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Best of the Web: Robert Fisk: Damascus research center bombed by F.UK.US doesn't look like a chemical weapons facility

Robert Fisk
Independent, UK
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 19:58 UTC
syria barzah research center bombed
© charly015.blogspot.com
The great 10th century Iraqi poet Abu Tayyib al-Mutanabbi once lived, O fated city, in the Emirate of Aleppo. He even led a revolt in Syria which was - familiar stuff, this - put down with great ruthlessness. Al-Mutanabbi actually spent two years in prison before reconciling himself to his loss and was subsequently released. Most Arab children in Syria can quote the man by heart and one of their favourite poems begins with these words:

When you see the teeth of a lion,
Don't think that the lion is smiling at you.

I was reminded of this lion while clambering through the ruins on the side of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh last week. This was the centre - now famous from so many satellite pictures - destroyed by Donald Trump's missiles when they struck at "the heart of Syria's chemical weapons programme". Did they? Anything with a Strangelove name like the "Department of Pharmaceutical and Civilian Chemical Research" - the bit of the complex hit by at least 13 missiles - deserves to have its contents studied closely. I'd been refused permission to visit this Syrian institution for three days. If it was all in ruins - which it assuredly is, and on a scale much larger than the photographs suggest - why the delay?

And does it matter? Well, yes. I am reminded of the much more famous Iraqi "baby milk factory" bombed by the Americans in 1991 which General Colin Powell called "a biological weapons factory, of that we are sure". My colleague Patrick Cockburn wrote of this last week, recalling his visit to the factory only hours after the bombing. After the war, it turned out that the building probably had been an infant formula factory after all - although what can't you do with a glass of milk?
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Attention

Best of the Web: Shocker: Russian doping 'whistleblower' claims fail to stand up in court - he made it up


RT
Sat, 28 Apr 2018 19:43 UTC
Grigory Rodchenkov
© Grigory Rodchenkov / Global Look Press
Russian officials plan to sue Grigory Rodchenkov, whose testimony played a key part in the country's Olympic bans, after a sports court rejected his claims. But most believe it's too late to reverse the impact of the doping saga.The scandal over Olympic doping has been running since 2014, and most of the allegations have been known for years. What's changed?

In a landmark ruling in February, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the highest legal authority in such cases, reversed the life bans of 28 Russian sportsmen and gave them back their medals, many of them from the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

But it was only this week that a 160-page summary of the session exposed exactly how the allegations that led to the exclusion of entire Russian teams in various sports from Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018 failed to stand up to legal scrutiny.

Comment: And the Russians aren't even in the top five when it comes to doping: Guess who the worst doping cheaters were in 2016? Italy, France, US, Australia, Belgium - WADA

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Chart Bar

Flashback Best of the Web: Jihadi Manpower, not 'civil war': Mercenaries from 81 different nationalities are fighting in Syria

Ishaan Tharoor
Washington Post
Sun, 24 Aug 2014 21:45 UTC
Brit jihadists
© Stringer / Reuters'Woohoo! This is so much fun! I'm getting paid American dollars to ride this American tank and pretend I'm Syrian!'
It's estimated that the three-year conflict in Syria has drawn foreign fighters to its frontlines at a rate faster than any such war in modern memory, including the struggle of the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. The group that likely boasts the majority of such combatants is the Islamic State, the powerful terrorist organization that now commands a stretch of territory from central Syria to the environs of Iraq's capital, Baghdad.

The presence of these foreign jihadists has dominated media attention of late. Earlier this week, reports emerged of an American fighter slain in Syria in a battle with another Islamist faction. On Thursday, the White House identified nearly a dozen Americans believed to have joined the conflict in Syria. A British national is suspected to have beheaded American journalist James Foley this month, while a pair of Australians have gained notoriety for their habit of posting selfies on social media of them grinning while clutching the severed heads of Assad regime soldiers.

The Soufan Group, a New York-based intelligence firm, estimated in June that there were at least 12,000 foreign fighters from 81 countries in the Syrian conflict, including some 3,000 European nationals. Given the Islamic State's ascendance - and its slick online recruitment operation - it's probable that the bulk of the Western militants are in its ranks. The Economist published a handy graphic of the breakdown this week:

Comment:
The total numbers are probably higher...
Understatement of the decade.

The Russians alone have sent about 70,000 to hell since 2015. The total number of foreign fighters shipped into Syria since 2011 is probably around 200,000, or higher.

One country heftily contributing to 'Jihadi Manpower', and not even mentioned above, is Pakistan, a Muslim country of some quarter-billion people and lots and lots of unemployed, Saudi-madrassa-educated young males.

A 'civil war' this most certainly aint. It's a dirty, dirty proxy war, and elites from Washington to Islamabad are all in on it.

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Cross

Best of the Web: Speaking the Unspeakable: The Assassination and Martyrdom of Thomas Merton

Edward Curtin
edwardcurtin.com
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 21:03 UTC
A Quasi-Review of The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton by Hugh Turley & David Martin
"Killing a man who says 'No!' is a risky business," the priest replied, "because even a corpse can go on whispering 'No! No! No! with a persistence and obstinacy that only certain corpses are capable of. And how can you silence a corpse?" - Ignazio Silone, Bread and Wine
thomas merton
Fifty years have elapsed since Thomas Merton died under mysterious circumstances in a cottage at a Red Cross Conference Center outside Bangkok, Thailand where he was attending an international inter-faith monastic conference. The truth behind his death has been concealed until now through the lies and deceptions of a cast of characters, religious, secular, and U.S. governmental, whose actions chill one to the bone. But he has finally found his voice through Hugh Turley and David Martin, who tell the suppressed truth of Merton's last minutes on earth on December 10, 1968.

This is an extraordinary book in so many ways. First, because the authors prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Trappist monk and anti-war writer Thomas Merton was assassinated and did not die in a fabricated accident, as has been claimed for all these years.

Comment: The CIA can't help doing what it does for satanic forces, but it's appalling that a monastery appears to be covering up the murder of one of its own.

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Cupcake Pink

Best of the Web: Holding a royal wedding amid Britain's third-world level 21% poverty rate is a provocation

John Wight
Sputnik
Sat, 28 Apr 2018 17:08 UTC
poverty uk
The days of a royal birth or wedding being able to forge a national consensus in Britain are over. Not now. Not when so many are suffering. Not when social and economic injustice has reached Dickensian levels. And certainly not when revulsion of the country's power elite has become so entrenched.

On the contrary, such royal events only serve to emphasise the incompatibility of the monarchy with democracy and the nation's collective intelligence in the 21st century.

How could it be otherwise at a time of rising poverty, brute inequality, social injustice, and growing public anger over a political and media establishment whose detachment from the lived experience of millions is near complete?
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Hiliter

Best of the Web: US House Intelligence publishes final report on 'Russian collusion'... THERE WAS NONE. Trump cleared


RT
Fri, 27 Apr 2018 15:57 UTC
US capitol building
© Jim Young / Reuters
The US House Intelligence Committee has released a redacted declassified version of a report on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which officially clears President Trump of any collusion.

"While the Committee found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government, the investigation did find poor judgment and ill-considered actions by the Trump and Clinton campaigns," it said.

The 253-page document was produced based on a year-long investigation into the alleged Russian meddling. Representative Mike Conaway said the heavy redactions of the text were made on the insistence of the US intelligence community.

Comment: There you have it folks. 18 months of politiking by the Swamp with fake intel and fake news, all just to control Trump and keep the American people in line with their globalist agenda.

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Better Earth

Best of the Web: Full statement of the Kim-Moon DMZ summit: Peace, prosperity, unification!

Moon Jae-In and Kim Jong-un
The Korea Times
Fri, 27 Apr 2018 15:31 UTC
moon kim
© Host Broadcaster via Reuters / ReutersSouth Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attend the inter-Korean summit at the truce village of Panmunjom, South Korea April 27, 2018.
During this momentous period of historical transformation on the Korean Peninsula, reflecting the enduring aspiration of the Korean people for peace, prosperity and unification, President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea held an Inter-Korean Summit Meeting at the 'Peace House' at Panmunjeom on April 27, 2018.

The two leaders solemnly declared before the 80 million Korean people and the whole world that there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula and thus a new era of peace has begun.

The two leaders, sharing the firm commitment to bring a swift end to the Cold War relic of longstanding division and confrontation, to boldly approach a new era of national reconciliation, peace and prosperity, and to improve and cultivate inter-Korean relations in a more active manner, declared at this historic site of Panmunjeom as follows:

1. South and North Korea will reconnect the blood relations of the people and bring forward the future of co-prosperity and unification led by Koreans by facilitating comprehensive and groundbreaking advancement in inter-Korean relations. Improving and cultivating inter-Korean relations is the prevalent desire of the whole nation and the urgent calling of the times that cannot be held back any further.

Comment: See also: Kim is the first leader since 1953, when active hostilities on the Peninsula ended, to cross into South Korea. An historic day. He told Moon:
"I felt a flood of emotion as I walked the 200 meters here."

"I came here with a mindset that we will fire a flare at the starting point of a new history for peace and prosperity. Let's get everything off our minds out here and get good results."
kim moon
kim moon



Together with Moon, they planted a tree, a symbol of peace and prosperity, with soil from each country's mountains, and water from each of their rivers:
moon kim tree
© Reuters
moon kim tree
© Reuters
Kim expressed his eagerness to visit Seoul whenever invited, as well as the Blue House, South Korea's seat of government, for more talks. For his part, Moon said he would like to visit North Korea.
"I wish for it to be a chance for us to walk forward hand-in-hand while looking toward the future with a determination, instead of outcomes like those in the past that could not be implemented," Kim told Moon, as cited by Yonhap News Agency.

Moon chimed in, saying that he wishes they would strike an agreement and "create a great present for our people and everyone else in the world who wishes for peace."

Kim repeatedly said he pins high hopes on the summit, which he sees as a chance for reconciliation, "so that the scars between the South and the North could be healed."

In an apparent reference to a future reunification, which was the stated goal of both Koreas, Kim said, "the border line isn't that high" and "it will eventually be erased if a lot of people pass over it."
Not all Koreans are on the peace train, however. There are protests from South Korea's more radical segment of the population calling for bombing the North. Crazy people will always exist. Thankfully, Korea's leadership have their heads on straight.

Trump tweeted his approval:






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Info

Best of the Web: 'No attack, no chemical weapons': Douma witnesses speak out at OPCW briefing at The Hague


RT
Fri, 27 Apr 2018 13:58 UTC
OPCW Douma witness Syrians
Witnesses of the alleged chemical attack in Douma, including 11-year-old Hassan Diab and hospital staff, told reporters at The Hague that the White Helmets video used as a pretext for a US-led strike on Syria was, in fact, staged.

"We were at the basement and we heard people shouting that we needed to go to a hospital. We went through a tunnel. At the hospital they started pouring cold water on me," the boy told the press conference, gathered by Russia's mission at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.

Hassan was among the "victims" seen being washed by water hoses in a video released by the controversial White Helmets group on April 7. The boy and his family later spoke to the media and revealed that Hassan was hurried to the scene by men who claimed that a chemical attack had taken place. They started pouring cold water on the boy and others, filming the frightened children.

Comment: The OPCW also confirms no chemical weapons were used in Douma, yet the Intercept and the MSM maintain that these witnesses are part of a Russian 'conspiracy theory'. ABC News reports:
Russia ratcheted up its efforts Thursday to try to disprove that a Syrian town was hit by a poison gas attack, bringing a group of Syrians, including an 11-year-old boy, to the global chemical weapons watchdog's headquarters to denounce the reports as fake.

The U.S., Britain, France and their allies boycotted the event at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, branding it as "nothing more than a crude propaganda exercise" and an "obscene masquerade."
And the Intercept reports:
Over the objections of chemical weapons inspectors who are still at work in Syria, trying to determine if gas was used to kill dozens of civilians in the former rebel stronghold of Douma on April 7, Russia flew 17 Syrians from the war zone to The Hague on Thursday, where they all testified that they had seen no sign of a chemical attack.
No available reports confirm that the OPCW actually objected to witnesses speaking at the Hague. The Intercept also ignores the fact that the chemical weapons inspectors are only in Syria because they were invited by Russian and Syrian forces.

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Light Sabers

Best of the Web: 'Let us build a better world': Historic meeting between North and South Korea leaders kicks off


RT
Fri, 27 Apr 2018 09:56 UTC
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shakes hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in
© Host Broadcaster via ReutersNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un shakes hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, April 27, 2018
The much-awaited summit between Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in has begun in the "truce village" of Panmunjom. It is the first time the leaders of the two nations sat down for talks in over a decade.

The first inter-Korean summit since 2007, when Kim's late father Kim Il-sung met then-South Korean leader Roh Moo-hyun, is drawing all the eyes, coming ahead of the highly anticipated meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump.

North Korea's nuclear program, whose rapid advancement triggered belligerent threats from the US President, ramping up tensions in the peninsula to the boiling point in late 2017, is expected to dominate the Friday meeting, which is taking place less than a week after Pyongyang announced a freeze of all nuclear and missile exercises and a closure of a major test site.

The meeting is also of a high symbolic value. By crossing the South Korean border on foot to be greeted by Moon on the other side, Kim makes history, becoming the first North Korean leader to set foot on South Korean soil since the war between the two ended in 1953.


Comment: North Korea's leader further suggested that they hold regular summits:
"Let us meet more often. Let us build a better world," Im Jong-seok quoted Kim as saying at a briefing after the first round of talks ended in the border village of Panmunjom

According to Seoul, Kim told Moon that Pyongyang "won't interrupt your early morning sleep anymore," referring to missile tests.

Moon, in his turn, offered, among other things, to link the railroads of the two countries, the spokesman said.

He said the two countries continue working on a joint statement.

"Both sides decided to continue working discussions on drawing up a joint declaration. If the statement appears, it will be signed and jointly published by the two sides' leaders," the spokesman said.
Let's watch that historic moment one more time...



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Camera

Best of the Web: Evidence of a war crime: Wreckage of intercepted missiles in Syria catalogued and displayed by Russian govt


SouthFront
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 13:34 UTC
Missiles
Tomahawk (L). A screenshot from the video
One unexploded Tomahawk cruise missile and one high accuracy air-launched missile launched by the US and its allies on Syria on April 14 have been brought to Moscow, the chief of the Russian General Staff's main operations directorate Colonel-General Sergey Rudskoy said during a press briefing on April 25.
"Some of the missiles failed to reach the designated targets apparently due to technical failures, which created the risk of destroying civilian facilities and causing civilian casualties. Two of them, a cruise missile Tomahawk and a high-accuracy air-launched missile, have been brought to Moscow. You can see the Tomahawk's warhead in this slide," Colonel-General Rudskoy said.
The colonel-general added that Russian specialists are studying them.
"The results of this work will be used to improve Russian weapon systems," Rudskoy said.
us airstrikes syria
© Igor Ermachenkov / SputnikAlleged fragments of missiles fired by the US-led coalition on April 13-14 and shot down by the Syrian air defense forces, as shown by the Russian defense ministry.

Comment: See also: Russia receives two discovered American cruise missiles that did not explode from Syria

To account for the missile gap, the Pentagon claims 76 Tomahawks hit this one site:

Barzeh university campus, Damascus, Syria
Barzeh university campus, Damascus, Syria
As you can see, some of the structures at this relatively tiny target are still standing.

They're clearly blowing smoke.

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