Twitter “permanently suspended” the retired US Marine Corps officer Scott Ritter on Wednesday, accusing him of engaging in prohibited behavior by questioning the claims of Ukrainian authorities that Russian soldiers had massacred civilians in Bucha near Kiev. Ritter is best known as the former UN weapons inspector who doubted US claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, invoked by Washington as a pretext for the 2003 invasion.
“So apparently I’ve been suspended from Twitter for the crime of challenging the orthodox narrative of the so-called Bucha massacre,” Ritter said on his Telegram channel, sharing a screenshot of the message he received from the Big Tech platform.
“I’ve appealed, so who knows what the future will bring,” Ritter said, adding that “Freedom of speech in America today is an endangered concept.”
According to the screenshot, Twitter’s censors had decided that Ritter violated their rules against “harassment and abuse” by saying the Ukrainian police had committed crimes against humanity in Bucha, and were trying to shift blame onto Russia with US help.
Ritter’s tweet did not contain calls for abuse or harassment, or wish physical harm on anyone, Shadowproof journalist Kevin Gosztola pointed out, arguing that his ban “shows how Twitter Rules can be twisted to silence US foreign policy critics.”
Ritter is a retired US Marine who had inspected Soviet weapons under the now-defunct INF treaty, worked as the chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, and served on the staff of General Norman Schwarzkopf during the first Gulf War.
Anonymous
PS. Now you know truth can be fake and fake can be truth depending on what they want you to believe in. This is as good as adults telling lies and demanded that the lies be accepted as truth.
ReplyDeleteThe barbaric Anglo-Saxon Americans have set aside 5 billion dollars for the Department of Propaganda to create and engineer all kinds of lies, untruths and half-truths to demonize their opponents especially China and Russia. They are so untrustworthy, unreliable and dishonourable that they are only capable of twisting lies into truth and truth into lies to suit their insidious agenda of world domination and hegemony.
Southernglory1
Just imagine, based on a video that has not been verified, investigated or authenticated to see if it is the truth, the UN straight away called for a meeting and voted to kick out Russia from the Human Rights Council. Isn't there such a thing as innocent until proven guilty? Is the UN's existence just to pander to the Western whims and fancies to punish those that the West cannot tolerate, instead of protecting legitimate rights of all members? Russia did the right thing and exit the body.
ReplyDeleteNow I understand why Russia's attempt to call for a UN Security Council investigation over that video had been blocked by the British. They wanted to push the guilty verdict fast by force of numbers without waiting for a proper investigation. This is what they call their 'Rule of Law'.
As some have suspected, that video footage could have been used purposefully to provide the basis for a false flag. And they gave no avenue for Russia to rebut. If they could do the most vile fabrication and lies to invade Iraq, this is not impossible. The USA and the West have resorted to this in desperation, as they have been unable to carry out their plan to collapse Russia's economy and instead is facing a backlash by many countries now dumping US$ in trade deals with Russia.
Moreover, more and more European countries are no longer dancing to the USA's dictate, as some have now come to their senses and are agreeing to pay Russia in Rubles for oil and gas. Many must be equally aware now that the USA itself is breaking the sanctions call by buying even more Russian oil, while coercing the Europeans to ban import of Russian oil. What kind of a untrustworthy ally can that be, screwing them up from behind, and they blindly follow the USA, who will soon lead them over the cliff if they do not wake up. No wonder being an enemy of the USA is dangerous, while being it's friend is fatal.
Now India, for abstaining at the UN vote to throw out Russia, is in deeper waters. India and China must settle their border dispute and close ranks as the devil is going to wreck havoc on them soon. India should just forget about the QUAD and the upcoming meeting, which will see a castigation of India's behavior for sure. There are corrupt politicians and judges in every country that can be bought, as in Pakistan, and these corrupt politicians will help the USA to bring down the Government of that country. India will not be spared.
My hats off to LKY for being able to see all these problems decades ago and he put up laws to forbid political parties from receiving funding by foreign elements. Still, it takes a country having such strong guardrails in place to have equally strong successive leaders to hold it together.
Ukrainian security officials and Western journalists who went looking for Russian atrocities northwest of Bucha in the Kiev region found no signs of human rights abuses, according to phone call records obtained by RT. Instead, locals told journalists the Russian troops gave them food and treated them well. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian official complained that his own side’s militia looted everything.
ReplyDeleteIn a series of satellite phone calls, a reporter identified only as “Simon” tells his colleagues he visited Borodyanka – a town about 25 kilometers northwest of Bucha – and “there’s no bodies in the streets at all,” contrary to what he was led to expect. RT
In the latest voting led by the Americans to condemn Russia for atrocities in Bucha, and to kick out Russia from the Human Rights council, all Asean states have been told to toe the line, either vote against the case or abstained. No Asean state is allowed to vote in favour of the Americans.
Was the back door left open?
ReplyDeleteSingapore Abstained in UNGA Vote, Vivian Getting it Right
ReplyDeleteSingapore had abstained from the UN General Assembly vote Thursday which suspended Russia from the Human Rights Council.
The United States-led push garnered 93 votes in favour, while 24 countries voted no and 58 countries abstained.
Singapore called for all parties including the conniving UK to cooperate with an independent commission of inquiry on alleged human rights violations in Ukraine, adding that is important for the commission to be given full and unhindered access to do its work.
Vivian deserve a pat.
Was that Asean's stand or Singapore's stand?
ReplyDeletePoor Ukrainians, the Americans have taken over the war. Every piece of statement supposedly made by the Ukrainian government or Zelensky is now written and published by the Americans. The Ukrainians no longer in the picture, just being puppets on a string.
ReplyDeleteWould any country allow themselves to be in the position of the Ukrainians with the Americans telling what to do and what to say?
Asean very tough this time. No Asean state is to break ranks. All must take the same position. A neutral stand.
ReplyDeleteIn this war, the Ukrainians are paying in blood, NATO is paying in resources and losing credibility, and all the USA did was stand far away, add fuel to fire, clap and encourage, and stand ready to sell oil, gas and more weapons to Europe.
ReplyDeleteWorst act of all they betrayed the Europeans by going behind them to buy even more oil from Russia, effectively breaking their own sanctions while coercing the Europeans to boycott Russian oil.
The UN had been hijacked by the USA to further it's unlawful behavior. It is no longer an organisation that should be upholding justice for all, but had become a rubber stamp for the USA and just pandering to it's whims and fancies.
ReplyDeleteWhen the USA is able to push further it's so called 'Rule of Law', the world will suffer it's injustice more than ever. That can never be allowed to happen. And that is why we need a bipolar world that cannot be dominated by one country dictating and using world bodies to further it's agenda. All those world bodies need to be taken down - UN, IMF, SWIFT etc as they are no longer existing to serve the world, but to serve the USA alone.
Ukraine army committing war crimes on camera. Several Russian POW have been executed, they are on the ground with their hands tied on their backs.
ReplyDeleteUS Pushed UN Resolution to Suspend Russia With Partial Facts
ReplyDeleteDouble standards - countries had not driven the US out of the UN human rights body when it bombed civilians in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan
After the vote pushed by the US at the UN General Assembly decided to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council, some member states expressed opposition to the hasty move which forced countries to take sides before knowing the full story.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday calling for Russia to be suspended from the Human Rights Council. In the 193-member Assembly, 93 countries voted in favor, 24 against, and 58 abstained. Russia, China, Iran and Vietnam were among those who voted against. Those who abstained include India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Pakistan and Singapore.
The vote sets a dangerous precedent on that a resolution without solid investigation can be brought to the UN where member states are then abducted by political ideology and forced to choose sides.
According to the UN release, the resolution was brought to the Assembly after a flurry of disturbing photos of the "Bucha incident." Ukraine accused Russian military forces of killing a large number of civilians during the occupation of the city of Bucha, located in the western suburbs of Kiev. Russia categorically denied it and presented the UN Security Council with empirical evidence of the Ukrainian side's video falsification and other fakes.
After the UN posted the tally on its Twitter account, it's noted that even under great pressure from the US and the West, the total number of those who voted against and abstained was still close to those who voted in favor. The accusations against Russia on the "Bucha incident" have yet to be proved, while the irrefutable atrocities conducted by Ukraine forces against Russian POWs were caught on camera.
The UN's role to unite the world is on the ebb as it was silent on the US-led chaos in Libya, Tunisia, Iran, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. The West's hurriedly subscription to the US-pushed resolution against Russia at the UN denies rules-based international values.
The United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the SWIFT, Etc, these are all bought over by the US for its only political our purposes.
ReplyDeleteThese organisations must never be allowed to serve the general populace any more. These organisations must be ostracised from now on.
A separate set of organisations must be set up to replace such organisations. These separate organisations must be bipolar so that agendas can be separately set.
Serbia Says It Was Blackmailed Over UN Vote
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday, the UN General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the organization’s human rights panel. Serbia was among the 93 member states that backed the suspension.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic revealed that his country has been pressured under the threat of sanctions to back Russia’s suspension from the UN Human Rights Council.
Belgrade has close historical ties with Moscow but joined other Western nations this week in a vote against Russia in response to its ongoing military campaign in Ukraine.
“Our initial decision was to abstain, but then we were subjected to countless and difficult pressure,” Vucic told RTS TV on Thursday.
“They said - do you know that a decision is being made whether Serbia will be exempted from the package of sanctions on [Russian] oil, and whether it will be able to import oil after May 15?” the president said.
He compared the possible effect of sanctions on Serbia to “a nuclear strike.”
A video purportedly showing Ukrainian troops killing a captive Russian soldier emerged earlier this week, causing widespread concern and prompting media investigations as such an act would constitute a war crime.
ReplyDeleteSeveral men appearing to be Ukrainian soldiers, identifiable by their blue armbands and Ukrainian flag patches, are filmed in the video chatting among themselves as shots are seen fired at a man lying on the pavement.
The man is found near three seemingly dead soldiers, all wearing white armbands used by Russian forces. With a jacket over his head, he is seen gasping and bleeding heavily.
"He's still alive. Film these marauders. Look, he's still alive. He's gasping," says a voice heard in the video.
Two shots are then fired at him, but he continues to move. A third shot then follows, which seems to be fatal. "Glory to Ukraine," someone can be heard shouting. "Glory to heroes," another man responds.
One of the other three apparent victims has his hands tied behind his back.
The clip, which several news outlets claimed to have independently verified, has been geolocated to an area west of Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Russia has been scaling back its forces around Kyiv, saying it is shifting the focus of its "special military operation" to the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
Reuters said the apparent Ukrainian troops spoke Russian, which is widely spoken in Ukraine, with at least one having a Caucasian accent and others sounding like they are from southern Russia or areas of eastern Ukraine.
The New York Times, which first reported the video, said some of the people in the video were referred to as "Belgravia lads" by another man, whose voice can be heard in the clip. A neighborhood called Belgravia is located near where the incident took place, according to the Times.
The BBC said it had matched the face of one of them to a Georgian man who has ties to Ukraine via biometric technology. The news service did not reveal the man's identity.
When asked about the video that features the alleged killing, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he hadn't seen it, but had heard about it.
Moscow has previously accused Ukrainian forces of torturing Russian soldiers.
- CGTN