---

 Published time: 21 Oct, 2011

Supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shout slogans during a pro-regime rally in Damascus on October 12, 2011 (AFP Photo / Louai Beshara) / AFP

The unrest engulfing Syria is mirrored in the internet with a PR-civil-war. While some videos show “atrocious bandits”, others opt for “atrocious army men”. And none shows what ordinary Syrians live through.

---

Unlike other countries of the Arab Spring, there are a lot of different videos about Syria on the internet. TV channels around the world broadcast selective videos of atrocities by armed men. At the same time, they fail to show millions of Syrians rallying to support the government. And they don’t show videos of atrocities against Syrian people.

“The atrocity of bandits in this video is a sign that the US made a misjudgment,” Anhar Kochneva, director of the Jordan Club tourism organization comments on the video. “And now they are making an attempt of intimidating. It’s not a secret that they started preparing the anti-Syrian campaigns 10 years ago. They were proceeding from their understanding of Syrian people’s hatred toward the government, but they failed to notice that the country changed. They began supporting the anti-government rallies, but they failed to notice that these rallies actually brought people together. Millions of people just recently rallied in Aleppo, which the US considered an opposition center. The US believed that Syrians themselves would overthrow and betray Bashar al-Assad, but they failed to achieve an overturn performed by Syrians. Now they send in bandits, Syrians as well as those who co-operate with Americans among them. Some who got captured had performed terrible atrocities under the influence of drugs. For many of them, the only education they ever had was several years of school.”

 

Syrian army regulars celebrating a recent victory and hailing Assad.

Kochneva believes that the US Security Force rules these atrocities of bandits:

“Facebook didn’t work. They caused a provocation in Daraa but it didn’t work either. In the mid-April, the opposition met with Dan Feldman, representative of Hillary Clinton, in Istanbul. WikiLeaks reported that at that meeting a decision was made to start killing servicemen who at that time were unarmed, throughout the entire country. Four or 5 days later, servicemen in different parts of Syria were brutally murdered. And presently, many soldiers and officers are getting killed. Armed groups are kidnapping and murdering state officials.

“There are two centers of unrest left, Homs and Idleb. These videos show fierce terror of Sthe summer of 2011 in these cities. Three thousand people were killed, a third of them servicemen, and a lot of state officials. Ninety per cent of these murders were performed by bandits. This is what happened recently: officials stopped for a coffee on their way somewhere, and they got murdered.

“Bandits have been causing outrage in the north of the country, as there are many villages and forests there, which means a place for them to hide,” says Kochneva.

What’s the footwear of Syrian officers?

The Western media show videos of “atrocities of the Syrian army”. Kochneva comments on one of the most popular videos (of an officer beating up a boy): “Why is this officer wearing beach slippers?”

“Unlike foreigners, the entire Syria knows what the army wears on their feet. In the area of Hama, an army uniform warehouse was robbed. Bandits wore these uniforms while looting and ransacking, and making videos of this kind. There was just one trouble – no boots at the warehouse. Therefore the officers in the video are wearing beach slippers. Moreover, after this robbery, the army was quickly transferred to a different type of uniform. Furthermore, how can anyone understand why officers would record their own dirt and post it in the internet? They aren’t even allowed to go home; when would they find time to spend at an internet café? The army has a high authority, and people really ask them to enter their settlements to protect them.”

Kochneva is convinced that the West intentionally places a barrier for news from Syria. Otherwise, she believes, the EU and the US would not have imposed sanctions on the broadcast of Dunya, a Syrian TV channel which discusses videos of this kind of detail. Particularly, this channel even broadcasts the negotiations of the opposition. Some crafty migrants found a way of making voice chats discussing plans for destabilizing the country publicly available. Kochneva believes the authorities managed to take control over the country and to gain the support of the majority:

“People are laughing already at conspirators and their instructors. A French ambassador who attempted to talk patriarch Ignatius into supporting the US had tomatoes and eggs thrown at him when he was taken outside. A US ambassador, who was watching a rally to support peace in Syria from his car window, got wrapped in a Syrian flag with Bashar al-Assad’s portrait on it. People are saying, ‘Yes, there was terror, it was frightening and confusing; but we’re no longer afraid of you.’”

Not only have the Western media failed to report the truth. They have also engaged in an unrelenting propaganda campaign against Russia, Putin, Iran and Assad with the (by now) well known object of demonizing them, chiefly to prepare the American population for “extreme” measures against such targets. This is a typical cartoon floated by the presstitutes to besmirch Assad’s image.

How to create chaos

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ussian political scientist Ruslan Kurbanov, who spent several years in the Islamic environment in Syria, agrees that there are no preconditions for a civil war; even though several years ago one would have thought that it was indeed possible to happen. According to his observations, unhappiness with the authorities was in the air as early as 2005. It was mainly expressed in rumors:

“They said that people were disappearing. They were allegedly kidnapped by Mukhabarat for being unreliable. They said that kidnapped people were found several years later in prisons. They whispered about terrible conditions in Syrian prisons. I saw those who were personally affected by abuse of power. A family member of one of them was imprisoned for opposition-oriented statements; a relative of another one disappeared; a friend of yet another one went to Iraq, and now Mukhabarat examines his acquaintances. But this was just a tiny percentage of people.”

There were also rumors of stopping armed people:

“They said that armed people were stopped in Damascus. They stated those were militants. There were rumors about attacking and shooting between militants and the authorities,” says Kurbanov.

But the official Syrian media did not respond to these rumors in any way, neither confirming nor denying them.

Kurbanov notes the following characteristic episode:

“Policemen in the street would not respond to the traditional greeting, ‘salam aleikum’. When I asked the locals why the police would not respond to my ‘salam’, I was told that all of the police are Alawis, and they do not like Sunnis, especially explicit ones.”

What is more likely to prevail: hatred toward the US, or tribal ideology?

According to Kurbanov, Syria’s Islamic circles have a strong feeling of resentment against the United States. People are very annoyed by the US trying to impose its standards on Syria, even with regard to modes of dress, and they are upset that the Syrian government agrees to adopt these standards.

“For example, Syria’s authorities conceded to US demands and introduced tight pants for female students in high schools. There were also rumors about the US dictating to the Syrian government whether it should enroll foreign applicants in Islamic universities or not.”

Kurbanov recalls that the US had once declared Syria part of the “Axis of Evil”, and many Syrians feared that the Americans would start bombing Syria the way they did to Iraq. However, Kurbanov believes the US quagmire in Iraq could have its own implication for Syria.

“There were a lot of Syrians who volunteered to fight in Iraq. Bashar al-Assad rode this wave and agitated those who were spoiling for the fight. He let Syrians volunteers infiltrate Iraq. But those fighters were aware that after Iraq, they were to take on the regime back in Syria. I would not rule out that the lone gunners whom the Syrian government later had to hunt down at home were actually former insurgency fighters heading back from Iraq. In fact, it was not that difficult to creep over the border. I have heard stories about people from Syria easily slipping into Iraq, and even Afghanistan, and then coming back. I believe it is possible that some of Syria’s Iraq veterans jumped into the fight at home as soon as it started.”

Kurbanov believes that the animosity and atrocities committed by the opposition as it can be seen from TV films is a manifestation of tribal psychology rather than of an Islamic or revolutionary one:

“In my view, there was no soil for mutual hatred in society until the very last moment. But if blood was spilled in the first protests, I assume that the crowd might easily get filled with thirst to revenge the regime and separate soldiers. Even in the capital the Arabs have preserved their tribal mentality and are ready to stand up for their people.”

Kurbanov believes that the abundance of false reels about the army atrocities has a political goal of causing chaos in the country and forcing Syria to break up its union with Iran.

“I assume that these fakes are being injected into Syrian society to accelerate the speed of the explosion. Forces that are interested in this explosion want to break up Syria’s union with Iran. They include the United States, Saudi Arabia and Sunni Jihad fighters,” Kurbanov said.

Nadezhda Kevorkova, RT

Note to Commenters
Due to severe hacking attacks in the recent past that brought our site down for up to 11 days with considerable loss of circulation, we exercise extreme caution in the comments we publish, as the comment box has been one of the main arteries to inject malicious code. Because of that comments may not appear immediately, but rest assured that if you are a legitimate commenter your opinion will be published within 24 hours. If your comment fails to appear, and you wish to reach us directly, send us a mail at: editor@greanvillepost.com

We apologize for this inconvenience. 

=SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN.=
free • safe • invaluable

Nauseated by the
vile corporate media?
Had enough of their lies, escapism,
omissions and relentless manipulation?

[P]rotests against BBC coverage of Israeli military operation against the Palestinian refugee population in the Gaza strip are erupting across the UK, with thousands joining a call for fair, unbiased and contextual reporting of the events on the ground.

London, Manchester, Liverpool, and Newcastle saw marches to “protest at the BBC’s biased reporting”as well as to gather signatures for an open letter to the BBC Director General. London took the main stage of the protest movement.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition, Campaign against Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and many other organizations, in the letter to the publicly funded broadcaster, say that the company is “duty-bound to provide balanced reporting without bias.”

Instead, the organizers argue, the BBC’s reporting of Israel’s assault on Palestinians in the operation Protective Edge, fails to mention the years of occupation, deportations and siege Palestinians have lived through. “BBC’s reporting of these assaults is entirely devoid of context or background,” the organizers write.

The main protest point of a nationwide rally gathered huge crowds outside the BBC Broadcasting House in London.

Booing and demands for better coverage are just among some of the chants heard in the rallies across the UK, that reminded the BBC that “resistance to occupation is a right under international law.”

“When you portray Israel’s shelling of a civilian population as a ‘response’ or ‘retaliation’ to rocket strikes from Gaza, we would like to remind you that these events flow from the displacement of the overwhelming majority of the Palestinian people from their homes and communities,” the open letter reads.

In Liverpool, hundreds gathered outside the BBC Radio Merseyside to rally against Israeli attacks on Gaza and against biased reporting of the current situation. Organized by Liverpool Friends of Palestine and supported by Merseyside Stop the War Coalition, the event also became a venue to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and to call for peace and a ceasefire.

In Manchester “Stop the Bombing of Gaza” event also gathered a crowd. Organizers, in their call to action said that “Barack Obama, David Cameron and UK foreign secretary William Hague support“Israel’s right to defend itself” through killing “women, children and disabled people.” They gathered in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester center to call for a change in Whitehall’s policy.

A vigil in memory of the Palestinian victims was also held in Newcastle. Similar anti-BBC demonstrations were also held on Sunday in the UK, including Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as Cambridge and Oxford. More protests are scheduled during the week.

A dispatch from RT (Russian Television)

Published time: September 06, 2013 12:29

An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube by the Arbeen unified press office on August 21, 2013 shows a man comforting a Syrian girl in shock as she screams in Arabic “I am alive” following an attack in which Syrian opposition claim the regime used chemical weapons in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus (AFP Photo)

•••

There is proof the footage of the alleged chemical attack in Syria was fabricated, Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib, mother superior of St. James Monastery in Qara, Syria, told RT. She says she is about to submit her findings to the UN.

Mother Agnes, a catholic nun, who has been living in Syria for 20 years and has been reporting actively on what has been going on in the war-ravaged country, says she carefully studied the video featuring allegedly victims of the chemical weapons attack in the Syrian village of Guta (Ghouta) in August and now questions its authenticity.

In her interview with RT, Mother Agnes doubts so much footage could have been taken in so little time, and asks where parents of the supposedly dead children are. She promises to send her report to the UN.

The nun is indignant with the world media for apparently turning a blind eye to the Latakia massacre by rebel extremists, which left 500 civilians including women and children dead.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has called on the international community to pay attention to revelations made by Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib.

RT: The United States has used internet photos and video footage of the supposed chemical weapons attack in Eastern Guta to build a case against the Syrian government. Have you been able to look at these files? What do you have to say about them?

•

Mother Agnes: I have carefully studied the footage, and I will present a written analysis on it a bit later. I maintain that the whole affair was a frame-up. It had been staged and prepared in advance with the goal of framing the Syrian government as the perpetrator.

The key evidence is that Reuters made these files public at 6.05 in the morning. The chemical attack is said to have been launched between 3 and 5 o’clock in the morning in Guta. How is it even possible to collect a dozen different pieces of footage, get more than 200 kids and 300 young people together in one place, give them first aid and interview them on camera, and all that in less than three hours? Is that realistic at all? As someone who works in the news industry, you know how long all of it would take.

The bodies of children and teenagers we see in that footage – who were they? What happened to them? Were they killed for real? And how could that happen ahead of the gas attack? Or, if they were not killed, where did they come from? Where are their parents? How come we don’t see any female bodies among all those supposedly dead children?

I am not saying that no chemical agent was used in the area – it certainly was. But I insist that the footage that is now being peddled as evidence had been fabricated in advance. I have studied it meticulously, and I will submit my report to the UN Human Rights Commission based in Geneva.

RT: Recently you’ve visited Latakia and the adjacent areas, you’ve talked to the eyewitnesses to the massacre of civilians carried out in Latakia by Jabhat al-Nusra. What can you tell us about it?  

MA: What I want to ask first of all is how the international community can ignore the brutal killing spree in Latakia on Laylat al-Qadr early in the morning of August 5, an attack that affected more than 500 people, including children, women and the elderly. They were all slaughtered. The atrocities committed exceed any scale. But there was close to nothing about it in the international mass media. There was only one small article in “The Independent”, I believe.

[pullquote]

“There is a terrorist war going on against Syria right now. The international community and Syria’s friends should join forces and say: Enough! And they need to use every opportunity to do that. Otherwise this threat Syria is facing now will turn into a threat to universal peace…”

[/pullquote]

We sent our delegation to these villages, and our people had a look at the situation on-site, talked to the locals, and most importantly – talked to the survivors of the massacre.

I don’t understand why the Western media apply double standards in this case – they talk about mass murder that the use of chemical weapons resulted in non-stop, but they keep quiet about the Latakia massacre.

RT: Do you know anything about the fate of hostages captured in Latakia?

MA: In the village of Estreba they massacred all the residents and burnt down their houses. In the village of al-Khratta almost all the 37 locals were killed. Only ten people were able to escape.

A total of twelve Alawite villages were subjected to this horrendous attack. That was a true slaughterhouse. People were mutilated and beheaded. There is even a video that shows a girl being dismembered alive – alive! – by a frame saw. The final death toll exceeded 400, with 150 to 200 people taken hostage. Later some of the hostages were killed, their deaths filmed.

At the moment we are looking for the hostages and negotiating their release with the militants, but so far we haven’t managed to achieve that.

RT: We often hear reports of Christians being persecuted by the militants. Just the day before yesterday there was an attack in the village of Maaloula, where the majority of population is Christian. Are Christians in Syria facing grave danger?

MA: Everyone in Syria is facing grave danger. There was a case of Muslim religious leaders being kidnapped and beheaded. They were humiliated and tortured. Ismailis, the druze, Christians – people from all parts of Syrian society – are being mass murdered. I would like to say that if these butchers didn’t have international support, no one would have dared to cross the line. But today, unfortunately, the violation of human rights and genocide in Syria is covered up on the international level. I demand the international community stops assessing the situation in Syria in accordance with the interests of a certain group of great powers. The Syrian people are being killed. They fall victim to contractors, who are provided with weapons and sent to Syria to kill as many people as possible. The truth is, everywhere in Syria people are being kidnapped, tortured, raped and robbed. These crimes remain unpunished, because the key powers chose international terrorism as a way to destroy sovereign states. They’ve done it to other countries. And they will just keep doing it if the international community doesn’t say “Enough!”

RT: You’ve managed to get hold of some sensitive information. Does this make you fear for your life as someone who keeps documents that may compromise the militants? Has anyone threatened you?

MA: You are right. I do get threatened. They are trying to discredit me. I know there is a book coming out soon in France that labels me as a criminal who kills people. But any believer should first and foremost trust their conscience, their belief in God, and that will help them save innocent lives. I don’t care much about my own life. My life is no more precious than that of any Syrian child, whose body could be used as evidence to justify wrongdoing. This is the biggest crime ever perpetrated in history.

RT: What should the Syrians do to stop the tragedy they are going through?

MA: The Syrians themselves can do nothing to stop it. They can only rely on the international community, friendly nations, world powers, such as Russia, China, and India. With a lot of enthusiasm we did welcome the news that the British parliament voted against the participation of their country in the possible war against Syria. There is a terrorist war going on against Syria right now. The international community and Syria’s friends should join forces and say: Enough! And they need to use every opportunity to do that. Otherwise this threat Syria is facing now will turn into a threat to universal peace.

RT: What should the Vatican and other hubs of Christianity do to put an end to this tragedy?

MA: The Pope says he has no planes, no bombs, and no armed forces. Instead, he has the power of the truth, and the truth he has told. There are messages coming from everywhere in the world urging against a military intervention in Syria. Those who want to hear them will. The Pope, the patriarchs, Nobel Prize winners, including women, keep saying the same in unison: Let’s stop fighting. No conflict can be solved by military means. Stop adding fuel to the flame!
All the prominent public figures in the world have risen to speak against the war. Everyone has spoken their mind, but the US prefers to turn a deaf ear. The world public opinion has turned against the US. It’s the first time in history that America is alone. They are claiming that they are backed by ten countries. But I insist they aren’t, because the people of these countries disagree with their governments. Even the American people disagree with their government.

RT: Do you believe that this tragedy will end and Syria will remain a homeland for all Syrians, regardless of their ethnical or religious identity?

MA: I’m not Syrian myself, but I’ve been living in Syria for 20 years. I’d like to remind everyone that Damascus is the most ancient capital in the world. I would like to remind everyone that Syria is the cradle of civilization. I would like to remind everyone that this is the holy land that gave birth to the main world religions. What is happening in Syria should serve as a lesson for everyone. I mean that in existential rather than political sense. I am convinced that with God’s help the Syrian people will be able to remain strong, heal their wounds, reconcile and chase out all the foreign mercenaries and terrorists. I believe there will be peace in Syria. But for that we need help from the international community.

•••

DO SOMETHING

White House

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/write-or-call

Phone numbers

Comments: 202-456-1111

Switchboard: 202-456-1414

Hint: If you get a busy signal on the Comments line, call the Switchboard number & tell them you want the Comments line. They put you through. You may have to wait, but at least you don’t get the busy signal

Link for phone numbers for US Senate:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Link for phone numbers for US House of Representatives

http://www.house.gov/representatives/

The Pentagon budgets half a billion dollars to market its wars. Call it public relations or call it propaganda, it’s meant to win the hearts and minds of Americans. Critics argue it comes at the price of the truth.

When it comes to Afghanistan and Iraq, the stories American’s hear from the US media often sound optimistic.

Officials argue that isn’t exactly the case.

   And as the story of famous US soldier Pat Tillman, who gave up a multi-million dollar contract in professional football, illustrates, misinformation is provided, too.

Swanson explained the current rhetoric surrounding Iran is strikingly familiar to what took place before the US invasion of Iraq.