The Sept. 13 announcement by the U.S. State Department of extensive new sanctions against RT, Sputnik and other Russia media—and any Americans who have dealings with them—is provoking protests from around the world, especially those areas of the Global South that the State Department claimed had been alienated from the U.S. by RT’s malign influence.
In an article in RT headlined “Why the World’s Largest Democracy Isn’t Buying ‘Freedom of Speech’ U.S.-Style,” India’s former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal wrote that “it is difficult for outsiders to believe that ‘Russian disinformation’ can so easily influence U.S. elections, as American democracy has strong roots and cannot be destabilized by foreign propaganda; surely it is not so fragile.… The idea that foreigners could manipulate elections in the world’s oldest democracy seems far-fetched….
“Much of what Blinken claims is highly debatable to put it lightly, and contradicts America’s own policies and actions on the global level.… When non-Western countries place curbs on their own media or suppress dissent, the U.S. is quick to condemn this as a breach of democracy…. The U.S. does not seem to be mindful of the contradiction between the outright steps it has just announced against RT, which violate the principle of freedom of expression, and limited restrictions that other countries take based on what they need to do domestically to curb social unrest or violence, which the U.S. routinely condemns.
“India has experienced this and has protested this interference in its internal affairs.… In India’s case, Russian media has not interfered in the functioning of our democracy or our elections, nor have we been victims of Russian propaganda or disinformation.… There is no evidence that Russian media linked to Russian intelligence seeks to manipulate the outcome of elections `worldwide.’ It is certainly not the case with India, the world’s largest democracy.”
