement. The charges include the refusal to cooperate with the authorities, complicity in dissemination of child pornography, complicity in drug trafficking and in a fraud, committed within an organized group. According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, he may face a prison term of up to ten years and a fine of 500,000 euro. ● The judge in charge of Durov’s case placed him under judicial control with an obligation to post a bail of 5 million euros, to report to the police station twice a week and he is forbidden to leave the territory of France.

■ Durov under investigation for child abuse (Big News Network/AFP)
■ Telegram CEO Durov Released From Custody, Says Telegram Complies With The Law (Sputnik News)
■ Pavel Durov’s Naivete Was His Achilles’ Heel (Andrew Korybko)
■ UAE freezes fighter jet purchase contract with France (08/28/24)

The ban applies to some reporters from the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times, according to the statement | Russia permanently banned entry to 92 US nationals in response to the Russophobic policy of US President Joe Biden's administration, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

💬 "As a reaction to the Russophobic policy pursued by the Joe Biden administration with the stated goal of ‘inflicting a strategic defeat on Moscow,’ an integral part of which were ‘blanket’ sanctions against Russian politicians, members of the business community, scientists and cultural figures, journalists and media organizations, entry to the Russian Federation is banned on a permanent basis for 92 US citizens," the ministry said.

💬 "In addition to officials at the top and other levels in security agencies and special services, heads of key defense enterprises and financial institutions that supply arms to the Ukrainian armed forces and sponsor the regime in Kiev, the ‘stop list’ includes editorial staff and reporters of leading liberal-globalist publications involved in the production and dissemination of false stories about Russia and the Russian armed forces and propaganda that covers up the ‘hybrid war’ unleashed by Washington," the ministry went on to say.

💬 "As a response to the insane sanctions frenzy of the American ruling elite, the practice of expanding the list of people under entry bans will be continued with determination and consistency by including those who are directly involved in anti-Russian activities," the ministry said. "We remind the current US authorities that punishment is inevitable for hostile acts, whether they directly encourage [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky and his sidekicks to commit acts of aggression and terrorist attacks or represent attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation."

The UAE has frozen the implementation of the contract of purchasing 80 fighter jets from France and is also considering the possibility of blocking military cooperation with the European state due to the arrest of Pavel Durov. | Media outlets reported that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is considering the possibility of a complete blockade of military-technical cooperation with France after the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in Paris. "The United Arab Emirates is considering the possibility of a complete blockade of military-technical cooperation with France after being detained in Paris of Telegram founder Pavel Durov," Avia.pro reported. The media also report that after Durov's arrest, [that] the UAE has already frozen the implementation of the contract for the purchase of 80 fighters from France, the portal noted.

■ Durov taken to French court – media (RT.com)
■ The arrest of Telegram’s billionaire boss shows that big changes are coming (Fyodor Lukyanov)

Pepe Escobar | In a nutshell: Paris got a fateful heads up he was flying into France – could have been via Durov’s Dubai-based, post-obsessive, social climbing girlfriend – and laid out the trap in a flash. | The Pavel Durov saga is a gift that will keep on giving for a long time to come. This is what hot information war is all about. So let’s attempt to connect several loose ends. ■ A high-level Russian analyst makes the case that Durov’s arrest is connected with “anti-French protests in its former colonies, withdrawal from its traditional 'sphere of influence' where Telegram infrastructure was used to push anti-colonial and anti-Macronist narratives”. ■ Add to it an “attempt to influence narratives on Ukraine both in Russian and the international media field, which is highly dependent on Telegram infrastructure.” ■ Paris is indeed desperate to make itself relevant when it comes to psy ops and influencing/special warfare in Ukraine.

John Miles | Western governments are increasingly seeking to deepen their control of online platforms while looking to discredit those like TikTok and Telegram which they perceive to be beyond their control. [...] This weekend’s arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, then, can be seen as the latest development in the trend after Durov provoked the ire of Western officials earlier this year by revealing the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s attempts to install a backdoor in the popular encrypted messaging application.

■ Durov arrest exposes ‘upside-down’ West – Serbian leader (RT.com)
■ US orchestrated Durov arrest – former spokesman (RT.com)
■ How prominent Russians reacted to arrest of Telegram founder Durov (RT.com)
■ France wants to ‘shut down’ Telegram – Russian human rights chief (RT.com)
■ Russian billionaire Telegram founder Pavel Durov arrested in Paris (08/25/24)

Chris Pavlovski’s video hosting platform has been embroiled in a long-running legal battle with the French authorities | France has crossed all boundaries by arresting Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, Chris Pavlovski, the CEO of video-sharing platform Rumble, has said, adding that he left Europe after the news broke. ● Durov was taken into custody at a Paris airport on Saturday evening after arriving from Azerbaijan by private jet. While the French authorities have yet to publicly announce the reason for detaining the Russian tech mogul, reports indicate that the charges are related to his alleged complicity in drug trafficking, pedophilia offenses, fraud, as well as failure to address criminal activity on the messenger. Telegram has denied any wrongdoing, adding that it is “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”

■ US orchestrated Durov arrest – former spokesman (RT.com)
■ How prominent Russians reacted to arrest of Telegram founder Durov (RT.com)
■ France wants to ‘shut down’ Telegram – Russian human rights chief (RT.com)
■ Russian billionaire Telegram founder Pavel Durov arrested in Paris (08/25/24)

The Russian billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, Pavel Durov, was arrested on Saturday evening upon arrival at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, according to French TV channel TF1. | The 39-year-old businessman, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was reportedly met by police officers at around 8pm on Saturday after flying to the French capital on his private jet from Azerbaijan. ● According to the French authorities, Durov, who is estimated to be worth €13.9 billion by Forbes, is being charged as an accomplice to crimes including drug trafficking, fraud, terrorism and crimes against children over Telegram’s alleged “lack of moderation and cooperation with law enforcement’, as well for Telegram’s use of disposable numbers, and for allowing cryptocurrency transfers that cannot be monitored by the authorities. ● The arrest has surprised many, as Durov had long proven himself to be a canny operator in terms of ensuring his personal safety, leaving Russia in 2014 when he refused demands by Russian intelligence services to censor the VK social media platform, which he owned at the time. Since 2017, Durov and Telegram have been based in Dubai. [...] Neither Durov nor Telegram has either confirmed his arrest or commented on it. However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Sunday that Russian diplomats in Paris were working to learn more about Durov’s arrest.

■ Snowden slams Macron for taking Telegram's Durov 'hostage' (Al Mayadeen)
■ US trampling on free speech – David Sacks on Durov’s arrest (RT.com)
■ RE.: задержание российских граждан местными властями (Maria Zakharova)
■ Durov’s detention raises question if Western NGOs demand his release — diplomat (TASS)
■ Elon Musk believes Europeans to be executed for social media likes soon (TASS)
■ #FreePavel: Elon Musk reacts to Durov’s arrest (RT.com)
■ ‘Darkness descending’: Tucker Carlson reacts to reports of Durov’s arrest (RT.com)
■ US is behind Durov’s arrest – senior Russian official (RT.com)
■ Censorship, Suppression of Free Speech at Heart of Telegram Crackdown – Ex-CIA Analyst (Sputnik News)
■ 'Demons are Losing Control': Influencers React to Pavel Durov's Detainment (Ekatrina Blinova)

Dmitry Medvedev (Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council) (Дмитрий Медведев) | Some time ago, quite some time ago, I asked Durov why he didn't want to cooperate with law enforcement on serious crimes. "This is my principled position," he stated. "Then there will be serious problems in any country," I told him. ■ He thought he had the biggest problems in Russia, and left, then got citizenship/residence permits in other states. He wanted to be a brilliant "man of the world" living perfectly without a homeland. Ubi bene ibi patria! ■ He miscalculated. For all our common enemies now, he is Russian - and therefore unpredictable and dangerous. Of a different blood. Certainly not Musk or Zuckerberg (btw., actively cooperating with the FBI). Durov should finally realize that the Fatherland, like the times, cannot be chosen...(DeepL + Grammarly)

Paul Craig Roberts | We can add Richard Medhurst to Tulsi Gabbard, Scott Ritter, Amb. Craig Murray, Julian Assange, and many others who are harassed, arrested, imprisoned by police state authorities in the US, UK, EU, and Canada for practicing the disappearing profession of journalism. | When Richard Medhurst can be arrested in a London airport for “expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organization,” we know freedom is dead and journalism no longer exists. All that Western journalists are permitted to do today is to support the official lies in the official narratives that are used to construct the false reality in which we live. ■ We no longer have the BBC, the New York Times, the London Times, ABC, NBC, CBS to hold government accountable. What we have are propaganda ministries that support official narratives. The job of the Western media is to lie to the people in behalf of the establishment that rules them.

Alexander Mercouris | In the wake of the Medhurst arrest, Alexander Mercouris looks back at the genesis of the Terrorism Act under which the journalist was held. | At the time when Prime Minister Tony Blair brought in the Terrorism Act 2000 — note that this was before 9/11 – I was working in the Royal Courts of Justice. As I remember the lawyers were buzzing about it, worried about its vague and sloppy language, and its overt authoritarianism and capacity for abuse. There was general incredulity that Blair, who is himself a lawyer, as of course is his wife, and his Home Secretary Jack Straw, who is also a lawyer and a former adviser of Barbara Castle, one of the most revered figures in modern Labour history, would bring in a law like that. Looking back and thinking of those days, it’s amazing how naive we were. Here we are and this terrible law is now being used against journalists, and is being used in a way which violates fundamental human rights.

■ ‘Can’t Make This Up’: Journalist Arrested Under UK Anti-Terror Law Hours After Criticizing It (Brett Wilkins)

💬 The New York Times: “American authorities intend to conduct new searches of the homes of U.S. citizens who cooperate with Russian media.” Maria Zakharova: What have Reporters Without Borders, UNESCO Director-General Madame Azoulay, and the OSCE commissioners to say about this? I hope they'll not remain silent. ● I am sure that this shameful fact will also be recorded in the State Department's report on the degradation of the situation with human rights and freedom of speech in the United States. We are waiting for an angry rebuke to the American authorities for the backsliding from democracy, performed by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. ● Did they forget anyone? Right, we also need a tweet from McFaul about the attack on liberalism in the United States and press releases from American embassies around the world threatening to impose sanctions against Biden.

The Rai News 24 journalist recently interviewed a Ukrainian serviceman who was wearing SS insignia | The Italian journalist who recently interviewed a Ukrainian soldier wearing Nazi insignia has apologized. ● Ilario Piagnerelli, a reporter with the Italian state broadcaster Rai News 24, said he “deeply regrets” the interview but called the uproar on social media a tool of pro-Russian propaganda. ● In an extract from a report circulating online, Piagnerelli can be seen talking to a man wearing a khaki cap adorned with the insignia of the ‘Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler’ SS division, a unit that was convicted of war crimes by the Nuremberg Tribunal following World War II. The video is watermarked ‘Rai News 24’. As of Monday morning, however, the footage was no longer visible on Piagnerelli’s X account. [Ilario Piagnerelli:]

💬 I grew up with a partisan grandfather, the real kind, who today would have no doubt in distinguishing between invader and invaded, between those who resist and those who occupy. I was educated in the values of the Constitution. ● I deeply regret having given voice, even if for a few seconds, to a Ukrainian soldier whom only after the reportage aired did I notice wearing a patch with a Nazi symbol. ● There is a network of Moscow-linked pro-invasion profiles in Italy that devotes its resources to discrediting the work of me and other reporters. They feign dismay, but have found in that image a formidable anti-Ukrainian propaganda argument. ● The one just concluded was my 15th trip to Ukraine. In two and a half years I produced dozens of reports and hundreds of live broadcasts. Among European public services, RAI is probably the one that is reporting on the conflict most assiduously. Our reports are often distributed on Eurovision. This is also why we suffer attacks, such as the very recent ones that followed Stefania Battistini's worldwide scoop. ● Our work will continue to be free from bias and marked by the utmost rigor. (Translation: DeepL)

■ RE.: Criminal Case Against Italian Journalists (Aug 19)(2) (M.V. Zakharova)
■ RE.: Criminal Case Against Italian Journalists (Aug 19) (M.V. Zakharova)
■ Criminal Case Against Italian Journalists for Illegally Crossing the Russian Border (Aug 18) (M.V. Zakharova)

Commentary by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Ms. M.V. Zakharova. | Media: “A journalist of the Italian state broadcaster Ilario Pianenerelli, who last week released a report with an AFU soldier wearing a cap with the SS division insignia, said that he ‘deeply regrets’ it, but called the social media hype a tool of pro-Russian propaganda”

■ First, no one has the right to insult anti-fascists by suspicion of bias and non-self-importance.
■ Secondly, believing that it was Russia that drew attention to the terrible informational pandering of the Italian media to the Kyiv neo-Nazis, the Italian journalist records the historical role of our country and our people in the fight against fascism, Nazism, racism, and all their derivatives. What Ilario Pianenerelli calls “pro-Russian propaganda” is the propaganda of anti-fascism - this was bequeathed to us by our ancestors who liberated the world from the brown plague at the cost of their lives.

Yes, we propagandize the fight against fascism and Nazism. And we will always propagandize! (Translation: DeepL + Grammarly)

Commentary by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Ms. M.V. Zakharova | An Italian lover of Ukrainian neo-Nazis got nervous. Why is that? | Ilario Pianerelli's interview that aired on RAI did not go unnoticed. It couldn't. We helped, of course. Hilario is a vindictive and resentful journalist, so everyone who was involved in it has been on the block for a long time. He blocked me, for example, after I didn't appreciate his blue jacket with Ukrainian symbols on live TV. This morning, everyone on the block is on the block for detailing the interview with those who helped his colleague Stefania Battistini enter Russia illegally. Hilario cleaned up his feed this morning as well. There is no longer such an interview, but he certainly can't delete the screens that are all over the Internet. Meanwhile, the Italian media are “digesting” another “attack” by Moscow on Italy's free press. Maria Zakharova's post from the point of view of the Ansa agency is “criticism of another RAI correspondent.” (DeepL + Gram.)

Even with Elon Musk at the helm, X (formerly known as Twitter) is still censoring people, including Naomi Wolf who was dropped from the social media platform following a powerful interview with Alex Jones. | After Wolf revealed to Jones that there are multiple coups currently underway at the White House, in her view, X decided to axe Wolf from the platform. According to Infowars, Musk is not to blame, but rather "moles ... still in his organization that have yet to be purged" are responsible. ● Wolf wrote a piece that Infowars published explaining how it all went down. What she sees happening inside the White House as warring factions fight to the death for power was aired to viewers, revealing the political turmoil that is happening behind closed doors.

The bar just got even lower. | The BBC reports that a 40-year-old man has been arrested and criminally charged for social media posts that contained “anti-establishment rhetoric.” — Yes, really. Wayne O’Rourke becomes the latest example of the wave of authoritarian hysteria to impact free speech in the UK following the recent anti-mass migration riots. O’Rourke was arrested on Sunday in connection with “posts made from a social media account,” according to Lincolnshire Police. “Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard the posts were alleged to contain anti-Muslim and anti-establishment rhetoric,” reports the BBC. O’Rourke had nearly 100,000 followers on X and predicted his own arrest days beforehand. So now apparently posting “anti-establishment rhetoric” in the United Kingdom is enough to get you locked up.

■ UK’s crackdown on free speech in light of migrant crisis should not be viewed in a vacuum; It contains the globalist model to collapse U.S. and all of Western civilization (Leo Hohmann)

UK police commissioner threatens to extradite, jail U.S. citizens over online posts: 'We'll come after you' | UK police commissioner threatens to extradite, jail U.S. citizens over online posts: 'We'll come after you' | 9 Aug 2024 | London's Metropolitan Police chief warned that officials will not only be cracking down on British citizens for commentary on the riots in the U.K., but on American citizens as well. "We will throw the full force of the law at people. And whether you’re in this country committing crimes on the streets or committing crimes from further afield online, we will come after you," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told Sky News. Riots have broken out across the United Kingdom in recent days over false rumors spread online that an asylum seeker was responsible for a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event that left three girls dead and others wounded. The murders, allegedly committed by a now 18-year-old British citizen born to Rwandan parents, sparked a series of violent protests that tapped into broader concerns about the scale of immigration in the U.K. [Haha! Good luck with that. I don't comply with sociopaths' orders issued at the behest of the WEF with the goal of destroying the West from within.]