News & views …

The U.S. election campaigns and their news coverage are generally embarrassing. But this incident of miss-coverage by the acclaimed paper of record beats many others. While attempting to criticize a candidate's lack of awareness or knowledge the NYT author and his editors demonstrate four times that they have neither.

The libertarian candidate Gary Johnson was asked a question of foreign policy relevance and did not know the answer. The question was about a city in Syria but, like it or not, no city in Syria has significant relevance in the general context of the U.S. presidential elections.

“What is Aleppo?” Mr. Johnson asked after he did not get some question about it.

The New York Times, which mocks any candidate but Hillary Clinton, found that small lapses remarkable enough to write a whole piece about it. But its reporter and his editors show a bigger lack on knowledge than Johnson did. The headline: ‘What Is Aleppo?’ Gary Johnson Asks, in an Interview Stumble. The reporter, one Alan Rappeport, did not know either.  Here is the first version he and his editors put out:

“What is Aleppo?” Mr. Johnson said when asked on MSNBC how, as president, he would address the refugee crisis in the Syrian city that is the de facto capital of the Islamic State.

No. Aleppo is not the de facto capital of the Islamic State.

Some time later the NYT editors were made aware of that and changed the text. But check the result:

Cont. reading: NYT Shaming Of Gary Johnson Fails With Four(!) Hilarious Mistakes

Gulfnews, October 6, 2015 – Al Houthis flee last bastion in Marib

Al Houthi militiamen who had been occupying large parts of Yemen fled their last bastion in Marib en masse on Tuesday, according to news reports, …
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Arabic language news outlets reported that coalition forces and the Yemeni Popular Resistance successfully retook the Al Zor area in the city of Sirwah, the last Al Houthi stronghold in Marib province.

Gulfnews, September 5, 2016 – Yemeni forces move to push Al Houthis out of Marib

Yemeni forces waged a fresh offensive on Monday aimed at driving Al Houthis out of their last bastion in the Marib province.

Government officials and army commanders speaking to Gulf News say the assault was backed by heavy air support from the Saudi-led Arab coalition, …
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“The national army and resistance forces attacked Al Houthi militants and Saleh’s forces in Serwah, their last stronghold in western Marib,” an official close to the governor of Marib told Gulf News on the condition of anonymity.

The town has been under Al Houthi control since their takeover of many parts of the country in 2015.

h/t Haykal Bafana

Airstrike destroys Syrian hospital amid fears of ‘catastrophic’ turn in fighting, Washington Post, April 28 2016

An onslaught of airstrikes in rebel-held areas of the Syrian city of Aleppo has killed scores and destroyed a hospital supported by international aid groups, activists and humanitarian workers said Thursday, prompting the United Nations to warn of a “catastrophic deterioration” that could intensify an already dire humanitarian crisis.
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Airstrikes Wednesday night collapsed a hospital supported by …
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[..] it was the hospital raid late Wednesday that was likely to have the most devastating humanitarian impact, U.N. and other aid officials said.

Al-Quds hospital in Aleppo’s al-Sukkari neighborhood had an emergency room, an intensive-care unit and eight doctors and 28 nurses on staff, Doctors Without Borders said. It was “well known locally,” the organization said on its Twitter account Thursday.

At least 14 patients and medical staffers — including three doctors — were killed when the hospital was hit by a “direct” strike, the aid group said. One of the doctors was Mohammed Waseem Maaz, Aleppo’s last pediatrician, activists said. Another was a dentist.

Chlorine attack deepens fears among besieged Aleppo residents, Washington Post, September 8 2016

The Syrian government dropped a bomb containing chlorine on a besieged neighborhood in the city of Aleppo on Tuesday, heightening fears among people who are cut off from the outside world and unable to escape, according to residents and hospitals in the area.
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A statement from the al-Quds hospital, which received 46 of the patients, said that all were suffering from breathing difficulties and that “a strong smell of chlorine emanated from their clothes.”

So the "destroyed" and "collapsed" Al-Quds hospital in east-Aleppo has been rebuild during intense fighting in the area? And it is big enough to take 46 patients? It is also very well equipped? A picture in Washington Post shows a youngster in the "Al-Quds hospital" with a breathing mask. Next to him are five electronic infusion pumps. More expensive medical electronic equipment is visible in the background. This, supposedly, in an area that is besieged, has no electricity, is under constant bombing and with no access to the outer world?

Also: Isn't it astonishing that the Syrian government always launches these "chlorine attacks" shortly after the "rebels" suffered a military defeat? Or are these attacks, claimed only by the "rebels", a propaganda diversion from their military defeats?

(Note also this oddity: Months after "Aleppo’s last pediatrician" was killed, as claimed in the first piece above, six (killed?) pediatricians from east-Aleppo signed a letter to U.S. president Obama.)

The "White Helmets", on whose reports both the above WaPo pieces are based, received $60 million from the U.S., UK and other governments for their public relations work. For such high expenses we taxpayers should demand more consistent propaganda.

Or should we demand that news organization, for which we as consumers also pay, hire writers who are competent and of integrity. Real journalists who debunk, instead of promote, obvious bullshit like those "Al-Quds hospital" fairy tales above.

Two headlines today support the claim that "western" media reporting often defies the observable reality.

• Washington Post: For the first time since 2013, ISIS has no border with NATO
• Independent: Isis 'cut off from rest of world' as rebels expel Islamists from Turkish border
• From the last one:

Isis has lost control of its last territories on the border with Turkey, monitoring groups say, in a major blow to the group's ability to receive foreign fighters from the rest of the world.

Neither is ISIS cut of from the world, nor from NATO. Fighters as well as goods can still cross to and from Turkey like they did throughout the last years.

Just take a look at the map:

bigger

The Turkish-Syrian border between Azaz, Al-Ra'i and Jarablus, with ISIS (grey) on the southern side, was always open for traffic between the two areas. Now the Turkish army and Turkish proxy forces of "moderate rebels" moved into the green strip of land on the Syrian side. This did not seal or close the border, as other countries had demanded. It simply moved the border south. Crossing between the ISIS held area and the Turkish controlled area will now be easier because media will have no access to the area. Deals will be made out of sight and money will flow as well as traffic.

There was no fighting at all about the strip between ISIS and the Turkish forces. The Turks told ISIS to move south and it did so before the Turks and its mercenaries moved in. There was not even one Turkish casualty from fighting ISIS over the area. The change of the territorial borderline was obviously done in mutual agreement.

It is ridiculous that some media try to sell that as a closing of the border or as a cut off. It is the opposite.

Turkey's main intention with this move was to prevent a connection of the (yellow) Kurdish areas in the east and the west. Such a Kurdish controlled connecting strip along the border would indeed have sealed it. ISIS traffic would not have been allowed to pass Kurdish checkpoints.

Turkey will probably try to annex the area it has taken. There are plans to build new cities on the Syrian side to house refugees currently in Turkish camps. Turkey could thereby offload a major burden its war on Syria has brought onto it.

Russia and Iran had agreed to the Turkish move into the area after Turkey promised to end its support for attacks on Aleppo city. It has yet to be seen if Turkey will stick to this promise. Some of the Turkish proxy fighters involved in the attack on Aleppo were pulled back and moved to the now occupied border strip. But material support for the attack in form of ammunition and other supplies seems to continue.

Two decent analyst argue that the agreement, while not entirely preferred, is still in Russia's and Syria's advantage.

Elijah Magnier says (Arabic) (English, unedited) that Russian policy in Syria is like a Matryoshka doll with one item placed inside the other. The most elaborate of these dolls has 50 levels of nesting with a total of 51 dolls. Says Magnier:

Cont. reading: Syria – Who Wins In The Turkish-Russian Deal?

Since the February ceasefire in Syria, which was broken by U.S. supported Jihadis, Russia tried to press the U.S. into fulfilling the UN Security Council resolution 2254. The resolution signs off on the ceasefire but demands that all nations continue to fight the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

But the U.S. continued to support al-Qaeda and its various front group in Syria like Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa. "Moderate rebels" were armed with modern weapons by the U.S. and trained in camps in Turkey and Jordan. They were sent to Syria to integrated with al-Qaeda and made it impossible to fight one group without hitting the other. The U.S. used this ploy to protect al-Qaeda from Russian and Syrian attacks. Such attacks, it claimed, would break the ceasefire as they would also hit its "moderate rebels".

To gain some negotiating advantage Russia and its Syrian allies closed all access to east-Aleppo which is held by Jihadis. The U.S. sponsored rebels and al-Qaeda responded with an attack in south Aleppo which then broke the new established siege.

But that move was a hail-Mary pass. "Rebels" from all fronts were pulled together to support the attack. MANPADs were delivered to deny Russia the use of attack helicopters. With the help of an al-Qaeda mass suicide attack the "rebels" took the artillery college and adjacent areas in south Aleppo and managed to open a corridor into east-Aleppo. This was a serious set back for the Russian plans.

The response was constant bombing of the hinterlands of the "rebel" held parts of Aleppo and Idleb governate which made any supply of their front difficult. The Russian and Syrian air forces destroyed the "rebel's" infrastructure, supply sites and their command and control elements. This took some time to show the inevitable effect. But today the Syrian army and its allies reconquered the artillery college and the Jihadi path into east-Aleppo is again closed.

Map by Peto Lucem – bigger

It is likely that the now failed plan of lifting the siege on east-Aleppo was so costly, with over a 1,000 rebels dead, that a repeat of any such attack is no longer possible.

But the Russian pressure to commonly fight al-Qaeda has still not resulted in an agreement. Late in June some hawks in the U.S. administration leaked "conditions" under which the U.S. would agree to Russia's demands. Those conditions were ridiculous. The Syrian government would have to ground its airforce and would have to stop fighting its immediate enemies while Russia would only be allowed to targets the U.S. agreed to. The negotiations had only one purpose:

Cont. reading: Syria – U.S.-Russian Deal Fails (Again) Over Continued Support For Jihadis

On August 9 we reported here on a U.S. spy, Lindsey Snell, who worked with Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria and was arrested when crossing the border from Syria into Turkey:

The Turkish military recently "rescued" a CIA spy who was wounded in the north Latakia region of Syria. The U.S. send helicopters to help its asset. The spy turned out to be journalist Lindsey Snell working on a report with Nusra for the intelligence outfit Vocativ. She was put into Turkish jail for illegally crossing the border.

There is no doubt from the available information that Snell was a spy. The Turkish media call her such. She was with Nusra, not for the first time, had some trouble and needed to get out. The U.S. military launched a huge operation to help her. That is not the treatment a real journalist would get.

Three weeks after our report some professional journalist finally picked up on the story and asked during the U.S. State Department briefing:

QUESTION: Do you have any information about a U.S. citizen who was arrested in Turkey?

MR KIRBY: Who was arrested in Turkey? Yes. I can confirm that U.S. citizen Lindsey Snell was detained in Turkey on the 7th of August, 2016. She is currently being held in a prison facility in Hatay Province. I believe that’s how you say it. Consular officers from the consulate in Adana visited Ms. Snell most recently on the 26th of this month and are providing all possible consular assistance. The embassy and the department are following this case closely. State Department officials have been in contact with Turkish Government officials regarding this case.
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QUESTION: […] was the arrest at all related to her profession as a journalist or in any case – any way associated with that?

MR KIRBY: What I – what we understand is that she has been charged with violating a military zone, but I can’t speak to her reasons for being in Syria, for traveling there. I can’t speak to that. What I can tell you is that we’ve been informed she was charged with violating a military zone.

The State Department "can't speak of" what Snell did in Syria – twice. Why? Is that secret? Note that Kirby does not even call that "U.S. citizen" a "journalist", even while his keyword provider calls her such.

Despite the reluctance of the State Department to call Snell a journalist the main stream "western" media, picking up from the State briefing, now calls her such and does not mention that Snell is obviously a spy. The BBC, CBS and NBC have reports of the issue. But none of those reports touches on the very weird circumstance of Lindsey Snell's "rescue" and "arrest". None of them will tell you you that she was a spy.

NBC goes the furthest by digging up another State source and quoting the Hatay regional governor:

Cont. reading: CIA “Journalist” Spy With Al-Qaeda Arrested In Turkey – Media Acquiesce – Endanger Real Journos