Palestina, erresilientzia (72) eta Scott Ritter

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Gogoratu ondoko hau: Pascal Lottaz eta ICJ delakoa

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Abier@abierkhatib

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From declassifieduk.org

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DISARMAMENT IN THE TIME OF PERESTROIKA: Arms Control and the End of the Soviet Union

Scott Ritter

Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika is the definitive history of the implementation of the INF Treaty signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in all its complexities, and the lengths both sides went to “trust, but verify” this successful and unique historic disarmament process. It demonstrates how two nations fundamentally at odds with one another could come together and rid the world of weapons which threatened international peace and security and, indeed, all of humanity. Those engaged were pioneers in what was to be the new frontier of superpower arms control—on-site inspection—that would define compliance verification for future treaties and agreements to come. Their work represents not just a guide to, but the standard upon which all future on-site inspections will be based and judged.

Ritter traces in great detail the formation of the On-Site Inspection Agency, who was involved, and how a technologically advanced compliance verification system was installed outside the gates of one of the most sensitive military industrial facilities in the remote Soviet city of Votkinsk, nestled in the foothills of the Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union. He draws upon his own personal history— occasionally hilarious, occasionally fraught with peril— as well as the recollections of the other inspectors and personnel involved, and an extensive archive of reports and memoranda relating to the work of OSIA to tell the story of how OSIA was created, and the first three years of inspection operations at the Votkinsk portal monitoring facility. The Votkinsk Portal, circa December 1988, was the wild, wild East of arms control, a place where the inspectors and inspected alike were writing the rules of the game as it played out before them.

This treaty implementation did not occur in a geopolitical vacuum. Ritter captures, on a human level, the historic changes taking place inside the Soviet Union under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev due to the new policies of perestroika and glasnost that gripped the Soviet Union during this time, and their real and meaningful impact on the lives of the Soviet people, and the economic functioning of the Soviet nation. Much of it was for the worse.

The INF treaty was not only born of these new policies, but also helped trigger meaningful changes inside the Soviet Union due to the economic and political implications brought on by the cessation of missile production in a factory town whose lifeblood was missile production.

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Russia has never tried to dictate any narrative to me, unlike the West – Scott Ritter

(https://www.rt.com/news/602809-scott-ritter-rt-contribution-russophobia/)

The FBI has pursued a policy of harassment, however, over ongoing work for RT

FILE PHOTO: Scott Ritter. ©  Sputnik / Andrey Bortko

As the US government works overtime to stigmatize any journalism possessing connectivity with Russia, the world slides dangerously down a path defined by a Russophobic US-driven agenda that leads toward the inevitability of conflict, and the probability of nuclear war.

When the FBI executed a search warrant on my residence on August 7, they were singularly focused on my professional relationship (I am a self-employed journalist) with the Russian government, and in particular, RT, the widely recognized brand name of Russia Today, a media company founded by the autonomous non-profit organization TV-Novosti in April 2005.

According to the FBI, the US government was concerned that my activities fell under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA).

The FBI has also searched the Virginia home of Dmitry Simes, a veteran Russian-American journalist who currently resides in Moscow where he helps moderate a popular political program, ‘The Big Game’, on Channel 1.

While the FBI has not publicly commented on the raid on Simes’ home, it is most likely due to similar concerns over FARA compliance.

I have been an external contributor (i.e., contactor) to RT since April 2020. Since the initial contract was signed, I have written numerous articles and produced hundreds of videos for which I have been compensated financially in accordance with the terms set forth in the agreements between myself and RT. As stipulated in the signed agreements, I am solely responsible for the content of the work provided.

At no time have I entered into any agreement, written or oral, or have reached any understanding, formal or informal, that I am responsive to the direction or control of either RT/TV-Novosti or the Russian government.

Indeed, the agreement between myself and RT stipulates that I am responsible for determining the topics that will be covered in the content I produce, although as is the case in any editorial/producer relationship with ‘talent’, I have been asked to provide content that is responsive to breaking news.

I am a freelance journalist. This is the life of a freelance journalist.

Nothing more, nothing less.

This relationship is like that which I have as an outside contributor to other journalistic outlets, including TruthDig, the American Conservative, Consortium News, the Washington Spectator, and Energy Intelligence, all of which have published my work on a regular basis during the same period in which I produced content for RT.

In all cases, I am solely responsible for the content I produce. There is, of course, a collaborative relationship with the editors of all these publishing outlets, some more intense/heavy than others. This is the normal reality faced by every journalist in the world.

I can say without fear of contradiction that the editorial ‘touch’ of RT is the lightest of any publisher I have dealt with – there is the standard follow-up questioning on sourcing of information, and some massaging of language for clarity. On a few occasions (I can count them on one hand), RT has turned down articles I have submitted for publication. In every instance, the topics dealt with US domestic issues, and the editors were concerned about being seen as buying into unfounded conspiracies.

How utterly irresponsible of them!

The specific compensation received for work published is confidential in accordance with the terms of the agreement I signed with RT (the FBI seized physical and electronic copies of this agreement, and I have in the past provided copies of the agreement to the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) or their proxies operating within the US banking system.) But I can say this – it is within the industry norm, slightly more than some publishers, and slightly less than others. And in no case can it be considered exorbitant – the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, all of whom have published my opinion pieces in the past, all pay significantly more than does RT.This reality must be disappointing to the FBI and the Department of Justice, which, through their questioning, seemed caught up in a working theory that I was a controlled asset of RT and, by extension, the Russian government. Their conspiracy theories extended into the person of my wife, Marina, who was questioned by a pair of FBI agents at her place of work at the same time the FBI conducted its search of our residence. The agents showed Marina a copy of an email she had sent to me back in late 2020/early 2021, where she listed the articles that I had published for RT for each month.

I was paid on a monthly billing cycle, with the amount calculated based upon the number of articles published in a given month. On occasion, there would be discrepancies, where my count of articles published did not align with the money paid in compensation. To assist me in working out these discrepancies, Marina would generate a list of articles published by publication date, so that I could more coherently communicate with RT.

“Do you direct the work of your husband?” the FBI asked my wife. “Do you organize his work?”

The answer was self-evident, as my wife informed the FBI.

I am my own boss.

The FBI was also interested in the payment vehicle used by RT to compensate me. The method agreed to contractually was a wire transfer to be made monthly based upon the work published. For this, I provided my banking information, including SWIFT code.

Following the commencement of the Special Military Operation by Russia in Ukraine in February 2022, this method became difficult because of the sanctioning of Russian banks by the US, denying these banks access to the SWIFT system that controls money transfers globally and, most importantly in my case, into the US.

RT developed workarounds which used unsanctioned third parties to execute the wire transfers. Over time, RT made use of two such intermediaries. I have always been totally transparent about this payment method. Indeed, when my bank began blocking payment on instructions from their internal OFAC enforcement units, I reached out to the bank to resolve the issue. Part of the resolution measures agreed to was that I provided the OFAC enforcement unit with copies of my contractual relationships showing that the money received was related to contracted work. This method worked but was very time consuming and inconvenient – wire transfers were often returned to the sender in whole or in part because of the delay in processing the submitted paperwork, which took place every time a payment was received.

I contacted OFAC directly to complain, citing harassment and First Amendment issues, and was informed that they had nothing to do with it. The problem, it seemed, was overzealous employees at the bank itself (the OFAC enforcement unit was an in-house entity, with no formal relationship with the US government or OFAC.)

The solution was simple – I switched banks. In making the application to my new bank, I was transparent about international wire transfers that they would expect, what country these transfers would originate from, roughly in what amounts the transfers would be, and for what purpose (writing.)

The bank in question was USAA, with which I had a relationship dating back to 1984 when I was commissioned as an officer in the US Marines. Last year, USAA ended its relationship with me without warning, closing my bank account and terminating homeowner and auto insurance policies that I had with them dating back four decades.

I opened a new account with my current bank. Once again, I was fully transparent in the application process as to the source and reason for incoming wire transfers.

The FBI, in questioning me, provided the names of the two intermediaries used by RT to make the wire transfers of my compensation. I provided accurate answers to all their questions concerning these entities and my relationship with them.

I have no doubt that the US government will continue to make it difficult, and perhaps impossible, for RT to compensate external contributors based in the United States, including myself, for their work.

This is harassment under color of law.

But under no circumstances does it make the work, or any compensation paid to me for this work, a violation of the law.

And under no circumstances does being paid for my outside contributions to RT violate the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

I have been lambasted for publishing my work in RT.

Several US-based publishers, including TruthDig and the American Conservative, have terminated their relationship with me because I also contributed to RT – this after my writing won an award for TruthDig and one of my articles was the most-viewed for the year for the American Conservative. I had just started what was supposed to be a stint as a regular contributor for Responsible Statecraft (RS) when some of their funders balked at having someone who also wrote for RT writing for them (I had just published my first article, only to have it removed from the RS website without warning. RS was willing to pay me for the article in question, but I let them know under no circumstances would I accept money from their organization.)

One of the reasons I enjoy contributing to RT is the global diversity of their audience. But I also appreciate the relative purity of their message – in a world where the US and its compliant minions in the controlled Western press work overtime to manipulate audiences into accepting at face value and without question the American-driven narrative, RT and other non-Western news outlets provide alternatives which are fact-driven.

In March 2011, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton complained about the US “losing the information war” to nations like Russia amongst English-speaking audiences around the world.

The truth, when seen from the perspective of an American secretary of state, hurts.

I have had extensive intimate experience with the US mainstream media dating back to my time as a weapons inspector in Iraq. I bore personal witness to US government officials leaving important Security Council meetings early so they could brief reporters from the New York Times, who would then publish a front-page story about the meeting which bore no resemblance whatsoever to the reality of the meeting and reflected every talking point of the United States.

How did I know this?

Because the Security Council meeting dealt with issues surrounding the inspections I was responsible for leading in Iraq, and with briefings that I helped write and provide to the members present. I was there when the US official walked out, and I knew who he was going to meet.

I was also present when the CIA worked with CNN to make a documentary about the work of the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq. I was one of several inspectors whose stories served as the centerpiece of the documentary. Moreover, I was the point of contact between the CIA and CNN when it came to the release of U-2 imagery and other intelligence-related information to CNN to be used in the documentary.

I worked for NBC News in the months after I resigned from my position with the United Nations. I was an on-air analyst who often appeared with Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams. I would work with NBC News to turn raw news feeds into finished products ready for on-air broadcast. I saw firsthand how NBC manipulated the news to fit pre-conceived notions instead of reporting it as is. I was eventually released from my contract when National Security Adviser Sandy Berger objected to questions being asked of him by NBC White House correspondent Claire Shipman, indicating that he knew I was behind those questions.

NBC had the choice: Defend journalistic integrity, or cave in to White House pressure.

They caved.

After 9/11, I was contracted by Fox News as an on-air analyst for six months, only to have Fox News balk at my assessments which ran counter to the narrative being promulgated by the Bush White House. Fox News decided it was better to pay me and keep me off the airwaves (I was exclusive to Fox at the time) than release me and let me speak out.

The contract was not renewed when it expired.

I was briefly courted by CNN in the fall of 2002, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq. After being questioned in an in-house forum that brought together the major reporters, hosts, and producers of CNN, I was ‘cleared’ by the senior CNN executives, who proceeded to give me a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of their newsroom.

I was shocked when I was taken to the CNN ‘war room’, where the producers were already working with the Pentagon to embed reporters with military units. My questions about this level of collusion led CNN to lose interest in me shortly thereafter.

The bottom line is this – I have seen the American mainstream media up close and personal.

There is zero integrity when it comes to reporting fact-based truth.

In every instance I experienced, the news organizations of these various media companies were literally subordinated to the US government, taking their talking points directly from either the White House, the State Department, or the Pentagon.

In short, these news organizations did not produce news, but rather American propaganda which was designed to deceive the broader American audience about critical issues of war and peace.

The news organizations I observed firsthand were more representative of a state-controlled media than a free press.

And, if called upon to compare and contrast, based upon my own personal experiences, the level of journalistic integrity between these US media outlets and RT, RT wins hands-down.

When it comes to reporting on politically sensitive content, such as the Special Military Operation, I likewise side with RT.

The Biden administration has openly admitted that it purposely declassifies intelligence information it knows to be wrong or misleading so that it can be released to the mainstream media for the purpose of controlling the narrative.

Not for telling the truth.

I have, over the years, had the opportunity to meet and work with several RT journalists and reporters who cover the Special Military Operation.

Every single one has demonstrated impeccable integrity when it comes to reporting the news.

I have also had the opportunity to interface with and interview many of the sources these RT journalists draw upon for their reporting and can say that the assessments I make as an independent analyst often reflect those of the RT journalists.

Not because, as is the case in the United States, we are working from the same government-dictated script – the Russian government has never tried to dictate any narrative to me, nor has RT.

But because both RT and I have an assiduous appreciation for fact-based truth.

Sadly, I can’t say that for any of the mainstream American media organizations I’ve worked with in the past.

My reporting for RT is my own, reflecting my observations and analysis. My most recent reporting from Russia backs this up – a four-part series which RT knew nothing about until I pitched it to them after I completed my most recent trip to Russia.

In writing How the Chechen miracle kick-started the Russian ‘Path of Redemption’, Helping Crimea recover from decades of Ukrainian misrule is a tough but necessary challenge, We are witnessing the bittersweet birth of a new Russia, and Why did it take Russia so long to realize Donbass was worth fighting for?, I provided unique reporting that was unavailable anywhere else in the world – Western media outlets would never allow such reporting to be published on their pages or websites, and Russian news outlets had never seen such reporting from an independent Western perspective.

This is exactly what journalism is supposed to be – hard hitting, probing analysis based upon first-hand observations derived from access to high-level sourcing.

I picked RT as the publisher of these articles because I wanted this reporting to be available not only to a global English-speaking audience, but also to a Russian audience.

This reporting was not the byproduct of close collusion between myself and the Russian government – in fact, when I tried to get official permission to travel to the new territories and Donbass from the Russian Ministry of Defense, I was turned down. It was only because of my persistence, and that of my host, Aleksandr Zyrianov, that I was able to travel to Chechnya, Crimea, the New Territories, and Donbass, and meet with the high-level officials and military officers who feature in my reporting.

Trying to convince a Western audience – be it government officials, journalists, or the consumers of news – that RT is a responsible news organization more committed to telling the truth than their ostensibly ‘free’ Western media counterparts, is a literal mission impossible.

The level of Russophobia that has infected every level of society in the West is mind-boggling. I have been called a shill of Russian President Vladimir Putin more times than I can count, by both the online trolls of the North Atlantic Fella Organization (NAFO), whose mission is simply to harass any online voice that doesn’t conform to the US/NATO narrative, and ostensibly ‘neutral’ journalists who write for outlets that publish my work. My crime? Reporting accurately on the positions taken by the Russian government – “speaking ‘Putin’”, in the vernacular of my critics.

The consequences of this Russophobia-infected journalism are dire – not only has the ignorance enshrined within the journalism of the West resulted in the destruction of Ukraine, but, if not reversed, is leading the Collective West down the path of inevitable conflict with Russia which would probably end in a general nuclear war.

Trying to head off such a tragic outcome has been the fuel that feeds my work as a journalist these past few years.

And it will continue to fuel my work going forward.

I am grateful to RT for allowing my words to be published and disseminated in both written and video form.

I believe that, in doing so, RT is contributing to the cause of saving the world from the horror of nuclear war.

Even if the Russophobia-infected minds in the Collective West fail to recognize this.

Gehigarria: Zer esan euskal prentsari buruz)? Euskal prentsa guztiari buruz? Maila pertsonalean, nik badauzkat froga batzuk:

Zentsurak zutik dirau

Zentsura nonahi, baita gure ondoan ere!

Zentsuraren aurka, kazetaritzaren independentziaren bermea

Zinismoaren eta zentsuraren kontra, mozorroak kendu behar dira!

Omertà

Zentsura, baina ez toki eta leku guztietan

Zentsura: iritzi batzuk

Zentsuraz: To er mundo e güeno?

Exilioan bizi naiz… Exiliotik

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I’m not going to be silenced on issues that I feel strongly about: ex-US marine

(https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202408/1318296.shtml)

By Global Times Published: Aug 19, 2024

Bideoa:https://1253985869.vod2.myqcloud.com/ee20c49fvodtransgzp1253985869/9856f53313977578912762485

Editor’s Note:

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter (Ritter)’s home in New York was raided by the FBI as part of a federal investigation on August 7 over allegations he is an unregistered foreign agent. Ritter, also a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, has been a critic of US foreign policy, particularly regarding US policy in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. In an interview with Global Times (GT) reporter Wang Wenwen on her I-Talk show, Ritter said he will not be discredited or intimidated.

GT: Why do you think the FBI raided your home? In June, US authorities took you off a plane destined for Russia and seized your passport. Are the two events connected?

Ritter: I believe that the two events are connected. One of the justifications that could be used to seize my passport is an ongoing federal investigation. It’s clear that the FBI acknowledged that this investigation has been going on for some time. Concerns about me relate to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), in particular, that I’ve been taking direction from the Russian government in the conduct of my work. This is part and parcel of a larger investigation.

I’m very unhappy about this, because I know who I am. I know what I’ve done. And I know I’ve committed no crimes. I also know that I’m not operating in violation of the FARA. But I try to put myself in the shoes of those people who believe it might be the case.

Their theory is that I’m somehow colluding with or operating at the direction of the Russian government, but they don’t have direct evidence of this. All they have is the fact that I write things that appear to be pro-Russian. They’re not. They’re pro-American.

When I write things, it’s because I think that the government of the US is engaged in activities that are harmful to America and that it’s important to point it out. But that’s their interpretation.

GT: How will such a high-profile raid have an impact on you?

Ritter: As I told the FBI during the raid, regardless of their motives, this raid done in public has a chilling effect. Normally, when they don’t have proof, the Department of Justice, which is FARA’s enforcement unit, sends a letter of inquiry. It’s a polite letter. They say, “Hey, you’re doing things. And we think they constitute violations of the FARA, and we think you need to register.” And then you have an opportunity upon receiving that to say, “You’re right, I will register,” or “I disagree.” And then you take it to civil litigation.

But they chose not to do that. And you have to ask yourself the question, why? Why would they choose this violent approach? Even though I’m not dead, my house isn’t destroyed, it’s violent to have 40 people who are not invited into your house to tear it upside down, looking for things that don’t exist. 

Why did they choose this? And why did they do it in such a public way? I think it’s designed to discredit me, intimidate me and silence me. But you can’t discredit me because I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m a former Marine, so I don’t get intimidated. And I’m not going to be silenced on issues that I feel strongly about, especially issues that I believe impact the US as a whole. 

GT: You are a prominent critic of the US foreign policy. Why do you think the US authorities are less and less tolerant of criticism?

Ritter: The FBI agents came to my house, and they said people have concerns about things that you’ve been writing and things that you’ve been saying. I said, really? The FBI is coming to me about that, what happened to free speech in America? They said, no, we believe in free speech, we support free speech, just not yours, because we think your free speech violates the FARA, and that’s when they gave me the search warrant.

I guess I should be somewhat proud of the fact that they’ve singled me out. It means that my voice is being heard, that my voice is having an impact. And it’s being heard and having an impact at a time when US policy is falling apart because of the very things that I’ve said about.

I continue to highlight the fact that the policy that the US government has undertaken in regard to Russia is a policy that leads to a nuclear arms race and the possibility, indeed probability, of a nuclear war that would end life on the planet. That’s what motivates me. 

I don’t want us all to die in a nuclear conflict, especially when that conflict can be avoided because the predicate of the issues that are leading us is premised on lies, distortions and misunderstandings. The fact that somebody in the Department of Justice, somebody in the State Department, somebody in the White House sees fit to silence me only means that I’m doing a good job.

GT: Do you think the US can sustain its thirst for hegemony through wars anymore?

Ritter: Today, the military-industrial complex controls the US. So unless something can be done to break this control, American hegemony will continue to be premised upon the need for American weapons to confront threats that are defined by America.

GT: What would be the worst-case scenario for you?

Ritter: It would be a travesty of constitutional justice if the US government were to succeed in making a case out of nothing. But they’ve done it before, I mean Julian Assange and others.

The worst-case scenario is that they were able to convince a grand jury that they did have a case, and then they would indict me and then I would have to go to trial. I would like to believe at trial, I could convince a jury of my peers that the US government was wrong, that their case has no merit, and subsequently emerge victorious from that.

If I don’t, then the US government could decide on a sentence and then there would be prison time, and this would be devastating for me, my family, and my friends. So that’s the worst possible case. 

I don’t think we’re going to get there. I don’t think the US government believes that it can successfully prosecute me.

GT: What’s your plan for the near future?

Ritter: I continue to do what I do. I have not been charged with any crime, so I live my life, as I always live my life. Eventually, I’d like to get my passport back so that I can resume my travels, but I don’t think that’s going to happen until this issue is resolved.

I would hope that this particular issue gets resolved very quickly. They have my computers, and they have my phones. They know that their theories are bankrupt.

So, the ball is in the government’s court, the ball is in the FBI’s court, the Department of Justice’s court. Let’s see how long. If this is about harassing me, then they’ll drag this thing on forever. If this is about justice, this should wrap up fairly certain soon.

Xiao Bowen contributed to this article

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MMT: Modern Monetary Theory