Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
July 06, 2018

Syria - OPCW Issues First Report Of 'Chemical Weapon Attack' in Douma

On April 7 2018 Syrian 'rebels' claimed that the Syrian government used chlorine gas and Sarin in an attack on the besieged Douma suburb near the Syrian capital Damascus. They published a series of videos which showed the dead bodies of mainly women and children.

During the night the incident allegedly happened Douma was hit with artillery and air strikes in retaliation for earlier deadly attacks by some 'rebels' splinter groups on Damascus city. Jaish al-Islam, the main 'rebel' group in Douma, had already agreed to leave towards Idleb governorate.

The claim of the 'chemical attack' was made shortly after U.S. President Trump had announced that he wanted U.S. troops to leave Syria. It was designed to "pull him back in" which it indeed did.

Moon of Alabama published several pieces on the issue:

April 8 - Syria - Timelines Of 'Gas Attacks' Follow A Similar Scheme (Update II)
April 9 - Syria - Any U.S. Strike Will Lead to Escalation
April 11 - Syria - A U.S. Attack Would Be Futile - But Serve A Purpose - by M. K. Bhadrakumar
April 11 - Trump Asks Russia To Roll Over - It Won't
April 12 - Syria - Threat Of Large War Recedes But May Come Back
April 13 - Syria - Manipulated Videos Fail To Launch World War III - Updated
April 14 - F.U.K.U.S. Strikes Syria - Who Won?
April 16 - Syria - Pentagon Hides Attack Failure - 70+ Cruise Missiles Shot Down
April 19 - Syria - Who Is Stalling The OPCW Investigation In Douma?

It seemed obvious from the very first claims of the 'gas attack' that it did not happen at all. The Syrian government had no motive to use any chemical weapon or an irritant like chlorine in Douma. It had already won. The incident was obviously staged, like others before it, to drag the U.S. into a new attack on Syria.

Even a prominent opposition outlet said that no 'chemical attack' had taken place. As noted on April 9:

Interestingly the MI6 outlet in Coventry, the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights (SOHR), does not confirm a 'gas' incident. In its version of events some 40 people died after their shelter collapsed:

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights issued a higher death toll, saying at least 80 people were killed in Douma, including around 40 who died from suffocation. But it said the suffocations were the result of shelters collapsing on people inside them.

Main stream media, which have quoted SOHR for years, now ignore it and report of a 'chemical attack' as if it were a proven reality.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) send a Fact Finding Mission (FFM) to Douma and investigated the incident. Today it published an interim report and some technical results:

OPCW designated labs conducted analysis of prioritised samples. The results show that no organophosphorous nerve agents or their degradation products were detected in the environmental samples or in the plasma samples taken from alleged casualties. Along with explosive residues, various chlorinated organic chemicals were found in samples from two sites, for which there is full chain of custody. Work by the team to establish the significance of these results is on-going. The FFM team will continue its work to draw final conclusions.

The "Sarin" organophosphate use the 'rebels' claimed is thereby debunked. No degradation products of such chemicals were found. The "various chlorinated organic chemicals" are unsurprising. Chlorine is widely used for water purification and cleaning and "chlorinated organic chemicals" will be found in any household.

In the technical notes of the OPCW report note that one of its laboratory found "dichloroacetic acid", "trichloroacetic acid", "chloral hydrate", "trichlorophenol" and "chlorphenol" in some of the samples its fact finding mission took at the claimed incident sites. These are all substances that are no surprise in any upbuild environment and especially within any home. Dichloroacetic acid" is for example "a trace product of the chlorination of drinking water". Chloral hydrate is likewise "a minor side-product of the chlorination of water when organic residues such as humic acids are present". The other substances are also not uncommon and of various household uses.

The other OPCW laboratory found only "No CWC-scheduled chemicals" and "2,4,6-trinitrotoluene" residues in the samples. Trinitrotoluene, also known as TNT, is an explosive widely used in military ammunition. The second laboratory does not report the chlorinated organic chemicals the other laboratory found.

The preliminary OPCW report says nothing about the concentrations in which these substances were found. Without knowing the concentrations, which may be extremely low, one can not come to further conclusion. The report includes none of the witness statements the fact finding mission took. In various TV reports the medical personal of the one hospital involved in the stunt said that none of their patients were affected by chlorine or chemical weapons.

After the 'rebels' claimed the 'chemical attack' and published their staged videos of stacked bodies U.S. President Trump tweeted that he would retaliate for the strike. Politically he could not pull back from that even when Secretary of Defense Mattis voiced his doubts about the 'rebel' claims. Trump attacked Syria with a series of cruise missiles most of which were shot down by the Syrian air defense. A civil chemical laboratory was destroyed during the attack but no one was hurt.

The now published preliminary OPCW report reinforces the doubts about the 'rebel' claims. There was no 'chemical attack' in Douma. The incident was staged.

One hopes that Trump has learned from this episode and will in future refrain from violent threats over incidents for which no plausible and vetted evidence is provided.

Posted by b on July 6, 2018 at 19:23 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Remember the propaganda in the western media and among politicians, they lied and lied, and people like us here were right in our doubts.


Western media again act as warcriminal psyop agent, not to mention a useful idiot for the terrorists!

Posted by: Zanon | Jul 6 2018 19:57 utc | 1

Thanks for this report, even though in my case you're "preaching to the choir".

I wish I could share your closing optimism: "One hopes that Trump has learned from this episode and will in future refrain from violent threats over incidents for which no plausible and vetted evidence is provided."

Hope springs eternal. But even though I'm not rabidly anti-Trump, I think he will remain unwilling to refrain, or is incapable of refraining, from impulsively responding with bluster, bombast, and chauvinistic bumptiousness when his buttons are pushed, regardless of the validity of the stimulus.

Trump, whose narcissism is second to no one's, is devoid of the introspective humility contemplated by the axiom "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me"; his ego will not process the possibility that he can ever be fooled.

Alas! Trump is definitely a "Threaten first and ask questions later" kind of guy.

Posted by: Ort | Jul 6 2018 20:03 utc | 2

Thanks for the report b. I was surfing the net as I prepared a meal and saw that the BBC is pushing this hard.

The BBC is even writing about the April chemical weapon scam as being added proof.....sad

The elite keep trying to start a war with anyone to keep the focus off their failure as the "leaders of the free world" BS. When are the elite going to realize their temper tantrums aren't working?

I hope they don't get their shooting war and I hope their economic war provides their final undoing.....think of the waste of human and other resources over the past 70 years.....let alone the centuries that the private finance/property scam has been going on.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 6 2018 20:13 utc | 3

And liquid chlorine (household bleach) combined with another common household chemical used around the world will release chlorine gas.

Posted by: Yag | Jul 6 2018 20:24 utc | 4

Still, Ard-Tagesschau says the following (originally in German):
"In the battles for the Syrian rebel stronghold Duma, chlorine gas was apparently used in April. The OPCW found traces of this in gas cylinder residues."
Sure enough I agree with you B, but for the MSM the OPCW report reads different. They cannot admit everything was staged. And the report is not at all clear, so anyone can give it the desired spin.

Posted by: Pnyx | Jul 6 2018 20:38 utc | 5

"The OPCW found traces of this in gas cylinder residues."

Claiming that the OPCW found "traces of chlorine" is like claiming one found "traces of oxygen" or "traces of hydrogen" when one found water (H2O).

The occurrence of a basic element in a compound is not a "trace" of the basic element. That's chemistry 001. Journalists nowadays seem to lack most basics of higher education.

Posted by: b | Jul 6 2018 21:04 utc | 6

@5 Pynx

They didn't find anything relevant. See Appendix 3 of the report.
There's no mention of traces of chlorine which I would find hard to believe anyway, they refer to chloride Cl- as in NaCl (table salt) or organic chlorides, of which they do name at least one.

What to expect from the 'Tagesschau' - same old, same old. They're making stuff up again, almost certainly out of willful ignorance and bias.

@6 b
I figure it's even worse than that. They're not even asking the most basic question: Am I a competent person?
My guess is a great many of these folks avoid asking that question on purpose.

Posted by: Hmpf | Jul 6 2018 21:14 utc | 7

Pnyx @ 5, B @ 6, Hmpf @ 7:

It would seem that a common (and deliberate) ploy used by the MSM these days is to use journalists with no particular knowledge, experience or insight in an area to write articles that need that knowledge or experience.

The Guardian employs Olivia Solon, a digital journalist (whose speciality is in writing about and recommending particular IT consumer hardware or software products) based in California, with no knowledge or access to knowledge about Syria, its politics or history, to write an article defending the White Helmets and defame the investigative journalists Eva Bartlett and Vanessa Beeley. That practice seems to be par for the course for The Guardian and other print and online newspapers.

Plus The Guardian and others rely on dubious sources like Bellingcat and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, whose credentials are laughable at best, as "experts" in their chosen areas of reporting.

All the Western MSM are now entirely driven by the pursuit of sales revenue and profit and are now no different from outlets peddling entertainment. No surprise really when news media outlets are now owned by the same individuals or corporations that own film studios, TV stations, online media and TV channels, book and comics publishers, and games publishers.

Posted by: Jen | Jul 6 2018 22:06 utc | 8

Jen @8. Great point on the strategy of using "journalists" with no background in the topic they're tasked to 'report."

And yes, the corporate MSM is definitely profit-driven. When "news" was separate from "entertainment," there was some free press possible, but once they were combined, any imaginary wall between sponsors and newscasters was removed.

Still, considering who owns the MSM, I'd say their main purpose is not to sell commercials, but to sell the most profitable "products" of their owners.

Here in the US, CBS was founded by William Paley, who had been in charge of radio propaganda for the US Army Office of Psychological Warfare. CBS was owned by Westinghouse, which became the world's largest military contractor during WW II.

NBC was owned by GE, which was also one of the largest military contractors in the world.

Neither CBS and NBC ever generated even 5% of their parent companies revenues. The real profits were in consumer products and war. And so, not just their news, but all of their programming promoted world views that encouraged consumption and war.

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 6 2018 22:35 utc | 9

Almost all reporters covering international news are working for the various government and private intelligence agencies/think tanks and many domestic reporters as well. This has been the case for over 50 years if not a century. Many of the critical reports are likely written by the agencies/think tanks. Many CIA interns work at MSM for example and reporters are recruited as early as college if not high school through thr corporate government education system. Everyone likes to supplement their income and many are convinced its their patriotic duty to disseminate propaganda. For some its a chance to join the elite class, even at a low level. Obviously getting the 6-8 corporate entities that own 80% of the media to go along is not difficult especially as those who go rogue will be punished by members of the business roundtable responsible for most advertising , which would of course dry up as punishment

Now monitoring the internet and social media with big data analytics allows almost Total Information Awareness. They can see in real time whats working and to what extent and what is not. They can then fill holes or modify the story as needed. They know they dont need to get 100% believability. This is why they have not shut down dissenting comments. They are useful, for now.

I suspect some of the stupidest staged events are just experiments to monitor how many people will simply buy anything. At some point they will feel confident enough to simulate an alien invasion of beings capable of taking human form. This will necessitate martial law which thw fearful will gladly accept, and a global governement led by the countries with the largest space force. Funny how the US still needs Russian Rockets to launch satellites so its Space Force has a way to go yet. I guess I wont be around for the fun since time is not a friend of old men

Posted by: Pft | Jul 6 2018 22:56 utc | 10

Regarding comments of journalists, the problem may not always be with them. There have been countless discussions on the influence of intelligence agencies. Most people would choose to do the right thing when given the choice. However, if the choices are following orders or "suicide by nailgun", most people would choose to live another day.

Posted by: Ian | Jul 6 2018 23:01 utc | 11

Pft @ 10

Speaking of experiments to monitor how many people will believe anything, some good claims from the MSM come to mind: 40% of North Koreans are on crystal meth, the Russians killed the last clown in Aleppo, and the Breatharians (people who purportedly survive on only air and sunlight).

Posted by: Timothy Hagios | Jul 6 2018 23:05 utc | 12

thanks b... unfortunately, i tend to see it much like what @8 jen says... these folks are unsure about their next pay check and are happy to write with a chatham house /scl / cambridge analytica slant knowing what is expected of them.. they ask no questions and are unwilling to articulate the false flags that have shaped all this discussion of opcw and chemical attacks in syria.. in this respect i also agree with @5 pnyx... they are unwilling or unable to raise these questions for fear of dismissal.. more and more people recognize what a poor state the msm is in today.. that is my hope anyway..

Posted by: james | Jul 6 2018 23:06 utc | 13

b said:"One hopes that Trump has learned from this episode and will in future refrain from violent threats over incidents for which no plausible and vetted evidence is provided."

Unfortunately, probably no one here in the land of theater, will ever hear about this report. As to DJT, he'll do whatever it takes to enhance his appearance with the morons. His learning curve only bends toward his own enhancement. To him and his minions, truth doesn't matter...

Posted by: ben | Jul 6 2018 23:47 utc | 14

There's unlikely to be any real investigative journalism regarding opcw reports, considering the papers in uk are owened by mega millionaires who profit from war and the Middle East land grab.oil ect. Plus the owners featured largely in the off shore tax haven leaks- relavent here not so much regarding tax, but what that hidden money is invested in, Gun running, slave labour, buying rebels? It's a small world, media moguls own it.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 7 2018 0:19 utc | 15

The British-created Anglo-American funded black propaganda organisation, the so-called White Helmets were the primary source for the claims of Sarin use by the SAG in Douma. In as just world, the White Helmets as proven liars would now become international pariahs. That they will still be hailed as heroes in the West and western MSM so just how sick the West and western MSM really are. Perhaps now that the OPCW is free to cast blame for "chemical weapons incidents", they should name and shame the United Kingdom for its black propaganda.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jul 7 2018 0:43 utc | 17

Thanks Bevin @ 16
I do follow that site, but had'nt looked recently. Really Good, no doubt your aware of 'the canary ' good article on this subject! Both sites I recommend to one and all.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 7 2018 0:55 utc | 18

Well, we all knew a false flag op was pending. So here it is. Also Trump is a POS.

Posted by: fast freddy | Jul 7 2018 1:01 utc | 19

Thanks, bevin for the links to yet another site I'll be trying to find the time to visit. :-)

Both of those articles lay out the BBC BS succinctly and clearly.

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 7 2018 1:24 utc | 20

When the White Helmets and the rebels staged the 'Douma' chemical attack they were probably expecting that Douma would not be liberated and that no serious inspection would take place to debunk the 'fake' attack.
That was bad luck for them. Contrary to the other chemical "attacks" locations, an inspection on location has taken place early enough and the masks may be falling.

Posted by: Virgile | Jul 7 2018 2:12 utc | 21

@21 virgile... exactly.... all the money the usa/uk have sunk into the white helmets and etc - and very little to nothing to show for it..

Posted by: james | Jul 7 2018 2:40 utc | 22

@3 Psychohistorian --

Your early call that the MSM would go with the chlorine findings to support the attack is proving true across the board -- there is not a chance that an admission of having been mistaken is going to happen.

Posted by: chet380 | Jul 7 2018 2:59 utc | 23

Chloral Hydrate...?!
This was an old school sedative medication.
Seems appropriate somehow.

Posted by: adamski | Jul 7 2018 4:19 utc | 24

Finally, straight shooting from the OPCW.
About time...

Posted by: V | Jul 7 2018 4:36 utc | 25

It is Highly Likely that all the gas attacks were staged as false flags.

Exceedingly Likely.

Posted by: Red Ryder | Jul 7 2018 5:20 utc | 26

james @13 I think it's clearly true, not just a hope, that fewer and fewer people take the media seriously. Those who still watch mainstream and cable 'news' programs are a pretty small minority, and the MSNBC/FOX side of that is probably acknowledged even by most of its consumers, as 'my side' comfort food rather than 'news' as we used to understand it.

The media's lock-step Western-Empire perspective _is_ frightening, but we also need to remember recent election results that have gone against the empire's wishes. Just a couple days ago in Mexico, for example. Real alternative and real (whether socialist, left, right, or libertarian) populist media is having an impact, I think, and we may be able to turn things around in the West before the next world wars start.

Posted by: fairleft | Jul 7 2018 5:37 utc | 27

There are critically important information here from Vanessa Beelley
False Flag Fail: How Syrian Civilians Derailed White Helmet ‘Chemical’ Stunt in Eastern Ghouta
that Bernhardt has not mentioned.

Vanessa Beeley interviewed at least two witnesses who - seeing that the government forces were about to liberate Hamouriya village in Douma from the terrorists under whose control they had suffered for 6 years and thereby feeling empowered - on 6th March at 3pm decided to publicly protest against the terrorists by marching through Hamouriya carrying Syrian national flags. They were met by members of the White Helmets and the terrorists, who blamed them explicitly for ruining their chemical weapons false flag.

Critically importantly, the White Helmets had already released news for the claimed false flag that morning and the night before, and they had already collected 30 dead bodies from all over Douma and brought them to the hoslital, and had already started filming.

The protest critically negated the propaganda message of the flase flag chemical attack - if the Syrian Army had really been dropping chemical weapons on Hamouriya the night before with intent to kill civilian women and children, why would the civilians immediately afterwards start marching through the city carrying Syrian national flags, and having raised the flag at key points in the city? It makes the whole flase flag [even more] implausible. The White Helmets then wrapped one hostage in a Syrian flag and shot him dead as a warning. Fortunately the two witnesses interviewed (and hopefully most of the protesters) were able to escape soon afterwards with the help of the nearby Syrian Army.

The White Helmets specifically stated that the protesters had ruined their chemical attack and ruined their communications with the UN, and that the Americans would not come to their assistance because of it.

This incident explains important aspects of the false flag:

1) So close to impending defeat, the terrorists were really desperate to induce the Americans to save them, and really believed they would do so;

2) Having already announced the false flag the previous night and having collected so many dead bodies in preparation, the existence of the protest creates a credibility problem for the terrorits and White Helmets, to which they seem to have responded with various conflicting signals;

3) In particular, the conflicting signals given out by the MI6 proxies SOHR I would read as a damage limitation act specifically in response to the civilian protest;

4) It would appear that MI6 feared news of this protest would be spread, so that they needed to protect their proxies.

Unfortunately, despite this information being published by Vanessa Beeley, I haven't seen any other mention of it. The protesters endangered their lives by this protest, at least one of them [or another hostage? - this is not clear] was shot dead for it, and all of them were sentenced to death. They deserve due publicity for it and it is really important to an understanding of the incident as a whole.

Bernhardt, I hope you will update the article above to include some of Vanessa Beeley's reporting on this incident.

Posted by: BM | Jul 7 2018 6:00 utc | 28

Bernhardt, I am afraid I don't share your apparent confidence in this OPCW report. It is far too little and lopsided after months of investigation, and appears to be designed to test the waters for a decision confirming that chlorine was used as a weapon, and to coordinate with the MSM to prepare the ground for such a decision. In that case, the MSM reaction to the report is highly cosistent with such an objective.

Why did the the report make no caveats about the chlorine compounds, why did they include no data about concentrations, why did they emphasise the chain of custody of the (probably trivial) chrorine compound samples (and only those samples), why no information on witness testimony, why no mention of the witness testimony in the Hague, why mention (totally irrelevant) testimony of alleged witnesses in Turkey and biological samples taken in Turkey for which no plausible chain of custody exists?

Posted by: V | Jul 7, 2018 12:36:26 AM | 25
Finally, straight shooting from the OPCW.
About time...

This report is a scandal, an outrage. This report itself is a false flag, it is designed to appease those observers who know the incident was a false flag by using carefully ambiguous wording, while preparing the ground for a full-blown 99% dishonest and 100% misleading report condemning the Syrian government.

The correct response to this report is very loud and active and persistent protest against it.

The Russians should make very strongly worded complaints and criticisms about it both at the OPCW and at the UN (maybe they have, I wouldn't know).

Posted by: BM | Jul 7 2018 6:20 utc | 29

BM | Jul 7, 2018 2:20:22 AM | 29

You may be correct; we'll see...

Posted by: V | Jul 7 2018 6:31 utc | 30

For Trump self inflicted ego wound somebody will pay.

Posted by: Kalen | Jul 7 2018 7:09 utc | 31

Interesting article on where people get their news in US. Much of the internet news is actually MSM content or fake alt.net (crypto MSM) and social media is filtering real news as fake, and google is hiding real news in their search engines

https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/how-americans-get-news/

To discount MSM influence is very naive IMO. When one considers the propaganda arms of Hollywood,book publishing and education. Boy oh boy, is escape from the Matrix
going to be hard.

Posted by: Pft | Jul 7 2018 7:47 utc | 32

Pft | Jul 7, 2018 3:47:23 AM | 32

Hmm, I wonder; are people genuinely discounting MSM influence or simply recognising it for what it is (propaganda) and seeking out non-U.S./western news sources?
I'm a Usian who does not read any western news sources (MSM).
I much prefer Farsnews, PressTV, The Greanville Post, MoA, RI, Katehon, World Socialist Web Site, RT, etc., etc.
There are many more, but that should suffice for now.

Posted by: V | Jul 7 2018 10:13 utc | 33

Thanks for those 'v'
I'l work down that list of news sites, but at the mo it's hard to keep up !
Re- your first point/question the most important thing is do the msm control votes and elections? Yes they do ! There for we have no democracy, zilch gone,it's all a sham.Hence our so called govenment is a sham. Our country is run by and for arms traders.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 7 2018 10:29 utc | 34

Mark2 | Jul 7, 2018 6:29:06 AM | 34

So, following your logic (which I mostly agree); what value/good are elections?
None, near as I can tell.
Time for something new?
But then I digress; what to do about false flag chemo attacks?
If the OPCW can no longer be trusted; then what?
The U.S. has done an admirable job of destroying trust between countries.

Posted by: V | Jul 7 2018 11:09 utc | 35

V @ 35
In answer to that first point, --- Winston Churchill asked Ghandi what he thought of British democracy? Ghandi replyed! Yes I think it would be a very ideal .Dont want to take up to much room here ! So will definitely get back to you. Warm regards.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 7 2018 11:51 utc | 36

V
Typo --- should be 'good thing'

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 7 2018 11:55 utc | 37

Mark2 | Jul 7, 2018 7:55:06 AM | 37

No problem; I remember what Ghandi replied.

Posted by: V | Jul 7 2018 13:15 utc | 38

¿Has anyone here read Peter Ford's piece on OPCW?
I believe it fits somewhere in the discussion.
Unfortunate this choir is so small.
Keep writing and Protest Loudly!

Posted by: dfnslblty | Jul 7 2018 13:25 utc | 39

Hi
Nice article, however I tend to disagree partially on the last part, the US administration and the alleged rebels are two faces of the same coins, rebels are funded by the administration from various sources and they acr in response to commands from it, see the southern command operations where this approach of command was openly divulged by various reports and accounts. The reason for the Administration to get into Syria was to further weaken the middle eastern countries for a specific and obvious reason, and each strike and wall destroyed goes into this direction..the bigger picture explains it all..

Posted by: Mike | Jul 7 2018 13:29 utc | 40

... to clarify , every “regime” that threatens Israel openly is to be brought down ... Libya, Iraq,, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Iran , Egypt’s Nasser and the list goes on..

Posted by: Mike | Jul 7 2018 13:35 utc | 41


More on the BBC and this story:
https://skwawkbox.org/2018/07/07/bbc-forced-to-correct-douma-gas-story-after-skwawkbox-exposes-fake-news/

And Craig Murray too:
"Yesterday the OPCW reported that, contrary to US and UK assertions in the UN security council, there was no nerve agent attack on jihadist-held Douma by the Syrian government, precisely as Robert Fisk was execrated by the entire media establishment for pointing out. The OPCW did find some traces of chlorine compounds, but chlorine is a very commonly used element and you have traces of it all over your house. The US wants your chicken chlorinated. The OPCW said it was “Not clear” if the chlorine was weaponised, and it is plain to me from a career in diplomacy that the almost incidental mention is a diplomatic sop to the UK, US and France, which are important members of the OPCW.

"Trump’s reaction to yet more lying claims by the UK government funded White Helmets and Syrian Observatory, a reaction of missile strikes on alleged Syrian facilities producing the non-existent nerve agent, was foolish. May’s leap for British participation was unwise, and the usual queue of Blairites who stood up as always in Parliament to support any bombing action, stand yet again exposed as evil tools of the military industrial complex.

"Hillary Clinton, true to form, wanted more aggressive military action than was undertaken by Trump. Hillary has been itching to destroy Syria as she destroyed Libya. Libya was very much Hillary’s war and – almost unreported by the mainstream media – NATO bombers carried out almost 14,000 bombing sorties on Libya and devastated entire cities...."

If you put Murray, MoA, The Skwawkbox, Strategic Culture, Dissident Voice and a few of the better aggregators together you've got a better Daily Newspaper than The Guardian or Le Monde ever was, far better.

By the way, unless I'm mistaken (it wouldn't be a first!) Ghandi was asked what he thought about Western Civilisation when he replied that "It would be a good idea". It still is an idea worth looking into. It would look just like socialism.

Posted by: bevin | Jul 7 2018 14:22 utc | 42

@27 fairleft.. i hope you are correct on that..

@28 BM... i think it was daniel who left that link here at moa a few days ago.. i read it..

@29 BM.. i tend to agree with you, but see @6 b for more clarity...

@32 pft... it is my observation that the msm in the usa is so usa centric, they know shit about canada, or the rest of the world.. i could be wrong, but that is my general view on what ''americans'' consume for news in the usa.. the indoctrination is heavy.. i would like to think people like @33 V are the norm, but i mostly think people are tuned out of the news - excluding the older generation - above 60 or 70 especially - who still consume the shit via the tv..

@41 mike.. in other words, the usa foreign policy is built around looking after israel.. most here at moa would agree with that.. will the usa ever get it's head out of israels ass? one can hope, lol..

craig murrays post from today that bevin quotes @42.. good comments bevin!


Posted by: james | Jul 7 2018 14:50 utc | 43

Motherboard.com: Japan Just Executed the Leaders of an LSD-Fueled Doomsday Science Cult
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gy3xex/what-is-aum-shinrikyo-sarin-attack

####

This one was real, but even the Aum Shinrikyo sect showed all those years ago how how difficult it is to pull off an effective chemical weapons attack, requiring an enclosed space like the metro system. But that's never the point. Instilling mass fear and panic, not to mention being 'news friendly' is what makes such attacks, sponsored proxy false-flag or not, so enduringly popular. To borrow a well known ad phrase 'Once you pop, you can't stop'

Posted by: et Al | Jul 7 2018 14:53 utc | 44

Journalists nowadays seem to lack most basics of higher education. b.

Yes + they have zero comprehension of basic numbers. Amazing. (Nobody wants to read my exs..) Nowadays, they are not supposed to have any knowledge whatsoever; they have become scribal hacks, merely write, film, show, expose, what they are told or do haphazard copy-pasta.

They are bought servants, nah compradors, and their presence is completely useless (A.I. and some guidance, input from above by 7 -say- very smart ppl would do the job faster and cheaper, for the whole W world) they are actors whose function is to pretend that a ‘fourth estate’ is necessary to uncover facts, inform the populace, air dissenting points of view, have debates, and so on Lies.

(comes to mind, book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udo_Ulfkotte)

Aware they are past their sell-date, one can smell the desperation. The reaction is to become more subservient, toe the line, preserve what can be, become more in-groupy and shaft colleagues who might stray away from the prescribed hyper-rigid guide-lines. Collectively, they have fantastic potential power and means of control (network savvy, present at the switches, etc.) but they are so dumbed down and terrified of status and monetary loss they are like deer caught in the headlights, to stay on track they secretly pray at dawn, conjure the fates, or whatever. The mansion with pool, the ginormous mortgage, Junior, etc. in the US. In France, the monetary aspect is less vital; being excluded from the movers and shakers, the in-ppl, the heady, sexy, wonderful Parisian life.. no.. no.. help…

Part of how a ‘post-truth’ environment comes about. The other driver is the underlying aim, i.e. the imposition of one narrative over another, the Rovian creation of realities which can only be managed by wielding power violent enough to make the ‘other - the people - the adversary’ accept and bow down to the proffered narrative, and never object, call out the lies. Using this template requires careful calculations which, it appears, have gone off kilter in the US.

Maybe one should consider that there were never any Chem-WMD attacks in Syria at all (pace Seymour Hersh, heh, but that is a personal beef of mine..) - there are always limited hangout ppl who try to cobble up one narrative with another and make a living out o that.

Posted by: Noirette | Jul 7 2018 15:00 utc | 45

So far, I'm seeing BBC (as above), al Jazeera, ABC, Reuters, Qatar Tribune twisting the report to say it was a Chlorine attack. PressTV, RT, and Sputnik News say the report clears SAA.

Posted by: Curtis | Jul 7 2018 15:10 utc | 46

19;So,what do think of hrc?

Posted by: dahoit | Jul 7 2018 16:40 utc | 47

A great debate upcoming, will be over what the new appointee to the SCOTUS will vote for, with regards to Roe vs Wade. The point could, however, be moot, if the US Constitution is followed. Article 3 sec. 2 states in part:

" the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make."

The last sentence being the operative one. If taken literally, it would mean Congress, in fact could be the last word on law, not the SCOTUS.

We'll see...

Posted by: ben | Jul 7 2018 17:24 utc | 48

P. S.- With the latest U$ regime, Constitutionality doesn't seem to resonate..

Posted by: ben | Jul 7 2018 17:27 utc | 49

And then there's this: https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/07/06/world/europe/06reuters-syria-crisis-chemicalweapons.html
and this: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/25/world/middleeast/syria-chemical-attack-douma.html
both from the New York Times. The latter is an absurd "virtual crime scene" in which crack reporters claim to prove that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on their own people.

So, as expected, this latest OPCW report will have no effect on the establishment narrative. The good guys vs bad guys scenario is the only approved version, and with no alternative versions being offered in the MSM, it is the one that the most people will believe.

Posted by: Rob | Jul 7 2018 17:36 utc | 50

Not a OPCW word in today's NYT -- waiting for the dictation from the CIA?


Posted by: chet380 | Jul 7 2018 17:40 utc | 51

@51 --

Sorry -- missed the 5 July NYT OPCW article, but still strange nothing today.

Posted by: chet380 | Jul 7 2018 17:45 utc | 52

No rubbish from end to start!
And by the way my cat is not well, its behaving irrational, foaming at the mouth and cant speak..
Look there is a squirrel, its foaming at the mouth too!! Run, run , you fools! the russians is comming!

My brain will overload shortly.

Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Jul 7 2018 17:48 utc | 53

Oh shit! Now that England has reached the World Cup semi-finals, expect another Russian "outrage" either here in the UK or more likely against England supporters in Russia (after all they are traitors to the cause for travelling to Russia), so that Theresa May doesn't seem aloof, unpatriotic, arrogant, etc. for not attending the match against Russia. Off out to dig a hole in the back garden and stock up on aluminium foil.

BTW, went out with a supposedly intelligent friend yesterday for a few beers and the discussion got onto nerve agents. I mentioned to him that the Washington Borg's narrative was a load of bollocks but he got upset when I wouldn't listened to his word-for-word regurgitation of the narrative's main talking points. It's almost like he needs an intervention to break out of the Washington Borg cult.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jul 7 2018 18:18 utc | 54

Den Kelley Abe @ 53
O k see if I can help, kind of kill or cure! The shock to us all may be to much !
There is no squirrel ! They made it up, yes I know it's kind of tuff !we all looked for a squirrel they distracted us. There was no people poisoned by Russians in Salisbury,Amesbury the chlorine attack in Syria yes made up.What the tv and papers said was a lie, to program us all like a laptop !!!
Whilst we were out squirrel huntin, they got through half of world 3 we never noticed. They formed a dictatorship. Sold all your urban buildings services and council houses to one an other. And devalued us all by about 60%
But i'l go easy for now. Couse from there on things went down hill !!!
Warm regards

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 7 2018 18:24 utc | 55

Typo again! Den Lille Abe @ 53
Respect!

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 7 2018 18:40 utc | 56

James writes, "@28 BM... i think it was daniel who left that link here at moa a few days ago.. i read it.."

Wow! I am awed by your recall abilities. I don't even always recall what I posted. ;-)

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 7 2018 18:49 utc | 57

Posted by: ben | Jul 7, 2018 1:24:11 PM | 48
"The last sentence being the operative one. If taken literally, it would mean Congress, in fact could be the last word on law, not the SCOTUS."

As is often said, the Legislature is the first amongst equals (hence it's position in Article I of the Constitution.

That is, Congress passes a law. The Executive may veto it, but if overridden, executes the law (or not, as it sees fit). The Court can be called in to decide how the law is to be executed, or strike the law down as unConstitutional.

Once declared unconstitutional, then Congress may write a new law that more narrowly fits the Court's ruling, or pass an Amendment to make the original law Constitutional.

Constitutional Amendments are deliberately very difficult to pass, but as you state, once the Legislatures do, that specific issue is decided.

In the case of Roe, already in the US abortions are not available in some 85% of all counties. This is largely the result of the terrorist campaign of bombings, shootings and harassment, mostly waged throughout the Clinton/Gore era. If Roe is struck down, mostly those States in which abortions are already essentially or truly unavailable would then have to pass laws banning them.

In the 2014 election, when Republicans swept the polls, anti-abortion issues lost. So-called "Personhood" laws have never stood. So, as you say, we'll see.

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 7 2018 19:19 utc | 58

what a rare event....the truth popped out...

Posted by: oldenyoung | Jul 7 2018 21:36 utc | 59

But! But! Bellingcrap had a photo of something or other that fell from the sky though a hole in a roof. What more evidence could you want?
Hopefully this will put a big nail in his coffin

Posted by: Patrick Armstrong | Jul 7 2018 22:57 utc | 60

By the way, I read somewhere recently that Chlorine rapidly degrades Sarin and therefore no one would use them together. But I can't find the reference now. Can anybody help?

Posted by: Patrick Armstrong | Jul 7 2018 23:14 utc | 61

47. hrc = Bloodthirsty killer; sociopath coming out the gate. Likewise. POS. Trump was not a mass murderer until a couple months in. Didn't take him long to join the club.

Posted by: fast freddy | Jul 8 2018 0:12 utc | 62

Posted by: Jen | 8Pnyx @ 5, B @ 6, Hmpf @ 7:

It would seem that a common (and deliberate) ploy used by the MSM these days is to use journalists with no particular knowledge, experience or insight in an area to write articles that need that knowledge or experience.

I wonder if these "news reporters" were not selected based upon their "sex appeal" to a superior?

Posted by: Pft | @10

I suspect some of the stupidest staged events
are just experiments to monitor how many people will simply buy anything.

I agree. These zany false flag events might be designed to map the approach to an asymptote.

(In analytic geometry, an asymptote (/ˈæsɪmptoʊt/) of a curve is a line such that the distance between
the curve and the line approaches zero as one or both of the x or y coordinates tends to infinite stupidity)

Posted by: Guerrero | Jul 8 2018 0:43 utc | 63

Posted by: fast freddy @62
"Trump was not a mass murderer until a couple months in. Didn't take him long to join the club."

Seems to be part of the job description to be US President. Who was the last US President who did NOT oversee mass murders?

Harrison caught pneumonia giving his Inaugural Address, and died 31 days later, so he might be excused. But, before that he "gained national fame for leading U.S. forces against Native Americans at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811,[2] where he earned the nickname "Old Tippecanoe". He was promoted to major general in the subsequent War of 1812, and served in the Battle of the Thames the following year. This battle resulted in the death of Tecumseh and the dissolution of the Native American coalition which Tecumseh had led."

Ugh.. I just quoted Wikipedia. Oh, the shame.. the eternal shame of it all.....

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 8 2018 3:35 utc | 64

Guerrero, it is such a joy to have you bellying up to the bar at MoA. Your posts have been insightful and informative. Near the end of this latest, I was just about to dig out my dictionary when you thoughtfully defined, "asymptote," leaving me even more impressed.... and then my education concluded with a belly laugh!

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 8 2018 3:41 utc | 65

64
I use it as a starting point quite often for a line of research to give me a few ideas to research further. Sometimes it turns out reasonably accurate. Rarely (never) accurate on the last few decades of politics.
One thing I did find uprising. A few years back (2014 I think) I thought I would looking into the half dozen or so al qaeda/ISIS type terrorist groups that where in the news. In the listing of each group, wikipedia said they received some financing from Saudi Arabia.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Jul 8 2018 3:50 utc | 66

Mark2 @34: "...the most important thing is do the msm control votes and elections? Yes they do ! There for we have no democracy, zilch gone,it's all a sham."
Mexico a few days ago.
Italy a few weeks ago.
Countless other recent elections in eastern and southern Europe.
South Korea 2017.
Trump in 2016.
2016 Brexit vote.
Corbyn in 2015.
All of these defied the very best, stifling efforts by what we still call 'mainstream' and what we still call 'media'. (Probably best to just call it 'big-business-owned propaganda'. Yes, it is still powerful. But elections are in fact its Achilles heel, as even the global borg backhandedly acknowledges with its growing effort to combat real (i.e., 'fake') news.

Posted by: fairleft | Jul 8 2018 4:16 utc | 67

Good point but if people are lied to, given false information uncontested as in this posts topic, it will skew the result, like a loaded dice ! Overall we must lose the game and do. People can only make an informed vote if the msm were telling the truth. I'm not a pessimist by nature. We are where we are, to face that clearly = identify our next move,based on the 'true facts' is the way to bring back a sane/ democratic world.
Forward- good news is , there's a hell of a lot of us that know the truth. But were fractured, isolated, and have our separate battles. That's the problem so we can now see the solution!.
The test of any dictatatership for me is are they still in power who ever wins in a puppet government.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 8 2018 8:49 utc | 68

hrc = Bloodthirsty killer; sociopath coming out the gate. Likewise. POS. Trump was not a mass murderer until a couple months in. Didn't take him long to join the club.
Posted by: fast freddy | Jul 7, 2018 8:12:38 PM | 62

If it's not too much trouble, would you mind refreshing my memory?

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 8 2018 13:38 utc | 69

I get the impression that the OPCW tries to be all things to all men.

Posted by: Shakesvshav | Jul 8 2018 16:24 utc | 70

Mark2 and fairleft, in addition to electoral politics requiring an informed and enlightened electorate, it also requires a legitimate electoral system. The US has such a black box of a system that the Carter Center for election integrity refuses to accredit any national elections here.

As Greg Palast, Beverly Harris and others have been documenting since at least the 2000 election, there is no reason to have any confidence in official election results. The 2004 documentary, "Hacking Democracy" showed how easily computer voting machines can be hacked. In one memorable scene, they sat Presidential Candidate Howard Dean in front of a computer and showed him vote tallies being changed in real time by the activist sitting right next to him!

He was dumbstruck. And yet, he said or did nothing about it... even when he became Chair of the DNC.

Voter roll scrubbing, polling place restrictions like insufficient booths or slashed hours that cause voters to give up and leave, those computer voting machines and even the electronic tallying machines that count paper ballots can be rigged in seconds, then polling officials doing required audits who change or toss out paper ballots to make the official count match what their computers claim, etc. etc. etc.

For 16 years we would yell at DNC officials demanding they investigate these things, since it looked like Republicans were almost always the beneficiaries. We could not understand why they let these election frauds continue.... until the 2016 Democratic Primaries, when we realized they just wanted to keep these arrows in their quiver.

For some reason, the Congressional District in which I live seems to have a legitimate election system, so I stay engaged with it. But at the national level, the results can largely be decided before the candidates even announce they're running.

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 8 2018 17:06 utc | 71

Oh, and for any Republican partisans, yes those Project Veritas scumbags did prove that Democrats have been committing voter fraud (individuals voting in the place of real, registered voters) on an industrial level.

The best that can be said is that national elections are won by whichever party flavor is using the most effective frauds.

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 8 2018 17:10 utc | 72

Thanks for that info ! Very handy to compare with the U.K. Our systems is much more basic put a tic on abit of paper put it in a box. What could possibles go wrong! A few years ago a million ballot papers got stolen in a van! ( nothing to here please move on sir)

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 8 2018 18:31 utc | 73

@all - To those who lament that their comments got 'lost'.

All reasonable comments will be posted. Some may be delayed due to the automated spam-detection system (which is unfortunately necessary). I typically release those manually within a few hours.

Some comments might get deleted by me for hygienic reasons. I yesterday killed several of 'V's comments that were posted completely off-topic in the North Korea threat. I also deleted a few responses to them as they had lost their context. There was another one with a personal attacks on some other commentator which I also chopped.

I've run this blog for fourteen years now and know pretty well which comments are healthy for the discussions within this bar and which are not.

Those who want to argue with others shall do so with facts and in a civil tone. Those who want fight or insult others, and those come here only to run their one personal hobbyhorse will be asked to leave.

- b -

Posted by: b | Jul 9 2018 16:09 utc | 74

@57 daniel... lol! sometimes i remember something, but it is hit and miss!

Posted by: james | Jul 9 2018 17:28 utc | 75

b, having had my comments removed once or twice, I'd like to point out that you have my 100% support in "policing" this site as you see fit. I appreciate the forum you've created and nurtured for all these years, which is reflected in the quality and diversity of readers and commenters you've attracted.

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 9 2018 18:52 utc | 76

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