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Mohammad Marandi & Amb. Chas Freeman: Ticking Toward War? U.S. & Iran at a Dangerous Crossroads

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Marandi Chas Freeman Nima
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Mohammad Marandi & Amb. Chas Freeman: Ticking Toward War? U.S. & Iran at a Dangerous Crossroads

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May 2, 2025 Interviews
The panel discusses how the US empire's unrelenting hostility toward Iran and its toxic alliance with Israel is pushing the Middle East and the rest of the planet toward a huge conflagration. The chaos in the Trump administration, and his admitted harlotry to Zionist billionaires and pandering to the Christian Zionist mass, has certainly convinced many that at the end of the day Trump may do exactly as Netanyahu wants, and that means some sort of grave military action against Iran. 

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The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post, although, if we publish them, we obviously find them noteworthy and valuable. 

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• 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE US GOVERNMENT’S BLOODY TERRORISM IN OKLAHOMA CITY. IT’S WHERE TODAY’S HEADLINES BEGAN.

by Main Desk Editors
written by Main Desk Editors 3.5 Hrs. • Watch / read
Murrah Bdg bombed

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Jeff J. Brown


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30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE US GOVERNMENT’S BLOODY TERRORISM IN OKLAHOMA CITY. IT’S WHERE TODAY’S HEADLINES BEGAN. UPDATED WITH A NEW FORWARD AND VIDEO. RADIO SINOLAND 250419
Murrah Bdg bombed

Sixteen years on the streets, living and working with the people of China, Jeff
Downloadable podcast (also at the bottom of this page), Brighteon, iVoox, RuVid, as well as being syndicated on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, (links below). 

Brighteon Video Channel: https://www.brighteon.com/channels/jeffjbrown

Editor's Note
All the information advanced in this post by Jeff Brown is confirmed by various additional sources, including Clayton Morris, whose channel REDACTED NEWS featured an interview with independent journalist/documentarian Derrick Broze.  In this clip with Clayton Morris (now also part part of Broze's documentary series THE PYRAMID OF POWER), they discuss the blatant inconsistencies in the government's case, hardly questioned by the mainstream media, and how the whole official story about the Oklahoma City bombing could be an elaborate false flag. See below:

In addition to the preceding, there's also another worthy documentary on the topic, A NOBLE LIE, which although miraculously available (still!) on YouTube, is being heavily shadow-banned:

A NOBLE LIE (Oklahoma City Bombing 1995 Documentary)


First posted on Aug 8, 2020

lMPORTANT NOTICE: technofascism is already here! I’ve been de-platformed by StumbleUpon (now Mix) and Reddit. I am being heavily censored by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It’s only a matter of time before they de-platform me too. Please start using Brighteon for my videos, then connect with me via other social media listed below, especially VK, Telegram, Parler and WeChat, which are not part of the West’s MSM Big Lie Propaganda Machine (BLPM).

Foreword

In 2017, I first reported on the US government’s terrorist slaughter in Oklahoma City (OKC) in 1995. Over the years, I have expanded this exposé numerous times. The facts are so concrete and irrefutable that the Murrah Federal Building bombing was a false-flag, inside job.

The Ruby Ridge Standoff began the series of US governmet terrorism in 1992, followed by the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas and the World Trade Center in 1993. The martyrs at Ruby Ridge and Waco knew their killers were the US government. The World Trade Center false flag used tried and true foreign, Muslim patsies.

Oklahoma City took it to a more extreme level. The US government perpetrators didn’t have to blow up Murrah until after all the people working there and the daycare were full. They could have blown it up at night, but they wanted maximum fear value to shock Americans into accepting more and more losses to their freedoms and to look at their government as their savoir, instead of their hidden assassin. As a result, 168 innocent employees and children were sacrificed that day, along with over 680 injured.

In the interim, fellow Oklahoman Jeremy Kuzmarov, whom I’ve interviewed on my show (https://radiosinoland.com/search/?q=kuzmarov) has published his very detailed OKC exposé, with tons of background. It is a great complement to mine, as he attacks it from many different angles (https://jeremykuzmarov.substack.com/p/oklahoma-city-bombing-was-timothy).

I love the image Jeremy used and will share it below, along with a newly added video on CBS that amazingly exposed the truth.I download and keep all audiovisual media, since it has a tendency to get censored over time. Be sure to download them all, by clicking on the big red hypherlink title below!

May the OKC martyrs rest in peace.

CBS video (added to the cloud files. Hyperlink below in red)

Oklahoma bombing was an inside job, Timothy McVeigh was a CIA patsy

Also, this just in, the OKC Bombing Archives,

https://libertarianinstitute.org/okc/

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-oklahoma-city-bombing-archives-an-introduction-recommended-reading-list/

Interview with a grandmother who losts two young ones that day,

4/15/25 Kathy Sanders on the True Story of the OKC Bombing

by | Apr 22, 2025 | Interviews

 

Scott interviews Kathy Sanders, who lost two of her grandchildren in the Oklahoma City bombing and has spent the years since trying to get to the bottom of what really happened that day. Sanders tells Scott about her experience arriving quickly on the scene after the attack before they dive into all she’s been able to piece together and how she’s working to get the truth out.  

Discussed on the show:

Kathy Sanders lost two young grandchildren, who lived with her, in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. In the years since, she has conducted extensive interviews with those involved to try to get to the bottom of what happened that April morning in 1995.

Part 1.

Brighteon video and all the other media, which you can download by clicking on the big red hyperlink below:

Pictured above: you don’t have to be an engineering genius to see where the two bombs went off inside the Murrah Building, on the left and in the center front. The two bombs that did not detonate and which were removed that morning (caught on local TV, see below), were in the back and on the right. Just ask yourself: if a truck-loaded ANFO bomb parked at the midpoint of the building right out front blew up, and it would of course go in all directions equally, which is simple laws of physics, then why did it only go to the left, towards 10 o’clock?

Also, where the people are standing at a right angle (like a backward “L”) is where the bomb-laden truck was supposedly parked. Bombs explode in every direction, including down into the ground. The supposed 2,800kg of powerful explosives would have left a huge blast crater 1-2 meters deep. There was no blast crater, because there was no ANFO bomb truck. It all blew up inside the building.

The other obvious proof that there was no ANFO explosion was the total lack of a toxic cloud of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide, which are the chemical by-products of the process. At least hundreds of the thousands of people in downtown OKC, going to work would have been made sick. There was never a mention of this, because there was no ANFO bomb blown up outside the Murrah Building. Our leaders were prepared to kill a few hundred innocents to test bringing down big buildings, but not the open-ended massacre of who-knows how many uncountable thousands in the area.

Their next test failed to bring down the World Trade Center in 1993. When 9-11 came in 2001, our oligarchs had done their homework and had a cap on the number who would die for American empire, a few thousand martyrs on the altar of obscene, 1% profits. It has all worked like a charm. Since that day, Eurangloland has been conducting Orwellian Perpetual War on global capitalism’s enemies, with no end in sight. Our oligarchs’ crimes against humanity should be taught in all MBA curricula, as a successful business model.

The evidence is staring you in the face, but the Big Lie Propaganda Machine (BLPM) inside the Great Western Firewall (GWF) brainwashes you. The US government blew up the Murrah Federal Building, yet they can make us believe anything, absolutely anything.

One of my greatest regrets was to not realize what a blatant, US government sponsored false flag was the April 19, 1995 destruction of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Two years ago, the whole, sordid, vile deed slapped me in the face and I felt like such an idiot not to have seen it for 22 years. Maybe it was too close to home, where I grew up.

Inside, a day care center full of children was leveled. It’s hard, so very, very hard to admit that our government, or at least significant elements within, pull off a constant stream of false flags to manipulate the citizens and turn them into cowed, fearful, brainwashed sheeple. The evolutionary impulse to survive, both as an individual and in a group (our peers and society), to deny and to compartmentalize manifest evil is overpowering, and it takes great courage and determination to accept the bitter truth.

The human brain has the most amazing capacity to bury cognitive dissonance and this weakness is exploited with violent vengeance, by the West’s deep state. Sadly, false flags ruthlessly work every time, which is why they are committed with frightening regularity. They want to keep us numb, afraid, feeling helpless and powerless, apathetic, obedient to the government and hateful of their targeted enemies. Adolph Hitler summed up the effective power of false flags perfectly.

Part 2.

Brighteon video, which you can download by clicking on the big red cloud file hyperlink below:
 

This exposé is the fruit of many hundreds of hours of research and reading. It is not even debatable. Case closed. The OKC Federal Building bombing was a US government terrorist act against its own people.

A US government lie exposed – the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. China Rising Radio Sinoland

Pictured above: left, Emmanuel Goldstein, whose name obviously has Jewish connotations, is the fictitious symbol for all the people to hate, in George Orwell’s “1984”. Right, the image of Osama Bin Laden, whose name obviously has Muslim connotations, is a framed up stooge for all the people to hate, in the Western false flag playbook. Different eras, different enemies to dehumanize and hate, with governments using the same exact methodology, to control and manipulate the masses, stripping them of their rights and wealth. Sadly, it works every time.

I remember very clearly the day the Murrah Federal Building was blown up, on April 19, 1995. I grew up in Oklahoma. It’s my childhood and adolescent home, so I obviously have some personal skin in the game. I was living in Beijing at the time. My mother’s job was in the vicinity of the attack, in downtown Oklahoma City (OKC). I was calling home frantically, to make sure she was alright. Turned out nothing happened to her. But a lot happened to the United States that day.

Looking back, we can now see that OKC was a 9-11 warm up, as was the Branch Davidian massacre http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/09/waco-s04.html, exactly one year before this federal building bombing snafu. The citizens need to be psychologically bludgeoned into believing there are enemies everywhere, even on the inside, who look just like they do, so that they will happily renounce their civil and human rights, to be protected by the state. Stealing the people’s wealth comes later, after they’ve been fully softened up with hate and fear.

This is all happening in real time, as you read this, like a movie reel with a predictable outcome. The majority of American people are already conditioned to accept martial law and a fascist, military junta to rule over them, and the percentage of the population who would silently fall in line is growing by the day. The other Western countries in Eurangloland are simply further back on the exact same timeline, following Uncle Sam’s lead, since they are all controlled by the same oil companies, banks, CIA-MI6 complex, transnational corporations, worldwide military Wehrmacht and their marionette mainstream media.

What makes the Oklahoma City bombing so special is that it was a false flag gone wrong. As you can watch in the videos below, there were two other bombs already planted inside the building that failed to go off. It was clear that the intent was to level the building to the ground and kill every person inside, including all the children in the daycare center, not just the 168 hapless victims who perished. But only two of the four bombs detonated.

What is also clear is that it was a US government inside job. You don’t walk into any federal building as you please. They are as heavily guarded, access controlled and monitored as much as the White House and Congress. Only badge carrying G-men could have planned the attack and planted all the explosives.

The OKC false flag is incredibly unique because it did not go as planned. The Murrah Building was only partially destroyed. The masterminds in Washington, DC (WDC) were expecting a total wipeout of the place, with no evidence left behind, like 9/11. Please take 45 minutes to watch the Video #1 documentary. What is clear is that until the bad guys on the Potomac could fly to OKC and start their brainwashing propaganda, the local press had a precious window of freedom to report the facts, about three hours, the time it takes to fly from WDC to OKC.

During that time, unmanipulated, unintimidated journalists presented the truth: 1) there were two much bigger bombs removed from the Murrah Building, by the County Sheriff’s bomb removal squad, 2) all four bombs that were used in the attack were very sophisticated and would require experts to make and use. 3) there were no reports of asphyxiating, toxic gas in the atmosphere, which would have made the bomb site inaccessible for an extended period of time, until it cleared out, if an ANFO bomb had been used, as later reported. Instead, the place was crawling with Alcohol, Firearm and Tobacco (AFT) and other federal agents within minutes of the attack. Why weren’t they inside in their offices, when the explosion happened? All the deep state federal bureaus that were in the know about the pending massacre kept their children home that day. Wow, what a coincidence! Same thing happened at 9/11.

Tim McVeigh mugshot

Miracle of miracles, Timothy McVeigh was arrested hours after the explosion and later executed. There are two perfect stooges in every false flag: the poor dupe who is framed and the masses of citizens who lap it all up like thirsty animals.

And then, the evil ones from Washington arrived and BAM!, the truth that was reported for five hours was expunged down the Orwellian Memory Hole and VOILA!, it was all caused by a rental truck full of fertilizer parked out front. These very same reporters, who one minute were telling the truth, suddenly came on after an ad and started lying to the nation, with the CIA’s propaganda brainwash script in hand, reading their lines like obedient automatons. By the end of the day, a predictable sacrificial dupe, this time, outcast and loner Timothy McVeigh, was framed for a government job done badly.

The rest is history, because it works. Sadly, it works every time, which is why Western governments pull off nonstop false flags, to manipulate, control and instill constant fear of bogus enemies, who supposedly wish evil acts upon the citizens, when it is in fact their very own governments doing all the evil and slaughtering their own citizens. The ultimate goal is to rule the country by a fascist junta, while conducting perpetual wars overseas for control of others’ natural and human resources. US citizens are already way more than halfway there.

OKC was a perfect, lucid window into how easy it is for our Western governments, using powerful, pervasive, controlled, supposedly “free” mass media, to completely brainwash us and make us believe anything they want. Absolutely anything.

You have been informed. But do you have the courage to speak up? 99.8% of the masses just shut the fug up and go shopping. Charge it, please. I don’t have any credit cards and have regained my dignity and self-esteem as a citizen of Planet Earth. But it’s hard, really hard to cross that Rubicon of Truth and Enlightenment. It took me most of my life. It’s much, much easier to just get a third helping at the all-you-can-eat buffet and watch an advertised-soaked sports program. Go along to get along, including all those television journalists and reporters who read what they were told to report. Again, I can empathize, because I’ve been there before, standing in the buffet line.

And if you start asking questions, you get threatened or lose your life. In Video #2 below, an OKC CPA, who lost two grandchildren in the bombing, was helping out in an independent investigation. He gets a phone call from the FBI asking if he knows where his son is. The message is implicit: they know where he is and his son could be next. Keep on pushing and if you start getting significant attention, you can end up in the obituaries. An extraordinarily high number of OKC first responders, witnesses and investigators have led shortened lives, via inexplicable “suicides”, “heart attacks” and “accidents” http://www.the-office.com/okc-witnesses.htm and http://rense.com/general10/kc.htm

Much much easier to sit on your sofa, eating a Double Whopper or Big Mac, while following the NCAA Basketball Championship brackets, that you and your buddies filled out and are following. Need to keep your (often crappy) job too. As Upton Sinclair so truthfully said,

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

This also answers another common refrain, “If this is all true, then why don’t they pull all these videos and articles off the internet”? The fact of the matter is they routinely do. While writing my book, China Rising- Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations, after publication, several of the hyperlinks cited were already “404”. In writing this article, I found a few dead links.

Our owners know full well that 99.8% of the citizens will read this, yawn, say, “Naw, it can’t be true, my government would never do something like that”, go into psychological, survival denial, then head to the shopping mall, frig or TV remote. But, when this same government declares martial law and starts ruling by military junta (officially called Continuation of Government, which was actually tested and used for 24 hours after 9-11 http://projectcensored.org/american-deep-state-interview-peter-dale-scott-project-censored-show-pacifica-radio/), then Google will have a whole bunch of servers to sell, for lack of all the YouTube videos that have been expunged.

Our governments even brag about fooling and controlling their citizens with false flags, knowing they can count on the same mall-frig-remote refrain. Works every time.

As usual, millions of truth-telling videos are being removed from YouTube, including mine. Luckily, when writing Book #2 of The China Trilogy, China Rising, I got in the habit of downloading them. Here they are below with explanations, or I saved them on the cloud, if you’d like to download them, along with other videos and articles.

Oklahoma City 1995 Murrah Building US government false flag cloud files

Video #1: the first 45 minutes show what really happened that morning, in Oklahoma City. First the truth, then in the time it took the Washington brainwash propaganda team to fly out, the bogus story was implanted into our consciousness, and forevermore, we have all been duped into accepting a mirage. The last one hour is a filmed testimony of a Murrah Building federal employee. She details what she saw happening in the preceding weeks of preparation for the false flag, as well as what transpired that morning.

Video #2: for those who want more details, there is surprisingly little overlap to the above Video #1. It is a real grassroots, populist investigation, with obvious conclusions. It’s our own government, stupid!

PAT SHANNAN VIDEOS

Sep 2, 2020
Intrepid journalist Pat Shannan continues his deep dive into the ocean of questions Oklahoma City locals have regarding the April 19, 1995 attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING Forerunner To 9-11 "A False Flag Conspiracy"

Rickvsnewworldorder

Feb 22, 2012
This is Pat Shannan's shocking video documentary 'Oklahoma City Bombing - Forerunner to 9-11' which exposes the famous bombing of Murrah Building in Oklahoma City 1995 as an inside job and a forerunner to a much bigger scale event that eventually happened on 11. september 2001 in New York. According to the federal theory, to which the news media ascribed without question, the bombing in Oklahoma City, at the Alfred P. Murrah Building on April 19, 1995, was the work of American dissidents bent on a violent overthrow of the government. Congress responded by immediately enacting legislation to give the government unprecedented latitude with the invasion of individual privacy. All evidence actually points to a well planned, sophisticated government operation put into motion months earlier, with a massive cover-up controlled by the U. S. Justice Department, and carried through and beyond the "Star Chamber" charade of trials in Denver in 1997. This amazing documentary is full of startling facts never made public by the establishment news media about the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma on April 19, 1995. Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 shocked the people of USA and provided the US government a pretext of introducing the first set of laws which restricted the freedoms of the people. This video documentary exposes the coverup behind the event where again the official explanation is a complete lie. 9-11 style scenario in 1995. 1h 50 min. long. A must see for everyone. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
Download File: https://radiosinoland.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/OKLAHOMA-CITY-BOMBING-Forerunner-To-9-11-False-Flag-Inside-Job-Conspiracy.mp4?_=3
 
Video #4: here is an outtake from the movie “1984”, based on George Orwell’s prophetic, dystopian novel of the same name. I appreciate that no one likes to have it pointed out to them, but that’s you, out in the audience, screaming like crazed animals, full of hate-filled fear, for a government created, non-existent enemy. You are ready to go to war to fight this mirage, ready to die for this hollow, trumped up cause, and you are begging your leaders to strip you of your civil rights, your human dignity, and eventually your wealth, all to keep you safe from a fictitious, propaganda- and false-flag created hologram.

Works every time.

PS: an observant fan, Dave Brown, wrote to me saying that maybe the timeline for the US government’s propaganda for “domestic terrorists” should go back to the federal agents’ murder of Randy Weaver’s family, in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, on August 22, 1992. Good point.

Do your friends, family and colleagues a favor to make sure they are Sino-smart: 

ABOUT JEFF BROWN
JEFF J. BROWN, Senior Editor & China Correspondent,  Dispatch from Beijing

Jeff J. Brown is a geopolitical analyst, journalist, lecturer and the author of The China Trilogy. It consists of 44 Days Backpacking in China - The Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century, with the United States, Europe and the Fate of the World in Its Looking Glass (2013); Punto Press released China Rising - Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations (2016); and for Badak Merah, Jeff authored China Is Communist, Dammit! – Dawn of the Red Dynasty (2017).
Jeff can be reached at China Rising, jeff@brownlanglois.com, Facebook, Twitter and Wechat/Whatsapp: +86-13823544196.
• For Jeff J Brown’s Books, Radio Sinoland & social media outlets be sure to check this page on his special blog CHINA RISING RADIO SINOLAND
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ELECTRONIC INTIFADA DISPATCHES—Israel brags about starving Gaza // Can Israel keep fighting a losing war in Gaza? And Much More

by Main Desk Editors
written by Main Desk Editors Est. 1 Hr. • Watch / read
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Electronic Intifada
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1. Israel brags about starving Gaza, with Nora Barrows-Friedman

THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
Apr 19, 2025#TheElectronicIntifadaPodcast#TheElectronicIntifada

“No one, under the current circumstances, is allowing any humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, and we are not preparing for any such entry.” So said defense minister Israel Katz this week, reaffirming Israel’s premeditated and calculated use of starvation as a method of genocide. This comes as the United Nations stated that the Gaza Strip “is now likely facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the 18 months” since Israel’s genocide began, due to Israel’s military attacks, killing of aid workers and deliberate blockade of supplies. Amande Bazerolle, the emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, said on Wednesday that “Gaza has been turned into a mass grave of Palestinians and those coming to their assistance.” Gaza’s Government Media Office is warning that the besieged territory is spiraling towards “complete humanitarian collapse” Nora Barrows-Friedman, associate editor, bring us up to date on the latest news. This is a segment from The Electronic Intifada's livestream on day 559 of the Gaza genocide. Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer and Asa Winstanley were joined by Christopher Godshall-Bennett, legal director of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. 

2. Can Israel keep fighting a losing war in Gaza?

 

The Electronic Intitifada

Apr 18, 2025 #TheElectronicIntifadaPodcast #TheElectronicIntifada

Editors discuss the status of ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. This is a segment from The Electronic Intifada's livestream on day 559 of the Gaza genocide. Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer and Asa Winstanley were joined by Christopher Godshall-Bennett, legal director of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. 

3. Yemeni missiles challenge US warships, with Jon Elmer

Yemeni missiles challenge US warships, with Jon Elmer

Apr 18, 2025 #TheElectronicIntifadaPodcast #TheElectronicIntifada
Jon Elmer, contributing editor, covers the latest resistance operations in Gaza and the arrival of a second US aircraft carrier strike group off the coast of Yemen. This is a segment from The Electronic Intifada's livestream on day 559 of the Gaza genocide. Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer and Asa Winstanley were joined by Christopher Godshall-Bennett, legal director of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. You can watch the full show here:

SPECIAL REPORT
Trump blocks Israeli attack on Iran, with Ali Abunimah

 THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
Apr 17, 2025#TheElectronicIntifadaPodcast#TheElectronicIntifada

Editors discuss a report revealing that US President Donald Trump had blocked a planned Israeli attack on Iran. This is a segment from The Electronic Intifada's livestream on day 559 of the Gaza genocide. Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer and Asa Winstanley were joined by Christopher Godshall-Bennett, legal director of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

ABOUT EI

The Electronic Intifada (EI), is an independent online news publication and educational resource focusing on Palestine, its people, politics, culture and place in the world.  Founded in 2001, The Electronic Intifada has won awards and earned widespread recognition for publishing original, high-quality news and analysis, and first-person accounts and reviews. The Electronic Intifada’s writers and reporters include Palestinians and others living inside Palestine and everywhere else that news about Palestine and Palestinians is made. EI was founded in February 2001[2] by Ali Abunimah, an American citizen of Palestinian descent; Arjan El Fassed, human rights activist based in the Netherlands; Laurie King, an anthropologist and former coordinator of the International Campaign for Justice for the Victims of Sabra and Shatila and the managing editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies in Washington; and Nigel Parry, currently an eclectic Internet consultant, writer and musician based in Pittsburgh.  Current main editor/contributors include Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Asa Winstanley, and Jon Elmer. 

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The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post, although, if we publish them, we obviously find them noteworthy and valuable. 

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ALL CAPTIONS AND PULL QUOTES BY THE EDITORS NOT THE AUTHORS

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Our Editor at Large Puts the Capitalist Way of Life Through an AI Filter

by Main Desk Editors
written by Main Desk Editors 18 minutes read
Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible. Share with kin, friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise.

Billy Bob's Short Takes
Provocative discussions of contemporary events by a seasoned observer.

Compulsive, out-of-control consumerism and capitalism go together.

Here's a brief outline or what this post is all about.  Margaret Kimberely (Executive Editor at the highly respected Black Agenda Report), shared some short observations from the Hampton Institute.  I contemplated these observations for several days before feeling moved to elaborate on them.  Then I applied for authorization to use the brand new AI tech called Manus and fed Manus the article.

1. Below, I will share everything in order.  First the observations from the Hampton Institute:

BY MARGARET KIMBERLEY

"The fundamentally dehumanizing relationship between capital (the rich) and labor (the masses) has directly shaped the social, political, and cultural aspects of capitalist society.

One of the most glaring and dangerous of these social developments is that most of us in the working class have lost any meaning/purpose to life beyond chasing paychecks to pay bills (aka survive). Communities are dead. The family unit is near death. Capitalist notions of happiness or contentment have only corraled us into a deadend of consumerism, escapism, and self-destruction. And, all the while, we continue to be beaten down at every turn by the rich who rule over us.

Many can no longer see a future that's worth living for, so we've understandably lost interest in life. And when people have no interest in life, we have no will to fight and defeat those who've forced us into this miserable existence. So, a culture of misanthropy, doomerism, and defeatism hangs over us. But it's never too late to turn this around. We still have each other. We share a common struggle. We know, deep down, that humanity is capable of so much more."

2. Next my elaboration on these observations:

BY BILLY BOB

"I saw this on Margaret Kimberley 's wall and it definitely deserves wider reflection and greater appreciation.

I think it's true that liberalism has produced nihilism in the lives of too many people.  The exploitative consumerist nature of capitalist society has caused  many to lose their humanity and to have no interest about what is going on outside of their own small sphere of existence.

Meanwhile their own existence has become so unfullfilling and unsatisfying that they look forward to the next big spectacle to sweep away their misery and distract them from the meaningless-ness of their lives.

In a way, US society is an experiment that is completely new in all of recorded history.  Technological advances have resulted in an ability to propagate falsehoods like never before.  People are under a constant blitz of information and messaging that has nothing whatsoever to do with human flourishing and is instead predicated on materialism and the maintenance of the morally and spiritually bankrupt status quo.

So, what results from this?  Mass shootings, mass drug addiction, mass dependence on psychotropic drugs, mass mental health problems, mass incarceration, high rates of suicide, and a total failure in far too many people to comprehend what is going on and why.

The Streets of Philadelphia—one of America's oldest and most important cities. The homeless are now seen almost everywhere. Also in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Denver, etc.—the ultimate symbol of a society divided into the ultra-rich and the ultra-poor.

Philosophers long ago understood that "the unexamined life is not worth living."

"Plato, through Socrates, argues that a life spent without critical examination, without asking questions about oneself, one's beliefs, and the world, is ultimately a life not worth living.  Plato believed that by understanding oneself and the world, individuals can find meaning and purpose in their lives."

The oligarchy invests heavily in keeping people from a correct understanding of reality.  They invest in inculcating materialistic desires.  They want us feeling incomplete without the latest gadget.  They want us feeling mentally and physically inadequate.  They are happy to isolate us from each other, make us suspicious and angry of our neighbors.  They want us to see ourselves as part of the smallest most atomized group as possible, whose values and interests are irreconcilable with the rest of humanity.

Having manufactured this mental condition in all of us, their work is complete.  They never have to worry about the masses uniting in opposition to their mis-rule and their exploitative mis-leadership.

But the costs are high indeed.  The costs that society must bear in order to make sure the oligarchs are safe from a people united and from the threat of democracy are unparalleled in all of human history.

The masses who innately feel the worthlessness and meaninglessness of this society are far more likely to allow and tolerate leaders that pursue dangerous policies that threaten life as we know it.  I don't think this is as true in other societies.

In places like China for instance people are extremely happy with the progress of their society and the government's efforts to improve lives and living standards and to unite the people around a shared vision of an extremely safe and moderately prosperous socialist society.

The Chinese have a much greater appreciation for their society and they are far more united in their vision of peace, prosperity, and development.  This contrasts sharply with the nihilistic whackjobs in the US who are irrevocably indoctrinated with ideas that are entirely disconnected from reality.

Ultimately it needs to be pointed out how the oligarchy's effort to divide, distract, and confuse, has resulted in a nihilism and lack of value for life and society that could result in a cataclysm that threatens humanity and the planet.  Far too many ignorant and delusional Americans will cheer on WWIII if for no other reason than because their own lives have no meaning or significance. This is dangerous and it is a direct result of oligarchy and the oligarchic imperative to indoctrinate and confuse the masses."

The costs that society must bear in order to make sure the oligarchs are safe from a people united and from the threat of democracy are unparalleled in all of human history.

3. Ok, now for what resulted after I fed my article to the latest AI tech called Manus:

I applied to be accepted to use the new Manus AI and a few hours later received authorization.  I fed Manus a post I wrote a few days ago to see how different Manus was from the other AI's like Deep Seek and Meta.  There are some obvious differences that I noticed right off the bat.  First, Manus takes much longer to provide completed results.  It took approximstely 30 minutes to finish researching the several issues I raised in my article (compared to the five seconds of research engaged in by other AI's).

Here's the article I fed to Manus:
( https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=9126329887493972&id=100003511545399&mibextid=Nif5oz )

Manus tells you what sources it is using and like other AI's, this is one of the weaknesses of this technology.  It is dependent on the kinds of dishonest Western liberal "scholarship" that comprises 95% of online data.  Nevertheless, Manus is transparent and shares all the websites and sources that it is researching as it creates an exhaustive response to your query.

My short multiparagraphed article resulted in Manus researching dozens of Websites from Reddit to Oxfam to Global Times and then editing its response in the following comprehensive document:

BY MANUS AI

The Nihilism of Modern Capitalism:
A Philosophical Analysis
Introduction

The relationship between modern capitalism, consumerism, and the rise of nihilism in society represents one of the most profound philosophical challenges of our time. As observed in the original reflection, "liberalism has produced nihilism in the lives of too many people. The exploitative consumerist nature of capitalist society has caused many to lose their humanity and to have no interest about what is going on outside of their own small sphere of existence."

This comprehensive analysis explores this observation through multiple lenses: philosophical foundations, the relationship between consumerism and nihilism, technological impacts on information and social cohesion, comparative societal models, and the role of oligarchic control in maintaining systems that prioritize profit over human flourishing. By synthesizing research across these domains, we can better understand the existential crisis facing modern Western society and consider alternative approaches to social organization that might better serve human needs and values.

The Philosophical Underpinnings of Modern Nihilism

At its core, nihilism represents a rejection of meaning and purpose—a belief that life lacks inherent value. The rise of nihilism in modern capitalist societies can be traced to several philosophical developments:

The transition from traditional value systems to market-based valuation has fundamentally altered how individuals derive meaning. As Nietzsche famously declared, "God is dead," signaling the collapse of traditional moral frameworks that once provided structure and purpose. In their absence, market values—efficiency, productivity, and consumption—have filled the void, but these prove insufficient for providing genuine existential meaning.

The ancient wisdom that "the unexamined life is not worth living" stands in stark contrast to contemporary society's emphasis on external validation through consumption and material acquisition. Socrates and Plato argued that critical examination of oneself and one's beliefs is essential to a meaningful existence. Yet modern capitalism actively discourages such examination, instead promoting constant distraction through consumption and entertainment.

The atomization of individuals—their separation from community and collective purpose—further exacerbates nihilistic tendencies. As humans evolved as social creatures with needs for belonging and contribution to something larger than themselves, the hyper-individualism of modern capitalism creates an existential vacuum that material goods cannot fill.

Consumerism and Nihilism: A Destructive Relationship

Research reveals a profound and mutually reinforcing relationship between consumerism and nihilism in modern society:

Consumerism operates through the creation of artificial desires and planned obsolescence, generating a perpetual cycle of dissatisfaction. As one desire is temporarily satisfied, new ones are manufactured through sophisticated marketing techniques. This creates what philosopher Herbert Marcuse called "one-dimensional man"—individuals whose capacity for critical thought is diminished by the constant pursuit of consumer goods.

The commodification of all aspects of life—from education to healthcare to relationships—reduces human experience to market transactions. This process strips experiences of their intrinsic value, replacing it with exchange value. The result is a hollowing out of meaning, as activities once valued for their own sake become means to economic ends.

Studies show that materialistic values correlate strongly with decreased well-being, increased depression, and heightened anxiety. Despite unprecedented material abundance in developed nations, rates of mental illness continue to rise. This "hedonic treadmill" keeps individuals constantly striving for the next purchase without delivering lasting satisfaction.

The Hungarian Conservative analysis notes that "material consumerism creates an unhappy consciousness" because it promises fulfillment through acquisition but can never deliver on this promise. The resulting disappointment leads to a nihilistic outlook where nothing seems to matter because nothing brings lasting satisfaction.

Technological Impact: Information Overload and Social Atomization

Modern technology has fundamentally transformed how information flows and how people relate to one another, with profound implications for meaning-making and social cohesion:

The unprecedented scale of information propagation has created conditions where truth becomes increasingly difficult to discern. The Brookings Institution research on misinformation highlights how technology platforms optimize for engagement rather than accuracy, creating "filter bubbles" that reinforce existing beliefs rather than challenging them. This undermines the shared factual basis necessary for collective meaning-making.

Social media platforms, while promising connection, have paradoxically increased isolation. The American Affairs journal article "Scrolling Alone" documents how smartphone use correlates with declining face-to-face interactions, weaker community ties, and increased loneliness. This technological atomization fragments society into isolated individuals whose primary relationship is with screens rather than other humans.

The constant bombardment of information and stimulation has reduced attention spans and capacity for deep thought. As philosopher Nicholas Carr argues in "The Shallows," the internet is rewiring our brains to favor quick hits of information over sustained contemplation. This neurological change undermines the capacity for the deep reflection necessary to develop meaningful values and purpose.

The commodification of attention through surveillance capitalism represents a new frontier in exploitation. As Shoshana Zuboff documents, tech companies harvest behavioral data to predict and modify behavior, primarily to serve advertising interests. This manipulation further erodes individual autonomy and authentic self-determination.

Comparative Societal Models: US vs. China

The contrast between American and Chinese societal models offers valuable insights into alternative approaches to social organization and their effects on meaning, purpose, and collective well-being:

Research from Harvard University's Ash Center reveals striking differences in government satisfaction: 95.5% of Chinese respondents were either "relatively satisfied" or "highly satisfied" with their central government, compared to only 38% of Americans satisfied with the federal government. This satisfaction gap reflects fundamentally different relationships between citizens and governance structures.

The collectivist orientation of Chinese society stands in sharp contrast to American individualism. As Country Navigator's cultural analysis explains: "Chinese society is all about the group, while Americans celebrate the individual... A Chinese person will consider how their actions may affect the group as a whole rather than looking out only for themselves." This collective orientation provides built-in meaning and purpose that individualistic societies often lack.

Economic development patterns differ significantly between the two nations. While China has experienced consistent improvement in material conditions for the majority of its citizens over recent decades, the United States has seen growing inequality and stagnation for significant portions of the population. The experience of collective progress in China contributes to higher levels of optimism and social cohesion.

The Global Happiness 2023 Report by Ipsos found that Chinese people ranked as the happiest among 32 countries surveyed, with 91% of Chinese respondents saying they are generally happy—a 12% increase from a decade earlier. This contrasts with declining happiness metrics in many Western societies, including the United States.

Oligarchy Influence: Mechanisms of Control and Information Management

The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a small elite plays a crucial role in maintaining systems that generate nihilism while preventing collective action to create alternatives:

Academic research provides compelling evidence of oligarchic control in the United States. The Princeton/Northwestern study analyzed 1,779 policy issues and concluded that "economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence." This undermines democratic governance and citizen agency.

Media ownership concentration serves as a powerful mechanism of control. Research shows that 90% of US media is controlled by just six conglomerates, creating an illusion of choice while limiting actual diversity of viewpoints. This concentration allows for the promotion of values and narratives that serve oligarchic interests while marginalizing alternatives.

The political system exhibits a strong status quo bias that protects established wealth and power. As the Princeton study notes: "When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it."

Ideological manipulation through media shapes public perception in ways that benefit oligarchic interests. Research on the Sinclair Broadcast Group found evidence of systematic language manipulation to promote conservative economic policies, demonstrating how media concentration enables the shaping of public discourse.

The Human Cost: Social Breakdown and Nihilistic Consequences

The combined effects of consumerism, technological atomization, and oligarchic control manifest in a range of social pathologies that reflect the nihilistic condition of modern society:

The epidemic of "deaths of despair"—suicides, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related deaths—disproportionately affects those left behind by economic changes. Economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton have documented how these deaths reflect a profound loss of meaning and purpose, particularly among working-class Americans without college degrees.

Mass shootings represent another manifestation of nihilistic rage—acts of violence committed by individuals who see no value in their own lives or the lives of others. The frequency of these events in the United States far exceeds that of other developed nations, suggesting a connection to the specific social conditions of American society.

The widespread use of psychotropic medications reflects attempts to manage the psychological consequences of a meaning-deficient society through pharmaceutical means. While these medications provide necessary relief for many, their increasing use also points to systemic issues that generate psychological distress at unprecedented scales.

Mass incarceration in the United States—with the highest imprisonment rate in the world—demonstrates how social problems are addressed through punishment rather than addressing root causes. The commodification of incarceration through private prisons further illustrates how human suffering becomes a source of profit.

Alternative Visions: Reclaiming Meaning and Purpose

Despite the bleak assessment of current conditions, alternative approaches to social organization offer potential paths toward more meaningful and fulfilling social arrangements:

Strengthening community bonds and collective purpose can counteract the atomizing effects of consumer capitalism. Research on "blue zones"—regions with unusually high longevity and well-being—consistently finds that strong social connections and sense of purpose are key factors in both physical and psychological health.

Economic systems that prioritize human needs over profit maximization offer viable alternatives to exploitative capitalism. Cooperative ownership models, stakeholder capitalism, and social enterprises demonstrate that economic activity can serve broader social purposes while still providing material necessities.

Media democratization through support for independent journalism, public broadcasting, and platform cooperatives could break the monopolistic control of information. Diverse media ecosystems with multiple ownership models would allow for a wider range of perspectives and reduce the influence of oligarchic interests.

Political reforms that reduce the influence of money in politics and strengthen democratic participation could help realign governance with citizen interests rather than those of economic elites. Experiments with participatory budgeting, citizens' assemblies, and other forms of direct democracy show promise in this regard.

Conclusion: The Examined Life in the Modern Age

The philosophical insight that "the unexamined life is not worth living" remains profoundly relevant in addressing the nihilism of modern capitalism. As the original reflection noted, "Plato, through Socrates, argues that a life spent without critical examination, without asking questions about oneself, one's beliefs, and the world, is ultimately a life not worth living. Plato believed that by understanding oneself and the world, individuals can find meaning and purpose in their lives."

The systems of consumerism, technological manipulation, and oligarchic control actively work against this critical examination by keeping people distracted, divided, and focused on material acquisition rather than deeper questions of meaning and purpose. This is not accidental but systematic—a deliberate effort to maintain power by preventing "the masses uniting in opposition to their mis-rule and their exploitative mis-leadership."

The contrast with alternative social models, particularly the Chinese emphasis on collective well-being and shared progress, highlights that different approaches to social organization can produce different psychological and social outcomes. While no system is perfect, the evidence suggests that societies organized around collective purpose and shared prosperity generate higher levels of satisfaction and meaning than those organized primarily around individual consumption and competition.

The path forward requires both individual and collective action. At the individual level, practicing critical examination of one's values, resisting the pull of consumerism, and building meaningful connections with others can help reclaim purpose in a nihilistic age. At the collective level, organizing to challenge oligarchic control, democratize media, and create alternative economic models can help build systems more conducive to human flourishing.

As Senator Bernie Sanders notes: "Can we create an economic system based on the principles of justice, not greed? Yes, we can. Can we transform a rigged and corrupt political system and create a vibrant democracy based on one person, one vote? Yes, we can." The alternative to nihilism lies not in resignation but in the collective struggle to create systems that nurture meaning, purpose, and genuine human connection.

The stakes could not be higher. As the original reflection warned, "the nihilistic whackjobs in the US who are irrevocably indoctrinated with ideas that are entirely disconnected from reality" pose a danger not just to themselves but to global stability. "Far too many ignorant and delusional Americans will cheer on WWIII if for no other reason than because their own lives have no meaning or significance."

The antidote to this dangerous nihilism is not more consumption or distraction, but rather the creation of social conditions that foster genuine meaning, purpose, and connection—a society where the examined life is not just possible but encouraged, and where human flourishing takes precedence over profit maximization and oligarchic control.""

ABOUT THE AUTHOR / SOURCE
Billy Bob is a dedicated anti-imperialist activist and blogger. He is an editor-at-large with The Greanville Post. He also hosts the Blowback roundatable.  You can reach him at his Facebook page HERE.
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REPOST: International censorship mounted against Russian state-affiliated media outlets

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International censorship mounted against Russian state-affiliated media outlets

In recent days, censorship measures have been taken by the European Union (EU), tech and social media platforms and streaming services internationally against media sources with connections to the Russian government.

Russian state-owned television station RT logo is seen at the window of the company's office in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

On Wednesday, the EU put into effect a ban on the Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik that had been announced on Sunday. The sanctions impact both the traditional broadcast signals and all affiliated online platforms and mobile apps.

EU media regulators will be monitoring compliance with the ban across all 28 countries with the risk of fines being imposed on any providers found to be continuing to distribute the media content.

RT is an international television network funded by the Russian government. It operates pay television or free-to-air channels directed to audiences outside of Russia, including content on the internet in English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic and Russian. Sputnik, formerly called Voice of Russia, is a state-run news agency and radio broadcast service.

On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, “We will ban the Kremlin’s media machine in the EU. The state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik, and their subsidiaries, will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war.”

On Tuesday, the satellite TV and streaming service DirecTV announced it was dropping RT from its roster of television programs “effective immediately.” The TV provider, which is owned by the media conglomerate AT&T, said that the decision was an acceleration of “this year’s contract expiration timeline” which was already under review and set to expire later this year.

On Thursday, a report on CNN Business said RT America was shutting down operations and laying off most of its staff. According to a memo obtained by the cable news network, the production company behind RT America was ceasing production at its locations in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., “as a result of unforeseen business interruption events.”

Misha Solodovnikov, the general manager of T&R Productions, told staff members that the layoffs were permanent. CNN Business said that DirecTV dropping the channel, one of two major TV providers that carried RT, dealt “a major financial blow to the network.”

Additionally, the streaming video content hardware provider Roku announced on Wednesday that it banned RT and Sputnik from its channel store worldwide, after initially removing them in Europe only.

A report on RT included a statement from deputy editor-in-chief Anna Belkina who condemned the decision and said critics of the outlet had not “pointed to a single example, a single grain of evidence that what RT has reported over these days, and continues to report, is not true.”

The EU decision came after a statement issued by Mykhailo Fedorov, vice prime minister of Ukraine, who tweeted on February 26 that he had contacted YouTube “to block the propagandist Russian channels—such as Russia 24, TASS, RIA Novosti” and claiming they were full of “poisonous lies.”

On Tuesday the most popular social media platforms YouTube, Facebook and TikTok also banned RT and Sputnik in Europe. A statement from Google Europe (owner of YouTube) on Twitter, said, “Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we’re blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately.”

Facebook’s Nick Clegg, president of global affairs, tweeted on Monday, “We have received requests from a number of Governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state-controlled media. Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time.”

According to a report in the Washington Post, Facebook had reported late Sunday that it had “disrupted a Russian disinformation operation targeting Ukraine, one of the first official confirmations of such a campaign since the invasion of Ukraine last week” and that it blocked a hacking group that “attempted to compromise the accounts of prominent Ukrainians.”

On Tuesday, Apple announced that it was removing RT and Sputnik from its app store around the world except for Russia. The censorship measures were taken along with Apple stopping the sales of its products through the Apple Store in Russia, as well as limiting its Apple Pay and other services.

An Apple representative told CNBC, “We have taken a number of actions in response to the invasion. … [we] have disabled both traffic and live incidents in Apple Maps in Ukraine as a safety and precautionary measure for Ukrainian citizens.”

TikTok confirmed to the Post on Monday its decision to ban the Russian outlets in the EU. Twitter announced on Monday that it was adding labels and reducing visibility for tweets containing content from the RT and Sputnik sites.

A label on a link from RT posted on Twitter displayed a message that said, “Stay Informed: This tweet links to a Russia state-affiliated media website” and includes a link to “Find out more.” Clicking on the link goes to a Twitter Help Center page that explains its “government and state-affiliated media account labels” policy.

Twitter said the labels would be applied automatically to tweets with a URL from a designated state-affiliated media website and will reduce visibility of these tweets by not recommending them to users and taking them out of the “Top Search” function. Twitter also said it would be adding additional state-backed media outlets from other countries in the coming weeks.

On Tuesday the Russian government-backed documentary film company Redfish said its pages had been banned in Europe. In a tweet, the anti-capitalist media company posted, “YouTube just banned our page within Europe. IG (Instagram) has also shadow-banned our account, and we expect a full ban on all platforms soon. But remember how it ended last time for totalitarianism in Europe.” Shadow-banning is the practice of an online or social media platform of partially blocking user content from some areas of the community.

There have been other recent acts of online censorship of left-wing and anti-war views, such as Spotify’s removal of a “Moment of Clarity” podcast by Lee Camp. Camp, who has noted the correspondence of the invasion of Ukraine by the Putin regime and the numerous aggressive wars by US imperialism over recent decades, tweeted, “My podcast ‘Moment of Clarity’ has been removed from @Spotify. Let it be known—you can do anti-women, anti-trans or racist content on Spotify but you can’t be anti-war. That’s not allowed.”

Camp also tweeted, “So once everything except US pro-war propaganda has been banned from TV & internet, will you feel safe then? Will everything be better then?”

The banning of Russian media sources has also won the approval of Senator Mark R. Warner (Democrat, Virginia), who has long pressured the tech industry to restrict Russian government-backed publishers as a means of increasing censorship across the Internet.

During a Post Live event on Monday, Warner, who is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, praised the steps taken to demonetize Russian state media but said the war in Ukraine underscored the need for more regulation of social media in the United States. “We need some rules of the road going forward. Whether it’s in peace or war, these companies have unparalleled power,” he said.
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