PBS NewsHour Uses Russian Airstrike Footage While Claiming U.S. Airstrike Successes
U.S. media can no agree with itself if Russia is giving ISIS an airforce or if Russia pounds ISIS with the biggest bomber raid in decades. Such confusion occurs when propaganda fantasies collide with the observable reality.
To bridge such divide requires some fudging.
So when the U.S. claims to act against the finances of the Islamic State while not doing much, the U.S Public Broadcasting Service has to use footage of Russian airstrikes against the Islamic State while reporting claimed U.S. airstrike successes.
The U.S. military recently claimed to have hit Islamic State oil tankers in Syria. This only after Putin embarrassed Obama at the G-20 meeting in Turkey. Putin showed satellite pictures of ridiculous long tanker lines waiting for days and weeks to load oil from the Islamic State without any U.S. interference.
The U.S. then claimed to have hit 116 oil tankers while the Russian air force claims to have hit 500. But there is an important difference between these claims. The Russians provided videos showing how their airstrikes hit at least two different very large oil tanker assemblies with hundreds of tankers in each. They also provided video of several hits on oil storage sites and refinery infrastructure.
I have found no video of U.S. hits on Islamic State oil tanker assemblies.
The U.S. PBS NewsHour did not find any either.
In their TV report yesterday about Islamic State financing and the claimed U.S. hits on oil trucks they used the videos Russia provided without revealing the source. You can see the Russian videos played within an interview with a U.S. military spokesperson at 2:22 min.
The U.S. military spokesperson speaks on camera about U.S. airforce hits against the Islamic State. The video cuts to footage taken by Russian airplanes hitting oil tanks and then trucks. The voice-over while showing the Russian video with the Russians blowing up trucks says: "For the first time the U.S. is attacking oil delivery trucks." The video then cuts back to the U.S. military spokesperson.
At no point is the Russian campaign mentioned or the source of the footage revealed.
Any average viewer of the PBS report will assume that the black and white explosions of oil trucks and tanks are from of U.S. airstrikes filmed by U.S. air force planes.
The U.S. military itself admitted that its strikes on IS oil infrastructure over the last year were "minimally effective". One wonders then how effective the claimed strike against 116 trucks really was. But unless we have U.S. video of such strikes and not copies of Russian strike video fraudulently passed off as U.S. strikes we will not know if those strikes happened at all.
Propaganda and reality also collide in the larger U.S. policy on Syria. President Obama claims that the "overwhelming majority of people in Syria" want the Syrian President Assad to leave. But independent British polling in Syria found (pdf) that a strong plurality of Syrians prefers him as president over any of the available alternatives.
And while new research reveals extensive cooperation between NATO member and U.S. ally Turkey and the Islamic State the U.S. is asking for more cooperation with Turkey to shuffle more weapons into the Syria conflict and thereby, inevitably, also to the Islamic State. Some other U.S. allies are likewise deeply involved in financing and equipping the Islamic State.
But Kuwait just arrested a gang that was smuggling weapons from the new U.S. client state Ukraine to the Islamic State. Iraqi military and Shia militia find huge bundles of cash (vid) which were to be smuggled to the Islamic State. How does it come that the otherwise all-seeing (including your emails) U.S. secret services are unable to uncover Islamic State financing and smuggling when smaller states with much less resources can do so?
Does all this sound like the U.S. is really campaigning against the Islamic State? Or is this whole campaign just as fraudulent as the PBS video and Obama's proclamations? Why is the U.S. so deeply lost on the ‘Dark Side’ in Syria?
h/t CHPSTCK
Posted by b on November 20, 2015 at 13:29 UTC | Permalink
next page »Christ, Michael Weiss is a buffoon. I bought his book on ISIS not knowing what a Neocon extraordinaire he was and made it about a chapter in before the penny dropped that this was a complete work of fiction. Glad I've got sites like this to set things straight!
Posted by: JWisemann | Nov 20 2015 13:49 utc | 2
Ben Rhodes wants more arms to be supplied to Syrian rebels. this is just a variation of John McCain's wanting stinger missiles to be supplied to those same people, who in turn would sell and/or cooperate with Islamic state or Al Qaeda [as has been proven]to bring down civilian aircraft throughout the middle east. INCLUDING US CIVILIAN AIRCRAFT.
The United States should provide the so-called Syrian moderate opposition with Stinger portable surface-to-air missiles to defend themselves, US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain told reporters on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Media reported earlier in October that Syrian rebels asked Washington for Stinger missiles to use them against Russia’s military jets.
“Absolutely… Absolutely I would,” McCain said when asked whether he would support the delivery of Stinger missiles to the opposition in Syria.
“We certainly did that in Afghanistan. After the Russians invaded Afghanistan, we provided them with surface-to-air capability. It’d be nice to give people that we train and equip and send them to fight the ability to defend themselves. That’s one of the fundamental principles of warfare as I understand it,” McCain said.http://sputniknews.com/us/20151020/1028835944/us-stingers-missiles-syrian-rebels-mccain.html The US politicians are going insane, they have no cards to play, and are at the mercy of whatever Iran,Iraq.Hezbollah, Syria and Russia decide to do. The exceptional nation does not like that. My advice to the US [in the words of Thomas Friedman to the Iraqis during the Iraq war] SUCK ON IT!
Posted by: harry law | Nov 20 2015 13:55 utc | 3
What a great catch, b!! Ought to send a copy of this post into the twittersphere, and especially Russian media. Media watchdogs FAIR and Media Lens and the writers at Intercept would also like to have this, too.
Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 20 2015 14:49 utc | 4
@#4: Great catch indeed. I've seen his articles picked up frequently lately, by Russia Insider etc. For a reason.
@b: In the link titled "TV report" you made a copy & paste error and cut off an "s" that is supposed to be behind the "X" at the end of the Video-ID (like it is in the second link to 2m22s). Goes to "Video doesn't exist" atm.
THE WASHINGTON POST REACHES SINGULARITY!
We've reached singularity: Syrian rebels using American-made weapons to blow up American-made vehicles stolen by militants.This video shows the absurdity of the war in Syria in one single blown-up Humvee
It is unclear if the U.S. Humvee is one that the Islamic State might have captured from Iraqi security forces during its blitz across parts of northern Iraq last year, or if it’s from U.S.-supplied Iraqi militias who have since entered Syria to prop up President Bashar al-Assad’s fledging forces. But one thing is for certain: that truck was built in the U.S.A.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Nov 20 2015 15:03 utc | 7
What the Russian Federation under Putin is so effectively laying bare is that not only is the West's supposed war on Daesh completely phony, but also that the security state which has been implemented in the years following 9/11 completely phony, too.
The state tells us they need to look for "terrorists", when in reality they're cataloging and classifying domestic citizens based on their level of understanding of reality. The obvious end-game for this type of domestic intelligence operation is to identify potential dissidents or to infiltrate and subvert any would-be nascent movements towards actually redressing our legitimate grievances with the government.
Terrorism is the convenient catch-all that allows the state to stifle dissent, to consolidate power, to purify its law enforcement apparatus of independent thinkers or anyone exhibiting signs of benevolence, and to prepare for all out war.
I know this sounds alarmist and reactionary, but given the non-stop deluge of lies, misinformation, propaganda, and provocations we've been subjected to over the past 15 years I think assuming the worst in human nature is the only way to interpret the actions of the state.
Posted by: Bruno Marz | Nov 20 2015 15:05 utc | 8
Its not just PBS. I've seen other networks use video of Russia strikes when talking about US/French strikes.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 20 2015 15:19 utc | 9
some more videos
i shld have posted in ot but it was highjacked
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3325180/Two-fingers-world-Pictured-Europe-s-female-suicide-bomber-booze-loving-extrovert-nicknamed-Cowgirl-love-big-hats.html
Posted by: Mina | Nov 20 2015 15:33 utc | 10
@Bruno Marz 8, I agree with everyone of your posts.
One thing is for sure. The pyramid is very narrow at the top, there are way more peons than there are lords. And continuing to kick hornets nests around the world, just might seriously damage world trade/travel. So much, for trying to control every square inch of the world. Divide and conquer has its limitations.
Posted by: shadyl | Nov 20 2015 15:33 utc | 11
Thanks shadyl, I appreciate the sentiments and would include you as one of several regular posters here at MofA whose posts resonate with me, as well.
I've made a few posts relating to divide and conquer over at Cannonfire in the past few posts, and I share your views on that topic, as well.
Posted by: Bruno Marz | Nov 20 2015 15:55 utc | 12
The big question is what Turkey and the US have planned for that corridor approx 80 miles wide? between Jerablus and Afrin were all Islamic State men and supplies come through. The Turks will not allow the Kurds to fill this corridor. The question is who will and is the US planning a safe zone in this area?
Here is one scenario...
With the growing awareness of the importance of the Jarablus corridor amongst researchers, observers, and the interested national parties, the recent Turkish/U.S. joint military operation agreement stands as a last ditch effort to solidify the ISIS/NATO presence in Syria. By engaging troops and military hardware over the “safe zone” of the Jarablus corridor, NATO will be able to ensure that ISIS supplies and soldiers continue to pour into Syria unabated. By placing NATO interests in the midst of the corridor and declaring the zone a “safe zone” the hope is that the Russians will see the zone as off limits.http://www.activistpost.com/2015/11/u-s-turkey-joint-operation-designed-to-save-isis-not-destroy-it.html
Posted by: harry law | Nov 20 2015 16:16 utc | 13
Hey they released the big turncoat.Jonathan Pollard .But Obomba won't let him go to his promised land.Yeah sure,he'll enter an Israeli embassy and voila.
The winds of war are blowing hard and heavy.They've already anointed Trump and Clinton wo one primary by the American voter.
And an American POTUS's legacy(Wilson at Princeton) is besmirched by modern times;he was a racist!
Like every American who lived in his day wasn't?
Like every human being alive,in one degree or another?
Wait till they invoke every American POTUS up to Nixon as actual antisemites!
Posted by: dahoit | Nov 20 2015 16:17 utc | 14
Erdogan is claiming that he is protecting Turkmen in Syria.
It is played to a local audience - as is the preelection conflict with Turkey's Kurds.
That corridor is a pipe dream due to the unwillingness of the Turkish army to spill its blood there. ISIS is a surrogate.
Posted by: somebody | Nov 20 2015 16:53 utc | 15
I am going astray of the topic at hand but feel that this must be signaled.
It is absolutely unimaginable that a clandestine organisation like DAESH can pin point
an objective and mount a terrorist operation like the one in Mali after the one in Paris on such short notice.
This about the nit picking faced by those that board a plane or go through customs and yet men and weapons are smuggled with such ease!
Even during it's heyday the PLO and all the bona fide Palestinian "terrorists" could not manage operations so close knit together.
This reeks of help by some state intelligence in my opinion.
Posted by: CarlD | Nov 20 2015 16:58 utc | 16
@1 US hasn't broken its alliance with Saudi Arabia, but it sure has been helpful keeping KSA busy in Yemen. And whose idea was it really to flood the markets with oil to drop the price? No, the alliance hasn't been broken, but it feels like US policy is to contain Saudi power while maintaining some kind of alliance.
Posted by: yellowsnapdragon | Nov 20 2015 17:00 utc | 17
More of the same agitprop and disinformation from the usual suspects in the West.
Posted by: AriusArmenian | Nov 20 2015 17:14 utc | 19
Posted by: CarlD | Nov 20, 2015 11:58:52 AM | 16
Which means they are unlikely to be connected. Anybody can say they are ISIS.
Brief check on Mali issues suggests that the Algerian officers working for an accord between the Touareg and the Mali government might have been the target.
Posted by: somebody | Nov 20 2015 17:17 utc | 20
French state madness
Georges Malbrunot @MalbrunotII- Et auxquels la DGSE a livré des armes (appareils de communications et armes légères). La "coalition unique" anti-Daech que F. Hollande..
I- Confidence d'un militaire: la DGSE est furieuse contre les frappes russes qui ont visé des rebelles syriens modérés qu'elle a formés...
Posted by: somebody | Nov 20 2015 17:24 utc | 21
@Mina - I bet that that "first European female suicide bomber" was blown up by a French grenade when they stormed the flat, not by a suicide belt.
thanks b.. excellent observations..
@8 bruno marz.. good post.. thanks...
@13 harry law.. i agree with the purpose of that corridor.. it is total bullshit and smoke turkey and the west are trying to blow up folks ass.. it's an ISIS/NATO corridor full stop..
Posted by: james | Nov 20 2015 17:50 utc | 24
They say now (Le Monde) that indeed it is the 3rd person who died from the suicide belt and not her. Still nothing apart from Yahoo reporting from M6 on the supposed team of 10 persons "visiting" the mother's house in Aulnay before the police, withe no one to watch the house.
They also start to call the appartment in St-Denis "his" appartment, with neighbours saying he was often seen smoking pot and drinking beers on the street with friends. Hard to know if it is part of the new narrative for the Muslim youth or not.
Posted by: Mina | Nov 20 2015 17:53 utc | 25
Posted by: Mina | Nov 20, 2015 12:53:16 PM | 25
add this - from a French ex-hostage in Syria March 2015
"I noticed that these jihadists have little to do with the local culture - Arab or Muslim culture - they are children of our societies."They speak our language, they have the same cultural references we do. They watch the same movies as us, play the same video games our children play. They are products of our culture, our world."
They watched everything, Henin says, "from the Teletubbies to Game of Thrones."
Posted by: somebody | Nov 20 2015 18:05 utc | 26
@13 Harry, to add to you points about the corridor i'd stress two events.
1. Russia used strategic bombers, while it was a very expensive overkill. It might be preparations to possibility of nuclear ww3 - to check if strategic forces are practically capable to execute orders will there be a need.
2. Bashar Asad said that Moscow is entitled to classify international militaries in Syria status. If they are coordinating with Moscow they are allowed, not - not. Effectively that is a blank permit to Putin to destroy any non-Syrian military within Syria, without wasting time on checks and negotiations. Would something make Putin think he needs to order atack some NATO target - it would be as instant as snapping his fingers.
Killary talked about american ground invasion , Israel talked about annexing Golan Heights....
Well, next fleet of "white swans" might annihilate IDF there and still Russia would be in the right
Posted by: Ariocj | Nov 20 2015 18:20 utc | 27
1. Donbass guys published an article Nov.11th where they analyzed this year developments in Ukraine and forecasted escalation in EU. Use www.translate.ru (google sucks) upon
http://voskhodinfo.su/index.php/redaktorskaya-kolonka/663-prorochestvo-ot-lokhmatogo
It is mostly about Ukrainian civil war but here and there they draw conclusions for Europe there.
I was laughing how far the draw conclusions - until three days later.
2. Pattern:
a: 9/11 -> Iraq war
b: Moscow blasts -> Second Chechen War
c: Paris blasts -> ???
Remember Charles De Gaulle air carrier sailed to Syria just few days before it. It can join the war on Syrian anti-American side or on American anti-Syrian side. Would terrorist attack - and its MSM attribution - influence the choice?
Would France eventually send International Legion to Syria, leaving the homeland almost without trained and equipped military?
Would France firmly decide to keep guys close motherland?
That call can be influenced by how MSM would recreate the terrorists attack
3. 07 Jan 2014 -> Charli Hebdo attack. Few days later Kiev an all-out attack on Donetsk, that went below radar as media was saturated with Paris tragedy. All the November there are news of Kiev amassing army in Donbass yet again. Even Deutch Welle gave Poroshenko a run about OSCE reports showing that. OSCE SMM is run by OUN(M) follower, so he is sympathetic with pro-OUN(B) Kiev regime. If even such an OSCE cannot avoid reporting military amassing by Kiev - then it should be really huge.
Well, this forecast did not materialized (yet?) - while fighting erupts here and there in Donbass no large-scale offensive reported yet.
4. Marine Le Pen in recent surveys proved to get #1 popularity in France. Such a tragedy would force her to commit to some fixed position, either to set herself hardliner or a dove. So MSM would get a fixed target to shoot at. Either she would be marked a "crazy Nazi" or a "weakling and traitor". This is what is being done to Putin repeatedly. Marine preferred to take a hard stance "FN : Le Pen demande l'expulsion des étrangers fichés pour leurs liens avec l'islam radical". Now mainstream politicians would be able to take most topics from her while still positioning themselves "reasonable middle ground"
5. Clear EuroMaidan patterns were used. Euromaidan-1 only leaved for 3 weeks, Euromaidan-2 (partially overlapping) was very unpopular initially, lead by three politicians of incompatible positioning and huge anti-rating. To fan the flames repeatedly was used the same pattern:
a. Friday evening - someone reported arrested/beaten/crippled/killed - to instill a shock and fear.
b. Weekends - MSM non-stop keeps threatening and frightening commoners, making them enraged fear-driven irrational haters.
It was always done in Friday evening to make full use of Weekends. Never in working days when people would be busy and the fear would be preempted from their minds by routine tasks.
When the "ISIS attack" came I thought that whoever did it needs driving people crazy and irrational much faster than it was OK for Kiev, so probably it would be not MSM alone, but also some real - but significantly lesser - tragedies. That was my forecast made on Friday.
Saturday came with TGV crash. But it was not the last accident! Fear in people had to be recharged with some tragedy in Sunday evening so people would go to Sunday/Monday night exhausted and hopeless. So, was there yet another accident in Sunday evening? Yes, about 16:00 the relative of a celebrity Lars Diarr was murdered as well.
Well, it is close to what marketing calls fear-uncertainty-doubt attack. Every single accident has a plausible deniability and there is nothing to disprove the coincidence theory. But people have gut feeling of working over thin ice and expecting unpredictable and murderous blow from any angle. When repeated enough, such weekends turn them into irrational and hate-driven puppets mob.
I do not like the coincidences and forecasts like that even done by myself.
It started as comments I started putting here and there as soon as the first attack came Nov.14th.
Resume I made in Saturday was http://the-arioch.livejournal.com/76026.html
Then came Sunday...
Posted by: Arioch | Nov 20 2015 18:28 utc | 28
In some of the most despicable ways imaginable , ISIL and the US empire are very similar. Both are psychopaths, obsessive atrocity committers and mass torturers. They also have zero tolerance for their opponents and will crush them mercilessly. No wonder they work so well together, at least in some ways.
What the US has learnt is the value of PR and propaganda to cover up their evil, and how better exemplified then by Obama.
And that too is where the MSM empire media comes in so handy like b showed above. The MSM main role is to hide, omit, propagandise and lie about the psychopaths that rule us, as well as their hegemony and plans for domination.
I always wondered that if ISIL had learnt that same lesson and wasn't so proud of their despicable atrocity videos, how much more support they would get by foreign mercenaries or supporters pouring into Syria and Iraq ?
Is the appeal to bloodlust stronger among potential recruits, then the PR appeal to fighting for ideals of 'Islamic freedom' ?
Posted by: tom | Nov 20 2015 18:40 utc | 29
Note the Cyrillic lettering along the side of the Video.
Posted by: Patrick Armstrong | Nov 20 2015 19:27 utc | 30
Here is some more propaganda about the air strikes....note the last slam/hubristic comments by the Colonel. from Raw Story but originally from Agence France-Presse
US air strikes have been only “minimally effective” in destroying oil infrastructure in the hands of jihadists, a military spokesman said Wednesday, explaining why tanker trucks in Syria are now being targeted instead.
The US-led coalition that has been conducting drone and plane strikes in Iraq and Syria for more than a year has repeatedly hit IS oil equipment — only to see the jihadists quickly repair it.
IS militants reportedly rake in millions of dollars in revenue from oil fields under their control.
“We have been striking oil infrastructure targets since the very beginning of this operation,” Colonel Steve Warren told reporters in a video call from Baghdad.
“What we found out was that many of our strikes were only minimally effective.”
On Sunday, US military planners tried a new tactic, attacking a large convoy of gas trucks that had massed in the desert in eastern Syria to collect “illicit oil,” Warren said.
About 45 minutes before the strike, which saw the destruction of 116 fuel trucks, warplanes conducted a low pass known as a “show of force” and dropped leaflets warning drivers to flee.
The leaflet states: “Get out of your trucks now, and run away from them.”
“A very simple message,” Warren said.
Though the trucks were being used to support the IS group, the drivers were not thought to be jihadists, he added. The strike was conducted near Albu Kamal, an IS-held town in Deir Ezzor province along Syria’s border with Iraq.
“They’re probably just civilians,” Warren said. “So we had to figure out a way around that. We’re not in this business to kill civilians, we’re in this business to stop” the IS group.
War-torn Syria is also being bombed by Russia, which claims it is targeting “terrorists,” but the United States says Moscow is trying to prop up President Bashar al-Assad.
Moscow used long-range bombers that flew in from Russia on Tuesday to target several areas in Syria including the IS stronghold of Raqa.
Warren said it would be “no surprise” if the bombs had resulted in civilian casualties and he blasted the Russian air force as outdated.
“Those are the type of tactics needed only if you don’t possess the technology, the skills and the capabilities to conduct the type of precision strikes that our coalition conducts,” he said.
The IS group has declared a self-styled caliphate in bands of territory it seized in Iraq and Syria, but has faced recent setbacks from Kurdish and Arab forces in Iraq’s Sinjar and parts of northeastern Syria.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 20 2015 19:59 utc | 31
psychohistorian @31 Colonel Warren said “Those are the type of tactics [Russian Bombers] needed only if you don’t possess the technology, the skills and the capabilities to conduct the type of precision strikes that our coalition conducts,". “We have been striking oil infrastructure targets since the very beginning of this operation,”
Then he contradicts himself “What we found out was that many of our strikes were only minimally effective.” In my opinion the US should use barrel bombs not only are they better than conventional US bombs they are more terrifying than nuclear bombs. Hej
Posted by: harry law | Nov 20 2015 20:38 utc | 33
Colonel Warren would best serve his country by being present where and when Russian planes drop their bombs so he can make better assessments.
Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 20 2015 21:05 utc | 34
Does 26 /27 February 1991 ring a bell to anybody out there?
If the US were really intent on curbing ISIS how long would the tanker trucks live?
What a target to a Warthog, these lines of tank trucks!
Posted by: CarlD | Nov 20 2015 21:18 utc | 35
Why is the U.S. so deeply lost on the ‘Dark Side’ in Syria?
the all-consuming nullity of US prominence darkens the sky, like a plague of locusts might blot out a Madagascar sun, like a supermassive black hole might exhaust an entire sky full of suns.
Posted by: john | Nov 20 2015 21:22 utc | 36
@Mina@10
some more videos
i shld have posted in ot but it was highjacked
I don't know who this girl might have been, and what she really did, but I am sure there is more to the caricature of her this British tabloid, Daily Mail, is selling as a profile.
Neighbour said she smoked and 'went around with lots of different guys'
Do they call that investigative journalism? Neighbors usually gossip, and if they were French, and the girl middle easterner, even more. For them, the girl was trash, and from the caricature the British rag is selling as news, the girl was a whore, a drunkard, and a drug addict.
Probably true, but no serious journalist would be satisfied to scratch the surface of someone who just died in one of the most sophisticated and brutal attacks on Western countries. Life is always more complicated than a vulgar caricature.
Furthermore, "The Battle of the Flat" will go into history next to the second battle of "El Alamein" as one of the greatest battles the French ever fought, according to this Daily Mail trashy rag.
Bunch of clowns.
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Nov 20 2015 21:30 utc | 37
@Mina@10
some more videos
i shld have posted in ot but it was highjacked
I don't know who this girl might have been, and what she really did, but I am sure there is more to the caricature of her this British tabloid, Daily Mail, is selling as a profile.
Neighbour said she smoked and 'went around with lots of different guys'
Is that "investigative journalism"? Neighbors usually gossip, and if they were French, and the girl middle easterner, even more. For them, the girl was trash, and from the caricature the British rag is selling as news, the girl was a whore, a drunkard, and a drug addict.
Probably true, but no serious journalist would be satisfied to scratch the surface of someone who just died in one of the most sophisticated and brutal attacks on Western countries. Life is always more complicated than a vulgar caricature.
Furthermore, "The Battle of the Flat" will go into history next to the second battle of "El Alamein" as one of the greatest battles the French ever fought, according to this Daily Mail trashy rag.
Bunch of clowns.
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Nov 20 2015 21:36 utc | 38
@karlof1@34
Colonel Warren would best serve his country by being present where and when Russian planes drop their bombs so he can make better assessments.
At Ground Zero.
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Nov 20 2015 21:50 utc | 39
Harry Law @ 13, I'm also thinking about what's going to happen to that 80-mile uncontrolled gap in the Turkey/Syrian border.
Condensation from link below:
While Tehran could have made a greater contribution to support the ongoing offensive of the Syrian army, in just two weeks of fighting it has already lost more than a dozen generals and senior officers of the Revolutionary Guards in the area to the south of Aleppo. Clear need to get the regular units of the Iranian army deployed in Syria.
[I've never understood what they are waiting for-- unless there's a deal w US to partition Syria].
Compromise with the West and the Arabian monarchies can be reached if all parties agree to hold presidential elections in Syria wo Assad, while reps of the Syrian govt will be internationally guaranteed against prosecution. Should this scenario be pursued, Syria’s president will have to hand over a majority of his powers to the elected prime minister, while Moscow and Tehran will be allowed to maintain their military presence in Syria for the time being.
This compromise unacceptable for Saudi Arabia, which cannot accept the creation of any form of “black list” that will clarify which groups in Syria can be labeled as terrorist, as agreed in the Vienna communiques. Saudi Arabia's Jaish al-Fath, the backbone of which is Jabhat al-Nusra, is already recognized as a terrorist organization by US & UN, while Saudis are still supporting them in counterattack & trying to control Idlib. Therefore, one can successfully negotiate with Riyadh only from position of strength.
Iraqi army units and certain Kurdish troops are ineffective due to lack of trained officers & allow ISIL to maneuver its forces between Syria and Iraq. US cd ally w either Kurds or Turkey. This has led to halfway attempts to create a rebel force where Kurds will play a supporting role. Kurds are waiting for US promises to support autonomy.
Possible Turkish ground operation against ISIL. Ankara is signaling Russia, who has been bombing ISIS in the border region, that if ops against ISIS are carried out at the same rate, it will not refrain from military actions aimed at protecting Turks in the region and its own interests along the Turkish-Syrian border. It has redeployed a total of 11,000 special forces along the border, prepared to engage at will. Tayyip Erdogan still tries for “Greater Turkey” through his protection of Turkmen living in Syria's border region.
Erdogan restated only last week that he's planning a no-fly [to which he imputes US acceptance.] He has consistently bombed Kurdish forces when they advance along the western bank of the Euphrates River [and the US has not given aircover to the Kurds in this region.] This would complete a “Kurdish corridor” near the Turkish border. In turn, Turkey has stated willingness to send troops into Syria to "fight ISIS."
Potential Turkish military op in Syria wd have two main goals: Save ISIL now being defeated in Aleppo province & elimination of any possibility of a quasi-state Kurdish autonomy. Ankara can't strike alone, since majority of Turks won’t support it. But if US abandons Kurdish autonomy state along her border and the use of Syrian Democratic Coalition (the nonKurds in the area), Turkey will join US in a full scale invasion..
Possibly this op cd be reduced solely to maintenance of channels of Islamist logistical networks in Syria incl ISIL and the supplying of smuggled oil to Turkey
11/18/15 http://journal-neo.org/2015/11/18/who-is-syrian-reconciliation/ Viktor Titov .
[Turkey: will not invade w/o US troops on the ground.
US Military hesitates between desirability of US/Turkey invasion, and US/Kurdish-SNC coalition, as the basis of US/Israel colonization. While Turkish forces wd be stronger, they lead to a stronger Turkey, Turkish colonization of more territory.
Obama, I think, wants neither & will continue his undermining of the unipolar agenda, while camouflaging it w neocon rhetoric and pretended incompetence and pretended consideration of the wishes of the American people.
Clearly Obama is backed in the retreat from aggression that has characterized his 2d term by some oligarchs & their think tanks. Eg: a recent conference on "Realism & Restraint" sponsored by The American Conservative & The Charles Koch Institute. Pragmatism seems to be making gains in lieu of morality ]
Posted by: Penelope | Nov 20 2015 23:47 utc | 40
Penelope at 39.
Once upon a time senior officers of "western " forces exposed themselves to danger and were more or less frontline casualties. Maybe the Iranian forces are applying a lesson which appears to have been forgotten by managerial style officer cadres in "the west": experience and understand the dangers you expect your troops to confront?
Posted by: Cortes | Nov 21 2015 0:44 utc | 41
Here is a link to a story that I think is related to propaganda, that is control of the internet. Is the EU going to become China?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/20/france_extends_state_emergency_3_months_police_censor_web/
This is textbook suppression by taking advantage of fear......sad to see happening.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 21 2015 2:31 utc | 42
Why would Russia give the green light to Western / NATO forces with the adoption of this UN Resolution??
Do they realise that is what they've done??
https://www.rt.com/news/322931-un-resolution-fight-terrorism-isis/
Posted by: Julian | Nov 21 2015 4:12 utc | 43
Obama is playing a very dark game with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the two most powerful Sunni countries in the region.
Either he is ignoring their criminal acts to calm their irritation at the Iran nuclear deal and the new sympathy toward the Shias and the Kurds, or he is deliberately throwing them in growing complex quagmire of which they would come out begging the USA
Posted by: virgile | Nov 21 2015 5:12 utc | 45
OT: Lobelog has good analysis of the right-wing pro-Israel community basis of the sudden surge of Islamophobia among Republicans, most noiceably all the leading Republican candidates for President. The good old days of Bush Jr. visiting a mosque and saying Islam is a religion of peace are l-o-n-g gone (lots of excellent links in the original):
But it’s impossible not to notice that the [pro-Israel] community’s right wing is a hotbed for this hate. Steven Emerson was a well-known Islamophobe well before the American-Israel Public Action Committee (AIPAC), the country’s top Israel lobby group, invited him to its 2013 summit. In The Nation in 2012, Max Blumenthal laid out one of the nodes of the pro-Israel/Islamophobia axis: Nina Rosenwald, a board member of AIPAC and a major donor to right-wing causes. And there are many other links between the funders of Islamophobic and right-wing pro-Israel causes.But Clarion and its films serve as a particularly strong example. One of the things censored from a post I wrote in 2012 with Eli Clifton about the group was that Clarion’s film, “The Third Jihad,” was being shown at the time of publication at a Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. A list of screenings showed that those before Jewish and pro-Israel groups dominated. ...
Of course, it’s not all about Adelson, but one would be doing a disservice to serious analysis to suggest that his positions play no role. As Adelson’s brand of right-wing pro-Israel politics are becoming the Republicans’ party line, we shouldn’t be surprised that his tendency toward anti-Muslim bigotry does, too.
Posted by: fairleft | Nov 21 2015 5:17 utc | 46
meet Tulsi Gabbard, the first hindu american congressperson, democract representing Hawaii and author of a bipartisan bill to end U.S. efforts to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
http://gabbard.house.gov/index.php/press-releases/520-reps-tulsi-gabbard-austin-scott-introduce-legislation-to-end-illegal-u-s-war-to-overthrow-syrian-government-of-assad
https://twitter.com/TulsiPress/status/667589507374563328
people should go and thank Tulsi on her twitter account...as shes comeing under attack...show her your support
Posted by: brian | Nov 21 2015 5:37 utc | 47
Virgile
Possibly, causing more mayhem at the borders of Europe, via KSA's influence on the Near East and North Africa and via Turkey, if the way they thought would bring back Europe under the US umbrella and the Transatlantic treatise?
Posted by: Mina | Nov 21 2015 8:05 utc | 48
I get very suspicious when I read faux-precise numbers.
The US claims that its planes struck at ISIS oil tankers, which raises the question: how many were destroyed?
Was it "Scores of 'em"?
Was it "More than a hundred"?
Was it "In the Hundreds"?
USAF: Exactly one hundred and sixteen.
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.
The oldest trick in the propaganda book is to use a faux-precision, all the better to make you appear "authoritative".
As in:
"Scores"? OK, show us the video.
"More than a hundred"? Mind if I see the evidence?
"Hundreds"? I don't believe you.
"One hundred and sixteen"? Oh, wow! That's some mighty fine sharp-shootin'.
That's how it works: the faux-precision of the claim make the claimant sound "authoritative", which in turn makes it less likely to be challenged.
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Nov 21 2015 9:59 utc | 49
@ 43 Julian
It's unbelievable.
Now everybody can legally bomb Syria, Iraq...
Security council unanimously calls on UN members to fight Isis
Resolution drafted by France after deadly Paris attacks calls for ‘all necessary measures’ to be taken against extremist group on the territory it controls
Posted by: From The Hague | Nov 21 2015 10:14 utc | 50
@ From The Hague | 50
It's unbelievable.
Now everybody can legally bomb Syria, Iraq...
Syria itself approved this resolution, therefore (my guess) they got assurances SAA wont be bombed during the fight against ISIS. And the more countries hurt ISIS, the better it is for Syria, more resources left for the Resistance to kill off "moderate" jihadis.
Posted by: Harry | Nov 21 2015 12:22 utc | 51
@50
This was the outcome predicted by me and others, re: Paris FF events. When considering the US/NATO response, and one of the strategic options is the most ham-handed escalation, that's "a lock" as they say in betting parlance.
Posted by: fast freddy | Nov 21 2015 13:06 utc | 52
So, the BS about “Europe's first female suicide bomber” is beginning to crack, and with it the "heroic and historical" French "Battle of the Flat." The newest version is, she didn't activate an explosive vest, but that "another member" of the terrorist cell blew up a bomb as the police stormed the flat.
I will be more inclined to follow b@23's version, that "she was blown up by a French grenade when they stormed the flat, not by a suicide belt."
26yo would-be jihadist 'did not blow herself up in Paris raid' – police
Hasna Aitboulahcen, dubbed “Europe's first female suicide bomber” after she was initially thought to have blown herself up during the Saint-Denis gun siege, was actually killed when another member of the terrorist cell let off a bomb, according to a French police source.It was initially believed that the 26-year-old would-be jihadist died when she let off her explosive vest at a flat in the suburb of Paris during a police raid on Wednesday morning.
A police source told AFP, however, that Aitboulahcen did not die in a suicide bombing, but because another member of the jihadist cell, previously unaccounted for, detonated a bomb when a group of armed French officers attempted to storm the property in the north suburb of Paris [...]
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Nov 21 2015 14:00 utc | 53
wtf??
http://atimes.com/2015/11/turkey-gets-toehold-on-syrian-territory-finally/
At any rate, the strategic ambiguity has just ended. The ‘breaking news’ from Ankara says Syrian opposition group Al-Sultan Murad Brigades “supported by Turkish and US war planes took control of two Turkmen towns in northern Syria” early Saturday. The reports say six Turkish F-16 aircraft, four US F-15 fighter jets and an American AC-130 took part in the operation along with three drones.
The Turkish security sources have been quoted as claiming that the joint Turkish-American move is the “first step for the creation of a Daesh-free zone in northern Syria (which) will further encourage the opposition forces to fight Daesh terror and help ensure Turkey’s border security”.
In strategic terms, a defining moment has been reached in the Syrian conflict – the “first step” in the creation of a swathe of land in northern Syria that will be out of bounds for military operations by Syrian government forces, Russian aircraft, or various militia groups such as Hezbollah who are fighting on the side of the Syrian regime.
Posted by: Mina | Nov 21 2015 14:01 utc | 54
@fast freddy@52
[...} that's "a lock" as they say in betting parlance.
Nope, that's a Mexican standoff.
A Mexican standoff is a confrontation among two or more parties in which no participant can proceed or retreat without being exposed to danger. As a result, all participants need to maintain the strategic tension, which remains unresolved until some outside event makes it possible to resolve it [...]
n : a situation in which no one can emerge as a clear winner. A poor man's Mutally Assured DestructionThat dude had a gun pointed to my head but I had a knife in his gut -- we were in a Mexican Standoff.
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Nov 21 2015 14:19 utc | 55
The empire has devoted more resources to the information war on the Western population than on attacking Isamic state.
When queried, the typical person would agree that we have to stop Assad from funneling Islamic State terrorists from entering Europe.
PBS, the more you watch, the more zombie you become.
Posted by: Steven Hunt | Nov 21 2015 15:09 utc | 56
Mina #54. Well goodbye to you lot in the northern hemisphere...you'll be dead soon.
Look up your loved ones and say your last words.
The US and Turkey go 'all in'... Nuclear war is now but months away. Well inevitable I suppose, I've been long predicting this, but hoping that a total economic collapse of the US would avoid it. Not to be.
Al Nasra moved out of the way to let the 'Syrian Patriot' Turkmen in, with all the Turkish and US support of course.
Must admit I didn't think Obama would do it, Clinton yes, but it just shows the self destructive power of the neo-cons and the US elites, they really all want to die.
Appropriate, Armageddon is supposed to be in Syria.
Posted by: Lisa | Nov 21 2015 15:12 utc | 57
At least their objectives in term of information is very clear
https://twitter.com/CrisiscenterBE/status/668062530774958080
Apparently, Brussels airport is not concerned because it is located outside the "Brussels-region". Bunch of clowns...
I'm not sure I want to read Biblical BS to accompany me during the next nuclear war. You should try real literature or the Bible ancient Near East sources, it would help cure your anxiousness.
Posted by: Mina | Nov 21 2015 15:20 utc | 58
The garbage that the media is dumping on readers is probably a source of inspiration for the next Homeland situated in Paris. In the USA war always becomes an entertainment with heroes, winners and losers. Wars and crimes 'based on actual events' make the best Emmy award series.
The thinking is: Oh! these attacks in Paris were so spectacular, they must be included in the next season. It will be a TV hit!
Posted by: virgile | Nov 21 2015 15:46 utc | 60
With Regional elections where Le Pen was promessed a landslide in 2 weeks, the French gvt running amok into security craziness (I suspect they coordinated with the Belgians for once) is probably going to get the very same result as when Sarkozy imitated Le Pen hate speech, and ended up having the extreme-right take him half his voters.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/nov/21/paris-attacks-three-suspects-including-alleged-scout-arrested-in-turkey-live#block-56507ee5e4b019950d8728b8
In Belgium, the interior ministry promess a Kaddafi style "house to house search" in Molenbeek.
Dark days ahead.
Posted by: Mina | Nov 21 2015 16:01 utc | 61
Mina@54.. Are Turkey and the US implementing Turkey's desire for a no fly zone? News that the Turkish border was to be sealed is quite different to this scenario by MK Bhadrakumar http://atimes.com/2015/11/turkey-gets-toehold-on-syrian-territory-finally/
At any rate, the strategic ambiguity has just ended. The ‘breaking news’ from Ankara says Syrian opposition group Al-Sultan Murad Brigades “supported by Turkish and US war planes took control of two Turkmen towns in northern Syria” early Saturday. The reports say six Turkish F-16 aircraft, four US F-15 fighter jets and an American AC-130 took part in the operation along with three drones.
The Turkish security sources have been quoted as claiming that the joint Turkish-American move is the “first step for the creation of a Daesh-free zone in northern Syria (which) will further encourage the opposition forces to fight Daesh terror and help ensure Turkey’s border security”.
In strategic terms, a defining moment has been reached in the Syrian conflict – the “first step” in the creation of a swathe of land in northern Syria that will be out of bounds for military operations by Syrian government forces, Russian aircraft, or various militia groups such as Hezbollah who are fighting on the side of the Syrian regime.
A safe zone in Syrian territory would have to be enforced by a no fly zone and/or boots on the ground. Without a UNSC Resolution that would be illegal and an act of war.
Posted by: harry law | Nov 21 2015 16:17 utc | 62
French gvt has imposed curfew every night since yesterday evening til monday on the neighborhood of Champs-Plaisants in the small provincial town of Sens after guns had been discovered last week (there and in dozens of other places, so why curfew only there?)
Strangely, this is one of the measures Le Pen has been advocating.
Same feeling as after the Charlie Hebdo attacks: they implement the Front National program, thinking that will be enough to get voters back. Not sure they won't opt for the original rather than the copy, as happened before under Sarkozy.
Posted by: Mina | Nov 21 2015 16:39 utc | 63
@64......try again....the two Turkmen towns are Harcele and Delha.
Posted by: dh | Nov 21 2015 17:05 utc | 65
@ 65 a google map search reveals a village called Dela and another called Axcele. Both close to the Syria/Turkish border.
If the reports are true it certainly looks like a foot in the door. Depends how the Syrian government reacts.
Posted by: dh | Nov 21 2015 17:12 utc | 66
@Lisa@57
Well goodbye to you lot in the northern hemisphere...you'll be dead soon.
Look up your loved ones and say your last words.
Appropriate, Armageddon is supposed to be in Syria [...]
Is that a death wish upon the "northern hemisphere," or a doomsday prediction? If the former, do not believe the southern hemisphere, which I inferred is your neck of the woods, will be safe/safer in a nuclear conflagration. You just have to google that. If the latter, as long as Putin is at the helm of Russia, I don't think so.
Turkey is now being used as the Anatolian rabid dog against Russia, as Ukraine has been used as the Eastern European rabid dog. Russia didn't take the bait with Ukraine, let alone with the trap the US/NATOstan and their pimp Erdogan are setting up in Syria.
We have to wait and see what the Russian response would be to the latest trick of the empire and its minions.
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Nov 21 2015 17:28 utc | 67
The graun says Hollande is John Wayne(gacy)in his rock(hudson)hard approach to terror.
Never mind he made France a target by partaking in the War of Terror,and that the US is the catalyst,but the French and Western Zio-msm won't let their readers know it.
A complete world of BS.In fact the BS is so obvious,I believe it's got to backfire by insulting too many peoples intelligence,even dupes already under their sway.
Posted by: dahoit | Nov 21 2015 17:35 utc | 68
The Russians should have learned the lesson of Libya, never trust the US. Turkey has said a no fly zone/safe area is crucial to resolve the Syrian conflict. Regime change is the name of the game, and it looks like Turkey with US air support are going to annex part of Syria. The question is what are Russia/Syria going to do about it?
Posted by: harry law | Nov 21 2015 17:37 utc | 69
Posted by: harry law | Nov 21, 2015 12:37:19 PM | 69
Nothing. It does not concern Russia or Syria. It seems to be an issue between Turkey, ISIS and the YPG.
The US have the choice of losing Turkey or the YPG as an ally.
Posted by: somebody | Nov 21 2015 17:40 utc | 70
"The ‘breaking news’ from Ankara says Syrian opposition group Al-Sultan Murad Brigades “supported by Turkish and US war planes took control of two Turkmen towns in northern Syria” early Saturday. The reports say six Turkish F-16 aircraft, four US F-15 fighter jets and an American AC-130 took part in the operation along with three drones."
b is better than me at this sort of thing but it may be worth looking at the report in detail. Did the fighter jets that 'took part' actually violate Syrian airspace. The Al-Sultan Murad Brigades are composed of Turkmen so did they take control of two towns they already controlled?
Posted by: dh | Nov 21 2015 17:41 utc | 71
@virgile #60:
the next Homeland situated in Paris
Anywhere but Berlin or Moscow!
I like the current season, although apparently lots of people don't. I'm a bit confused by the Russian characters however, since they come across as middle eastern skinheads.
@Mina #58:
Brussels airport is not concerned because it is located outside the "Brussels-region". Bunch of clowns...
The following story, from an interesting blog I just discovered thanks to Russia Insider, gives an account of what's going on in Brussels:
The Belgian capital looks like not only a ghost town but something out of a Call of Duty warzone
@70 sbody
So where are these two towns ... Harcele and Delha ... between Afrin and Kobane?
Posted by: jfl | Nov 21 2015 18:18 utc | 73
@73 More to the west towards Antakya if my map reading is anything to go by....
Posted by: dh | Nov 21 2015 18:24 utc | 74
A French Goncourt prize winner, the Algerian Kamel Daoud dares directly accusing Saudi Arabia of being an ISIS success.
Saudi Arabia, an ISIS That Has Made It
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/opinion/saudi-arabia-an-isis-that-has-made-it.html?_r=0
Posted by: virgile | Nov 21 2015 18:26 utc | 75
Across Kilis according to this
Aleppo Syrian Turkmen villages
Russia and the Syrian army seem to have taken control of the Turkmen villages north of Latakia.
Turkey's relation to Turkmen seems difficult
There are those who believe lack of credit being given to Turkmens — who have paid dearly in the fight against IS — and the splintered appearance of the Turkmen community stem from the Turkish government's misguided Syria policy. An expert in Ankara who did not want to be quoted by name said the Justice and Development Party government is forcing the Syrian Turkmens to fight against Assad forces first instead of against IS. Ankara is giving priority to setting up Syrian Turkmen armed opposition groups to fight against Damascus, hence the impossibility of a coordinated Turkmen stand against IS.In Turkey, reporting by the pro-government media creates the perception that Syrian Turkmens are at constant war with Assad forces. This media almost never reports the Turkmen’s clashes with IS. The same expert claims that the basic reason why Turkey doesn’t want Syrian Turkmens to take an active role in the fight against IS is the potential for international support they might get, which would make them less dependent on Turkey.
Posted by: somebody | Nov 21 2015 18:59 utc | 76
@virgile #75:
Do you realize how full of hate that op-ed is?
Black Daesh, white Daesh. The former slits throats, kills, stones, cuts off hands, destroys humanity’s common heritage and despises archaeology, women and non-Muslims. The latter is better dressed and neater but does the same things. The Islamic State; Saudi Arabia. …So Iran is better than IS but worse than Saudi Arabia.Saudi Arabia … is preferred to Iran, that gray Daesh.
You should warn people when you link to shit like this.
And I'm not even going to mention what our multiculti friends will think of using "white" to stand for good and "black" to stand for evil. And an article that does this is an unusually enlightened contribution to the NY Times op-ed page. Perhaps it is time to call the NY Times the New Stürmer?
Apparently PBS Newshour is not yet aware that it misidentified Russian video of Russian planes bombing trucks waiting to get ISIS provided oil as video of US planes doing some bombing of such trucks.
At least I can't raise any news about correction, apology, explanation of the mistake, etc. Or is GOOGLE ignoring any such correction?
Anyone aware of PBS Newshour doing anything to inform the public of the actual truth?
Posted by: jawbone | Nov 21 2015 19:09 utc | 78
@jawbone #77:
Anyone aware of PBS Newshour doing anything to inform the public of the actual truth?
Honestly, it didn't occur to me that they would bother. I think that everyone understands by now that informed people don't take corporate news sources seriously any more. So I think that neither people who keep informed by reading the alternative media nor people who work for the corporate themselves think of the corporate media as reporting news anymore. Both see it as fulfilling the dual functions of propaganda and sedating the masses.
This whole idea that establishment news media will correct themselves when they issue false reports is so pre-postmodern.
Turkey gears up to impose safe zone on the Turkish-Syrian border
Turkish government accelerates its efforts to impose a safe zone along the Turkish-Syrian border to contend with a huge exodus of refugees
Editor / Internet 14:34 July 08, 2015 Yeni Şafak
First step for the safe zone in N. Syria: opposition groups take two Turkmen towns from DAESH
DAILY SABAH, ISTANBUL, Nov 21, 2015
It is also worth to recall various news items about the "rebel controlled" corridor between rebel-held parts of Aleppo and Turkey that is also between YPG held Afrin and ISIS held territory. Rebels lost those villages after July 8, if I recall, and few others. But rebels spent huge effort fighting the government in the meantime. And in the last two weeks, ISIS lost a number of locations to the government just south of the "long mooted" safe zone. What we have there is a no-fly zone that will not fly and a safe zone that is woefully insecure.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 21 2015 19:40 utc | 80
OT Me @23:
"@Mina - I bet that that "first European female suicide bomber" was blown up by a French grenade when they stormed the flat, not by a suicide belt."
Tapped phone led Paris attack leader to his death
Abaaoud, 28, and Aitboulahcen, who may be his cousin, both died during the gun battle during which French police commandos fired more than 5,000 shots. A third person, who has yet to be identified, died with them.Officials initially said Aitboulahcen had blown herself up, becoming Europe's first female suicide bomber, but a source close to the investigation said on Friday that a head blasted into the street by an explosive vest was not hers.
[Erdogan protests bombing of Turkmen villages] plays to a local audience - as is the preelection conflict with Turkey's Kurds.
That corridor is a pipe dream due to the unwillingness of the Turkish army to spill its blood there. ISIS is a surrogate.
Posted by: somebody | Nov 20, 2015 11:53:55 AM | 15
======== Hurriet News about that audience
A group of demonstrators in central Istanbul protesting Russia’s air strikes in Syria has targeted the Dutch Consulate instead of the Russian one.
A group of protesters wanted to march to the Russian Consulate on İstiklal Street late Nov. 20 to protest the air strikes in the Turkmen-controlled regions in northern Syria.
However, the group voiced their protests in front of the Dutch Consulate on the same street.
“Often angry Turkish demonstrators mistake us for our close neighbors (Russian Consulate).Like tonight, throwing eggs,” Dutch Consul General Robert Schuddeboom wrote on his Twitter account, sharing a photo of the protesters at the consulate’s gates.
It was not the first time the nationalists in Turkey got confused during their protests.
A group nationalists who gathered in central Istanbul on July 4 to protest China’s restrictions on religious freedom of ethnic Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang attacked a group of Korean tourists, thinking that they were Chinese.
In the southern Turkish province of Adana early Sept. 8, a group of Turkish nationalists accidentally beat one of its own members on the presumption that he was Kurdish during a demonstration to protest the terror attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 21 2015 19:49 utc | 82
73/74 across Kilis according to Turkish reports - that would be between Kobane and Afrin
Would rhyme with this map
Posted by: somebody | Nov 21 2015 19:52 utc | 83
Demian
Saudis always dress in white while Daesh dress in black and carries a black flag. Any 5 years old kid would know that.
Looking at what the writer wrote as a 'racist' comment is the stupidest thing I read on that blog!
In any case turning this courageous article written by an Arab Sunni only as a promotion of Iran reflects the same obsession that you share with some countries in the region.
Posted by: virgile | Nov 21 2015 20:06 utc | 84
This story is now on Sputnik, perhaps it might lead to a response from PBS
http://sputniknews.com/us/20151121/1030518092/pbs-newshour-russian-airstrikes-footage-us-lying.html
Posted by: Bob | Nov 21 2015 20:10 utc | 85
@virgile #83:
OK, so I was stupid about the black and white. But how does it make sense to say that Iran is "that gray Daish"? Would you explain that please? That phrase made me misread the rest of the piece.
The way I took that is that this is a Sunni who is dissing two Sunni institutions, so to do that, he thought he needed to smear the leader of the Shiite world.
Harry Law @ 69,
"The Russians should have learned the lesson of Libya, never trust the US. Turkey has said
a no fly zone/safe area is crucial to resolve the Syrian conflict. Regime change is the name
of the game, and it looks like Turkey with US air support are going to annex part of Syria.
The question is what are Russia/Syria going to do about it?"
Harry, they are probably going to do nothing about it. This was entirely predictable and stated as a goal
w maps. I think this outcome was fixed at least w Iran; it's why she didn't put in any regular troops to
finish the job. If Russia was in on it, she won't challenge it. She can't possibly be surprised by it.
Many of us were predicting it for goodness sake.
Posted by: Penelope | Nov 21 2015 20:25 utc | 87
Mina @ 54, Thanks for your post; looks evil that "The Turkish security sources have been quoted
as claiming that the joint Turkish-American move is the “first step for the creation of a Daesh-free
zone in northern Syria (which) will further encourage the opposition forces to fight Daesh terror and
help ensure Turkey’s border security”. http://atimes.com/2015/11/turkey-gets-toehold-on-syrian-territory-finally/
Virgile @ 45, Yes, US is playing dark game w Saudis, etc. Look:
They are considering including Ahrar al-Sham in the peace process; most are not even Syrians! Source is David Ignatius @ WaPo.
"A test of the delicate process will be whether it includes an Islamist opposition group called Ahrar al-Sham.
This rebel group has been backed by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and it has fought alongside Jabhat al-Nusra
against the regime and its Russia ally. But, interestingly, the United States and the Assad government
both seem willing to allow Ahrar al-Sham into the non-extremist tent, so long as it agrees to accept a cease-fire."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-surprise-in-syrias-civil-war-that-could-be-bad-news-for-the-islamic-state/2015/11/20/83fe3fd8-8fc6-11e5-ae1f-af46b7df8483_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-c%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Posted by: Penelope | Nov 21 2015 20:29 utc | 88
I'd posted b's PBS scoop onto a Sputnik comments thread hoping they'd pick it up as I suggested, and it did, but without providing proper attribution, for which I chided Sputnik on my comment to its report. Lots of comments here, http://sputniknews.com/us/20151121/1030518092/pbs-newshour-russian-airstrikes-footage-us-lying.html
Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 21 2015 20:38 utc | 89
@jawbone #77, Demian #78
I don't know if there are any active sites that track PBS's egregious biases and dishonesty, as the now-defunct "NPR Check" blog did for the radio arm of that propaganda machine.
But PBS has a remedy in case there's enough negative feedback to force a response: the institutional Frankenstein monster called the "public editor".
The office of "public editor", sometimes called "ombudsman", is a genteel scam intended to fool half-bright readers into believing that the media organization's owners and chain of command are scrupulously committed to ethical conduct and honest reporting.
When tasked to weigh in on some controversy, the public editors hem and haw, and put on a fine performance playing a fictional character who has the brains, guts, and integrity to review criticisms and complaints and forthrightly address them without fear or favor-- i.e., even if it makes their employer and colleagues look bad.
Actually, these glorified flak-catchers scatter sand and sawdust on the floor and provide an earnest-seeming tapdance around the question; the public editors' grave and measured "self"-criticisms are like eye-catching pirouettes that spin away the controversy that wafted their way.
By and large, the moderate intelligentsia is comforted and reassured by this ritual spectacle. "Ah, the Public Editor is on the job, saving media corporations from lapsing too deeply into error or chicanery." Presumably only degraded cynics or "kooks" insist that the office of Public Editor is an inspired feature of the chicanery.
They change nothing. The shady, shaky, and overclass-agenda driven reporting and editing continues apace. The unacceptably inaccurate and biased news, once released, proliferates to a fare-thee-well long before the face-saving editors put their tap shoes on, to paraphrase Mark Twain.
Far more people will read, believe, and remember the original "problematic" reporting than the later ponderous ruminations of the Public Editor. And the people who own and run the media cartel rely upon this phenomenon.
I'm reminded of NPR public editor Alicia Shepard's reprehensible defense of their refusal to use the word "torture" in stories about the US military/security apparatus's use of... torture!
So, gang, let's stay tuned and see if a Public Editor is deputized to straighten out this latest little misunderstanding.
Posted by: Ort | Nov 21 2015 20:41 utc | 90
Ort 89
That's a keen and insightful description of Media Orgs as they exist today. A handful of billionaire owners, who had systematically paved the way (to promote their personal and business agendas) via the destruction of the "Fairness Doctrine" and the buying of congress to get "media consolidation" and finally to make legal the dissemination of propaganda, fabrications and lies.
If they ignore the protests, the issue will die soon enough without the Ombudsman's dance.
Posted by: fast freddy | Nov 21 2015 21:16 utc | 91
@82 sbody
But Kilis is in Turkey, according to that map. Do you mean AZEZ إعزاز
The town southwest of Kilis in Syria with the green Turkmen balloon? If that's the area, then this is an attack on the YPG, no? Turkish planes have appartently bombed the PKK again, in Iraq. What's that UN resolution actually say, bombing Iraq is 'OK' too? Why not Saudi Arabia then, and Turkey itself? The text is not even available at the UN.
Posted by: jfl | Nov 21 2015 21:53 utc | 92
@fast freddy #90:
Ort 89
That's a keen and insightful description of Media Orgs as they exist today.
I'll second that. And entertaining writing to boot.
my #85:
I was stupid about the black and white
Actually, it slipped my mind that I was being ironic there. I prefaced my remark that virgile took offense to with "what our multiculti friends will think". So I followed virgile in misunderstanding what I wrote an hour earlier, instead of remembering what I was thinking when I wrote it! That's what happens when you (I anyway) do five things at once.
wrt PBS, since Bob Edwards' departure, the staff is 100% zionist.
Posted by: crone | Nov 21 2015 22:02 utc | 94
Demian
I don't understand what you read in the 'gray daesh'.
The author is saying that, despite the obvious involvement of Saudi Arabia in Daesh, the USA still prefers to ignore that and keep the Saudi Kingdom as its ally instead of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The USA is still considering Iran as a country sponsoring terrorism but less threatening now, thus the 'gray Daesh' qualification. As the author is a writer, this is more a figure of style.
Yet this article is the most accusatory text I ever read on Saudi Arabia written by a Moslem Arab living in the Middle East. He deserves praise and... protection.
Posted by: virgile | Nov 21 2015 22:20 utc | 95
So, the plot at France's heroic "Battle of the Flat" thickens. According to b@80, expanding on his previous b@23 post, the head of the "first European female suicide bomber" wasn't hers.
First we learned she wasn't the "first European female suicide bomber," since she didn't kill herself, she was killed by an explosion activated by another person, which blew her head to the street (see Lone Wolf@53.) Now we learned the head wasn't hers, it belongs to a third unidentified member of the cell caught at the historical "Battle of the Flat."
So, what are we facing, more French flat lies?
It looks like they cannot wrap their head around the infamous "Battle of the Flat."
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Nov 21 2015 23:01 utc | 96
So, the plot at France's heroic "Battle of the Flat" thickens. According to b@80, expanding on his previous b@23 post, the head of the "first European female suicide bomber" wasn't hers.
First we learned she wasn't the "first European female suicide bomber," since she didn't kill herself, she was killed by an explosion activated by another person, who blew her head to the street (see Lone Wolf@53.) Now we learned the head wasn't hers, it belongs to a third unidentified member of the cell caught at the historical "Battle of the Flat."
So, what are we facing, more French flat lies?
It looks like they cannot make head or tails of the infamous "Battle of the Flat," and cannot wrap their heads around whose head was the head of the not-so "first European female suicide bomber."
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Nov 21 2015 23:07 utc | 97
??
Russia announces a 3-day exercise off Syria coast. Lebanon and Cyprus have been asked to divert all civil
and military flights from their Mediterranean airspace. During the 3-day exercises NATO will not be able to
monitor Syria via radar or sattelite. I guess this must be a live fire attaqck on ISIS from the Med?
http://www.voltairenet.org/article189361.html
Posted by: Penelope | Nov 21 2015 23:55 utc | 98
On the subject of Media, ABC.au does a weekly political round-up each Sunday morning called Insiders. Each edition ends with Talking Pictures, a national Cartoon round-up. In this morning's TP the first cartoon featured bombs falling into a meat-grinder and Jihadis spewing out. Another depicted an over-crowded refugee boat sailing past a buoy with a TERRORISM sign pointing in the direction from which the boat had come. The caption ... "We're all in the same boat!"
No matter how strongly Muslim Leaders in Oz condemn Daesh's acts and ideology, Right-wing Crank pro-Israel politicians queue up to condemn them for either not speaking out at all, or not doing so frequently, or stridently, enough. One particularly annoying spin tank clown tried to introduce (Israel's) Identity Politics scam by suggesting that Muslim spokesmen should identify the Sect on whose behalf he's condemning Daesh...
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 22 2015 0:09 utc | 99
Bruno Marz @ #8 You DON'T sound alamist or paranoid at all. In fact your description of the security state is EXACTLY what is going on & I think the majority here would agree. I read your post & dropped straight to the page end to comment so may have missed others posting on your thoughts.
Cheers
Chris in Ch-Ch
Posted by: Kiwicris | Nov 22 2015 0:56 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
and they probably know its stupid and counterproductive but thats what a superpower does and it would mean breaking its alliance with Saudi Arabia, the Gulf CounterRevolutionary council and possibly Isreal.
Posted by: heath | Nov 20 2015 13:42 utc | 1