"Ukraine War Driving Rampant Censorship At Home"
The Jimmy Dore Show (March 5, 2022)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liofcQjoRk4

The rising tide of censorship that has caught the likes of Alex Jones, Joe Rogan and countless others in its web lately has been ramped up dramatically since the Russian military assault on Ukraine.

Jimmy and The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal discuss the state-run media enterprises that have been censored, along with the tech companies, online payment services and even cat breeding organizations that have ridden the censorial wave.

[4:11] Max Blumenthal: "They have to express some kind of fascistic denigration of an out-group in order for them to maintain their politial and national identity. And the Russians play a convenient role there. And so all Russians are being targeted, regardless of whether they have any affiliation with the government or not.

"This also includes -- I mean, I don't know if you're planning to mention this -- correspondents for RT or RT America, they're having their personal accounts labeled, as a form of blacklisting. Their personal Twitter accounts, which have nothing to do with RT are being labeled Russian State Media. Caleb Maupin, Rachel Blevins, Ashton Ratanzi who's at RT.uk, all of them are having their personal accounts labeled. And the point is to intimidate them and make them feel so castigated that they quit their jobs, which were perhaps the only jobs they could get in media because corporate U.S. media is closed off to anyone who doesn't want regime change in Russia, and China, and every other country that's an official enemy.

[5:18] "They're trying to cause a staffing crisis at RT. And what do we see here? You're seeing Russia removed from the SWIFT system, so it's basically removed from the financial transfer system of the World economy, because the world economy is based around the dollar. You're seeing Russian citizens unable to use their Apple Pay, so they can't get on the subway. You're see in Visa and all these tech companies castigate Russia, ban Russian shows from Netflix. Netflix is, you know, getting rid of Russian shows."

"This is the essence of U.S. empire. U.S. empire is not just military bases abroad. It is control over the international financial system, and the major corporations. And the Pentagon and the U.S. government can come in and tell them what to do and has command. And that means that even people in Russia are subjected to the commands of Washington. And anyone should take that as a lesson, actually.

"You talked before, Jimmy, about central bank digital currency and the danger of that. If you are relying entirely on a digital payment system, then you are under the control of the empire. And those Russians are going to have to actually go get their paper money out to pay for their subway fare. Actually, China is doing its own digital payment systems creating its own infrastructure independent of the U.S. so it won't be easily punished that way. This is what the fourth industrial revolution means if AI and digital currency is still controlled by the one country that rules the world financial system, the United States and its empire. It means that people will be more easily controlled around the world if they are entirely dependent on digital currency."

Jimmy Dore: "This guy [a Russian symphony orchestra conductor] got fired for something he didn't say. And that happened in Germany. Shocking, huh?"

Max Blumenthal: "This is about loyalty oaths. I'm surprised they're not wearing yellow and blue Ukrainian flags in Congress now. They've got their pendants"

". . ."

Jimmy Dore: "It's like once you start with censorship, that shit just keeps going."

". . ."

9:40] [shows screen shot of Countercurrents.org poster]

U.S. And Ukraine, Only Two Countries Vote Against UN Resolution Condemning Nazism

[10:16] Max Blumenthal: "This happens every year. Every year there is a UN vote to condemn nazism. Russia introduces the resolution and the U.S. and Ukraine vote against it. It's like an annual festival of Nazi apologia."

". . . [some stuff about Zelenski jailing political opposition] . . ."

Jimmy Dore: "And that's who we're on the side of."

Max Blumenthal: "And the state department cheered him on and encouraged him to do it, pushed him to do it. That was what they wanted. That was the outcome that the U.S. state department wanted. They don't want Ukraine to be a democracy. They don't want Ukrainian democracy.

". . ."

[11:23] Jimmy Dore: Yeah. The Ukrainian people we all feel sorry for, but their government is 100 % corrupt.

[shows screen shot from The Intercept]:

Facebook Allows Praise of Neo-Nazi Ukrainian Battallion if it Fights Russian Invasion