Multiple Iranian and Iraqi News Sites Seized by US DOJ and FBI

Really? You might want to read up on Christian lobby groups and how much power they hold over Congress. You’d be surprised. They’ve been maneuvering and wiggling their way into power for 60 years.

One day liberals are saying our democracy is as strong as it’s ever been, the next it’s teetering on the brink.

I take it you've never heard of The Family, an Evangelical group that directly works with members of congress to shape policy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_(Christian_organization)
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120746516
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family:_The_Secret_Fundamentalism_at_the_Heart_of_American_Power

Some passages of note:

It is a nice little shortcut past critical thinking and personal accountability.

The great trouble with religion---any religion---is that a religionist, having accepted certain propositions by faith, cannot thereafter judge those propositions by evidence. One may bask in at the warm fire of faith or choose to live in the bleak uncertainty of reason---but one cannot have both,” Robert A. Heinlein.
Of course people who follow the pseudo religions of Marxism and Libertarianism share the same characteristic.

There are 687 FARA registrants. The vast majority are consultancies and/or lobbyists. There are a couple dozen law firm registrations. 8 registrations are broadcasters/media companies; according to the article only 4 of them are or include news (like ABC has more than news), though looking through the spreadsheet, I think it's closer to 6 or 7. The plurality of those (3) are Chinese, followed by Russian (2), followed by Japanese, South Korean, and Turkish. None of those except RT (so many brown people there) have suffered any consequences for registering. (Al Jazeera, despite urging from the DOJ for 3 years, has not actually registered. I suspect they're trying to wait out the media brouhaha that tends to get the DOJ to urge such registration, and convince people they're not actively pushing the Qatari government line anymore.) Yeah, the BBC should almost certainly be on there and it's not. But everyone knows that the BBC is state-owned. They don't go to any lengths to hide that. These "news" companies were going to every length to hide that.

A simple question: do you think citizens of any country have the right to know if their "news" is actually propaganda from a foreign state?

I’ve seen The Family, I even created a thread about it. Still nowhere near the Mullahs in Iran.

The US would be rightfully banned in almost every country if every country adhered to the standards the US demands of foreign press. I don't care about FARA, it's bullshit, and it exists to justify censorship in the name of quelling propaganda.

I think everyone should know who holds the reins in any kind of news agency, but that's not what the US is doing. Just as it has always done, the United States has a narrative it is going to push, and to do so it has to quiet the people who might have something to say about it, like the people who live in that nation. Will news agencies from other countries always tell the truth? No, of course not, but that has never stopped the US from lying to other countries, either. The US has long established that it has rules for itself that do not apply to others, and rules for others that do not apply to itself, like when it decides to bomb the fuck out of a hospital and kills kids in the process, and calls them enemy combatants as not to add to the civilian count while daring to admonish countries with human rights abuses.

There is no justification here on the part of the US except for self-interest, because the US will lie to your face and mine while it bombs entire villages without batting an eye.

An American Narendi Modi.

US covert propaganda *is* banned just about everywhere. And those countries are right to do that too. Why isn’t the US?

Whataboutism. Pure and unadulterated.

In fairness the US simply privatised much of it's propaganda and charged us to go watch it in cinemas.

I'm only partially joking.

You know, if this goes on--

{sigh} and now I have to start following Indian politics so I can understand this reference ....

If you don't understand that Doctors without Borders can be expelled, detained, arrested or even executed by a totalitarian regime, no, you don't understand the political situation in Iran or any other nation of it's ilk. They operate there are the forebearance of the Iranian authorities, period.

And Iran has already stopped DwB from treating critically ill Covid patients. The official policy of Iran is there isn't a crisis and everything well in hand, and if you say otherwise you face imprisonment, even their own doctors.

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.o...oke-approval-msf-coronavirus-treatment-center

This part here:

that's all you had to say.

JCPOA sanctions were renewed prior to the pandemic, in 2018. They did apply new sanctions against one of it's shipping lines for selling oil - along with condemnation by the UN, and sanctions applied by the EU at the same time.

So no, they didn't stop Iran from developing a vaccine, as you insinuate. No new sanctions were applied that could have impacted that. If your argument is you believe they should have dropped the sanctions once the panic started, that could be a reasonable take, even if I disagree, but that's not what you said.

The nations that the US has not provided free vaccine to is fairly long - even though the US is the leading exporter of free vaccine.

The US is shipping 80 million units now, and has pledged 500 million, by far the largest donater.

Your regurgitation of marxist dogma does not impact that reality.

Again, largest donater of vaccine by far, and also responsible for making India food independent for the first time in a century.

Because we aren't forcing vaccine on a nation that wouldn't take it anyway, didn't ask, and actively denies it has an issue.

Strange world you live in Amaris.

State actor vs state funded. I already acknowledged the difference between the BBC and Iranian media. The BBC is an independent news source even if it is government funded. NPR is similar in the US, one of our best news sources, though it also subsides heavily on donations. The government of Britain doesn't overtly tell them what they can and can't publish, nor does it make up specific propaganda stories for dissemination.

That is not the same as these media sources, which are just propaganda arms for the governments in question solely. Iran has no free media. Russia Today, Sputnik, and Chinese state media are all propaganda arms of their respective countries.

So state funded media can be legitimate, but state actors for authoritarian regimes are virtually never. Yes, it does depend on the government behind it and whether they exert direct control over its broadcasting.

US propaganda is everywhere, covertly and overtly. The covert propaganda isn't banned, it's emulated.

I answered your question in the first sentence, and then I elaborated on how I see things in the US. I also told you directly what the US does, every day, and you're like "whataboutism," because you don't give a fuck that we do it, you already know. You're more interested in an argument than in understanding.

Absurd. You absolutely do not have to remain in the US. We do not stop you from exercising your right to immigrate to the country of your choice.

No reason at all you can't apply for citizenship in Canada, Denmark, or any other nation.

I'd suggest avoiding the actual communist nations though. We both know they are objectively worse.

Even if the US provides 500 million doses free of charge, that would still leave over 5 billion unvaccinated individuals in the world.

So no, not everyone is going to get a US vaccine. It's erroneous to infer we are explicitly withholding vaccine. Just more intellectual dishonesty, because you want it given to one specific country that you yourself have a personal connection to. Why do they have any more right to it than anyone else? There are many dozens of nations that don't have any capability for independent research or manufacture. Less than 0.6% of Africans for example are currently vaccinated. Less than 5% of India.

Why does Iran have more right to the US vaccine than Namibia or Angola? Why should we prioritize them, when they have stated they have their own vectors for gaining their own supply?

Hell, in the US itself 58% aren't fully vaccinated.

But quite a few will be getting vaccines based on US research - we've waved all patents on covid vaccines so they can be readily manufactured by countries that can't support the research themselves.

Always disingenuous. The first is a link to a private citizen who has no ability to impact Iranian policy, the second is a request to WHO, for only foreign nationals, less than 1% of their population.

Unlike the former idiot, we are actively working with WHO again. And the WHO director has lauded the US for waving Covid patents and has asked other countries to do the same - our research is free to the world.

WHO is running the Covax initiative, and a large percentage of the US donation is going to that organization

So no, they didn't request it from the US, no they didn't request it for their citizens, and yes, they may end up getting US resources through Covax and WHO anyway.

They are hardly alone in that situation, are they?

Geez, I guess the EU should sanction the US then. They haven't though.

It might be because so many of them also faced terror attacks from these organizations. Hell, it's the one thing the US, the EU, China, Russia and India have all agreed on.

We actually didn't seize the tankers - we told the owners of the tankers we'd sanction them if they continued to smuggle Iranian oil in violation of economic sanctions. They turned them over.

And yes, that's a far different action than the US actively attempted to stop Iran from receiving medicine - indeed, our sanctions do not stop shipments of medicine at all, vaccine or otherwise.

But you are consistently intellectually dishonest, so why expect any better of you now?

Oh, let's see, what was the difference between Iran and the US in that month. Well, we were at one of the lowest parts in our history with a madman running our government, lying about how bad Covid was. But the media were still examining and dissecting his every lie, and the popluace was still being informed, even if a third of them wanted to believe those lies.

Iran was actively arresting doctors, journalists and private citizens that were dissenting from the official policy that covid was completely under control.

I don't recall Rachel Maddow disappearing, do you?

Strange gotcha you've got there. But then, you repreatedly show an inability to assess the US actions without your own bias. We are evil, evidently completely irredeemable.

Funny how you are still here then.

Which is not the same as Iran, where the Evangelicals would be the ones directly in power, and holding ultimate authority in a fundamentalist dictatorship where it's illegal to attempt to pass out Christian literature in Farsi.

They are attempting to wield that power here. They have not already obtained it.

"If you don't like it you can leave."

'Merica.

"We both know they are objectively worse" says the person making excuses for not sending vaccines to Iran, and excusing what the US does in the global south and Middle East.

What you know could fill an empty hole.

Hey, you're the one who framed withholding vaccines as trade.

The first is the former Queen of Iran. Yes, she's a private citizen, but you're being obtuse about it.
The second link is for foreign nationals, because Iran's using what vaccines they have to inoculate their medical personnel first and they're running out.

That doesn't change what you said earlier, about the US being free to trade with whom they please.

You seem to be gung ho on the idea of the US leaving Iran in the lurch because Iran snubbed the US.

Hey, cool, white imperialism.

"I guess the Eu should sanction the US then," as if that would matter to the US. The United States commits human rights violations every day, and you're fine with it, clearly, because who's going to tell us no?

"We didn't take them, we just threatened them with what would happen if they didn't stop doing it. They turned them over to us TOTALLY WILLINGLY."

You should write for FOX. That sounds good.

You sound like a Republican with that last line. I like how you say I can't assess US actions without my own bias, which is true, my bias is that if you murder someone you're in the wrong, and the United States murders people every day. Then you talk about me leaving the country, as if I have the resources to leave the United States.

Solid writer, but what a sad little black-and-white world he lived in.

Can we all stop trying to use this as a gotcha? Unless the person has been carrying on about leaving the country over X person or Y issue, you just make yourself look bad pulling it out.

I think this qualifies. No, Amaris doesn't have to a part of this rotting corpse of an Empire. Unless there is some reason that she won't be accepted for immigration.

Hey Amaris, are you a felon?

No, I'm poor.

You are the one lying that you can't leave the US.

What you are complaining about is not being given the financial resources to do so at someone else's expense.

I'll give you this - you definitely remain on brand.

That was sanctions, which impacts trade. Not donations. And once again, they haven't asked us, and we are working with the global agency that might give them vaccines anyway - up to WHO.

The wife of the deposed Shah, who hold absolutely no power or weight in the Iranian government.

And yes, I said foreign nationals.

And they are on 3rd stage clinical trials on their own co-developed vaccine, with the epxectation that production will begin shortly.

And again, they could receive help through international organizations that the US is donating vaccines to. And they can use our research for free.

The government of Iran has not requested help from the US, and is unlikely to accept it if proferred, and has actively stopped Doctors without Borders from treating patients because of their posturing in the past.

The fact you don't like this reality doesn't change it at all.

Sanctions are about trade.

And you are being intellectually dishonest about the US having an obligation to assist them, lying about them asking us for help, when in fact they oppose us helping. They will take help from the international community, because there is no stain on the government's reputation over that. And yes, they care about that more than their citizens, as they have been lying about the death count all along, and prosecuting those who tell the truth.

TIL China is white. Some of the US actions in the internatiional community are justified, some aren't - but that's not your take, is it? The US is evil.

Nah, that would come from CNBC or Reuters - it's the truth.

Yes, we pressured them into turning over oil that violated our sanctions. No, we didn't as you say seize the tankers. That indicates force.

Some of the poorest people in the world immigrate every day. Hell, you could apply for asylum if the US is so evil.

I didn't bring this up - you did.

The bootlicker in its natural habitat: a nationalistic fervor.

I recall Assange being dragged out of exile, I recall Chelsea Manning forcibly stripped and put into isolation.

Did your government condemn the Saudis this strongly when they butchered a journalist?

What, for that matter, was the US purpose in organising a coup in Iran other than outright regime change and propaganda?

The US exports propaganda all the time. Try being a foreigner and watching TV or movies where the chisel jawed hero saving the world isn't American.

And yes, the BBC is absolutely prone to pressure from above.

Please. The US Government works for the wealthy and the wealthy wanted that guy dead.

The wealthy, apparently, dislike Iran and those running those websites.