Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak about the dystopian show trial going on against political prisoner Julian Assange with journalist Kevin Gosztola, who is covering the UK court hearings to potentially extradite the WikiLeaks publisher to the US. We discuss the major threat this case poses to the freedom of the press — yet how it is being criminally under-reported and whitewashed in the corporate media.
US EXCEPTIONALISM
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BEN NORTON—So why do the Russian correspondents, hosts and staffers for real Russian-backed English language news outlets like RT and Sputnik not make the same obvious language mistakes as the anonymous figures behind PeaceData? Why couldn’t Putin’s expert chaos agents find a few proficient English speakers to handle this advanced active measures operation? Once again, these questions were never entertained by the US media outlets amplifying the official narrative about PeaceData. It is certainly possible that PeaceData was a Kremlin operation. But so far, there is no evidence to prove it. Therefore the possibility must be considered that private contractors for US intelligence agencies borrowed the same tactics they employed during the scandalous 2018 Alabama Senate false flag operation, creating the PeaceData network themselves and falsely posing as Russians in order to smear authentic American independent media outlets as Kremlin-linked disinformation operations, to build the case for ultimately censoring them, and to justify their own paychecks.
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Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with The Grayzone’s Ben Norton about his recent piece “U.S. govt-linked PR firm ran fake news networks for right-wing Latin American regimes.” They discuss Facebook’s recent announcement that it deleted dozens of accounts run by a Washington D.C. based PR firm called CLS Strategies. The accounts sought to undermine the democratically elected governments of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico, as well as boost support for the Bolivian coup regime. They also address CLS Strategies’ close ties to the Democratic Party and a potential Biden Administration.
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Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Syrian journalist Bashar Barazi, the correspondent for HispanTV in Damascus, about recent developments in the country. They discuss the impact of the new “Cesar sanctions” on the Syrian public, US and Turkish maneuvers within Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent visit to the country, as well as the average Syrian’s response to efforts from Gulf countries to normalize relations with Israel. Barazi explains why he believes the US is seeking to “create a new base in Syria”.
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Exclusive: Spanish judge seeks Sheldon Adelson security chief in Assange spying case
32 minutes readMAX BLUMENTHAL—The relationship between David Morales and Sheldon Adelson’s security team began during a trip the Spanish mercenary took to Las Vegas in 2016, according to testimony by former UC Global employees. At a security fair hosted inside Adelson’s Sands Expo Convention Center, Morales was approached by Zohar Lahav, the VP of the billionaire’s executive protection team. A former UC Global business partner testified against Morales in Spanish court, “the head of security of Las Vegas Sands, a Jewish guy named Zohar Lahav, made contact with Mr. Morales, getting to become good friends with him at the security fair in Las Vegas. I sense that this person offered him to collaborate with American intelligence authorities to send information about Mr. Assange.”