And they don’t even bother hiding it…

17.01.2018

First, they came for regular national citizens, now they come for foreign press under the guise of ‘’the elimination of propaganda’’. In 2017, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) compelled RT to officially register as a foreign agent and disclose any financial information pertaining to its activities. It was yet another page in the book of alleged selective enforcement by this heavily-amended act against those parties deemed ‘’unfavourable’’ to particular administrations.

Grant Smith, in a compelling historical account[1] from the early 20th century about FARA’s one-sided verdicts against these unfavourable parties, presents this in a relationship to the American Zionist Council (AZC) and how the FOJ once turned a blind eye to this Jewish Agency while aggressively pushing against other charitable organizations such as the ‘’KAC’’.

Two Similar Cases – Two Different Verdicts

In the 1990’s, the KAC was set up as a US non-profit organization intended to raise awareness about Kashmir but as the issue of ‘’self-determination’’ of the region was brought up, it conflicted with the wider ‘’undecided’’ U.S narrative at the time. The KAC was accused by the FBI of acting as a propagandist ‘’straw-donor’’ operation for Pakistan and were phone-tapped and strip-searched through its core because of it.

The American Zionist Council was a tax-exempt, openly political organization that, for a period too long to not be considered sketchy, did not have to register as a foreign agent even though Israel funnelled $35 Million into US propaganda and lobbying operations through its New York Office.[2]

Smith’s report gives a great summary on the issue and compares the difference in treatment between the two cases.

The American Zionist Council was eventually pressured by President Kennedy who demanded that they file themselves as a foreign agent according to the original enactment in 1938, but as Kennedy was assassinated and the AZC closed down, the organization was succeeded by AIPAC that until this day has never been required to concern themselves with FARA matters.

RT and AIPAC – Two Different Cases?

This brings us to the RT verdict and the present situation. Remember, in the case of RT we are discussing a media organization, whether deemed propagandistic or a bastion of truth, intended to transmit information that the public has an intellectual responsibility to discern as ‘’fake’’ or not.

They do not have any option to lobby Congress and the Executive Branch of a national governmental body, unlike some parties in this debate. It’s an organization severely pressured by the US government with employees dwarfing those of AIPAC and having an incomparable amount of influence on US affairs in comparison to the Pro-Israeli Agency that sits in the actual heart of ‘’open debate’’.

The only reason FARA appears is when anti-Establishment forces need to be selectively pushed out, especially when RT as a ‘’dangerous force’’ in this case reports on events in Syria and the links between the orchestrators and their destructive impact.

This fear of investigations has called for a tit-for-tat implementation of fear-tactics, but this time against Russian journalists operating in America that have described their version of an ‘’atmosphere of fear’’. Considering the recent remarks by Andrei Klimov, a Russian senator and deputy head of the Russian Senate’s foreign affairs committee, it invokes a certain degree of curiosity when the American government openly spies on Russian journalists with connections to RT or Sputnik. Five years behind bars is what faces those that are ‘’unruly’’ in the eyes of the government and its pro-Zionist lobbyists.

Sources:

[1] Selective FARA Enforcement: Pakistan’s Alleged Agents Prosecuted, Israel’s Ignored

[2] DOJ orders the AZC to Register as a Foreign Agent

Dennis Vance is a writer and blogger based in Moscow, Russia. He started the Kremlinology blog in 2016 and has continued to write about Russian affairs, geopolitics and everything in between.