Trump and Syria: “The worst case scenario is now our reality.”

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By Felicity Arbuthnot

Let us also recall that while Trump is loathsome, "the cornering of the beast" so to speak, for entirely abject and self-serving reasons, has been entirely the handiwork of the old establishment—the Democrats and the Deep State—both of which should be held accountable, too, for the disasters to come. Not to mention the criminal and cowardly complicity of Britain, France and other corrupt NATO nations.

As all becomes ever more rapidly surreal it seems that, barring a miracle, Draft Dodger in Chief, Donald Trump might trigger a world war, over an incident in Syria which is entirely evidence free.

The discredited White Helmets - a “rescue” group only operating in areas held by “rebels” who routinely decapitate, including children, set fire to people and commit numerous unspeakable acts - have produced a video of an apparent chemical attack on 7th April.

The saintly white helmets. Terrorists themselves or at best a cynical, deliberately manufactured propaganda asset for the West, but, hey, who's asking and who cares? Not the mainstream media or the political class. So this is how it could end: On the basis of transparent lies from a phony organization.

The “White Helmets” are funded in millions by the UK Foreign Office, the US, Canada and various other Western governments. Coupled with this is: A UK government £5.3 million media activists programme included training Syrian independent journalists and activists, including for reporting of “White Helmets” activities across Twitter and Facebook. (See Foreign and Commonwealth Office: “Providing non-humanitarian assistance in Syria”, Updated 1 December 2015.)

No wonder every seemingly staged “rescue” always has a few convenient camera people handy, recording the “victims.” The duty of first responders of course, is to also protect the victim at all cost, in their vulnerable state, from public view.

The latest camera friendly crisis is yet another “chemical weapons attack” which the US, UK and usual suspects are blaming on the Syrian government. However this is such a worn and discredited theme, were it not for trigger-happy Trump and his band of war obsessed mongers, it would simply be dismissed out of hand. For the US both supplying chemical weapons to the “moderate head choppers” and the discrediting of the endless attempts to pin chemical attack on the government, see Professor Michel Chossudovsky’s meticulous documentations. (1) See also Robert Stuart’s impressive, minute unraveling of the propaganda which was “Saving Syria’s Children.” (2)

It also seems to have escaped the Trumposphere that in 2013, Syria surrendered all stocks of chemical weapons, under the auspices of the UN Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons and international observers and participants.

I wrote at the time: “On 12th September 2013 Syria's President al-Assad committed to surrender Syria's chemical weapons, with the caveats that the United States must stop threatening his country and supplying weapons to the terrorists.” (Weapons disposal detail, 3.)

“Why do you need the attribution mechanism, if you’ve already named the perpetrators before any investigation?” asked Russia’s Ambassador to the UN this week, referring to blatant accusations against Damascus coming from the US and its allies.

It is worth noting that those dealing with patients suffering the effects of a chemical weapons attack need specific protective clothing. Pictures have been shown of an allegedly affected toddler being sprayed with water, held and sprayed by people in jeans, t-shirts and without even plastic gloves.

Strangely at the site of an alleged chemical attack at Khan Sheikhun on 5th April 2017, just two days over a year before the latest allegations, pictures not only emerged of first responders with no protective clothing, gloves, but of the White Helmets in flip flops and casual clothing “gathering soil samples” from areas allegedly hit by the weapons.

In Douma the Russian military have been rather more professional, with the Russian Embassy in South Africa Tweeting:

Russia in RSA

@EmbassyofRussia

Apr 10

Russian MoD investigates #DoumaProvocation, sheds light on the situation: All soil test results from Douma, #Syria have shown NO trace of neither sarin nor chlorine nor any other chemical agent. Local hospitals have NOT received ANY patients with chemical poisoning symptoms pic.twitter.com/cwIY8zXOIC

An accompanying correspondent wrote:

War Correspondent Alexander Bilibov from #Syria: “We checked the place of the alleged CW attack together with #Russian mil., asked the civilians. Nobody heard about #CW attack”. Alexander’s group ask at hospitals,spoke to the docs. Nothing. #SyrianCWHoax pic.twitter.com/He9NS7yx8F

At the UN, on Monday, 9th April - ironically the fifteenth anniversary of the toppling of Saddam’s statue in Baghdad’s Firdos Square, marking the destruction of Iraq on pack of lies - Steffan de Mistura, Special Envoy for Syria, stated regarding the attack that: “… the United Nations was not in a position to verify those reports” (of a chemical weapons attack.)

Donald Trump was also created by NBC; he's a product of media hustlers, and the mobs of stupid sycophants that will do anything to ingratiate themselves to a celebrity.

The UK and France were predictably hawkish with the Russian Ambassador responding factually: “ … that Washington, D.C., and those blindly following it - namely London and Paris - were deliberately stoking international tensions and engaging in a confrontational policy against the Russian Federation and Syria without any justification.

“The United States and its partners did not understand the potential consequences of their reckless geopolitical experiment in the Middle East, he said, emphasizing that Western capitals were taking up rumours spread by non-governmental organizations, the White Helmets and the media. The use of sarin or chlorine gas in Douma had not been confirmed, he stressed, calling for a prompt investigation and for Western politicians to scale down their rhetoric.

“Syria’s representative agreed that the lies of some permanent Council Members had fuelled conflicts, including in Viet Nam, the Korean Peninsula and Iraq. Now they sought to defeat Syria.

“Emphasizing that the United States, United Kingdom and France were eager to hold Council meetings on the basis of fabricated information, he recalled that the Syrian Government had warned the Council, OPCW and the Joint Investigative Mechanism on many occasions about terrorist groups possessing chlorine and sarin. The White Helmets would fabricate evidence and Hollywood-like scenes intended to stir incitement against Syria and its allies. The Syrian military had no chemical weapons, having destroyed them under United States auspices, he stressed.” (4) Emphasis mine.

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]f course in this new equivalent of the “forty five minute to destruction” lie (Tony Blair’s government’s infamous September 2002 dossier of fairy tales which massively contributed to Iraq’s destruction) who should pop up but Tony Blair, urging Prime Minister May to join strikes on Syria without even putting it to a Parliamentary vote.

He said that there was no need for her to ask her MPs as reprisals were likely to be “air action, rather than ground force action.” Work that one out. And Blair, who if justice existed, should be answering for his part in Nuremberg’s “supreme international crime” at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, was “Middle East Peace Envoy.”

The British and Americans of course, on Syrian land, in sea or air space are in the country entirely illegally.

President Assad has immediately invited the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to Syria to investigate, as did the Russians, the US are fighting their visit. Doesn’t take much thinking about. According to the OPCW website, they are leaving “shortly.”

However, in this truly terrifying scenario the world is facing not the ruthless horrors of the Bush family, or of the Clintons, Jimmy Carter’s threats to the Middle East, Nixon’s criminality. No, we have Donald Trump.

In “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump”, twenty seven eminent psychiatrists and mental health experts put their careers on the line, flagging up their clinical assessments, arguing that in Mr. Trump’s case they had a moral and civil “duty to warn.”

Each chapter is more concerning than the last. But perhaps in the present circumstances it is apt to quote John D. Gartner, Ph.D, clinical psychologist, who taught at the Department of Psychiatry at John Hopkins University Medical School for twenty eight years. In a chapter entitled: “Donald Trump is A) Mad B) Bad C)All of the Above”, he cites a colleague’s assessment of Trump’s grasp on reality:

“He cannot be contained because he is psychologically off the chain. With each passing week he displays the classic symptoms of medium grade mania in more disturbing forms …

“Trump’s first hypomanic crash resulted in only a few bankruptcies, but while he is President the consequences could be on a scale so vast it’s difficult to even contemplate:

“ … exhibiting malignant narcissism … His worsening hypomania is making him increasingly more irrational, grandiose, paranoid, aggressive, irritable, impulsive … He evinces the most destructive and dangerous collection of psychiatric symptoms possible for a leader. The worst case scenario is now our reality.” He warns of the consequences being “most likely catastrophic.”

Professor Gartner ends the chapter defending the authors of the book for breaking the rules by going public: “ History will not be kind to a profession that aided the rise of an American Hitler through its silence.”

It would be hard to dispute this chilling assessment having read how lightly Trump takes a possible world war in a Tweet today:

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

2h

Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!

Now Trump’s right hand man is John Bolton, arch hawk, advocate of regime change in Iran, North Korea, Syria, supporter of the horrors of Libya and Iraq.

But of course, for someone possibly in a parallel universe, incinerating a nation or the planet would be a great diversion from Trump’s troubles at home and the raid on his lawyer’s office and seizure of countless possibly incriminating documents.

  1. https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-syria-chemical-weapons-saga-the-staging-of-a-us-nato-sponsored-humanitarian-disaster/5315273
  2. https://bbcpanoramasavingsyriaschildren.wordpress.com
  3. https://theecologist.org/2014/mar/13/syrias-chemical-weapons-lawbreakers-rule-supreme
  4. https://www.un.org/press/en/2018/sc13284.doc.htm

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 felicity_ArbuthnotBW2FELICITY ARBUTHNOT, Senior Contributing Editor, Middle East Affairs, & London Correspondent • Felicity Arbuthnot is a journalist specialising in social and environmental issues with special knowledge of Iraq, a country which she has visited thirty times since the 1991 Gulf war. Iraq, she describes as: ‘sliding from the impossible, to the apocalyptic.’  With former UN Assistant Secretary General and UN Co-ordinator in Iraq, Denis Halliday, she was senior Iraq researcher for John Pilger’s Award winning documentary: “Paying the Price – Killing the Children of Iraq” (Carlton/ITV March 2000), which has been aired worldwide and sent shockwaves through Washington and Whitehall.  Arbuthnot has been nominated for a number of Awards for her coverage of Iraq, including the (EC) Lorenzo Natali Award for Human Rights Journalism, the Millenium Prize for Women; the Courage of Conscience Award and an Amnesty International Media Award. Arbuthnot is quoted by MP’s and academics as having unique insight into Iraq under sanctions. Her articles and broadcasts are used by MP’s in Parliamentary questions. In addition, Felicity was a moderator at the World Uranium Weapons conference in October 2003 in Hamburg with a lot of internationally renowned speakers.  (http://www.uraniumweaponsconference.de/speakers.htm). 

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

ALL CAPTIONS AND PULL QUOTES BY THE EDITORS NOT THE AUTHORS

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Things to ponder

While our media prostitutes, many Hollywood celebs, and politicians and opinion shapers make so much noise about the still to be demonstrated damage done by the Russkies to our nonexistent democracy, this is what the sanctimonious US government has done overseas just since the close of World War 2. And this is what we know about. Many other misdeeds are yet to be revealed or documented.

Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found

In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” — acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump — a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report

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AngloZionist options (intermediate report) UPDATED

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UNO'S SECURITY COUNCIL

By The Saker

An AngloZionist attack on Syria appears to be inevitable and imminent.  There is always a chance of a major pushback from some putative mentally sane, realistic and patriotic generals in the Pentagon, but I am not holding my breath (I asked two of my best informed friends about that, they both told me to forget about it).  Counting on those who have made a life obeying orders to suddenly refuse one, and wreck their career in the process, is naive.  Besides, most of what we now have at the Pentagon are not Admiral Fallon types, but rather the same “an ass-kissing little chickenshit” type à la Petraeus.  They might not push for a confrontation with Russia, but they will do what they are told to.  The commander of CENTCOM recently said just that (“we will do what we are told“).

However, what kind of attack options the US Neocons and their Israeli pals will choose is probably what is being debated right now.  Here are the basic options

1) A repeat of last year’s attack on the Syrian Air Force base in Shayrat.  That would be by far the best option and that would allow the Neocons a face-saving, even if entirely symbolic, “look how tough we are” option.  They might as well strike the same T4 base the Israelis did a few days ago, just with more missiles.  And, just to make this look all very “democratic” they might ask the French, Brits or Israelis to participate in that attack.

2) It is too late, militarily speaking, to try to reverse the situation on the ground, but hitting more Syrian Air Force bases, communication nodes, air defenses, etc. is definitely an option.  Following such an attack, the US allies on the ground (the “good” and the “bad” terrorists) would go on the offensive and the Syrians and their allies would struggle to “plug the holes” thus created.  That would not fundamentally change the outcome, but would prolong the chaos and associated bloodbath.

3) Attack the Iranians.  This is a grand favorite with the Israelis and the Neocons, but it is also a much riskier option because if the attack is successful, the Iranians would have a huge number of potential US targets to choose from to retaliate, as would Hezbollah.  Still, that would placate the Iran-haters, at least temporarily, and it would allow Trump to show how “tough” and “great” a guy he is.

4) A full scale attack on the Syrian military and on the government (including Presidential facilities).  We are talking about hundreds of cruise missiles in the first wave.  Targets would include not only purely military targets (ammo dumps, troop concentrations, etc.) but also the “regime support infrastructure”, i.e. civilians and that which makes civilian life possible: power plants, water purification, communications, bridges, roads, ports, schools and hospitals (“camouflaged regime objectives”) etc.  Basically, that is what the US/EU/NATO did to Serbia and what the Israelis have done many times to Lebanon: murder as many civilians as possible to make them pay for supporting the “Animal Assad”.  A time honored Anglo and Jewish tradition, by the way.

5) A deliberate attack on Russian and Iranian positions in Syria to “punish” them for supporting “Animal Assad’s” chemical attacks.

Of course, a combination of the options above are possible.  Roughly speaking options 1, 2 and 3 might (conditional) remain manageable.  Only option 1 is (relatively) safe.  Options 4 and 5 are absolutely insane and are likely to result in an extremely dangerous escalation.

Let’s look at it from another point of view.

What would be the goal of a AngloZionist attack?

I think that we can all agree that nobody seriously believes that an actual chemical attack took place and that everybody knows that this is a (poorly) staged false flag predicted by both Nikki Haley and the Russians weeks ago.  As for a full-scale reversal of the outcome in Syria or a reconquista by US/NATO, these are not militarily speaking realistic options.

So then what is the point?

1) Internal US politics: Trump wants to appease the Neocons and looks “tough”.

2) Make the Syrians, Iranians and Russians pay for defeating the “good” and “bad” terrorists.

3) Appease the always bloodthirsty Israelis and create a nice pretext to renege on the nuclear deal with Iran.

4) The need to act on the rhetoric (that one is often ignored, but the fact is that when a regime spews a constant stream of paranoid and hate-filled nonsense about another country, it eventually has to do something about it.  Speaking of “Animal Assad” and doing nothing about him just does not look good for The Donald).

5) Some hope to actually kill Assad (unlikely, the integrated Russian-Syrian air defenses will warn him of the attack).

6) Re-establish, by means of example, that the USA is still the biggest and baddest guy out there and that neither Iran nor Russia can do anything about it.  Scare Russia and Iran into submission (I know, this is a stupid notion, but Neocons are not very bright!).

I think that we should not over-intellectualize all this.  Frankly, I don’t think that the folks in the White House are very bright and that their level of planning is roughly similar to “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”.  What they have is a mental hammer: the desire to lash out, to strike, to hurt, to punish.  Just hatred and infinite arrogance.

As to where and how the hammer will strike – your guess is as good as mine.

Attempting to predict the actions of delusional psychopaths is an exercise in futility.

Besides, we will find out very soon.

The Saker

UPDATE1: RT reports that Russia and the US are both submitting resolutions to the UNSC.  Both resolutions demand an international investigation; the OPCW announced its decision to dispatch a fact-finding mission to Syria.  RT is also reporting that one Russian newspaper has declared that a top level Russia-US meeting over Syria is scheduled for next week.  Maybe, just maybe, this insanity can be stopped?

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ABOUT THE SAKER
THE SAKER  is the nom de guerre of a former Russian-born military and geopolitical analyst, working at one point for the West. He has described his former career as that of "the proverbial 'armchair strategist', with all the flaws which derive from that situation.  Explaining his transformation, he states: "Before the war in Bosnia I had heard the phrase "truth is the first casualty of war" but I had never imagined that this could be quite so literally true. Frankly, this war changed my entire life and resulted in a process of soul-searching which ended up pretty much changing my politics 180 degrees. This is a long and very painful story which I do not want to discuss here, but I just want to say that this difference between what I was reading in the press and in the UNPROFOR reports ended up making a huge difference in my entire life. Again, NOT A SINGLE ASPECT OF THE OFFICIAL NARRATIVE WAS TRUE, not one. You would get much closer to the truth if you basically did a 'negative' of the official narrative.”  Like The Greanville Post, with which it is now allied in his war against official disinformation, the Saker's site, VINEYARD OF THE SAKER, is the hub of an international network of sites devoted to fighting the "billion-dollar deception machinery" supporting the empire's wars against Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Venezuela and any other independent nation opposing or standing in the way of Washington's drive for global hegemony.  The Saker is published in more than half a dozen languages. A Saker is a very large falcon, native to Europe and Asia. 

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SYRIA: The Egregious Western Media ‘Chemical Weapon’ Fraud in Eastern Ghouta

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APRIL 8, 2018 BY For 21stCenturywire.com, a fraternal site


One of the many unsubstantiated claims of “Napalm attack” made by the UK/US created propaganda construct, the White Helmets in Eastern Ghouta. 

Vanessa Beeley
21st Century Wire 

Napalm was a US invention. Napalm “was invented in a top-secret 1942 war research collaboration between Harvard University and the U.S. government”.  In 1952 the U.S. Patent Office issued certificate 2,606,107 for “Incendiary Gels” and made napalm’s precise formula available worldwide. 

“U.S. troops used a substance known as napalm from about 1965 to 1972 in the Vietnam War; napalm is a mixture of plastic polystyrene, hydrocarbon benzene, and gasoline. This mixture creates a jelly-like substance that, when ignited, sticks to practically anything and burns up to ten minutes. The effects of napalm on the human body are unbearably painful and almost always cause death among its victims.” ~ The Vietnam War

The accusation of “napalm attack” conjures up terrible images designed to shock.  In 1945 the US B29 bombers dropped their payload of 69,000 pounds of Napalm over Tokyo, Japan in one hour. An estimated 100,000 Japanese men, women and children perished in the resulting fire storm. Washington considered the 10 days of Napalm bombing raids across all Japan’s major cities, a huge success. The US also used Napalm in North Korea with devastating consequences for its people in the 1950s. Washington dropped 32,557 tonnes of Napalm on Vietnam.

The US most recent use of Napalm was during the Iraq war in 2003 when “dozens of napalm bombs were dropped near bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris River, south of Baghdad” according to an article in the Independent. In the same article a US commander of Marin Air Group 11 states:

“We napalmed both those [bridge] approaches,” said Colonel James Alles, commander of Marine Air Group 11. “Unfortunately there were people there … you could see them in the [cockpit] video. They were Iraqi soldiers. It’s no great way to die. The generals love napalm. It has a big psychological effect.”

According to Robert M Neer, author of Napalm: An American Biography, the countries who have used Napalm are:

“Countries that have used napalm, in addition to the United States, include: Greece (the first use after World War II), France, Britain, Portugal, United Nations forces in Korea, the Philippines, South Vietnam and North Vietnam (in flamethrowers), Cuba, Peru, Bolivia, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, India, Iraq, Nigeria, and Brazil.”

Syria is not mentioned.

Neer goes on to explain that the UN had banned the use of Napalm against “concentrations of civilians” under Protocol III of the 1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. The US signed the protocol almost thirty years after it had been adopted by the General Assembly, on January 21 2009. It was President Obama’s first full day in office. The caveat being “the US can disregard the treaty at its discretion if doing so would save civilian lives“. Considering just how many civilian lives had been destroyed by the US deployment of Napalm, it is hard to imagine a scenario where Napalm might be beneficial to civilians…but the inference is “we should trust the US to make that decision on our behalf and on behalf of the civilians in any given situation“.

The Syrian Napalm Narrative

The ‘Chemical Weapon’ narrative has sustained the conflict in Syria with alleged attacks being attributed almost entirely to the Syrian government, the Syrian Arab Army and Russia. The seven year information war has been ferocious with NATO-aligned media, think tanks and self appointed experts such as Eliot Higgins and Bellingcat doing all in their power to reinforce the “Syria did it” narrative.

If we were to map the chemical weapon claims in each terrorist held area undergoing liberation by the Syrian Arab Army, we would clearly see that the claims are comensurate with the pressure felt by the terrorist factions as the SAA closes in on their stronghold. In other words, as the SAA nears victory and liberation of Syrian civilians we are expected to believe they would use chemical weapons against those civilians in an urban area which is even more densely packed as the terrorists withdraw into a shrinking combat zone, taking the civilians with them as human shields and hostages.

It appears to be a propaganda tactic employed by the terrorist factions to gain time, secure a ceasefire and to call for a No Fly Zone and further “humanitarian” intervention from the regime-change-war alliance. A ceasefire allows the militants to organise themselves and to re-arm. We know that terrorist chemical weapon attacks against the civilian population in West Aleppo were never given equivalent importance by the same “humanitarian” minded nations, in fact they were largely ignored.  Therefore it is reasonable to conclude that crying “chemical weapon” is a tactic designed to protect the NATO-member-state assets occupying Syrian territory.

We need only cast our minds back to August 2013 and the extraordinary BBC Panorama report on the “Napalm-like school bombing” in Urem-Al-Kubra, Aleppo province – Saving Syria’s Children

Independent journalist, Robert Stuart, has masterfully and forensically exposed this report to be nothing more than war theatre orchestrated by the BBC in order ratchet up UK military intervention in Syria, coinciding with the time of David Cameron‘s vote in Parliament to join the US bombing campaign in Syria “to deter the use of chemical weapons” by the Syrian government (of course). This BBC report came hot on the heels of the alleged chemical weapon attack in Eastern Ghouta in August 2013 which was immediately blamed upon the Syrian government. Since then, that claim has been discredited by a number of analysts and independent experts.

This alleged attack, reported by BBC Panorama, was naturally accompanied by the familiar witness testimony effectively calling for the World to intervene and bomb for “Peace” – “Dear United Nations, you are calling peace, you are calling for peace. What kind of peace are you calling for? Don’t you see this, don’t you see this? What do you need to see?”  from the Telegrapharticle at the time.

Fast forward to Eastern Ghouta which is now 90% liberated from the many terrorist factions that have occupied this eastern suburb of Damascus since 2012 and we have seen an uptick in the claims of chemical weapon attacks as the SAA noose draws tighter around  the terrorist enclaves. Most of those claims are being circulated by the Al Qaeda auxiliary organisation, the White Helmets.

Terrorist Chemical Weapon Capability in Eastern Ghouta.

Journalist and geopolitical analyst, Sharmine Narwani, was in liberated Eastern Ghouta a few weeks ago when a Chemical Weapons laboratory was discovered in the farmlands between between Shifouniyeh and Douma. Narwani comments on the western media “disinterest” in this discovery:

“The media disinterest is strange, given that US officials appear poised to green-light military attacks against Syria, which they claim has used chemical weapons (CW) against civilian populations. This charge remains unproven and highly contentious, with other parties arguing that anti-government militants are employing CW munitions to provoke a US military intervention against Syria.

So perhaps it’s not so strange that a chemical lab discovered right at the epicenter of a major strategic battle over Syria is being ignored by one side. In the end, it is likely that only one side is right about who is using CWs in Syria. Which is why one side went silent when this lab was revealed.”

Children stand next to the entrance to a chemical weapons manufacturing centre in Erbin, Eastern Ghouta. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)

I had a similar experience two days ago on the 6th April 2018. We were on a foreign media trip to the liberated sectors of Eastern Ghouta with the Syrian Arab Army. Many western media journalists resent being accompanied by what they perceive as “security” but my experience is that they  are not prevented from covering any story they think is important in areas they visit.

Primary supporters of the regime change “humanitarian” war narrative, CNN were on this trip with me – correspondent, Frederick Pleitgen, his camerawoman and a translator, I did not see them restricted in any way, on the contrary they were given free rein provided the area was clean of mines, IEDs and booby traps left behind by the evacuated terrorist groups. The army’s presence is necessary in any district recently liberated as there are always risks involved and I am grateful that they care enough about our safety to be with us on these trips and to provide answers to any questions we have.

The chemical weapons manufacturing site (on right) in Erbin, Eastern Ghouta on 6th April 2018. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)

We entered the district of Erbin and we were shown a bomb making factory and a chemical weapons facility, both above ground and not part of the elaborate tunnel systems that had housed terrorist field hospitals and equipment store rooms among other elements of the terrorist military apparatus.

We were told that much of the building had still not been cleared of mines and booby traps so we were warned to stay close and to not wander off. Some of the bags containing the chemical ingredients were still booby trapped and therefore it was not possible to pick them up to show the labels more clearly. It was also very dark but I did my best to photograph everything I saw there.

Among the documents found in this makeshift laboratory were instructions to manufacture a napalm hand grenade and directions are given how best to mix the components. I do not want to publish such step by step instructions so I will only show part of the notebook in my photos. There are also handwritten notes showing how to make the grenade more deadly by adding nails and White Phosphorous to the grenade to ensure that the incendiary effect lasts longer and is more intense. The notebook states that this mixture is known as OB2 in military terms.

The formulations were fully explained to us by the guide assigned to us, who had been present when this chemicals weapons facility had been discovered during the clean up operation, post liberation. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)

We were told that another document found on site explains how to calibrate the mortars to target specific geolocation coordinates in Damascus and in the surrounding countryside:

A final document that we were shown apparently gives the names of the terrorist group members who were in charge of this facility:

There were a number of sacks and barrels of ingredients, not all were easy to identify by the brand name on the bags and we were told that the terrorists had rebagged some of the ingredients. One of the bags contained the chemical compound RDX.

“RDX is the organic compound with the formula (O2NNCH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive.[2] Chemically, it is classified as a nitramide, chemically similar to HMX. A more energetic explosive than TNT, it was used widely in World War II.” ~ Wikipedia.


A bag of RDX chemical compound, Erbin, Eastern Ghouta. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)

Alongside these chemical ingredients which will be shown in a photo gallery at the end of this article were boxes of rockets that would be packed with the chemical and exposive components. At least one box of these specialised missiles was still booby trapped according to our guide so were unable to examine them closely:


Photo: Vanessa Beeley

We saw shelves still laden with equipment, smaller hand grenades and missiles. It was clear that this facility had been operational for some time.


Photo: Vanessa Beeley

We saw a barrel containing what looked like tar next to the chemical ingredients and rockets. An expert who was with us said it was a mix of oil, soap and other ingredients that are used to coat the missile to ensure the chemical package sticks to its target more effectively. This was a factory of death..where the terrorist factions had designed some of the most sadistic weaponry possible to be used against civilian targets:


Photo: Vanessa Beeley

The question must be asked, who used chemical weapons in Syria and in Eastern Ghouta? It is a question that has not been asked by the majority of mainstream media journalists from the West and that includes Frederick Pleitgen of CNN who saw that chemical weapon factory and yet failed to mention it during his live broadcast last night during the widespread accusations of Syrian Arab Army chemical weapon use in Douma during the final hours of Jaish Al Islam’s occupation.

On the 23rd March, for example, Qatar’s mouthpiece, Al Jazeera ran with the headline “Dozens burned to death in Syria attacks on Eastern Ghouta” . In the article the testimony of the White Helmets was taken without question despite their history of whitewashing the crimes and atrocities committed by the terrorist factions, dominated by Al Qaeda, against Syrian civilians:

 

“Sources on the ground and rescuers from the Syrian Civil Defence, a volunteer rescue group also known as the White Helmets, said on Friday that at least 37 victims burned to death after air raids carrying napalm gas hit the shelter in the town of Irbin.”

I was told by people I spoke with, in Erbin, that the terrorist factions had carried out the attacks on civilians in that district in order to blame it on the Syrian government, army and Russia.

While there is no way to fully verify these on the ground reports, it must raise the question – why do western media repeat the narrative fed to them by western backed & financed groups like the White Helmets who are proven to be closely affiliated to extremist groups including Al Qaeda and who consistently produce questionable videos and accounts of events that serve in the main to protect the terrorist factions and reinforce the regime change narrative for their sponsor states.

Why is there never any context to the chemical weapon reports that intensify  in line with SAA military advances. So just at the point of victory, we are led to believe that they will use ineffectual chemical weapons against the civilians they are tasked to liberate and whose lives they always attempt to preserve even if it means delaying their final attacks on terrorist centres.

The use of chemical weapons and the subsequent corporate media hysteria and sensationalism serves only the imperialist West and their assets on the ground in Syria, the terrorist factions.

An official source in Damascus told SANA this morning:

“The chemical fabrications, which did not serve the terrorists and their sponsors in Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta, will not serve them today either, as the Syrian state is determined to end terrorism in every square inch of Syrian territory”

“Each time the SAA advances and is victorious against the terrorists, the countries who support the terrorist factions raise the flag of chemical weapons which is a complete false flag, as Syria had relinquished its chemical weapons in 2013 when it signed the non-proliferation treaty and completely respected the terms of that agreement in 2014.” ~ Dr Ayssar Midani, Damascus

We shoud also remember that on the 28th February 2018, Syria’s permanent representative to the UN, New York, Dr Bashar Al Jaafari reported that on the 20th February Turkey “had transported barrels of weapons-grade chlorine into Idlib towns run by Turkish terrorists.  One school has been turned into a warehouse of these chemical weapons.  The terrorists are preparing to use these weapons on a large scale and to accuse the SAR.  The conspiracy is meant to coincide with the Eighty-Seventh Executive Council of the OPCW meeting, beginning on 13 March.”

Watch Dr Bashar Al Jaafari’s full intervention at the UN here:

“Before you believe the CNN warmongers in Damascus. Their correspondent, Frederick Pleitgen, was with me when we visited a terrorist chemical weapons lab in Erbin, Eastern Ghouta two days ago. He does not mention it in his sensationalist report “live” from Damascus.

Nor does he mention the estimated 3500 plus prisoners being held by Jaish Al Islam terrorists in their “repentance” prisons, many women and children among them who are very probably now being murdered to produce the last ditch attempt chemical weapon attack” ~ Vanessa Beeley Facebook status.

In other words, the corporate media lies are becoming more blatant as the SAA and allies march inexorably towards full and final liberation of Eastern Ghouta which has long been recognised here as a pivotal strategic stronghold for Israel, effectively crippling Damascus’ air defence capability and maintaining pressure on the Syrian government and people with the daily collective punishment of civilians by indiscriminate terrorist shelling, mortar fire etc. Not for much longer.

Below are the chemical weapon ingredients found at the Erbin terrorist manufacturing facility:

Photos supplied by Vanessa Beeley @21WIRE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vanessa Beeley is an intrepid British citizen's journalist dedicated to exposing the lies that have destroyed much of the Middle East at the hands of Washington and its allies.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

ALL CAPTIONS AND PULL QUOTES BY THE EDITORS NOT THE AUTHORS

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Things to ponder

While our media prostitutes, many Hollywood celebs, and politicians and opinion shapers make so much noise about the still to be demonstrated damage done by the Russkies to our nonexistent democracy, this is what the sanctimonious US government has done overseas just since the close of World War 2. And this is what we know about. Many other misdeeds are yet to be revealed or documented.

Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found

In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” — acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump — a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report

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State Dept Accuses Russia And Syria Of Gassing Civilians Before Any Investigation



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HELP ENLIGHTEN YOUR FELLOWS. BE SURE TO PASS THIS ON. SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON IT.

 

Nauert

Just weeks ago, two firebreathing neoconservative war whores were promoted to the highest echelons of influence within the Trump administration. The new National Security Advisor John Bolton only has one key on his piano, and that key is war. Neoconservative hawk Mike Pompeo was promoted from the head of the notoriously vicious Central Intelligence Agency to Hillary Clinton’s old job as Secretary of State after famously announcing that he was trying to make the CIA “a much more vicious agency.”

Trump supporters talk a lot about the Deep State as though it is something separate from and at odds with the Trump administration. If that was ever the case, it certainly isn’t anymore. Trump might be in a power struggle with certain factions or aspects of the power establishment, but you don’t promote bloodthirsty swamp monsters like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo to positions of maximum impact if you’re fighting the Deep State.

Pompeo’s State Department has issued a press release by way of its soulless spokeswoman Heather Nauert about the nonsensical new report that the Syrian government once again decided to kill a bunch of children with poison gas at the least strategically opportune moment imaginable. The press release is riddled with falsehoods and jaw-dropping accusations which cannot possibly be based in fact since they were made mere hours after the allegations surfaced, long before any sort of investigation into them could have even begun, much less been completed.

Let’s go through this press release line by line, from beginning to end:

“We continue to closely follow disturbing reports on April 7 regarding another alleged chemical weapons attack, this time targeting a hospital in Douma, Syria. Reports from a number of contacts and medical personnel on the ground indicate a potentially high number of casualties, including among families hiding in shelters.”

The assertion that the “regime’s history of using chemical weapons against its own people is not in dispute” is a brazen lie. The entire other half of the conflict consistently denies it, including Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin personally, and many respected western journalists and scholars remain skeptical of the official NATO narrative for a whole variety of reasons.

We should note here that that the “ground” these sources are “on” is controlled by the Al Qaeda-allied terrorist group Jaysh al-Islam, and the reports we’re seeing sourced by the press are in fact coming from the western-backed and Al Qaeda-affiliated propaganda firm known as the White Helmets and the “pro-opposition Ghouta Media Center“. There’s no reason to believe that there is anyone “on the ground” in Douma willing to make themselves available as a source who is not supportive of jihadist factions and the western empire’s longstanding regime change agenda in Syria.

“These reports, if confirmed, are horrifying and demand an immediate response by the international community.”

If confirmed. That’s an open acknowledgement from the State Department that these reports are unconfirmed, which renders all the accusations which come later in this press release nonsensical.

“Immediate response by the international community” is exactly what Libya got in response to deceitful narratives promulgated by unquestioning media outlets. Now the nation which the west raped, brutalized and left for dead under the pretense of humanitarianism is a humanitarian nightmare, and NATO doesn’t care because the empire got the real job done in 2011.

“The United States continues to use all efforts available to hold those who use chemical weapons, in Syria and otherwise, accountable. The regime’s history of using chemical weapons against its own people is not in dispute, and in fact nearly one year ago on April 4, 2017, Assad’s forces conducted a sarin gas attack on Khan Sheikhoun, which killed approximately 100 Syrians.”

The assertion that the “regime’s history of using chemical weapons against its own people is not in dispute” is a brazen lie. The entire other half of the conflict consistently denies it, including Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin personally, and many respected western journalists and scholars remain skeptical of the official NATO narrative for a whole variety of reasons. It is absolutely ridiculous to say everyone agrees that in a region crawling with known terrorist factions who have a known history of chemical weapons attacks, and in a nation long targeted for regime change by the western empire, the only possible explanation for chemical weapons reports is a government which stands nothing to gain and everything to lose by using them.

“The Assad regime and its backers must be held accountable and any further attacks prevented immediately.”

Whoa! Held accountable? Immediately? What happened to “if confirmed”??

“Russia, with its unwavering support for the regime, ultimately bears responsibility for these brutal attacks, targeting of countless civilians, and the suffocation of Syria’s most vulnerable communities with chemical weapons. By shielding its ally Syria, Russia has breached its commitments to the United Nations as a framework guarantor. It has betrayed the Chemical Weapons Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 2118. Russia’s protection of the Assad regime and failure to stop the use of chemical weapons in Syria calls into question its commitment to resolving the overall crisis and to larger non-proliferation priorities.”

Russia “ultimately bears responsibility” for an attack with no evidence? Again, mighty big words for a press release about a completely unconfirmed report.

I’ve never seen a convincing explanation as to why Assad would be “targeting” civilians at all. I could see criticizing him for, like America, not taking enough measures to protect civilians from air strike crossfire, but why would he “target” them? Is killing civilians with internationally banned weapons just some bizarre sexual kink of his? One he only discovered in 2011? Nobody has ever given me an answer to this that fits into what I know about motive and human nature.

“The United States calls on Russia to end this unmitigated support immediately and work with the international community to prevent further, barbaric chemical weapons attacks.”

Half of this press release about Syria is actually about how awful and evil Russia is, the same nation the western empire has been finding any excuse to escalate tensions with since 2016 in a steadily escalating new cold war. Funny how this is all happening after the spectacular collapse of the “Novichok” narrative the UK was trying to use to unite Europe in aggressions against Russia.

Truth is the first casualty of war. Because of its reliance on psyops, propaganda and narrative shaping, this is especially true of cold war.

And that’s it for that insane State Department press release and all its accusations and demands for an international response. For further reading on the latest regime change Syria narrative being promulgated by the western war machine, check out this brand new article by independent investigative journalist Vanessa Beeley and this one by the always excellent Moon of Alabama. Both explain how this latest allegation fits in with an already highly suspicious pattern and explain how absurd it is to believe what we’re being told to believe. I wrote another article about this a few hours ago as well.

Remember: they wouldn’t be working so hard to manufacture your consent for these strategic power grabs if they didn’t need your consent. Refuse to be bullied and manipulated into handing it over to them.

 

About the Author
 
Caitlin Johnstone is a brave journalist, political junkie, relentless feminist, champion of the 99 percent. And a powerful counter-propaganda tactician. 

 Creative Commons License  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found

In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” -- acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump -- a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report 

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Edward Curtin: False Flag Operations Will Start New War (Podcast)


MAKE SURE YOU CIRCULATE THESE MATERIALS! BREAKING THE EMPIRE'S PROPAGANDA MACHINE DEPENDS ON YOU.
GEOPOLITICS & EMPIRE

IDF jet of the type downed by Syrian defenses. One of the many tools used by Israel, the empire and its vassal states, to instigate mayhem around the world, especially the Middle East.

Edward Curtin: False Flag Operations Will Start New War #075

Professor of Sociology Edward Curtin discusses the attempts by the US, Britain, NATO and Israel to create false pretexts for an invasion of Syria and war with Russia. He discusses how the Deep State has concocted RussiaGate and how media and propaganda make it difficult to tell fact from fiction.

Show Notes

Triggering War. A Manufactured “Catalytic Event” Which Will Initiate An All Out War? Are We Going to Let this Happen Again? https://www.globalresearch.ca/triggering-war-a-manufactured-catalytic-event-leading-to-all-out-war-are-we-going-to-let-this-happen-again/5632549

Further Signs of More War: A Most Dangerous Game http://edwardcurtin.com/further-signs-of-more-war-a-most-dangerous-game

The Coming Wars to End All Wars http://edwardcurtin.com/the-coming-wars-to-end-all-wars

Denying the Obvious: Leftists and Crimestop http://edwardcurtin.com/denying-the-obvious-leftists-and-crimestop

Website

http://edwardcurtin.com


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Educated in the classics, philosophy, literature, theology, and sociology, Ed Curtin teaches sociology at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. His writing on varied topics has appeared widely over many years. He states: "I write as a public intellectual for the general public, not as a specialist for a narrow readership. I believe a non-committal sociology is an impossibility and therefore see all my work as an effort to enhance human freedom through understanding." His website is http://edwardcurtin.com/ .

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Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found