New York Times, September 8 2002
U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest For A-Bomb Parts

Iraq has stepped up its quest for nuclear weapons and has embarked on a worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb, Bush administration officials said today.

In the last 14 months, Iraq has sought to buy thousands of specially designed aluminum tubes, which American officials believe were intended as components of centrifuges to enrich uranium. American officials said several efforts to arrange the shipment of the aluminum tubes were blocked or intercepted but declined to say, citing the sensitivity of the intelligence, where they came from or how they were stopped.

The infamous aluminum tubes Iraq sought to buy from Italy were for short range rockets, not for uranium enrichment centrifuges as the Bush administration claimed. That was a fact well known to several U.S. agencies like the Energy and State Departments. But the claim, first propagandized by the NY Times, was repeated by then President Bush in a speech to the UN and became a main basis for the war on Iraq. The Knight-Ridder (now McClatchy) Washington Bureau, but not the NY Times, reported about the many doubts experts had about such  Weapon of Mass Destruction claims.

New York Times, February 27 2018
U.N. Links North Korea to Syria’s Chemical Weapons Program

North Korea has been shipping supplies to the Syrian government that could be used in the production of chemical weapons, United Nations experts contend.
…
The supplies from North Korea include acid-resistant tiles, valves and thermometers, according to a report by United Nations investigators.
…
The possible chemical weapons components were part of at least 40 previously unreported shipments by North Korea to Syria between 2012 and 2017 of prohibited ballistic missile parts and materials that could be used for both military and civilian purposes, according to the report, which has not been publicly released but which was reviewed by The New York Times.

The valves, thermometers and acid resistance tiles Syria may have sought to acquire could be used for medical facilities, the production of candy or for dozens of other civilian purposes. They could be used to produce something for the military with chemical weapons probably being the most unlikely.

But like the discredited aluminum tube story, the current NYT piece, written by its UN reporter Michael Schwirtz, obfuscates the doubts about WMD connections of the issue. It makes false claims and is full of war-mongering assertions by hawkish figures. It is a scare story constructed to vilify various opponents to U.S. hegemony on meager factual grounds.

The reporter does not understand the issue he writes about. The "possible chemical weapons components" are not such. Chemical weapons obviously do not contain valves, thermometers or acid resistance tiles. To increase the "be afraid" effect of his piece the author mentions an alleged 2007 accident "in which several Syrian technicians, along with North Korean and Iranian advisers, were killed in the explosion of a warhead filled with sarin gas and the extremely toxic nerve agent VX." No weapon designer ever thought of "a warhead" that was filled with both – Sarin and VX. That would be lunacy and reports thereof are obviously bogus.

Cont. reading: It’s 2002 Again – New York Times Makes Bogus WMD Claims

The U.S. State Department will increase its online trolling capabilities and up its support for meddling in other countries. The Hill reports:

The State Department is launching a $40 million initiative to crack down on foreign propaganda and disinformation amid widespread concerns about future Russian efforts to interfere in elections.

The department announced Monday that it signed a deal with the Pentagon to transfer $40 million from the Defense Department’s coffers to bolster the Global Engagement Center, an office set up at State during the Obama years to expose and counter foreign propaganda and disinformation.

The professed reason for the new funding is the alleged but unproven "Russian meddling" in the U.S. election campaign. U.S. Special Counsel Mueller indicted 13 Russians for what is claimed to be interference but which is likely mere commercial activity.

The announcement by the State Department explains that this new money will not only be used for measures against foreign trolling but to actively meddle in countries abroad:

Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Steve Goldstein said the transfer of funds announced today reiterates the United States’ commitment to the fight.

“This funding is critical to ensuring that we continue an aggressive response to malign influence and disinformation and that we can leverage deeper partnerships with our allies, Silicon Valley, and other partners in this fight,” said Under Secretary Goldstein. “It is not merely a defensive posture that we should take, we also need to be on the offensive.”

The mentioning of Silicon Valley is of interest. The big Silicon Valley companies Google, Facebook and Twitter were heavily involved in the U.S. election campaign. The companies embedded people within the campaigns to advise them how to reach a maximum trolling effect:

Cont. reading: State Department Troll Farm Receives Huge Cash Infusion

Feb 19 – Internet Marketing – Why Is This Smelly Fish Priceless?

Automated Twitter accounts, or trolls, repeated a tweet about a MoA piece on Muller's indictment of "Russian trolls". Funny but not really important. There is interesting news though related to the original Muller indictment. Mueller accused with little evidence 13 persons involved in the private Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) of meddling with the U.S. election campaign.

The Russian independent TV Rain, also known as Dozhd, found (Russian, machine translation) that one management person of the IRA was missing in the Mueller indictment. That women, Agata Burdonova, has recently moved with her husband to the United States. She had run the "translator" department of the IRA that created English language social marketing campaigns. She has now applied for a U.S. Social Security number.

According to a follow up:

On June 15, 2017, Dmitry Fyodorov says he received an employment offer from Facebook. On August 8, 2017 Fyodorov marries Burdonova. Employer (presumably, Facebook) sponsors both of their visas —prob. H1B.

On December 7 2017 both moved to Bellevue, Washington. Two month later Mueller indicts the alleged IRA owner and management, but not Burdonova. This smells of a deal made by some U.S. agency to get insight into the IRA. In return, an opportunity to move to the U.S. was offered.

Feb 20 – "Russian bots" – How An Anti-Russian Lobby Creates Fake News

On the farce of the "Hamilton 68" dashboard and how the media fall for it.

Feb 22 – The Rothschild Organ And Octoputin – Projection or Envy?

Feb 23 – Syria – The Two East-Ghouta Campaigns – One Is For Liberation, The Other To Save Terrorists

As Hadi Nasrallah smartly asks: "#SaveGhouta – From what exactly? And save who? …"

Feb 24 – The White Helmet Singalong

See also: Professor for media studies Mark Miller analyses (vid) the war propaganda against Syria.

Feb 25 – Syria – The UNSC Mandated Ceasefire Will Not Hold

Use as open thread …

Last night the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2401 demanding a 30 day ceasefire in all of Syria. The text of the adopted resolution does not seem to be available yet. A copy of the original draft resolution is here. The Russian government had offered several amendments to it. It demanded that the U.S. side guarantees that the enemies of the Syrian state would stick to such a ceasefire.

The resolution was initiated by Sweden and Kuwait on behalf of the U.S. It follows after preparation by the Syrian army to liberate the east-Ghouta area next to the capital Damascus had reached a critical point. East-Ghouta is occupied by several terrorist groups including al-Qaeda and militant Salafist groups. Together they have for years been sponsored to harass the 7 million inhabitants of the capital with random mortar and missile attacks. The U.S. initiated a propaganda campaign to "save Ghouta" because it wants to keep the threat from Ghouta towards the Syrian capital alive.

bigger

The ceasefire does not apply to Al-Qaeda, ISIS and associated terrorist groups. The war against them will continue. In east-Ghouta al-Qaeda (HTS) is allied with Failaq al-Rahman.

Cont. reading: Syria – The UNSC Mandated Ceasefire Will Not Hold

The white Helmet singalong

by Banjo Marla

h/t: Walid

Daily mortar and missile attacks against the Syrian capital Damascus have been ongoing for years but intensified in recent months. The often quoted Syrian Observatory notes:

… raising to 116 persons at least including 18 children and 14 citizen women, who were killed as a result of the fall of these shells since the beginning of escalation on the capital Damascus and its suburbs on the 16th of November, and the SOHR documented the injury of more than 563 persons who were injured in these daily targeting during 3 consecutive months.

Other accounts report higher casualty numbers.

Some of the attacks on Damascus city hit well designated targets. The Russian embassy in Damascus has been mortared several times. Earlier this month more well targeted projectiles hit other Russian interests:

Maxim A. Suchkov‏ @MSuchkov_ALM – 4:03 AM – 7 Feb 2018
#Russia's trade mission in #Damascus got hit by 120-mm bomb & is badly damaged. Earlier Rus aid delivery point in the city came under fire killing two local Syrians, Rus non-gov delegation (Christian & Muslim leaders who brought collected aid) had to be evacuated.

All these mortars and missiles were fired from east-Ghouta, a Takfiri held area consisting partly of densely urban blocks and partly of agricultural villages. Some 400,000 people originally lived in the area but the number of people living there now is likely less than half of that.

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The area is occupied by Takfiris from three groups. Jaish al-Islam is under control of the Salafi Alloush clan and is financed through Wahhabi "donations" from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Al-Qaeda in Syria (aka Nusra Front) and its allied group Faylaq al-Rahman also have significant contingents in east-Ghouta.

Cont. reading: Syria – The Two East-Ghouta Campaigns – One Is For Liberation, The Other To Save Terrorists

The title page of this weeks Economist:

bigger

Now consider one of the earliest cartoons that used this image:

The Rothschild banking family of England, Coin’s Financial School, (1894) – bigger

At least 26% of the British Economist is owned by the Rothschild family. Lynn Forester de Rothschild and her spouse Evelyn de Rothschild are sitting on the board of the Economist Group.

Is the publishing of the Putin squid by the Rothschild organ some kind of psychological projection? Or is it envy?

Cont. reading: The Rothschild Organ And Octoputin – Projection or Envy?

The U.S. mainstream media are going nuts. They now make up and report stories based on the uncritical acceptance of an algorithm they do not want to understand and which is known to produce fake results.

See for example these three stories:

• CNN – Russian bots promote pro-gun messages after Florida school shooting
• Wired – Pro-Gun Russian Bots Flood Twitter After Parkland Shooting
• New York Times – After Florida School Shooting, Russian ‘Bot’ Army Pounced

Russian bot with ancient regalia

From the last link:

SAN FRANCISCO — One hour after news broke about the school shooting in Florida last week, Twitter accounts suspected of having links to Russia released hundreds of posts taking up the gun control debate.

The accounts addressed the news with the speed of a cable news network. Some adopted the hashtag #guncontrolnow. Others used #gunreformnow and #Parklandshooting. Earlier on Wednesday, before the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., many of those accounts had been focused on the investigation by the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

In other words – the "Twitter accounts suspected of having links to Russia" were following the current news just as cable news networks do. When a new sensational event happened they immediately jumped onto it. But the NYT authors go to length to claim that there is some nefarious Russian scheme behind this that uses automated accounts to spread divisive issues.

Those claims are based on this propaganda project:

Last year, the Alliance for Securing Democracy, in conjunction with the German Marshall Fund, a public policy research group in Washington, created a website that tracks hundreds of Twitter accounts of human users and suspected bots that they have linked to a Russian influence campaign.

The "Alliance for Securing Democracy" is run by military lobbyists, CIA minions and neo-conservative propagandists. Its claimed task is:

… to publicly document and expose Vladimir Putin’s ongoing efforts to subvert democracy in the United States and Europe.

There is no evidence that Vladimir Putin ever made or makes such efforts.

Cont. reading: “Russian bots” – How An Anti-Russian Lobby Creates Fake News

[Updated below]

After I promoted Saturday's piece about the Mueller indictment on Twitter some seemingly automated accounts retweeted my promotion.

The original piece is about an internet marketing scheme that is supposed to have influenced U.S. elections. It is thus amusing that the retweeting bots are part of an internet marketing scheme that is supposed to influence U.S. elections.

But why do they use the line "Omg. Fish is priceless"?

My original tweet:

source – bigger

The automated(?) retweets:

source – bigger

Cont. reading: Internet Marketing – Why Is This Smelly Fish Priceless? (updated)

Feb 12 – On Sending Troops And Bombs At Times Square

The U.S. bombs Afghanistan to prevent bombs from going off in Times Square. Meanwhile bombs go off in Times Square to stop the U.S. from bombing Afghanistan. A perpetual motion machine … profitable for some.

Feb 14 – Consolation Post

On various interesting issues …

Feb 15 – Syria – New 'Chemical Weapons' Fake Planned – Chlorine Though Will Not Do

Touches on the reasons why chlorine is not a battlefield weapon …

Feb 16 – White House: "Iraq Has Anthrax Virus" "Russia Launched NotPetya"

Computer viruses and malware are very difficult to attribute. The U.S. has shown zero evidence for its attribution of the NotPetya malware to Russia.

Feb 17 – Mueller Indictment – The "Russian Influence" Is A Commercial Marketing Scheme

No Russian activity had any influence on the election. Nowhere did Russia collude with Trump or his campaign. But Cold War 2.0 is needed to sell more weapons …

 Use as open thread …

Yesterday the U.S. Justice Department indicted the Russian Internet Research Agency on some dubious legal grounds. It covers thirteen Russian people and three Russian legal entities. The main count of the indictment is an alleged "Conspiracy to Defraud the United States".

The published indictment gives support to our long held believe that there was no "Russian influence" campaign during the U.S. election. What is described and denounced as such was instead a commercial marketing scheme which ran click-bait websites to generate advertisement revenue and created online crowds around virtual persona to promote whatever its commercial customers wanted to promote. The size of the operation was tiny when compared to the hundreds of millions in campaign expenditures. It had no influence on the election outcome.

The indictment is fodder for the public to prove that the Mueller investigation is "doing something". It distracts from further questioning  the origin of the Steele dossier. It is full of unproven assertions and assumptions. It is a sham in that none of the Russian persons or companies indicted will ever come in front of a U.S. court. That is bad because the indictment is build on the theory of a new crime which, unless a court throws it out, can be used to incriminate other people in other cases and might even apply to this blog. The later part of this post will refer to that.

In the early 1990s some dude in St.Petersburg made a good business selling hot dogs. He opened a colorful restaurant. Local celebrities and politicians were invited to gain notoriety while the restaurant served cheap food for too high prices. It was a good business. A few years later he moved to Moscow and gained contracts to cater to schools and to the military. The food he served was still substandard.

But catering bad food as school lunches gave him, by chance, the idea for a new business:

Cont. reading: Mueller Indictment – The “Russian Influence” Is A Commercial Marketing Scheme

Late last night the White House accused the Russian military of having launched the destructive "NotPetya" malware which in June 2017 hit many global companies:

Statement from the Press Secretary

In June 2017, the Russian military launched the most destructive and costly cyber-attack in history.

The attack, dubbed “NotPetya,” quickly spread worldwide, causing billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. It was part of the Kremlin’s ongoing effort to destabilize Ukraine and demonstrates ever more clearly Russia’s involvement in the ongoing conflict. This was also a reckless and indiscriminate cyber-attack that will be met with international consequences.

The statement has the same quality as earlier statements about Spain sinking the Maine or about Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction had.

Neither the U.S. nor anyone else has presented ANY evidence of ANY Russian involvement in the creation or distribution of the NotPetya malware. The U.S. is simply asserting this while presenting nothing to back it up.

There is, in general, no attribution possible for any such cyber attack. As John McAfee, founder of an anti-virus firm, said:

“When the FBI or when any other agency says the Russians did it or the Chinese did something or the Iranians did something – that's a fallacy,” said McAfee.
…
“Any hacker capable of breaking into something is extraordinarily capable of hiding their tracks. If I were the Chinese and I wanted to make it look like the Russians did it I would use Russian language within the code. “I would use Russian techniques of breaking into organisations so there is simply no way to assign a source for any attack – this is a fallacy.”
…
I can promise you – if it looks like the Russians did it, then I can guarantee you it was not the Russians.”

I agree with McAfee's statement. The CIA must likewise agree. Wikileaks has released a number of CIA cyber tools it had obtained. These included software specifically designed to create false attributions:

Cont. reading: White House: “Iraq Has Anthrax Virus” “Russia Launched NotPetya”

During the seven years of the war on Syria several accusations were made that the government that it had used 'chemical weapons' against the attacking extremists. The Syrian government denied to have ever released any chemicals. The implausible to murky 'evidence' of such incidents always came from foreign paid  propaganda groups and extremists on the ground. They were likely staged to incriminate the government and to thereby induce military attacks by foreign states.

We currently see several reports which in their combination look like preparations for of another fake 'chemical weapon' incident.

On February 13 the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria noted a warning of an upcoming false-flag 'chemical attack' incident:

"On the evening of February 12, a resident from the Serakab settlement located in the Idlib province called the Russian Center for Reconciliaition to notify (the center) about a chemical weapons attack that could be staged to provide footage for a foreign TV channel," the statement reads. "The caller said that earlier on February 12, Jabhat al-Nusra members travelling in three cars had brought more than 20 chlorine gas cylinders and personal protective equipment to Serakab," the Center added.

"According to the caller, members of the local While Helmets branch wore personal protective equipment while rehearsing first aid provision to civilians suffering from chemical poisoning," the Russian Center said.
…
"The caller pointed out that all the proceedings had been filmed by professional reporters who used a mic with the CNN logo, while commenting on the actions being taken by the White Helmets," the statement said, adding that in between takes, the reporters had consulted with some people over a satellite telephone in English.

The White Helmets are a mostly British funded propaganda organization embedded with Hayat Tahreer Al-Sham, the current incarnation of al-Qaeda in Syria which rules Idleb governorate. The head of al-Qaeda in Syria, Abu Jaber Al-Sheikh, lauded (video, alternative) the White Helmets as the "hidden soldiers of our revolution".

CNN is currently embedded with al-Qaeda and is producing White Helmets propaganda in Idleb governorate:

CNN Today‏ @cnntoday – 12:23 AM – 14 Feb 2018
EXCLUSIVE report from @arwaCNN in #Idlib Syria and @holmescnn has #TheBreakdown on more fighting in #Ghouta #Afrin #DeirEzzor

The Russian warning is not the only sign that another fake chemical weapon attack is coming up.

The Israeli government is pushing "top secret" disinformation into the public which preemptively blames the Syrian government for any upcoming incident. It is also attempts to influence foreign governments on the issue:

Cont. reading: Syria – New ‘Chemical Weapons’ Fake Planned – Chlorine Though Will Not Do

[Some private issues are currently impeding my time for this site. Please bear with me.]

– It was long obvious that the U.S. was moving further to the right, but I still did not expect this. A rather main stream outlet, Politico, is arguing for the reintroduction of slavery (though they name it differently). Neither the economic logic nor the numbers hold up. But we should not let that, or any ethics, get in the way of a high dose of neoliberal extremism:

Under this new system, all citizens would have the right to sponsor a migrant for economic purposes.
…
Mary goes online—to a new kind of international gig economy website, a Fiverr for immigrants—and applies to sponsor a migrant. She enters information about what she needs: someone with rudimentary English skills, no criminal record and an affection for animals. She offers a room in her basement, meals and $5 an hour. (Sponsors under this program would be exempt from paying minimum wage.)
…
According to our calculations, a typical family of four could boost its income by $10,000 to 20,000 by hosting migrants. The reason is that migrants to the United States usually increase their wages many times, allowing them to pay as much as $6,000 to hosts for sponsorships (and our average family could sponsor up to four visas, one for each member).

– Netanyahoo may finally get indicted for taking bribes. The man has of course no shame. He will not step down but become more extreme:

Netanyahu’s supporters won’t turn on him, and his party colleagues won’t find the courage to demand his resignation. He’ll be able to continue portraying himself as the heroic victim of a sinister conspiracy. His aiders and abettors in Likud will continue to spin wild tales of coup d’états and putsches. His base will grow even angrier at the alleged plot hatched by the media, the left and the police – George Soros is waiting in the wings, of course – which will spur Likud politicians to go even harsher and more delusional.

– The Taliban are sending peace feelers and offer negotiations with the U.S. government. Interesting, but they will be ignored.

– Peter Lee, aka @chinahand, gives a good lecture on the history of Korea’s testy relations with the U.S.-Japanese alliance – At the Olympics, South Korea Says “Enough” to a Century of Japanese and U.S. Betrayal

– Lots of outlets claim that dozens if not hundreds Russian contractors died in the recent U.S. attack in east Syria. I stand by my take on the issue. There was some kind of local deal made to hand over an oil field in which the Russian contractor Wagner was involved. The U.S. blew up the deal, literally, when it was about to happen. It wants to keep the issue under its sole control. Few, if any, Russians were hurt.

“You guys want me to send troops everywhere,” Trump said, according to officials in the Situation Room meeting. “What’s the justification?”

“Sir, we’re doing it to prevent a bomb from going off in Times Square,” Mattis replied.
Trump’s favorite general: Can Mattis check an impulsive president and still retain his trust? – WaPo – Feb 7 2018

Faisal Shahzad, the naturalized American citizen who recently pled guilty after attempting to set off a car bomb in Times Square, was a troubled fellow …

During his court hearing Shahzad said: “until the hour the U.S. pulls its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, and stops the drone strikes in Somalia and Yemen and in Pakistan, and stops the occupation of Muslim lands, and stops killing the Muslims, and stops reporting the Muslims to its government, we will be attacking U.S.”
Terrorism: Why They Want to Kill Us – Cato, Jul 1 2010

Feb 5 – Some People Are Fun …

Iran's Rouhani wins the papal sympathy race against Turkey's Erdogan.

Feb 6 – Syria – Is The Turkish Attack On Afrin Intended To Split The U.S.-Kurdish Alliance?

NSA McMaster is supposed to visit Turkey this weekend, SecState Tillerson next week. Will Turkey finally opt for the Russian or the U.S. side? I likely depends on what Washington can and will offer.

Feb 8 – Syria – U.S. May Have Arranged "Self Defense" Attack On Syrian Government Forces

The U.S. attack on pro-Syrian forces killed some 20 Syrian fighters, not the 100 plus the U.S. announced. Several of those killed were Christians from west-Syria who belonged to a group called "ISIS-hunters". These were trained by the Russian private military company Wagner. This supports my suggestion that some oil-well transfer between local Syrian groups was the real reason for this incident.

Feb 10 – WaPo's Ignatius: "ISIS Is There – When The U.S. Needs It"

Whenever the U.S. needs a reason to put its military somewhere it pulls the al-Qaeda/ISIS rabbit out of its hat. Others are not allowed to copy that trick.

Feb 11 – A Book On Hizbullah That Deserves Your Attention

If you can please help Elijah so he can write and publish his book.

Feb 11 – Syria – Is War With Israel Imminent (Updated)?

Israel's jet was hit within Israeli airspace after having bombed a target in Syria. Netanyahoo had for some time tried to get a Russian green light for a more bellicose posture towards Hizbullah and Syria. The answer was "nyet". When he tried to simply go forward by bombing the T-4 base near Palmyra, Russian officers helped the Syrian air defense with the proper response. The rules of engagement have thus changed. After yesterdays imbroglio Putin told Netanyahoo to "avoid any steps that could lead to a new round of confrontation." That was an advice to keep his planes on the ground or lose more of them to a well equipped and unrestricted Syrian air defense.

A piece missing last week should have been about the opening of the Winter Olympics in Korea. The North and the South started with a united team and emphasized the peacefulness of the games. U.S. Vive President Pence made an ass out of himself when he tried, and failed, to party-poop the opening festivities with the South Korean president Moon and the well represented North Korean delegation. Kim Yo Jong, the polite sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, made an excellent impression.

Before Pence came to South Korea he was in Japan to visit the militaristic Prime Minister Abe, a figure widely despised in South Korea. Abe promptly suggested to immediately restart U.S.-South Korean maneuvers which would lead to a restart of nuclear and missile testing in the North.

But the South under President Moon wants -like the North- peace and not a war that would again devastate the country. By now Kim Yo Jong and the North Korean cheerleader squad have gained more sympathy points in South Korea than Pence and Abe combined. How long will it take for the U.S. to decide to "regime change" Moon for some more compliant and belligerent person?

I am no longer fond of Olympic games. There are too many sport disciplines, too much cheating, too much money and too many politics involved in the Olympics. The Norwegian team was rumored to have brought some 6,000 doses of asthma medicine for its athletes. That rumor is likely false, but it makes a good point. Such drugs are exempted by the anti-doping agency if some doctor simply certifies that an athlete needs them. That such drugs are performance enhancing is then just a 'side effect'. At least 15 U.S. athletes in the Rio Olympics took such 'medicine'. Russian athletes though, who never used these exemptions, were banned or restricted for alleged doping on quite murky grounds.

Here is a winter sport, guaranteed doping free, that I'd enjoy to watch more – cat curling (vid).

Please use the comments as open thread …

Around 6 am GMT the Syrian air defense shot downed an Israeli fighter jet that was attacking the country. There is now the chance that a larger war will ensue. (The whole story behind this will surely be covered in Elijah Magnier's upcoming book on Hizbullah.)

[This is a developing story that will be updated below as new information comes in. – The latest update (below) is a video interview with Elijah Magnier on the implications of today's developments.]

This escalation comes after a series of recent provocations against the Russian forces in Syria, yesterday's U.S. attack on Syrian forces, last week's Israeli threats against Lebanon and dozens of Israeli air attacks on alleged Hizbullah or Iranian installations in Syria.

Tonight's events developed after Israel shot down what it called an "Iranian drone" allegedly in air space over the Israel occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Syria denies that its drone violated Israeli air space. Israel then attacked ground targets in Syria. One attacking Israeli F-16 fighter jet was taken down by Syrian air defense. The pilot ejected and parachuted into Israeli territory. He is wounded but survived. It is the first downing of an Israeli jet by Syrian air defense since 1982!  Further Israeli "retaliation" followed. This is another paragraph in the long history of Israeli aggression against Syria.

Older map with an approximate timeline of events – Source: LeBeck– bigger

There are some unconfirmed vague reports of a second damaged F-16 and a destroyed Israeli Apache helicopter.

Today's development as covered in Eljiah Magnier's timeline (emphasis added):

Elijah J. Magnier‏ @ejmalrai – 5:06 AM – 10 Feb 2018
Missiles launched over #Damascus; Rockets over the Golan Heights and a drone downed over #Israel: all in the last hour.
Israel said it is "an #Iranian drone". If that is the case, it is a "forced reconnaissance" to exhaust the Israeli defence system, #Hezbollah's style.

#Breakingnews:
#Israel F-16 downed by what seems to be #Syria air defence system

Cont. reading: Syria – Is War With Israel Imminent (Updated)?

We have often quoted Elijah J. Magnier's reports from Syria and Iraq. His insight and access to the various actors on the ground is unique. Yesterday he posted this request:

Elijah J. Magnier‏ @ejmalrai – 7:06 PM – 9 Feb 2018
I'm raising money for Writing My Book on Hezbollah. Every contribution helps, whatever the amount. Be my partner in this project! I can't do it without you. Click to Donate

Originally from Brussels Magnier reported from Beirut during the Lebanese civil war. During the U.S. war on Iraq and the following occupation he lived in Baghdad and Najaf. Over the last years he has covered the war on Syria and against the Islamic State.

While other writers sit in tinker tanks far away from the front, Elijah is there and talks with the relevant people.

Elijah Magnier on his way to an interview with the marājiʿa
Iman Ali Shrine, Najaf, Iraq, 2017- bigger

From his book description:

Hezbollah: The Unlikely Peacemakers
From Domestic Resistance To A Regional Army

Hezbollah’s very existence arouses passion, and it is criticised as much for its alleged faults as for its achievements. As a war zone correspondent, I am privileged to have watched in person the creation and development of Hezbollah since 1982. I have met and interacted with many of its commanders during the last decades from Lebanon, to Bosnia, Iran, Syria and Iraq, and shared aspects of its activities on the ground, its weakness and strength. My unique experience (1982-2017), my inside information are of vital importance and need to be shared – through my book. Now I am ready to start writing but I can't do it without your donation. Whatever your views or allegiances, understanding this organisation has huge and surprising implications.

The book is expected – hopefully – to be published first in English and later in two more languages: Arabic and French.

Magnier's insight of Hizbullah will become an indispensable source for anyone interested in the modern history of the Middle East.

Elijah Magnier interviewing various leaders and authorities, 1980s/90s – bigger

I usually do not promote other projects or products on this site. This book project though deserves your attention.

David Ignatius, a CIA and Pentagon mouthpiece writing at Jeff Bezos's blog, stenographs the U.S. claims about yesterday's massacre against local pro-government forces in Deir Ezzor.

There is a funny contradiction in his tale.

In a first step Ignatius must justify the U.S. presence and action in the area. He does so by pointing to "remnants" of the Islamic State:

The rout ended at about 5:30 a.m. When we arrived about seven hours later, the Kurdish commander was still flush with victory. He took us on a tour later of the SDF’s front-line positions against scattered Islamic State remnants east of Shaddadi.

See, there is ISIS and that's why the U.S. and the Kurds are there.

But in the next step Ignatius must deny the Russian justification for its presence in Syria and he must reject the legitimacy of action by Syrian government forces. He does so by denying any ISIS presence. The U.S., he writes, has eliminated them all:

The Russian Defense Ministry issued a lame statement Thursday, claiming that the attackers were chasing Islamic State fighters. That’s nonsense, as the Russians surely knew. There are no Islamic State fighters left in that area, thanks to the U.S.-led coalition.

Shaddadi is just a short ride from where the incident happened. It is the same operational area. So ISIS is there when the U.S. needs it for its argument, but has completely vanished when the other side makes claims about attacking it.

Contradictions like the above make it difficult to sell such propaganda to anyone but the most dull people. Ignatius is highly paid. His sponsors should look for better value for their money.

Last night the illegal U.S. occupation force in north-east Syria attacked a group of Syrian government aligned troops and their Russian support. The incident happened north-east of Deir Ezzor city on the east side of the Euphrates. The U.S. claims that it killed some 100 Syrian soldiers that were allegedly attacking its proxy forces in an attempt to recover oil fields.

There is a factual separation of areas south-west of the Euphrates under Syrian government control and north-east of the Euphrates under U.S. occupation. But several locations around Manbij, Raqqa and Deir Ezzor contradict that and are under control of the respective other side. The U.S. claims that a “de-confliction line” along the Euphrates is agreed upon. The Syrian government says that no such agreement exists.

A small area across the Euphrates north-east of Deir Ezzor had been taken by Syrian government forces months ago. It is near some oilfields which the U.S. wants to keep away from the Syrian government.

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“The U.S. wants to keep Syria weak and poor,” says Prof. Joshua Landis. According to Landis the U.S. is keeping the north-east of Syria under occupation to deny Syria access to its oil and its best agricultural land. It wants to turn Syria into a swamp for Russia and Iran to the benefit of mostly Israel.

The valuable oil and gas fields are currently in the hands of local Arab tribes who earlier worked with the Islamic State and are now, the U.S. claims, allied with the YPG/PKK Kurds under the name Syrian Democratic Forces. The SDF is the U.S. local proxy force for its occupation.

On the Syrian government side in Deir Ezzor are a few Syrian troops, local militia from the area, as well as members of Russian private military contractor named Wagner Group. Wagner allegedly has a contract with the Syrian government that will give it some 25% of all revenues from oil-fields it recovers and protects.

Last night the U.S. military announced that it had “self defended” against an attack by Syrian government troops on Syrian ground:

Cont. reading: Syria – U.S. May Have Arranged “Self Defense” Attack On Syrian Government Forces