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MIB

Best of the Web: Pepe Escobar: Turkey's 'Sarajevo Moment' - Who Profits From Russian Ambassador's Assassination?

Pepe Escobar
RT
Tue, 20 Dec 2016 17:17 UTC
coffin of late Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov
© Umit Bektas / ReutersFlag-wrapped coffin of late Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is carried to a plane during a ceremony at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, December 20, 2016
Let's cut to the chase: Ankara 2016 is not Sarajevo 1914. This is not a prelude to WWIII. Whoever plotted the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov - a cool, calm, collected old-school diplomat - risks a mighty blowback.

The assassin, Mevlut Mert Altintas, was a 22-year-old police academy graduate. He was suspended from the Turkish National Police (TNP) over suspected links to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO) after the failed July 15 putsch against Erdogan but returned to duty in November.

It's no secret Gulenists heavily infiltrate the TNP; so a particular outcome of the attack will be an, even more, relentless Erdogan/AKP crackdown on the Gulen network. The Turkish investigation will have to focus not only on the (major) security service fail at Ankara's modern art center - but way beyond. It's not very reassuring that Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu put out a terse statement a very long three hours after the facts.

The killer in a black suit and tie shouted slogans about revenge "for Aleppo" - the requisite "Allahu Akbar" included - in both Turkish and broken Arabic, something that might establish a connection to an Islamist group's rhetoric, although that's not conclusive evidence.
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Propaganda

Best of the Web: Propaganda outnumbers news this week regarding Aleppo

Patrick Cockburn
The Independent, UK
Fri, 16 Dec 2016 17:52 UTC
Happy Aleppo refugeees
© Vanessa Beeley
It has just become more dangerous to be a foreign correspondent reporting on the civil war in Syria. This is because the jihadis holding power in east Aleppo were able to exclude Western journalists, who would be abducted and very likely killed if they went there, and replace them as news sources with highly partisan "local activists" who cannot escape being under jihadi control.

The foreign media has allowed - through naivety or self-interest - people who could only operate with the permission of al-Qaeda-type groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham to dominate the news agenda.

The precedent set in Aleppo means that participants in any future conflict will have an interest in deterring foreign journalists who might report objectively. By kidnapping and killing them, it is easy to create a vacuum of information that is in great demand and will, in future, be supplied by informants sympathetic to or at the mercy of the very same people (in this case the jihadi rulers of east Aleppo) who have kept out the foreign journalists. Killing or abducting the latter turns out to have been a smart move by the jihadis because it enabled them to establish substantial control of news reaching the outside world. This is bad news for any independent journalist entering their territory and threatening their monopoly of information.
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Propaganda

Best of the Web: The epic fail of mainstream media: Craig Murray and the Russian hacking saga

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sat, 17 Dec 2016 14:10 UTC
fake news mainstream media
The Western media is concealing Craig Murray's revelations about how he acted as the go-between between the US insider who provided the Clinton leaks and WikiLeaks.

For once there is no doubt as to what has been the biggest story of the last 10 days.

By rights it should have been the Syrian military's victory in Aleppo, which could prove to be the turning point in the Syrian war.

Nonetheless the Western media has chosen to lead on the CIA's allegations - now lent weight by no less a person than President Obama himself - that Russia hacked and stole the DNC's and Podesta's emails and passed them on to WikiLeaks in order to swing the US Presidential election to Donald Trump.

The Western media has pushed this story relentlessly, and it has been the subject of an almost unending series of headlines and harsh editorial comments.

One might have expected that in such a media frenzy, information from the person - Craig Murray - who says that he not only met with the informer who gave the material to WikiLeaks but actually acted as a go-between between this person and WikiLeaks, would be front line news.

Comment: Exactly.

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Newspaper

Flashback Best of the Web: Miserable failure: Western media are lying about Syria

Stephen Kinzer
Boston Globe
Tue, 23 Feb 2016 21:00 UTC
syrian rebels
© AFP/GettyNew recruits trained to fight alongside 'opposition' in Aleppo, Syria.
Coverage of the Syrian war will be remembered as one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the American press. Reporting about carnage in the ancient city of Aleppo is the latest reason why.

For three years, violent militants have run Aleppo. Their rule began with a wave of repression. They posted notices warning residents: "Don't send your children to school. If you do, we will get the backpack and you will get the coffin." Then they destroyed factories, hoping that unemployed workers would have no recourse other than to become fighters. They trucked looted machinery to Turkey and sold it.

This month, people in Aleppo have finally seen glimmers of hope. The Syrian army and its allies have been pushing militants out of the city. Last week they reclaimed the main power plant. Regular electricity may soon be restored. The militants' hold on the city could be ending.
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Attention

Best of the Web: 'Elite' coup is being orchestrated against president-elect Trump

Bernhard
Moon of Alabama
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 19:33 UTC
Donald Trump
  • There is an "elite" coup attempt underway against the U.S. President-elect Trump.
  • The coup is orchestrated by the camp of Hillary Clinton in association with the CIA and neoconservative powers in Congress.
  • The plan is to use the CIA's "Russia made Trump the winner" nonsense to swing the electoral college against him. The case would then be bumped up to Congress. Major neocon and warmonger parts of the Republicans could then move the presidency to Clinton or, if that fails, put Trump's vice president-elect Mike Pence onto the throne. The regular bipartisan war business, which a Trump presidency threatens to interrupt, could continue.
  • Should the coup succeed violent insurrections in the United States are likely to ensue with unpredictable consequences.
The above theses are thus far only a general outline. No general plan has been published. The scheme though is pretty obvious by now.
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Sherlock

Best of the Web: The Russian bear behind the keyboard: Russian hack claims are absurd

Craig Murray
CraigMurray.org.uk
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 19:24 UTC
Hillary Clinton graphic
I am about twenty four hours behind on debunking the "evidence" of Russian hacking of the DNC because I have only just stopped laughing. I was sent last night the "crowdstrike" report, paid for by the Democratic National Committee, which is supposed to convince us. The New York Times today made this "evidence" its front page story.

It appears from this document that, despite himself being a former extremely competent KGB chief, Vladimir Putin has put Inspector Clouseau in charge of Russian security and left him to get on with it. The Russian Bear has been the symbol of the country since the 16th century. So we have to believe that the Russian security services set up top secret hacking groups identifying themselves as "Cozy Bear" and "Fancy Bear". Whereas no doubt the NSA fronts its hacking operations by a group brilliantly disguised as "The Flaming Bald Eagles", GCHQ doubtless hides behind "Three Lions on a Keyboard" and the French use "Marianne Snoops".

Comment: Mainstream media don't care where the information comes from, as long as it fits with the propaganda.

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People 2

Best of the Web: Majority Of Americans Believe Russia Had No Effect On Presidential Election


Sputnik
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 13:22 UTC
polling location
© AP Photo/ Seth Perlman
A majority of American voters think that Russia had no effect on the US presidential election, a new survey revealed.

The Fox News Poll released on Wednesday shows that US voters think there "was no real effect on the presidential race from Russian cyber-attacks."

Eighty-five percent of Republicans believe Russia did not impact the election, the poll showed.


Comment: Meanwhile, Republicans are increasingly seeing Russia as an ally, following Trump's lead in softening the anti-Russian stance so favored by Killary and the neocon war hawks. As much as Obama, Killary and their MSM presstitutes want to create the reality that Russia is a threat to American lives, clearly a majority of the public sees through the propaganda and identifies much more with Trump's willingness to work with Putin and Russia instead of trying to create war with them. "Fake news" is the only REAL news and the MSM is the real fake news!


On Wednesday, NBC News claimed citing unnamed US intelligence officials that Russian leadership was directly involved in cyberattacks in the 2016 presidential election.

US House Committee on Intelligence Chairman David Nunes said in a statement earlier in the day that the country's intelligence directors refused to brief lawmakers on leaked assessments related to election cyber attacks.

Moscow has repeatedly denied any interference in the presidential election, calling the allegations absurd and an attempt to distract US voters from pressing domestic issues.
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Yoda

Best of the Web: RT Interview With Assad: Terrorist's Strength Comes From US Backing, Russia-China Alliance Makes World Safer


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 16:00 UTC
assad rt interview
President Obama's announcement of a waiver for arming unspecified rebel groups in Syria came shortly before the terrorist group Islamic State launched a massive attack on Palmyra. Syrian President Bashar Assad believes it was no coincidence, he told RT.

"The announcement of the lifting of that embargo is related directly to the attack on Palmyra and to the support of other terrorists outside Aleppo, because when they are defeated in Aleppo, the United States and the West, they need to support their proxies somewhere else," he said.

"The crux of that announcement is to create more chaos, because the United States creates chaos in order to manage this chaos," Assad added.

He added that Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) forces "came with different and huge manpower and firepower that ISIS never had before during this attack, and they attacked on a huge front, tens of kilometers that could be a front of armies. ISIS could only have done that with the support of states. Not state; states."

In the interview, the Syrian leader explained how his approach to fighting terrorism differs from that of the US, why he believes the military success of his forces in Aleppo was taken so negatively in the West, and what he expects from US President-elect Donald Trump.

The full transcript of the interview is below.
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Megaphone

Best of the Web: Propaganda war? Western press paints grim picture of Aleppo as residents celebrate their liberation


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 11:29 UTC
Aleppo residents celebrate
While residents of Aleppo are celebrating the liberation of their city, the mainstream media has been painting the opposite picture with sensational headlines decrying alleged atrocities and a "meltdown of humanity" they claim is happening there.

But what are their sources? Well, "someone told them." Most of their reports are unverified because MSM has no one on the ground in Aleppo.

RT's Murad Gazdiev looks into how MSM lies and misinformation.
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Sheriff

Best of the Web: Victory at last! East Aleppo fully liberated, Syrians celebrate in the streets


RT
Mon, 12 Dec 2016 22:39 UTC
Aleppo residents cheer victory
© Lizzie Phelan / RT
Aleppo streets have erupted in celebrations with people waving flags and shooting in the air as reports said the Syrian Army has taken control of the last militant-held areas in eastern part of the city, RT's Lizzie Phelan reports from the ground.

While an official statement on the situation is yet to emerge from Damascus, a source close to Syrian Army headquarters told RIA Novosti that the army is on the brink of liberating the city.

"The army has begun clearing out the last terrorist stronghold in the Salaheddin neighborhood. The terrorists are firing back and are trying to use mortars," the source told the news agency. "However, the complete liberation of Aleppo could happen soon, which will be officially announced."

Meanwhile people have already taken to the streets of the war-torn city in celebrations, RT's Lizzie Phelan reported from Aleppo.

Comment: The Syrian Army officially announced the liberation of Aleppo after taking the final three blocks held by the terrorist groups that have occupied the city for four years. Between 10,000 to 13,000 civilians fled the final districts in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of refugees to around 130,000 (half the number that Western media and organizations had estimated).



Update: Alexander Mercouris comments:
If the Syrian authorities have indeed at this eleventh hour refused to let the Jihadis leave Aleppo, then this is a reflection of the bankruptcy of US diplomacy. Earlier in the day Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov made the following withering statement about US diplomatic actions
"The problem is very simple. We say - let us first of all agree on what corridors will be provided to militants, given the previous experience when gunmen used any pause for regrouping, receiving replenishment from abroad and terrorising the civilian population even more furiously.

We can coordinate this with Americans very quickly. We undertake commitments to guarantee that these corridors won't be attacked by Syrian armed forces, while Americans undertake commitments together with their regional allies to get militants' consent to leave eastern Aleppo via these safe corridors.

[US colleagues first supported that concept and even committed their considerations to paper at a meeting in Rome on December 2]. But four days later they recalled these considerations and returned to their old and dead-end position, which is that before coordinating the corridors (for the withdrawal of refugees and gunmen) a pause of three, four and seven days must be declared.

We have already gone through this. This will mean that militants will once again get a respite. I hope they will stop sparing gunmen, that the United States as a serious power will use its influence on militants and on those who control gunmen apart from Washington, and that we will finally be able to solve this problem, honestly and caring first of all for the civilian population."
Jubilant Aleppans celebrate their liberation from U.S.-backed terrorist scum:


Panic and celebration in E. Aleppo:


And more videos and pics:







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