Pentagon ex-official Twitter-blocks journalists who point to Ukraine MP’s neo-Nazi ties

A former Pentagon official and DC think tank hero has decided to block journalists on Twitter, rather than acknowledge the inconvenient fact that Ukraine’s parliamentary speaker has a well-documented neo-Nazi past.

Michael Carpenter, an Atlantic Council senior fellow who served as a foreign policy advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, took a swing at journalist Max Blumenthal on Twitter – describing him as a “pro-Putin propagandist” and a “sleeze.” Responding to an article that suggested some sort of nefarious Kremlin role in Blumenthal’s opposition to US military intervention in Syria, Carpenter tweeted out: “This explains a lot. Blumenthal came up to me at a recent event in DC with a video camera in hand and kept asking me why I supported Ukraine’s 'Nazi leadership' (while recording my responses). I dismissed him as a pro-Putin propagandist and walked away. What a sleeze.”

Tragically, Carpenter wasn’t able to savor his magnificent dunk on Blumenthal for very long, as it was soon revealed that he had completely misrepresented what the journalist had actually asked him. As a video of the brief exchange clearly shows, journalist Ben Norton pointed out, Blumenthal queried Carpenter about why far-right Ukrainian parliamentary leader Andriy Parubiy, who co-founded two neo-Nazi groups in his country, was being fêted by Congress and the noble DC think tanks that Carpenter associates with.

Journalist Aaron Mate made a similar observation about the inaccurate tweet, writing to Carpenter: “Dare I say that to fabricate, & not retract, would be a sleeze move.”

But the Twitter saga doesn’t end here. Undeterred by being caught fudging the facts, Carpenter lashed out at Norton:

“Your pro-Putin & pro-Asad agenda needs to be exposed for what is [sic: it] is — virulent propaganda. It’s not for me to whitewash anyone’s past, and Parubiy can answer for himself. But rather than citing an op-ed from a fellow troll, try using a reputable source.”

The “reputable source” provided by Carpenter was none other than StopFake, the rather rough-around-the-edges internet operation that “fact checks” media reports deemed damaging to Ukraine.

Norton responded by providing two mainstream news reports – from Britain’s Channel 4, and the Washington Post – which identify Parubiy’s well-established links to Ukraine’s neo-Nazi movement.

Carpenter, who holds an MA and PhD in political science from the University of California at Berkeley, and was even a Fulbright scholar who studied in Poland, still had one card left to play. Using his award-winning intellect, the celebrated scholar…blocked Norton and Mate on Twitter.

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