“We Will Not Be Silenced” — Schiller Institute
Elon Musk and President of Uganda Labeled “Russian Propagandists,” Added to Ukrainian Blacklist
Imagine the following scenario:
You’re at a party and you start talking about politics with some random acquaintances. You are critical of the leader of your country and you voice concerns about some of the actions your government has recently taken.
One of those people you spoke with reports you to the Center for Countering Disinformation.
You are arrested and charged with “info-terrorism.” After a short trial, you are found guilty and sentenced to 15 years behind bars.
You breathe a sigh of relief. Thank goodness only 15 years! Many have been executed for this crime.
The law is clear:
Harboring dissident viewpoints is just as dangerous as harboring weapons. And speaking your mind out loud is an act of terrorism on par with planting bombs at a government building.
It may sound like something penned by George Orwell, or something from a dark dystopian science fiction story. But this is reality, right now, in Ukraine.
The above photo of Elon Musk was published by the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation. The headline reads, “Elon Musk is so different: How the narrative of the main inventor of the 21st century has changed.” The article then claims that Musk, who has provided millions of dollars worth of Starlink technology to Ukraine, is a “Russophile” loyal to the Kremlin.
Elon Musk’s “crime”…?
Saying things like this on Twitter:
“Let’s try this then: the will of the people who live in the Donbas & Crimea should decide whether they’re part of Russia or Ukraine.”
As punishment for this “info-terrorism,” the billionaire’s name has been added to a blacklist along with thousands of others targeted by the Ukrainian government for similar thoughtcrimes.
The Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation was set up in March, 2021, by the administration of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Ministry. It’s stated aim is countering what is considered “info terrorism” — that is, dissident opinions about the government or anything even loosely considered “pro-Russian propaganda.”
The CCD receives funding from the United States, approved by US Congress under HR7691, known as the “Additional Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022.” Since its establishment, this agency has created a database of thousands of people not just from Ukraine, but from all around the world. The database publicizes private information such as their home addresses, places of work, personal telephone numbers and social media profiles.
There are more than 3,000 politicians, journalists, activists, former intelligence officers, clergy and other civilians on this list, which is displayed for all the world to see, at a website called Mirotvorets — the Ukrainian word for “Peacemaker.” And age is no barrier. There are hundreds of children listed, including 13-year-old Faina Savenkova, a child-writer from Donbass, whom I have previously written of. The youngest child on the list is only nine years old.
Some of those named and doxxed in this public database have already been assassinated. After they are killed, the word “Liquidated” appears on their profile in big red letters. Such was the case with Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli and Russian correspondent Daria Dugina.
At least 37 Americans have been included in the online database, including Senator Rand Paul, former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, and several members of the Schiller Institute who took part in a press conference last week titled, “We Will Not Be Silenced! Speaking Truth In Times of War.”
You can watch the entire three-hour event at the following link and I highly recommend that you do. It’s well worth the time, and the participants also discussed the recent sabotage of Nord Stream and shared some theories about who had the motive, the means and the opportunity to sabotage the Russian natural gas pipelines.
And those who spoke at the press conference have also been added to the Ukrainian hit list, including:
Helga Zepp-LaRouche of Germany, the Founder and president of the Schiller Institute.
Former Senator Richard Black, a retired Marine and Army Colonel.
Graham Fuller, ex-vice chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council for Long-term Forecasting.
Ray McGovern, a former 27-year veteran of the CIA and co-founder of “Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity” (VIPS).
Diane Sare, an independent candidate for the Senate in New York, vying for Chuck Schumer’s seat.
Eva K. Bartlett, a Canadian war correspondent who is currently reporting from the Donbass region.
Mira Terada, Chairwoman of the Russian human rights group, Foundation to Battle Injustice.
All of these people have been deemed “info terrorists” by Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation.
Speaking the truth can often be a dangerous endeavor. But it is never more dangerous than in times of war. Since the Schiller Institute’s last press conference on this topic, which was hosted on September 7th, Ukraine’s CCD has added at least 20 more people including the president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, who said that he “saw no reason” to criticize Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
Dr. Clifford Kiracofe, who in the 1990’s served as a senior staff member of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, was added to the Mirotvorets database even though he is retired and no longer politically active.
“The US government and its financial, military and intelligence support directly and indirectly sustains and influences the information operations of the Ukraine,” he said, speaking at the conference.
But even though the Ukrainian CCD and its database is funded by the United States, the US government denies knowing, for example, that there was a plan to assassinate Daria Dugina, who was added to the database prior to her murder in August, and marked “Liquidated” on the Mirotvorets website just days after she was killed by a remotely-detonated car-bomb in Moscow.
Kiracofe worries that Americans listed in the Mirotvorets database could face a similar fate if the website is not shut down.
“This presents a direct challenge and threat to the First Amendment of our Constitution and our rights under the constitution as American citizens,” Kiracofe said.
As a US Senator, he swore to defend the constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Now he calls upon Congress for a full investigation of US funds spent in Ukraine.
“Such an investigation would include US funds supporting intelligence and information operations of the Ukraine,” he said.
Kiracofe also believes that the Library of Congress should be tasked with a full investigation of Nazi and neo-Nazi political ideology and activity in Ukraine.
“What are its origins? Who are involved in its origins and who are actively promoting this in the Ukraine today?” These are the questions he believes must be asked. “This investigation would include the eugenics and racial anthropology research in the Ukraine during the 1920’s and 1930’s which preceded the rise of Stepan Bandera and other extremists associated with the German Nazi regime.”
Truth, as it’s said, is the first casualty of war. But it’s during times of war when truth is more important than ever, according to Diane Sare, an independent candidate for the US Senate from New York.
“I think it’s impossible to overestimate the power of speaking the truth in a moment like this,” she said, “because you don’t know which ears your words are reaching.”
Sare believes that the impact just one individual can make should never be underestimated: “What I wanted to contribute to this discussion today is the urgency of everyone acting in the interests of the good of mankind because I think there is a universal principle of natural law and I think we are seeing some glimmers of a response to our action.”
Glimmers there may be, but a white-hot spotlight is what’s needed. A spotlight that will bring world awareness to Ukraine’s fascist blacklist.
“The one thing that all of humanity has in common is the need to have a voice,” former Senator Richard Black said, “and I think that’s why you’re seeing the global south rising up against this one world order. The people of Europe are rising up against this one world order. Everybody realizes that we have got to stop this monstrous force that is gradually putting in place institutions that will eliminate all freedom, forever.”
Black referred to recent elections in key countries around the globe where extreme right-wing candidates have been winning. And he doesn’t believe that’s all by coincidence, either. Oligarchs with their hearts set on acquiring more power, he says, are behind many of the frightening trends in the world today. “Their goal is to silence the voices of the people, and to simply use the people as tools in their effort to acquire monstrous amounts of power and to be able to treat people as lumps of coal that they can simply burn in the furnace or they can store on the shelf, whatever they want to do with humanity.”
“It’s very dangerous,” Black went on to say. “They’re to the point now where they are risking, and recklessly risking, thermonuclear war. And I think it’s very important that people rise up. I’m quite encouraged by the populist movements in Europe.”
Former CIA veteran Graham Fuller shares Senator Black’s concerns about the recklessness of those in power.
“Clearly this is a major tragedy, at least in the West, probably extending to much of the world, as this foolish and dangerous war in Ukraine, proxy war in Ukraine, advances,” said Fuller, a former vice chair of the National Intelligence Council who served as CIA Station Chief in Kabul, Afghanistan. Aside from the massive loss of life which is the terrible price of every war, Fuller believes the next biggest casualty is the loss of a free press.
“We now find a, I hate to say it, but a masterful orchestration by Washington of international media,” he said. And why is this happening? “I think one quite obvious reason…is the degree of corporatization of Western media in which most corporations, major media, are very unwilling to buck the trend of what the mainstream lines of American policy are.”
And one of those lines, or narratives, is the extreme Russophobia which has gripped most of the West, as a direct response to mass media propaganda.
“In my entire experience as a CIA operations officer, and I speak Russian fluently, I’ve dealt with Russians, Soviets more to the point, back in the day, I have never seen such a vilification of Russia, of not only Russia but of Russian culture, Russian people, Russian arts, anything related to Russia,” Fuller said, “that has been simply vilified for purposes of this propaganda campaign in the war.”
The importance of communication between the United States and Russia has never been more paramount, and yet Russian voices are being shut down by major media, by social media, and by the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation.
“I don’t want to say that this is an open and shut situation of good and evil on either side in the war in the Ukraine,” Fuller said. “Both sides have their cases to be made and they need to be examined. But the problem is that if anybody attempts to address these problems, in a balanced fashion, is largely silenced. If not actually silenced, at least they can find very few media outlets which will cover alternative views of this crisis.”
“‘The problem ain’t what people know, the problem is what people do know that ain’t so. That’s the problem,’” Quipped Ray McGovern, quoting Will Rogers. McGovern also served in the CIA for 27 years, having signed up while John F. Kennedy was President. Media, he believes, is the biggest threat to truth and freedom in the world today. “When you learn the truth, then you can keep your freedom.”
Despite efforts by the Schiller institute and all those speaking at the conference, who have been targeted by Ukraine’s notorious blacklist, the Mirotvorets database continues to operate and adds dozens of people every day, according to Mira Terada, Chairwoman of the Russian human rights group, the Foundation to Battle Injustice.
While the Mirotvorets database is easily accessible online, social media platforms such as Facebook have banned Terada’s organization so completely that you can’t even post a link to the Russian foundation, which has been investigating the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation and keeping track of those it has targeted, and those who have been killed.
“In mid-September, Italian journalist Mattia Sorbi, whose personal data was published on Mirotvorets, almost became another victim of Ukrainian nationalists,” Terada said, describing Sorbi’s near-death experience in Ukraine, where he was escorted by Ukrainian servicemen to a road that turned out to be heavily mined. The journalist was injured in an explosion and rescued by Russian servicemen who took him to a hospital. Sorbi is listed in the Mirotvorets database where he is accused of “anti-Ukrainian propaganda.”
Terada, who is included in the database, said that earlier this month, French war correspondent Adrien Boke also had a close call when he was attacked in Istanbul, Turkey, after reporting that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had staged an alleged Russian attack on Bucha.
Other prominent figures who have been added to the Ukrainian blacklist include John Mearsheimer, Tucker Carson, Glenn Greenwald and Steven Seagal. All of them are accused of having “pro-Russian views,” of being “Kremlin propagandists,” and broadcasting an agenda that goes against the position of Kiev.
Terada believes that the CCD is targeting people outside of Ukraine in order to add more fury to the worldwide Russophobia which is already spreading like wildfire.
“After the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict,” she said, “the level of hatred towards Russian citizens in Europe and the world has reached unprecedented heights: States are closing entry for Russian citizens, monuments to Soviet liberators are being demolished in Eastern European countries, the rights of Russians are being infringed for political and Russophobic reasons.”
In Riga, Latvia, Terada said, more than 120 people gathered in Victory Park to lay flowers and take a last look at a World War II monument to the Soviets who freed Riga from the control of Nazi Germany. The monument was to be demolished, so they gathered to say their goodbyes, “and a few hours later the local police arrived, who immediately began arresting peaceful demonstrators. It is noteworthy that there were no people among the crowd who behaved aggressively. It was an action of farewell to the monument, no one resisted the police. This did not prevent Latvian law enforcement agencies from using force and detaining 19 people, including women and children. Eyewitnesses said that the police roughly grabbed the protesters by the hands, pushed and dispersed the crowd, one man was detained for lighting a candle.”
Terada said that aggression against Russian civilians is not just limited to Baltic countries but is increasing worldwide. Even some airlines, she says, refuse to allow Russians to board: “Inspired by the example of Lithuania, some European Union countries that want or have already blocked the entry of Russian citizens into their territory also support Russophobia. Finnair, Ryanair, Lufthansa staged a witch hunt with Russian passports.”
Finland recently banned Russian tourists from entering the country, and the prime minister of Estonia has called for a ban on issuing visas to Russians planning to visit the EU. Russians traveling or living abroad face increasing discrimination resulting in acts of vandalism at their businesses or homes, having their property seized, or being banned from cultural and sporting events. Even Russian cats and dogs have been banned from international competitions.
Terada has reached out to the governments of Western countries and human rights groups around the world, but her pleas mostly fall on deaf ears. So she, and those speaking at the conference, call upon individuals to speak up about the Ukrainian blacklist, the Center for Countering Disinformation, and its Western supporters.
What can you do? For starters, you can contact your representatives. At the very least, you can add your name to the hundreds who have already signed the petitions below.
Foundation to Battle Injustice petition:
https://fondfbr.ru/en/letters-and-petitions/myrotvorets-un-en/
Schiller institute open letter:
https://schillerinstitute.com/blog/2022/09/22/open-letter-to-the-united-nations-no-2-from-the-schiller-institute-the-foundation-to-battle-injustice/
Additional articles about the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation can be found at the Schiller Institute’s website: https://schillerinstitute.com/?s=ukrainian+center+for+disinformation
About the author:
Deborah Armstrong currently writes about geopolitics with an emphasis on Russia. She previously worked in local TV news in the United States where she won two regional Emmy Awards. In the early 1990’s, Deborah lived in the Soviet Union during its final days and worked as a television consultant at Leningrad Television.
