{"id":1577696,"date":"2022-07-29T08:59:57","date_gmt":"2022-07-29T12:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1577696"},"modified":"2022-07-29T09:00:01","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T13:00:01","slug":"us-taxpayers-are-funding-ukraines-blacklisting-of-american-dissenters-for-thought-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-taxpayers-are-funding-ukraines-blacklisting-of-american-dissenters-for-thought-crimes\/","title":{"rendered":"US Taxpayers Are Funding Ukraine\u2019s Blacklisting Of American Dissenters For Thought Crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fus-taxpayers-are-funding-ukraines-blacklisting-of-american-dissenters-for-thought-crimes%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1577696&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On July 14, the Ukrainian government published a bizarre list of academics, politicians, policymakers, and contrarian journalists, who are <em>allegedly<\/em> propagandists for Russia. The list includes sitting U.S. senators such as Rand Paul, R-Ky., former politicians such as Tulsi Gabbard, and military theorists such as Martin van Creveld and Edward Luttwak, as well as perhaps the foremost living international relations theorist of our times, John Mearsheimer.<\/p>\n<p>A report in <a href=\"https:\/\/unherd.com\/thepost\/ukraine-government-issues-blacklist-of-russian-propagandists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Unherd<\/a> cites a report from the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation explaining that \u201cthe exact criteria for inclusion are also unclear, although next to each name the report lists the \u2018pro-Russian\u2019 opinions the individual promotes. For example, Edward Luttwak\u2019s breach was to suggest that \u2018referendums should be held in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions;\u2019 Mearsheimer\u2019s breach is recorded as him saying that \u2018NATO has been in Ukraine since 2014\u2019 and that \u2018NATO provoked Putin.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If that sounds familiar, one might wish to recall documents <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawley.senate.gov\/hawley-grassley-demand-answers-new-whistleblower-documents-exposing-dhs-disinformation-board\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unearthed<\/a> by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., about similarly oriented programs planned by the Biden administration. They sound extremely similar. As the Unherd story <a href=\"https:\/\/unherd.com\/thepost\/ukraine-government-issues-blacklist-of-russian-propagandists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">adds<\/a>, \u201cThe \u2018Center for Countering Disinformation,\u2019 established in 2021 under Volodymyr Zelenskyy and headed by former lawyer Polina Lysenko, sits within the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine. Its stated aim is to detect and counter \u2018propaganda\u2019 and \u2018destructive disinformation\u2019 and to prevent the \u2018manipulation of public opinion.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Given that the Ukrainian government is being subsidized with billions of American dollars, this censorship amounts to American taxpayers paying the Ukrainian government billions of dollars to blacklist American citizens for thought crimes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>John Mearsheimer is one of the kindest mentors young scholars might ever have. Not to mention, he is a towering intellect and a pioneer of the school of international relations theory, known as <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Offensive_realism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Offensive Realism<\/a>. Simply put, this theory argues that the world order is anarchic with no global policeman and that states should be nationalist and take care of their own, instead of pursuing utopian financial and military adventures abroad.<\/p>\n<p>Mearsheimer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Tragedy-Great-Power-Politics-Updated\/dp\/0393349276\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">also understood<\/a>, before everyone else, why the rise of China is the greatest hegemonic threat that the U.S. faces in history, long before the concept of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belfercenter.org\/thucydides-trap\/overview-thucydides-trap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Thucydides Trap<\/a> was coined, and long before the economic coercions, unprecedented naval build-up, intellectual property thefts, and espionage attempts started. He also understood before all contemporary intellectuals, why wasting blood and treasure in the Middle East will dissuade the U.S. from balancing China.<\/p>\n<p>But notably, what likely landed Mearsheimer on Ukraine\u2019s blacklist, was how he understood why pushing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/24483306\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NATO expansion would lead to war<\/a>, why there would be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qciVozNtCDM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">no NATO cavalry to save Ukraine<\/a> as nuclear deterrence works both ways, what structural forces led to American foreign policy turning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nZVIaXFN2lU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">increasingly crusading<\/a> in the last couple of decades, and why America is prone to be influenced by foreign lobbying.<\/p>\n<p>If not anything else, purely from a sense of propriety or respect for academic eminence, the attempted thought policing by Ukrainian officials should be considered internal interference and should infuriate any decent man.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As Dan Caldwell, the VP of Stand Together, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dandcaldwell\/status\/1551605377883672577\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tweeted<\/a>, \u201cLet\u2019s be clear: this is an attempt by an increasingly illiberal Ukrainian government to silence, intimidate, and smear several prominent American foreign policy scholars whose views are increasingly shared by the American people and policymakers. @StateDept should condemn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Caldwell added, \u201cYes there are some goofballs on this list. But that is the point. The Ukrainian government wanted to lump Mearsheimer, Bandow, Luttawak et al in with the loony toons to make it harder to defend the ones who are actually well-respected and credentialed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Caldwell is, of course, succinct and correct, except the Ukrainian government, the country\u2019s assorted lobbying network, and the relentless war propaganda blinded us to the fact that, <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/blog\/buzz\/ukraine-bans-pro-russian-opposition-political-party-203109\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">culturally<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/world\/europe\/ukrainian-civilians-stripped-tied-up-and-beaten-by-vigilantes-in-shocking-videos\/news-story\/3a2abcc0a87815925dce0db9cee1c09a\">tactica<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/world\/europe\/ukrainian-civilians-stripped-tied-up-and-beaten-by-vigilantes-in-shocking-videos\/news-story\/3a2abcc0a87815925dce0db9cee1c09a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">l<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/world\/europe\/ukrainian-civilians-stripped-tied-up-and-beaten-by-vigilantes-in-shocking-videos\/news-story\/3a2abcc0a87815925dce0db9cee1c09a\">ly<\/a>, there is no difference between the two warring sides.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine is rife with true-blue fascists who were all called fascists by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5SBo0akeDMY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">same people<\/a> who now bizarrely write <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/av\/world-europe-60853404\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">different history<\/a>: that high-profile supporters of Ukraine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newstatesman.com\/world\/europe\/2022\/02\/tom-tugendhat-the-west-should-expel-russian-ambassadors-and-agents\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">repeatedly<\/a> sought <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IlvesToomas\/status\/1550058536486436864\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">collective punishment<\/a> on Russians, and that Ukraine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/hillary-clinton-and-ukraine-11569881729\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">repeatedly<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2017\/01\/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interfered<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/campaign\/435029-as-russia-collusion-fades-ukrainian-plot-to-help-clinton-emerges\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">previous<\/a> U.S. elections; that Ukraine cannot survive without American money and that nothing is worse than the toxic combination of victimhood, chain-ganging, and sanctimony; and that the current Ukraine government, despite the relentless one-sided propaganda and despite individual heroism of average Ukrainians, is a perfect mix of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately how Ukraine deals with dissenters within Ukraine at a time of war is no one else\u2019s business. States turn illiberal during war; it is an iron law of history. What matters, however, is this global state-sponsored crusade on \u201cdisinformation,\u201d that seeks to delegitimize any alternative viewpoint using <a href=\"https:\/\/unherd.com\/thepost\/liberal-feminists-dont-understand-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">any smear<\/a> necessary. <\/p>\n<p>The same people who are the most vocal about the threat to democracy are the same ones currently arguing that \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/bidens-cybersecurity-czar-says-systemic-racism-is-major-threat-to-us-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">systemic racism<\/a>\u201d is a major threat to U.S. national security. And these are the very same forces that argue that anyone who wants to remain neutral in a war on the furthest periphery is a \u201cPutinist.\u201d It is past time to see the connection between these worldviews and perceive the totalitarian threat emerging from this new ideological edifice.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Dr. Sumantra Maitra is a national-security fellow at The Center for the National Interest; a non-resident fellow at the James G Martin Center; and an elected early career historian member at the Royal Historical Society. He is a senior contributor to The Federalist, and can be reached on Twitter @MrMaitra.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On July 14, the Ukrainian government published a bizarre list of academics, politicians, policymakers, and contrarian journalists, who are allegedly propagandists for Russia. The list includes sitting U.S. senators such<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":576,"featured_media":1897831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1577696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/28\/us-taxpayers-are-funding-ukraines-blacklisting-of-american-dissenters-for-thought-crimes\/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=us-taxpayers-are-funding-ukraines-blacklisting-of-american-dissenters-for-thought-crimes","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/576"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1577696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1577696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1577696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1577696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}