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Russia Today: NatWest To Close Russian Channel's UK Bank Accounts (bbc.com)
According to the editor-in-chief of state-run broadcaster Russia Today (RT), NatWest bank froze its account. Margarita Simonyan said, "They've closed our accounts in Britain. All our accounts. 'The decision is not subject to review.' Praise be to freedom of speech!" The Guardian adds: Russia has angrily accused Britain of trampling on freedom of speech after NatWest said it was closing down the bank accounts of the Kremlin TV channel Russia Today (RT). Russian MPs, the foreign ministry and human rights officials all condemned the move, and said the UK government was guilty of violating press freedom and of double standards. Simonyan said she had received a letter out of the blue from NatWest saying that it was pulling the plug on the broadcaster's accounts from mid-December. "We have recently undertaken a review of your banking arrangements with us and reached the conclusion that we will no longer provide these facilities," it said.
Autocrats Playbook. This is the kind of thing Russia and China do to US/EU media groups.
The difference between modern Western Democracies and the light autocracies of Russia and China continues to disappear. Once Trump gets done killing the GOP and the US is a defacto one party state there wont even be a paper thin difference.
... while the focus in the US has been more about the hacking of the DNC and similar stories, if I had to wager, I'd guess that this is part of the new sanctions threatened against Russia by John Kerry and Boris Johnson over the bombing of Aleppo.
The internet is not a series of tubes. It's more like a net. Or a network of computers. Or an internet.
Russia is going to collapse any day now, with how they are isolating themselves and hacking America and sending their rust bucket army around the world. They're just a regional power.
Propaganda is supposed to be protected speech? Cool, let me open a new TV-station in Russia then..
Basically, from what I can see, this is a 'gentle' way of telling Russia to stop backing the Syrian regime so Europe and the Middle East can deal with the influx of refugees.
Anything less-gentle would be the closing all accounts of Russian oligarchs and the beginning of sanctions. I'm not sure why it never happened after Russia annexed Crimea and gave missiles capable of blowing up airplanes (like the Dutch one) to Ukraine-separatists.
No sig for you! Come back one year!
To pay the people in their London bureau?
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
some shit is too stinky even for the banking industry.
Who knew.
Russia has angrily accused Britain of trampling on freedom of speech
As if Putin, and thereby extension Russia, knows what freedom of speech is.
If Russia is so worried about freedom of speech then perhaps they should start at home by allowing all those opposition and independent news organizations they keep investigating and shutting down to reopen. Lead by example.
The same would go for the Tartar news and radio organizations they've shut down since they've taken over Crimea from Ukraine rather than putting locks on the doors and imprisoning Tartars who run those organizations.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I remember the conspiracy nuts saying something like this was going to happen over a year ago. It sounded insane at the time, you can't just shut down a media outlet in a western country, but now it's actually happening. If they're correct about everything, then an internet crackdown is next.
https://www.theguardian.com/wo...
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
I can't help wondering if there is more to this. For some reason, I get a bunch of Russia Today articles in my news feed. It's interesting to read their side of things from time to time. Heavily biased and full of pro-Russian propaganda, but I'm smart enough to wade through most of that.
That said, it's hard to see how any of it is illegal and deserving of being closed down. Is there more to this story that isn't public? Or is this as simple as Britain shutting off RT just to quiet it. I hope there is more to this and not some overly sensitive clod high-up abusing his power.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
oh snap!!!
Are we far enough along with Brexit that this action doesn't reflect on the EU?
Come play Moral Decay!
Not sure how that works.
Russia cared about freedom of speech. Or freedom. Why dont they go back to their racist holes and throw some more homosexuals in jail..
Before we get into the whole "was the UK gov involved" quagmire, for what reason did the bank state that they froze the accounts? Without evidence, everything is pure speculation.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
I wouldn't be surprised if Wells Fargo might be interested in setting up multiple accounts for Russia Today. They have the infrastructure in place to set up multiple accounts whether you want them or not, though that infrastructure has been sidelined recently.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
An attack on communications can mean only one thing... WAR!
These stupid vatniks didn't realistically expect that their dirty and unsavoury tactics against the West wouldn't be repaid in kind, did they?
(Says one prairie dog to the other): "I think the lawnmower's gone. I'm gonna stick my head up and check."
***WHACK!***
They were given a two months notice. Whatever the reason. They can still access their assets and move them elsewhere. A PITA, yes, but a far cry from "frozen".
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
...what are the poor Jews going to do now?
Who controls the British crown?
Who keeps the metric system down?
We do, we do!
Who keeps Atlantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We do, we do!
Who holds back the electric car?
Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star?
We do, we do!
Who robs cavefish of their sight?
Who rigs every Oscar night?
We do!
We do!!!
It takes a retard of cosmic proportions to want to fuck with russia as if its a simple no cost matter, luckily for us the left is full of joyous beta male retards who think the world is their pearl, the universe is rosy & that they are all special hairless monkey snowflakes
This isn't sanctioned by the uk government. It's a bank who, for some reason, has decided they don't to take a risk with Russia Today. There's nothing stopping Russia Today opening another bank account with another bank in the UK.
To say it's under the control of the uk government is wrong. They bailed this shoddy excuse for a financial institution in the last recession, and would likely sell it up if it ever got worth anything.
However, RT IS a voice of the Kremlin. They both share those chips on their shoulders. Indeed, it's quite bizarre when there's news about Ukranian rebels accused of shooting down a commercial airline on all the other news broadcasts. RT will not even mention this news even to deny it...