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Comment by _kbh_ | Hacker News Reader

> Edit: these things are censored in google, Wikipedia etc by US state actors. We largely have to go on the words of people like Max Blumenthal and others who have been largely censored and scrubbed from easy access by these same state apparatuses or wait until foia requests reveal what they always reveal about our benevolent state.

Max Blumenthal is a Russian propagandist who is a regular guest on Russian state backed networks such RT and Sputnik. I wouldn't trust anything he has to say about anything.

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I’m sure he takes the appearances he can get after having all his sources of funding cut.

I hope you’re being paid well to call people propagandists who have devoted their lives and sacrificed everything to speak truth to power.

I don’t take it at face value and it does seem he has an understandable bias at this point.

The gray zone is super strange to read, but these are investigative journalists on the ground. Please point me to a source that has hard proof of ANY of this information being incorrect.

Labeling people propagandists and conspiracy theorists is a new form of censorship and it is terrifying.

"Truth to power". There were few people as vehement in supporting Assad's genocide as Max Blumenthal (following his paid junket to Russia in 2015).

Claims the Mariupol theatre airstrike was the responsibility of Ukraine's Azov Regiment rather than Russian forces.

"speak truth to power"...

Ya, about that...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariupol_theatre_airstrike

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Blumenthal#Russia_and_Ukra...

https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/05/fa...

This is the article. Wikipedias naive crowd sourced model has been co-opted by the state. I can’t read the paywalled new statesman article but I see from their recent covers that they have an agenda on this issue

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/18/bombing-mariupol-theater-...

Edit:

https://apnews.com/article/Russia-ukraine-war-mariupol-theat...

This seems like a pretty well researched account that refutes the false flag idea strongly. The grayzone article still presents some interesting primary sources even when they seem to be wrong here (which is often the case when headlines end in a question mark)

Can’t reply below but your skirting of paywalls isn’t as cool as you think. Pay or read something else. You’re stealing. Also, insulting my intelligence doesn’t reduce my suffering in case you were wondering.

If you can't even get past a paywall, I highly question your ability to apply critical thinking to geopolitics.

edit: Unfortunately, on net, showing the weak arguments of proponents of your regurgitated propaganda to hundreds of viewers does in fact move the needle forward so that we have less of this in the future.

> Labeling people propagandists and conspiracy theorists is a new form of censorship and it is terrifying.

I’m merely speaking truth to power against a person who seems to love to parrot kremlin talking points.

If you don’t want to admit the person who hires ex RT and Sputnik reporters for his website might have something to do with propaganda then that’s okay but I suggest you look up the kind of information that RT and Sputnik put out.

This has gotta be satire

> Labeling people propagandists and conspiracy theorists is a new form of censorship and it is terrifying.

Literally you in a sibling comment:

> Just looked at your comment history and every comment is anti Russia. Seems you are in fact well paid.

> Max Blumenthal is a Russian propagandist who is a regular guest on Russian state backed networks such RT and Sputnik.

He is an American, and he had also worked with Al Jazeera, The New York Times and a few other wide-known and reputable organizations.

Your logic that someone is somehow inferior due to being "tainted" by interacting with those you don't like isn't really solid, especially when discussing a journalist.

> He is an American, and he had also worked with Al Jazeera, The New York Times and a few other wide-known and reputable organizations.

He's an American who really seems to like to try and push Kremlin backed talking points a lot, as well as hiring lots of people from RT and Sputnik both are which are Russian government propaganda outlets.

He also has a habit of excusing the genocide committed by Assad's regime.

A counter point to what you are saying is, just because someone has been credible in the past does not make them credible now, especially when they repeatedly push propaganda talking points.

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