NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
A YEAR OF US MILITARISM
One of the most alarming developments in US foreign policy in 2016 was the ratcheting up of the new iteration of the Cold War. Looking back across US foreign policy in this last year of Barack Obama's presidential tenure, other weighty developments include the ongoing proxy war in Syria, the US-supported Saudi-led bombing in Yemen, US use of drones and manned bombers in Libya, US bombing in Iraq and Afghanistan, unprecedented US military aid to Israel, US special operations in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Yemen, US saber-rattling against China in the South China Sea… In spite of overwhelming American support for a "no first use" nuclear policy, President Barack Obama refused to promise the United States would not again be the first nation to deploy nuclear weapons… Meanwhile, Obama has continued to prosecute his drone wars in seven countries. After three years of resisting transparency on numbers of civilian casualties in his targeted killing program, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) finally released figures far lower than those documented by the leading NGOs such as the Bureau of Investigative Journalism… US military operations abroad were the primary motivation for "homegrown terrorism," according to a secret FBI study. More
ALEPPO: Sounds of Silence
After months of non-stop and very one-sided mainstream media coverage of the battle for eastern Aleppo, with heartrending videos of besieged and suffering civilians – but never opposition fighters – coverage has entirely stopped since the Syrian government retook the rebel-held part of the city. In fact, after weeks of removing mines and booby traps, thousands of former residents who had fled the rebel takeover are returning to their homes, schools are being reopened and rebuilding has begun. There are no credible reports of atrocities by government troops – never mind the “genocide” that was regularly predicted. Of the 120,000 people that had been living in the opposition-held part of the city (not the 275,000-300,000 often cited in the media), according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) 90,000 chose to remain in Syrian government areas, while 30,000 fighters and their families and supporters elected for transport to other rebel-controlled areas.
There have been many recent reports about Aleppo in Syrian and alternative media, but the mainstream press has been silent.
Here is a rundown of press distortions: In Syria, Western Media Cheer Al Qaeda
Many Aleppo voices are welcoming the end of fighting in Aleppo as “liberation” -- not necessarily THE truth, but A truth and A view you will never encounter in our mainstream media.
15-min VIDEO: “Aleppo did NOT "fall". Aleppo was LIBERATED”
SWEDISH OBSERVER:
Humans in liberated Aleppo
Most Western media, commentators and politicians were not in doubt: Aleppo fell (back) to "the regime", to "the dictator". Their focus was on civilians and moderate rebels, as they are called, being killed in the last hours of the battle about Eastern Aleppo that had been occupied since mid-2012. I was there - both in the East and the West of Aleppo - when it happened. I was in Aleppo's Hanano district, its Old Town and in the Shaykh Najjar Industrial City. I walked the streets and could talk to and photograph anybody I wanted to, no one guiding me to particular persons… Aleppo's liberation should be a good story - right up to Christmas at that - from a war that has cost so many lives. But the liberation didn't fit the general Western narrative about this conflict… Up till today, no single mainstream media has shown the slightest interest in the human suffering, the destruction or the happiness I saw. More
East Aleppo Liberation: “Education is Key to Combatting Terrorism”
Fares Shehabi took myself, Jan Oberg and Andrew Ashdown to the Sheikh Najjar industrial district of Aleppo and showed us around the premises of what had once been an olive oil factory and is now a school for 1500 Sryian children who had been deprived of education during the 2 year ISIS/Nusra Front occupation of this particular neighbourhood. In this short interview, Shehabi explains the importance of education in battling the extremist ideology that threatens to infect the younger generation in Syria, if left unattended… This was a common theme among all we spoke to, including the director of one of the schools in Hanano, Hamid Al Omar. The school he was about to re-open had been converted into a Sharia court and weapons/equipment store by Nusra Front, during occupation. More (Video interviews at the link)
VIDEO: Schools Re-Open In East Aleppo
Russia Hysteria Infects WashPost Again: False Story About Hacking U.S. Electric Grid
The first sentence of the article directly linked this cyber-attack to alleged Russian hacking of the email accounts of the DNC and John Podesta – what is now routinely referred to as “Russian hacking of our election”… The media reactions, as Alex Pfeiffer documents, were exactly what one would expect: hysterical, alarmist proclamations of Putin’s menacing evil: The Post’s story also predictably and very rapidly infected other large media outlets. Reuters thus told its readers around the world: “A malware code associated with Russian hackers has reportedly been detected within the system of a Vermont electric utility.” What’s the problem here? It did not happen. There was no “penetration of the U.S. electricity grid.” The truth was undramatic and banal. Burlington Electric, after receiving a Homeland Security notice sent to all U.S. utility companies about the malware code found in the DNC system, searched all their computers and found the code in a single laptop that was not connected to the electric grid. More
Poll: Nearly 2/3 of U.S. Public Opposes Withdrawing from Iran Nuclear Deal
Amid growing speculation about a Trump administration’s intentions regarding the Iran nuclear deal, a new poll has found that nearly two-thirds of the U.S. public opposes withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated 18 months ago between Iran and the P5+1… “Though President-elect Trump campaigned on ripping up the deal and seeking to negotiate a better one, the majority of Americans would rather continue with the deal as long as Iran continues to comply with its terms,” said PPC’s director, veteran foreign-policy pollster Steven Kull. Reaction split along predictably partisan lines. Nearly nine out of ten Democrats (86%) favored continuing the deal so long as Iran complies with it, while 40% of Republicans agreed with that position. Among self-described independents, 58% said the U.S. should stick with the deal. More
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