Best of the Web:


Heart - Black

Best of the Web: Western economic sanctions have inflicted years of suffering on Syrian citizens

Patrick Cockburn
CounterPunch
Tue, 11 Oct 2016 17:22 UTC
humanitarian aid syria
© Abd Doumany/Agence France-PresseA Syrian Red Crescent truck, part of a convoy carrying humanitarian aid, is seen in Kafr Batna on the outskirts of Damascus on Feb. 23, 2016, during an operation in cooperation with the U.N. to deliver aid to thousands of besieged Syrians.
The US and EU economic sanctions on Syria are causing huge suffering among ordinary Syrians and preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid, according to a leaked UN internal report. The embargo was supposed to target President Bashar al-Assad and contribute to his removal from power. Instead it is making it more difficult for foodstuffs, fuel and healthcare to reach the mass of the people.

Aid agencies cited in the report say they cannot procure basic medicines or medical equipment for hospitals because sanctions are preventing foreign commercial companies and banks having anything to do with Syria. A European doctor working in Syria says that "the indirect effect of sanctions... makes the import of medical instruments and other medical supplies immensely difficult, nearly impossible."

The revelations in the internal UN assessment of the effect of sanctions on aid delivery, entitled Humanitarian Impact of Syria-Related Unilateral Restrictive Measures and leaked by the investigative publication The Intercept, open up the US and EU to the charge of hypocrisy, after criticising Syria and Russia for impeding the delivery of UN aid supplies to besieged cities in Syria.


Comment: Russian diplomat: ISIS receiving weapons under cover of humanitarian cargos


The Intercept quotes an internal UN email from a senior official saying that sanctions have been a "principal factor" in degrading the Syrian health system and have contributed to a 300 per cent rise in the price of wheat flour and 650 per cent rise for rice, following a doubling of fuel prices in the last 18 months.

Comment: Further reading:

The storm of lies surrounding Syria's humanitarian crisis: Aleppo Is Burning campaign calls for Syria no-fly zone

Read More...
Gold Seal

Best of the Web: Priceless Lavrov: Too many 'pussies' around US presidential campaign


ITAR-TASS
Wed, 12 Oct 2016 17:31 UTC
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation"The name's Lavrov, but please, call me Serge."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has dismissed Washington's claims that Moscow is interfering in the US presidential race.

"It's flattering, of course, to get this kind of attention -- for a regional power, as President Obama called us some time ago," Lavrov said in an interview with CNN, adding that Russia had not seen "a single fact, a single proof" that Russia is meddling in the election.

When asked what he thinks about Republican candidate Donald Trump's latest campaign scandal, Lavrov said that English was not his first language and that he was unsure if he would sound "decent."

Then Lavrov said: "There are so many pussies around your presidential campaign on both sides that I prefer not to comment."

The video in which Trump talked about women in lewd terms back in 2005 emerged last week, forcing the candidate to apologize for his words.

Comment: Sure seems Lavrov was in no mood to mince words in the CNN interview. He also stated that, while he doesn't want to suggest the US is supporting terrorism, Russia got the impression that the US wants to spare Al-Nusra and keep them around in case the US decides to enact Plan B in Syria. Lavrov is being diplomatic, but it's clear that the US has no intention of getting rid of its proxy army Al-Nusra in Syria.

Read More...
Take 2

Best of the Web: German journalist poses as intern to spy on RT Deutsch but turns into mainstream media doubter in only two days


RT
Tue, 11 Oct 2016 18:14 UTC
RT Germany newsroom
© Evgeny Biyatov / Sputnik
A German undercover journalist enrolled as an intern at the RT Deutsch studio to spy on "Putin's propaganda broadcaster," but things didn't exactly go as planned. After just two days, the man began to question the mainstream media bias - and his own worldview.

German youth magazine Neon planted journalist Martin Schlak at the RT Deutsch office in Berlin. His mission was to find out how "Russia's truth" - to use his own term - is being made.

"I'm a spy," Schlak admits.

He writes he was eager to learn if RT's daily work would live up to the terms used by German mainstream media to describe it, such as "Putin's propaganda broadcaster" and "the Kremlin's weapon of hybrid warfare."

Comment: This poor guy must have suffered a serious case of cognitive dissonance.

Read More...
Treasure Chest

Best of the Web: The U.S. hits back after Putin's stunning, heroic humiliation

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Mon, 10 Oct 2016 18:01 UTC
Putin 'The Peacemaker'
© Nathan Tempey/AP
The Obama administration is now accusing Russia of cyber-crime and trying to disrupt the US presidential election. The claim is so far-fetched, it is hardly credible. More credible is that the US is reeling from Putin's stunning humiliation earlier this week.

Since June, US media and supporters of Democrat presidential contender Hillary Clinton have been blaming Russian state-sponsored hackers for breaking into the Democratic party's database.

It is further alleged that Moscow is stealthily trying to influence the outcome of the election, by releasing damaging information on Clinton, which might favor Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Russia has vehemently denied any connection to the cyber-crime charges, or trying to disrupt the November poll.

Now the Obama administration has stepped into the fray by openly accusing Russia. "US government officially accuses Russia of hacking campaign to interfere with elections", reported the Washington Post.

This takes the row to a whole new level. No longer are the insinuations a matter of private, partisan opinion. The US government is officially labelling the Russian state for cyber-crime and political subversion.

Comment: America's war-talk is all bluster, Putin has slammed it with a geopolitical judo swing

Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Best of the Web: Hillary confirms Saudi Arabia and Qatar fund ISIS in latest leaked 2014 email

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 11 Oct 2016 13:50 UTC
Hillary Clinton and ISIS graphic
Over three years after we first reported that one of the two chief sources of funding and support for the "Islamic State" is the small but wealthy nation of Qatar, and long after we also announced that Saudi Arabia had revealed that it was behind ISIS, in a report that was widely disputed, overnight we finally got definitive evidence that it was indeed Qatar and Saudi Arabia that are the main "logistical and financial" supporters of the Islamic State terrorist organization.

In a leaked email sent on August 17, 2014 by Hillary Clinton to her current campaign manager, John Podesta, who back then was counselor to Barack Obama, she admitted that Qatar and Saudi Arabia "are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region."

The email, which was sent just days after the US launched its "temporary" air campaign in Syria, which has now extended over two years, represents an eight-point plan laying out ideas how to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Clinton's email said that the United States should engage in "military operations against these very irregular but determined forces" by "making proper use of clandestine/special operations resources, in coordination with airpower, and established local allies" such as Kurdish forces.

Comment: What a mess. It is clear this policy outline didn't work thus Russia had to step in to try and clean up the mess in Syria. Interesting that Lebanon and Jordan are mentioned frequently. King of Jordan lashes out: 'US thinks it knows the Middle East better than ourselves'.

Hilarious:



Read More...
Arrow Down

Best of the Web: Columbus and the Indians: By Howard Zinn


US Slave Blogspot
Fri, 11 Oct 2013 23:18 UTC
Howard Zinn
© US Slave Blogspot
Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:
"They... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned.... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."
American History_1
© US Slave Blogspot
These Arawaks of the Bahama Islands were much like Indians on the mainland, who were remarkable (European observers were to say again and again) for their hospitality, their belief in sharing. These traits did not stand out in the Europe of the Renaissance, dominated as it was by the religion of popes, the government of kings, the frenzy for money that marked Western civilization and its first messenger to the Americas, Christopher Columbus. Columbus wrote:
"As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts." The information that Columbus wanted most was: Where is the gold?
Read More...
Propaganda

Best of the Web: Mainstream media: Syria lies need to be exposed before it is too late

James Corbett
The Corbett Report
Sun, 09 Oct 2016 22:36 UTC
Cartoon of terrorists and moderate terrorists
The world once again finds itself hurtling to the brink of war, and once again the establishment mouthpiece puppet propaganda media is leading the charge. This time around their lies defy description. In the sick world of the would-be warmongers, child beheading terrorist scum are now the heroes. The blood of the innocents that spill from here on in covers the hands of the mainstream media propagandists.


Comment: Excellent video, a must see and share.

Read More...
Cowboy Hat

Best of the Web: 'Massive evidence shows 'White Helmets' are a foreign-funded group set up to support terrorist entities in Syria'


RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 15:48 UTC
White helmets
© Thaer Mohammed / AFPThe White Helmets walk amid the debris in a rebel-held neighborhood of Aleppo.
Through the White Helmets we are seeing the eradication of Syrian state institutions and the implanting of a Syrian shadow state by predominantly the UK, the US and supported by EU governments, says Vanessa Beeley, independent researcher and journalist.

With Syria's White Helmets having been in the running for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, grabbing headlines as 'Heroes of Peace', with the media and politicians endorsing them, RT spoke with Vanessa Beeley, independent researcher and journalist.

Beeley discussed whether The White Helmets are indeed "independent, impartial and unsullied by Western cash".

RT: The White Helmets claim to be a "neutral, impartial, humanitarian NGO". Is that really the case?

Vanessa Beeley: It's impossible for that claim to be legitimate. Let's take it first of all, "neutral". They claim that they receive no funding from any governments that have a vested interest in the Syrian conflict. And yet they are in fact multimillion funded, conservatively speaking, 100 million dollars from the US, 23 million via USAID; from the UK around now 65 million - it was originally 19.7 million pounds and Boris Johnson announced a further 32 million. France is supplying equipment. Denmark, Germany, Holland and even Japan through the international agency in Japan.

Comment: The White Helmets: Brought to you by the CIA, Mercenary Companies, Inc., Washington think tanks and their exceptionally dedicated whores in the Western media.


For further reading:

Read More...
Gold Seal

Best of the Web: Massive banner of 'Putin as peacemaker' unfurled from New York City bridge


Sputnik
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 21:54 UTC
Putin flag in New York
© REUTERS/ Brendan McDermid
A massive banner praising Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "peacemaker" was hung from the Manhattan Bridge on Thursday afternoon.

At around 1:45 p.m., a 20 foot by 30 foot banner, featuring a photo of Putin with Russian and Syrian flags as the background was hung over the Brooklyn side of the bridge. Over an hour later, at around 3 p.m., the banner was removed by city officials, but not before plenty of onlookers grabbed photos to post on social media.

Comment: Good to see that at least some people are aware and awake!

Read More...
Chess

Best of the Web: Russia politely lets Pentagon know it has deployed missile air defense systems all over Syria


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 15:46 UTC
s-300 syria
From Russia with love
Russia's Defense Ministry has cautioned the US-led coalition of carrying out airstrikes on Syrian army positions, adding in Syria there are numerous S-300 and S-400 air defense systems up and running.


Comment: Eh... if they're saying what we think they're saying, then the announcement earlier this week that just one S-300 system had only just arrived in Syria was a decoy... the Russians apparently have lots more of them stationed elsewhere in the country.


Russia currently has S-400 and S-300 air-defense systems deployed to protect its troops stationed at the Tartus naval supply base and the Khmeimim airbase. The radius of the weapons reach may be "a surprise" to all unidentified flying objects, Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson General Igor Konashenkov said.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, any airstrike or missile hitting targets in territory controlled by the Syrian government would put Russian personnel in danger.

The defense official said that members of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria are working "on the ground" delivering aid and communicating with a large number of communities in Syria.


Comment: Konashenkov also pointed out:
Konashenkov also pointedly reminded the US that the Syrian military itself possesses S-200 and BUK surface to air missile systems supplied by Russia. Though the S-200 system is now old (it dates back to the 1960s) Konashenkov warned that it had been thoroughly updated and therefore also presents a threat to US missiles and aircraft.

Konashenkov's statement incidentally confirms that the decision to deploy S-300VM Antey-2500 systems to Syria was taken in response to the US air attack on the Syrian military defending Deir Ezzor.

The systems were apparently delivered to Syria by sea rather than air, so the decision to deploy them was made too early to have been influenced by the latest threats coming from Washington. This is consistent with Konashenkov's claim that they were deployed in response to the US attack on the Syrian military defending Deir Ezzor.

The fact the Russians decided to deploy these systems in response to this attack incidentally shows that the Russians do not believe the US explanation that this attack was a mistake.

Though the deployment of S-300VM Antey-2500 systems to Syria was not made in response to the latest threats from Washington, Konashenkov's warning shows that it has happened at what the Russians must think is an opportune time.
The US has essentially just been checkmated. It's all out of options to 'regime change' Syria.

See also: Russia Checkmates US in Syria: Expect More Terrorism, Not Nuclear War

Read More...