The abrupt dismantling of Radio Free Asia – along with the Voice of America and other U.S. government-funded media outlets – is being hailed by autocratic regimes from Phnom Penh to Pyongyang and lamented by the millions of citizens who live in closed societies and depend on those channels for news.
Silencing key providers of information on U.S. adversaries and sources of American soft power has accomplished what China, North Korea and others had tried and failed to do for more than 25 years.