“The Russian envoy to North Korea warned President Trump not to place any further sanctions against North Korea or Kim Jong-un surrounding ‘supplies of oil’,” says a clean-cut reporter in a polished, professional newscast presentation. “To do so, he says, would be perceived as a declaration of war.”
Hmm, interesting. What am I watching? CNN?
“But if we’re going to be honest,” the reporter continues, “aren’t all sanctions an act of war? And why are we putting sanctions on North Korea in the first place?”
Ohhhhhh.
This ain’t CNN.
Meet Ben Swann.
The report continues with information from reputable sources explaining the spurious and politically motivated basis for labeling North Korea as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, shows data documenting how ineffective sanctions actually are in achieving their purported goals, weaving together facts and figures which culminate in the conclusion that “all that those sanctions truly do is bruise and harm the people in that country who have no real control over whether there is a war or not.”
The presentation is slick and concise enough to be indistinguishable from a professional mainstream media news broadcast, save for an abundance of information which would never be permitted on mainstream media. It’s a phenomenal resource for anti-imperialists like myself to share around when news breaks as it did today that the Trump administration is stacking even more crushing sanctions upon North Korea.
[dropcap]B[/dropcap]en Swann is an award-winning journalist whose willingness to ask questions you aren’t allowed to ask and share information you aren’t supposed to share has made him a hero of alternative media and an enemy of establishment attack dogs everywhere. He famously disappeared about a year ago after doing a surprising Reality Check report about the Pizzagate controversy on a local CBS affiliate, then deleting his entire social media presence and promising to return. Swann’s social media blackout was reportedly a condition of his remaining employed at the station following the nationwide backlash against his report, but he has publicly said he will be filling us all in on exactly what went down in the near future.
In his famous Reality Check segments prior to his disappearance, Swann was one of the largest voices calling attention to the now-uncontroversial fact that the US-backed “freedom fighters” in Syria were actually violent jihadists. He called out the problems with the CIA Russia narrative, he defended Black Lives Matter protesters, WikiLeaks and third parties from establishment smears, and just generally threw a big fat monkey wrench in Big Brother’s plans for us at every opportunity using facts and information.
Swann is guided by an unapologetic libertarian ideology which has proved capable of producing some of the most effective weapons against the establishment propaganda machine on the internet. His anti-imperialist, anti-drug war, anti-surveillance, pro-freedom perspective and high professional standards have already given rise to some phenomenal videos about the despicable things the US power establishment did to Haiti, the Orwellian implications of FISA surveillance legislation, and Jeff Sessions’ idiotic marijuana agenda, as well as some quality articles on his site Truth in Media.
His ideology doesn’t exactly match my own (hell, no one’s perfect), but all in all I see Ben Swann’s return as probably the most interesting thing happening on the alternative media scene right now in terms of the damage he can do to the Orwellian death machine. Pay attention to this guy, follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and when you see him sharing something you like, throw it into the gears of the machine by circulating it far and wide. Thank you.
______________________
Thanks for reading! My daily articles are entirely reader-funded, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following me on Twitter, bookmarking my website, checking out my podcast, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying my new book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.
Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Z
Caitlin Johnstone is a brave journalist, political junkie, relentless feminist, champion of the 99 percent. And a powerful counter-propaganda tactician.
Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” -- acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump -- a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report
‘His ideology doesn’t exactly match my own (hell, no one’s perfect)’
The author’s admitted ‘relentless feminism’ is the problem, not Mr. Swann’s ideology. Nonetheless, Ben Swann is integrity in journalism defined.