-By Warner Todd Huston
It won’t be long before America’s voice for democracy will be silenced in Russia after the Obama administration fired most of the staff at the offices of Radio Liberty.
In an effort to silence that U.S. voice for democracy, Putin’s Russia passed a new law on November 10 that makes it illegal to have radio stations that are more than 48 percent foreign-owned. The law ended Radio Liberty’s license to broadcast on the AM band in Russia. The original license was issued by Boris Yelstin in the days when Russia was promising to become a new beacon of democracy and freedom after generations of communist oppression in the former Soviet bloc.
After the law was enacted, on September 20 and 21, U.S. officials fired some 41 staffers, journalists, and broadcasters, gruffly escorted them under armed guard to a lawyer’s office, demanded that they sign a statement ending their own jobs and were then escorted off the premises.
These mass firings came as a great shock to everyone. No advanced notice of shutting down America’s voice in Russia was related ahead of time but this abrupt shut down leaves a bad impression about America’s dedication to liberty.
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Putin Wins: Obama Shutting Down U.S. Pro-Democracy Radio Broadcasts in Russia”