RT and Wikileaks – coordinated effort to silence alt. news sources?
In a slow-developing situation, the last few days has seen the two of the most high-profile anti-establishment media voices in the UK – Wikileaks and RT – come under some form of covert attack.
Over the weekend Wikileaks official twitter account suggested, and then confirmed, that the Ecuadorian Embassy in London had cut Julian Assange’s internet access:
Julian Assange’s internet link has been intentionally severed by a state party. We have activated the appropriate contingency plans.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 17, 2016
We can confirm Ecuador cut off Assange’s internet access Saturday, 5pm GMT, shortly after publication of Clinton’s Goldman Sachs speechs.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) 17 October 2016
The sudden social-media silence, in conjunction with some unusual coded tweets sent the night before, fuelled speculation that Assange had been killed, or that Ecuador had caved and handed him over to the Americans. Neither of which appear to be the case.
Meanwhile, RTUK have had their UK-based bank accounts frozen by NatWest, a move the Treasury denies any all knowledge of.
Whether deliberate or not, the disruption to these anti-establishment voices will be most welcome during the run up to the election. Wikileaks is in middle of its progressively stronger leaks of DNC internal e-mails, a subject RTUK is giving much more airtime than any American or British media outlet. Couple that with the FBI’s publishing some of their (heavily redacted) documents pertaining to Clinton’s e-mail, and the court decision finding that the British government illegally spied on their citizens for years, and you can see this would be a very handy time to have the alt-media quieted down a notch.
While still too early to say this is a coordinated effort, it’s definitely a strange coincidence and situation that bears watching. Independent or in conjunction both acts are quite obvious attacks on free speech, and both suggest that a major crackdown may soon be in the offing.
SUPPORT OFFGUARDIAN
If you enjoy OffG's content, please help us make our monthly fund-raising goal and keep the site alive.
For other ways to donate, including direct-transfer bank details click HERE.
Of course comments are disabled on the Guardian article/attack on RT having its assets frozen, wouldn’t expect any less.
*This post is meant for bevin, who brought up Glen Ford. I can’t seem to make OG notice me. This will be my 3rd try. Are we dealing with gatekeepers, namely people who hinder others with political views that they regard as wrong? They can exist, invisibly, within any organization. Ah yes, The Black Agenda Report. I tried repeatedly to register to the site and participate in the discussions, to no avail. Repeated emails to staff were not replied to. Finally, I shot one to Glen Ford. He just brushed me off. He said he’d pass my email on to the appropriate department or something like that. Nothing at all came of it. Otherwise, Yes, BAR is a great resource. But these instances of progressive leaders showing disdain for regular people, for no good reason, puts me off. After discovering (relatively recently) that the RT website finally had a half… Read more »
Glen Ford puts it well in the current Black Agenda Report: “Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford challenged those who maintain that progressives are obligated to support Hillary Clinton for president to counter a “fascist” threat from Donald Trump. “I’d like to know how Donald Trump is supposed to build fascism when the ruling class is mostly with the Democrats this election season,” said Ford. “If you are worried about 21st century fascism, you need to check out the tent where the ruling class congregates — and that’s Hillary’s tent. Most of all, if you’re looking for fascists, go to the sound of the war drums” — which are also pounding in Hillary’s tent… Clinton’s record could not be clearer. At home she was an author of Mass Incarceration, mandatory minimum sentences and abolition of the welfare system (responsible for appalling suffering and the institutionalised injustice of the new… Read more »
Glen Ford’s quote ends “…which are also pounding in Hillary’s tent…” He is not responsible for what follows- Hillary is.
and she was considered the “sensible” candidate? madness!
Reblogged this on Worldtruth.
I am puzzled as to why no one is connecting this to Max Keiser’s show on saturday, wholly devoted to the RBS/GRG scandal. He has covered this story for years so I don’t know why payback came so late really. It was also stated in the show that msm were at last going to give it an airing though haven’t seen anything. https://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/362856-episode-max-keiser-980/ Max and Stacy are joined by Joel Benjamin, local authority debt audit campaigner with Debt Resistance UK, and Nigel Henderson, who lost his hotel business to RBS’s restructuring division, to talk of the ‘stunned commoners’ in awe (at the brazenness) of the Royal… Bank of Scotland. Nigel recounts his own encounter with RBS’s smash and grab unit which saw him lose his hotel in Scotland. They discuss the tens of billions in fines the bank, taxpayer-owned RBS, faces from US authorities for the bank’s role in the… Read more »
*NatWest is part of RBS
One aspect of an act is to read the reaction to it and use that information. If anything being said about this can be trusted it is that nothing can be trusted – but that doesn’t mean distrust – so much as misplaced trust that needs realigning with the trustworthy. What is trustworthy guidance to a dishonest follower? There is none. The insanity of investing in lies or even wishes is that of being diverted from and divided in one’s own will. Anyone can be doing anything through almost anything – its your imagination and the witnesses you call forth accordingly. The publicity FOR RT and Wikileaks is evident though the form it took was a seeming threat to them. All sorts of forms carry different meanings or agenda according to their use – and ultimately what you choose to use them for – as your result or fruit of… Read more »
Sorry binra, but I don’t see how this works. Yes, people have subtle mind processes and they adopt hostile positions towards others — either as a self-protection mechanism or as a means of achieving a selfish end. But so what? I can be as trusting as I like to a Bush, Rumsfeld or a Cheney and they are still going to abuse me and anyone who stands in their way. We don’t need a Kumbya moment. That didn’t save the Occupy Movement from being dismantled against their will by the powers that be. What we do need is a public awareness of when they are being conned by lying politicians, and a sense of outrage about that. And for that we need the ammunition of true facts propagated widely. We also need better governance mechanisms that limit the damage that corrupt politicians can do. A ‘trust’ lead solution is no… Read more »
If integrity or truth or honesty have any meaning to you – then you have to add trust to that list. You’re understanding of trust is not at all mine. I trust my own honesty by bringing that present as willingness for relationship – but extending an honesty of presence is not ‘trusting’ or buying anyone’s presentation – it is being in a position to feel their presence and whether and in what way communication may occur. Corruption of the mind means that the qualities of life are substituted for, by false currency. In any case one is always giving trust to something – perhaps your own thinking – or your own fears and any number of shifting perceptions and reactions – and most likely from what you say to a sense of safety in distrust which is the general result of an inversion of consciousness where everything is backwards.… Read more »
binra seems to paid by the syllable!
the word be shouldn’t be implied, but is!
Self-honesty and trust are two facets of one thing. You are free to interpret me through your current filters, but your completely do not understand that trust is the bedrock of individual and cultural order. Sure, you can place you trust in fear and lies, but you will then see nothing true – including your own needs. Such is the nature of the social political breakdown of culture. You don’t feel any call to open a deeper honesty because you get all the ‘morality’ you need from hating, opposing and negatively idolising neo con puppets. The things you say we need all require people to trust honesty and the change that it brings about – which has to master its outrage or it is simply used by those who cultivate and provoke it in order to create division, polarity and further breakdown of order. Righteous reaction is the false flagged… Read more »
The one thing – for me – which disqualifies H. Clinton from gaining the keys to the White House was the video clip of her celebrating the death of Qaddafi. She clearly revelled in it, even though she must have known that he died as a result of being repeatedly bayoneted rectally. What kind of mindset does she possess? Is it the right kind of mindset for a US President? I think not. Not that Trump is probably any better. The people of the US have ended up with a couple of tough old turkeys on their plates – neither one is in the least appetising.
Indeed, the video of Clinton laughing and glibly saying “we came, we saw, he died” reveals the true nature of this repulsive, opportunistic scumbag (net worth 300 million btw). Also revealing, in a private Goldman Sachs speech (for a mere $200,000) she is quoted as saying “the uber wealthy corporate class should occupy top government positions because, erm, they have so much money that they can’t be bought off or bribed”. Clinton is easily as bad if not worse than GW Bush.
Was that the same speech in which she had no understanding of the American middle and working class due to her affluent life-style? Is that the right sort of person to deal with the US’s domestic problems?
Trump – at least – tries to look as though he has some understanding of the concerns of “ordinary” Americans.
Still, there is hardly anything to recommend either candidate.
The only satisfied person after November 8th will be Netanyahu, as his candidate will have won!
I heard that quote as well, i.e. the ‘well, I’m so well off I can no longer actually relate to the issues of working class Americans’. She’s trying to suck up to the Goldman Sachs bunch, you see, she’s one of them–not some Elizabeth Warren equality and democracy type. Not sure if it was the same speech. I think these quotes have been collected from several of her exclusive Goldman Sachs speeches. Basically it’s lose-lose with Trump vs. Clinton. Both multi-millionaires (like most congressmen for that matter), both living in the millionaire oligarch reality bubble which as Clinton admits makes it impossible for her to relate to everyday Americans. The worship of money over all other human values pretty much sums up both candidates, and the USA for that matter.
that’s the winston churchill idea of the rich man living on his massive plot of land, allowing people to do stuff! unless they piss you off, then destroy them!
Keeping in mind Hillary and Bill Clinton’s close friendship with global central bank mogul Rothschild, in particular her close relationship with Lynn Rothschild, plus the fact Gaddafi was pioneering a new monetary system (no Rothschild banks) for the entire African continent, and people can understand why Libya was bombed back to the stone age.
Oh there are likely millions who tut tut at that but take would take on the exact same distortion of joy in hate at her own treatment in a like manner. In order to behave as we have, we must hold definitions and beliefs that make such seem necessary or desirable. The nature of the Quddafi death – real or believed true – was a direct message to other leaders. The Clinton failure to reach the WH was presented as a shock defeat. But how much is insider dealing that works the herd including its managers, to serve deeper agenda? Elitist domination and control. In fact full spectrum global control, through all agencies, proxies and points of influence for I do not see the US as more than an asset. Insane? Yes of course, but for those who ‘sold their Souls’ to gain it, there is no ‘sanity’ but power… Read more »
When I googled ‘RT Bank accounts’ yesterday, RT’s own article came on the 3rd page of results, even after many small blogs. Maybe it was just my personal settings or something but seemed a little weird.
Is Assange still alive or what? There is much confusion regarding this, but until we can see Assange in person, from the embassy balcony window, we won’t know his status.
Pay no attention to the photo of Assange with a Kelly Kolisnik, as those pics are several months old.
Assange ventured into dangerous territory, publishing truths about the Clinton mob, who don’t appreciate someone trying to get out the truth about Hillary.
Here’s hoping he keeps releasing ever more incriminating evidence against Clinton, and that it gets so bad she finally has to drop out. Ah, yes….what a wonderful thought :-)))))
“but until we can see Assange in person, from the embassy balcony window, we won’t know his status”.
I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, given that Clinton has already suggested that “why don’t we just ‘drone’ him”(or words to that effect) She’s feeling the heat, and she’s getting really ‘ugly’…….
Aside from the state victimisation of Mr Assange, this action actually maintains the focus upon Wikileaks and more importantly, for Mr Assange, his continued incarceration. As for RT, given the ‘honest’ nature of banking does this really impact it’s position negatively? Overall it is increasingly difficult to ascertain true alternative news sources.
The problem is that for RT to operate in Britain, it needs a British bank account to bank its income and other revenues, pay salaries to its British employees and meet its operating costs. Using a bank account in a foreign country could create transaction costs associated with crossing borders that are unnecessary. A British bank account is also needed for RT Britain to meet its obligations as a taxpayer; the British tax authorities would suspect RT Britain of trying to avoid paying the taxes it should pay if RT Britain put its income in an offshore bank account in a country where corporate tax rates are lower than those in Britain. A solution would be for RT Britain to park its monies with a UK subsidiary of a Russian or Chinese bank but it would probably be only temporary as Theresa May’s government might one day force all Russian… Read more »
Theresa May is never going to chase the Chinese banks out. The Brits were positively desperate to participate in China’s new Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB). If they ban Chinese banking in the UK, the UK would get kicked out AIIB.
….and don’t forget, London is the Banking Capital of the World, and “The City” answers to NO ONE………
Why do so many people endlessly refer to Clinton as ‘Hillary’ compared to Trump who’s just ‘Trump’? This level of familiarity is revealing and a tad absurd as they all can’t have met this woman let alone be on a first name basis with her, surely?
Well, like the Bushes were George H and George W, rather than simply Bush, to differentiate her from Bill would be the simplest explanation.
Well, at the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, might it merely be because there are two Clintons in public life but only one Trump?
There are several well-known Clinton’s. Bill comes to mind and many are now familiar with Chelsea. There is basically one Trump. In any case, what does it matter? All you really know is that one is a WAR CRIMINAL and the other is a businessman who has killed no one. For the most part, I call her a pig, but Hillary is the more common name used here. Both fit.
The problem is that both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton are so deeply steeped in their corruption, greed and arrogance, and have such long histories of carrying out or enabling ethically dubious or outrageous activities, that differentiating who is responsible for which set of war crimes and various conflicts of interest is necessary. It’s not as if we’re dealing with a Jekyll and Hyde couple; we’re dealing with Mr and Mrs Hyde instead.
Certainly understand your revulsion on the smarmy, cozy first name basis. Some of it may come from Hillary Clinton supporters and media scribes, but also to avoid confusing with Bill Clinton. Like someone else said here there are 2 Clintons, very sorry to say. Well what can I say but as the old saying goes “all things must pass”, and one can hope that the Clinton era passes much sooner than later 🙂
Personally, I just call her Hellary.
“Hellary”…………..”The Hilderbeast”……….”The Klintonator”………”Killary”………I’m sure there are others…….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIkxQMxjmEU
The British state owned banking sector swings into action against RT, and no explanation given. No surprise there given the meeting between Kerry and Johnson in London the other day. We are witnessing an increased media blackout in the form of censoring alternative voices/ opinions. Johnson called for “no” to Europe but now “yes” to Washington and NATO all of which shows he never had any stomach for British independence. After calling for exit from the stranglehold of the EU we now witness Johnson as the advocate of crazed Russo-phobia borrowed straight from the lexicon of Washington’s beltway. So much for the independent Britain he promised. Blaming Russia for war crimes in Syria is a baseless lie and we know it. Why do we know it? Well with such lack of evidence to back up his claims to the House of Commons we are starkly reminded of his vacuous Brexit… Read more »
It is of concern to see RBS shutting bank accounts of RT -seems an obvious political move. But if the Kremlin does fund RT – then it will be funded elsewhere. Have no fear. The Assange thing I think is coincidental. As to Boris Jonson -some people think he hides a brilliant brain under a mask of tomfoolery. But he is just a different kind of fool and highly dangerous -as Brexit proves. Russia is undoubtedly responsible for some War Crimes in Syria. Putin is a tough, corrupt, politically astute, but ultimately insecure & ageing autocrat, with a lust for wealth, who is hiding his sense of inadequacy under a carapace of alpha maledom – but from whom the Russian people largely gain their self esteem. The West would have served its citizens better by treating Putin and Russia with a little more respect in foreign relations over the past… Read more »
If Putin were corrupt and egoistical I would imagine he would simply have been flattered and bought off by the Empire, just like Yeltsin was.
any examples?
again, how is putin corrupt? and he’s 66 years old!
Interesting to note that Johnson was actually born in the US (in New York) and not in the UK.
He claimed UK nationality through his parents.
He must have divided loyalties, I imagine.
His grandparents were high-up in the Turkish government too.
He might even be a secret Donmeh [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%B6nmeh] – who knows?
All I do know is that he is completely untrustworthy in anything he says or does.
For me, there’s too much ideology underpinning this ‘analysis.’ I’m mostly a fan of Assange and Wikileaks but there are some disturbing charges that can rightly be laid at his door. Ecuador cut off Assange’s internet. This is entirely appropriate given that his current political activity violates his political asylum status. It’s one thing to make political remarks; it’s another thing altogether to actively interfere in the domestic politics and election processes of another country (the US). America is Ecuador’s largest trading partner and they have their own legitimate interests to consider. Their generosity to Assange is not limitless and they have acted within their rights here. I’m also a Putin fan on most things (especially Syria). But there are a number of well informed US bloggers who believe Assange is working with Putin to interfere in the US elections in support of Trump. Remember, Putin has been supporting the… Read more »
I hope people understand that Julian Assange has been working directly with Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s unofficial adviser and close confidante, and a legendary ‘rat-fucker’ with a history of campaign shenanigans going back to the Nixon years. Roger Stone was questioned at a public meeting in August in regard to an “October Surprise” emerging from Assange against Hillary Clinton.
That was in August. Stone and Assange have been working together a little more closely than Stone is prepared to admit here. But you get the picture.
Not all of those leaked emails are worthless. One in particular is very important. The one found at this link: https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/3774 The thing is, it is not one that ‘gets’ clinton really, so it is being ignored. But in it, this email contains this sentence: “We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region.” A direct admission Qatar and Saudi Arabia are funding ISIS. Given the amount of arms both the UK and US are selling to both countries, this should have been headline news everywhere on release. Because it did not fall into the narrative of the US election, in that it did not show either candidate in a bad light, its being ignored. It, quite literally, changes… Read more »
There is zero hard evidence that the Russians are involved in this. Nada. Assange has been exposing war crimes and other aspects of US Policy for years. These emails are a legitimate find. None of them are phony and they show that Clinton and her campaign are nothing but a bunch of criminals.
Firstly, what ideology do you think is underpinning my “analysis”? I’m honestly interested to know. Secondly, what disturbing charges can be “laid at” Assange’s door? Third, whether or not Ecuador had a good reason for cutting off JA’s internet is not really the point (they may have), rather the point is that it comes at a politically convenient time. They could have done it at anypoint in the last 4 years…why now? I’m also a Putin fan on most things (especially Syria). But there are a number of well informed US bloggers who believe Assange is working with Putin to interfere in the US elections in support of Trump. Your well-informed bloggers can believe whatever they want, there’s no evidence to support that, and Assange and Putin have no history of working together. Wikileaks has leaked Russian memos and such before now. Remember, Putin has been supporting the fascist Le… Read more »
Blogger Joseph Cannon has discussed, dissected and rejected the email arguments against Hillary here. See also here. Yeah, she stored emails on her private server. But the bottom line is that there was nothing marked as classified on her private server e-mails, either sent or received. You can read all the arguments about the retrospective (and questionable) classification of a number of the emails by the FBI but the fact remains they were not classified at the time. That’s either sent or received by her. Kit, I like your work and I’m in agreement with you on most things about the corporate/Zionist/militarist alliance. But I have seen the Republican “hate Clinton” machine for twenty years and how it has infected the media. I don’t like Hillary’s foreign policies at all. But most of the other Republican generated stuff against her doesn’t stand up afaics. Her emails reveal no more or… Read more »
Damien,
You say “nothing was marked as classified on her private server emails”. I have read on Pat Langs’ blog Sic Semper Tyrannis that the classification headings were stripped off some emails before being sent. Do you know anything about that? Thanks,
Doug
“We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region.” A direct admission Qatar and Saudi Arabia are funding ISIS. In that quote Clinton was calling for restraints on Saudi funding. Both she and VP Joe Biden have made similar public admissions elsewhere about the jihadist financing roles of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The US implicit support for ISIS is well documented. There was a 2012 US Defense Dept report which said that unless the US took action to control the flow of weapons and finance into Syria then a separate Islamic State would emerge in the Syria-Iraq border region. A detailed Brookings Institution Report of Dec 2013 (“Why Private Gulf Financing for Syria’s Extremist Rebels Risks Igniting Sectarian Conflict… Read more »
So Stone says he has “communicated with” Assange, which you a) accept as single-source fact and b) translate to mean “working with”. I have now communicated with you. Am I working with you?
The only way that releasing genuine information can be construed as “interfering” with an election is if the assumption is that an election is properly conducted in an atmosphere of ignorance.
And the only evidence I’ve seen of Russian involvement is the echoing assertion that Russians are involved.
This Damien person is clearly a troll who tries to hide his neocon support of Hillary Clinton by claiming to be a fan of Assange / Wikileaks and Putin before proceeding to denigrate them by suggesting that they have been working together without any proof whatsoever.
As for his assertion that Hillary Clinton was calling for restraining Saudi and Qatari funding of ISIS, in the email that Nogginthenog linked to, the Klintonator did no such thing. That email was addressed to her by her campaign manager John Podesta. He is the one acknowledging that the US knew that the KSA and Qatar were financing ISIS all along, with the implication that the US had always known where ISIS were getting their money from but done nothing about cutting off their sources.
Go and read my other multiple posts at OG — here and here.
I’m a good faith poster and people are entitled to hold opposing views. I wish people well,
” It’s one thing to make political remarks; it’s another thing altogether to actively interfere in the domestic politics and election processes of another country (the US).”
What non-sense is this? By your logic, anyone who publishes an exposé of any candidate must be “interfering” with an election. Well, what about all those news outlets that were hyping Trump’s ‘pussygate’ video day after day? Weren’t they also “interfering” with the election? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, you know.
No one ever accused the US of being transparent or of allowing a transparent media.
Once the NeoCon/Zionists that have the USA by the throat, can eliminate the alternative media on the Internet, there’ll be no stopping them……..
That leaves syrianperspective, sputnik, fars, sana, fortruss, and dozens of others. Thye’d have to shut down the net, but then their own propaganda gets snuffed.
I hope you’re right. I have to admit to a low level of Cyber Comprehension…….
Think you’ve hit the nail on the head there.
But then there is this Chomsky quote (can’t recall the original one) which sais that what force is for tyranny is indoctrination for democracy (I have not checked myself, but maybe you can find the exact quote in this long essay: https://chomsky.info/199107__/)
I think that this news of Assange and RT gives one the feeling that we will soon get rid of the whole idea of democracy and that it will be replaced with tyranny. Indoctrination is bad enough. But force is even worse. However… fear is a bad advisor. Who sais that the news on Assange and RT shows that indoctrination will be replaced with force?