The Daily Populous Sunday September 15th, 2024 day edition
Authored by thehindu.com and submitted by Undead_Necromancer

As the U.S. ramped up its efforts to ban and block Russian state media network RT globally, sources tell The Hindu that U.S. officials have spoken to the Ministry of External Affairs about joining their actions against what they call “Russian disinformation”, by revoking accreditations and designating their journalists under the “Foreign Missions Act” . However, while the Ministry has been silent on the issue, government officials said that the debate on sanctions is not relevant to India, while a former diplomat said that banning media organisations showed “double standards” by Western countries.

On Friday (September 13, 2024), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced further sanctions against RT, claiming the media organisation, that has offices around the world including in India, was the “de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus”. RT and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs have denied the charge. In an official response, a senior RT editor accused the U.S. government of “paranoia” and “being terrified of any truly dissenting voice”.

The U.S. State department said it had launched a “joint diplomatic campaign” along with the United Kingdom and Canada to “rally allies and partners around the world to join us in addressing the threat posed by RT and other machinery of Russian disinformation and covert influence”.

“We urge every ally, every partner to start by treating RT’s activities as they do other intelligence activities by Russia within their borders,” Mr. Blinken said.

Former Indian Ambassador to Russia and France Kanwal Sibal said the U.S.’s actions to curtail and censor Russian media organisations damaged America’s “own values”, even as the U.S. government said it supports freedom of speech.

“This will be viewed as double standards by the Global South that they are trying to target. India will obviously not be responsive to such American pressure,“ said Mr. Sibal, who has contributed columns for the RT’s RT.com website.

The move, that included designating two individuals and three entities for financial and visa sanctions, follows the general ban by the U.S. and Europe on Russian broadcasters after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022. Last week, another 10 individuals and two entities connected to “Kremlin-backed media operations” including RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly, and Sputnik were sanctioned. The U.S. State department accused them of carrying out “disinformation” operations in the U.S., Germany and other countries and fundraising for the Russian military.

Sources confirmed to The Hindu that the issue had been discussed at a meeting between officials of the U.S. Embassy and the Ministry in Delhi in the past fortnight. In his remarks in Washington, Mr. Blinken also said that he had “instructed U.S. diplomats around the world” to share the evidence that the U.S. alleged it has gathered on RT.

“The Government of the United States defers to the Government of India and the governments of other countries to make their own determination of and accreditation procedures for these entities,” U.S. Embassy Spokesperson Christopher Elms said, adding, however that the U.S. would “welcome all countries in taking similar actions as the United States government has.”

The Ministry declined to comment despite a number of requests. An official said that the matter “does not pertain” to India and pointed out that India does not follow unilateral sanctions that are not approved by the United Nations. This is not the first time that the government has been caught in the U.S.-Russia crossfire over sanctions, such as those over oil imports from Russia, which India has rejected. Last month, however, government officials also censured Russian agencies RT and Sputnik for what they called “misleading” reporting on alleged Indian intelligence “concerns” about U.S. diplomats based in India meeting with Indian Opposition leaders, citing Bangladesh as an example of the U.S.’s “regime change operations” .

The request from the U.S. on sanctions came as U.S. Assistant Secretary Donald Lu was visiting Delhi for a number of high-level meetings to prepare for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the U.S., and participation in the Quad Summit hosted by U.S. President Joseph Biden on September 21. The U.S. Embassy declined to comment on whether Mr. Lu had raised the issue during his visit.

PollutionFinancial71 on September 15th, 2024 at 00:23 UTC »

Propaganda or not, free speech is free speech. The government should not be in the business of shutting people up. The west used to be principled in this. During the Cold War, Pravda (Soviet propaganda newspaper) was freely circulated through the US and other western countries. The logic was, "we are so confident that our system is better, that we don't need to ban the propaganda of your system. Also, unlike you, we allow dissenting opinions." As we can see - that logic has been thrown out of the window.

If anything, I welcome free access to foreign state propaganda. The only restriction I would place on them, is a requirement for them to be transparent about where they get their funding from. Now, I personally wouldn't take them as a source of truth, but reading outlets like RT and the Global Times helps you see global events from the perspective of foreign governments, as well as get their opinions straight from the horse's mouth. For example, I would trust an outlet like RT over CNN when it comes to reporting on the official position of the Russian government, or to get the actual statements of Russian government officials. The same goes for The Chinese Government and Global times. Mainstream media is known for lying and twisting the facts, including taking what foreign leaders have said, out of context. State media will make sure that the statements of their leaders are unabridged, and in context. You just need to keep in mind their biases when reading it.

Southern-Reveal5111 on September 14th, 2024 at 23:56 UTC »

> “joint diplomatic campaign” along with the United Kingdom and Canada to “rally allies and partners around the world to join us in addressing the threat posed by RT and other machinery of Russian disinformation and covert influence”.

The Canadian government has a terrible relationship with India. BBC is a state-controlled media by the UK that dehumanizes Indians. Does the US think India will take them seriously?

Undead_Necromancer on September 14th, 2024 at 22:14 UTC »

This is a very interesting development. RT is undoubtedly a propaganda outlet. I can see, on the other hand, India has its own complex relationship with Russia. They've been strategic partners for decades, and India doesn't want to be seen as taking sides with the West. Banning RT could be interpreted as a hostile act by Russia, potentially damaging their relationship.