Some voices you’re not supposed to listen to

If you are Russian and read Tass and Pravda, my guess is that there are a lot of things you aren’t being told.  My guess is that you need to check dissident and foreign sources to learn things that don’t fit the Russian government’s propaganda version of reality.

I know – I don’t have to guess- that if you are a US American and read the so-called “mainstream media,” there are a lot of things you aren’t being told.  You need to check dissident and foreign sources to learn things that don’t fit the U.S. government’s propaganda version of reality.

Petal bombs

One of the things I wouldn’t know if I didn’t check alternative sources is that the Donbass is being sprinkled with “petal” or “butterfly” bombs, which are designed to injure and kill civilians.

Donetzk authorities say they are delivered via Hurricane MLRS rockets.  Each rocket has 12 cluster munitions, each cluster has 26 bombs.  Because of their shape, they float down without exploding and can land anywhere.  

They are the size of a cigarette lighter and hard to see. If your car runs over one, you will lose a wheel—or worse.  If you step on one, you will lose a foot—or worse.  

I learned about this by reading an article by Eva Bartlett, an independent Canadian journalist.  It first appeared on the RT News web site.  Maybe you think that fact discredits her reporting.  If you do, would you say the same thing about a Russian journalist quoted on BBC News or the Voice of America?

Bartlett is lucky.  She hasn’t been charged with a crime, nor has her bank account been closed down.  Not so  Alina Lipp and Graham Phillips, two other independent journalists reporting from the Donbass.

Alina Lipp is an independent broadcaster with 150,000 subscribers to her service.  She has been charged under a provision of the German criminal code which outlaws rewarding or condoning crimes (in this case, Russian war crimes).  

A portion of her bank account has been seized.  The bank account of her father, a Russian who lives in Crimea, has been blocked.  She could be sentenced to up to three years in prison.  She said the German prosecutor has refused to allow her to testify in her own defense because this would “jeopardize the purpose of the investigation.”

Graham Phillips is a British freelance journalist who has done work for RT News, but now has his own YouTube channel with 325,000 subscribers.   He is the first British subject to be sanctioned by the British government in the current conflict.  All his savings accounts in the U.K. have been frozen.  The basis for the sanction was the following video.

I recall interviews with American POWs in Hanoi, who, as it turned out, were speaking under threat of torture.  But  I think the Graham Phillips interview is different because the prisoner, Aiden Aslin, wanted to get his message out and, hopefully, preserve his life. The Geneva Convention only forbids interviews with prisoners of war if they are coerced.    You can watch the video, and judge for yourself.

Although I have a different mix of sources of information on Russia and Ukraine, I think Eva Bartlett, Alina Lipp and Graham Phillips are all sincere truth-tellers whose work is worth a look even if you don’t agree with all of it.  They certainly should not be suppressed.   

To be clear, I don’t think being skeptical of one side’s propaganda means that you have to accept the other side’s propaganda.  You should be skeptical in all cases, including this post, and use your own common sense.

LINKS

So Far As I Can Make Out by Patrick Lawrence for ScheerPost.

The West is silent as Ukraine targets civilians in Donetsk using banned “butterfly” bombs by Eva Bartlett via The Scrum.

Where’s My Freedom? German Journalist Alina Lipp Faces Three Years in Prison for Reporting on Ukrainian War Operations by The Composite Eye.

Journalist Alina Lipp is accused of spreading Russian propaganda by PostDiscus.

Graham Phillips YouTube videos.

An interview of Graham Phillips on Vineyard of the Saker.

Freedom of Speech and Graham Phillips by Craig Murray.

Tags: Alina Lipp, Eva Bartlett, Freedom of the Press, Graham Phillips, Propaganda, Ukraine and Russia, War in Ukraine