New York Times Defames Iraq's Militia As 'Foreign Elements'
The New York Times engages in a mischievous attempt to depict Iraq's popular mobilization forces as an element that is foreign to Iraq and under Iranian control.
Iraq Hosts Both U.S. and Iranian-Backed Forces. It’s Getting Tense. (archived) - New York Times, Feb 7 2024
As Iranian-backed groups and American forces, both of which have bases in Iraq, lock horns around the Mideast, things are becoming uncomfortable for the Iraqi government.
This is from the get go of the headline blatant nonsense:
For years, Iraq has managed to pull off an unlikely balancing act, allowing armed forces tied to both the United States and Iran, an American nemesis, to operate on its soil.Now things are getting shaky.
When Washington, Tehran and Baghdad all wanted the same thing — the defeat of the Islamic State terrorist group — the relationships were fairly tenable, but in recent months, as the war in the Gaza Strip sends ripples across the region, American and Iranian-backed forces have clashed repeatedly in Iraq and Syria. A U.S. strike on one of those militias last week killed 16 Iraqis, and Iraq is saying it has had enough.
“Our land and sovereign authority is not the right place for rival forces to send messages and show their strength.” the office of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement on Sunday.
For many years, both Iran and the United States had their proponents within the Iraqi government, and the Iranian-backed armed groups and the American troops lived in a tolerable if uneasy balance.
...
Now, Mr. Sudani’s government is sounding increasingly tough.Its statement Sunday denouncing the fighting on its soil was particularly pointed in its criticism of the United States, describing last week’s attack in western Iraq as “a blatant aggression” that had jeopardized talks on reducing the number of American troops in Iraq. “Violence only begets violence,” the statement warned.
How is the U.S. foreign occupation force, that has been ordered by a majority in the Iraqi parliament to leave the country, comparable to militia groups of Iraqis founded by the Iraqi government, paid by it, and under its direct control?
It ain't.
The Popular Mobilization Force ...
... is an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization composed of approximately 67 different armed factions, with around 230,000 fighters that are mostly Shia Muslim groups, but also include Sunni Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi groups. The Popular Mobilization Units as a group was formed in 2014 and have fought in nearly every major battle against ISIL.
...
The People's Mobilization Forces (PMF) were formed by the Iraqi government on 15 June 2014 after top Iraqi Shia cleric Ali al-Sistani's non-sectarian fatwa on "Sufficiency Jihad" on 13 June. The fatwa called for defending Iraqi cities, particularly Baghdad, and to participate in the counter-offensive against ISIL, following the Fall of Mosul on 10 June 2014. The forces brought together a number of Shia militias, most of which receive direct support from Iran, along with a small number of Sunni tribesmen by uniting existing militias under the "People's Mobilization Committee" of the Iraqi Ministry of Interior in June 2014.
The forces would fall under the umbrella of the state's security services and within the legal frameworks and practices of the Ministry of Interior. On 19 December 2016, Iraqi President Fuad Masum approved a law passed by parliament in November that incorporated PMU in the country's armed forces.
The Iraqi PMF groups were founded by the Iraqi government and are under its control. Some of them are Shia and some may have an ideological affinity to Iran.
In 2014 and later many of these groups, Shia as well as others, received equipment and training from Iran to fight against ISIS. This help was delivered following requests from the Iraqi government.
That does not make those groups into an Iranian element or into something outside of the Iraqi security forces. They are an integral part of the Iraqi state.
To depict these as 'Iran-backed' outside groups comparable to the unwanted U.S. occupation forces in Iraq is pure falsehood designed to allow for attacks on those groups even when such attacks are in fact attacks on the security forces of Iraq and condemned by the Iraqi government.
Posted by b on February 7, 2024 at 17:51 UTC | Permalink
next page »I recently heard exactly the same line of NY Times BS in a BBC interview of one of those pro-NATO think tanks, so that can't be random and must be their coordinated cover story or propaganda.
Posted by: bill wolfe | Feb 7 2024 18:10 utc | 2
I was listening to music on the radio when they switched to brief headlines. This was shortly after the National Guard troops were killed at the Syria/Jordan border
The news reader referred to Kataib Hezbollah, a group belonging to Iraq's PMF,
simply as "Hezbollah".
Posted by: librul | Feb 7 2024 18:13 utc | 3
Thanks for the posting b.
It is all about control of the narrative and telling stories/lies in support of it.
Since it is not called the Iraq military in words that match the understanding of the West, backing for the military can be misrepresented and is.
That said, trust in the MSM is falling and may go negative which means some of them may get prosecuted along with genocidal leadership.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 7 2024 18:19 utc | 4
the 13th tribe khazarian ashkanazim international crime syndicate is by its nature foreign
at this stage are the folks running this show even human.
the folks running uk,israel,usa usa are running a corporation by its very nature foreign entity to living man or woman.
stop funding moloch baal inc withdraw as much as you can do not agree or consent for you are contracting with the devils own
Posted by: todd | Feb 7 2024 18:24 utc | 5
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 7 2024 18:19 utc | 4
Yes, thanks for maintaining a record of all this b.
As psychohistorian alludes, this is simply The Mighty Wurlitzer in action. The corporate media is just the propaganda wing of the deep state/MIC/elite cabals (name it what you will) that have every incentive to maintain the existing order. Lying through their teeth is in their DNA. That’s why they are, almost uniformly, part of the same elite circles as the people they are supposed to hold to account.
Posted by: KMRIA | Feb 7 2024 18:30 utc | 6
The official position of the neocon tribe is “Shi’a are Iranian” whether they lived for centuries in Iraq and Syria.
NYTimes is parroting neocon propaganda.
Posted by: paddy | Feb 7 2024 18:30 utc | 7
Wonder what our idiots are gonna do when we run out of Tomahawks?
Posted by: OldFart | Feb 7 2024 18:44 utc | 8
The media is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex. Frank Zappa
Posted by: prometheus1200bc | Feb 7 2024 18:59 utc | 11
"are mostly Shia Muslim groups, but also include Sunni Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi groups."
That sounds more theoretical than real. The PMF in my experience are pretty well all Shi'a, and an arm of the Shi'a government that imposes their power on Sunni regions of Iraq. Yes there may be a few non-Shi'a for local defence in the north, but that is all.
There's a basic principle that Iraqi Shi'a don't agree with Iranian Shi'a. They're independent. The most famous case is the question of religious government. The Iraqis have always refused to follow the Iranian model of the time of the revolution whereby a religious supervision was imposed on the country, called velayet-i faqih in Persian. The Iraqis always insisted on a secular government. Even today the Iraqi government is not in the pocket of Iran, rather more subject to the whims of the US.
Posted by: laguerre | Feb 7 2024 19:04 utc | 12
On media disinformation and censorship, Maria Zakharova gets to the heart of the matter and tells us why and who is behind it all during today's weekly briefing:
The US YouTube service blocks the accounts of regional media outlets
The American video hosting site YouTube has carried out another wave of rolling blocks of Russian media accounts. This time, news channels in the regions of Russia came under the blow of Western censorship. Without warning and unilaterally, access to dozens of regional branches of VGTRK was blocked. In particular, to date, it is known about the disconnection of Internet pages of channels in Tyumen, Bryansk, Belgorod, Rostov, the Republic of Sakha, Chita, Murmansk, Pskov, Tomsk, Vologda, Perm, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Mari-El, Adygea, Karelia.
What's it? This is an uncompromising cleansing of the information space from any sprouts of dissent. Arbitrariness and political censorship have become the daily norm of American digital platforms and video hosting sites. At the same time, they allow, and often encourage, the posting on their resources of illegal, inciting enmity and hatred, as well as fake content, materials of a clearly extremist nature and even of a terrorist nature. Taking into account the fact that the main audience of the blocked accounts are Russian citizens, residents of the above-mentioned regions of Russia, this step should be unequivocally qualified as an undisguised act of interference in the internal affairs of the Russian state and an attempt to influence the mechanisms of informing the population and shaping public opinion.
It is very clear to us that official Washington is behind this repression of a supposedly independent American company. It is also obvious that such measures aimed at cutting off sources of inconvenient information are related to the upcoming presidential elections in March and are largely provoked by the growing public demand for objective information in the United States itself.
Such media aggression once again clearly demonstrates the true attitude of the "collective West" to pluralism of opinions, freedom of access to information and freedom of speech. U.S. media technologists should keep in mind that even if they use such moderation techniques and methods, they will sink to the level of cave-dwelling political censorship, but they will still achieve nothing. This is nothing more than a manifestation of the impotent anger of Washington and its obedient media giants. Ultimately, such actions become an additional impetus for the formation of a national digital ecosystem completely independent of the whims of all these Western shareholders, resistant to external hostile influences, the need for which, in my opinion, is no longer disputed by anyone.
Once again, I urge everyone to subscribe to Rutube, post your content there, fill it with interesting, useful, and necessary content. Rest assured that this is the key to the very information security and information sovereignty that we have all dreamed of for a long time and are now putting into practice.
"The media is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex. Frank Zappa"
Posted by: prometheus1200bc | Feb 7 2024 18:59 utc | 11
"Joe's Garage" is one of my favourite albums-however I am always mystified that he wasn't a drug user how crazy or profound he would he have been if he had? Anyways, how about:
"Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe."
Frank Zappa
Kinda fits our times.
wait, so who are US forces in iraq? Is the US media admitting to covert US proxies? If this just refers to US trained Iraqi military, why not just say tension between iran-backed forces and the Iraqi military?
Posted by: goggle-eyed | Feb 7 2024 19:23 utc | 16
The NYT is the zionist mouthpiece ... has been forever.
Recall Judith Miller ??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Miller
Posted by: crone | Feb 7 2024 19:25 utc | 17
The Azov Brigade and other Nazi brigades are an integral part of the Ukrainian state.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Feb 7 2024 19:26 utc | 18
OT---FYI---OT
RT reports Carlson's interview with Putin has occurred:
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US journalist Tucker Carlson on Tuesday for an interview, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily media briefing on Wednesday. The American had announced the imminent release of the footage hours earlier.Peskov declined to say when exactly the public will be able to see the interview and would not comment on its contents. He noted that being an American, Carlson was neither pro-Russian nor pro-Ukrainian in terms of his attitude to the Ukraine conflict, which is expected to be the focus of the interview.
He pointed out that the interviewer’s position contrasts with that which dominates in Western media, which is why the Kremlin had granted his request. The Kremlin spokesman added, however, that Carlson is wrong when he claims that Western news outlets haven’t bothered to seek an interview with the Russian leader.
Western mainstream media cannot claim “even the appearance of impartiality” on Ukraine and “all have a one-sided position,” Peskov explained. Moscow has “no desire” to communicate with them and doubts that anything good would come out of it, he said.
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that Carlson will likely publish his production on Thursday, citing “people familiar with the matter.”
I posted SCF's article on the interview and its threat to the West by Martin Jay to my substack.
"The NYT is the zionist mouthpiece ... has been forever.
Recall Judith Miller ??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Miller"
Posted by: crone | Feb 7 2024 19:25 utc | 17
I don't know about, 'forever', but, at least, since when Zionism was funded late in the 19th century till now; NYT was founded in 1851 preceding the Zionist movement.
It keeps growing sillier by the minute. RT headlines another report: "EU may sanction Tucker Carlson over Putin interview – Newsweek."
'forever' is an exaggeration of course...
but my 9 decades seem like... forever ... ;-)
Posted by: crone | Feb 7 2024 19:41 utc | 22
Dear b,
You might as well try to hold back the tide. The MSM dispenses 'information' tailored to the highest bidder. It runs 'news' on one side and advertises the opposite on the other. Valiant and heroic to push back but futile and tragic too.
"Hitherto journalists have only ever reported the world, the point however is to change it" (apologies to KM, thesis 11 adapted).
Posted by: Patroklos | Feb 7 2024 19:48 utc | 23
OT----FYI----OT-----
Sorry for the interruption, but this is just too funny not to share: RT reports on the Nevada Primary where Nikki Haley made a hilarious historical first:
"Haley makes history in Nevada primary: With Trump not being on the ballot, his GOP challenger lost by double digits to “none of these candidates” in a national first: With frontrunner Donald Trump absent from the ballot, the “none of these candidates” option was picked by more than 60% of the voters. In accordance with state law, Haley was nevertheless declared the winner."
All I can do is shake my head, laugh and bemoan the terminally serious case of dysfunction within the USA.
It must be Iranian Bots... or was that Russian Proxies? Chinese Spy Balloons! Yeah, that's the ticket! Chinese Spy Balloons of Iraq!
Someone needs to give the USA a nice lay down and some over-the-counter painkillers, their Cartel Media is inducing fevered delusions in them again.
Posted by: titmouse | Feb 7 2024 19:59 utc | 25
Posted by: canuck | Feb 7 2024 19:35 utc | 20
So was the New York Herald and the New York Post!
Posted by: sln2002 | Feb 7 2024 20:16 utc | 26
There was a period during the occupation of Iraq something around 2005-07 when all regimist media was bleating about getting-foreign-troops-out-of-Iraq. Its was gut busting hilarious to hear and read since no one wanted the public to notice the biggest foreign military in Iraq at the time was the ….. US Army 😂😂😂😂
Posted by: Exile | Feb 7 2024 20:16 utc | 27
@ 24 Re Nevada Primary OT
The State of Nevada will be having a Republican Caucuses this Thursday President Trump is expected to win most all delegates that will be sent to the Republican convention.
The Nevada Primaries vote are a new thing. Enacted by the Democrats. They are not the official vote. The Caucuses are the real vote as to who is the presidential Candidate.
The Warmongering Bird brain Nikki Haley is not very popular in Nevada. Most republicans voted None of the Above just to show distaste for her.
Sorry to all for going off topic a bit. Just clearing things up.
Here is a little more info.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/nevada-primary-caucuses-republican-trump-haley-rcna136097
Posted by: golddigger | Feb 7 2024 20:27 utc | 28
"forever' is an exaggeration of course..."
but my 9 decades seem like... forever ... ;-)
Posted by: crone | Feb 7 2024 19:41 utc | 22
No, of course, I think I was a bit of an idiot to amend your idea which is 100% correct!
Its just that Zionism and Wahhabism are creation of the City which didn't get started till 1694 .
Canuck ...
No problem ...I appreciate all the info you bring. Thank you.
Posted by: crone | Feb 7 2024 20:54 utc | 30
Iraqi government should be pressured to remove foreign military bases. They are a threat to Iraqis.
USA fears a broader Iran including Iraq and Syria.
Posted by: Jason | Feb 7 2024 21:00 utc | 31
Reuters reporting Kataib Hezbollah leader killed in Baghdad drone attack.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/sound-loud-blasts-heard-iraqs-baghdad-reuters-witness-2024-02-07/
Posted by: Vortex | Feb 7 2024 21:09 utc | 32
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 7 2024 19:34 utc | 19
Thanks Karl. And thanks for Geopolitical Gymnasium, your Substack platform. I get your daily updates and I have been meaning to express my gratitude for a while now. It’s my go-to source for news about (and from) Russia that isn’t trying to gin up hatred towards the largest country on earth. Reading Lavrov or Zakharova or Putin in their own words is (obviously) necessary if you want to understand what’s happening there. Thanks again.
Posted by: KMRIA | Feb 7 2024 21:28 utc | 33
Some reporting finally emerging to expose and contradict the nonsense that Ansar Allah ("The Houthis") are "Iran-backed."
First and most importantly: https://www.mintpressnews.com/new-study-shows-media-pushing-us-war-yemen/286754/
Secondly, the MSM: https://time.com/6692282/iran-doesnt-have-proxies/
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 7 2024 21:30 utc | 34
"Joe's Garage" is one of my favourite albums-however I am always mystified that he wasn't a drug user how crazy or profound he would he have been if he had? Anyways, how about:
"Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe."
Frank Zappa
Well, it might be fair to consider what innovative rock composers (or straight up rock stars) could fear from pejoratives that would diminish their work or reputation. Not just the sort of lying anti-drug rock horseshit that busted offenders purveyed while kite high.
"Stay/Get(?) out of the bullshit just to find out what the bull ate"
Fairly transparent.
A little green rosetta, anyone?
Makes a muffin man better, better, better..
A little bit of trivia about smuggling sponges among associates indicates plenty.
Not using coke (assuming that was the case) IS a sure sign of intelligence. Using coke is what numbed our societal brains and ate the culture we might have had. Countless lives, so many scars.
Ruined mine, and I wasnt a user. The blame for my pain is a local congressman named Jim Costa, who introduced my uncle to Paraguayan importer.
Those culprits scot free.
Zappa produced epic tales of foreboding and warned us.
I wish it were all drug induced fantasies.
Give me Thingfish, his greatest work.
Few people were willing to dare tell the truth.
I dont even know who the next name would be.
Posted by: Not Ewe | Feb 7 2024 21:31 utc | 35
"Zappa produced epic tales of foreboding and warned us.
I wish it were all drug induced fantasies.
Give me Thingfish, his greatest work.
Few people were willing to dare tell the truth.
I dont even know who the next name would be."
Posted by: Not Ewe | Feb 7 2024 21:31 utc | 35
Upon reflection, you're right and I was wrong-if Zappa had took the mind alterers his art may have been gibberish-what he did create is/was divine...
An UBER-important article by Thierry Meysson from Voltairenet.org
Connecting the dots from Ukraine, Israel and their enablers in the USA government:
The veil is being torn: the hidden truths of Jabotinsky and Netanyahu
Terrifying reading- you will not enjoy this
https://www.voltairenet.org/article220334.html
Posted by: Paul from Norway | Feb 7 2024 21:38 utc | 37
I think that illustrates the murky point I had in mind.
I tossed allusions to Beefheart stories in there, which taken with supervision, suggest to me that Mushrooms were available, and worth the risk of jail time, maybe even an alias after the fact.
Zappa had plenty of reason to see through the charades.
I imagine he spent some interesting times with those friends.
It makes not much difference to me, but would explain many peoples expanded understandings within a culture built from lies, hate and oppression.
Posted by: Not Ewe | Feb 7 2024 21:42 utc | 38
KMRIA | Feb 7 2024 21:28 utc | 33--
Thanks very much for your kind words. In light of the upcoming Carlson interview publication, I'll be providing a reminder of past words.
i think that,despite his brilliance,perhaps Zappa was complicit in the weird, semi "bogus" 'counter-culture' movement in laurel canyon, la. IMO
Posted by: kulturkritik | Feb 7 2024 22:08 utc | 40
the Ladies of the Canyon, as well? I met the first one, had her in my home. That sort of speculation serves everyone poorly. There is a wealth of facts to prosecute upon. Looking for something in the shadows indicates fear of facing reality as it is.
Posted by: Not Ewe | Feb 7 2024 22:15 utc | 41
New terrorist attack in Bagdad. Freedom fighter murderd.
A drone.
Posted by: Mark2 | Feb 7 2024 22:17 utc | 42
They failed to mention the US backed ISIS part.
Posted by: Immaculate deception | Feb 7 2024 22:23 utc | 43
Doing my catchup today, this was on a previous thread but very helpful for me as I hadn't yet seen it. So thanks, Richard L| Feb 7 2024 1:39 utc | 135!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UVaIYs04anE
I have watched it twice. "... I keep sane by coming here..." says Pepe. I keep sane by watching (or reading) Pepe. And this video is Pepe at his best. I highly recommend it.
Posted by: juliania | Feb 7 2024 22:30 utc | 44
I am definitely not an expert on Saudi Arabia.
But I am quite sure that the name of the place was plain Arabia until Ibn Saud (?) decided to name the whole country for himself and his family in 1932.
Hmmm, this naming game reminds me of something . . .
Posted by: Jane | Feb 7 2024 22:42 utc | 45
Dear b,
You might as well try to hold back the tide. The MSM dispenses 'information' tailored to the highest bidder. It runs 'news' on one side and advertises the opposite on the other. Valiant and heroic to push back but futile and tragic too.
"Hitherto journalists have only ever reported the world, the point however is to change it" (apologies to KM, thesis 11 adapted).
Posted by: Patroklos | Feb 7 2024 19:48 utc | 23
=============
Well, eff.
What, Mr. Patroklus, is really the point of this nasty, pompous, unoriginal little message to your host at this blog?
If you think maintaining this blog is pointless, it might be a better use of your time to stay home in your ivory tower lecturing to your mirror and spare the commentariat and your host your "gems."
Posted by: Jane | Feb 7 2024 22:52 utc | 46
What fry’s me to no end is WHAT the HELL are National Guard Troops doing in Iraq Syria Libya. They have no business being outside our boarders and any governor who lets them go should be removed. We now use them as military and the clowns in Washington have gotten away with it. We need a constitution that requires Washington DC politicians children, to serve 1st in any war. Not one but all their kids no matter their genders! Their grand kids as well, and in the case of our old gas bags their great grandkids God I hate these fing politicians or prostituting murderers!.
Posted by: Susan | Feb 7 2024 22:52 utc | 47
Susan | Feb 7 2024 22:52 utc | 47--
Patriot Act changed all that and there was nothing Guard troops could do but resign if they could. And of course, there was never any declaration of war for Afghanistan or Iraq or Syria, etc., so IMO all deployments were illegal and violated the original terms of contract. Not one Governor challenged as I recall.
I think that I get it: the Texas National Guard is a Mexican mafia-backed militia, and that's the gist of the problem over there. Just bomb Mexico and everything will be fine :-)
Posted by: viscaelpaviscaelvi | Feb 7 2024 23:04 utc | 49
I think the reason I like Pepe so much is that he doesn't let anger get in the way. Be well, Patroklus, from a fellow ivory tower inhabitant.
Posted by: juliania | Feb 7 2024 23:08 utc | 50
Posted by: Susan | Feb 7 2024 22:52 utc | 47
=========
Susan, I agree 150%
I was shocked when I learned that the three "troops" killed in the attack in Iraq were Georgia National Guard reservists. What the hell is the Georgia National Guard doing in Iraq? Why weren't regular US Army troops sent to that post?
Maybe we should introduce the requirement that all congresspeople and state legislators either must show that they have done their two years' military service, or they must join their own state's reserves and go to the trainings, etc. as a prerequisite to taking the oath of office.
Posted by: Jane | Feb 7 2024 23:17 utc | 51
Thanks to a Q, Maria skewers CNN:
Question: The British newspaper The Guardian published an article in which it equated CNN's pro-Israel bias with "journalistic negligence." The text gave examples of how the company's management demanded one-sided coverage of Israel's position from employees, ignored Palestinian voices, emphasized the number of Israeli casualties and questioned data released by the Gaza Department of Health. CNN denied the accusations and said the reporting on Palestine and Israel was "fair." How would you comment on this?Answer: How interesting. Was the word "fair" used?
Question: Yes. This is a quote.
Maria Zakharova: It turns out that now they should not be tolerant, they should not correspond to the "new ethics", they should not be in line with professional attitudes, they should not be balanced, but fair. This is something fresh in Western attitudes toward free speech. This is probably the only thing that can be new. Everything else is unforgotten old.
The fact is that we are not interested in what the Guardian newspaper wrote. We absolutely do not need any example of today in order to form our attitude to the materials about Russia shown by CNN.
Monstrous Russophobic propaganda. Not just a lack of objectivity, but a rampant subjective, biased, anti-Russian and Russophobic approach to covering everything related to our country and people. All this destroys the perception of the viewers of this channel or users of its Internet resources about the real picture of the world.
It is already obvious that Americans live in some kind of non-existent world painted by their media giants. A significant share of the overall effort is taken up by the efforts of channels such as CNN.
And Amanpour wonders why Russia refuses its requests to interview Putin.
Jane | Feb 7 2024 23:17 utc | 51--
I rather doubt many could pass the ASVAB or the physical condition requirements, but your point is well made.
Posted by: Jane | Feb 7 2024 22:52 utc | 46
Thus continues a recent trend in mis-readings and attacks on comments and commentors based on misunderstandings and (in many cases) ongoing personal vendettas and gangings-up-opon in MOA comments.
A couple things: 1) Patrokolos was voicing his own frustration with the massive tide of media propaganda and the fact that they'll just keep it coming while cynically taking advertising dollars from the "other side" of whatever agenda is being pushed. 2) b isn't so inexperienced or thin-skinned as to take the comment as an attack or suggestion that he should just give up, nor was that the OP's intent.
So I'm curious - Is this a case of a non-native/fluent English reader misreading a comment and immediately jumping to the wrong conclusion, or have we reached a point at MoA that everyone must be on constant guard when making comments so as not to potentially offend someone (or the bar owner) when they are obviously not trying to?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 7 2024 23:41 utc | 54
Blinken visits Saudi Arabia. The Americans block the negotiated Saudi-Houthi peace deal. Blinken arrives in Israel. Netanyahoo rejects all negotiations to pursue Total Victory and the Americans blow up a militia commander in Baghdad. Next stop Egypt. The Egyptians already ducking for cover.
Posted by: jayc | Feb 7 2024 23:45 utc | 55
If the NYT or WaPost ceased telling lies, would anyone notice?
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 7 2024 18:46 utc | 9
-------------------------------------------------------------
You would, for sure, as well as b and a few others here.
Along with many others, I have put them on ignore, only to be reminded in these pages of my reasons. One of the wsj matriarchs complained in a WEF session in Davos recently that MSM lost control.
Satisfying.
Best news out of WEF, maybe.
Posted by: Acco Hengst | Feb 7 2024 23:48 utc | 56
Ureka !
I'v got it.........
A two state solution within the United states of America.
Posted by: Mark2 | Feb 7 2024 23:54 utc | 57
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 7 2024 23:41 utc | 54
=============
Everyone here can read and and can reach their own conclusions as to the point and value of Patroclus's comment.
Posted by: Jane | Feb 8 2024 0:38 utc | 58
I found Patroklos’ cynical humour funny and i thank him for mustering that up for us. Better than what I’ve got to give.
I did chainsaw work yesterday, cutting up a storm-induced mess. It went well. I took the usual safety precautions but the miracle worker was in imagining the entire thing as the blob —> in no time it seemed, zip, gone, cut into small pieces and tidily stacked. Put a stake in it and top with garlic.
Posted by: suzan | Feb 8 2024 0:53 utc | 59
As we were on "Iranian" Forces in Iraq, their opsec plain sux.
Posted by: Surferket | Feb 8 2024 1:09 utc | 60
I rather doubt many could pass the ASVAB or the physical condition requirements, but your point is well made.
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 7 2024 23:23 utc | 53
Screw aptitude tests. I doubt any of them could pass the HPC (Hare Psychopathy Checklist).
Posted by: Honzo | Feb 8 2024 1:10 utc | 61
@Susan re: why NG
Trigger force. They're not expected to die as readily as regular mil. They're your neighbors showing up to fill sandbags when the levee breaks. It's an extra gut punch when they do die, and I agree that this one is brick stupid shameless.
Posted by: Dr Wellington Yueh | Feb 8 2024 1:15 utc | 62
Posted by: Patroklos | Feb 7 2024 19:48 utc | 23
Dear b,
You might as well try to hold back the tide. The MSM dispenses 'information' tailored to the highest bidder. It runs 'news' on one side and advertises the opposite on the other. Valiant and heroic to push back but futile and tragic too.
Yeah, true of the present media situation but Petroklos I point out the old saying - "If you don't fight, you lose."
I add, the Palestinians in Gaza are fighting back , and are not winning conventionally, but they are not losing comprehensively either, and the fight continues although it might seem to be hopeless at the immediate time.
Things change, and I do not think that the Palestinian efforts in Gaza (or the West Bank) are futile. They will have a victory eventually.
The same applies to fighting against the Western MSM.
Posted by: Barrel Brown | Feb 8 2024 1:32 utc | 63
Suzan @ 59
The stake and garlic are a nice touch.
Release your inner lumberjack on splitting logs, picture your foe on each log.
Works a treat.
Good therpy.
Posted by: Mark2 | Feb 8 2024 1:39 utc | 64
Barrel Brown
Palastinans have shown themselves to the greatest people to walk this earth.
America and england have made themselves into a toxic brand, i dont think they realise the self harm they have done. Lost credabilty never to be re-established, scorned where ever they dare travel in the world.
A grotesqe holywood fiction of a people.
Its really sad.
Posted by: Mark2 | Feb 8 2024 2:01 utc | 65
Not Ewe @35
canuck @36
Love Frank, he was such a windmill tilter...
Back in the days in Germany 1978 at an all day rockfest in Saarbrucken, Frank dedicated the song Conehead to the 10-12K US Servicemen who were mostly drunk and stoned at the show. The majority of the incensed GI's that could still stagger to their feet, screamed and roared their disapproval, gave Frank the finger. Of course Frank gave it right back. God I howled with laughter at the spectacle, just LOVED IT!
Posted by: bisfugged | Feb 8 2024 2:28 utc | 66
Adolph Ochs bought the New York Times in 1896. His daughter married the first Arthur Sulzberger, who eventually took over the paper. So essentially the Sulzbergers owned the New York Times since 1896. Until World War 2, the Ochs/Sulzberger family were anti-Zionist Jews. but from World War 2, the position of the Sulzberger family, who depended on advertising funding from New York businesses, especially department stores, gradually shifted. By 1967, with the Middle Eastern war of that year, the shift was complete, and the New York Times thereafter was a Zionist organ.
Posted by: Lysias | Feb 8 2024 2:31 utc | 67
Posted by: bisfugged | Feb 8 2024 2:28 utc | 66
priceless. Perhaps a major moment in music history for certain parties, certainly then and there or right near.
Posted by: Not Ewe | Feb 8 2024 2:40 utc | 68
A lot of members of the New Jersey National Guard were recently sent to Fort Bliss in Texas in preparation for deployment somewhere (unspecified) in the Middle East. The Regular Army has recently been experiencing severe recruiting problems.
Posted by: Lysias | Feb 8 2024 2:45 utc | 69
ZH has a posting up with the title
Biden Pulls A Trump: Targeted Drone Assassination Kills Iran-Backed Militia Leaders In Baghdad
the quote
Geopolitical blog Moon of Alabama writes, "Kataib Hezbollah is an Iraqi PMF militia which are part of the official Iraqi security forces under the Ministry of Interior. Any attack on Kataib is an attack on the state of Iraq." Likely this is going to increase calls within Iraqi parliament to force all remaining American advisers and troops out of the country.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 8 2024 2:59 utc | 70
Apparently the US assassinated the head of the militia, Abu Baqir Al-Saadi, in Baghdad.
Iraqis are mad about it.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Feb 8 2024 3:55 utc | 72
Does anybody else find it odd that not one photo has been seen of the damage done to Tower 22? Maybe a Photo of the alleged Iranian drone parts. A satellite image?
Posted by: bunchofatoms | Feb 8 2024 4:17 utc | 73
Bunchofatoms @73
Indeed, there are many unanswered questions regarding the Tower 22 incident. The story, as fed to us, makes little sense. Pictures would go a long way towards explaining what did or did not happen there.
Posted by: AJ | Feb 8 2024 4:45 utc | 74
Below is a ZH posting title that says it all
Only 3 In 10 Americans Were Aware US Had Troops In Syria Prior To Deadly Attack
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 8 2024 4:46 utc | 75
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 8 2024 2:59 utc | 70
‘ZH has a posting up with the title
Biden Pulls A Trump: Targeted Drone Assassination Kills Iran-Backed Militia Leaders In Baghdad…’
————
Pretty convinced at this point ZH is just a CIA-controlled site. Pity, because it used to be awesome, back in the days of the dreaded ‘Fonestar’. There were a lot of great commenters and great comments. Back then, nothing, for the most part, was censored. The site back then was owned and administered by someone in the Baltics, if I am not very much mistaken.
Posted by: Áobh Ó’Sheachnasaigh | Feb 8 2024 4:50 utc | 76
Talkshow with 3 typical Millenial Women discussing the Genocide Case. This is more evidence that the Likud has lost the narrative.
….At a special live show Katie and journalists Rania Khalek and Abby Martin react to South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, Israel’s obvious genocidal incitement and Israel’s defenders including National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) and the nation of Germany. Abby does not mince words when it comes to Fetterman……
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LXSP9tRbce0
Posted by: Exile | Feb 8 2024 4:51 utc | 77
@ Áobh Ó’Sheachnasaigh | Feb 8 2024 4:50 utc | 76 who failed to note the quote of b at MoA was what I reported and you called it totally CIA controlled.
ZH, like Reuters, reports lots of things they call news but we would call propaganda. I try and use them for what are early takes on news and less for what does that news mean AND they occasionally quote Bernhard or MoA and I try and catch that and report it here.....like I did, but you missed.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 8 2024 4:58 utc | 78
Celtic alphaber-soup @76
ZH was run by someone from Bulgaria, if I recall correctly. The editorial policy certainly changed a lot lately.
Aobh O'Sheachnasaigh
There, I learned to spell your name! Old dog, new trick and all that...
Posted by: AJ | Feb 8 2024 5:01 utc | 79
Posted by: Jane | Feb 7 2024 23:17 utc | 51
You may be interested to know that the national guard was nearly half of all deployed troops to Afghanistan and Iraq.
It is - to the casual citizen observer - quite the bait and switch and I'm sure many enlisted guardsmen would say the same thing.
Long story short - DO NOT ALLOW, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, ANYONE FROM YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY THAT YOU CAN TALK TO FACE TO FACE TO JOIN ANY USA ARMED SERVICES.
Embarrass yourself, impose yourself on others, walk to that family's house you've never talked to before and ask if you can speak privately with their child.
Everyone reading this is morally obligated to do this at the very least.
Posted by: ryanggg | Feb 8 2024 5:09 utc | 80
Posted by: Jane | Feb 7 2024 23:17 utc | 51
Posted by: ryanggg | Feb 8 2024 5:09 utc | 80
Sorry to add another comment but I just can't help myself everyone here should know these things...
The united States coast guard is currently deployed to the middle east to protect isreal as they genocide Palestinians.
No pressure, but just a quick google search on coast guard in the middle east gives you quick and detailed info from the horses mouth
God bless all of you,
Ryan
Posted by: ryanggg | Feb 8 2024 5:12 utc | 81
Re: convince the young not to join the military
My Nephew was a gung-ho super patriot as a child. He went to all the Military summer camps in middle and high school. ( yes - these exist. They are a sort of proto-Hitler Youth summer camps ) I gradually and subtly worked him over the years; just planted little seeds of doubt ; eventually he saw the light ….. now in his late twenties - he is fully red pilled.
Posted by: Exile | Feb 8 2024 5:26 utc | 82
Karlof1 @ 9:
The only time the NYT and WaPo cease telling lies is when they have been taken out to the back paddock by someone with a shotgun to put whatever remains of their readership out of its misery ... or outrage.
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Feb 8 2024 6:11 utc | 83
@juliana, 44:
Thanks for that repost. I much appreciate it, and have sent it along.
@everyone:
I’m just wondering how long Jane has been posting here? I have recently discovered I get lulled into thinking a newly-arrived poster has been a long mainstay—this happened with both Canuck and shadowbanned-only to discover that nah, they’re both relatively recent arrivals. I ask this as a reader/limited participant in this community from before its establishment, back when it was billion and I was too shy to post—and freely admit I abandoned my first identity here for personal, legal reasons.
But enough about me; what I’m wondering is how long Jane’s been here? Because I have noticed a trend among certain posters, here, where purposeful misrepresentation of the words & intent of long-established stalwarts like patroklos seems to be a recurring theme. I know for certain that Jane has misrepresented my own rhetorical intent, here. I’m rather surprised to see “she” is doing it again with a post where patroklos was clearly bemoaning the sad state f the Western media, and in no way attacking our host, b.
Moreover, it seems to me these forays into provoking dissent among the commenters here have been increasing, as of late, and gaining in their finesse.
So: regardless of what consensus may arrive at w/r/t Jane, I do urge all, here, to remain on high alert regarding the ultimate rhetorical intent of the general activity of each respective poster, here. There is no doubt that this blog is being closely monitored and all commenters here are tracked by TPTB.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Feb 8 2024 6:15 utc | 84
Jane @ 45: Until the 1920s, or after the Ottoman Empire was dissolved in 1922, "Arabia" might have been just a geographical expression referring to the peninsula. The coastal area along the Red Sea was known as Hejaz and was culturally close to Yemen. The interior area around Riyadh was known as Nejd. I think for a time Hejaz and Nejd were administered as separate kingdoms until Ibn Saud United them some time in the 1920.
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Feb 8 2024 6:19 utc | 86
@ Exile | Feb 8 2024 5:26 utc | 82
I’m casually wondering what that implies about the family your sibling has built.
PeterAU has shared his own intimate frustrations, here. I have them, as well, in at least as much strength.
Care to share a bit?
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Feb 8 2024 6:24 utc | 87
I think b should probably add “Ground-Zero for Gen-X Anti-Corporate Political Resistance” as a tagline, somewhere.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Feb 8 2024 6:26 utc | 88
thanks b... these distinctions are critical and of course the nyt would leave them out, as they are serving the empire!!
@ Pacifica Advocate | Feb 8 2024 6:15 utc | 84
jane is a newbie - very recent.. same canuck and shadowbanned..
Posted by: james | Feb 8 2024 6:39 utc | 89
US admits to not informing Iraq about airstrikes
well, blow me down! that would be a first, lol... no mention of calling assad in syria to let me know about the bombing either, but i guess that doesn't count... karlof1 has it exactly right.. that these actions are illegal.. we know it.. the usa knows it, but these goons at the white house state dept must keep up appearances!
Posted by: james | Feb 8 2024 6:42 utc | 90
Pacifica Advocate,
My brother and his wife are typical NPR-PBS-Economist news consumers. Blue pilled.
Posted by: Exile | Feb 8 2024 6:42 utc | 91
But I am quite sure that the name of the place was plain Arabia until Ibn Saud (?) decided to name the whole country for himself and his family in 1932.
Posted by: Jane | Feb 7 2024 22:42 utc | 45
As Refinnejenna | Feb 8 2024 6:19 utc | 86 says, Saudi Arabia wasn't a country before the Saudi family. It's a question whether it is even today. The name in Arabic is telling: al-Mamlaka al-'Arabiyya al-Sa'udiyya - The Arab Kingdom of the Sa'udi family. It's the territory in the Arabian peninsula conquered by Ibn Sa'ud, until he was forced to stop by increasing pressure from the powers in the 1930s. They never thought of it as a country; it's the personal possession of the Saudi dynasty, held together by the extraordinary oil wealth, i.e. the tribes are paid off to remain loyal.
MbS wants to change that evidently, but the princes are resistant to losing their privileges, and everything is dominated from Riyadh, much disliked in the provinces. Still, if the Saudis suddenly disappeared, the state would now probably stay together, but I could be wrong.
Posted by: Laguerre | Feb 8 2024 7:14 utc | 92
ryanggg | Feb 8 2024 5:12 utc | 80
US Coast guard operates from about 2020 in China seas. They Saudi for fishing and "anything threatening g sovereignty " less confronting than a warship they say as well.
Posted by: Hankster | Feb 8 2024 7:15 utc | 93
@ james | Feb 8 2024 6:39 utc | 89
Thanks for that!
Regarding our previous contemplation of high crimes against Jews back in WWII: one of the things I find quite concerning in Hilberg’s scholarship is is absolute silence on the catalyst that founded the Germanic people’s fury towards “International” (read: French, British, and American) Jewry: the Balfour Declaration.
Moreover, I truly do not understand how so many of our contemporary scholars fail to admit the significance of this agreement.
It’s well-documented.
The Balfour Declaration’s influence is vast and undeniable: it was the beginning of the steel-clad alliance of British-US collaboration on the world stage; it was the catalyst and incubator for both post-20s Fleet Street and Madison Avenue, which is to say: everything Advertising/Marketing, everywhere, today; it was quite literally the catalyst that pulled the gullible US public into support for WWI, despite the fact that a full 40% of the US public was, at that time, 1st-gen German immigrants.
And of course, there is the current misery, pain, and utterly inhumane indignity it has forced upon the Palestinian people.
And yet, after reading four of Hilberg’s densely footnoted volumes—some of which note the names of people who sold Hitler’s artworks—there’s not a single damned mention of the Balfour Declaration, which is certainly something the entire Germanic population of politically-minded people of the era were aware of, following their defeat in WWI.
It baffles me how anyone could elevate Hilberg to “Godfather of Holocaust Study”, knowing he neglects this demonstrable historic event, and the concomitant effects.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Feb 8 2024 7:16 utc | 94
13
Whining won’t help!
Its always funny how surprised the Kremlins are about the provocations from their western partners
Like Children they start whining about
)))€
Posted by: SlowSoft | Feb 8 2024 7:16 utc | 95
@OldFart | Feb 7 2024 18:44 utc | 8
Wonder what our idiots are gonna do when we run out of Tomahawks?Prepare to defend your dishwasher.
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 8 2024 7:27 utc | 96
@ Exile | Feb 8 2024 6:42 utc | 91
Sympathies. I was the guy who introduced my family to NPR, back in my Uni years. My parents have always been PBS advocates.
My own thirst for knowledge & understanding led me outside the borders of the US only a year or two later, and I have never stopped learning since. Every observation I proffered them got dumped a long time ago.
I warned the folks about what was coming down the line c. 2008 back in 2003. They lost everything but their home in that fiasco.
Still: everything I say about what’s happening outside the bubble of awareness they and those we live remains dismissed as the rankings of a madman.
There is a psychiatric term that bears the name “Cassandra Complex,” but it’s largely ignored by the literature.
Perhaps that will change, once they discover a drug that will erase memories—but I doubt that. They’ve already discovered quite a few, and neither me nor my personal friends nor—I sus—any of us here at MoA are attracted to them.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Feb 8 2024 7:31 utc | 97
@ Exile:
*live ==> love,
*rankings ==> rankings
Sorry. Typed from a phone.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Feb 8 2024 7:34 utc | 98
@Jane | Feb 7 2024 23:17 utc | 51
I was shocked when I learned that the three "troops" killed in the attack in Iraq were Georgia National Guard reservists. What the hell is the Georgia National Guard doing in Iraq?Why are you saying Iraq when the dispute is whether it was in Syria or Jordan. Al Tanf is an illegal US base in Syria.
Why weren't regular US Army troops sent to that post?Why isn't staying at home an alternative?
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 8 2024 7:40 utc | 99
@ Norwegian | Feb 8 2024 7:40 utc | 99
“Freudian slip.”
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Feb 8 2024 7:46 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
When an alleged drone, allegedly made in Iran, allegedly operated by Iraq's PMF (that is allegedly "Iranian backed") detonated, allegedly in Jordan, but on the Syria border missed US mercenary contractors, CIA operatives and terrorists in-training but killed three National Guard troops,
one has to wonder.
Did the CIA or Mossad or MI6 pick up the parts of an Iranian designed drone? Drones are scattered all over Ukraine
after all. Did they then pack them into a crate and ship them to the border of Syria and Jordan, then put a demolition
charge in the crate. Then at the opportune time did the CIA detonate the crate so as to have a pretext for expanding war?
The crate detonated the very day after the US and Iraq had their very first sit down session to negotiate the withdrawl
of US troops from Iraq.
Posted by: librul | Feb 7 2024 18:09 utc | 1