Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new law that bans “fake news” and also bans “disrespect.” By that the Russians mean any Internet posting that Putin doesn’t like will be banned. And this is exactly what the fascist left wants here in America.

Naturally the new Russian law is vague leaving it open for the government to ban anything it wants under color of law.

“The legislation will establish punishments for spreading information that ‘exhibits blatant disrespect for the society, government, official government symbols, constitution or governmental bodies of Russia,'” according to The Moscow Times.

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Online news outlets and users that spread “fake news” will face fines of up to 1.5 million rubles ($22,900) for repeat offenses.

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Insulting state symbols and the authorities, including Putin, will carry a fine of up to 300,000 rubles and 15 days in jail for repeat offenses.

As is the case with other Russian laws, the fines are calculated based on whether the offender is a citizen, an official or a legal entity.

Russian journalists gathered together to sign petitions to oppose the law, but their resistance was futile… as all knew it would be.

The journalists called it “direct censorship,” something the Kremlin denied.

Indeed, government officials claimed that other countries also have similar laws already.

“What’s more, this sphere of fake news, insulting and so on, is regulated fairly harshly in many countries of the world including Europe. It is therefore of course necessary to do it in our country too,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Yeah. Right. The protesters are right. This is just an example of direct censorship.

But this is exactly the sort of anti-free speech idea that the left wants here in the U.S.A. Remember the inappropriately named “Fairness Doctrine”? That was a similar attempt to shut down conservatives in America.

Liberals want to be able to shut down free speech on their whim. Of course, they expect to hold the reins of that law in their own hands in perpetuity and they intend for the law to be used as a weapon to shut down conservative political free speech.

So, which side of the political aisle in the U.S. is really like Russia? It sure isn’t the right.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.