Purge of the Mass Media

1 Russia

The Russian Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich, stated during an online meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council that Facebook, YouTube and Google had moved from complete freedom of speech to the strict system of control over the flow of information, and the censorship of «unwelcome» mass media. Lukashevich made this statement while speaking about the removal of the informational channels, such as »Anna News», »News Front» and the »Krym-24», from YouTube. «This was done without a warning and an explanation of the reasons of the blocking. Overnight, thousands of subscribers were denied their access to the videos that had tens of millions of views» — said the Russian representative. He added that under the pretense of democracy and freedom of speech there is an on-going systematic purge of the information sources on the US-controlled Internet platforms. The diplomat called it «The American democracy». “Such policy is a gross violation of the international obligations, made to ensure the free access to the information, freedom of the mass media, and the freedom of speech. This is a direct censorship on a global scale. This problem is especially severe during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the global population needs their digital way to get information more than ever before” — the Russian diplomat concluded.

2 Afghanistan

15 Afghan border guards died, 9 were injured during several »Taliban» attacks in the province of Paktia, in east of Afghanistan — the ‘RIA NEWS’ reports while citing the head of the Patan region, Eid Mohammad Ahmadzai. “Last night the terrorists attacked 3 army and border checkpoints. The clashes continued until the morning” — he said. The locals reported that the terrorists managed to win the fight, but Ahmadzai denied those reports. He stated that several attackers were killed or injured. The Taliban haven’t made any statements regarding the attacks yet.

3 Syria

The »Al-Mayadin» TV reported a shoot-out between the Kurdish fighters from the »Syrian Democratic Forces», allied to the Turkish forces, and the Syrian armed opposition groups. The shoot-out took place in the border region of Abu Rasayn, in the north of Hasakah. The »Al-Mayadin» TV reported that fighters of the SDF opened fire on their enemies in 8 villages. Earlier the Kurds accused the Syrian opposition fighters of intentionally setting fire to the fields of wheat and barley, which could deprive the locals of their crops. Ankara and the Syrian opposition that fights under the Turkish flag accused the population of the north of Hasakah province of supporting the Kurdish fighters.

4 Syria

The ‘SANA’ news agency reported that as a result of a grenade explosion in the city of Al-Shaddadi, in the south of Hasakah, 4 children were injured. The ‘SANA’ reported that the culprits were riding a motorcycle when threw a grenade inside a residential building. As a result — 4 minors, aged from 3 to 15, were wounded. 2 of them were seriously injured.

5 Republic of Korea — the USA

The ‘Yonhap’ news agency reports, with a reference to their sources, that South Korea and the USA are trying to agree on the goals of the upcoming joint military training that was canceled earlier due to the pandemic. According to the ‘Yonhap’ — South Korea insists on conducting the exercises in order to assess the combat effectiveness of the Korean Armed Forces, with the plan of transferring of the operational control over their forces during the wartime from Washington to Seoul. Currently South Korea has the ability to command their own troops only during the peacetime. The USA stated that the upcoming exercises should be a replacement for the spring training that was canceled due to the coronavirus. The training is aimed at the increase of the joint defense capabilities of the troops of the two states. It was reported that the USA and South Korea are discussing the possibility of the joint training in August.