Insurgency Created Flames, Smoke And Mirrors In Homs
From today's NYT
Despite an ostensible cease-fire, violence flared across the country, with a roadside bomb killing 10 soldiers in the south, according to the state-run news, while YouTube videos posted from the devastated city of Homs showed flames and intense black smoke after government shelling of a downtown residential neighborhood.
There are several channels on Youtube which aggregate various videos coming out of Syria. The most complete one is SHAMSNN with over 90,000 videos. Another one is UgaritNews which has an Arabic channel with some 50,000 videos and a much smaller English channel.
As I regularly click through those channels I found that over the last days the number of videos of shelling of parts of Homs significantly decreased, the numbers of "martyr" videos showing dead young bearded men increased and the size of the various demonstrations in the videos is smaller than it has earlier been. All that points to a subsiding insurgency.
Checking through those channels I also registered a new phenomenon starting around April 11 with some videos showing intense fires on rooftops in Homs which is what the New York Times report above characterizes as "flames and intense black smoke". But the NYT's insinuation that these fires are the result of government shelling seem wrong to me. I suspect that these "flames and intense black smoke" events are created by the insurgency in another successful attempt of media manipulation.
Typically mortars are filled with high explosives. They explode on impact with a slight flash and the visible result in a city is usually a cloud of grey dust and lots of small shrapnel impacts on the walls of buildings. Mortars create damage and kill through the pressure wave and the shrapnel. This older video seems to show several such typical mortar impacts in Homs and none of them has "flames and black smoke".
But where would "flames and intense black smoke" come from if not from mortar fire? Dark black smoke usually comes from burning hydrocarbons like tar, oil or from burning the coom in rubber tires. I am not aware of any mortar ammunition type that could cause such by itself.
But mortars can cause fire. Could the burning on the roofs be caused by mortars? Most roofs in Homs are flat and, unlike in northern Europe, those flat roofs in Syria are not covered by tar paper as the arid climate makes covering the concrete from daily rain unnecessary. From my travels in Turkey near the Syrian border I remember sitting on several such naked concrete roofs for the usual evening chat and tea.
Let's look at some of these "flames and black smoke" videos.
A fire on a roof uploaded to Youtube on April 16.
It is clearly a concrete roof. In the video can see the columns that will be used when the house owner will have enough money to put the next level on top of it. There is no reason to see why there is fire on this roof. The satellite dish on the roof seems to be undamaged from a blast like a mortar would create. The video features a voice that calls for "Mister Annan" and in the background some people are shouting and banging doors. Are they faking battle noise? Another video shows the same fire seen from the street level with the same voice speaking and cars passing by with a bit of honking.
So was this a mortar impact in a fighting zone or some old tire and gasoline used on some open roof someone had access to?
And how came that the same guy with the same voice happened to film another incident of "flames and intense black smoke" on a roof but at nighttime and five days earlier on April 11?
This is another "flames and intense black smoke" fire on a roof top with the video uploaded on April 18.
Notice how the satellite dish next to the fire seems undamaged. Has there really been a mortar blast that caused this fire? The speaker uses an agitated voice and mentions Kofi Annan. But the voices in the background at 0:30 are not agitated at all.
The same speaker with a somewhat similar text performs in this video which shows "flames and intense black smoke" on a roof filmed from the street level. It was also uploaded on the 18th.
There are "flames and intense black smoke" blast videos too. But again looking for example at this picture from this video what is it that we a really seeing? Has this been caused by a mortar or by some dynamite used on a barrel of oil?
Here is another example of such a dark smoke explosion on a rooftop.
The video was taken near dusk and uploaded yesterday. Notice how the camera seems to know where it has to look when the explosion happens and how very unsurprised the voice in the video sounds.
This is likely the same explosion from a different perspective.
The video was also taken at dusk and also uploaded yesterday. At 0:27 the camera turns to a per-prepared cardboard with some Arabic writing including yesterday's date on it. Someone knew what was coming up and prepared a date proof for the video?
Also uploaded yesterday was this guy standing on a roof next to a satellite dish and ranting about the "flames and intense black smoke" on a neighboring rooftop.
The video also seems to have been taken at dusk. There is another video taken from the same location but without that guy.
Four different recordings taken at dusk and uploaded yesterday with one conveniently catching the moment of the explosion, one with a pre-prepared date proof and one with a rant calling for Kofi Annan. Was this by chance or were there three video teams to document a prepared event of "flames and intense black smoke"?
Back in March the British TV Channel 4 documented how "video activists" in Homs used burning tires to fake a battle for one of their reports. We have documented here that one Kahled Abu Saleh in Homs has used fakery in several of his videos. He is, by the way, back in that business.
So we do know that these people in Homs fake at least some of the events their videos show. While there is no definite proof yet that the above videos are showing fires and explosions created intentional by the insurgents there is enough in and around them that lets me seriously doubt that those "flames and intense black smoke" on the roofs of Homs are the result of "government shelling".
Posted by b on April 21, 2012 at 15:06 UTC | Permalink
tires burning, no structural damage, no fire in the windows below, and on the bottom video the fire was _just_ set
compare to footage of palestinian shelling with smoke stains above windows, extensive pock marks, structural collapse and debris in the streets..
Posted by: crazy_inventor | Apr 21 2012 15:29 utc | 2
Obviously these are not shells, or any kind of weapon-grade explosions. Looks like someone dumped a quarter-stick of dynamite, or some low-explosive, in a barrel of diesel, and had cameras pointed in the right direction. The real embarressment is western "journalists" letting this pass as proof of shelling in segments on TV.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 21 2012 16:18 utc | 3
Nice work, 'b'.
The following is partially or tangentially related in that it involves more violence by the rebels which they are fradulently claiming to have been perpetrated by the government.
On 2 Apr 2012 the National Hospital in Homs city was attacked and destroyed by armed rebels. The attack was carried out by a rebel brigade called "Al-Farouq" brigade. The leader of the brigage is Abdel Rezzaq Tlass. Today 21 Apr 2012 Rezzaq Tlass accompanied the United Nations observers when they went to the Homs National Hospital to inspect it.
Here's footage of Rezzaq Tlass & Co. attacking the hospital on 2 Apr. Also in this video we have, a day after the attack, Razzaq Tlass appearing on camera saying "Al-Farouq purified the National Hospital in Homs city". English subtitles have been added. (A number of videos with additional depictions of the event are at Youtube without English subtitles): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLYQ85dOG1I
Here's the video of Rezzaq Tlass accompanying the UN observers at the destroyed National Hospital today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=769ILEn0JUk#t=53s
What the rebels are saying is that the government destroyed the Hospital, and they are also saying that when the rebels took over the hospital after it had been destroyed they found evidence of evils committed by the government in the hospital. Whereas the truth is that the rebels destroyed it in a pure act of sabotage.
It is worrisome to me from the point of view of law and order in Homs city that the high-profile wanted criminal Rezzaq Tlass was able to accompany the UN observers in their visit to the Homs hospital today.
Ban Ki Moon now wants Hezbollah too to disarm..Is anyone still doubting who this tool works for?
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/237398.html
Posted by: Zico | Apr 21 2012 18:03 utc | 6
Excellent analysis of these images by b. Very few people have the necessary military knowledge to make an immediate connection to the contradiction between the "intense black smoke and flames" and the actual mechanics of real mortar explosions. On making that connection further analysis by b (and others) a whole chain of further contradictions unfold. Lies must be maintained by more lies and the bigger the web of lies the more vulnerable is the systemic lying. Reminds me of Assange's writings on conspiracy theory.
Posted by: JohnE | Apr 21 2012 18:23 utc | 7
Thank you, b. If it hadn't become so debased and meaningless, it would be worth starting a grassroots effort to nominate you for a Noble prize or some similar recognition.
Posted by: Maxcrat | Apr 21 2012 18:23 utc | 8
yes, b. and this is how those smoke videos are used by CNN
Christiane Amanpour found a great pretext to make the smoke newsworthy :-))
http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/04/18/amanpour-birds-chirping-syria.cnn
Posted by: somebody | Apr 21 2012 18:56 utc | 9
b
i am very appreciative of the work you do, specifically in situations like this where your specialist knowledge as an army reservist & as an engineer - fix on questions that few others are even dealing with. i am not surprised in the least that you are being picked up by some magazines precisely because of the detail & instincts of your research
& i am glad there is not an ounce of the conspiracist in you, you observe, you follow those observations to their logical conclusio, as you have always done
fuck those who cannot see that
what the conspiracists here do not understand is the facts are damning enough
really i am so fucking tired of the crude anti semitism masked in the crudest conspiracies connecting the rothschilds, or george soros or any other fucking alex jones configuration that are not only stupid but hide the very real facts
the conspiracists always work without a theory - connect coincidental points in a world that is full of them. & it is a very mad world. & what is not understood by these conspiracists is that empires have always been stupid at their end, they have few real capacities, creating anything beyond the crudest conspiracy is beyond them
they are stupid, they are incompetent, there is no cabal hidden in this or that sphere, their is only the idiot elites who know their world is falling apart & want the poorest of us to pay for it
fuck those amongst us here who want to blame the jews from everything from their hemaerroids to the construction of this world. it is so fucking tiring & so fucking stupid, senseless & blind. the state of israel itself does more to dishonor the real history of the jewish people which has been one of a connection to the most progressive elements in a society. israel to a great degree has undone that work & that history but this or that poster accusing this or that cabal just makes me want to weep when i have to work everyday with the results of incompetent & brutal elites that have fucked up their societies
one arrives hear for the cameraderie but the most powerful impulse is that this blog has remained such a strong source of facts, not opinion
i did not know baluchistan until b introduce it to me
i, not being skilled in the world of science has been educated by b's work on fukishama, drones & these close reading of the videos coming out of syria
this world is a fucking mess & we need facts, not race memory, & these facts b has always provided
& i am not so surprised that b became bored with the julian assange thread - conspiracies here, conspiracies there - when the facts are before your eyes, a non show business interview with a person who does not talk to the west & it seems evident to me that the 'interrogations' of assange were answered fully - within that context by nasrallah
& quite frankly as lenin once sd even a spy within the pary had to do good work & for me this lad has done not only good but historic work - not the least being the final unmasking of journalists & their cretinous newspapers, he needs to be defended for that as manning needs to be defended above & beyond any frailties
i prefer a fragile argument that tries to deal with the facts - than a demagogic one that is concerned only with fantasy
Posted by: t your is | Apr 21 2012 20:23 utc | 10
Yeah, quite right, b.
The question that occurs to me, probably unanswerable, is what proportion of the videos from Syria are fake.
That some are fake obviously puts the rest in question. But some are true.
Having been away in Central Asia for a week, and out of contact, I haven't well understood how the Anan cease-fire broke down. The after-effects don't particularly seeme to blame Bashshar al-Asad.
Posted by: alexno | Apr 21 2012 20:58 utc | 12
alexno asks @12...
"...what proportion of the videos from Syria are fake"
no way to answer the question without honest observers, which presumably would rule out UN observers, and rule out western media.
in the best of all worlds, observers could fly over those fires and count how many tires it takes to get the incident on TV... there's got to be a minimum acceptable amount of smoke before it's worth dispatching a CNN crew.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 21 2012 21:12 utc | 13
I don't understand any feasable logistics behind the complete and utter corruption of our mainstream media. How is it that such a huge industry has become so complicit in the crimes of international politicians and governments??? The task of scripting the news to fit industrial and political agendas is so obviously daunting that it baffles me how they have managed to pull it off.
What happens to the truly altruistic journalists that pursue the truth through investigation, with the goal in mind to share that truth?? Is it money that that holds the key to the utter corruption of the "Fourth Estate"?? Just how the fuck are these epic deceptions launched and maintained through the complicity and participation of the political machine and their media co-conspirators? It seems almost impossible, yet daily we see it as being so.
(BTW, if any of you American citizens out there are so inclined, contact Senator Wyden's (D-Ore) office and express your appreciation for his efforts to bring the ongoing and deadly catastrophe at Fukushima into the light of day. He toured Fukushima on the 16th of this month, and since then has been firing off letters seeking an international effort to address this epic emergency. Syria, Afdghanistan, Trevon Martin, the Secret Service flap, all irrelevent if these spent fuel pools at Fukushima unleash their deadly contents upon our GLOBAL environment. Mankind has NEVER faced such a pressing and looming threat. Japan, and TEPCO, are gambling that Japan will not experience anoyther high magnitude quake in the next ten years, as that is the timeline set forth for dealing with the demolished spent fuel pools on reactors #3 and #4. Is this a bet YOU are willing to wager???? Well, its a bet they've waged, using your children's future, indeed, the future of our planet, as the ante. You comfortable with that?)
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 21 2012 21:29 utc | 14
i got to admit my post above @13 is probably haywire...
most likely, it's no longer necessary for reporters to leave the bar... the videos, which might have been shot in libya a year ago, will be delivered there by activist courier.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 21 2012 21:33 utc | 15
http://www.wyden.senate.gov/download/letter-to-japanese-ambassador-on-fukushima-recovery-efforts
http://www.wyden.senate.gov/download/letter-to-department-of-energy-on-assistance-for-fukushima
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 21 2012 21:46 utc | 16
@ 14 they are as incompetent & are fully complicit in the crimes of those who rule from the roll of dollars. the media was always terrible - now it is horrific when it is not being burlesque. their presenters in the visual media are unable to hide the fact that they are pumped up pieces of poop collected into a sack with a suit thrown on top
in france maybe a decade ago - but really more, you could read a paper. we now have one, a monthly & that is all, the rest may as well be published by murdoch. unreadable. & as far from the truth as it is posssible to be. a fact free zone
why i depend on moon so much
my work has always involved the media to one degree or another & they are clowns, deb rightly calls them fishwraps but even for that they too toxic
i can sometimes get access to australian media through the net & watched, a 'respected' current affairs 'show' on afghanistan, it was geopolitics by numbers, the information false or so self considered (for example it interviewed an australian 'miltary strategist' - really they have to be joking - & he is the partner in crime of petraeus - buit it was something you might have watched in 1955, dumb, dull & dread full full of dread)
they are after all experts of rien du tout
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 21 2012 21:46 utc | 17
re 14
I don't understand any feasable logistics behind the complete and utter corruption of our mainstream media.
Maybe the word is "logic" rather than "logistics"
If we were to retroproject upon the early 20th century, the time of the 1st World War, we would probably find the sazme opinions expressed
Posted by: alexno | Apr 21 2012 21:57 utc | 18
it's pretty interesting that ron wyden, democrat from oregon, is so concerned about journalists in syria...
from an article at wyden's website about a wyden bill, passed 29 march 2012...
Last night, the United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution authored, by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), acknowledging the service and sacrifice of the nine journalists who have given their lives while reporting from Syria and calling on the Syrian government to immediately end its media blackout and open the country up to independent and foreign news media.“Reporters may not get medals, but their service and sacrifice deserve recognition. Little would be known about some of the most violent places in the world if these brave men and women weren't willing to take the risks necessary to get the story out," Wyden said. “As the son of a reporter, I am especially grateful that the U.S. Senate has unanimously passed my resolution honoring these courageous men and women.”
Wyden Resolution Condemning Killing of Journalists in Syria Unanimously Passes Senate
well... yes.
as the "son of a reporter", wdyden should have an appreciation of how the media works... stay in the bar and out of harm's way.
if you go out and look for the truth, you'll probably be shot.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 21 2012 22:02 utc | 19
ron wyden writes a bill that accuses the syrian government of a media blackout, and left-handedly accuses the syrian government of killing journalists...
that's cool.
but wyden is an advisor for the Israel Project, which is, according to RightWeb...
Founded in 2002, the Israel Project (TIP) is a Washington- and Jerusalem-based lobbying organization that aims to provide journalists and the public with information about Israel and the Middle East with the goal of giving a "more positive public face" to the country.[1]Claiming to be a non-profit educational organization that “gets facts about Israel and the Middle East to press, public officials and the public,”[2] the group advocates a number of positions similar to neoconservative groups and other U.S. organizations aligned with Israel’s conservative Likud Party.
It supports the controversial wall along the West Bank, advocates a hardline on Iran, and actively promotes the work of hawkish think tanks and writers.
so the above, plus wyden's concern about fukushima, may explain why some people are trying to convice us that fukushima is a bigger danger to humanity than the neocons.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 21 2012 22:17 utc | 20
#19....
You got anything other than Jews,Zionists, and foreign policy deceptions in your To-Do list???? You're like a one trick pony.
Frankly, I could care less about Wyden's views, press releases, posturing, and actions, other than the one I am currently calling attention to. In regards to Fuykushima, he is right on, and is showing no small amount of political courage by crossing the nuclear agenecy, and sounding the klaxon about the ongoing and epic threat that Fukushima presents to mankind. He is to be lauded for these letters, and frankly, in that context, who gives a shit about any posturing he did about the Syrian thing?
What, you think calling attention to Wyden's so-called "concern" for these dead journalists somehow takes the wind out of your sails in your endeavor to put a nasty zionist boogieman underneath all our beds? God knows, for years now I have been an extremely vocal critic of Israel, Zionism, AIPAC, and the whores in DC that fellate Israel in return for political access, success, and excess. But you might be well served by broadening the horizons of your indignation and carefully focused loathings. There is more to our planet's travails and pitfalls than the nefarious manipulations of this zionist monster that you have made it your life's mission to expose.
Trust me, if you are thoroughly irradiated, Syria, zionism, and Wyden's posturing about dead journalists is gonna be the least of your worries. If one of these spent fuel pools collapses, Syria ain't gonna mean SHIT in the grand scheme of things.
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 21 2012 22:31 utc | 21
"so the above, plus wyden's concern about fukushima, may explain why some people are trying to convice us that fukushima is a bigger danger to humanity than the neocons"
Are you fuckin' idiot?
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 21 2012 22:32 utc | 22
i guess we'll have to wait and see, wont we?
what's gonna cause more damage to humanity... a global samson option or fukushima?
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 21 2012 22:33 utc | 23
Lemmee get this straight, you blithering jackass....
I have called attention to Wyden's actions concerning Fukushima because I am a closet Zionist seeking to draw attention away from Wyden's posturing in regards to Israel?
That about cover it?
You've elevated braying to an art form.
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 21 2012 22:35 utc | 24
the fact remains...
fukushima hasnt killed anyone yet, but the neocons have killed hundreds of thousands... and they apparently have the philosophy and technology that wiii enable them to nuke millions more.
so the question remains... what's the biggest danger to humanity, fukushima or neocons?
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 21 2012 22:37 utc | 25
Perhaps you'd rather Wyden DIDN'T sound an alarm about Fukushima???
After all, he's a Zionist sympathizer, right? Damned Jew lover, who's he think he is, sticking his nose where it doesn't belong?
Fukushima, indeed. Can't these zionist sympathizers mind their own business, and stay out of environmental issues?
Do you THINK before you strike the keyboard???
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 21 2012 22:46 utc | 26
i got to admit the logic of your position is impeccable...
if we eliminate nuclear power, we make oil more important...
since the ultimate neocon plan (see the map linked to my handle, below) seems to include israeli or israeli american control of middle east oil, that, coupled with the elimination of nuke power makes israel more powerful.
...not to mention it's useful to create a deistraction from our real problem.
too bad your logic and the neocon philosophy consists of "might makes right", and their philosophy also seems to include a grand nuclear temper tantrum if they dont get their way.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 21 2012 22:49 utc | 27
"the fact remains...
fukushima hasnt killed anyone yet......"
I'm done. You're obviously an ass.
Lets just agree to disagree, and you can direct your tunnel visioned blather in someone else's direction.
OK?
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 21 2012 22:49 utc | 28
i admit i havent checked for fukushima fatalities today.
maybe you would be good enough to inform us of how many people have died of radiation from fukushima.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 21 2012 22:52 utc | 29
it's too damn bad that we're in agreement on the dismal state of jounalism... and that not only applies to war journalists, that applies to journalism, period.
so we've got all these reports of US fatalities from fukushima radiation, and they all come from the media you're condemning...
meanwhile, you've successfully driven the thread off topic with this wyden red herring, when wyden is sort of a crypto-neocon who's trying his best to distract everyone from the real problem.
the real problem is that news is manufactured to promote the necon agenda, and since the news organs themselves have a neocon agenda, and fukushima is a useful distraction from the neocon agenda, it all sorta fits together.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 21 2012 23:00 utc | 30
#27....
One.....
At no time have I advocated for the suspension of the production of power through nuclear means. NEVER.
Two...
For you to attribute a "neocon philosophy" to me is assinine to the extreme. You are obsessed, paranoid even, to the extent that you believe no OTHER issues face us beyond the PNAC's grand plan, and anyone that recognizes those "other issues" must be a zionist or neocon engaged in some sort of conspiratorial effort to shut down your heroic effort to expose the sinister zionist/neocon plot.
Get help.
#29....
Do you REALLY expect an answer??? Fukushima doesn't pose a grave threat because "no one has died"????
Like I said, get help.
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 21 2012 23:09 utc | 31
> fukushima hasnt killed anyone yet
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FukushimaDiary/~3/nlalQb8UU-0/
http://www.fairewinds.org/content/tokyo-soil-samples-would-be-considered-nuclear-waste-us
B.C. Canada sees spike in number of sudden infant deaths
Huge spike in US infant mortality
death rate among babies is up 48 percent
Severely malformed babies have been killed in Japan
Seattle: Northwest sees 35% infant mortality spike
dramatic increase in US baby deaths result of Fukushima
Japan author claims medical workers said malformed babies are being declared as stillbirths or miscarriages.
Posted by: crazy_inventor | Apr 21 2012 23:15 utc | 32
"the real problem is that news is manufactured to promote the necon agenda, and since the news organs themselves have a neocon agenda, and fukushima is a useful distraction from the neocon agenda, it all sorta fits together"
Oh really??? Perhaps you'll point us to an example of our media using the "Fukushima distraction", eh?? Yep, the Media is really informing us about the state of the Fukushima Dachi nuclear facility, isn't it? Just can't turn on the news without hearin' about it, can we? Yep, its all just a zionist/neocon plot.
You're a sick puppy, man. Are you a young pup? Gotta believe you are. Such ignorance tends to diminish as we age.
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 21 2012 23:16 utc | 33
will you agree to an effort to get the thread back on topic?
a reminder... the topic is manufacturing news to support of the necon agenda in syria.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 21 2012 23:16 utc | 34
we got all these reports in the neocon media about deaths in canada and the US and whatnot.
how many japanese in japan have died of radiation exposure?
how does it benefit neocons to distract people from neocon atrocities, including news that's manufactured to serve the neocon agenda?
do off-topic posts about fukushima distract attention from neocon media tactics? ...well, yes, they do, until someone points out how those off-topic posts, that smack of attempts to cause hysteria, serve the necon agenda.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 21 2012 23:22 utc | 35
OT
#13 + #15 + #19 + #20 + #23 + #25 + #27 + #29 +#30 + #34 + #35 = 1/3 of the thread full of noise
for potato's sake, I'm seriously considering building a FireFox plugin to remove the author of these comments from my view...
Posted by: citizen x | Apr 22 2012 0:18 utc | 36
the basic problem is this...
if news can be manufactured to serve the neocon agenda, it will be.
if a neocon senator is hyping the fukushina disaster --which, so far as i can tell, has killed no one in japan-- we've got to look past the senator's concern about fukushima, especially when neocon wars are killing hundreds of thousands and threaten millions more.
how many threads on the internet are talking about the way neocons manufacture news? ...who knows?
...but if those threads can be derailed onto a discussion of fukushima, who benefits?
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 22 2012 0:31 utc | 37
good work, as these incidents are being posted on facebook sites like the US embassy damascus!
https://www.facebook.com/syria.usembassy?ref=ts
Posted by: brian | Apr 22 2012 0:55 utc | 38
I agree 100% with each aspect of your analysis, b. As you say, explanations other than deliberately-set hydrocarbon fires are POSSIBLE, but so unlikely that they can be safely eliminated.
And knowing where to point the camera BEFORE a mortar or artillery explosion is something they'll NEVER be able to explain to my satisfaction.
When I see this infantile twaddle masquerading as news I sometimes check to see if I've unwittingly tuned into Comedy Central.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 22 2012 0:57 utc | 39
I don't know why your daily exegeses of victories by the tyrant over all those "terrorists"-cum- stooges-of-empire must be documented by YouTube evidence. This seems a little bit, well, petty, even by German genetic attention to strategic details in order to prove a widely universally unacceptable perspective about the order of things in manufactured reality.
This will probably convince many of your readers who still claim the view that the world must be bifurcated into a diminishing phalanx of "noninterventionists" vs. dupes of Empire. I can see DM in his Sartrean moment of sublime pseudo-self-awareness, looking through the keyhole watching his wife fuck his brother. But what he realizes isn't a moment of existential enlightenment, but that everyone knows he is looking and pleased that he has joined the group praising his commitment to a group in which everyone agrees that he needs to be cuckolded. This is the place you come to to find agreement.
b, often, now I think you are a kind of neo-Nazi, who defends non-intervention in order to defend the Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in order to protect the Sudetenland.
I'm just hoping to find a reason for your interminable contrariness.
Posted by: slothrop | Apr 22 2012 3:40 utc | 40
r'giap @10,
Exactly what I am feeling and wish I had said.
To some others: Spare my scroll wheel from the same old brow-beating neoziocon pissing contests. If you respect b's efforts, consider if your comment furthers the discussion and is at least on-topic before you post.
Posted by: Biklett | Apr 22 2012 3:45 utc | 41
giap
You're interested in confirming what you believe, rather than what you might know.
In this moment of tenderness when we form prayer to broken stone, I suggest the poets Amy Clampitt & merwin against Auden or your usual groupings of French dismalists.
Posted by: slothrop | Apr 22 2012 3:55 utc | 43
Good post b
I suspect that these "flames and intense black smoke" events are created by the insurgency in another successful attempt of media manipulation.
I'm not so sure there's any manipulation involved. I think the Western media is quite happy to disseminate rebel propaganda.
Posted by: Calig | Apr 22 2012 5:45 utc | 44
Calig [ 49]
*I'm not so sure there's any manipulation involved. I think the Western media is quite happy to disseminate rebel propaganda.*
i'd venture that cia's film production subsidiary
might be directing the script
Posted by: denk | Apr 22 2012 6:07 utc | 45
I'm sick to death with retreatingbladestall "thoughts" posted every 5 mn or so...
Let me know when this spamming clown is gone, I stop reading MoA comments from now on.
Posted by: rototo | Apr 22 2012 6:13 utc | 46
slops @40:
'b, often, now I think you are a kind of neo-Nazi, who defends non-intervention in order to defend the Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in order to protect the Sudetenland.'
you are a zionist neonazi, slops...and ready to defend the empire as it massacres its way thru the middle east and africa...
Posted by: brian | Apr 22 2012 6:26 utc | 47
I have to agree that there is serious neurotic spamming going on here for some days now, which is a pity because it's far too annoying and time-costly to dig through all that crap just to find some rare intelligent posts. Would be less annoying if there weren't any intelligent posts here at all, but there are, so when I decide to skip it because of the spamming I still feel I might miss a good clue somewhere.
Posted by: peter radiatior | Apr 22 2012 6:47 utc | 48
@9 "Christiane Amanpour found a great pretext to make the smoke newsworthy :-))
http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/04/18/amanpour-birds-chirping-syria.cnn"
Someone needs to send her a copy of All Quiet On The Western Front.
If I remember it right (been many a year now) the protagonist is killed by a sniper when trying to spot the bird that was chirping away somewhere in the (otherwise quiet) no-man's-land.
Posted by: Johnboy | Apr 22 2012 8:08 utc | 49
again with analogies with Monaco 1938 ...
- western powers greenlighted Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia because the alternative would have entailed the recognition of a role to the Ussr in European politics, which is why the European left was largely in favor of intervention, while the right was against
- the Monaco 1938 analogy should be invoked against aggressor states; Syria (and Libya, and Iraq, and Somalia, etc etc etc) have nothing to do with it
- the closest we can come by to a meaningful analogy with Monaco 1938 are those UN resolutions that allow aggression by military powerhouses against weaker sovereign states; this has been (temporarily, at least) averted in the case of Syria
Posted by: claudio | Apr 22 2012 11:11 utc | 50
@40 "b, often, now I think you are a kind of neo-Nazi, who defends non-intervention in order to defend the Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in order to protect the Sudetenland."
Pardon me, Slothie, but please remind me: who is being invaded by Syria?
Posted by: Johnboy | Apr 22 2012 12:10 utc | 51
Me too, I wasn't wise about Syria until b set it straight.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 22 2012 14:02 utc | 53
r'giap @ 10.
"really i am so fucking tired of the crude anti semitism..."
Anti-semitism is what Jews have been doing to arabs in Jewish Occupied Palestine for 60+ years. Please try not to forget.
I'm really effing sick of people who defend genocidal criminals.
It might help your memory to read "Judea Declares War on Obama" by Gilad Atzmon.
It's Google-able, as is "Judea Declares War on Germany" (in 1933).
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 22 2012 14:38 utc | 54
@all - I have now deleted a dozen or so comments by "retreatingbladestall" and blocked his IP address from commenting here. He had been warned.
Three Tunisians Killed in Syria During Clashes with Government Forces
The southeastern Tunisian town of Ben Guerdane awoke yesterday morning to the news that three locals had been killed in Syria. The three young Tunisian men joined the ranks of Syrian opposition fighters in their uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, reported Tunisian daily Assabah.Three foreign mercenaries less to care about.The three victims were Bolababh Boklech, Walid Hilal, and Mohamed el-Jeri. They all traveled to Syria to join forces with the Free Syrian Army, which opposes the al-Assad regime, and were accompanied by two other Tunisians – one of whom never made it into Syria.
...
The three Tunisians died during recent clashes with al-Assad’s forces.The fourth Tunisian was able to escape the battle zone between the Free Syrian Army and al-Assad’s forces and subsequently returned to Turkey. The families of the victims wrote a letter to the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for the bodies of their sons to be repatriated.
[content deleted for obvious anti-semitism
one more such comments and this user will get banned
b.]
Posted by: dahoit | Apr 22 2012 15:15 utc | 57
The role of the western press in misinforming the public by not informing them is criminal. It will allow western leaders to continue to intervene and destroy people's lives for short-sighted imperial interests. Oil, uranium and gold... that is why regimes are being overturned and people killed. The silence of the press is no accident.
http://www.theafricareport.com/index.php/20120405501808732/columns/the-criminal-silence-of-the-press-on-the-libyan-mess-501808732.html
and yes, Turkey is switching to Libyan oil
Posted by: somebody | Apr 22 2012 15:23 utc | 58
b @ 56
Good, then Assad at least does something right.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 22 2012 15:36 utc | 59
Just for the record, and for what it's worth...
I didn't mind retreatingbladestall's bumph. He did post a little too often when he didn't have much to say, but he was often amusing and relevant and his comments were usually brief enough to see the name of the author while reading the first line.
It's not my blog and I don't, and wouldn't, dispute your right to run it as you see fit.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 22 2012 16:16 utc | 60
Too bad someone or some entity can't free up the US spy satellite photos covering Syria and environs -- we might even see the oil drums and tires being set up. The US probably has drones as well capturing what's going on in Syria. Don't some EU countries have satellites up as well?
But only material favorable to the Regime Change crew will be seen by the public. The Kuwaiti incubator propaganda was revealed fairly soon after Bush I's Gulf War against Saddam Hussein was over, but I somehow think these fabrications are more securely held and deeply buried in the intel vaults.
But the NYTimes, other MCM (Mainstream Corporate Media) media have to be aware of the video outtakes found when the "activists" fled Homs earlier this month. They can't be so brain dead and internet unsavvy as to not have seen them -- or read b's analyses.
It's becoming ever more clear to those who get to wider sources of information and analysis that the US MCM cannot be trusted. Yet, even for those left-ish blogs who know the MCM will cover for the Powers That Be on economic and domestic political matters, the bloggers and their readers find it hard to look beyond the info being provided to push their emotional buttons to view Syria's government as Big Evil Incarnate.
I've posted comments pointing out that we need to be highly skeptical of the "reports" from the Free Syria "activists," whether on video or just spoken word, and am greeted with either indifference or attacked for not being sufficiently concerned about the need to "protect" the people of Syria.
This propaganda war is doing quite nicely for those pushing Regime Change.
Posted by: jawbone | Apr 22 2012 16:34 utc | 61
it is war propaganda escpecially designed for the left: of course Syria is a police state and of course the left is for human rights everywhere. this "of course" is used by actors that do not mind the police state but mind the axis of resistance ...
it is like Bosnia. the humane way would have been to integrate Ex-Yougoslavia into the EU as a whole. no, it had to be a testing ground for splitting up the Russian Empire (and splitting up any multiethnic state ...)
and after having caused a civil war by diplomacy, the public was told that intervention was necessary on humanitarian grounds, so war was sold to a NATO public that would have protested otherwise ...
the result after 20 years now is this (and this report tries to describe the cup as half full)
"Croatia will join the EU in 2013. Serbia and Montenegro are candidates. Bosnia may well apply for candidacy later this year. Unlike 20 years ago, when Serbia and Croatia were driven by leaders who wanted to rip off and annex chunks of Bosnia, now their strategic interest is to keep Bosnia moving forward toward Brussels and to keep doing business with it. Serbia and Croatia are the second and third largest foreign investors in Bosnia.
Bosnia is afflicted by high unemployment, low levels of foreign investment and weak demand for exports to the troubled euro area. But the problems most people face in their everyday lives are the same as those of their ex-compatriots in the rest of the former Yugoslavia. It isn’t surprising then that, in the real world as opposed to that of nostalgic foreign journalists, a ”Yugosphere” has re-emerged. This encompasses commerce, media, entertainment and political cooperation, and Sarajevo is at the heart of it.
So remember the war’s 100,000 victims, for sure. But let’s not pretend that 2012 is 1992, because it isn’t. In the general scheme of things, Bosnia’s glass is half full."
when people turn right war is supposedly fought for security and dominance, when people turn left war is supposedly fought for human rights.
Posted by: somebody | Apr 22 2012 17:49 utc | 62
Yo, somebody. Christ, man. Figure out how to create proper hyperlinks.
Posted by: slothrop | Apr 22 2012 17:57 utc | 63
I don't understand any feasable logistics behind the complete and utter corruption of our mainstream media.
How is it that such a huge industry has become so complicit in the crimes of international politicians and governments???
Hoarsew. wrote.
echoing r giap at 17 ...
The wars we see now - basically - are not wars between nations but are ‘for profit’ sorties in a ‘global’ world fought by corporations,
mostly on defenseless resources, territories, or on those that can be easily broken up, devastated.
For the mo, the corporations are in gingerly harmony, as they are busy, together,
destroying the Old Order - nation states, laws, the UN, etc. Privatization of an extreme kind.
Privatization of war.
They are run with contractors, mercenaries who are just hired help, even the US army might qualify under this rubric, and their aim is not to control or subjugate a people,
do regime change, promote democracy, or anything like that.
They seek sadism and short term profits, the two fit together nicely.
These corporations, which *include* the US media corps (and their servile copiers in Europe etc.), are allied, more or less, in their aims.
The media corps have huge power, which they garner by touting the ordered propaganda, slant, lies.
They control the State official news, affiliated / etc., the TV, many papers, etc., in fact the information channels themselves, and the competitors are mercilessly eliminated.
(See coming crack down on the internet.)
Handmaidens, go-betweens. They do it willingly, outside of the State apparatus, they are privatized, they seek the highest bidder, the generous payer.
Therefore, it follows that, to maintain and increase their power, they must become more subservient.
see for ex. here, diagrams of links between corps and US Gvmt:
http://geke.us/VennDiagrams.html
Posted by: Noirette | Apr 22 2012 18:43 utc | 64
Noirette @ 64.
No real harm done, and no apology sought ... but ...
"Hoarsew. wrote"
... doesn't belong in that comment.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 22 2012 19:00 utc | 65
'@all - I have now deleted a dozen or so comments by "retreatingbladestall" and blocked his IP address from commenting here. He had been warned.
Posted by: b | Apr 22, 2012 11:11:45 AM | 55
so if you can do that why not do the same for slops?
Posted by: brian | Apr 22 2012 21:38 utc | 66
excellent research...
and as you can see from this link below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_EtWqSEkKE
there is no perceptible difference in
the colour of flames/smoke....just goes to show sometimes
where there's smoke there's fire
not explosions
Posted by: lotsofnoise | Apr 22 2012 22:38 utc | 67
Three foreign mercenaries less to care about.
Posted by: b | Apr 22, 2012 11:14:41 AM | 56
NOTE :return to Turkey? this shows us foreign mercenaries ARE using Turkey as a base
Posted by: brian | Apr 23 2012 3:08 utc | 68
As the election in Syria is a week away, rebel terrorists are becoming increasingly desperate.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 30 2012 19:34 utc | 71
This is a manifeastation of the enforcement of Pax Americana with "extreme prejudism" part (I). The united States policy is to keep the sources of oil in the Middle East in American hands. It is precicesly why it has allied itself with the most authoritarian regimes in the region: The Saoudi's, Quatar, Bachrain Yemen, etc so that can exploit the natural resources of the region as cheaply as possible. Syria presents a problem: It is alligned with Iran and Lebanon "The Cresent", and has a large Russian Naval Base. Iran can provide logistical support to Hezbolla, in Lebanon through Syria, in support of the Palestinian struggle. Both Israel and the Saoudi's would like a "regime change" so that the Russians will be kicked out,and Hezbolla will be isolated, while Iran will be encircled. Iran has always been viewed as an existential threat for Israel, and for the Saoudis whose majority are Sunnis whereas the Iranians ar Shiites. The Saoudis provide the money to train the same people who took part in "the liberation of Syria" and Al-Qaeda, while the Turks provide the training ground, and The US-Israelis provide the intelligence gathering, satelites, spy drones, NGO's (covert CIA and Mosad agents). They are determined to to make any peaceful negotiation to fail, at any cost. As they did with Iraq. Once they achieve the defeat of Syria, they will attack Iran. The only reason they have not done so already, is because there is a possibility, that Iran may have a surprise for them under their sleave, like a thermonuclear weapon or a neutron bomb. Once they are 100.0% certain no such danger exist, they will attack. (part (II))
Posted by: George Apostolopoulos | Apr 30 2012 20:21 utc | 72
The comments to this entry are closed.
Mmmmmmmm, this battle for the hearts and minds of world opinion, gets more and more interesting every day. Your theory has validity b. I don't have a crystal ball, but to complete their objectives, certain forces afoot in the world, will stop at nothing. Regime change in Syria is still moving forward.
Posted by: ben | Apr 21 2012 15:22 utc | 1