FILTHY MEDIA—CBS 60 Minutes “The Capital of Free Russia”
Annotated by Patrice Greanville
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EXHIBIT 1: CBS 60 Minutes: The Capital of Free Russia (Mar 18, 2024)
Russian critics of Putin fight for freedom, democracy — even after going into exile
Loaded with lies and malicious innuendo, 60 Minutes "reports" on Russia are models of devious disinformation in which truth is upended, and neo-Nazis hailed as avatars of "democracy". Scott Pelley. a senior honcho at 60 minutes, is, as usual, reliably cringeworthy. Pelley either knows nothing about the subject or is a consummate presstitute—maybe both, as is the case with so many prominent figures in US media. True to his mission, he doesn't warn the audience that Lithuania has long been a rabid Russophobic nation (like Poland and the rest of the Baltics), and that they eagerly collaborated with the Nazis, and in a way, still do. Comfortably wrapped in US exceptionalism, Pelley speaks solemnly about the "fake news" and "democracy" that oppresses so many Russians. He insinuates, with calm assurance, that the results of this election in Russia carry no suspense, as Putin's challengers (Prigozhin and Navalny, the latter falsely billed as "Putin's leading rival", a label that would make most Russians convulse with laughter), have a habit of dying. (Wink, wink, draw your own conclusions). His witnesses, all pro-Western Russians a la Navalny, a confirmed CIA asset, decry "the sameness of Russian media." and "its indifference to truth." They might as well be talking about the American media. The Russian critics, as all professional Russian dissidents do, speak of dark persecution. We saw this movie before, in Cold War I. But the most dangerous (and disgraceful) part is that with their pretend, sanctimonious concern for "freedom and democracy" and human rights, these self-impressed clowns, nothing but lavishly paid stenographers to power, play a critical role in the manufacturing of consent for ghastly imperial "wars of choice" by the US oligarchy, as Ukraine and Gaza so eloquently prove. This is the kind of mob that richly deserves a new special Nuremberg tribunal.
[Official description deck by CBS] Vladimir Putin has cracked down on dissent, but it hasn’t stopped critics from speaking out. Many of them now live in Vilnius, Lithuania, a place some might view as the capital of free Russia.
BELOW, the CBS text accompanying this video.
According to Mantas Adomenas, Lithuania's deputy foreign minister from 2020 until last August, Lithuania's policy — and proud tradition — has been to provide refuge for those fleeing persecution. "We spend considerable effort in making sure that dissidents are safe here and safer than they would be, in fact, in many other countries," Adomenas told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley. But in March, Leonid Volkov, the longtime chief of staff of the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, was assaulted with a hammer outside his Vilnius home. Three men were arrested in April in relation to the attack: two Polish citizens accused of carrying it out, and a Belarussian, who allegedly ordered it. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the Belarussian was "working for the Russians." Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda offered a public message to Putin after the assault: "Nobody is afraid of you here." In Lithuania, about 2,500 Russians have been given humanitarian visas since Putin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Adomenas, the deputy foreign minister, told 60 Minutes his country maintains careful checks on the dissident community. "We know what Russian secret services do to dissidents and to the opponents of the regime abroad," Adomenas said. "So, it is a very sort of arduous task to keep them safe here." One prominent Russian who has relocated to Vilnius is activist Anastasia Shevchenko. In 2019, Shevchenko was the first Russian charged under a new law banning "undesirable organizations" — including the pro-democracy group where she fought for justice. While Shevchenko was under house arrest, she was unable to care for her severely disabled daughter, who lived at a Russian government care facility. Her daughter later died, and a Paramount+ documentary followed Shevchenko's journey to scatter her ashes in the Black Sea. Two years after her daughter's death, Russia convicted and sentenced Shevchenko to probation. When Putin invaded Ukraine, Shevchenko and her two surviving children fled to Vilnius. After she crossed the border, Russia placed her on a wanted list; now if Shevchenko returns to her homeland, she faces immediate imprisonment. For now, Shevchenko said her two children are happy in Lithuania and do not wish to return to Russia. But while she is now able to speak freely about her criticism of Putin in her new country, Shevchenko said she still does not feel completely protected. "You never feel safe, you know, if you are a Russian activist," she said. "When I say I live in Lithuania, people ask me, 'Come on. Are you actually safe there?' I don't think I am." The Capital of Free Russia--click on this link
EXHIBIT 2: CNN's Inside Politics—Dana Bash And Debbie Wasserman Schultz Accuse Hamas of Sexual Crimes. / Jun 19, 2024
Dana Bash And Debbie Wasserman Schultz SPREADING Debunked Lies
Premiered Jun 19, 2024
Bash and Wasserman-Schultz, notorious for her political fraud (engineering the "defeat" of Bernie Sanders as part of the cynical DNC plot to ensure Hillary's victory), take turns defaming Hamas as a bunch of savage "sexual predators", such charges already reliably debunked even by pro-Zionist media such as the New York Times, which earlier tried hard to sell this lie to its audience.
- In cynicism and power, the US propaganda machine easily surpasses Orwells Ministry of Truth.
- Now the fight against anti-semitism is being weaponised as a new sanctimonious McCarthyism.
- Unless opposed, neither justice nor our Constitutional right to Free Speech will survive this assault.
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