The Morning Star has today come under massive criticism for hailing the near total recapture of Aleppo by pro-Government forces as a “liberation.” I would agree that the situation calls for more nuance. However a feeling of relief that the fighting that has ravaged Aleppo for four years is coming to a close, must form part of any sane reaction. If we are not allowed to feel relief at that, presumably it means that we must have wanted al-Nusra and various other jihadist militias to win the hot war. What do we think Syria would look like after that?
I am no fan of the Assad regime. It is not a genuine democracy and it has a very poor human rights record. If Assad had been toppled by his own people in the Arab spring and replaced by something more akin to a liberal democracy, which kept the Assad regime’s religious toleration, protection of minorities and comparatively good record on women’s rights, and added to it political freedom, a functioning justice system and end to human rights abuse, nobody would have been happier than I. Indeed I strongly suspect I have in the past done much more to campaign against human rights abuse in Syria than the mainstream media stenographers who all decry the fall of rebel Aleppo now.
But sadly liberal democracy, human rights and women’s rights are not in any sense what the jihadist militias the West is backing are fighting for.
Of course it is essential that human rights are now respected in Aleppo by the government, that civilians are looked after, and that rebel fighters once identified are incarcerated in decent conditions. I add my voice to those calls. It should be noted that the threat to life and limb, and the violations and war crimes, have been on all sides, and the oppression of the government is most unlikely to be worse than the oppression of the rebels. The jhadists impounded relief supplies from the civilian population, shot those attempting to flee, and raped on a grand scale. That is not in any way to minimise the potential for mirror abuse from government supporting troops. But it is nonetheless true and must be stated.
The freedom from rebel mortar bombardment of civilian areas of Western Aleppo will also be an added mercy.
But it is not only the western media which has been hopelessly one-sided in its coverage of events. I have been deeply shocked by the heavily politicised role played by western charities and relief agencies. And sure enough, reports reaching me today from an independent source in Syria indicate that now the Syrian government has taken over most of the ex-jihadist held areas of Aleppo, those western agencies and charities that were screaming for a ceasefire so they could get aid in to the communities, have lost all interest now that it is safe to do so and the Syrian government is begging them to go in. They appear interested only in servicing rebel-held areas.
Last week saw a rare moment of truth in western diplomacy as Boris Johnson accused Saudi Arabia of financing proxy wars in the Middle East and spreading the ideology of terrorism. It is a strange world when it comes as a shock when a government minister for once says something which is true. But it was a rare moment. Boris is now in Saudi Arabia touting for more arms sales. In fact the anti-democratic regimes in the Gulf loom extremely large in the affections of the current Conservative government. Both Hammond and May have recently been to Bahrain. As I said, the Assad regime does have a poor human rights record, but the Bahraini government beyond argument has a much worse one, with torture a widespread and everyday measure of oppression. The Sunni “royal family” was only maintained in its despotic rule over its majority Shia population during the Arab spring by the invasion of the Saudi army. Torture and repression has been stepped up ever since even beyond its normal appalling standards.
To repeat, Bahrain beyond doubt has an even worse human rights record than Assad. It is also even less democratic. Yet this is the UK’s close ally, and in a stunningly stupid flourish of neo-imperialism, Britain has just opened a new military base in Bahrain, indicating our desire to indulge in further disastrous military intervention in the Middle East for decades to come.
I don’t think I have ever been more ashamed of my country than when reading Theresa May’s speech last week to the assorted despots, torturers and head-choppers of the Gulf Co-operation Council. A plea for our relationship with “old friends” that nowhere at all gives even a passing reference to democracy or human rights, to the extent that it even references the East India Company as a good thing in our history! A litany of begging for their cash, while at the same time focusing on the “security” and “terrorist” threats they face, the “terrorists” in question being their own disenfranchised populations.
Shameful, shameful stuff. yet where is the condemnation from those mainstream media journalists waxing lyrical today on the evils of Assad?
The game goes on. With financing and ideological underpinning from these Gulf states, and covert intelligence aid from the West, ISIS forces are allowed to slip out of Iraq, regroup and retake Palmyra as “retaliation” against Russian/Syrian success in Aleppo, and as a propaganda counter to ensure the West’s jihadist “allies” are not demoralised. The cynicism of it all is sickening. The Morning Star may indeed have not been sufficiently nuanced; but compared to the lies and elisions of mainstream media it is a beacon of truth.
**********************************************************************************
Signed First Editions of Sikunder Burnes are now available direct from this blog! You can leave a message naming the dedication you want. Sold at cover price of £25 including p&p for UK delivery or £29 for overseas delivery. Ideal Christmas presents!!
Just to lighten the comments slightly ‘Hitler learns Aleppo is liberated’..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5G0a3CmvhI&feature=youtu.be
I have to admit that the more I find out about what the so-called charities and relef agencies do, the more cynical I become.
This is what the pentagon means by 360 degree war – ever conceivable aspect is covered by the war machine from the propaganda to the charity aid to the actual military might. No one is a lone actor
Left out of the post is the simple fact that Yates of the Yard* was handed over the office of the head torturer in Bahrain that was bequeathed to him from one Ian Henderson This implicating our government in having a ringside seat in this theatre of absurd; “democracy”.
But hey small mercies, seeing as the whole bally lot of the oligarch owned media are far too busy spewing nonsense resulting from their shock and disbelief that after billions of dollars of al saud pederasts poured into weapons and sustaining mercenaries and supplying the said canon fodder mercenaries that have been masqueraded as the “rebels” could not topple Assad and seems as the said pederasts are to end up on the chopping block themselves.
However five years of war later, now the whole of Syria is reunited against their tormentors and their sponsors thereof, that incidentally is not the “Assad regime”. Also the absurdity of this missing news in any of the analysis of the Syrian war by the analysts speaks volumes about the veracity of the “news” spewed by the oligarch owned media:
Mosul: Isis shoots dead 40 civilians and ‘hangs bodies from electricity poles’
ISIS Is Massacring Mosul Civilians as Troops Advance, U.N. Says
ISIS Kills Civilians Fleeing Mosul, UN Says
http://uk.businessinsider.com/r-islamic-state-killing-civilians-who-dont-cooperate-in-mosul-un-2016-11?r=US&IR=T
But hey hamburger munchers won’t put town and two together**, is the motto of the oligarch owned media, and on goes the charade of indignations, about the liberation of Allepo after five years of supplying personnel, weapons, tactics, media backing, satellite feeds and still getting their butts handed over to them, is hard to come to terms with hence the full belt propaganda
* post his diligent investigations into cash for honours scandal in which he found Anthony Linton Blair one of the liars in chief for the headlong rush into Iraq war and the “shaking of the kaleidoscope” for the bits to fall into places whence before unknown.
** it is the same bunch of “liberating rebels” as in Syria under a different branding; Isis, IS, al Nusrah, Daesh,………
Re: the supposed “insider” who provided WikiLeaks emails
1. were they the Clinton emails, or the DNC server emails?
2. who was it?
3. where/how did THEY get it?
4. are you sure Russia didn’t help this individual get that info?
5. are you SURE no one in WikiLeaks is compromised by Russia?
6. who approved a WikiLeak campaign against Hillary Clinton timed to pace the election, to manipulate the U.S. Election?
7. since you have no Cybersecurity experience, Espionage experience, National Intelligence experience, experience with -Russia-, or, for that matter, ANY relevant experience – shouldn’t you go to MI6 with what you know and let the EXPERTS evaluate these transactions?
Also, please look at the book “How Russia Really Works” (2006) by Alena Ledeneva, containing lots of information on Election Manipulation in Eastern Europe by Russia.
Bob, the supposed insider who provided the e-mails to Wikileaks is now dead in somewhat suspicious circumstances.
Julian Assange has also been MIA now for well over a month. Likewise with other high profile people connected to Wikileaks.
Here’s a piece from today’s Washington Post…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/13/plato-predicted-pizzagate-or-rather-fake-news-more-generally/
Why would a heavy weight like the Washington Post spend so much time and energy trying to discredit what we are told is a ‘wacko conspiracy theory’ that involves a grotty pizza restaurant in Washington DC?
Likewise with the New York Times…
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/10/business/media/pizzagate.html
The Washington Post is now owned by Jeff *psycho* Bezos, and the New York Times is now owned by Carlos *psycho* Slim.
And Washington is infested with a bunch of psychos and satanists and paedos who should all be in jail.
Trouble is, most people still believe the bullshit pumped out by the WAPO and NYT.
Chatham House.
Say no more.
No 7 there is nonsense. Most of us here know that.
But it does raise questions about 1 – 6.
You simply haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.
Bob Arsehole,
I speak Russian. I lived in St Petersburg. And I have a huge amount of professional intelligence assessment experience at the highest levels of government. Other than that, you are on the money.
Nice one Craig, wouldn’t you think that your sense of humour would rub off on some of your regular followers here, including one or two news recyclers and other sundry armchair warriors?
Craig, you’re a funny man 😉
Well, here is one expert — lifelong CIA — whose opinion is the same as Craig’s, though he is diametrically opposed on the political spectrum.
http://non-intervention.com
Craig Murray is still being quoted intensively all over the web, as someone of the highest integrity. He should feel very proud. I get the distinct impression that some of the contributors particularly to US websites such as zerohedge, have somewhat similar backgrounds, and may be even better informed.
It seems very likely to me, that some of the people working for some of the intelligence services, can no longer stand their management, but have no intention of resigning.
In my view, The Mainstream Media is a complete and utter disgrace. They are even worse than the politicians, because politicians have other things to do, rather than just finding out what on earth is going on. Some of them will know, but most will probably believe all the lies they are fed by the press.
At least the can of worms is now opening up, and the likes of Robert Fisk, are now just writing it as it is.
Tony
Tony : I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure nobody is allowed to resign from the ‘intelligence services’.
Is it OK to kill a million to save a life? If not, does that mean killing a life is OK? And so the question becomes relative and this is the problem with framing a conflict as a human rights issue. The neo-con “West” is responsible for promoting war with Syria using mercenaries that has inflicted genocide, which of course is a human rights outrage, but does that mean its OK for Russia/Syrian Government to oppose them by killing people?
Hence we are told to condemn Russian attacks on civilians as a human rights outrage by those “coalition of the willing” responsible for attacks on civilians, no doubt to force a cease fire to enable the regrouping/rearmament of “terrorists” who will then kill civilians! But again if asked to denounce Russian killing of civilians how do we respond. If we don’t denounce it then it appears we support the killing of civilians, but if we do denounce it, it means we are de facto agreeing to the killing of civilians by the “Willing”.
This is why debating conflict along human right lines becomes absurd and partisan manipulation in pursuit of the “high ground”. Instead it is better to conduct war as a furtherance of the national interest. This means war will inevitably involve human rights abuses because war itself is a crime, but if the objective is the national interest then this will save lives because it’s not in the UK national interest to promote war in the Middle East.
Instead to understand the promotion of perpetual war to further human rights, which is clearly insane, you need to recognise the role of the Elders of Hate who think destroying the Middle East is good for Israel but true to form hide behind the double speak of human rights.
MI6 recruited deliberately radicalized young Islamists. They were sent to the KASOTC in Amman, Jordan for training by the SAS (who coincidentally trained the bastards who butchered Gadaffi). The takfiris are then controlled by MI6/SAS (‘ex-‘ naturally) from a base in Gaziantep, Turkey. The British government sent in SAS to act as forward air controllers to facilitate US / coalition air strikes against SAA targets.
But that is all OK because Syria, unlike the UK, isn’t a ‘proper democracy’.
UK television media have reported claims of atrocities but they aren’t proven and will remain so. We’ve all seen the drama productions of Danny, the walking dead film by Hand in Hand with Syria (directed by the BBC) and the ongoing fictional series superbly choreographed by the White Helmets. The UN claims of a slaughter can’t be corroborated by video footage, however the execution of hundreds of Syrian loyalist soldiers are plentiful on YouTube and LiveLeak. Their estimation of our intelligence must be very low if they think we believe the civilians of East Aleppo are being systematically murdered whilst their former captors are sliding out of a humanitarian corridor with their assault rifles over their shoulders. I’m told the White Helmets have a new release out soon … The Invisible Men.
Good comment Andy.
Regarding the White Helmets I would be interested to get information on James Le Mesurier (in addition to Wikispooks). He must have made a packet out of setting up this semi-military unit which purports to be a unit of First Responders (with some dubious footage used by all mainstream media to prove it).
Anyone with information on who this gentleman is please email me at [email protected] before Christmas. This is an email address which I rarely use. It is not protected from secret services or even service providers and advertisers. I have had to confirm my usual email address to Hotmail to continue using the above address. However it gets very little traffic. And I cannot see any reason not to make available general information on a man who seems hard to track down and has little history for such a powerful entity. Reliable links would be useful. Thanks.
Interesting information on Le Mesurier at http://21stcenturywire.com/2015/10/23/syrias-white-helmets-war-by-way-of-deception-part-1/
Oh, and relative to that link, USAID has served notoriously often as a front for the CIA.
Thanks for that article by Vanessa Beeley. Excellent stuff.
John Goss
Take a look at this video before it is sent down the memoryhole
The military connections and the emotive garbage spewed should be enough for anyone with modicum of sense to start being suspicious of the sincerity of this specimen.
The founder and director of Mayday Rescue (note Mayday is a favourite term of the psyops operatives, evidently they believe people everywhere have watched too many David Niven et al playing the Pilot movies ) such is the cocoon these live in.
With a website that is privately registered and the registrant address is withheld, so much for an international rescue organisation operating from a closet. Although the website sports a “contact us” address of Cuserstraat 93, 1081 CN Amsterdam, The Netherlands. That turns out to be an Office rental agency, which I should imagine is a more elaborate postal box type of arrangement we have in UK. However one of our international readers could further confirm or reject this contention.
The fact remains that the registrants ID remaining private is odd for a rescue organisation unless it is a SIS shop front as in other rescue organisations such as international rescue et al.
The web site’s “our team” meta data:
James Le Mesurier Founder / Director. James has spent 20 years working in fragile states as a United Nations staff member, a consultant for private companies and the …
In addition to the site Lysias has forwarded this should be enough to get you going. Let me know if you want more data?
Thanks Fedup.
I’m listening to this video now and have got to the bit about Barrel Bombs from which I’m almost sure Boris Johnson must have got his information from this lying toad. “2600 volunteers”, “neutral”, “impartial” “saved 18,000 people” I wonder how many they saved multiple times.
From what I’ve heard I would believe Assad rather than this bozo who clearly has an agenda of support for creating failed states and creating regime change. Who are these people like Fatima he talks about? “They have the support of the civilian population.” Russia Today has been asking people in Syria about the White Helmets and nobody seems to know who they are.
This could be a further pointer:
Biography
James has spent 20 years working in fragile states as a United Nations staff member, a consultant for private companies and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and as a British Army Officer. Much of his experience has involved delivering stabilisation activities through security sector and democratisation programmes. Since 2012, James has been working on the Syria crisis where he started the Syrian White Helmets programme in March 2013. In 2014, he founded Mayday Rescue, and is dedicated to strengthening local communities in countries that are entering, enduring or emerging from conflict.
Simply put SIS incorporated
This gets more intriguing,
Our James is Vice President for Special Projects in Olive Group
Whose registered address is
Organization: Olive Group FZLLC
P.O. Box 502356, 22nd Floor,
Al Thuraya Tower 1, Dubai Internet City,
Dubai
Postal Code: 502356
AE
Phone: +971.43602174
A company set in Free Economic Zone of Dubai
Enjoy reading it and let me know what you find?
The neocons have just over a month to hand Trump a steaming pile of shit that only escalation can deal with. Hence the rubbish about deliberate executions in Aleppo and ISIS’ unencumbered waltz across the desert, complete with T-55 tanks.
Perhaps it’s time to bring on the (dead) clowns, or the Girl With the Mysteriously Working Internet…
Let Amnesty remind us just what the SAA have cleared out of their second city. Funny how the corporate media overlooked this one:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/07/syria-abductions-torture-and-summary-killings-at-the-hands-of-armed-groups/
The record of the lies, the hyperbole and the fabrications spoken in the HoC today. You expect it from the Tories but the speakers from the Labour Party and the smaller parties (LD, PC and SNP) should be ashamed for falling into line with the propaganda. Some bemoaned the 2013 vote and supported Gideon’s intervention.
President Assad received 44 mentions and the White Helmets 7 mentions.
Aleppo/Syria: International Action
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2016-12-13/debates/AUTO-272f86c3-18d9-4774-b9df-f224befae327/AleppoSyriaInternationalAction
PS Where are the regular commenters? Is this topic too toxic for them to engage?
.
Well spotted. Maybe they have been instructed not to mess up as they did on other toxic topics, which they were well water-boarded for, until the white-wash for the crimes of political Islam, Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaida etc has been fully co-ordinated.
They are a bit more IT savvy than Clinton. Kaffa billahi shaheedah/ Sufficient is Allah as witness.
And I think little weed knows something about it. Bobop Little weed, Bobop. Bobop.
“PS Where are the regular commenters? Is this topic too toxic for them to engage?”
If you mean the GCHQ sponsored content, the lads are being de-briefed. Hence a couple of new names, locum trolls, at the top of Page 1.
The powers that be are reluctant to commit themselves at this stage, before the war (the one in Washington between the mad Clintonites and the professionals) is decided.
The latest new from DC is that:
“In the closing days of the 2016 election campaign, hackers believed to be working for Russian intelligence launched a new wave of attacks on Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee — a previously unreported cyberoffensive that heightened concerns, now endorsed by the CIA, that the Russian government was seeking to influence the outcome of the election in favor of Donald Trump, according to sources familiar with the investigations into the attempted intrusions.
“The attacks came in the form of so-called “phishing” emails sent to nearly a dozen campaign and committee staffers in a renewed effort at penetrating their networks, said Dmitri Alperovitch, the co-founder and chief technology officer of CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm hired by the DNC to repel attacks on its network. Staffers at that point were alert enough to reject entreaties to click on the unsolicited email messages that would have allowed the hackers into their computers, he said.
“But at least one top Clinton campaign staffer, communications director Jennifer Palmieri, told Yahoo News on Sunday that she received an alert from Google in mid-October informing her that her personal Gmail account had been targeted by a “foreign state” actor and that her password needed to be changed….”
Still no evidence.
The Clintonites have got so used to a legal system in which the innocent are regularly persuaded to plead guilty (“We’ll drop the Death Penalty charge if you plead guilty to assault…” ) that they probably think that Russia is going to ‘confess’ just to put an end to this fucking nonsense.
How is “House of Cards” going to be able to parody this?
Well, I’m now on my fourth bucket of vomit after watching the House of Commons debate today, which seemed very staged, Hollywood-style, what with all the fake emotion; but there again, there were only 30 or 40 or so MPs attending, out of 650, and just about all of them were neocon loons.
I would hazard that it was all just a part of the current propaganda offensive (to see some of those MPs today practically screaming for war with Russia was a tad disturbing, all based on totally unsubstantiated ‘news’).
We don’t seem to be allowed to mention Italian food and an opening in a wall or fence, so sticking with the Middle East…
http://labs.thebureauinvestigates.com/fake-news-and-false-flags/
RobG
Is that why they’re called the Green benches?
Yes, vomit equates to the green benches in the Commons, whilst bloodshed equates to the House of Lords red benches.
It just about sums it all up.
I can see it now, having just heard today in parliament on Radio 4
The very deep did rot: O Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.
> not a genuine democracy
Yes, if it was a democracy it would have full human rights. No censorship, mass spying, torture or wars of aggression. Just like we in Britain enjoy today.
If Syria had had a genuine democracy the majority could have voted for a Sunni leader. Assad refused to give them democracy because USUKIS wouldn’t let a Sunni leader come to power. Russia and China only became involved when it became clear that USUKIS would use Syria as a base for their political Islam mercenaries to strike against the Russian and Chinese empires.
Craig asks what Syria would have looked like with political Islam in power. Answer – like Nazi Germany, a fascist state amassing a war machine and war mentality funded by Saudi Arabia and leading to WW3 quite quickly. By contrast, Assad is a mild dose of poison. But it is USUKIS who refused democracy for Syria, not Russia or China. Assad , like Gaddaffi, was one of our own pet rendition torturers.
I don’t think the Syrian people care, or should care, what others think about their style of governance. Would anyone consider a leader whose popularity exceeds that of most other leaders in the world a dictator?
Also, I find it strange that in this article. the Arab Spring is touted as an indigenous awakening rather than a CIA inspired and funded plot to destabilise some countries and install client regimes.
Sami
Craig is rather fond of a FOC suit of Celtic Tweed rather patched at the elbows and moth-gnawn. This suit permits all Scottish ex-ambassadors to live partly in Narnia some of the time and the SNP all of the time.
It is a disconnected world in which small nations have real political power while superpowers are kept busy in humdrum activities like hovering and washing the childrens’ underwear.
Take no notice of the Celt’s bardic gear. His heart is made of sterner stuff, as only one of England’s many historical persecutees can deliver.
hovering maybe
Google doesn’t like the word hoover?
Dictators are very often popular. Nothing to do with it. Hitler was popular.
@Craig you can go on about “Dictators” as much as you like, it just betrays an incredibly chauvinistic ingrained imperialist mindset to me, as only the Syrian people can decide the Syrian Government; if you take your deluded self righteousness so seriously, you would be less of a hypocrite railing against governments that “kill their own people” if you directed similar attention to the hundreds killed by the police in the US.
I lived in many countries over the past 80 years. I believe a benevolent dictatorship is the best form of government; the key word being ‘benevolent’, of course. In the western world, it looks like ‘democracy’ has been hijacked as if a shadow power’ dictate the agenda.
Anyhow, what about the “Arab Spring”? Do you think it is home-grown?
While it is only recently that Assad was elected he was elected. Listening to him speak gives me a lot more confidence than listening to Obama, Trump, May and the stringed limbs of their marianettes opening and shutting their gobs. I don’t doubt he has faults.
Putin’s popularity also exceeds that of western politicians. He seems a far cry from Hitler. But of course you never know. Supposed dictators like Gaddafi had the most socialist state in the world till the west intervened to steal its oil. I do not trust politicians, especially neocon politicians like Blair.
Blair told a studio of women protesting against the Iraq war who accused him of seeking Iraqi oil that if we wanted Iraqi oil we could negotiate with Saddam. Then when Iraq was destabilised the likes of nasty oil entrepreneurs moved in. The same with Libya. Gaddafi intended to introduce a currency for Africa based on its oil. The west did not want that. They bombed the country, raped Gaddafi with a bayonet and imposed nasty people like mercenary Tony Buckingham to operate the oil interests. The trouble was Buckingham’s troops could not contain the mayhem we introduced and had to take in the Saudis to fund the terrorists.
The evil is not necessarily in countries that are invaded. Sometimes the invaders are to blame. Realpolitik decrees we must accept the status quo. Unless we turn the clock back the future looks bleak, unless someone finds a way of taking down the Five Eyes. Anyway welcome to the blog Sami Joseph.
“While the Syrian regime declares the “liberation” of Aleppo, US government declares the “liberation” of Sirt, in Libya”
Will it be alright then if the Morning Star doesn’t refer to this as a liberation? And is it OK for the liberators to shoot civilians, the way they did when they were ‘cleansing’ the place of Ghadaffi sympathisers?
Maybe Peter Tatchell could tell us.
LOL
Did you see him being challenged on his White Helmets beliefs?
https://www.facebook.com/JJDO4/videos/1727512840898589/
I am not enrolled with Mr Zuckerberg (or with Twitter for that matter) and I find the large banners that go up saying ‘enrol now’ etc really annoying as they obscure what you’re trying to look at. V aggressive.
To the civilian population of east Aleppo, it is liberation.
All very well to pontificate from the comfort of an easy chair and keyboard.
It is liberation.
Liberation from the murdering western backed foreign thugs who have been terrorising them for years.
You can split hairs if you wish, intellectualise and theorise as much as you want … but in the end analysis, if you are suggesting that somehow the responsibility for the suffering in Aleppo should be attributed in any part to the legitimate government of Syria, demonstrates your complicity with the already discredited western media.
Their is only one culprit in this affair … along with several co-conspirators .. who conceived , nurtured and then unleashed this hell upon the people of Aleppo and the rest of the middle east. Uncle Sam.
Spot on.
“Aleppo streets have erupted in celebrations with people waving flags and shooting in the air as reports said the Syrian Army has taken control of the last militant-held areas in eastern part of the city, RT’s Lizzie Phelan reports from the ground. ”
https://www.rt.com/news/370084-aleppo-liberation-reports-celebrations/
Not sure why the Syrians are letting the terror men walk out of Aleppo.
What will the Syrians do with The White Helmets?
I’d be interrorgating these people to discover where their funds /arms/instructions
come from.
See my comment here.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/12/aleppo/comment-page-2/#comment-643054
BBC World Service say there was a financial deal brokered by France to allow the terrorists to leave.
Maybe these : http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/a-saudi-woman-tweeted-a-photo-of-herself-without-a-hijab-police-have-now-arrested-her/ar-AAlxBme?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=UE01DHP
I agree with you, Tony, but even if I didn’t agree with you I would defend your right of free speech.
That right is now being rapidly destroyed, and we are not so slowly sleep walking into the police state.
In fact, we are already fecking there.
It’s your party, Craig, and you can delete what you want, but this is fact…
http://europe.newsweek.com/seth-rich-murder-dnc-hack-julian-assange-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-492084
Oh well that should seal your application to the League of Moral Relativists so that you can join all your morally flexible friends who comment here. I am fascinated how a one time proponent of J S Mill can objectively make a distinction between the undoubted human rights abuses and those committed in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and particularly choses this day of all days to do so. The victims of human rights abuses don’t really give a damn as to who is abusing them, and even through a true liberal understands that human rights need to be measured against an objective standard and not relatively, I think you really have lost it when you make unsupported statements such as “To repeat, Bahrain beyond doubt has an even worse human rights record than Assad” – what measuring stick are you using – or don’t moral relativists even need one these days. You made the statement so please try and justify it. That one set is supported by the West and the others are not is not a valid excuse in my book.
In a similar vein, I don’t believe in the US or anyone persecuting whistleblowers – but I do note the strange silence on your part when it comes to whistleblowers such as Sergei Magnitsky, Anna Politkovskaya, Litvinenko and Alexander Perepilichny who have paid a rather higher price – perhaps you might wish to mention them the next time you are on the slightly biased RT?
Anyway the all pervading smell of shit on this blog and among the comments really is enough so I’ll leave you for the moment while the morally flexible indulge their bloodlust.
https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/
Must be bedtime. But he’ll be back. In one form or another.
Bedtime? Or Closing Time?
Let’s not forget the corruption in the SNP
MP Michelle Thomson reported after mortgage fraud probe
1 hour ago
From the section Scotland politics
How the US were involved from the start in Syria US Ambassador to Syria gives his account…
“Robert Ford was US Ambassador to Syria when the revolt against Syrian president Assad was launched. He not only was a chief architect of regime change in Syria, but actively worked with rebels to aid their overthrow of the Syrian government.
Ford assured us that those taking up arms to overthrow the Syrian government were simply moderates and democrats seeking to change Syria’s autocratic system. Anyone pointing out the obviously Islamist extremist nature of the rebellion and the foreign funding and backing for the jihadists was written off as an Assad apologist or worse.
Ambassador Ford talked himself blue in the face reassuring us that he was only supporting moderates in Syria. As evidence mounted that the recipients of the largesse doled out by Washington was going to jihadist groups, Ford finally admitted early last year that most of the moderates he backed were fighting alongside ISIS and al-Qaeda. Witness this incredible Twitter exchange with then-ex Ambassador Ford:http://www.globalresearch.ca/you-wont-believe-what-former-us-ambassador-robert-s-ford-said-about-al-qaedas-syrian-allies/5504906
From your link:
” Is it any surprise that Syria is in the current disastrous state, where hundreds of thousands have died in a war instigated by those who knew from the beginning would only benefit radical Islamist extremists? Is there no justice for those who push such murder and mayhem on such a grand scale?”
So long as there continues to be a platform for voices of reason like this blog to drown out the warmongering rhetoric of Boris Johnson and the barking dogs of Westminster neo-cons we will eventually get to the 2008 moment when all the Thatcherite, and now Johnsonite, crap we have been forced to follow explodes in their faces.
Yes that day will come. Thatcher’s crap took from 1979 to 2008 to blow back. USUKIS support for extremist takfiri jihadism would blow back in about 2035, But I think the addiction to war accelerates the digestion’s production of acids, so retribution might come in Craig’s lifetime.
When we in the UK gets “liberated” I might start worrying about the people in other countries.
When are you going to start to deal with reality?
What?! Have you over-indulged in a wine bar in Cheltenham?
The nature of ‘reality’ is another question.
Seems the msm have decided to backpedal now
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-aleppo-iraq-mosul-isis-middle-east-conflict-assad-war-everything-youve-read-could-be-wrong-a7451656.html
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/12/13/aleppo-freed-biggest-us-defeat-since-vietnam/
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1155153/the-vanishing-civilians-of-aleppo
The internet in the West is all going to be closed down very shortly.
It’s like being a spectator at a horror show.
Al Jazeera like all TV News organisations has to be watched with a view to the preferences of their sponsor. That said I have watched many, many reports on Al Jazeera and other sources from rebel held areas over the past years. Those reports showed fighters and punters opposing The Assad government and they rarely fitted with the raping, pillaging ISIS image painted here. THese reports were selective, I know that but I saw many reports where rebel fighters were desperate for arms and money from the west. That tells me that there was real opposition to Assad amongst the Syrian population on the ground. I accept the narrative that the US and it’s allies in the region were funding ISIS and other groups in the area. They have been trying to overthrow Assad for decades and it’s their style of doing things anyway. The Assad regime started in the early 70s and Assad’s old man was hardly gentle on his opposition and it is a certainty that there exists in Syria a long standing and deep opposition to the Assad system. It is disturbing that the people fighting against regime are in general all placed in the US backed terrorist bracket.
The anti US narrative is understandable and warranted and It might well be the case the victory for Assad is the best outcome of this war (?) but it is sickening when the narrative doesn’t leave any room for understanding that there were worthy fighters and people involved in activities opposing Assad who have been crushed during this war.
Given a US-granted choice between Assad and Al Qaida, which would you choose?
Of course there are millions of worthy and sincere fighters against Assad, but political Islam is neither worthy of the name of Islam, which to them is just a political slogan, nor of the word sincere. If they had been either of these and not abused the civilian population , they would have already won.
THe people I have seen weren’t abusing the population they were part of communities opposing Assad. It does not fit that all opposition fighters who were opposing Assad were doing it against the will of the local populations in the areas that they were fighting in
Hypocrisy writ large.
Are we all idiots?
Saudis – hand chopping – for theft – cock chopping of the chopper for rape – head chopping for murder?
And this blog debates without looking and appreciating and truly understanding the reality:-
A. “Regime change” US policy.
B. Double-standards in the Middle East writ large.
C. Tragedy all round for the suffering folks in Yemen – Iraq – Syria.
So review the entire thread and what are you all saying?
I disagree G, it was a bandwagon of lawlessness they decided to jump on. Brandishing a gun and firing gas bottles full of whatever explosive materials they can get hold of was a threat to all the people of Aleppo. Acting like street gangs is a form of terrorism and the ones that didn’t feel threatened were the accomplices and acquaintances of those holding the guns. Yes, the genuine discontent felt by many Syrians was probably justified. The claims of corruption were very likely true but terrorising the vast majority of the country wasn’t the solution. We all know that certain nations have provided the money to pay the ‘rebels’ and the weapons for them to use but surely it was obvious that it wasn’t for the good of Syria? Furthermore, if there were so many revolutionary Syrians, there wouldn’t have been the need for the influx of foreign fighters.
The terrorists killed anybody who crossed into government controlled areas for work, put their corpses in the river and blamed government forces. Once you have established a reign of absolute terror over a civilian population and suppressed all forms of redress, they become your slaves.
Assad imprisoned and tortured the families of anyone who voted against him, and Al Qaida murdered anyone who refused to give them sex slaves or other favours. It’s freedom, but not as we know it, and not as the Syrian people will eventually achieve inshallah over both the Assad and the Al Qaida dictator. ISIS is a USUKIsraeli scam to steal oil.
Yesterday I was caught in little scam right here in the UK.
The dentist informs you that if you are on Working Tax Credit you get free dental treatment. You show them your WTC award from HMRC which they record. After you have filled in the form they sign the disclaimer on the form that they have not seen the Tax Credit exemption card. My type of Working Tax Credit, without children, pension or disability does not entitle me to an exemption card.
You are then regularly requested to attend the dentist, which you do, having been mislead by the dental professionals into thinking they are free. The cost is about £50 for 15 minutes or £200 per hour. Then the NHS investigation team bang you a fine for £100 + the cost of the treatment, accusing you of fraud.
I don’t know if this scam is operated by all dentists across the UK, but it happens here in Alum Rock.
If Assad is so bad, do you think the Syrians would swap him for any of the unaccountable regimes that are instrumental in his attempted removal? All the claims against him and his government forces lack significant proof. The evidence that is available point to Assad going against Syrian public opinion by allowing ceasefires in an effort to try and free the captive civilians. Evidence is required or we are as guilty as the MSM with our ‘claims’.
Been ripped off by the NHS? Dentistry is the privatisation template (at 200 quid an hour, I can see the motivation for delving into peoples mouths now). The structure is being deliberately run down to allow ‘private investment’ to come to the rescue. The slimy bastard Branson already has more than a foot in the door.
You’re bringing up again questions that were settled long ago, G. Yes, there were democrat-style oppositionists, I know lots of them. They’re middle-class intellectuals. Unfortunately they were never the majority (as the middle-class, and indeed intellectuals, never are). And the movement was soon taken over by the Islamists, who are far more numerous. That’s why the rebellion is going for a jihadi state, under support from the Gulf, who are frequently salafis, and not democrats, like indeed the masters of al-Jazeera which you cite so approvingly.
“Al Jazeera like all TV News organisations has to be watched with a view to the preferences of their sponsor …”
… Al Jazeera’s sponsor of course being the Qatar government who also sponsored that Carter Ruck report detailing supposed tortures of 11,000 political prisoners by the Syrian government and featuring 55,000 photographs, half of which were taken by one Syrian military photographer codenamed Caesar who cannot be identified and the other half by other unnamed photographers who cannot be traced.
I suppose G also sets great store by the Carter Ruck report which would appear to support his view that Bashar al Assad is and has always been an authoritarian dictator in the mould of his father Hafez al Assad. But when such a report suddenly appears at a critical time (during negotiations in Geneva over Syria’s future in 2014) and in a rushed form, written by lawyers whose government client has an axe to grind against Syria, one must be suspicious of its provenance and the way it uses and shapes evidence to fit a predetermined narrative.
BTW all these reports of rebel fighters desperate for arms and money from the West that G has seen could have been faked by ISIS, Jabhat al Nusra and other terrorist groups, particularly if they were being channelled to the BBC, The Guardian and other mainstream news media by dubious sources such as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Bellingcat, the Syrian White Helmets and the “media centres” in Aleppo and Raqqa.
There’s something to be said for this standpoint. However, at this distance from the original West-inspired ‘Arab Spring’ euphoria, the Assads, in charge of their (effectively secular, not-exceptionally-draconian) police state, certainly look preferable to the rolling disaster which has crossed and recrossed Syria since, leaving nothing but corpses and rubble.
A Benthamite* might well be able to justify the active and effective suppression of violent liberation movements, indeed.
*The greatest happiness of the greatest number – remember?
Excellent – thanks.
This is the Morning Star editorial.
I republish it from the excellent
http://davidaslindsay.blogspot.ca/ which I recommend as a bookmark for anyone interested in politics:
“Today the Morning Star has come under attack for its use of the term “liberation” referring to the capture of eastern Aleppo by Syrian government forces after years of occupation by insurgent groups.
“As has been well documented by the Morning Star and other newspapers, the Syrian opposition is dominated by violent extremist sects, most notably Isis and al-Qaida affiliates.
In East Aleppo these include Nour el-Din el-Zinki, which beheaded a 12-year-old boy earlier this year and posted a video of it online – as reported at the time in many British papers including the Daily Mail.
There are no journalists in East Aleppo for the simple reason that Syrian opposition organisations cannot be trusted not to kidnap or behead reporters.
As a result, many newspapers are taking at face value statements from the very groups they cannot trust with the lives of their journalists.
These groups have also been responsible for using civilians as human shields and have gunned down residents who try to flee, as has been documented by columnists at other newspapers including Robert Fisk and Patrick Cockburn of the Independent.
The capture of the eastern part of the city by government forces is preferable to its continued occupation by Islamist terrorists and is a step towards ending this terrible war, an ongoing outrage which is claiming thousands of innocent lives…”
It’s good to read it in full.
The MS link for the record.
http://morningstaronline.co.uk/a-6e18-Morning-Star-statement-on-the-situation-in-Aleppo#
The neo-cons will seek to buy into the leadership of whoever wins and this will give them the influence of a donor but not necessarily of a player. I mean the winner may do something the neo-cons like, but of their own volition not because the neo-cons told them to do it. That is whilst they favoured Satanist Hilary who was prepared to kill Russian Christians and Arab Muslims, Trump is still viewed optimistically as someone who will at least kill Iranian Muslims, but its not guaranteed because Trump may be anti-Muslim simply as a good way to pivot towards Russia and will welcome the Boeing deal with Iran as a way to deliver on a more important election promise to create jobs. Lets hope so anyway!
Eva Bartlett at the UN on 9.12.16. She is an eye witness in Syria cf the speaking heads at the HoC, the UN such as Samantha Power and the White House such as John Kirby.
Western media lies about Syria exposed (Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1VNQGsiP8M&feature=youtu.be
18.34
The full version
Published on 9 Dec 2016
Full Press Conference at the United Nations. Against propaganda and regime change, for peace and national sovereignty. 9 December 2016, the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations.
Speakers: Dr. Bahman Azad, Member of the Coordinating Committee for the Hands Off Syria and Organization Secretary of US Peace Council, and Eva Bartlett, Independent Canadian Journalist.
Syria – Sovereignty and Peace.
https://youtu.be/ebE3GJfGhfA
52.01
“The jhadists impounded relief supplies from the civilian population, shot those attempting to flee, and raped on a grand scale. That is not in any way to minimise the potential for mirror abuse from government supporting troops. But it is nonetheless true and must be stated.” But why would you even hesitate?
That would be the aid supplies that somehow managed to avoid being bombed; sorry “going on fire”.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-aid-idUSKCN11Q0W1
I was going to post this on here https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/11/tale-two-airports/
but comments are closed.
The Public Accounts Committee has published its report. Chair Meg Hillier. 8 Cons 5 Lab 1 LD 1 SNP
£285 million airport fiasco has unquestionably failed British taxpayers
14 December 2016
The Public Accounts Committee report says that the Government must explain who is accountable for serious failings in a project to design and build an airport on the island of St Helena.
Read the report summary
Read the report conclusions and recommendations
Read the full report: St Helena Airport
“Staggering” that Department did not foresee problems
In the report, the Committee concludes it is “staggering” that the Department for International Development did not foresee problems that prevent the £285.5m taxpayer-funded facility being used by commercial aircraft.
‘Wind shear’, a well-known concept in airport construction, produces dangerous conditions on the airport approach and had been observed on St Helena by Charles Darwin in 1836.
While the airport has handled a small number of flights, the wind conditions have precluded operation of the planned commercial service to the island, which is a UK overseas territory.
Doubt that airport will give St Helena financial self-sufficiency
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news-parliament-2015/st-helena-airport-report-published-16-17/
In the end, I expect SYRIA and RUSSIA will become one country.
That should save at least some of the Syrians from destruction, some may even return to Syria.
Let’s hope the new American president can step away from constantly provoking Russia
and constantly stirring the shit all over the world.
I think OBOMBA / CLINTON has been disastrous for the world and only make people have extreme distaste for America.
“In the end, I expect SYRIA and RUSSIA will become one country.”
Much like Britain and the US will shortly become one country. After all we’re just Airstrip 1 for the US.
The BBC reports that Buckfast Abbey monks have raked in a record-breaking £8.8 million in the last year from sales of their famous tonic wine.
Bravo, Scotland. Bravo!
See below.