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Widakuswara’s reassignment - which appears to be punishment for seeking information from a prominent newsmaker - carries several layers of irony, given the themes of Pompeo’s talk and the issues surrounding his appearance.

...[Pompeo] decried censorship abroad, comparing it to efforts by social media giants to limit inflammatory commentary in the wake of a mob assault on the U.S. Capitol.

... ‘This kind of censorial instinct is dangerous,’ he said. ‘It’s morally wrong. And it’s against your mandate. Censorship, wokeness, political correctness, it all points in one direction - authoritarianism, cloaked as moral righteousness... It’s time that we simply put woke-ism to sleep.’

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No outside journalists were permitted to attend the event, and VOA journalists weren’t permitted to ask questions. When several in attendance began to shout questions after the program finished, a live stream of the event went dark within seconds.