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Tensions between the U.S. and Russia are heating up in Syria. Russia is now accusing the U.S. of using phosphorus bombs, a claim the Pentagon has denied, while the U.S. is planning for potential conflict with Russia in Syria on the ground in Al-Tanf (a key U.S. outpost base).

Russia’s military accused two U.S. F-15 fighter jets of dropping white phosphorus bombs over Syria’s Deir al-Zor province on Saturday, the TASS and RIA news agencies reported.

In a statement to Reuters, a Pentagon spokesman denied that U.S. planes dropped phosphorus bombs.

“At this time, we have not received any reports of any use of white phosphorous,” said Commander Sean Robertson. “None of the military units in the area are even equipped with white phosphorous munitions of any kind.”

The U.S. airstrikes targeted the village of Hajin, the final major stronghold of Islamic State in Syria.

Meanwhile, the last rebel hotbed against Syria’s government in Idlib is being threatened by Russia through threatening a U.S. training camp in Al-Tanf.

This comes after Russian jets bombarded Idlib earlier this week, hours after Trump warned in a tweet that Assad “must not recklessly attack Idlib Province.”

This has prompted the U.S. to send more than 100 U.S. Marines to a remote coalition outpost in southern Syria at Al-Tanf after Russia threatened to attack militants in the area, the Pentagon said.

The base is used by U.S. special forces as a training ground for Syrian fighters who are confronting Islamic State militants, according to Stripes.

U.S. military officials sternly warned Russia and Syria not to go forward with an attack within a 35-mile-wide security zone that the U.S. maintains around Al-Tanf.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

YouTube Bans Media Supporting Syria’s Liberating Struggle

September 12, 2018

YouTube Bans Media Supporting Syria’s Liberating Struggle

Alphabet/Google-owned YouTube is a censoring machine like its parent company – waging war on speech and media freedom, in cahoots with dark US forces waging war on humanity.

Google transformed itself from a search engine to gatekeeper/censor, eliminating what it calls extremist content, its YouTube subsidiary operating the same way – wanting information conflicting with the official narrative eliminated, the hallmark of totalitarian rule.

The Internet is the last frontier of digital democracy, the only reliable independent space for real news, information and analysis – threatened by social media, Google, YouTube, ISPs and tech giants in cahoots with Washington.

Ahead of what may be the mother of all battles to liberate US-supported terrorists in Syria’s Idlib province, YouTube banned Damascus state-run and other pro-government channels – including the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), channels belonging to the country’s presidency and Defense Ministry, each closure accompanied by one of these shameful statements saying:

“This account has been terminated due to a legal complaint,” or

“This account has been terminated for a violation of YouTube’s Terms of Service.”

A message on SANA’s takedown said: “This page isn’t available. Sorry about that. Try searching for something else.”

Banning Syrian media occurred on Saturday after Joint Chiefs chairman General Dunford said Trump was told about “military options” in response to a looming (false flag) “chemical weapons” attack – wrongfully blamed on Damascus.

Banning Syrian media on YouTube is all about silencing information conflicting with US anti-Syria propaganda – likely knowing a false flag CW attack is imminent.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said “irrefutable” evidence it obtained confirmed it’s coming. Syria’s UN envoy Bashar al-Jaafari said the same thing during a Security Council session, presenting documents to SC members on what’s planned.

US-launched aggression in March 2011 appears set to escalate more than already, risking possible East-West confrontation.

On the Brink with Russia in Syria Again, 5 Years Later

September 12, 2018

On the Brink with Russia in Syria Again, 5 Years Later

It’s deja-vu all over again in Syria, with the U.S. on the verge of a confrontation with Russia as Donald Trump faces his biggest decision yet as president, comments Ray McGovern.

The New York Times, on September 11, 2013, accommodated Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s desire “to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders” about “recent events surrounding Syria.”

Putin’s op-ed in the Times appeared under the title: “A Plea for Caution From Russia.” In it, he warned that a military “strike by the United States against Syria will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders … and unleash a new wave of terrorism. … It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.”

Three weeks before Putin’s piece, on August 21, there had been a chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was immediately blamed. There soon emerged, however, ample evidence that the incident was a provocation to bring direct U.S. military involvement against Assad, lest Syrian government forces retain their momentum and defeat the jihadist rebels.

In a Memorandum for President Barack Obama five days before Putin’s article on September 6, the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) had warned President Barack Obama of the likelihood that the incident in Ghouta was a false-flag attack.

Despite his concern of a U.S. Attack, Putin’s main message in his Op-Ed was positive, talking of a growing mutual trust:

“A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action. [Syria’s chemical weapons were in fact destroyed under UN supervision the following year.]

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The US’s Choice: WWIII or Saving Face in Syria

September 12, 2018

The US’s Choice: WWIII or Saving Face in Syria

Sometimes when I step back from the overwhelming flow of geopolitical insanity I’m reminded of the old adage that coming close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

To which, I always add, “And nuclear war.”

I’ve been watching the build up to the operation to liberate Idlib in Syria which includes the endless neocon and Israeli moral preening warning Assad against using chemical weapons with a sense of detachment. And I keep thinking to myself, “Do they really think we’re that stupid?”

Three times the chemical weapons canard has been used to justify further aggression against Syria and three times a full-blown U.S. invasion has been averted. First by Vladimir Putin’s deft diplomacy and General Dunford’s refusal to implement a ‘no-fly zone’ in 2013 and then during the Trump years with ineffectual air strikes on Syrian airbases.

How much of that ineffectuality of those airstrikes were designed by Defense Secretary James Mattis to avoid a wider conflagration and how much was Russian EW/missile defense is anyone’s guess.

The truth most likely lies somewhere in the middle.

That is why everyone who is worrying about the U.S.’s blustering over Syria’s Idlib campaign needs to take a big step back and think the scenario through.

Because the neoconservatives and Israel are forcing the situation to its crisis point, thinking they can manipulate the headlines and the levers of power to still eke out a victory in Syria that will allow them to continue on their quest to destroy Russia first and conquer the rest of Asia after that.

And they are willing to blackmail us with the threat of WWIII over 50,000 head-chopping mercenaries to get their cookie.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

As Things Heat Up In Idlib, Remember: The US Empire Has A History With False Flags

September 12, 2018

As Things Heat Up In Idlib, Remember: The US Empire Has A History With False Flags

Conspiracy buffs give me a hard time occasionally for not writing more about September 11; I guess when you have a following and talk about unauthorized narratives a lot it’s just something that’s expected of you. I don’t really have much useful to say about it though. Obviously there are so many gaping plot holes in the official story that the only thing holding it up are the authoritative commands of loud and aggressive empire loyalists insisting that we need to believe everything we’re told or we’re hurting the people who died on that day somehow, but fixating on it never seems to get things moving in a positive direction. Seems like all it ever gets is a bunch of people who already see it clearly nodding along, and everyone else freaking out like a bunch of tattletale children shrieking and pointing at a classmate who’s breaking the rules.

September 11 is such an aggressively protected part of the machine, not just by paid propagandists because so many neoconservative agendas were advanced by PNAC’s “new Pearl Harbor“, but by rank-and-file individuals because considering the implications of the official story being false can bring up a lot of psychological discomfort that many would rather avoid. It seems to me like a lot of wasted effort to keep bashing one’s head against the most heavily armored part of the establishment lie factory when there are others that are far less protected, and while the possibility of world war due to a false flag event in Syria is looming over us currently.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why Are We Siding With al-Qaeda?

September 11, 2018

Why Are We Siding With al-Qaeda?

Last week, I urged the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to stop protecting al-Qaeda in Syria by demanding that the Syrian government leave Idlib under al-Qaeda control. While it may seem hard to believe that the US government is helping al-Qaeda in Syria, it’s not as strange as it may seem: our interventionist foreign policy increasingly requires Washington to partner up with “bad guys” in pursuit of its dangerous and aggressive foreign policy goals.

Does the Trump Administration actually support al-Qaeda and ISIS? Of course not. But the “experts” who run Trump’s foreign policy have determined that a de facto alliance with these two extremist groups is for the time being necessary to facilitate the more long-term goals in the Middle East. And what are those goals? Regime change for Iran.

Let’s have a look at the areas where the US is turning a blind eye to al-Qaeda and ISIS.

First, Idlib. As I mentioned last week, President Trump’s own Special Envoy to fight ISIS said just last year that “Idlib Province is the largest Al Qaeda safe haven since 9/11.” So why do so many US officials – including President Trump himself – keep warning the Syrian government not to re-take its own territory from al-Qaeda control? Wouldn’t they be doing us a favor by ridding the area of al-Qaeda? Well, if Idlib is re-taken by Assad, it all but ends the neocon (and Saudi and Israeli) dream of “regime change” for Syria and a black eye to Syria’s ally, Iran.

Second, one of the last groups of ISIS fighters in Syria are around the Al-Tanf US military base which has operated illegally in northeastern Syria for the past two years.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Staged Filming of False Flag ‘Chemical Attacks’ Has Begun in Idlib: Russian MoD

September 11, 2018

Staged Filming of False Flag ‘Chemical Attacks’ Has Begun in Idlib: Russian MoD

Russian state media channels, in a near simultaneous blitz of information, have issued breaking alerts this morning that anti-Assad insurgents in Idlib have begun filming “fake footage of chemical attacks” based on Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) statements. The Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation says the “fake footage of chemical attacks” is expected to be delivered to various TV channels and Western journalists before the end of the day Tuesday.

Russia’s Sputnik News indicates based on official Moscow sources:

According to the information received from inhabitants of Idlib province, militants are now filming a staged provocation in the city of Jisr al-Shugur, where “chemical weapons” are depicted as being used by the Syrian army against civilians. The film crews of several Middle Eastern TV channels arrived in Jisr al-Shugur in the morning, as well as the regional affiliate of one of the main American television news networks”, the Reconciliation Center said.

*Idlib residents have begun donning ‘protective gear’ according to an Al-Jazeera report. Image source: Reuters*

Jisr al-Shugur is a key al-Qaeda held town in Idlib Province, specifically under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Nusrah Front, or al-Qaeda). There have been international journalists inside Jisr al-Shugur over the past weeks.

Official Russian military sources also say two containers with chlorine-based toxic substance have been brought to Jisr al-Shugur; however, the sources did not cite any specific intelligence or provide evidence for the claim.

The Russian MoD described, per Sputnik:

The plot envisages staged scenes showing ‘activists’ of the Civil Defence (“White Helmets”) ‘helping’ the residents of Jisr al-Shughur after the Syrian army allegedly used the so-called barrel bombs with poisonous substances,” the center said.

Meanwhile Russian channel RT also featured the charges in breaking news, describing:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

False Flag Stage Set: US, UK, France Threaten Syria with Much Stronger Action

September 11, 2018

False Flag Stage Set: US, UK, France Threaten Syria with Much Stronger Action

The US, UK and France threaten Syria with much stronger action if Assad uses chemicals. A rebel false flag stage is set.

The Wall Street Journal reports U.S. Holds Talks With U.K., France on Possible Syria Strikes.

The U.S. is working with France and the U.K. on plans for a coordinated military strike in Syria if the regime uses chemical weapons in an expected offensive against the country’s last major rebel haven, President Trump’s national security adviser said.

John Bolton warned Monday that a new attack by the Western allies would be much stronger than the two airstrikes launched in April 2017 and April 2018 after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was accused of using chemical weapons that killed scores of civilians in the past 17 months.

“We’ve been in consultation with the British and the French, who joined us in the second strike, and they also agree that another use of chemical weapons will result in a much stronger response,” Mr. Bolton said after giving a speech in Washington.

The coordinated planning comes as the U.S. and its allies are trying to stave off a Syrian offensive in the country’s northwest, where more than 3 million civilians and as many as 70,000 militants are bracing for an attack.

U.S. officials estimate that 10,000 to 15,000 of the Syrian rebels in Idlib province are aligned with al Qaeda, and the Pentagon has urged Russia and Syria to carry out a targeted campaign against those forces. The two countries have rebuffed the appeal.

False Flag Official Denial

Mr. Bolton dismissed accusations made by Russia that the U.S. and its allies are working with Syrians to stage a chemical weapons attack as a pretext for Western military strikes.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

US, France, and UK In Direct Talks Over Possible Syria Strikes

September 11, 2018

US, France, and UK In Direct Talks Over Possible Syria Strikes

“That has to be, in the history of propaganda in the 20th and 21st centuries, one of the most outrageous claims that I can think of,” John Bolton stated in response to Moscow’s charge that anti-Assad insurgents in Idlib are preparing a chemical false flag in order to hasten a US attack on Damascus, according to a new Wall Street Journal report.

“Along with the United States and France, we have been clear that we will respond swiftly and appropriately if the Assad regime repeats its appalling use of chemical weapons,” he vowed, echoing statements the national security advisor began making weeks ago during a trip to Jerusalem.

The WSJ has revealed the White House is now in direct talks with the U.K. and France over plans for a possible third round of coordinated strikes on Syriashould the Syrian Army use chemical weapons during its Idlib assault.

After a speech in Washington on Monday, Bolton told reporters, “We’ve been in consultation with the British and the French, who joined us in the second strike, and they also agree that another use of chemical weapons will result in a much stronger response.”

The news comes a day after Bolton indicated during a speech that the US and its allies Syria would respond with much “stronger” and harsher action against Damascus.

Also, early this week there were reports that Germany is mulling over whether to agree to a request by the United States that it join any potential strikes on Syria, though such a move is expected to be too politically divisive for Germany to agree.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Fighting Starts in Syria’s Idlib: US Military Considers Military Options

September 11, 2018

Fighting Starts in Syria’s Idlib: US Military Considers Military Options

Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari declared on Sept. 7 that his government was determined to wipe out the rebels from the Idlib province. The next day, the Idlib Dawn Operation began, encircling a town 59 km. southwest of the Syrian city of Aleppo. As of Sept. 9, Russian aircraft have attacked the rebel positions in western Idlib, the mountains of the Latakia province, and the Sahl al-Ghab plain, with the goal of softening up peripheral targets and preventing a breakthrough or counterattack. Syria’s forces are ready to move.

The Russian military warned that a false-flag chemical attack staged by the rebels could occur at any time and be used as a pretext for Western missile strikes. A massive Turkish military convoy, consisting of more than 300 vehicles, including tanks, armored vehicles, and MLRS launchers, has entered Idlib from the province of Hatay.

Syria needs Idlib — the last stronghold of the jihadists and the shortest route from Latakia to Aleppo. The M5 international highway crosses Idlib, linking Turkey and Jordan through Aleppo and Damascus. Control of the province would greatly facilitate the negotiations with the Kurds and strengthen Syria’s position at the UN-brokered Geneva talks. If the negotiation process succeeds, the only territories left to liberate would be the zone controlled by the US, such as the al-Tanf military base and the surrounding area, the northern parts of the country under Turkish control, and small chunks of land still held by ISIS.

Turkey opposes the idea of an Idlib offensive. It wants assurances for the groups in Idlib under its control and it doesn’t want an influx of refugees. These controversial issues can be tackled with Russia as a mediator. Turkey, Iran, and Russia did not agree on everything at the recent summit in Tehran, but the West’s hopes that they would go their separate ways, or even clash in Idlib, have been dashed.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How the U.S. Does Propaganda

September 10, 2018

How the U.S. Does Propaganda

A typical example was on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday,” on September 8th, when the program-host Scott Simon interviewed the Obama Administration’s diplomat Robert Malley, in a segment titled “What’s Next In The Syrian War: Idlib”.

Simon’s introduction said: “After this weekend, the last contested region of Syria may come under ferocious attack. After more than seven years of fighting, the end of the Syrian war may come down to Idlib province. … It holds more than 3 million people, many of whom have been displaced. It’s been essentially a kind of dumping ground for those opposed to Bashar al-Assad’s regime and ISIS.”

Actually, there’s a factual problem with Simon’s lead-in there. Though I have seen official estimates of the population of Idlib ranging from 1.5 million to 3 million, I haven’t seen any of “more than 3 million people.” Mr. Simon is always happy to please his CIA minders, and might simply have gotten carried away in this interview.

Furthermore, Simon’s lumping “Bashar al-Assad’s regime and ISIS” together was striking, because ISIS has actually been one of the major forces in Syria working to overthrow “Assad’s regime”; and, “Assad’s regime” was elected in 2014 and has been shown by repeated polling done since then by the British firm of Orb International to retain more support amongst the Syrian public than does anyone else to serve as that nation’s leader. Polls taken in the U.S. today show that more of the public wish that Bernie Sanders were our President than that Donald Trump is; and, so, if Syria is a “regime” instead of a “government,” then the U.S. is even more of a regime than is Syria. (And the scientific evidence is consistent that the U.S. is more of a “regime” than a “democracy.”)

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

That Time CNN Staged A Fake Interview With A Syrian Child For War Propaganda

September 10, 2018

That Time CNN Staged A Fake Interview With A Syrian Child For War Propaganda

Imagine if you and some friends wandered into a completely dark room together for some reason. You’ve never been in this room before, and you can’t see a thing.

Now imagine one of your friends says he can see everything in the room perfectly, and starts describing the different things that he sees in a confident, assertive tone of voice. You know for a fact that there’s no light in the room, so you are doubtful that your friend is able to see any better than you are, but one by one your other friends start talking about the objects in the room as though what he is saying is true. After a while your group starts telling you you’re crazy and evil because you remain skeptical of your first friend’s ability to see the room in pitch darkness, despite his assertive tone of voice and despite the fact that everyone else believes it.

Western public discourse about Syria is very much the same. All the time I get people coming up yelling at me about what a butcher Bashar al-Assad is, how he loves gassing children because he’s an evil monster, how he’s killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in his own country out of sheer sadism, and all I can say to them is, you don’t know that. You don’t know any of those things, you’re just pretending you do because that’s what everyone else is doing. I know you don’t know any of those things because you’re looking at the same information landscape as I am, and it’s chock full of war propaganda. The media matrix is too full of obvious psyops meant to manufacture public consent for military interventionism in Syria for any westerner to have a clear idea of what’s actually happening in that country.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Moscow Has Upped the Ante in Syria

September 10, 2018

Moscow Has Upped the Ante in Syria

As Syrian forces backed by Russia launch the final showdown in Syria against jihadist extremists in Idlib province, the potential for a U.S.-Russia confrontation has never been greater, as VIPS warns in this memo to the president. September 9, 2018

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

SUBJECT: Moscow Has Upped the Ante in Syria

Mr. President:

We are concerned that you may not have been adequately briefed on the upsurge of hostilities in northwestern Syria, where Syrian armed forces with Russian support have launched a full-out campaign to take back the al-Nusra/al-Qaeda/ISIS-infested province of Idlib. The Syrians will almost certainly succeed, as they did in late 2016 in Aleppo. As in Aleppo, it will mean unspeakable carnage, unless someone finally tells the insurgents theirs is a lost cause.

That someone is you. The Israelis, Saudis, and others who want unrest to endure are egging on the insurgents, assuring them that you, Mr. President, will use US forces to protect the insurgents in Idlib, and perhaps also rain hell down on Damascus. We believe that your senior advisers are encouraging the insurgents to think in those terms, and that your most senior aides are taking credit for your recent policy shift from troop withdrawal from Syria to indefinite war.

Big Difference This Time

Russian missile-armed naval and air units are now deployed in unprecedented numbers to engage those tempted to interfere with Syrian and Russian forces trying to clean out the terrorists from Idlib. We assume you have been briefed on that — at least to some extent. More important, we know that your advisers tend to be dangerously dismissive of Russian capabilities and intentions.

We do not want you to be surprised when the Russians start firing their missiles. The prospect of direct Russian-U.S. hostilities in Syria is at an all-time high. We are not sure you realize that.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

US Says Assad Has Approved Gas Attack In Idlib, Setting Stage For Major Military Conflict

September 9, 2018

US Says Assad Has Approved Gas Attack In Idlib, Setting Stage For Major Military Conflict

The Wall Street Journal has just published a bombshell on Sunday evening as Russian and Syrian warplanes continue bombing raids over al-Qaeda held Idlib, citing unnamed US officials who claim “President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has approved the use of chlorine gas in an offensive against the country’s last major rebel stronghold.”

That’s right, unnamed US officials are now claiming to be in possession of intelligence which they say shows Assad has already given the order in an absolutely unprecedented level of “pre-crime” telegraphing events on the battlefield.

And supposedly these officials have even identified the type of chemical weapon to be used: chlorine gas.

The anonymous officials told the WSJ of “new U.S. intelligence” in what appears an eerily familiar repeat of the how the 2003 invasion of Iraq was sold to the American public, albeit posturing over Idlib is now unfolding at an intensely more rapid pace:

Fears of a massacre have been fueled by new U.S. intelligence indicating Mr. Assad has cleared the way for the military to use chlorine gas in any offensive, U.S. officials said. It wasn’t clear from the latest intelligence if Mr. Assad also had given the military permission to use sarin gas, the deadly nerve agent used several times in previous regime attacks on rebel-held areas. It is banned under international law.

It appears Washington is now saying an American attack on Syrian government forces and locations is all but inevitable.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Trump Minus Narrative Equals Bushbama

September 8, 2018

Trump Minus Narrative Equals Bushbama

Barack Obama is making headlines today. In a speech at the University of Illinois, Obama called out the “politics of fear” which are used by his successor and criticized an insufficient denunciation of “Nazi sympathizers” by the current administration.

“How hard can that be?” asked the former president. “Saying Nazis are bad?”

Also in the news, getting far less attention than the sparkly spectacle of Fauxgressive Jesus wagging his finger at Orange Hitler for being too nice to Nazis, is a report from the Washington Post (open it in a private browser to get around the paywall) that the Trump administration has done a complete 180 degree reversal of its prior position on Syria. And before you jump on me about believing anonymously sourced reports from an establishment outlet that is fully owned by a CIA contractor, this isn’t one of those: the sources are senior State Department officials who are named in the article.

According to the State Department’s James Jeffrey and Joel Rayburn, the Trump administration has now abandoned its previous goal of pulling out of Syria as soon as possible. The conditions for ending the US military’s illegal occupation of a sovereign nation now reportedly include “the exit of all Iranian military and proxy forces from Syria, and establishment of a stable, nonthreatening government acceptable to all Syrians and the international community,” which is another way of saying that the occupation will continue indefinitely and regime change is back on the table.

✔

Trump agrees to an indefinite military effort and new diplomatic push in Syria, U.S. officials say https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-a-shift-trump-approves-an-indefinite-military-and-diplomatic-effort-in-syria-us-officials-say/2018/09/06/0351ab54-b20f-11e8-9a6a-565d92a3585d_story.html?utm_term=.a1f0e9e79154 … by @karendeyoung1

10:54 PM – Sep 6, 2018

Trump agrees to an indefinite military effort and new diplomatic push in Syria, U.S. officials say

The shift stems from concerns about Russia and a desire to eject Iranian military and proxy forces.

washingtonpost.com

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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