Putin & Trump and Journalists

[David Morris]

What about my request, Thomas?

On Friday, January 27, 2017, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Assad was (still is) always the bad guy.  But he was in control (and still
> will be).  All the rest is the hornet's nest of factions and cross
> alliegences.  Good guys and innocents are pawns and fodder.  It all sucks.
>
> How would you have played this out, Thomas?  I would really like to know
> how this mess would have been improved were you the US President instead of
> Obama.
>
> David Morris
>
> On Friday, January 27, 2017, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','richard.romeo at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>
>> the question though is who is this propaganda for at this point with
>> Assad here to stay. most of us thought he was on his last legs a few years
>> ago, like father like son we all thought. obama's line in the sand was one
>> of those showing toughness knowing full well not much would be done beyond
>> that. he risked face for scoring political points, an easy slam dunk, with
>> no skin in the game, which I would think is unofficial american policy
>> (unless michael flynn isnt coralled under Trump)--let the drones and
>> handfuls of CIA paras and special forces handle it.
>>
>>
>> assad stays, russia aids the iranians indirectly, all part of the
>> region's proxy war b/w iran and saudia arabia (a way again for russia to
>> poke a US ally). and oddly enough, who benefits the most from all this:
>> Israel who one would think enjoy the arab world at each other's throat and
>> not at theirs. is this why the settlements are growing even quicker?
>>
>> I think I'm in agreement with your sentiments, Thomas. I just wonder at
>> this stage in the game, w/r/t to Syria, propaganda seems to have worn out
>> its welcome. our side is bad, their side is bad, who side is who on, who
>> knows?
>>
>> rich
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 27, 2017 at 5:46 PM, Thomas Eckhardt <
>> thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de> wrote:
>>
>>> 'The real reason that reporting of the Syrian conflict
>>>> has been so inadequate is that Western news organisations have almost
>>>> entirely outsourced their coverage to the rebel side.'
>>>>
>>>
>>> This is certainly true but does not go far enough. The "activists",
>>> "civilian defense workers" and "citizen journalists" who provide
>>> information to the Western media are not only embedded with the rebels but
>>> have been prepared for this job and are paid enormous sums by the West to
>>> perform it.
>>>
>>> The Western mainstream media duly report everything these embedded
>>> citizen journalists or first responders tell them as fact. The White
>>> Helmets have produced hundreds of fake photographs of children "pulled from
>>> the rubble". Even if it isn't explicitly mentioned, through their
>>> publication by supposedly respectable newspapers like the NYT, the Guardian
>>> or Die Zeit these fake photographs have become documents of Russian and
>>> Syrian barbarism in the public perception. Politicians then quote from the
>>> newspapers and add some buzzwords: Guernica, Ruanda, Srebrenica. A German
>>> talkshow host even managed to mention the Holocaust...
>>>
>>> This is war propaganda of the highest order, provided as a public
>>> service by an enormously sophisticated and well-oiled propaganda machine.
>>> It is Frank Wisner's "mighty Wurlitzer" on steroids.
>>>
>>> http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/how-white-helmets-b
>>> ecame-international-heroes-while-pushing-us-military
>>>
>>> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/aleppo-f
>>> ake-footage-children-five-peopele-arrested-egyptian-police-a7486541.html
>>>
>>> http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/24/middleeast/mannequin-chall
>>> enge-white-helmets-syria/
>>>
>>> http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/09/20/exclusive-aleppo-media
>>> -centre-funded-by-french-foreign-office-eu-and-us/
>>>
>>> (Beeley is partisan, so take that last link with a grain of salt as far
>>> as her take on the actions of the Syrian government are concerned. Her
>>> research on the sources of funding for the White Helmets and the Aleppo
>>> Media Center is solid. Please note also that, while many of the photographs
>>> taken by the White Helmets are certainly fakes, some are not. Nobody denies
>>> that many children have actually been wounded and killed during the bombing
>>> of East Aleppo.)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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