Archive | November 29th, 2016
British neocons take new McCarthyism across the Atlantic
Posted on 29 November 2016. Tags: British neocons
A neoconservative British lobby group literally wants to blacklist people for talking to what they consider to be undesirable media. McCarthyism has gone trans-Atlantic.
If the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) was on a solo run, their campaign to smear anybody remotely sympathetic to, or even open to engaging with, Russia as "Putin's useful idiot" might have been easily dismissed as an absurd, paranoid throwback. After all, the organization is of questionable provenance and is named for a hawkish US senator who rarely saw a war he didn't like. From Vietnam to Cambodia and Iraq, 'Scoop' Jackson's pursuit of foreign misadventures was legendary.
However, this new narrative is anything but a fluke. Because in the past month, both The Times of London and NATO's Atlantic Council adjunct have pushed much the same message. And all three entities are interconnected when it comes to evaluating Moscow. Indeed, the "blame Russia" crowd seems to move around with great haste on this think-tank fellow/journalist/expert commentator merry-go-round.
A cold front
This autumn, The Times kicked off the current campaign with a series of articles smearing British personalities who have appeared on Russian stations. Interestingly, the apparent driving force behind the coverage, and lead writer at the paper, is Oliver Kamm, who was a founder member of the HJS and a signatory to the statement of principles.
And that proclamation is some piece of work. In it, we learn how the HJS does not regard a large number of states as "truly legitimate." Amazingly, they include two of the world's top three military powers, namely Russia and China. Their sin? Not being American style "liberal democracies," which in itself is ironic at a time when the US appears to be questioning its own fealty to unbridled liberalism.
For its part, NATO's Atlantic Council prefers the term 'Trojan Horses' rather than 'useful idiots,' and it used its November report to slam a particular subset of European public figures, those who do not give unconditional support to the military bloc and its aims. They seemingly include French presidential front-runner Francois Fillon, German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, and British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The simplicity of the defamation is astounding, as the authors refuse to countenance any domestic or moral reasons for why these politicians may not support the further militarization of Europe.
Instead, the only explanation entertained is that they are doing it to suit Moscow.
The introduction to the Atlantic Council's diatribe is written by Radoslaw Sikorski, the controversial former Polish foreign minister. He happens to be married to Anne Applebaum, who works as a lobbyist for American defense contractors at a Washington and Warsaw-based advocacy named CEPA. She's joined there by Peter Pomerantsev, who is slated to launch the HJS communique at Westminster on Wednesday.
Also, another person who links the Atlantic Council to HJS is their colleague Michael Weiss. While the activist is now employed to campaign for the former's interests, he was previously the communication's director at the latter.
Not to mention the fact that he also edits The Interpreter, a blog dedicated to denigrating Russia, which is a special project of the US government broadcaster RFE/RL Yes. It really is a small world.
New sensation
The HJS report is penned by Andrew Foxall, a former climate change 'expert' who has jumped onto the anti-Russia bandwagon in recent years. Foxall's crude pitch is that somehow the Kremlin is manipulating both Britain's right and left to control events in the country. Which begs the question of where, exactly, are you allowed to be on the UK political spectrum? Is no one allowed a critical thought that falls outside the bounds of the Foxall-approved centrist establishment?
The title 'Putin's Useful Idiots' is also interesting. Because it's well known how this phrase is used in the UK to describe people who work in the mainstream media and can be relied on to peddle a certain line when it comes to particular stories, for instance to spin a tale to the benefit of the government or the intelligence agencies. Given that Richard Dearlove, the head of MI6 from 1999 to 2005, was a founder signatory of the HJS, it's probably fair to say they are fully aware of this association.
Foxall's advice for how to counter his mythical Russian management of the UK processes certainly seeks to exude the spirit of McCarthyism. He proposes that "activists, journalists, and politicians should point out the pro-Russian connections of individuals and parties across the political spectrum" and "the personal and organizational connections of left- and right-wing politicians and parties and their Russian counterparts should be mapped across Europe."
Plus, "Parliaments across Europe should amend current legislation or pass new legislation that forces politicians to declare all media appearances they make, whether they receive money for them or not."
It homes in on people like Nigel Farage, currently the UK establishment's bête noire, and insinuates how Arron Banks, UKIP's primary donor, has "colorful links" to Russia. Corbyn and his chief adviser, Seumas Milne, are also harangued for having appeared on RT. As is Ken Livingstone, a two-term mayor of London.
Meanwhile, Milne is further attacked for having attended the Valdai Club in Sochi, an international discussion group designed to promote understanding across borders. The gathering has hosted many influential world figures, not to mention academics from places like Harvard, Stanford, LSE and the Sorbonne. Here it is misrepresented as "an annual propaganda and ego-boosting event."
The rather unexpected outcome of the US presidential election had distracted Russia's 'fan club' for a short while, but the team is now back on the circuit, with gusto. And the same names just keep popping up all the time, repeating their usual dirge of "Kremlin bad; anything west of St Petersburg – good."
No wonder many Western establishment politicians love these guys. Because with their imprimatur, they don't have to accept responsibility for their own failings or inadequacies. Instead, they are presented with a ready-made boogeyman on which everything undesirable can pin.
Why should the establishment analyze its own failings when considering why Brexit passed, or Donald Trump is US President-elect, despite their best efforts to ensure the opposite outcome? Why take a sober, internally focused look at the rise of Marine Le Pen in France or increasingly popular alternative political movements in Austria, Italy or the Netherlands? Instead, the anti-Russia lobby groups offer an easier option: "Blame the Kremlin, for everything."
While musing on 'useful idiots' or 'Trojan Horses,' another expression comes to mind: 'burying one's head in the sand.' While ostriches get the bum rap for the practice, really it is the humans of the media-political establishment variety who have perfected it in recent times. And reports like these are only perpetuating this self-destructive practice.
'UK's censorship & harassment are no solution': European journalists' union speaks up for RT
EU Parliament promotes democratic values by lumping journalists in with terrorists
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Demonizing Russian Media
Posted on 29 November 2016. Tags: Russian Media
By Gilbert Doctorow
One of the West's top points in condemning Vladimir Putin's "regime" since 2007 has been his alleged suppression of democratic institutions, including an assault on media freedom and imposition of government-directed propaganda. This week, the accusation was repeated in a resolution of the European Parliament calling for stronger counter-measures in defense of European values against "information warfare" from Moscow.
The charges — that Russian media are only an instrument of state propaganda directed at the domestic population to keep Russian citizens in line and at foreign audiences to sow dissent among Russia's neighbors and within the European Union — are taken as a matter of faith with almost no proofs adduced. Anyone who questions this "group think" is immediately labeled a "tool of Putin" or worse.
I experienced this firsthand in March 2015 when, as one of three debaters on "The Network," a Euronews public affairs program, I objected to remarks by a fellow panelist, Chairman of the European Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee Elmar Brok, who maintained that Putin crushed all liberties and his country has no free press.
Based on my familiarity with the many different political lines of the Russian print media and of the patently unintimidated Kremlin-critics behind the national radio station Ekho Moskvy and television station Dozhd', I countered that, for example, Russian coverage of events in the Donbass was more multi-sided and free than coverage in the U.S.
Brok lashed out with the slanderous question: "And how much did the Kremlin pay you to say that?" The broadcaster then allowed this video-taped exchange to air freely.
I have ruminated on this exchange ever since and sought incontrovertible proof of the relative freedom of expression on Russian broadcast media. My close examination of the wildly popular political talk shows on Russian television first as a spectator and then as a participant has provided just that.
I have written previously about my initial experience going back six months to when I first took part in a program on the Rossiya 1/Vesti 24 state channel, Yevgeni Popov's "Special Correspondent." I mentioned at the time the nearly permanent presence on these programs of domestic opposition figures as well as of foreigners from the U.S., Ukraine, Poland and Israel, in particular, who could be counted on to present views on the political topic of the day's discussion at sharp variance with the Kremlin line.
Assessing the Talk Shows
In early autumn I appeared on the same presenter's new show "Sixty Minutes," as well on what is probably the most respected show of this genre, "Sunday Evening with Vladimir Soloviev," another Rossiya 1 production. Soloviev has done feature-length television interviews with Vladimir Putin and may be considered to be as close to power as people in this medium get. His personal views are probably more nationalist than the ruling United Russia party, but on his shows he, too, gives time on air to very diverse Russian and foreign views.
In the past month, I broadened my experience with the Russian talk show format by participating in shows on the other major state channel, Pervy Kanal ("Time Will Tell") and on the country's largest commercial television channel, NTV ("The Meeting Place"). This accelerated learning was facilitated by the U.S. presidential elections, which made Russian-speaking talking heads from America like myself a rather hot commodity on Russian television at least briefly.
In speaking to fellow panelists during break time, in interviews with presenters, I gathered some inside information about the production side of the talk shows, including their target audiences, their technical aspects and their substantive positioning.
Anyone looking over Russian television programming in general quickly finds that talk shows as a format take up a very large part of broadcast time. Of course, the focus of talk shows may be highly diverse, and political talk shows were traditionally an evening phenomenon, as is the case with the Rossiya 1 shows cited above, while daytime programming more typically focuses on housewives' concerns, daydreams of romance or tips for cooking, and the like.
In this sense, it was a bold move when two years ago Pervy Kanal decided to launch a daily two-hour political talk show ("Time Will Tell") in mid-afternoon. As expected, the target audience proved to be stay-at-home women and viewers aged 50 and above, although it appears there are also a fair number of viewers watching the program in the work place.
Going Daytime
The ratings captured by this show typically are in the 20s, meaning that 20 or so percent of all television viewers in Russia at the given time are tuned to the given program, yielding an audience numbering in the millions. On Nov. 9, when I appeared on the show dedicated to analysis of the U.S. election results, the numbers spiked to 30 percent, as one might well understand given the very great interest among ordinary Russians in the outcome of the race for the U.S. presidency and the outlook for war or peace.
As "Time Will Tell" presenter Artyom Sheinin explained to me, the decision to appear on daytime television called for certain production decisions differentiating the programs from the evening talk shows. Firstly, the expectation of a less sophisticated audience meant that the language of panelists should be free of political science jargon and allusion to little known names or philosophies.
Said Artyom, panelists are asked to pitch their arguments as they would "talking to their kids, their mom or their lover.'' On the other hand, overly calm discussion is not seen as a benefit. The presenter explains that his audience sitting at home at mid-day is in need of "an adrenaline shot," and the normal penchant of Russian panelists to shout down one another in a free-for-all is not discouraged in the way it is on evening programming. The evening viewer is assumed to have come home from work and is seated in his armchair before the television, wants his nerves soothed more than excited.
All Russian political talk shows on the main channels are produced in the afternoon, Moscow time, and all feature on screen the caption "Live On Air." However, where and when these shows are broadcast live versus rebroadcast from video tapes is another matter.
For example, the Rossiya 1/Vesti programs are broadcast live to the Russian Far East, where they appear at the end of prime-time evening broadcasts. Then they are re-broadcast at local evening prime time in each of the eight other time zones of the Russian Federation lying to the west, showing last in Moscow.
In this regard, two years ago when it launched "Time Will Tell," Pervy Kanal took a second unparalleled risk by broadcasting live to Moscow in the afternoon. From a political standpoint, this was like a high-flying trapeze act without the benefit of a safety net.
In fact all of these programs are also video-taped, and all the major channels make the tapes available for internet viewing on their websites in full or shortened versions.
Similar Formats
Just as Russian television has often copied studio design and presentation formats from American television (I think in particular of the way the "Tonight Show" has been replicated on major Russian channels), so they copy from one another. In fact, if you turn on any of the political talk shows I cited above, you will find rather similar studios with live audiences.
Indeed, at Pervy Kanal, the producers remark jokingly that when NTV decided to launch its own afternoon talk show, "The Meeting Place," that network picked up not only the production format and studio design but also some of the production staff. The format of having male-female pairs of talk show hosts also has spread widely in the industry.
But there appears to be a significant difference between these shows on the degree to which they are "scripted" by management upstairs, the degree to which they are free discussion. Perhaps the most scripted is this season's new entry at Rossiya 1, "Sixty Minutes," in which presenters Yevgeni Popov and Olga Skabeyeva are reading off teleprompters and the audience applause is aggressively prompted. On the other hand, the lead presenter on Pervy Kanal's "Time Will Tell," Artyom Sheinin proudly says that he has no script handed to him, that what he says on air is what he himself prepared or is thinking at the time.
One ubiquitous fact is that the panelists are not scripted and if anyone is cut off in mid-sentence it is by other panelists vying for the microphone, not by the presenter keeping the political line of discourse in check. Except in the case of senior politicians, who are given the respect their rank demands, no panelist is safe from interruptions and the audience encourages a culture of gladiators in the arena, with applause punctuating the debates.
On NTV there is the additional expression of audience disapproval, but that is rare. The benefits of these ground rules go to the quick-witted as well as to the loudest voices, whatever their political complexion.
The culture of these talk shows is permeated by a newsroom mentality. Some of the presenters, especially on Rossiya 1/Vesti 24, come from television journalism and have gotten their appointments as a reward for successful work in the field, especially in hazardous areas. Such was the background of talk show host Yevgeni Popov, who for years reported from Ukraine, initially during the Orange Revolution days and later during the Maidan protests.
The content of each program on all channels is subject to change at the last minute as are the list of invited panelists in case of breaking news. This favors inviting panelists who are living in the Moscow area. They can be invited and disinvited at short notice. In fact, all the major political shows on the three channels I observed from inside use many of the same Russian and foreign panelists chosen from among political scientists at universities or think tanks, journalists and Duma or Federation Council members.
Western Voices
To be sure, not all panelists come down to the studio. A very few lucky experts are given air time from remote locations, their close-up image projected onto a wall-sized screen.
One such "regular" on the Rossiya 1/Vesti 24 channel is Dimitri Simes, president of The Center for the National Interest in Washington, D.C. These vignette appearances get special treatment, without any interruption from other panelists and only respectful questioning from the host.
Panelists in greatest demand can be seen leaving one show early so as to be able to get over to another studio on a different channel when there is the rotation of panelists between advertising breaks. None is in greater demand than the American Michael Bohm, who in the dark days of worsening relations with the West provided all channels with highly fluent statements in Russian of the latest policy position of the Washington Consensus, often accompanied by Russian folk expressions.
This has been especially appreciated by television producers representing the more hardline supporters of the Kremlin for whom Bohm is the kind of American the audience loves to hate, his every remark justifying demands for greater military expenditures by the Kremlin. Nonetheless, it remains true that through Bohm and a few other Westerners on these shows, the full blast of Western critiques of Kremlin policy gets prime broadcasting time in Russia.
The senior politicians brought in as panelists come from all the Duma parties, not just the ruling United Russia. In the past half year, I noted in particular the frequent presence of the leader of the nationalist LDPR party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, while Gennady Zyuganov of the Communists or Sergey Mironov, leader of Just Russia, have been rare birds.
On the other hand, there have been frequent appearances by the Liberals of the Yabloko party, which never made it past 1 percent of votes cast in the latest parliamentary elections, not to mention the minimum 5 percent threshold for Duma representation.
The talk show programs are prepared with great professionalism. Behind each there is extensive research to find appropriate archival and/or latest visuals. The administrative chores involved in arranging logistics for the panelists chosen are also considerable. The team members I have encountered were uniformly dedicated, working crazy hours to get their job done.
Encouraging Strong Opinions
I also noted a peculiar complicity between the staff "handlers" and us panelists. Clearly, production staff is rewarded for finding "fresh blood" panelists who play out well, and they make sure that their dogs in the race are well tended with coffee, tea, and, if needed, a shot of brandy during breaks to keep their spirits high.
On the Rossiya 1/Vesti 24 talk shows presenters and the panelists all are wired with headset microphones. However, on both Pervy Kanal and NTV, only the presenters are wired, while panelists are seated next to production assistants holding microphones, which they make available upon request. Indeed, the assistants act as coaches to newcomers like myself, whom they urge to speak louder, speak faster, etc. to get the greatest debate effect out of us.
In conclusion, my firsthand experience with the Russian political talk show phenomenon left me with no doubt that this is bona fide journalism serving the public interest, exposing the broad Russian television audience, from everyone's parents and grandparents to business leaders and university dons, to a great many different competing and well-presented views on the major issues of the day, both domestic and international.
This reality is sharply at variance with what U.S. and Western European mainstream media would have us believe about Putin's Russia.
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Major Media Crash: They Need A Scapegoat
Posted on 29 November 2016. Tags: Major Media Crash
By Jon Rappoport | Activist Post
They kept telling the American people Hillary Clinton was going to win the election; and in every way they could think of, they told the American people this was a good idea.
Then, on election night, they, the media, crashed.
The results came in.
The media went into deep shock.
As protests and riots then spread across America, the media neglected to mention a) they'd been bashing Trump because he said he might not accept the outcome of the vote, and b) here were large numbers of people on the Democrat side who weren't accepting the outcome of the vote.
A new campaign had to be launched.
Suddenly, on cue, it was: Hillary Clinton lost because "fake news" about her had been spread around during the campaign.
Fake news sites. That was the reason.
These "fake sites" had to be punished. Somehow. They had to be defamed. Blocked. Censored.
Here is an excerpt from a list of "fake news" sites suggested by one professor. The list is circulating widely on the Web: Project Veritas; Infowars; Breitbart; Coast To Coast AM; Natural News; Zero Hedge; The Daily Sheeple; Activist Post; 21st Century Wire.
Free speech? Bill of Rights? Never heard of it.
Obama put in his two cents: "Because in an age where there's so much active misinformation and it's packaged very well and it looks the same when you see it on a Facebook page or you turn on your television… If everything seems to be the same and no distinctions are made, then we won't know what to protect."
Excuse me. "We won't know what to protect?" Meaning what to favor, what to promote, what to lie about? Meaning only some speech is free?
Obama is way, way behind the curve. Thousands of websites and blogs have been exposing major media as fake for years. I started nomorefakenews.com in 2001.
If Google, Facebook, and Twitter keep expanding their censorship of "disfavored messages," they're going to pay a price. More and more users will go elsewhere.
The facade of the major media is getting thinner. You can see a glow of rage and resentment behind it. They're desperately looking for revenge on the millions and millions of people who are deserting them and laughing at them.
They presumed too much. They presumed they had us in the palm of their hand. We were their property. We were transfixed by their authority.
All that is going away. Bye, bye.
The big shift is accelerating. Independent media are in the ascendance. Understand that. Recognize it.
The impossible is happening.
Fake news sites? Please. The major media are the biggest fakes the world has ever seen. Their anchors and star reporters are bloviating cranks. They're dinner-theater actors.
Over the years, I've talked to some of them. I've warned them of their coming troubles. They were miles away from believing me. Now, they're starting to sweat blood.
Major media news for America is still basically manufactured in New York and Washington—plus occasional outbursts from Hollywood creatures who bemoan the decline of inclusive liberalism, as they expand their gun-toting security staffs and dig deeper bunkers. The New York-Washington axis exists in a self-serving bubble, which has now taken serious punctures. The delusional attacks against "fake sites" underlines how out of touch these elites are with the rest of the country.
Independent media outlets are winning. They won't be stopped.
When the people who now head the tech giants were growing up, they were heralding the Internet as a new era of free information-exchange. But now that they find themselves working with the government in the Surveillance State, they're fronting for censorship. In fact, they're showing they were never for freedom. That was a pose all along. They were, from the beginning, agents of repression. They can try to stop independent media now, but they will fail.
Fake web sites? What about fake companies? What about Google, Facebook, Twitter? Behind their happy-happy messages, they were built to propagandize, profile, and control.
Understand this: major media have a rock-bottom article of faith. It is: "We own the news."
They can't give it up. They'll never give it up. It fuels everything they do. It's the substance and core of their attitude.
As their ship goes down below the waves, they'll be chanting it. "We own the news."
But they don't. In truth, they never did. For a time, they managed to sell that delusion to the people.
That time is drawing to a close.
The elite political class and their media minions fear more than independent news countering their own news. For obvious reasons, every civilization down through history has had its own monopolistic media, its central "broadcasting system." Its controlled outlet. But now, The One has become Many.
That is the threat.
The rapid proliferation of The Many is an unpredictable X-factor.
The population is waking up to decentralized media. Instead of the hypnotic attachment to one basic information source — the habit of a lifetime — the public is learning to handle multiple sources. Therefore, the hypnotic spell is being broken and dissolved.
This is the basic problem for the elites.
How can they reinstate the trance?
By trying to censor the Internet? By creating a sudden war or other disaster, briefly "unifying" the country? These are not permanent solutions, particularly since more and more people understand such maneuvers and their true aims.
Awake is awake. Putting the genie back in the bottle—particularly when major media denizens aren't very bright, as evidenced by their latest "fake news" scam—is on the order of trying to perform a piece of stage magic after the audience has already learned how it's done.
Of course, the media clowns will try. And in the process, they'll further expose themselves and actually assist in the awakening.
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Without reset India-Zionist ties face uncertain future
Posted on 29 November 2016. Tags: India-Zionist ties
Without reset India-Israel ties face uncertain future
By M K Bhadrakumar
The 8-day visit by the Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, which concluded on Monday, turned out to be a low-key affair. Gone are the days when high-level exchanges with Israel used to be sexy events. The novelty has worn off. There was no media hype about Rivlin's visit. And the 'demonetisation' crisis alone cannot account for it.
The point is, an air of stagnation is appearing in the India-Israel relationship. Fundamentally, India has been rapidly transforming in the recent decade and its priorities have changed. Again, the regional and international environment has changed phenomenally.
The Bharatiya Janata Party used to be regarded as excessively 'Israel-friendly'. Yet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is still to pay a visit to Israel. Modi visited a few West Asian countries already but all of them belong to the so-called Muslim world – Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey and Iran. India's priorities have been worked out.
Modi's Iran visit was an eloquent statement in itself. India is undeterred by Israel's animosities toward Iran. Curiously, while Rivlin was in India, media reports appeared that the ONGC Videsh's protracted negotiations to strike a multi-billion dollar deal with Iran for the development of the Farzad-B gas field (with estimated reserves of 21.6 trillion cubic feet) have reached the home stretch.
Reuters reported separately that in the month of October, Iran surpassed Saudi Arabia as India's number one supplier of crude oil – a whopping 789,000 barrels per day as against Saudi Arabia's 697,000 bpd. India views the Chabahar project as a major geo-strategic initiative. Suffice it to say, Iran is becoming an indispensable partner and that is a geopolitical reality.
On the other hand, remittances from GCC countries to India's budget work out to a handsome figure of $25 billion or so annually. Interestingly, Saudi Arabia's Aramco recently had a rival offer to acquire Essar (which ultimately forced the Russian consortium to improve their bid and pay up $13 billion.) The Gulf region is also India's number one export market.
In short, there is such a lot going for India in the West Asian region. The point is, what is it that Israel can offer? Drip irrigation, water management, recycling, conservation and desalination, dairy farming, polyhouse techniques, bee-keeping – these niches are surely interesting, each in its own way. But, what India desperately needs is massive investments to develop its manufacturing industry and infrastructure, which are crucial for job creation. It needs energy security. It needs to boost export earnings. What can Israel do for India? Ironically, Israel's focus is exclusively on securing lucrative business for its companies.
Israel's importance for India lies in defence cooperation. But here again, Israel may be incrementally losing its advantage as an interesting source of advanced military technology that was previously unavailable for India directly from the US. India is increasingly a big market for weaponry, with cut-throat competition setting in among the foreign vendors.
In political terms, too, Israel is of no relevance for India in handling the most consequential relationship in its foreign policy – namely, relations with China. As for the US-Indian relationship, it has matured to a point that India has no more need to leverage Jewish lobbyists. Arguably, Israel's capacity to influence US policies also should not be exaggerated. Israel pulled all stops to scuttle the P5+1 and Iran negotiations but spectacularly failed to intimidate President Barack Obama.
Israel is palpably nervous about Donald Trump's likely Middle East policies. Trump's idea of working with Russia to resolve the Syrian conflict works against Israel's regional agenda of fragmenting and weakening its neighbors. Continued Israeli support for the al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front in Syria will only invite Russian and Iranian retribution. Indeed, India and Israel are not on the same page in regard of the war against terrorist groups in Syria.
All in all, India-Israel relations are at a crossroads. Simply chanting old hackneyed mantras on terrorism, secularism, democracy, et al, won't suffice. There is danger of stagnation setting in. An India-Israel reset is overdue. A relationship based on negative passions — paranoia, fear complex, insecurities, vanities and false identity — is inherently flawed and cannot have an enduring future in a rapidly changing regional and international environment, howsoever keen the two sides could be to remain relevant to each other.
An editorial in the Jerusalem Post newspaper on Rivlin's visit calls attention to the stark realities confronting the future of India-Israel ties. No, Sir: we in India don't have such fears over Kashmir, as you'd have over your occupied territories and illegal settlements.
True, we also have our share of 'Rabbis' but Indians are not addicted to Islamophobia; nor do we associate Islam with terrorism as a matter of state policy. No, India does not fancy itself as a 'regional counterweight' to Russia or China; we simply don't suffer from such inferiority complex.
And, it is downright absurd to associate India's 'authentic national identity' with Hindu religion. Worse still, it is an act of self-serving sophistry on the Israeli side to do so. We are an ancient civilization and not an artificial creation by western powers in this part of the world, and we do not need the crutch of religion to define our national identity. We'd prefer to be known by our IT industry and satellites and our eclectic culture.
Posted in ZIO-NAZI, IndiaComments Off on Without reset India-Zionist ties face uncertain future
Canada's Political Parties Enable Nazi Oppression of Palestinians
Posted on 29 November 2016. Tags: Canada
Canada's Political Parties Enable Israel's Oppression of Palestinians
"Canada is back" to isolating itself from world opinion on Palestinian rights
By Yves Engler | Dissident Voice
How can you identify a Canadian Liberal? They talk to the left, but walk to the right.
Under Justin Trudeau "Canada is back" to isolating itself from world opinion on Palestinian rights.
On Monday Canada joined the US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau in opposing a UN Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee resolution in support of Palestinian self determination.
Two weeks ago Ottawa joined Israel, the US, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau in opposing motions titled "Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan" and "persons displaced as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities." One hundred and fifty-six countries voted in favour of the motions while seven abstained on the first and six on the second.
Two among numerous resolutions upholding Palestinian rights Canada opposed. These votes follow on the heels of foreign minister Stéphane Dion attacking UNESCO for defending Palestinian rights. Last month the UN cultural body criticised Israel for restricting Muslim access to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound and recognised Israel as the occupying power. "Canada strongly rejects UNESCO World Heritage singling out Israel & denying Judaism's link to the Old City + Western Wall," Dion tweeted.
A few months earlier Trudeau's minister criticized another arm of the UN. In March Dion denounced the UN Human Rights Council's appointment of University of Western Ontario law professor Michael Lynk as "Special Rapporteur on Palestine". Claiming the Canadian lawyer was hostile to Israel, Dion asked the UNHRC to review Lynk's appointment.
In addition to isolating Canada internationally, the Trudeau government has pursued various pro-Israel moves. At the start of the month Governor General David Johnston visited a Jewish National Fund Forest. An owner of 13 per cent of Israel's land, the JNF discriminates against Palestinian citizens of Israel (Arab Israelis) who make up a fifth of the population. According to a UN report, JNF lands are "chartered to benefit Jews exclusively," which has led to an "institutionalized form of discrimination."
While the GG recently visited a racist Israeli institution, the PM attended the "Butcher of Qana's" funeral at the end of September. In 1996 Shimon Peres ordered the shelling of a UN compound in the village of Qana, Lebanon, which killed 106 civilians — half of whom were children. Through his long political career, reports Patrick Martin, Peres "was deeply implicated in many of the foulest historical crimes associated with the establishment, expansion and militarization of the state of Israel."
Peres' role in dispossessing Palestinians didn't stop the Trudeau government from gushing with praise after he passed away. "The whole country of Canada is supporting the whole country of Israel and the prime minister wanted that to be very clear," Dion told the press.
At the start of the year the Liberals condemned Canadians seeking to hold Israel accountable to international law. The Prime Minister and most Liberal MPs supported a Conservative Party call for the House of Commons to "reject the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which promotes the demonization and delegitimization of the State of Israel." The February resolution also "condemned any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups or individuals to promote the BDS movement, both here at home and abroad."
The Trudeau government's efforts to undermine Palestinians' liberation strengthens Canada's multifaceted contribution to Israeli expansionism. Each year registered Canadian charities channel tens of millions of dollars to projects supporting Israel's powerful military, racist institutions and illegal settlements. Over the past decade Ottawa has delivered over one hundred million dollars in aid to the Palestinian Authority in an explicit bid to advance Israel's interests by building a security apparatus to protect the corrupt Palestinian Authority from popular disgust over its compliance in the face of ongoing Israeli settlement building. Further legitimating its illegal occupation, Canada's two-decade old free trade agreement with Israel allows settlement products to enter Canada duty-free.
The truth is, it's hard to tell Canada's political parties apart when it comes to enabling Israeli oppression of Palestinians.
Without a growing popular movement campaigning for Palestinian rights this country's political elites will continue to isolate Canada from world opinion.
Posted in Palestine Affairs, ZIO-NAZI, CanadaComments Off on Canada's Political Parties Enable Nazi Oppression of Palestinians
Nazi regime Bid to Silence Mosque Prayer Calls Revived
Posted on 29 November 2016. Tags: Nazi regime Bid to Silence Mosque
A controversial Nazi bill to silence the Muslim call to prayer is to go forward after it was amended so as not to affect the Jewish Shabbat siren, the speaker's office said Wednesday.
Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, had blocked the draft law in its original form for fear it would also force the toning down of the sirens that announce the start of the Jewish day of rest at sundown each Friday.
But he lifted his objections after it was amended to apply only between 11 pm and 7 am.
The bill will "probably" now be put to a preliminary vote in parliament "next week," a spokesman for speaker Yuli Edelstein told AFP.
It will then require three further parliamentary votes before it becomes law but it has already sparked outrage around the Arab and wider Muslim world.
Even Nazi regime watchdogs have slammed the proposed legislation, describing it as a threat to religious freedom and an unnecessary provocation.
Arab lawmaker Ahmed Tibi has vowed to appeal to the High Court of Justice if the Shabbat siren is excluded from the scope of the bill on the grounds that it discriminates between Jews and Muslims.
The law would apply to mosques in annexed Arab east al-Quds (Jerusalem) as well as the occupied territories. But supersensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound — Islam's third holiest site — will be exempted.
"No changes will be made on" al-Aqsa Mosque an Nazi official told AFP.
Posted in Palestine Affairs, ZIO-NAZIComments Off on Nazi regime Bid to Silence Mosque Prayer Calls Revived
Congressional Hawks Rush to Intensify War in Syria
Posted on 29 November 2016. Tags: Congressional Hawks
Hawks pass HR5732
Late in the day Tuesday November 15, Congress convened in special session. With normal rules suspended, they passed House Resolution 5732 the "Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act". The resolution calls for intensifying already harsh sanctions on Syria, assessing implementation of No Fly Zone in Syria and escalating efforts to press criminal charges against Syrian officials. HR5732 claims to promote a negotiated settlement in Syria but, as analyzed by Friends Committee for National Legislation, imposes preconditions which would actually make that more difficult.
There was 40 minutes of "debate" with six representatives (Royce, Engel, Ros-Lehtinen, Kildee, Smith, and Curbelo) speaking in favor of the resolution. There were few other Congressional representatives present in Congress. The House Foreign Affairs Committee stated that the resolution was passed "unanimously" without mentioning the special conditions.
The "Non Controversial" Resolution that could lead to World War III
According to wikipedia "Suspension of the rules is a procedure generally used to quickly pass non-controversial bills in the United States House of Representatives …. such as naming Post Offices…" In this case, the resolution calls for evaluating and developing plans for a "No Fly Zone" which is an act of war. This is obviously controversial and it seems clear the resolution should have been debated and discussed under normal rules with a normal amount of Congressional presence and debate.
The motivation for bypassing normal rules and rushing the bill through without debate was articulated by the bill's author and ranking Democrat Eliot Engel: "We cannot delay action on Syria any further…. if we don't get this legislation across the finish line in the next few weeks, we are back to square one." The current urgency may be related to the election results since Trump has spoken out against "regime change" foreign policy. As much as they are critical of Obama for not doing more, Congressional neoconservatives are concerned about the prospect of a President who might move toward peace and away from war.
The Caesar Fraud
HR5732 is titled the "Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act". Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Ed Royce (R-Ca) explained that the resolution is named after "the brave Syrian defector known to the world as Caesar, who testified to us the shocking scale of torture being carried out within the prisons of Syria."
In reality, the Caesar story was a grand deception involving the CIA with funding from Qatar to sabotage the 2014 Geneva negotiations. The 55,000 photos which were said to show 11,000 torture victims have never been publicly revealed. Only a tiny number of photos have been publicized. However, in 2015 Human Rights Watch was granted access to view the entire set. They revealed that almost one half the photos show the opposite of what was claimed: instead of victims tortured by the Syrian government, they actually show dead Syrian soldiers and civilian victims of car bombs and other terror attacks! The "Caesar" story, replete with masked 'defector', was one of the early propaganda hoaxes regarding Syria.
False Claims that the US has been doing nothing
One of the big lies regarding Syria is that the US has been inactive. Royce says:
The administration has decided not to decide. And that itself, unfortunately, has set a course where here we sit and watch and the violence only worsens. Mr. Speaker, America has been sitting back and watching these atrocities for far too long. Vital U.S. national security interests are at stake.
The ranking Democrat Eliot Engel said:
Four years ago I thought we should have aided the Free Syrian Army. They came to us in Washington and begged us for help… they were simply looking for weaponry. I really believe if we had given it to them, the situation in Syria would have been different today.
This is nonsense. The US was actively coordinating, training and supplying armed opposition groups beginning in late 2011. When the Qadaffi government was toppled in Fall 2011, the CIA oversaw the theft of the Libyan armories and shipment of weapons to Syrian armed opposition as documented in the Defense Intelligence Agency report of October 2012.
These weapons transfers were secret. For the public record it was acknowledged that the US was supplying communications equipment to the armed opposition while Saudi Arabia and Qatar were supplying weaponry. This is one reason that Saudi purchases of weapons skyrocketed during this time period; they were buying weapons to replace those being shipped to the armed opposition in Syria. It was very profitable for US arms manufacturers.
Huge weapons transfers to the armed opposition in Syria have continued to the present. This past Spring, Janes Defense reportedthe details of a U.S. delivery of 2.2 million pounds of ammunition, rocket launchers and other weaponry to the armed opposition.
Claims that the US has been inactive are baseless. In reality the US has done everything short of a direct attack on Syria. And the US military is starting to cross that barrier. On September 17 the US air coalition did a direct attack on the Syrian Army in Deir Ezzor, killing 80 Syrian soldiers and enabling ISIS to launch an attack on the position. Claims that it was a "mistake" are highly dubious.
The claims by Congressional hawks that the US has been 'inactive' in the Syrian conflict are part of the false narrative suggesting the US must "do something" which leads to a No Fly Zone and full scale war. Ironically, these calls for war are masked as "humanitarian". And never do the proponents bring up the case of Libya where the US and NATO "did something": destroyed the government and left chaos.
Congress as a Fact-Free House of Propaganda
With only a handful of representatives present and no debate, the six Congress members engaged in unrestrained propaganda and misinformation. The leading Democrat, Eliot Engel, said "We're going into the New Year 2017, Assad still clings to power, at the expense of killing millions of his citizens." That number is way off anyone's charts.
Rep Kildee said "The world has witnessed this terrible tragedy unfold before our eyes. Nearly half a million Syrians killed. Not soldiers – men, women, children killed."
The official text of the resolution says,
It is the sense of Congress that–
(1) Bashar al-Assad's murderous actions against the people of Syria have caused the deaths of more than 400,000 civilians…
The above accusations – from "millions of citizens" to "half a million" to "400,000 civilians" – are all preposterous lies.
Credible estimates of casualties in the Syrian conflict range from 300,000 to 420,000. The opposition supporting Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates the documented 2011-2016 death toll as follows:
killed pro Syrian forces – 108,000
killed anti government forces – 105,000
killed civilians – 89,000
In contrast with Congressional and media claims, civilians comprise a minority of the total death count and the largest casualty group is those fighting in defense of the the Syrian state. These facts are ignored and never mentioned because they point to the reality versus the propaganda narrative which allows the USA and allies to continue funding terrorism and a war of aggression against Syria.
The Congressional speakers were in full self-righteous mode as they accused the Syrian government of "committing crimes against humanity and war crimes against civilians including murder, torture and rape. No one has been spared from this targeting, even children." A naive listener would never know that the Syrian government is primarily fighting the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda including thousands of foreigners supplied and paid by foreign governments.
The Congressional speakers go on to accuse the Syrian military of "targeting" hospitals, schools and markets. A critical listener might ask why they would do that instead of targeting the Al Qaeda terrorists and their allies who launch dozens and sometimes hundreds of hell cannon missiles into government held Aleppo every day.
The Congressional propaganda fest would not be complete without mention of the "White Helmets." House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said:
We (previously) heard the testimony of Raed Saleh of the Syrian White Helmets. These are the doctors, nurses and volunteers who actually, when the bombs come, run towards the areas that have been hit in order to try to get the injured civilians medical treatment… They have lost over 600 doctors and nurses.
This is more Congressional nonsense. There are no nurses or doctors associated with the White Helmets. The organization was created by the USA and UK and heavily promoted by a "shady PR firm." The White Helmets operate solely in areas controlled by Nusra and associated terrorist groups. They do some rescue work in the conflict zone but their main role is in the information war manipulating public opinion. The White Helmets actively promote US/NATO intervention through a No Fly Zone. Recently the White Helmets has become a major source of claims of innocent civilian victims in east Aleppo. Given the clear history of the White Helmets, these claims should be treated with skepticism. What exactly is the evidence? The same skepticism needs to be applied to video and other reports from the Aleppo Media Center. AMC is a creation of the Syrian Expatriates Organization whose address on K Street, Washington DC indicates it is a US marketing operation.
What is really going on?
The campaign to overthrow the Syrian government is failing and there is possibility of a victory for the Syrian government and allies. The previous flood of international jihadi recruits has dried up. The Syrian Army and allies are gaining ground militarily and negotiating settlements or re-locations with "rebels" who previously terrorized Homs, Darraya (outer Damascus) and elsewhere. In Aleppo the Syrian army and allies are tightening the noose around the armed opposition in east Aleppo.
This has caused alarm among neoconservative lawmakers devoted to Israel, Saudi Arabia and U.S. empire. They are desperate to prevent the Syrian government from finally eliminating the terrorist groups which the West and allies have promoted for the past 5+ years.
"Pro Israel" groups have been major campaigners for passage of HR5732. The name of Simon Wiesenthal is even invoked in the resolution. With crocodile tears fully flowing, Rabbi Lee Bycel wrote "Where is the Conscience of the World?" as he questioned why the "humanitarian" HR5732 was not passed earlier.
Israeli interests are one of the primary forces sustaining and promoting the conflict. Syria is officially at war with Israel which continues to occupy the Syrian Golan Heights; Syria has been a key ally of the Lebanese resistance; and Syria has maintained its alliance with Iran. In 2010 Secretary of State Clinton urged Syria to break relations with Hezbollah, reduce relations with Iran and come to settlement with Israel. The Syrian refusal to comply with these Washington demands was instrumental in solidifying Washington's hostility.
Congressional proponents of HR5732 make clear the international dimension of the conflict. Royce explains "It is Russia, it is Hezbollah, that are the primary movers of death and destruction… it is the IRGC fighters from Iran." Engel echoes the same message: "Yes, we want to go after Assad's partners in violence… along with Iranian and Hezbollah forces".
These statements are in contrast with the analysis of some writers who believe Israel is not deeply opposed to the Damascus government. For example, Phyllis Bennis recently wrote that belief in an "arc of resistance" has been "long debunked" and that "the Syrian regime …. often plays a useful role for US and Israeli interests."
It's remarkable that this faulty analysis continues to be propounded. In words and deeds Israel has made its position on Syria crystal clear. Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren explained in an interview:
We always wanted [President] Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren't backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran … the greatest danger to Israel is by the strategic arc that extends from Tehran, to Damascus to Beirut. And we saw the Assad regime as the keystone in that arc.
These statements have been fully backed up by Israeli actions bombing Syrian positions in southern Syria and providing medical treatment for Nusra/Al Qaeda and other armed opposition fighters.
What Will Happen Now?
If the Syrian government and allies continue to advance in Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, outer Damascus and the south, the situation will come to a head. The enemies of Syria – predominately the USA, Gulf Countries, NATO and Israel – will come to a decision point. Do they intervene directly or do they allow their regime project to collapse?
HR5732 is an effort to prepare for direct intervention and aggression.
One thing is clear from the experience of Libya: Neoconservatives do not care if they leave a country in chaos. The main objective is to destabilize and overthrow a government which is too independent. If the USA and allies cannot dominate the country, then at least they can destroy the contrary authority and leave chaos.
What is at stake in Syria is whether the USA and allies Israel, Saudi Arabia, etc. are able to destroy the last secular and independent Arab country in the region and whether the US goal of being the sole superpower in the world prevails.
The rushed passing of HR5732 without debate is indicative that:
* "regime change" proponents have not given up their war on Syria
* they seek to escalate US aggression.
* the US Congress is a venue where blatant lies are said with impunity and where violent actions are advanced behind a cynical and amoral veneer of "humanitarianism" and crocodile tears.
Posted in USA, SyriaComments Off on Congressional Hawks Rush to Intensify War in Syria
John Kirby quotes terrorists to lie about Russia
Posted on 29 November 2016. Tags: John Kirby quotes terrorists
By Adam Garrie
Recently, John Kirby lost his rag when challenged to name the sources which gave him 'information' implying that Russia had helped the Syrian Arab Army bomb civilian targets such as hospitals. His reaction was typical of Shakespeare's dictum, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks".
As it turns out, Kirby was not quoting any government sources, he admitted as much. He claimed that the United States, her allies, Russia or Syria did not provide the information upon which he relied. Instead he stated that the claims he was making were based on findings from 'aid organisations'. Such a phrase, whilst linguistically innocuous, implies something very different in the context of the Syrian conflict. Many groups calling themselves 'aid organisations' are actually either terrorist sympathisers or terrorist organisations in all but name.
One such organisation is the western funded White Helmets, an organisation whose crimes against humanity The Duran was among the first to expose.
It is this organisation who filmed the savage, medieval beheadings of prisoners before disposing of the mutilated bodies. It is this organisation whose bearded members jump for joy, holding guns, whilst chanting for the death of legitimate political leaders like President Assad, it is this organisation which acts on behalf of Al-Qaeda's surrogate in Syria, al-Nusra. It is this organisation that provided the United States with false information about Russia which John Kirby was all too happy to parrot as though it was fact.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashekov spoke of Kirby's insincerity in the following way:
After three days it is absolutely clear for everyone that the allegedly bombed "hospitals" and "mobile clinics" in Aleppo exist only in US State Department spokesman John Kirby's imagination. This 'information blooper' will certainly remain a stain on Admiral Kirby's biography.
He continued:
We have repeatedly asked representatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, other countries and international organisations to provide any information on the location of medical aid posts (hospitals) or schools in Syrian areas controlled by terrorists… The answer is always the same—no one has such information. There are only reports by the 'White Helmets' or anonymous local "journalists'.
Kirby's outburst and the false report which he based his previous statements on, demonstrates not just a lack of transparency on behalf of the United Sates, but a totally dishonest position. To think that the most powerful country in the world has to rely on off-shoots of terrorist organisations in order to obtain false information with which to slander Russia, is beyond absurd and beyond pathetic, it is disgraceful.
If the United States is as powerful as the world knows it is, the fact that it is relying on terrorist groups like the White Helmets for information, is demonstrative of a wanton act of deception. US intelligence could find the facts if it was the facts which they were interested in. Clearly, this is not the situation. They are interested in parroting terrorist propaganda which conforms to President Obama's wicked agenda.
What's even more disgraceful is that many western mainstream media outlets take people like Kirby at face value when they speak of amorphous 'aid organisations'. They do not bother to investigate the fact that such 'aid organisations' are actually parts of terrorist syndicates working with a stated mission to wage war against the legitimate government of Syria.
We now know the real reason John Kirby went insane when asked some sensible questions by RT's Gayane Chichakyan. He was caught relying on false information by terrorist sources.
The sooner he and his ilk are gone forever, the better. Although it is still early days, I find it personally hard to believe that Donald Trump, who appears to be genuinely interested in fighting terrorism, would allow his inferiors to spout such lies.
Time will tell, but nothing could be as bad as this.
Posted in USAComments Off on John Kirby quotes terrorists to lie about Russia
Empire Perpetrates Its Dirty War on Syria Beneath the Protected Cover of Big Lies
Posted on 29 November 2016. Tags: Dirty War on Syria
The following text is an excerpt of a forthcoming E-Book entitled Voices From Syria, by Mark Taliano.
Taliano focusses on the broad issue of Media Disinformation and America's Wars: Liars Versus Truthers. According to the author, the "Progressive Left" Has Been Coopted.
Voices From Syria is slated to be launched by Global Research Publishers in December.
Well-documented facts pertaining to the 9/11 wars, all supported by sustainable evidence, have barely made inroads into the collective consciousness of Western media consumers.
The War on Syria is no exception. Despite the presence of five years of sustainable evidence that contradicts the Western narratives, people still believe the "official" lies.
One of the more prevalent lies about the dirty war on Syria, for example, is that there are so-called "moderate rebels". This false cover for certain terrorists groups furnishes Western powers with pretexts for illegally arming and supporting terrorism in Syria.
Syrian resident Lilly Martin describes the crimes committed by the so-called "moderate" Free Syrian Army (FSA) on August 4, 2013, in Ballouta, a small village near Latakia, Syria:
The FSA went house to house killing everyone in their path. Whole families were wiped out. One pregnant woman was seized and her stomach cut open and the fetus hung in a tree. There were many survivors, despite the fact that 220 dead bodies were later counted at the hospital in Latakia. The survivors made their way to an empty school in Latakia and took shelter there until the village could be freed by the Syrian Arab Army on August 17, 2013.
During the sectarian massacre, 100 small children and a few females were kidnapped by the FSA. They were taken as captives to Selma, which was and still is occupied and held by the FSA. The children and females were tortured. They were all held underground without sunlight. One boy had his eyes gouged out, and another boy was shot through the head.
About 2 weeks later the FSA used those children to create a video. They drugged the 100 children and arraigned them in poses on the floor to appear dead. They created many videos using their captives as actors. The video was sent via cell phone to a contact person in Damascus. It was that person who later uploaded the famous Sarin Chemical attack video on YouTube.com
Martin explains further, that on May 7, 2014,
after 9 months of captivity, 44 of the original 100 kidnap victims were released from Selma to a hospital in Latakia. Their release was part of the deal which also released terrorists in the Old City section of Homs. However, the remaining kidnap victims continue to be held in Selma. On May 8th some of the captives began to give testimonies about their time in captivity in Selma with the FSA. They said most of the terrorists were Syrian but that they did occasionally hear foreign languages spoken. From other sources, we know that Selma was home to many Australian terrorists, especially from the Sydney area, which also had ties to Latakia. Those Australians would be able to speak Arabic with a Syrian accent, and also speak English very well.
The notion that these un-Islamic murderers are somehow "moderate", is patently absurd, yet the "Big Lie" is sustained in the West by a "consensus of ignorance" which is protected by what Prof Michel Chossudovsky describes as an "American Inquisition". Beneath the protection of this psychological operation, the engineered enemy is Islam, and the Global War On Terrorism (GWOT) has become a brand to disguise imperial wars of aggression as "humanitarian".
Thus, huge sums of public monies are diverted from worthwhile, domestic projects such as healthcare schools and roads, to support a criminal Project for a New American Century (PNAC) that is globalizing death, poverty, and destruction as the U.S led empire tries to impose a unilateral model of control over the world.
The U.S is said to be "exceptional", and therefore the rightful ruler. Manifest Destiny writ large.
Dissent is suppressed within the framework of corporate media monopolies. Predominant narratives are supported by corrupt "NGOs" – totally bereft of objectivity — and intelligence agency "fronts". Real investigative journalism offering historical context and legitimate evidence are relegated to the fringes, far outside the domain of the broad-based "consensus of misunderstanding."
The "Progressive Left" has been co-opted. So-called "progressives" (presumably unwittingly) support Canada's close relationships with Wahabbi Saudi Arabia, Apartheid Israel, and even the foreign mercenaries currently invading Syria (ie ISIS and al Nursra Front/al Qaeda, and all the "moderates").
The foundational sources upon which the pretexts for war are built and perpetrated are taboo topics, despite longstanding evidence that the official narratives explaining the crimes of 9/11 – and the subsequent "Gladio B" operations — are flawed. The truth is seen as "heresy", and fact-based narratives are derided as "conspiracy theories".
Thus, a firm foundation of lies that serves as a sanctified justification for global war and terror, remains strong.
But the stakes are high, as Western hegemony presses us closer and closer to a real prospect of widespread nuclear war. Already, the use of nuclear weapons is being "normalized" through the introduction of "mini-nukes" into the equation, and the blurring of lines between conventional and nuclear war.
Chossudovsky explains in "Is the Bush Administration Planning a Nuclear Holocaust? | Will the US launch 'Mini-nukes' against Iran in Retaliation for Tehran's 'Non-compliance'?" that
"The Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations outlines the procedures governing the use of nuclear weapons and the nature of the relationship between nuclear and conventional war operations.
The DJNO states that the:
'use of nuclear weapons within a [war] theater requires that nuclear and conventional plans be integrated to the greatest extent possible' (DJNO, p 47, italics added, For further details see Michel Chossudovsky, Nuclear War against Iran, Jan 2006 )
The implications of this 'integration' are far-reaching because once the decision is taken by the Commander in Chief, namely the President of the United States, to launch a joint conventional-nuclear military operation, there is a risk that tactical nuclear weapons could be used without requesting subsequent presidential approval. In this regard, execution procedures under the jurisdiction of the theater commanders pertaining to nuclear weapons are described as 'flexible and allow for changes in the situation …' "
The taboos need to be lifted, and all of the repeated lies need to be contradicted.
The War on Syria is not a "civil" war; the "uprising" was not "democratic"; Assad does not "starve his own people"; Assad does not "bomb his own people", and, of course, there are no "moderate" terrorists.
The initial uprisings were marred by foreign-backed violence perpetrated against innocent people, soldiers, and police. Peaceful grassroots protests were hijacked by these murderous foreign-backed elements (as was the case in Ukraine) – all consistent with "hybrid war" as elaborated by Andrew Korybko.
The illegal sanctions imposed by the West – which benefit the terrorists and punish Syrian citizens – coupled with terrorist practices of theft and hoarding of humanitarian aid – are responsible for the starvation.
Assad is a democratically elected reformer, and hugely popular with Syrians, not a brutal dictator. Claims that he "kills his own people" were further debunked when the so-called "Caesar photos" evidence was proven to be a fraud. Many Syrians criticize Assad for not carpet bombing terrorist occupied areas (as US occupiers did in Fallujah, for example). Syrians sometimes refer to Assad as "Mr. Soft Heart".
Unfortunately, though, the well-documented truth is not yet widely accepted. We need to shatter the "Inquisition" which serves to protect the criminal cabal perpetrating and orchestrating this global catastrophe. Truth and justice must prevail over lies and crimes. Currently, the opposite is the case.
Posted in SyriaComments Off on Empire Perpetrates Its Dirty War on Syria Beneath the Protected Cover of Big Lies
UNCLOAKED: White Helmets Rescue Crisis Actor in 'Mannequin Challenge' Fakery
Posted on 29 November 2016. Tags: White Helmets
BY SHAWN HELTON
21st Century Wire says…
Just when you thought they were slowing down following their failure to win a Nobel Peace Prize in October, the US-UK backed 'NGO' dubbed the White Helmets, continue to produce an unprecedented amount of western-oriented war propaganda.
CNN's latest White Helmet-supplied report seems to be more of the same – the appearance of staged rescue scenes, designed to discredit both the Syrian Government and the Russian governments for daring to try and flush out any US Coaltion-backed foreign Salafist insurgency, hell bent (literally) on 'regime change' in Syria.
Watch CNN 'journalist,' Will Ripley, conducting what's meant to look like a 'hard-hitting' report, not from Syria though, but from his laptop in a quaint hotel somewhere in cosmopolitan Istanbul. His report features video footage which is heavily edited to look like real 'search and rescue' events in Aleppo, and which is supplied to CNN by US-UK and EU-funded pseudo 'NGO' organizations in Syria, Aleppo Media Centre and the White Helmets.
The "theatre" that is mainstream media reporting in Syria continues…
'SCRIPTED SCENES' – Over the past year, the White Helmets rescues have displayed a host of anomalies. (Photo Illustration 21WIRE)
Since their inception in late 2013, the White Helmets have been financed to the tune of over $100 million from the UK, US and EU nations alone, along with millions more from various other NATO and GCC member states like Qatar – all nations who are deeply invested in arming and backing rebel-terrorists vying for regime change in Syria.
Lina Arabi @LinaArabii
The White Helmets released a video of them doing the #MannequinChallenge. Not sure what they were thinking.
4:31 PM – 21 Nov 2016
738738 Retweets
545545 likes
The video in the Tweet above (see also video below) appears to be another White Helmets staged rescue operation, complete with a "crisis actor," in what some have dubbed a poor attempt at the "Mannequin Challenge" type of video. The #TheMannequinChallenge social engineering phenomena first went viral in late October featuring, students from a Jacksonville high school, who were "pretending to be stuck motionless, mid-pose, as if they were modeling slacks at Macy's."
This latest desperate 'ice bucket challenge' farce seems to have backfired badly on the White Helmets – now everyone is asking what 21stCenturyWire.com has been asking for over a year now – how many staged, faked rescue videos and photos has this pseudo NGO produced since its inception in late 2013…?
During the course of 2016, the group appeared to be caught reusing alleged victims as character subjects in its numerous staged rescue photo opportunities.
The White Helmets have been cranking out iconic war images and rescue videos at an unprecedented rate, leading many to question what this group is really doing, and why. Independent critics and analysts such as the website Moon of Alabama have noted that much of the White Helmets imagery is riddled with deceptive anomalies. Here's one such passage from a Moon report last June, 2016 which revealed the staged nature present in so many of the White Helmets alleged 'rescue' operations:
"Isn't it an amazing fortune that so many kids get rescued ALIVE by the "White Helmets", without any serious wounds visible, just moments after bomb impacts? This week after week? With all the same attributes in each picture? No photo editor at any of the big media ever wondered about that?
Some of these photos may show real scenes. But most are definitely staged. These staged photos are part of the war propaganda against the Syrian people and their government.
The "White Helmets" take and distribute these photos. They also distribute lots of "kids rescued from rubble" videos."
Below is a infographic from Hands Off Syria, who also contend the White Helmets have repurposed apparent victims.
Watch and listen to the video clip below, as a fake rescue scene is brought to life by the so-called 'first responder' group the White Helmets…
Below is another look at an RT interview featuring 21WIRE contributor Vanessa Beeley this past October. Watch as Beeley dissects the controversy over the White Helmets nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize this year.
The White Helmets were nominated for the 'Peace Prize' but perhaps due to public scrutiny over many of the NGO's false claims and staged imagery, the award was given to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos last month:
READ MORE WHITE HELMET NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire White Helmet Files
Posted in SyriaComments Off on UNCLOAKED: White Helmets Rescue Crisis Actor in 'Mannequin Challenge' Fakery