Search Results for: white helmets

The White Helmets, founded to rescue victims trapped under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Syrian and Russian bombing, have become a favorite source for Western news media covering a story on Russian-Syrian bombing. Portrayed as humanitarian heroes for over the past year and even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize last summer, the White … Continue reading “How a Syrian White Helmets Leader Played Western Media”

Over the past year, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been quietly facing a crisis of credibility. The crisis started when whistleblowers within the organization shared information that contradicted the findings of an OPCW investigation into the April 2018 alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria. Leaks and whistleblower testimony show the … Continue reading “OPCW Insiders Denounce Latest Syria Report”

On April 7, 2018, horrifying images of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria flooded the internet. Appalled, the media jumped on the story and resolutely pointed the finger at the regime of Assad. One week later, yesterday exactly two years ago, the United States, Britain and France launched rocket attacks in retaliation, and the … Continue reading “Two Years On, Time To Pull the Douma ‘Gas Attack’ Out of the Memory Hole”

Recently, two stories have been in the news – though not enough in the news. They have been in the news because they are both stories of American missile strikes that importantly changed events and because they are both stories of missile strikes that were justified by lies. They have been not enough in the … Continue reading “Lies, Missile Strikes and a Whole Lot of History”

Among the basic principles of reporting, as taught in every journalism school, are: Constantly strive for the truth; Give voice to all sides of a story; When new information comes to light about a story you reported, a correction must be issued or a follow-up produced. But the Canadian media has ignored explosives revelations from … Continue reading “Canada Follows US Lead By Ignoring OPCW Scandal”

By any reckoning, the claim made this week by al-Qaeda-linked fighters that they were targeted with chemical weapons by the Syrian government in Idlib province – their final holdout in Syria – should have been treated by the western media with a high degree of skepticism. That the US and other western governments enthusiastically picked … Continue reading “The Western Media Is Key to Syria Deceptions”

At the close of 2018, President Donald Trump announced that American troops were being withdrawn from Syria. By the open of 2019, National Security Advisor John Bolton and Senator Lindsey Graham were saying that there would be no withdrawal before a full defeat of the Islamic State and other objectives were achieved. As usual, the … Continue reading “The Syrian War Is Over – It Never Should Have Started”

There’s a lot going on in this crazy world, and without further ado let’s look at the turmoil and try to make sense of it. The Middle East Mess – While the Trump administration has been making astonishing headway in bringing peace to the Korean peninsula, in the Middle East they are making huge errors … Continue reading “Around the World In Two-Thousand Words”

As North Korea begins to open up to the world, what must they be hearing? Two of the loudest stories concern Donald Trump’s reactions to countries accused of having active weapons of mass destruction programs. Trump bombed Syria for using chemical weapons, and he has now officially pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of … Continue reading “The Meaning of Verification”

The anniversary of Karl Marx’s birthday 200 years ago has gifted us with dozens of polemics, both pro and con, debating the theoretical prognostications and real world consequences of the ideology that bears his name. I won’t add to this genre except to note that the revolutionary character of the regimes that claimed his legacy … Continue reading “Variations on a Theme of ‘The Revolution Betrayed’”