Former British diplomat and independent journalist Craig Murray is the first person imprisoned in the UK over media contempt in 50 years.

The top Scottish court's decision to imprison him has put the final nail in the coffin of citizen journalism. The judges have ruled they will be the ones to decide who is considered a journalist and thereby who receives legal protections for their work. This is a barely concealed way for the state to license or “credentialize” journalists. It turns journalism into a professional guild with only official, corporate journalists safe from legal retribution by the state.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/07/31/craig-murrays-jailing-national-security-state-independent-journalism/

We reported from inside Nicaragua on the 42nd anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution.

We spoke with everyday Nicaraguans ignored by mainstream corporate media about how their lives have changed under the revolutionary government:

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/07/24/nicaragua-sandinista-revolution-42-anniversary/

Biden picked up where Trump left off and has been aggressively bombing Somalia.

Successive US administrations have cycled through a myriad of excuses to bomb the country, not acknowledging that they are bombing the very "terrorists" they created.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/08/13/in-somalia-the-us-is-bombing-the-very-terrorists-it-created/

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton are doing a livestream today, August 19, at 2 pm ET / 11 am PT / 1800 UTC.

We will discuss the US military pullout from Afghanistan with journalist Pepe Escobar, who has extensive experience reporting in the country and was even arrested by the Taliban.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiF3TQZSxhs

After the stream, join Ben Norton at 4 pm ET / 1 pm PT / 2000 UTC for his show Propaganda Today over at Rokfin, where he will discuss how the US government gave birth to the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan: https://rokfin.com/benjaminnorton

Join at 7 PM EST https://rokfin.com/stream/8355/Foreign-Agents-4-Afghanistans-endless-war-with-Scott-Horton

Geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar argues the US defeat in Afghanistan “is even more important than 9/11.”

The invasion of Afghanistan marked the beginning of the US "war on terror," and Washington's withdrawal marks the end. US policymakers will now dedicate even more resources to the new cold war, to try to contain China and Russia, and Afghanistan will join the process of Eurasian political and economic integration.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/08/21/us-afghanistan-pullout-cia-opium-pipeline/

From "the CIA at Harvard" and his NED-funded think tank, the renowned "nonviolent" political strategist Gene Sharp created new tactics to overthrow governments that Washington (and US corporations) had targeted for regime change.

Sharp declared, "I say nonviolent struggle is armed struggle ... Only with this type of struggle, one fights with psychological weapons, social weapons, economic weapons, and political weapons ... This is a technique of combat; it is a substitute for war and other violence; it is not compromise."

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/08/17/regime-change-gene-sharp-coups/

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton are doing a livestream today, August 26, to discuss how US meddling is fueling war in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and destabilizing the strategic Horn of Africa.

The stream starts at 4 pm ET / 1 pm PT / 2000 UTC

Join us on YouTube at https://youtube.com/watch?v=v8vRaWgI86Q

Afterward, join Ben for his show Propaganda Today at Rokfin, where he will discuss the warning signs of a soft coup in motion against Peru's elected leftist government, as well as US-sponsored corruption in Afghanistan: https://rokfin.com/stream/8568/Perus-leftists-warn-of-soft-coup--USsponsored-corruption-in-Afghanistan

Biden’s popular and long overdue withdrawal from Afghanistan triggered a big media meltdown that exposed its de facto merger with the military.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/08/30/afghanistan-beltway-medias-permanent-war-state/

As the US establishment grapples with its defeat in Afghanistan, military veterans explain how the war was lost, Afghans suffered, and military contractors profited – all while the American public was kept in the dark.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/08/22/anti-war-veterans-explain-how-us-lost-afghanistan-while-leaders-lied-profited/

Before he stole $169 million and fled his failed state in disgrace, Afghanistan’s puppet President Ashraf Ghani was formed in elite American universities, given US citizenship, trained in neoliberal economics by the World Bank, glorified in the media as an “incorruptible” technocrat, and coached by powerful DC think tanks like the Atlantic Council.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/09/02/afghanistan-ashraf-ghani-corrupt/

Under the cover of counterterrorism, AFRICOM is beefing up Nigeria’s military to ensure the free flow of oil to the West, and using the country as a proxy against China’s influence on the continent.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/09/13/us-oil-rich-nigeria-proxy-africa/

The US Congress invited neoconservative regime-change strategists to discuss the next stage of hybrid warfare on Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, which will likely involve creating an economic blockade, refusing to recognize the legitimacy of President Daniel Ortega, and borrowing tactics the Trump administration used in its coup attempt in Venezuela.
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/09/24/us-congress-economic-war-nicaragua-sandinista/

We sat down for an interview with the Cuban Foreign Ministry's director general of the United States, to discuss continuing US attempts to overthrow his country’s government.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/09/29/top-cuban-diplomat-speaks-to-the-grayzone-about-renewed-us-assault/

As the Biden administration continues to seek the extradition of Julian Assange, new details have emerged about the Trump administration’s secret CIA-led war against Assange and his organization, Wikileaks.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/09/30/inside-the-cia-plot-to-kidnap-kill-julian-assange/

Western governments in the NATO military alliance are developing tactics of “cognitive warfare,” using the supposed threats of China and Russia to justify waging a “battle for your brain” in the “human domain,” to “make everyone a weapon.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/10/08/nato-cognitive-warfare-brain/

Max Blumenthal and @BenjaminNorton are interviewing economist Michael Hudson today about his book "Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire."

Hudson just published a new edition updated to address the new cold war on China and Russia.

The livestream starts at 2 pm ET / 11 am PT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiz934HVZjY

Much of the legal team of Facebook "whistleblower" Frances Haugen, from a shady group called Whistleblower Aid, consists of former US intelligence agency insiders.

Our investigation suggests Haugen was cultivated to complete Facebook’s transformation into a vehicle for the US national security state.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/10/21/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen-us-intelligence/