Western media are complicit in the war crimes perpetrated by their governments against Syria. “Why don’t they report extensively on how U.S. military forces are illegally occupying the country and looting Syria’s oil fields which is preventing the nation accessing its natural wealth to fund reconstruction and supply returning refugees with fuel?”
2/21/20, “As Usual, Western Media Grossly Distort Syria’s Conflict," Strategic Culture Editorial
“Western news media are once again distorting the conflict in Syria with lopsided coverage this week, claiming to focus their concern on a humanitarian crisis in the northwest of the country.
Outlets such as the New York Times and the BBC, among others, claimed that 900,000 civilians are fleeing violence brought on by Syrian state forces and their Russian ally continuing an offensive against “rebels” [terrorists]. The implication being that responsibility for immense humanitarian suffering was due to callous Syrian and Russian military actions. The NY Times described the plight of refugees with emotive words, saying, “it’s like the end of the world.”
No-one doubts that there is humanitarian plight from violence and displacement. But what the Western media are engaging in is a gross and nauseating distortion of what is really going on in Syria. It is typical of the way Western corporate media have been lying about the war in that country for the past nearly nine years.
It is by now untenable for Western media to spin the fictional narrative about “moderate rebels” fighting against a “cruel dictatorship”. The supposed “rebels” have vanished like the chimera they always were. What is left are the remnants of terror groups that are concentrated in northwest Syria. The dominant component is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly Al Nusra Front, an offshoot of Al Qaeda, like Islamic State. These are internationally proscribed terror networks which have carried out the most hideous, barbaric cruelties against civilians.
Unable any longer to launder the bloody image of the terrorists and retail them as “moderate rebels”, the Western media are now laying on the “humanitarian emotion” as a way to undermine the sovereign right of the Syrian army to defeat and rid the country of the terror scourge.
The Syrian army has already largely eradicated this scourge from most of the country. The last remaining hold-out for the terrorists is in the northwest region of Idlib and Aleppo countryside.
Many of the civilians caught up in the conflict are being used as human shields by the militant groups to prevent Syrian state forces [from rescuing them] advancing towards the final endgame. Commendably, the Syrian army and its Russian ally have deployed valor and painstaking care to liberate terror-held areas with minimal civilian casualties. Again, Western media have functioned as propagandists for the terror groups and their White Helmet agents by airing febrile claims of atrocities committed against civilians by the Syrian and Russian forces.
Two significant events happened this week, both of which were largely ignored by Western media, which gives an indication of their duplicitous political agenda.
The Syrian army routed the terror groups from dozens of villages and towns in Aleppo countryside. What then followed were huge celebrations by civilians in Aleppo city
because the terrorists would no longer be able to launch deadly rocket
and mortar attacks on residents. It was these attacks over the past year
in violation of countless ceasefire attempts by the government in Damascus that finally prompted the offensive by the Syrian army to eliminate the terrorist remnants.
The second significant event was the reopening of Aleppo international airport to flights.
The airport was not able to operate despite the city having been fully
liberated at the end of 2016 by the Syrian army and its Russian ally. The relentless shelling by terror groups from the surrounding countryside meant that Syria’s second city had to keep its airport closed for the past three years
(in addition to the five years before liberation). As a result of
finally clearing Aleppo province of militants this week, the city’s
airport is now open for business. Life is returning to some normality.
Back when Aleppo city was liberated in 2016, the Western media again ignored the celebrations of the civilians overjoyed from at last being freed from the besieging jihadist groups which had held them under a veritable reign of terror. The Western media
tried to spin that liberation as an impending massacre against
civilians and “rebels” committed by the Syrian army and Russian forces. None of the Western media ever followed up with reports on real life in Aleppo following the liberation. The reality no doubt would have been too much of a contradiction for their fictive propaganda narrative.
Likewise this week, Western media roundly ignored the realities on the ground in Syria, by trying to repackage their “humanitarian crisis” fabulation.
The fact is since the beginning of the war in March 2011 Western governments and NATO members have been covertly arming the terror groups which have inflicted so much suffering and horror on Syria in a nefarious scheme for regime change in Damascus. The Syrian people, their government and army have bravely resisted this criminal conspiracy for the most part of a decade and are now bringing it to a final end. Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah deserve credit for their steadfast support to the Syrian nation against the foreign-backed aggression.
[Image, 2/20/20, “Those who @anadoluagency called them “moderate opposition” and #Turkey still support them.” via Hoshang Hasan twitter. Andalou news agency based in Turkey]
Turkey, a NATO member, is currently most visibly exposed as being an accomplice with the terror groups that are being rolled up by the Syrian army. But the United States, Britain and France have all played a dirty role in fomenting the war in Syria. Western media do not give this coverage because the appalling culpability and criminality of Western governments is too shameful to contemplate or expose to the public.
If Western media were genuinely concerned about “humanitarian crisis”, they would do well to report on how their governments have created the suffering and misery in Syria. Why don’t they report extensively on how U.S. military forces are illegally occupying the country and looting
Syria’s oil fields which is preventing the nation accessing its natural
wealth to fund reconstruction and supply returning refugees with fuel? Why don’t Western media report on how the U.S. and the European Union are tightening economic sanctions on Syria, again hampering a war-torn nation from reconstructing?
Syria is a case study of how Western news media – despite pretensions of ethics and journalism – serve as propaganda tools. And more than propaganda tools, they are complicit in the war crimes perpetrated against Syria because they have knowingly distorted the truth to cover up for their criminal governments.”
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Added:
2/17/2020, “IN PHOTOS: PEOPLE CELEBRATING LIBERATION OF WESTERN ALEPPO FROM MILITANTS,” Southfront.org
“On February 16 evening, Syrian government forces liberated the entire western countryside of Aleppo city from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda)
and other Turkish-backed militant groups. While supporters of
terrorists and their foreign backers were crying foul about the ‘bloody
Assad regime’ oppressing al-Qaeda democrats, people of Aleppo were celebrating.”
........
........
images via southfront
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Added: “The
only counter-example could be that of Syria, which, in accordance with
its historical tradition, has kept its state despite the war, absorbed the blows, and although ruined today, has weathered the storm.”
“In beginning to implement this strategy, President George Bush Jr. spoke of a “war without end. Indeed,
it is no longer a question of winning wars and defeating opponents, but
of making them last as long as possible, “a century" he said….The
state structures of Afghanistan since 2001, Iraq since 2003, Libya
since 2011, Syria since 2012 and Yemen since 2015 are no longer capable
of defending their citizens. Contrary to official discourse, there
has never been any question of overthrowing governments, but rather of
destroying states and preventing their reconstitution. For
example, the situation of the people of Afghanistan did not improve
with the fall of the Taliban 19 years ago, but is getting worse and
worse by the day. The only counter-example could be that of Syria, which, in accordance with its historical tradition, has kept its state despite the war, absorbed the blows, and although ruined today, has weathered the storm.
It should be noted in passing that the Pentagon has always considered Israel as a European state and not as a Middle Eastern state. It is therefore not affected by this vast upheaval.”
2/18/2020, ““NATO Go Home!”,” Voltaire, Thierry Meyssan
………………………………………
Added: US Military official slips up and tells truth that Idlib is a “magnet” for terrorist groups who are a “nuisance, a menace and a threat” to the hundreds of thousands of civilians in Syria-Sky News
2/20/20, “@OIRSpox Colonel Myles Caggins says the #Idlib province is a “magnet” for terrorist groups who are a “nuisance, a menace and a threat” to the hundreds of thousands of civilians in Syria, who are just “trying to make it through the winter.””
Above, 2/20/20, via Sky News twitter
Below: 2/20/20, More on accidental or unusual honesty about Idlib from a US official, in this case US Colonel Caggins: “Much of US UK media portray #Idlib as if a last #Syria bastion of freedom and democracy against Assad. But watch here today as senior US officer @OIRSpox says otherwise: ‘Idlib is a terrorist magnet, and all its armed groups are a menace and threat to the civilians living there’,”
Above, 2/20/20, Charles Shoebridge twitter
Below, 2/21/20, “He won’t be back, he broke the narrative."
Above, 2/21/20, via Shoebridge twitter
Below, 2/21/20, “A rare moment of truth on Sky news regarding Syria”
Above, 2/21/20, via Shoebridge twitter
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“The international order [was] established by the victorious allies after the Second World War....The United States [is] vulnerable to the accusation that it is as selective as any country about when it does and does not abide by the international norms and rules that it expects of others….The longevity of the current international system may have led to the assumption that it was in some way the natural order of things.“…“Challenges to the Rules-Based International Order,“ Chatham House, 2015. The Queen is Patron of Chatham House
........
Image: June 3, 2019, Trump and his pal the Queen during dinner at Buckingham Palace, getty
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British Intelligence ran pro-terrorist propaganda in Syria:
“Erdogan continues with his wild rhetoric over Syria.
“#ERDOGAN: “#Turkey cannot be confined within the 780,000 km2 border. #Misrata, #Aleppo, #Homs & #Hasaka are outside our actual borders, but they are within our emotional & physical limits, we will confront those who limit our history to only 90yrs.””
.....
2/19/20, “Syria–Turkey’s Bluff Is Called–Media Opposition Sources Run By British Intelligence,“ Moon of Alabama
“Russia has called Turkey’s bluff
of a wide ranging attack on Syrian government forces. The Turkish
president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will now have to find a way out of the Idleb trap he set himself in. His excellent Syria adventure is coming to an end.
Meanwhile we learn that the British military intelligence ran another large dis-information campaign that brought ‘Syrian voices’ into the ‘western’ press.
Erdogan continues with his wild rhetoric over Syria.
“#ERDOGAN: “#Turkey cannot be confined within the 780,000 km2 border. #Misrata, #Aleppo, #Homs & #Hasaka are outside our actual borders, but they are within our emotional & physical limits, we will confront those who limit our history to only 90yrs.”
The Turkish talks with Russia have not gone well. Russia had proposed the following points:
“1- 16-km border strip in Idlib under Turkey control
2- Russia controls crossing between Idlib strip and Afrin
3- M4 and M5 opened under joint Russian-Turkish supervision
4- Retreat of observation points to border strip”
Some ten of Turkey’s observation points are currently surrounded by the Syrian army. If Turkey starts to escalate they will be in a dire situation.
....
Turkey rejected the Russian proposal:
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Feb. 19 that talks with Russia on the northwestern [sovereign] Syrian region of Idlib were far from meeting Turkey’s demands and warned that a military operation there was a “matter of time”.“As
with all [previous] operations, we say ‘we could suddenly come one
night.’ In other words, an Idlib operation is a matter of time,” Erdoğan
said. He was referring to the previous three Turkish operations to northern Syria since 2016.
“We are entering the last days for the [sovereign] [Syrian] regime to stop its hostility in [its sovereign territory of] Idlib [in which Turkey military is illegally present]. We are making our final warnings,”he added. “Turkey has made all preparations to carry out its own operation plans in Idlib.”
Russia called a Turkish attack the worst case scenario:
“The Kremlin spokesman added that “if it is an operation against Syria’s legitimate authorities and armed forces, it will definitely be the worst scenario.”Russia will continue contacts with Turkey in order to prevent the situation in Idlib from escalating further, according to Peskov.
“We are determined to continue to use our working contacts with our Turkish counterparts to prevent the situation in Idlib from escalating further," he said.”
Two hours after it published the above the Russian agency TASS also published this:
“Two Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 strategic bombers have performed a scheduled flight over the neutral waters of the Black Sea, Russia’s
Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.”During the flight,
the crews covered a distance of about 4,500 km and stayed in the air for
more than five hours,” the statement runs.
Fighter jets of Russia’s Southern Military District escorted the bombers during the flight.”
The Tu-22M3 can fire long range cruise missiles. The Turkish military will understand that warning.
The Russians are also prodding Erdogan with reports about U.S. weapon deliveries to PKK-Kurds in east Syria:
““The US command in the region is intensively saturating the territory east of the Euphrates river with weapons and ammunition. Since the beginning of 2020, 13 [US taxpayer funded]
military convoys have arrived from Iraq to Syria, which included over
80 armored vehicles and more than 300 trucks loaded with various types
of weapons, ammunition and materiel”,Rear Adm. Oleg Zhuravlev said in a daily briefing.”
......
Reports now speak of more than a million refugees in Idleb even as the pre-war population of Idleb governorate never exceeded 1.5 million. Many of those already fled during the early war either to government held areas or to Turkey and beyond. Where are the million reported now supposed to have come from?
The ‘western’ media is again practicing tear jerking about these refugees in Idleb. But its reports forget to mention that al-Qaeda rules Idleb and that it prevents the people from crossing the line into Syrian government held areas:
“In yet another lengthy, expensive, lavishly illustrated story about Idlib, the NYT once again failed to make any mention of the politics of what is happening in that enclave of northwestern Syria– namely, the fact that well-armed jihadist/takfiri fighters from all around the world have controlled it for the past several years, while Syria’s government forces have been battling to regain control [and free hostages being used as human shields].
In that latest article, as in all of the lengthy, one-sided tearjerkers it has published about Idlib over the past year, the NYT has no actual journalists or photographers on the ground reporting the story. It is wholly reliant instead on “stories” and footage it gathers from unverifiable sources inside the [headslicers] enclave– sources who notably never include any mention of the jihadi armed groups that control all aspects of life there.”
Today we learn that many of these unverifiable sources have been on the British government payroll since at least 2012:
“A number of leaked documents seen by Middle East Eye show how the propaganda initiative began in 2012 and gathered pace the following year, shortly after the UK parliament refused to authorise British military action in Syria. Drawing upon British, American and Canadian funding, UK government contractors set up offices in Istanbul and Amman, where they hired members of the Syrian diaspora, who in turn recruited citizen journalists inside Syria....
During 2015, Free Syria, Syrian Identity and Undermine were funded in both British pounds and Canadian dollars, with the equivalent of around £410,000 ($540,000) being spent each month.”
These ‘sources’ which were hired and instructed by the UK government are the ones quoted in ‘western’ papers. The whole scheme, like the British organized [and US taxpayer funded] ‘White Helmets’, was run by military intelligence officers:
.....
“Individuals familiar with the project say that around nine companies were invited to bid for the contracts. They included a number of firms established by former British diplomats, intelligence officers and army officers. Although the contracts were awarded by the UK’s foreign office, they were managed by the country’s Ministry of Defence, and sometimes by military intelligence officers.
These companies set up offices in Amman, Istanbul and, for a period, at Reyhanli in southeast Turkey. From here they would employ Syrians who would in turn recruit citizen journalists inside Syria, who were under the impression that they were working for the media offices of Syrian [terrorists] opposition groups.”
The British intelligence also hired journalists to write ‘Syrian rebel’ propaganda stories. Britain also organized and directed the [terrorists’] opposition’s spokespersons:
“Meanwhile, other leaked documents seen by MEE show that the British government had awarded contracts to communications companies, which selected and trained opposition spokespeople, ran press offices that operated 24 hours a day, and developed opposition social media accounts. British staff running these offices were told that their Syrian employees were permitted to talk to British journalists – as spokespeople for the Syrian opposition – but only after receiving clearance from officials at the British consulate in Istanbul.
One of the responsibilities of the press offices set up covertly by the British government under the terms of these contracts was to “maintain an effective network of correspondents/stringers inside Syria to report on [terrorist] MAO [moderate armed opposition] activity”.
In this way, the British government was able to exert behind-the-scenes influence over conversations that the UK media was having with individuals who presented themselves as Syrian opposition representatives.”
It weren’t just UK media who cited those persons. The
whole ‘civil opposition movement’ was, like the [jihadist] ‘White
Helmets’, a well organized and paid British government front. But when Turkey increased its role in Syria the British dis-information operation began to shut down:
........
“British government enthusiasm for much of the work appears to have begun to wane as it became increasingly clear that the Assad government and its Russian and Iranian allies were winning the [so-called] civil war, and funding for contracts began to dry up. Early in 2019, the Free Syrian Police, a British-backed organisation, finally ceased operations following a [terrorist] militant takeover of Idlib province, much to the dismay of civilians and civil society activists.
The Turkish government is also said to have become less tolerant of the propaganda initiatives being co-ordinated from its territory. One British contractor is understood to have been expelled after the
Turkish authorities discovered she had entered the country on a tourist
visa.”
Posted by b on February 19, 2020 at 15:58 UTC | Permalink"
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Among comments
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“So sad to see how the usa-uk and canada .. fund[ed].. an opposition that consists of the very same terrorist groups these same countries are [supposedly] opposed to.. James @ 3 .. you described propaganda and activities of mobsters. <. ..I believe the entire top levels of these interconnected governments are in the hands of private greedy dangerous mobsters and or their puppets. using the nation states as weapons and leverage to conduct their mobster affairs. <=it has taken many years for the governed in these various nation states to wade through the propaganda and to discover for themselves, the dilemma the governed are in: victims not of our persons in government we elected, but victims of puppets in government who serve the mob.
We the governed have been cut out from the affairs of government (so called state secrecy) and from the election to office of persons able to do anything about it. So as one person said we the governed are but bystanders.…In the man called Erdo stands the promise of world war III. In the person of Putin stands the man to stop Erdo.. it will be interesting….
Posted by: snake | Feb 19 2020 17:32 utc | 19″
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“Peter AU 1 @26–
UNSC [UN Security Council] met this morning and Russia opposed a UN declaration for a ceasefire as was expected. Lavrov stated that Idlib must be liberated, no more dancing around as with the Minsk Accords. Like Kiev, Erdogan entered into commitments that he refused to honor, and he’s being called out for his bad behavior. Russia’s UNSC rep on short PressTV vid: “Syrian government should retake control of entire country.”
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 19 2020 18:55 utc | 34″
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“Western news media are once again distorting the conflict in Syria with lopsided coverage this week, claiming to focus their concern on a humanitarian crisis in the northwest of the country. 
[Image, 2/20/20, “Those who @anadoluagency called them “moderate opposition” and #Turkey still support them.” via Hoshang Hasan twitter. Andalou news agency based in Turkey] 
2/17/2020, “IN PHOTOS: PEOPLE CELEBRATING LIBERATION OF WESTERN ALEPPO FROM MILITANTS,” Southfront.org 
