RT, Russia's English-language propaganda outlet, will register as a "foreign agent"

[DonViejo]

They’re complying with a World War II era-law that was passed to fight Nazi propaganda.

Updated by Zeeshan [e-mail]@vox.com Nov 10, 2017, 2:30pm EST

Russia’s state-owned media outlet, RT, has announced that it will comply with US government demands to register as a “foreign agent” of the Russian government, amid controversy over Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election.

It’s a move that effectively marks the network, which runs both a website and a cable television channel, as a propaganda outfit for Moscow.

“The American Justice Department has left us with no choice,’’ Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor-in-chief, said in a statement on Thursday. “Our lawyers say that if we don’t register as a foreign agent, the director of our company in America could be arrested, and the accounts of the company could be seized.’’

RT, which began as Russia Today in 2005, is headquartered in Moscow, with English-language studios in Washington, DC, and Europe. Its critics in the US have long argued that its critical and conspiratorial coverage of the American government is motivated by the Kremlin’s geopolitical interests.

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https://www.vox.com/world/2017/11/10/16633586/rt-russia-propaganda-foreign-agent

[Sneederbunk]

1. Are your papers in order Mr. Hartmann?

[NightWatcher]

3. He just recently stopped cashing their checks

Every person on Russia's payroll played a small part. Jill Stein whittled a few thousand votes off of Hillary and some of the hard core "Progressives" who refused to vote for Hillary did the same. There were a lot of pawns in Putin's game of chess. Anyone who cashed an RT check played a roll that got us President trump.

I'm sure this will be alerted and removed for bashing Democratic Public Figures (even though I'm 100% correct, and the Public Figure is not a Democrat). I'll continue to speak the truth and I wish those who would alert would instead show me I'm wrong.

[Sneederbunk]

5. Tnx for this important info.

[DFW]

4. I rather doubt Thom Hartmann is an active agent of Putin's

He needs an outlet for his show like anyone else in his line of work, and I'm sure he joined RT without any intention whatsoever of actively working for Putin. What his reaction will be to this, I am interested to hear, but if RT is smart enough to refrain from fiddling with his editorial content, I doubt he will will defer to them in any way that would leave him open to accusations of being their patsy.

I have been listening to him sporadically (difficult from here) since the Air America days, and I have a hard time reconciling what I've heard from him with the words of an active agent of the Russian Federation. Obviously a specific stance from him in his own words would be preferable, but if he gets too harsh and pisses off RT, he might find himself with his only forum being on a soap box in Central Park, and his is too eloquent a voice for that to happen.

[PSPS]

6. "Thom" Hartmann - home of the endless supply of "whataboutism," a russian propaganda favorite

Whataboutism (also known as whataboutery) is a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument, which is particularly associated with Soviet and Russian propaganda. When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union, the Soviet response would be "What about..." followed by an event in the Western world.

Sound familiar? It's "funny" that "Thom" never seriously discussed russian meddling in the election.

But he seems to still be DU's favorite charlatan. Sad.

[DFW]

2. Wise move

It costs nothing, surprises nobody, and insulates them from charges that they deliberately failed to do so.