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I have been away for 2 weeks and on my return I discover that on 25th July Graham Phillips an independent UK journalist living and reporting in Donbas has been added to the sanctions list for his reporting of the war Ukraine has been waging against it’s rebellious citizens in Donbas. I have not followed Graham Phillips reporting and know nothing of the merit or not of his work. The point is he is a British citizen born in Nottingham went to Dundee University became a civil servant and then left to pursue independent journalism. He has been sanctioned and his UK assets frozen so he has no access to funds to defend himself.
This seems to be as flagrant an oppression of an independent journalist that the UK government has perpetrated against a citizen as that against Julian Assange and Craig Murray yet I have not seen Craig commenting on the case. Any thoughts?
There is a Wikipedia article about Graham Phillips; created less than five months ago yet it already has 320 edits, considerable edit-warring, and has been “Semi-Protected”:
The current version of the article has 47 references; looking through the History will probably reveal some more that have been removed.
I regard such sanctions as draconian and unacceptable, but it’s not nearly as bad as the treatment of Julian Assange.
Clark I take your point that the treatment of this journalist is not as bad as that of Julian Assange, so far. Phillips is out of the jurisdiction over in Donbas so they can hardly throw him in jail on trumped up charges. No doubt they would but I guess he’ll stay away. One’s freedom to live is totally neutered by freezing of assets without a right to any defence. It’s totalitarian and a massive warning signal for all independent journalists. Patel is sending UK further down the plug hole and I’m surprised Craig has not commented so far.
He’s not independent he’s shilling for the Russians. They’ve even given him an award for it.
I do not know if he is “shilling” for the Russians. Even if he was, we are not at war with the Russians and he remains a British citizen subject to a totalitarian criminal process of asset seizure. Fair play has gone out of the window and anyone voicing critical dissent from the party line will be coming into the cross hairs of our “masters” in due course as they strive to stop us hearing both sides of more issues. That means blog commenters as well as bloggers.
At least the Saker is offering support. See his interview with Graham posted yesterday. https://thesaker.is/we-all-must-speak-up-in-defense-of-graham-phillips/
Pears Morgaine, I find that language problematic. I assume that by “the Russians” you mean the Russian government; please don’t conflate the two, and please don’t go on to dismiss the Russian government as “Putin”. The way we use language affects the way we think, such that propaganda can entwine itself deep into our souls.
Philip Espin, I do not respect The Saker; I have found him to be manipulative of his audience. However, an interview will at least have given Phillips some chance to state his own point of view, albeit under the careful direction of The Saker.
I do not know much about these new UK sanctions against UK subjects; in particular, I know next to nothing about their legality or to what extent they have been tested in the courts. With the invasion of Ukraine so recent, I expect this is an ongoing, developing issue, and one that should be watched.
Well at least we agree about The Saker. His brief interview with Phillips was more interesting for what it left out, which is WHY he’s the only Brit to be sanctioned by the British Government.
