Back in the Cold War the Soviets spent a lot of time and effort jamming Western radio and TV broadcasts. The West never bothered trying to block Radio Moscow and the others. Why? Well, the West was confident that it was telling the truth and Moscow knew that it wasn’t. So the West was perfectly happy to let the “marketplace” decide. And, eventually, the “marketplace” did decide.

So today a couple of Brits (but hardly disinterested ones – but then isn’t everyone trying to make a few bucks out of the anti-Russia cause?) have decided that Russia is conducting an “information war” against the West. We have Legatum, funded by all the usual suspects, and now this latest of which this extract is enough to give the flavour:

Moreover, regardless of the impact of this disinformation, the fact that a disinformation campaign is being conducted by Russian government outlets remains demonstrably the case; that case is set out below. This being so, appropriate legal and diplomatic responses should be brought to bear both on the direct actors in the disinformation campaign, and on the Russian government more broadly.

Note that the authors evidently don’t trust the “marketplace” to decide this one; no, no, they call for “appropriate legal and diplomatic responses”.

I think they’re not trying hard enough. I’ll bet some of the old Soviet jamming equipment is still around somewhere and could be purchased for a very small amount of money.

There are times when freedom of speech isn’t free and the delicate ears of our people have to be protected from the foul utterances of the Kremlin.

(Just as a little trip down Memory Lane here’s the reaction of E. Eugene Pell, president of Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, to the end of Soviet jamming in 1988: ”The cessation of jamming represents a significant step on the part of the Soviet Government toward the free flow of information.” “Free flow of information”; Golly! What a concept!)

How stupid do these people think we are? A child could figure it out: only liars want to shut up the other guy.