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The True Cost of Free Speech

What do I say, where do I start. The erosion of the ability to advocate Free Speech (Assange, Gonzalo Lira, ‘Texas’ Bentley, the ‘Redhead with a camera’), the ongoing onslaught on the dissemination of verified and independently verifiable facts and data (shutting down the Internet Archive and MSM), the closure and blocking of Media from across the world, not just the West ( attacking social media like X, blocking RT and Sputnik) and all the allied constant public vilification of the purveyor of the truth, the opposing viewpoint, the debater, the proponent of reaching a middle ground or anyone bucking the accepted trend has led us down a perilous path. We are in a precarious state where the little alternative information and data on any subject or issue is being locked away from us by many means including a rewriting of our shared history. The courageous and determined people who stand up publicly and give their version of the facts based on data that is verifiable and that cannot be contested openly in a court or publicly are constantly attacked publicly by resorting to personal smear campaigns or financial, familial or other pressure. There are many journalists and free thinkers whose continued imprisonment, isolation and enforced poverty in the financial, emotional and psychological aspects of daily life in a great number of countries worldwide, which is a truly deplorable situation. This article is dedicated to all of them. We chose to focus on three of them because we had followed their paths when we published articles not only on politics and military, economic and social issues but also focused on the Ukraine Russia conflict, a subject we have openly reported and commented on since the start of the debacle with the installation of a puppet regime by coup d’état in 2014.

The first of the three is Katya Katina, the Redhead of Donbass whose untimely death was due to inadequate medical supplies being available (due to the Ukrainian government blocking supply routes) when she suffered a major stroke. She was active in the uprising in the Donbass that resulted from the coup in the Maidan and reported factually on the situation faced by all those living in the region who had dared to stand against the US/UK/EU imposed insane regime in Kiev for 7 years. Her unbiased reporting, her daily struggle to survive in the face of continuous life threatening danger and her unflinching determination to expose the villainous tyranny that was inflicted on the civilians of the Donbass, day after day, whose only crime was speaking Russian has led to her being forever immortalized in the pantheon of those who fought for the people against all odds. She was a voice of truth in the global propaganda lies carried by MSM (main stream media) and was also noted for her humanitarian work especially with the children of the region, most of whom were traumatized by the daily bombings, killings and other horrors of war they were forced to witness and endure. We carried an article on her in the International Outsider, on The dramatic end to Katya’s life included the loss of the love of her life to the same insane fratricidal conflict and is a witness of how war can erode and destroy lives of people at a terrible pace and in a sense as violently as a gun would.

The second is Gonzalo Lira, a dual American and Chilean citizen who had written extensively on economics and politics for more than 2 decades before he focused on the War in Ukraine and whose belief in extracting the truth led to him remaining in Kharkov, a Ukrainian city where he had been living for almost a decade already. He took no side but rather reported what he saw and understood, verifying it factually and adding his opinion where he deemed it necessary. After being arrested once by the Ukrainian Authorities, he was subsequently arrested again by the SBU, the Ukrainian Intelligence Service, much feared for good reason and after a lengthy period of imprisonment on fabricated charges, subsequently died in prison at the hands of his captors. He was derided, ridiculed and faced constant harassment while alive but the one thing he continuously maintained was a stream of truthful reportage with clear and incisive assessments of the true situation unfolding in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The international Outsider published several very telling articles on him and his work. and even contacted the American Ambassador in South Africa to ask what they were doing to ensure his release let alone his safety in prison.

The case of Gonzalo Lira is a text book of the incoherent and hypocritical ways of the western powers. If today someone wants to know about this courageous man and has the unfortunate idea of consulting Wikipedia, the opinion that he would have of Lira risks to be less than positive. (Despite the International Outsider occasionally referring to Wikipedia, we urge people to always be careful about this publication and to constantly double check the information and use this online tool mainly for ‘neutral subjects’ if such a thing exists). Wikipedia like the Main Stream Media paint a wholly negative picture of Gonzalo describing him as misogynistic, anti feminist and the worst of all, possible felony he was and still is in these different media portrayed as being rabidly ‘Pro Russian’. The truth is like the Geopolitical YouTuber Brian Berletic so aptly put it, you do not have to like Gonzalo, you do not have to espouse his opinions on feminism or whatever else, the fact is he was dead right on what he said about Ukraine. One of the most infuriating processes about the metier of geopolitical analysis nowadays involves the daily reading of articles of Mainstream media and we do it every single day. In connection with Gonzalo Lira the Wikipedia article about him is an abomination, an absolute tissue of lies. It is interesting to note that Wikipedia quote Sarah Ashton Cinillo, spokeswoman of the Ukrainian Military at that time saying to Business Insider that ‘Lira fabricated his torture accusations in an effort to gain sympathy’. Strange to note that Wikipedia did not link the name of Sarah Ashton Cinillo to the lengthy article that they have on her on the site. And that in contrast with Elon Musk, Joe Biden and many other people and organizations quoted and properly linked. Is it because Mrs Cinillo was a person that could not be trusted and that Wikipedia wanted to make sure that you did not follow that link? Whatever is the case before being a woman Sarah Ashton Cinillo was a man and that as the own opinions of Gonzalo on many social issues should not account for their views on the Ukrainian conflict. However Ashton Cinillo after having occupied several subordinate positions in the Ukrainian Army before being named spokes women where she often had a vitriolic rhetoric against Russia and the Russian forces operating in Ukraine. But even the Ukrainians who are not averse to abusive rhetoric against Russian felt that Cinillo was going too far, and after having called for violence against anyone who circulates Russian propaganda, she was suspended, albeit reluctantly.

This failed male who became a female, this failed politician who became a war journalist, this failed war journalist who became a failed soldier wounded during one of her first engagement before becoming a failed war medic and finally a very successful Ukrainian war propagandist with a twist of woke lord Haw Haw. Despite the fact that J.D Vance then a Senator, now Vice President of the United States of America wrote an accusation letter against her threats of violence, she is treated on Wikipedia as a sort of model to follow. A stark contrast with Gonzalo who once had been called by Que Passa Magazine as being the highest paid Chilean Writer in the world for having received an advance of one million dollars for a novel and its follow-up. Gonzalo participated in the creation of the story of the famous video game Soldier of Fortune as well as publishing his thoughts about the economy which were reposted in places like the Business Insider. And those are only few of the things that this talented man achieved. But the most impressive feat of the man, at least for those like us who comment about this war was the fact that he was criticizing the Kiev Government from inside their territory in a country engaged in a high intensity war against Russia. As one of our colleagues put it, he was teasing Sauron from Mordor itself! How many of us had Goose pimples listening to the man Live from the city of Kharkov, thinking of what could happen to him at any moment? Some among us knew that it was inevitable. How many Journalists of the mainstream media would have the courage to go to Moscow and start a blog against the Russian military intervention? Despite all the respect that we have for people like Alexander Mercouris, Brian Berletic, Garland Nixon, Scott Ritter and so many others, despite the hassle and persecution they endure due to their opinion and their work to inform, who among them would have the courage or the folly to do what Gonzalo had being doing from the Lion’s Den? We do not deny that Lira made mistakes as when he was genuinely offended by Scott Ritter in what would and should not have become a public feud. Sometimes he did mistakes in his military analysis and we at the Outsider even called him out in one of our articles preceding his incarceration. But in the whole he was perfectly right concerning the nature of the Ukrainian regime. Did the Ukrainians have the right to arrest the man? To be fair to them their country is at war and whether we like it or not very often drastic times leads to drastic measures. To still give some credit to the Ukrainians, they have put up with him longer than anyone could anticipate. However, the way the Ukrainian authorities inhumanely handled the man during his incarceration is totally unacceptable and gives credit to what Gonzalo was saying about the brutality of the Zelensky regime. Worst, the Ukrainian authorities were encouraged in their behaviour by the complicit silence of the US Department of State.

For us Gonzalo will remain forever the one who remained like a ‘stonewall’ in the middle of Kharkov alone facing an odious regime. If one day a new city of Kharkov hopefully with a future resolutely turned towards the east, is reborn from the insanity of war, maybe its children will honour this unorthodox hero of modern online media in one of the numerous parks that are contained in this gorgeous town. Why not an eternal smoking cigarette in a cement ashtray which would symbolize perfectly, the unfinished nature of the story. Fortunately, numerous writings of Gonzalo remain and YouTube has to this day, maintained his channel ‘The Roundtable’. And it is up to everyone to judge the man directly from what he said about Ukraine. Gonzalo Lira was a man who paid the ultimate price for holding to his core values and principles and who will be sorely missed.

Russell Bonner Bentley III, known as ‘Texas’ Bentley was an American citizen who moved to the Donbass in 2014 to fight the Ukrainian Military incursion into the Donbass and subsequently fought for the Donetsk Peoples Republic as well as we reported. He reported extensively on the true nature of what was being done to the civilian population of the Donbass, a separatist region who had broken away from Kiev’s control after the implementation of draconian measures against the Russian speaking majority. Despite endless mudslinging by the western press and its vassals, he fought on behalf of the people he stood side by side with and reported their never-ending daily torment at the hands of the Ukrainian military. His death was a result of mistaken identity when Russian soldiers mistook him for an American spy, a twist of fate that no one could have foreseen. The tragic death of Texas Bentley affected us at the international Outsider due to the fact that we were in contact with him for an interview and later for updates on the warzone. The few times we spoke to him (Far too few as it now appears) has quickly revealed to us the profound kind humane nature of Bentley. We remember during our first exchange on the Telegram App when he welcomed us saying that if we were recommended by one of his old friends, then we were automatically his friends too. He spoke to us about the children of the Donbass about whom he cared a lot. We maintained the article that we wrote about him on the footer of our website on the first page until very recently and we supported the organization that he once created to help those most affected by this war. Bentley was not immune from the spitting and despicable campaign of the Mainstream media against him even in his natal Texas. A few days after his death, a local newspaper from this American state published an article with the totally irreverent ‘…How a Putin Troll met his end in the Donbass…’ The Tragedy of Texas Bentley was relentlessly used by MSM as anti Russian propaganda. The fact is as Al Jazeera in a documented story about Bentley pointed out that in this war like in all the others, both sides have been accused of excess. It was reported in September 2024 that four Russian servicemen, Vitaly Vasnyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhim and Andrey Yordanov had been charged with abuse of authority resulting in the Death of Bentley, desecration of his body and concealment of crimes punishable by the Russian criminal code under the article s 286,244, 33 and 316 respectively. Both Gonzalo Lira and Texas Bentley have met an unqualifiedly tragic death, but in one case, the one of Bentley, Justice has been swiftly applied. In the case of Gonzalo despite the fact he was official custody of the Ukrainian authorities, we may never know the truth and the ones guilty of torture or negligence will probably never be brought to justice. Whatever is the ironic way of his death from the hands of those he considered as allies and friends like Stonewall Lira, Texas Bentley will be forever one of these rare foreign heroes who came in active defence of these eastern lands that they had come to adopt and love as their own.

His death left not only his wife Luydmilla,family and numerous friends us included bereft but the public without his particular personal style of honest and verifiable reporting, a voice in the sea of disinformation emanating from western media that had provided clarity and much needed reason to the reporting of the conflict.

It is sad that these voices are silenced simply because the purveyors of what is deemed the ‘truth’ but which in reality is only their version encapsulating and publicising their objectives, felt so threatened that it became necessary to stop them from upsetting the status quo. One does not have to agree with them or any other version of an issue but if differences of opinion cannot be aired, then where goes Freedom of Speech and Thought and thus our ability to make informed choices that benefit us both societally and individually. Without debate, there is no possible positive outcome that benefits the majority in the long term, only short sighted gains that are built on shifting sands and will not stand the test of time, so undermining the stability of everyone on this planet.