War in Syria 3

In the interest of benefiting from the observations here, and in avoiding thread proliferation, I'm adding here a recent piece by James Petras who discusses Propaganda Techniques of Empire and uses many recent Syrian examples.

Here is a summary.

1. Role Reversal

This is perhaps the most helpful reminder. When the spokespersons of Empire denounce others, the most productive response is to look for identical examples from the Empire. They're invariably there.  Some excellent Syrian examples.

2. Hysterical Rants

Better to say incendiary, apoplectic, etc. The post-modern thought police are ever on alert. Again, Syria.

3. Identity Politics to Neutralize Anti-Imperialist Movements

The post-modern isolation into separate silos of "me-too-ism" fragments resistance and functions as a way to divide and rule. Meet the new Empire, same as the old [Roman] Empire. We had this with Afghanistan (the rights of women used to justify NATO bombardment and occupation) but, so far, other than an exclusive focus on [often fictitious or exaggerated] child and famale casualties in terrorist-controlled areas [blamed on Syria and Allied forces], we haven't yet seen this tactic in Syria. The Western regimes have no interest in drawing attention to the secular nature of the UN-recognized, democratically elected secular Syrian government [that has the support of the rich and diverse Syrian society with its multi-confessional, multi-ethnic mixture] and contrasting it with the barbarous terrorists that they, and their regional allies, are funding, training and showering with their "blessings" while talking out of the other side of their mouths publicly.

t4. Past Suffering to Justify Contemporary Exploitation

The most egregious example here, obviously, is Israel - whose apologists claim exclusive franchise on suffering and immunity from the norms of justice. Israel's ongoing decades-long occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights - a corridor through which terrorists get medical attention and free passage back and forth, and maybe much more - is, naturally, passed over in silence by the Western MSM.

5. Entertainment Spectacles on Military Platforms

There is plenty of this in HNIC, e.g., with Don Cherry's bellicose military cheerleading. The US military actually pays millions to the NFL to "participate" in those sporting events.

Conclusion: Do the Imperial Techniques of Propaganda Work?

Petras notes some counter-evidence.  A good, summarizing article.

Petras could add ...

6. The "Lesser Evil" Fallback Position of Empire.

Despite the fact that Clinton is a much more dangerous prospect for POTUS in terms of war in Syria [and expanding to global war] than her GOP rival Trump, the former is noisily supported by the MSM - and large parts of the "left" - as a "lesser evil" than Trump. If you can't justify Empire, then a diversion is a useful activity. Trump is a misogynist, Trump is a racist, etc. is a helpful way to distract the public from Clinton's horrific and bellicose and well-documented policies of giddy enthusiasm for war in Syria, Ukraine, etc.

Even if the claims about Trump are true [which they are], the corrupt Clinton record and organization makes the point moot. Petras points out in his piece what the result of the election of an African-American to the Oval Office has done for them in the USA: more police atrocities, more this and that. Worse, not better.

Most importantly of all, Clinton is more likely to start WW3. That's an important difference between these hood ornaments.

More from the Mercouris piece...

Quote:

To be clear every part of the above account depends on Russian, Iranian and Syrian news reports.  However the UN appears to be corroborating it.  The Western media is not refuting it, because it is not even reporting it.  In view of this I presume it to be true.

The Russians have said they and the Syrians will extend the ceasefire till 8:00 pm local time tomorrow Saturday 22nd October 2016 in order to give it one more chance.  However the Russians say another Jihadi force is being assembled outside Aleppo to launch yet another offensive against the city.  That suggests the ceasefire will not be extended beyond Saturday.

The ceasefire has not materially improved the position of the Jihadis in Aleppo.  The Syrians and the Russians remain in complete control of the Castello road and of the other access points to the city.  There is no reason to think that any renewed Jihadi offensive will be any more successful than was the one which failed in August.  The Jihadis in Aleppo continue to be trapped, unable to obtain reinforcements, or replenish their supplies. 

What the ceasefire has however done is demonstrate not just the utter intransigence of the Jihadis in eastern Aleppo, but that Jabhat Al-Nusra  – ie. Al-Qaeda – does indeed run the show there.  Staffan de Mistura, the UN official who was recently claiming otherwise, has been proved wrong.

None of this of course is going to change the way the situation in Aleppo is being described in the Western media.  There it will continue to be a story of defenceless civilians in a gallant besieged rebel city being brutally bombed by murderous Russians.

For a Syrian, the Western regimes, along with their murderous proxies,  really are the incarnation of evil on Planet Earth.

NDPP wrote:

ISIS (isUS) Moves To Syria Where Erdogan Still Aims For Aleppo

I thought Erdogan and Putin were now the best of pals?

Civilians Trapped in Eastern Aleppo

https://youtu.be/0NJ-NrXmGio

"Humanitarian crossings under fire."

US Regime Change and War Against Syria, Disguised As A War Against ISIS

https://t.co/56WmVdWB1v

"The US is not fighting ISIS in Syria. Together with its ally Saudi Arabia, it is using ISIS and other Wahhabi terrorist groups like Jabhat al Nusra to wage a war of aggression against Syria so that it can take control of Syria and gain possession of the resources of the Middle East."

Aleppo & Mosul: How Western Rhetoric on Anti-Terror Ops Changes Depending on Location (and vid)

https://www.rt.com/news/363776-aleppo-mosul-western-comments/

"Despite the two Middle Eastern cities' similar plights, with both of the densely populated areas caught in war with terrorists, Western officials' position on active anti-terror campaigns is apparently different - depending  on who is behind the security operations.

'What needs to happen is a cessation of hostilities and the bombing needs to stop,' the State Department's John Kirby recently commented on Aleppo.

Speaking about the situation in Iraq, Kirby's colleague from the White House, Josh Earnest said: 'The idea that we, that somehow the Iraqi security forces, should delay this operation because of their concern about the humanitarian situation in Mosul doesn't make sense.'

Political writer and journalist Dan Glazebrook, told Rt, that the Western media would rather refocus on horrific scenes in Syria following Russian and Syrian airstrikes than horrific scenes in Iraq following US and British airstrikes..."

Guess what, USA?

You just got whupped. Your terrorists are getting their asses kicked. And there's nothing you can do about it.

Eat shit and die, Uncle Sam.

Putin Checkmates Clinton

Rebels Shell Gov't Held Aleppo

https://youtu.be/4myrOLJqN8Y

Renewed Jihadi Attack on Aleppo Supported By 'Western' Propaganda Fakes

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/10/renewed-jihadi-attack-on-aleppo-sup...

"The three days of unilateral ceasefire Syria and Russia had announced and kept for the besieged east-Aleppo expired today. No evacuations took place, no civilians or fighters left and no aid was delivered as 'rebels' inside the besieged area shelled all possible crossings.

The US-supported al Qaeda aligned Jihadists have used the pause to prepare for another attack on the government held parts of Aleppo..."

The Syrian Tragedy: Western Foreign Policy And Its 'Useful Idiots'  -  by Adevinka Mackinde

http://www.slguardian.org/2016/10/the-syrian-tragedy-western-foreign-pol...

"...Outright hostility on the part of the United States and its allies towards Russia's action in Syria was and is clearly based on the fact that Russia is succeeding in frustrating the policy objectives of using jihadist groups as a foreign legion tasked with creating a new order in the Middle East.

Put simply, the Western alliance does not want Russia to succeed because it wants the armed jihadist rebels, dominated by IS and al Nusra to succeed.

Thus it is the case that the fall of Aleppo, after the reclaiming of other cities by the Syrian Army alongside Hezbollah and Iranian advisors, would mark a decisive setback for the West.

The cries from the Western media over a 'humanitarian crisis' in Aleppo also reveals with disturbing clarity the largely biased nature of the corporate Western media in effectively serving as a propaganda mouthpiece..."

MUST SEE: Assad interview, Syrian President debunks “barrel bombs” and “boy in Aleppo” White Helmet hoax

from the Duran...thanks for this!

Russia clearly is not so stupid as to not focus on the legitimate demands of the Kurdish Rojava, and their system of self rule.....

recognition of this system may have global significance. They are being watched carefully by progressive forces in Europe!

6 Children Killed, Over A Dozen Injured in Rebel Shelling of Aleppo (and vid)

https://www.rt.com/news/364494-aleppo-school-shelling-rebels/

"An attack by militants on a school in Western Aleppo has claimed the lives of at least 6 children and injured many others. The attack occurred when a gas canister and a mine landed in a classroom in Hadaiq al Andalus. The projectiles were launched from eastern Aleppo, an area controlled by militants."

Russians Want to Help in Aleppo, UN Aid Advisor For Syria Says After Evacuation Failure

https://www.rt.com/news/364412-russians-help-us-aleppo/

Over 16,000 Syrians Killed By US-Backed Rebels Since February - Russian UN Mission

https://www.rt.com/news/364668-syria-us-backed-rebels/

"From February to September, opposition groups [US jihadi assets] that are supposed to be under US control, committed 2,031 violations [of the cessation of hostilities] which claimed the lives of 3,532 military personnel and 12,800 civilians..."

The 'Western Partners'...

https://youtu.be/Nd7TKJ3wZEQ

"...Speak about fighting terrorists, in reality supply them with weapons."

Syrian Rebels Tried To Get Me Killed, Says Channel 4 Correspondent

https://t.co/zwbDUiirQo

"Alex Thomson says crew was led to 'free-fire zone' as deaths would discredit Bashar Al Assad's regime. 'In a war where they slit the throats of toddlers back to the spine, what's the big deal in sending a van full of journalists into the killing zone. It was nothing personal..."

Interesting suggestion by Thomson of the possible collaboration of local UN officials. A similar allegation was made concerning the humanitarian aid convoy destroyed by rebels and blamed on Russia. Reports are that all previous convoys had UN escorts. Curiously the doomed convoy had none.

Even Amnesty International, far too much a simple mouthpiece for Western propaganda, is apalled at the disgusting atrocities by the Western-sponsored, Western-trained, Western-funded jihadi terrorists in Aleppo.

They are indiscriminately bombing military and civilian targets alike. The shocking images of children with their legs blown off, crying, will not, of course, appear on Western TVs. These are not "the honoured" dead.

The West doesn't give a shit. Talk about barbarians. Western "civilization" is rapidly becoming an open sewer, a morgue for children, a funding source for the most barbaric killers on Planet Earth. 

CONFIRMED: Syrian army crushes Al-Qaeda counter-offensive in Aleppo

Quote:

The Syrian army has recaptured all the points captured by the Al-Qaeda Jihadis in the first two days of their counter-offensive.  

Reports also agree that the Jihadis have suffered heavy losses, though there is as usual wide disagreement about the extent of these losses.

The Syrian army has achieved this victory without the intervention of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which have played no part in this fighting.  If Vladimir Putin refused the Russian General Staff’s request to resume bombing in Aleppo because he was confident that the Syrian army would win by itself, then events have proved him right.

And now?

Quote:

Meanwhile reports confirm that Colonel Suheil al-Hassan, the semi-legendary commander of the Syrian army’s elite Tiger Forces, is now in the city with his troops, who are supposedly equipped with advanced Russian T90 tanks, and who include a group of commandos of the Syrian army’s Desert Hawks Special Forces Brigade.

There are also reports that the Russian fleet, which includes the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and the nuclear powered missile battle cruiser Pyotr Veliky, has now reached the north African coast, and that it has been joined by two Shchuka-B (“Akula”) class nuclear powered submarines equipped with cruise missiles, and that it is about to enter the Mediterranean.

It seems that just as the Jihadi counter-offensive in Aleppo has been defeated, Syrian and Russian forces possibly earmarked for the operation to storm the Jihadi held eastern districts of the city are gathering.

Yes, boys and girls, that IS a Can O' Whup Ass you see. And it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of NATO-sponsored terrorists.

ALEPPO, Syria — A Russian pilot patrolling the skies over Syria claimed he had an “Aleppo moment” yesterday after he forget that he was supposed to bomb terrorists, and not the civilian targets directly below him.

http://www.duffelblog.com/2016/10/russian-pilot-aleppo-moment-forgets-bomb-terrorists-instead-civilians/#ixzz4OzQbsu2w

It's dark houmor and it pokes fun at the Russian claim they are not hitting civilians when they drop bombs in cities like Aleppo.

Blah blah blah... both side are killing civilians... stop acting like it's one sided.

Yeah but NOBODY kills like your Psycho-Sam...

https://www.rt.com/news/365194-kunduz-airstrike-killed-civilians/

"Scores of civilians including children, have reportedly been killed in US airstrikes supporting a ground operation in Afghanistan."

Praise Mosul, Bash Aleppo

https://youtu.be/pmlUG1puRfU

A. Mercouris wrote:

As time runs out on Vladimir Putin's offer for Jihadi fighters to quit eastern Aleppo peacefully, and as the Russian fleet approaches the Syrian coast, Al-Qaeda again launches despite heavy losses assault to break siege of eastern Aleppo....

As  is always the case with the fighting in Syria, it is difficult to get a clear picture of what is going on.  However this appears to be a major attack, with more Jihadis brought in from other fronts to replace the earlier losses, and with the Jihadis making their usual use of their now traditional tactic of hurling explosive laden trucks driven by suicide bombers at the Syrian army defenders (this tactic is actually of diminishing value since the Syrian troops have become practised at destroying these trucks before they reach their targets).

The attack – as with all the other Jihadi attacks on Aleppo – also involves shelling of the residential areas of western Aleppo, often with notoriously indiscriminate unguided rockets.

The numbers quoted suggest more like 16,000 than the 3,000 terrorists previously reported.

Quote:

Regardless of the precise number of Jihadi fighters, their concentration on the western outskirts of Aleppo in the series of Jihadi offensives which have been taking place there since the summer is draining Jihadi strength elsewhere.

The result since the start of the summer is a series of rapid advances by the Syrian army elsewhere in western Syria, especially in Latakia province and near Damascus, as Jihadi fighters have been pulled away from these fronts to Aleppo. 

The scale of the fighting in Aleppo and Aleppo’s importance means that scant attention is given to the other battlefronts in western Syria.  The result is that the rapid collapse of Jihadi positions across much of western Syria which has been going on since early summer is going unreported.

No wonder the barbarous US regime, and its satellite NATO and other Quislings, are so keen to push the jihadists out of Mosul and back into Syria.

Quote:

It is testament to the importance of Aleppo to the Jihadi cause that they seem incapable of giving up there but persist instead in reinforcing failure there despite their heavy losses and even as the evidence of the consequences of doing this mounts up all around them.

Without Aleppo the US-sponsored jihadists cannot establish a "legitimate" puppet regime in Syria. And that makes Uncle Sam cry tears of grief. Wahhhh!

The Russian and Turkish militaries are still talking. This is good news. The US military, in terms of liberating Aleppo from the terrorists, is less than useless.

Quote:

You can see how reasonable and responsible the Russian military unit’s command has been while fulfilling the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.  On November 4, a new humanitarian pause will be launched as Russian and Syrian warplanes haven’t been conducting any operations in this area for 17 days now.

I would like to address those who continue bashing Moscow for what is going on in Syria and have been looking for new pretexts. I call on them to remove their ideological blinders, and after all acknowledge the truth that it is not in Russia’s hand to decide whether the humanitarian problem in eastern Aleppo will be solved. Pressure needs to be exerted on the terrorists and extremists who are actually preventing these problems from being solved.”

Hip hip Hooray for the Russian military!

SYRIA: Al-Qaeda launches ‘do or die’ attempt to break siege of eastern Aleppo

And it looks like it's going to be .... DIE.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of NATO/Gulf-dictatorship-sponsored terrorists.

 Alas, this 'progressive'. 'left' Canadian website may have more that think like him than think like you these days krop. Seems like 'progressive' may only describe the progress of the disease.

Here's one of 'theirs' confirming  the continuing madness of the Syria regime-change project:

From Damascus: US Covert Action in Syria With US Special Forces Veteran

https://youtu.be/o5rUBysKQtA

Canada, of course, supports...

Liberating Syria from Al Qaeda-ISIS: US-Supported Terrorists Admit Taking Heavy Casualties in Aleppo

Quote:

Liberating Syria depends on winning the battle for Aleppo. It continues raging, government forces inflicting heavy losses on US-supported terrorists.

According to Fars News, citing RT International’s Arabic service, (s)ources close to the terrorist groups admitted” taking up to 2,500 casualties – dead or wounded fighters in the last six days alone.

Can you say "Open a Can 'O Whup Ass" ?

Quote:

Senior Syrian MP Mohammad Jalal Darvish praised the heroic efforts of Iranian military advisors and Hezbollah forces for helping Syria’s military prevent a catastrophic outcome in Aleppo.

At the same time, he called Russia’s humanitarian pause “unjustifiable because…delay could lead to (disaster) in” the city. So far, it’s been averted.

Those dastardly, humanitarian Russians!

Quote:

Russian General Staff of the Armed Forces chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov explained all attempts by terrorists “to break through in the city of Aleppo” failed.

Their fighters “suffered heavy losses of manpower, weaponry and military equipment. They have no chance to escape from the city.”

USA: "wahhh! sniff sniff!"

America's Rocky Road To Raqqa

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45781.htm

"Though the US [and Canada!] has no right to operate inside Syria, Official Washington is boasting about its plans to liberate Raqqa from ISIS. The strategy is half-baked even by US standards..."

Syrian Army Warns Civilians To Leave Aleppo Before Upcoming Offensive

https://t.co/xGvkXj2Y9G

Clinton: "Assad Must Go!"

Assad: "Who Must Go?"

Did a NATO submarine just try to sabotage the Russian fleet/Admiral Kuznetsov sailing to Syria to fight the terrorists?

Quote:

“The Dutch sailors were creating a dangerous navigation situation, hindering our ships from performing their tasks to fight against terrorists.  Following their command’s order, they might have been looking for a pretext so that they would have said afterwards that the Russians’ manoeuvres were dangerous.”

If you can't, or won't, fight the terrorists, then go after those who are. Because freedom. Or something.

Nusra On the Run - Trump Induces First Major Policy Change on Syria

https://t.co/anHBZFfkun

"The US declared that from now on it will fight against al Qaeda in Syria."