US-NATO War Machine - Humanitarian NGOs Shilling for US-NATO Wars

ꕤ Summary SOURCE http://www.huffingtonpost.com/coleen-rowley/amnestys-shilling-for-usn_b_1607361.html SUMMARY [as article understood by me] US-NATO War Machine Humanitarian NGOs Shilling for US-NATO Wars Entwined with US-NATO War Machine Title: "Amnesty's Shilling for US-NATO Wars" By: Coleen Rowley Former FBI Special Agent Wrote Whistleblower Memo 2002 Testified re FBI pre-9/11 Failures Ann Wright 29-year U.S. Army/Army Reserve Colonel 16-year US diplomat Resigned 2003 in Opposition to Iraq War Summary of Article [As understood by me] Cornerstone Obama foreign policy: "Right to Protect (R2P)" "humanitarian intervention" "Atrocity Prevention Board" newly created served mainly to rationalize the launching of war on Libya & now for U.S.-NATO military intervention in Syria Suzanne Nossel (former Amnesty International USA chief) coined 'Smart Power': USA use of: 1. military power 2. 'soft power' approach announced by Hillary Clinton on confirmation as US Secretary of State Suzanne Nossel paper on "Smart Power" (2004) published in the Council on Foreign Relations -- much like theories of: - Samantha Power - Madeline Albright Suzanne Nossel article: urges policy-makers to: return to "great mainstay" of 20th Century "US foreign policy: LIBERAL INTERNATIONALISM Suzanne Nossel paper posits: global system of 'stable' in liberal democracies less prone to war USA should offer leadership (diplomatic & economic), together with military might & "quarantine and elimination of dictators and weapons of mass destruction (WMD" Amnesty International USA hiring of a State Department shill as executive director of its US affiliate NATO Shadow Summit closely mimicked CIA's latest suggested propaganda device [see post, here] 'CIA Red Cell' - new CIA think-tank -- group of analysts -- assigned to - think 'outside the box' - anticipate emerging challenges -- & right to worry in 2010 re: State Department Bureau of Intelligence & Research (INR) found: "80 percent of French and German citizens were opposed to continued deployment of their countries' militaries in the U.S.-NATO war in Afghanistan." PUBLIC APATHY -- allowed politicians (Germany & France) -- to ignore voters -- to increase troop contributions -- to International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Afghanistan -- CIA think-tank concern re anticipated NATO casualties -- turning to calls for withdrawal (by Europeans) -- worried re active & politically potent hostility -- thus conversion of PASSIVE OPPOSITION into ACTIVE CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL CIA "Special Memorandum" -- CIA propaganda expert -- suggests USA-CIA European propaganda campaign  [see post, here] "Red Cell" memo was leaked -- window into US govt propaganda -- to work on NATO citizenry -- to maintain public support for waging war on Afghans -- via 'euphemistically titled "International Security Assistance Force" (ISAF)' CIA propaganda aims to: -- tap into concerns of secular French public -- provoke French indignation re 'girls' education' / women's issues -- create rallying point -- give voters reason to support war & ignore casualties -- promote outreach initiatives -- exploit Afghan women in media -- esp. French, German & other European -- feature emotive testimonials -- on programs targeting disproportionately female audience -- to overcome scepticism of women re war Amnesty International - [NATO-CIA Echo]: - strikes similar themes via: - online announcements - billboard advertisements, Chigaco bus stops meanwhile, thousands of activists march in Chicago to protest NATO wars Bill board exploits feminism. Huffington Post echoes same feminist propaganda with article: HuffPo: "Afghanistan: The First Feminist War?" HuffPo propaganda: -- 'male domination' of three-quarters of worlds women -- "Afghanistan is an extreme case in point" -- "in what might be termed the first feminist war " -- "women who have promised not to desert their Afghan sisters." Amnesty International 'Shadow Summit' -- featuring: former Sec. State, Madeline Albright -- & other female foreign relations -- Melanne Verveer, US Ambassador-at-Large, Global Women's Issues -- US Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois -- Afifa Azim, Gen Dir. & Co-founder, Afghan Women's network -- Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Dep. Dir. CFR Women & Foreign Policy Program Verveer -- would not answer Ann Wright questions -- hotel security guards tried to turn away anti-war protesters -- registration desk reminded that Summit advertised as -- 'Free Admissions' & some anti-war were members of Amnesty International -- were then permitted to attend (on condition) THE BIG SELL UNDERPINNED BY EXPLOITING WOMEN'S ISSUES (just as CIA propagandist suggested  - [see post, here]): "All generally linked the protection and participation of Afghan women in government as well as the progress made in educating Afghan women to the eventual peace and security of the country as envisioned by the new strategic "partnership" agreement that Obama had just signed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai." US government officials -- EASILY use "good & necessary cause" of women's rights -- to get audience into the palm of their collective hand -- just as CIA propaganda expert predicted Albright a PR blunder -- given her involvement & defence of Iraqi sanctions 1990s -- when 500,000 Iraqi children deaths deemed by Albright as: "we think the price is worth it." ---- (article) reference source human rights blogger: Amnesty International USA  advertising posters described as: -- pro-NATO posters -- playing into prevailing tropes -- re so-called "humanitarian intervention" -- via "think of the women & children" imagery Posters & the forum that includes Albright = neither slight slips nor without context Amnesty International USA "used pro Nato imagery & slogans ahead of & during a controversial summit that has thousands protesting in the streets" On Albright, humanitarian blogger comments: Amnesty International USA asked: "notorious apologist for mass murder of children to speak on the right of women and children" Humanitarian Blogger (article reference source) -- refers to Amnesty international USA's: - "critical SERIES of errors" - asks how such a series of 'errors' could be made. Article authors contend: Amnesty International USA had chosen Madeleine Albright as main speaker -- because Albright has paved the way for feminist war-hawks -- to become Secretary of State (or candidates for same) -- & became they take the lead of 'ruthless Grand Dame' Albright Highest ranks of feminist wing of interventionism: Madeline Albright Condi Rice Hillary Clinton Susan Riche Samantha Power Passion & enthusiasm re: -- 'nobility' of own goals -- & American exceptionalism that it sways others, like religious blind faith. Nossel & Albright theories are flawed NOTE as demonstrated by lady war-hawks lobbying & long list of democracies disproving assertion, incl: Nazi Germany Roman Empire United Kingdom France USA DEMOCRACIES ARE NOT LESS PRONE TO WAR USA 'support' for democracies involves much hypocrisy (& exploitation) as the USA has a long record of toppling (or attempting to topple)  democracies in foreign countries Examples: Iran (Mossadequh) Guatemala (Arbenz) Chile (Allende) USA history of bringing down democracies to: -- to gain easier control of a foreign country -- through an allied dictatorship Goals of humanitarianism -- preventing atrocities -- furthering women's rights are truly noble goals *and, yes, women lack rights in Afghanistan HOWEVER this is convenient truth and: best lies are always based on a certain amount of truth devil lies in the details re promoting equality & accomplishing humanitarianism Article authors argue: ends, even noble ends, never justify wrongful means ⟴ when people such as Samantha Power decide to bomb village (Libya) to save it ⟴ it will backfire on a pragmatic level CIA PROPAGANDA - EXPLOITATION OF PUBLIC (ESP. WOMEN) VIA ADVERTISED & PR SPUN 'NOBILITY' OF US-NATO MOTIVATION nobility of the U.S.-NATO's motivation that -- as CIA propaganda department advised -- should be relied upon to convince public (esp. women) -- to support (or at least tolerate) war & military occupation War & military occupation, now known to encompass worst of war crimes massacres of women and children torture cutting off body parts of those killed US soldiers: increasing mental illness self-destructive behavior suicides corresponding cover-ups Military scholars identify: -- declining American public support for Vietnam war -- as main factor responsible for USA Vietnam war loss US GOVT. BY-PASS PUBLIC OPPOSITION 1. get rid of the military draft; 2. put the wars on a credit card ; so fewer citizens pay attention 3. control over the type of free media SERIES OF WAR PROPAGANDA SYSTEMS -- planting retired generals as "talking heads" on TV -- assistant to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- deciding to "embed the media" ⟴ work well to maintain ⟴ necessary level of war momentum ⟴ in mainstream media & amongst public opinion SLEIGHT OF HAND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA  & OTHER BACK UP USA FOREIGN POLICY JUST AS PUBLIC SOURS ON WAR -- American polls approaching same as Europe -- cited by the "CIA Red Cell" (that called for propaganda campaign) [see post, here] -- & suddenly major human rights orgs -- eg Amnesty International (& others) -- applauding Obama's (and the feminist war-hawks') -- "Atrocity Prevention Board" Congress may allow Pentagon propagandists to target American citizens through: National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 TWISTING & EXPLOITING HUMAN RIGHTS "laudable need to further human rights should not be twisted into justifying harsh economic sanctions that kill hundreds of thousands of children or, even worse, "shock and awe" aerial bombing that takes the lives of the women and children the "humanitarian" propagandists say they want to help." HUMAN RIGHTS EXPLOITED FALSITY OF UTILITARIANISM CONCOCTING FICTIONAL 'HAPPY' OUTCOMES TO JUSTIFY WRONGFUL MEANS Madeleine Albright -- response re deaths HALF MILLION CHILDREN IN IRAQ -- on 60 Minutes -- that "the price was worth it" -- illustrates falsity of what ethicists call -- "act utilitarianism" -- concocting fictional happy outcomes -- to justify wrongful means CORRUPTED BY ALIGNMENT WITH USA & NATO human rights NGOs - incl. Amnesty International Nobel Peace Prize Nobel laureate -- Mairead Maguire withdrew from the Nobel Peace Forum -- held in CHICAGO during NATO -- for that reason "Good NGOS and non-profits that want to maintain the trust in their humanitarian work tend to be very careful to maintain their independence from any government" SOURCE http://www.huffingtonpost.com/coleen-rowley/amnestys-shilling-for-usn_b_1607361.html RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING (POSTS) CIA Propaganda - Selling War in Afghanistan LINK | here 'CIA’s Hidden Hand in ‘Democracy’ Groups' | Robert Parry LINK | here Mainstream Media - Concentrated - Big-6 Corporate Control - Lies & Indoctrination LINK | here Modern Art As CIA Weapon LINK | here Other Interesting: British Broadcasting Corporation Syria: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) - Fraud LINK | here ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT As I've said before, this was a great article. I've just banged out the summary. Might have to come back to check for typos etc. ꕤ

Libya - Benghazi Assault & Murder & Mumbi Attack

ꕤ Article SOURCE as marked Article Title:  "Ambassador Stevens Was Raped Before His Murder, Reports Claim" Author:  Wolff Bachner re:  Ambassador to Libya -- J. Christopher Stevens Other: EXTRACT - Mumbai Attack "Pakistani Muslim terrorists attacked the Chabad Jewish center during the devastating terror attacks in Mumbai, India, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, were both tortured and raped, and their bodies were desecrated.  According to the Mumbai Police, the Rabbi was castrated while still alive. “Even the Rabbi and his wife at Nariman House were sexually assaulted and their genitalia mutilated,” said a senior officer of the investigating team." http://www.inquisitr.com/330504/ambassador-stevens-was-raped-before-his-murder-reports-claim/ Note:  the woman victim was 6 months pregnant [source:  DailyMail - here] Article Benghazi: Obama's Actions Amount To A Shameful Dereliction Of Duty Peter Ferrara Oct 25, 2012 @ 09:19 AM "...  Benghazi murders of Libyan Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 others, including two Marines ..." "The Obama Administration received requests for additional security from the Embassy and the Ambassador himself as early as February.  An embassy cable on June 25 expressed fear of rising Islamic extremism in eastern Libya around Benghazi, and noted that the black flag of Al-Qaeda “has been spotted several times flying over government buildings and training facilities.” "On August 2, Ambassador Stevens sent a cable requesting 11 additional body guards, noting “Host nation security support is lacking and cannot be depended on to provide a safe and secure environment for the diplomatic mission of outreach.” "But these requests for additional security were repeatedly denied ..." "Obama and his allies did not want a show of American force in the country that would offend Muslim sensibilities.  They wanted to rely instead on the host country’s security that the embassy was telling them was inadequate and could not be depended upon." "... the day of the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, September 11, the White House situation room starts receiving emails at about 1 pm that the mission is under hostile surveillance.  The only response was that the Pentagon sends a drone armed with a video camera so that everyone in Washington can see what transpires in real time, as it happens, at the White House, at the State Department, at the Pentagon, at the CIA." "The drone documents no crowds protesting any video.  But at 4 pm Washington receives an email from the Benghazi mission that it is under military style attack." "The attack was then fed to all of them, the White House, the Pentagon, the State Dept., the CIA, through live video feed.  A later email that day reported, “Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack.”  The feed showed no protest of any supposedly offensive You Tube video." "Just one hour flight time away were U.S. Air Force bases that could have been rousted in minutes to send fighter planes and attack helicopters that could have routed the attackers in minutes of fighting." Obama & Hillary Clinton: "...  likely knew [correction: they surely knew] the attack on our Benghazi consulate the day before was organized by terrorists.  They knew because they were privy to a flurry of emails among administration officials discussing the attack in real time.  Yet they said nothing about what they knew and, worse, had done nothing to mount a rescue despite American forces being less than an hour away during the seven hour blitz." " The United States Ambassador to Libya, the personal representative of President Barack Obama, had been tortured, sodomized, dragged bloody through the streets of Benghazi, and murdered.  Chris Stevens, along with the two Marines and another who were murdered along with him, had volunteered to serve his country.  But under the leadership of Barack Obama, that is how his service ended." "The Truth-Challenged President But the saga did not end there for the American people.  The rest of us had to endure the President, Secretary of State Clinton, and UN Ambassador “explaining” to us that what really happened was that those irascible Muslims were all incited out of their minds by a previously unseen, unheard of You Tube video trailer by an unknown American immigrant, a movie that was never made outside the trailer advertising it, in Fool on the Hill style.  Their protest had just got out of hand, you see. Except they all knew when they were saying these very words that they were untrue.  They were precisely calculated to deceive and to mislead.  Yet there was our President Obama telling this mendacious fairy tale to the entire world at the U.N.  And there was U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice telling the American people the same concocted fairy tale.  Typical Progressives, they were so certain that they could easily buffalo a majority of their countrymen, no smarter than the representative Homer Simpson." http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2012/10/25/benghazi-obamas-actions-amount-to-a-shameful-dereliction-of-duty/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT A photo of a guy I suspected had been tortured was going around, but I wasn't sure that's what I was looking at, and I didn't know who it was. It was only after the photo was passed around with a message that it was the US Ambassador being tortured, that it did really look like it was a torture victim.  It also looked like someone may have been holding a cattle prod or something like that (which I didn't spot on initial viewing, when I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking at). Once I had an idea of who it might be, I Googled for information. Some site on the internet denies it was him, but when I keyed in about torture the Forbes article and others came up. I wasn't aware that the people in the Mumbai attacks were sexually assaulted and tortured (that's come just by chance within one of the Benghazi articles). I also wasn't aware that the US Ambassador was sexually assaulted and tortured, and  I think I'd remember having seen something about this in the (admittedly few) Benghazi articles I may have looked at.  I'm shocked and sort of freaked out by that.  It's very disturbing.   Probably moreso because I'd spent some of today looking at Islamic history and getting into listening to associated music. Islamic history isn't as appealing after reading these couple of articles.  I still feel sick.  It's a numb and sick feeling, but I'm not sure why I find it as disturbing as I do.  I think it might be the sexual assault savagery combined with torture savagery and helplessness of the victims that does my head in.  It's both disgusting and incomprehensibly cruel. It's unbelievable that they denied the embassy additional security, when more security was sought.  And it's beyond comprehension that they watched this man get tortured and dragged around Benghazi without doing anything to help. This was in 2012, so they'd already taken down Gaddafi in 2011 and Libya was presumably in a state of civil war. Why would you even have an embassy in the country under those circumstances? Regarding both stories, Daily Mail has left out the gruesome parts, although I think the public ought to know exactly what's happened.   I know I'd rather know, even if it is horrible and disturbing. ꕤ

Syria Under Attack - the Great Satan & the Little Imp, Turkey - Plus their al-Qaeda Proxies - Mayhem in the Middle East

ꕤ Article SOURCE https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/04/07/syri-a07.html New exposé by Seymour Hersh: Turkey staged gas attack to provoke US war on Syria By Patrick Martin 7 April 2014 In a lengthy article published Sunday by the London Review of Books, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reports that the sarin gas attack on a Damascus suburb on August 21, 2013 was actually carried out by Syrian “rebel” forces acting at the behest of Turkey, for the purpose of providing a pretext for a US attack on Syria. The gas attack killed many hundreds of people in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, and the Obama administration and the corporate-controlled US media immediately blamed the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad for the atrocity. The New York Times, in particular, published a lengthy analysis by its military “expert,” C. J. Chivers, which purported to show, based on rocket trajectories, prevailing winds and other technical factors, that the gas shells could only have been fired from Syrian army artillery positions. For several weeks, the Ghouta attack became the pretext for a warmongering campaign by the White House and the US and European media. Obama threatened immediate air strikes, claiming that the Syrian government had crossed a “red line” against the use of chemical weapons, which he had laid down in 2012. The US president then abruptly reversed himself and announced he would seek congressional approval first, only to call off any overt military action in favor of a deal brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin in which Assad agreed to the supervised dismantling of his chemical weapons stockpiles. By Hersh’s account, “Obama’s change of mind had its origins at Porton Down, the defence laboratory in Wiltshire. British intelligence had obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21 August attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn’t match the batches known to exist in the Syrian army’s chemical weapons arsenal. The message that the case against Syria wouldn’t hold up was quickly relayed to the US joint chiefs of staff… As a consequence the American officers delivered a last-minute caution to the president, which, in their view, eventually led to his cancelling the attack.” The US military leadership also knew that White House claims that there could be no other source for the sarin gas than the Syrian army were false. “The American and British intelligence communities had been aware since the spring of 2013 that some rebel units in Syria were developing chemical weapons,” Hersh reports. “On 20 June analysts for the US Defense Intelligence Agency issued a highly classified five-page ‘talking points’ briefing for the DIA’s deputy director, David Shedd, which stated that al-Nusra maintained a sarin production cell…” Hersh quotes extensively from this US government document, which the office of the US director of national intelligence now denies ever existed: “Al-Nusrah Front’s relative freedom of operation within Syria leads us to assess the group’s CW [chemical weapons] aspirations will be difficult to disrupt in the future… Turkey and Saudi-based chemical facilitators… were attempting to obtain sarin precursors in bulk, tens of kilograms, likely for the anticipated large scale production effort in Syria.” Hersh notes that members of al-Nusra were arrested in Turkey last May in possession of two kilograms of sarin. They were charged in a 130-page indictment with “attempting to purchase fuses, piping for the construction of mortars, and chemical precursors for sarin.” All have since been released pending trial, or had charges dropped altogether. Those arrests followed chemical weapons attacks in Syria in March and April 2013, where a UN investigation found evidence implicating the Syrian “rebels.” One source told Hersh, “Investigators interviewed the people who were there, including the doctors who treated the victims. It was clear that the rebels used the gas. It did not come out in public because no one wanted to know.” The “no one,” of course, was the US government, its European allies, and its UN stooges—as well as their political apologists in the media and the pseudo-left groups such as the International Socialist Organization that were either openly campaigning for military intervention in Syria or justifying it by portraying the US-financed “rebels” as the bearers of a democratic revolution. When the August 21 attack took place, Obama ordered the Pentagon to draw up plans for bombing Syria, and, as a former intelligence official told Hersh, “the White House rejected 35 target sets provided by the joint chiefs of staff as being insufficiently ‘painful’ to the Assad regime.” The US bombing plan ultimately envisioned “a monster strike” involving two wings of B-52 bombers equipped with 2,000-pound bombs, as well as Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from submarines and surface warships. Hersh continues: “The new target list was meant to ‘completely eradicate any military capabilities Assad had,’ the former intelligence official said. The core targets included electric power grids, oil and gas depots, all known logistic and weapons depots, all known command and control facilities, and all known military and intelligence buildings.” The bombing attack drawn up at the direction of the Obama White House would have itself constituted a war crime, causing thousands if not tens of thousands of casualties and crippling Syria as a functioning society. Hersh then passes on to his most important revelation: that US officials believed the Turkish government, or its intelligence agencies, had instigated the gas attack in Ghouta. He cites concerns among US military and intelligence leaders that “there were some in the Turkish government” who supported “dabbling with a sarin attack inside Syria—and forcing Obama to make good on his red line threat.” This was reinforced by the British military intelligence finding on the type of gas used in Ghouta. This included a message to the Americans: “We’re being set up here.” This was followed by a further message about the Ghouta attack that “a senior official in the CIA sent in late August: ‘It was not the result of the current regime [i.e., Assad]’. UK & US know this.” Hersh suggests that the bitter controversy over the attack on a US consulate and CIA mission in Benghazi, Libya in 2012, which killed four Americans including the ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, is directly linked to the infighting over Syria. It has been widely reported that the CIA organized the shipment of Libyan weapons stockpiles from Benghazi to the Syrian rebels. Hersh cites a “highly classified annex” to the report of the Senate committee that investigated the Benghazi attack. This document “described a secret agreement reached in early 2012 between the Obama and [Turkish] Erdogan administrations… By the terms of the agreement, funding came from Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the CIA, with the support of MI6, was responsible for getting arms from Gaddafi’s arsenals into Syria. A number of front companies were set up in Libya, some under the cover of Australian entities. Retired American soldiers, who didn’t always know who was really employing them, were hired to manage procurement and shipping. The operation was run by David Petraeus, the CIA director who would soon resign when it became known he was having an affair with his biographer.” According to Hersh, after the Benghazi fiasco, the CIA was pulled out, but the Libya to Turkey to Syria pipeline continued, possibly including “manpads”—portable surface-to-air missile launchers, which the Obama administration had opposed supplying the rebels out of concern that they would be used to attack civilian airliners.   Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tasked Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) with engineering a provocation that would give a pretext for direct US military intervention. Hersh quotes his source: “‘The MIT was running the political liaison with the rebels, and the Gendarmerie handled military logistics, on-the-scene advice and training—including training in chemical warfare,’ the former intelligence official said. ‘Stepping up Turkey’s role in spring 2013 was seen as the key to its problems there… Erdogan’s hope was to instigate an event that would force the US to cross the red line. But Obama didn’t respond in March and April.’” Two sources described to Hersh a working dinner during Erdogan’s visit to Washington in May 2013 in which Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon met Erdogan, foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu and MIT chief Hakan Fidan. Erdogan appealed for Obama to attack Syria, telling him “your red line has been crossed.” Obama then pointed at Fidan and said, “We know what you’re doing with the radicals in Syria.” Hersh cites a “US intelligence consultant” who describes a classified briefing for Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs, and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, prepared before the August 21 gas attack. The briefing noted “the acute anxiety” in the Erdogan regime over the military setbacks for the Syrian rebels and warned that the Turkish leadership felt “the need to do something that would precipitate a US military response.” In the period following the gas attack, Hersh’s former intelligence official source explained, communications intercepts and other data supported the suspicion that Turkey had organized the Ghouta attack. “We now know it was a covert action planned by Erdogan’s people to push Obama over the red line,’ the former intelligence official said. ‘They had to escalate to a gas attack in or near Damascus when the UN inspectors’—who arrived in Damascus on 18 August to investigate the earlier use of gas—‘were there. The deal was to do something spectacular. Our senior military officers have been told by the DIA and other intelligence assets that the sarin was supplied through Turkey—that it could only have gotten there with Turkish support. The Turks also provided the training in producing the sarin and handling it.’” Only a week ago, evidence surfaced that supports the credibility of Hersh’s report. A video was posted on YouTube of a meeting of Turkish officials, including Fikan, in which the intelligence chief suggests that Turkish agents should mount an attack on a Muslim shrine inside Syria to provide a pretext for a Turkish invasion of the country. Hersh’s account is his second long exposé in four months of the “false flag” gas attack in Damascus. Both articles were published in the British journal because no major US newspaper or magazine will any longer publish material from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Beginning with his reporting of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam for the New York Times, Hersh has specialized in developing sources in the US military and intelligence apparatus, frequently those with policy differences with the current administration in Washington. Hersh left the Times for Newsday, and then wrote for the New Yorker for many years. Both the New Yorker and the Washington Post refused to publish his first report on the Ghouta gas attack, which charged that the sarin attack had been carried out by Syrian rebels in the al-Nusra Front, forcing Hersh to find a British publisher for his account. The US press was largely silent on that report, and it has so far blacked out the latest exposure. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/04/07/syri-a07.html ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Wow, this is good stuff. Hersh sounds like a hero ... but he's also a conduit for factions within the US government (via inside sources), so I don't know that this is a fully-fledged hero, or if it is just another establishment voice.  *Discovered he's 'blacklisted' by major US media, as they refuse to publish him.  So Hersh's probably cool.  What Turkey is capable of is mind-blowing. I don't mind the PKK giving it to them, now. US media refusing to publish Hersh, and Hersh having to publish outside the country shows us just how controlled the media is in the land of the 'free'. CIA strikes again.  That David Petraeus guy played a part, as well. I'm not sure if that UK analyist has anything to do with David Kelly, who was killed, probably by UK intelligence (I'm guessing). Daily Mail UK 22 April 2012 Suicide riddle of weapons expert who worked with David Kelly: Scientist tells wife he is going for a walk, then takes his life in a field... just like his friend A weapons expert who worked with Dr David Kelly at the Government’s secret chemical warfare laboratory has been found dead in an apparent suicide. In circumstances strongly reminiscent of Dr Kelly’s own mysterious death nine years ago, the body of Dr Richard Holmes was discovered in a field four miles from the Porton Down defence establishment in Wiltshire. It is not yet known how he died. Mr Holmes, 48, had gone missing two days earlier after telling his wife he was going out for a walk – just as Dr Kelly did before he was found dead at an Oxfordshire beauty spot in July 2003. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances in the latest case but revealed that Dr Holmes  had ‘recently been under a great deal of stress’. He resigned from Porton Down last month, although the centre yesterday refused to explain why. Inevitably, the parallels between the two cases will arouse the suspicions of conspiracy theorists. Despite Lord Hutton’s ruling eight years ago that Dr Kelly committed suicide, many people – among them a group of doctors – believe his inquiry was insufficient and have demanded a full inquest. Some believe Dr Kelly, who kept an office at Porton Down right up until his death, was murdered. He was outed as being the source of a BBC report that Downing Street ‘sexed up’ evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction to justify going to war. Although it is not clear if the two scientists were close, one source told The Mail on Sunday that they were friendly when they worked at Porton Down in the Nineties. At the time, Dr Holmes ran a project organising the installation of chemical protection equipment in RAF Sentinel spy planes, while Dr Kelly was head of microbiology and frequently toured the former Soviet Union as a weapons inspector. After the first Gulf War, Dr Holmes is also thought to have worked on the production of chemical protection suits for troops. In 1991 he was the joint author of a scientific paper about an RAF chemical and biological protection system. Yesterday, a Porton Down spokesman confirmed Dr Holmes had quit his job but declined to comment further. ‘It is not our policy to speak openly about any individual who works for us,’ she said. Before finding his body, Wiltshire Police made a public appeal for information but warned people not to approach Dr Holmes for their own safety because they believed he had been ‘looking at information on the internet regarding self-harm and the use of toxic substances’.  [Wiltshire Police spin-doctoring to shape public perceptions?  Hard to say what's going on here.  British scientists and intelligence officers seem to die frequently and suspiciously (think of the one found dead in the zipped up bag in a bath).  Whatever this is, it's occurred before the sarin attack in Ghouta.] Friends of Dr Holmes say this disclosure irritated his family, who questioned why a scientist engaged in chemical warfare research would ‘need to Google toxic substances’. Dr Holmes’s widow, Susan, is  a chemist who also works at  Porton Down as head of business administration. One of the Government’s most sensitive and secretive military facilities, the site has long been the focus of controversy. Three years ago hundreds of ex-servicemen who were used as chemical warfare guinea pigs there between 1939 and 1989 were given compensation and an apology from the Ministry of Defence. They were tested with the nerve agent sarin, but some of those involved claimed they had been  told they were taking part in cold-remedy trials. Many suffered serious illnesses after exposure to the gas, which was developed by the Nazis during the Second World War. An inquest into Dr Holmes’s death was opened and adjourned by Wiltshire Coroner David Ridley last week. Coroner’s officer Paul Tranter said Dr Holmes’s family had grown concerned for his wellbeing after  he failed to return from a walk on April 11. A search party involving police and members of the other emergency services began combing waste ground close to his home in the Bishopsdown area of Salisbury. Police discovered his body half a mile away in a field used regularly by dog-walkers and joggers in the village of Laverstock. Mr Tranter said the results of tests carried out to establish the cause of death would not be known for several weeks. He added: ‘Police do not consider this death to be suspicious in any way, nor do they believe there was any third-party involvement.’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133201/Dr-Richard-Holmes-Suicide-riddle-weapons-expert-worked-David-Kelly.html Recapping Sarin gas attack, Ghouta  (suburb Damascus, Syria) - 21 Aug 2013 carried out by al-Nusra Front al-Qaeda linked 'rebel' Western proxy opposition as pretext for US attack on Syria killed hundreds compliant corporate US media points at Assad New York Times is big-time US foreign policy shill publishes report of CJ Chivers purporting to show gas shells could only have been fired by Syrian Army (Assad's) Porton Down Defence lab in Wiltshire, UK analysis sample sarin {obtained by British Intel} demonstrated gas used in Ghouta attack did not match existing Syrian batches case against Assad/Syria could not hold Obama cancels well-planned attack aiming to totally wipe out Syria govt military [reported by Patrick Martin, WSWS, 7 April 2014] Days later TWO YEARS EARLIER 22 April 2012 - Daily Mail UK Dr Richard Holmes head of microbiology {who worked with murdered (2003) Dr David Kelly} Porton Down Defence lab in Wiltshire, UK ... just happens to 'commit suicide' ... just like Dr David Kelly happened to  *bullshit* Dr David Kelly revealed UK intelligence report re illegal attack on Iraq 'sexed up' Dr David Kelly Died:  2003 Dr Richard Holmes head of microbiology Dr Richard Holmes Died:  2012 Porton Down lab no match Ghouta attack with Syria / Assad govt NOTE 21 Aug 2013 = Sarin attack, Ghouta, Syria Dr Richard Homes died year prior presumably no link to Sarin  More on Dr David Kelly: Ten Years Ago: The Death of Dr. David Kelly. Murdered on the Orders of Her Majesty’s Government? By Dr. David Halpin and James Corbett Global Research, July 19, 2013 GRTV 13 October 2011 http://www.globalresearch.ca/ten-years-ago-the-death-of-dr-david-kelly-murdered-on-the-orders-of-her-majestys-government/5343229 White House lied that sarin source was Syrian army / Assad & US military leadership knew it Both American & British intel knew 'rebels' (ie proxies) in Syria were developing chemical weapons Evidence Seymour Hersh (journalist) relies on US Defence Intel - 5-page briefing proves this DIA Dep. Dir, David Shed states al-Nusra maintained sarin production cell Turkey & Saudi-based chemical facilitators --> US government denied existence of document Not brought to public attention Kept hushed by: US govt European allies UN stooges political apologists media pseudo-left groups Obama had Pentagon draw attack plans re Syria 35 such plans rejected - not sufficiently destructive monster strike planned - 2,000 pounds bombs intended to completely destroy Assad military US attack on Syria would have: constituted another US war crime (like Iraq) killed thousands crippled Syria as functioning society produced another Libya (civil war 4 years) Hersh reports: Turkish government or its Intelligence (comment:  which is partner & co-conspirator of Turkish govt as evidenced by leaked audio - Syria false flag plot) INSTIGATED SARIN GAS ATTACK IN GHOUTA This assertion is reinforced by British Porton Down lab finding that Ghouta sample is NO match for Syria government & UK & US know this Infighting re Syria linked to Benghazi, Libya US Consulate & CIA Mission Attack 4 dead Americans incl. Ambassador to Libya CIA was arranging shipments  of Libya weapons stockpiles from Benghazi to Syria proxies 2012 secret agreement b/w Obama & Turkey funding for weapons from: TURKEY, SAUDI ARABIA, QATAR CIA + MI6 running arms from Gadaffi arsenals Libya to Syria al-Qaeda linked 'rebel' proxies attacking Syria govt front companies set up for cover, incl. Australian entities retired US military hired to manage procurement & shipping op run by Gen David Petraeus, CIA Director CIA reportedly pulled out post Benghazi LIBYA to TURKEY to SYRIA weapons rat run continues manpads / portable SAM launchers supplied to al-Qaeda linked 'rebel' proxies capable of air attacks MIT tasked by Erdogan to stage provocation, as pretext for US intervention MIT runs liaison w/  al-Qaeda linked 'rebel' proxies gendarmerie (military that is policing civilian sector) handled logistics, training etc on site gendarmerie (ie Turk military) training incl. chemical warfare leaked Turkish authorities + intel audio supports suspicion Turkey arranged Ghouta attack Sarin supplied via Turkey w/ Turkish support + handling training No major US newspaper or US magazine will publish any material from Seymour Hersh any longer -- ie he must be blacklisted New Yorker & Washington Post refused to publish Seymour Hersh Ghouta gas attack first report that indicated al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda linked, Turkish & Western backed 'rebel' proxy) linked to Ghouta chemical attack Original Seymour Hersh Article The Red Line and the Rat Line Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and the Syrian rebels Vol. 36 No. 8 · 17 April 2014 pages 21-24 | 5870 words http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line David Cameron's Shameless Attack on Russia http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/russia-west-gas-attack-syria Is Dave aware that Hersh has exposed the lot of them? ꕤ

NYT / AP - "Balkans Reel as Number of Migrants Hits Record" | Sweden's Double Standards

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/28/world/europe/balkans-slovenia-reel-as-number-of-refugees-migrants-hits-record.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&smtyp=cur&_r=0 Balkans Reel as Number of Migrants Hits Record By BARBARA SURK and RICK LYMANOCT.  27, 2015 Groups of refugees and migrants waited in a Slovenian border town, a stopping point for most on their journey to northern Europe.  By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date October 27, 2015. SENTILJ, Slovenia — The small Balkan nations on the path of the human migration through Europe are seeing record numbers of asylum-seekers cross their borders, and are overwhelmed in their ability to manage the human flow. Despite hopes that plummeting temperatures and treacherous seas would finally slow the tide of refugees flowing into the heart of Europe, fresh fighting in Syria and growing fears of border closings are driving more migrants to undertake the treacherous trek. At the moment, the biggest crunch appears to be on the southern border of Slovenia, a small Alpine nation on the Adriatic Sea that has become the gateway to Europe for migrants since Hungary closed its border with Croatia on Oct. 16. In recent days, fights have broken out over blankets and in the line of migrants waiting in this northern Slovenian border town to cross the frontier into Austria. There were also growing signs of tension between refugees from Syria, fleeing a growing war in their homeland, and migrants from other nations. In the past 10 days, 83,600 migrants have crossed into Slovenia, government officials said, while 57,981 have crossed from Slovenia into Austria, and 14,000 are waiting in government reception centers. The remaining 12,000 or so are at government registration centers, stuck on trains or buses, or simply in the open, roughing it in the increasingly cold fields and forests of the ragged foothills. “When Hungary closed its border, the Slovenian politicians said, ‘Oh, we are prepared,’ ” said Natasa Pirc Musar, president of the Slovenian Red Cross. “They said Slovenia could handle 2,500 people a day. The problem is, we are getting 10,000 a day and hearing reports that it will soon grow to 13,000. This is something Slovenia cannot cope with anymore.” On Sunday, European Union officials approved a 17-point plan that may not see fruition for months. It includes more accommodations in Greece, the European Union country the migrants usually enter first, as well as along the entire migrant trail through the Balkans, plus fresh reserves of border guards and injections of cash to help financially struggling Balkan nations pay for all of this. Slovenia’s foreign minister, Karl Erjavec, said his country would welcome the support of other European countries, including 400 new police officers. But he warned that Slovenia could not accommodate the growing number of people in need for long without outside support. If help does not come soon, he said, the country will take unilateral measures, including potentially building its own fence along the Croatian border and deploying additional troops to guard the frontier. “All plans remain on the table if promises from the Brussels summit are not fulfilled,” Mr. Erjavec said. Refugee officials worry that it is too little too late, and that the new plan will suffer the same fate as all of the previous, ineffectual European Union efforts to manage and cope with the largest movement of people across Europe since World War II. “This should have been done months ago,” said Babar Baloch, spokesman in Hungary for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Mrs. Pirc Musar, the Slovenian Red Cross president, said, “We are trying to use a small fire extinguisher to kill a giant fire.” Meanwhile, migrants — exhausted, cold and frequently forced to stop — are growing impatient, crossing one border after another. In recent months European nations have worked to block the main route taken by migrants fleeing war and upheaval. Groups of young men from Afghanistan and other countries, noticeably more aggressive toward the police than the terrified families traveling with them, are becoming a challenge for the authorities and other refugees. CONTINUE READING ARTICLE - HERE http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/28/world/europe/balkans-slovenia-reel-as-number-of-refugees-migrants-hits-record.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&smtyp=cur&_r=0 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT It is estimated that only 20% of the unstoppable tide that has descended upon Europe are Syrian refugees, according to multiple recent mainstream sources.  As a Sweden source has indicated (today) that Sweden's getting 'less than one in three' Syrians making their way through to Sweden, the guess is that the overall figure of Syrian refugees among the throng is actually significantly lower than that reported. Sweden, taking the Multikulti-R-Us crown, as US-serving neoliberal 'Marxist' EU immigration-destination (with Germany in hot pursuit for the honour), is also -- unsurprisingly -- the 'liberal'-fascist press suppression capital, a press that's heavily taxpayer subsidised.   So the Swedish taxpayers get screwed twice over, but who's keeping count.  The magnanimous state of Sweden sure ain't. Germany, with her own heavy-duty state interest in media & therefore no doubt decades long experience in spinning state propaganda, since Goebbels handed over the baton, is the political dissent suppression Meccca of Europe, alongside its Swedish counterpart. Sweden and Germany:  the evil EU twins.   Who would have guessed?  lol Germany also has the dubious distinction of appointing an ex-Stasi  East German snitch as the Fourth Reich social-media-suppressing Facebook censorship snitch, and, of course, Facebook is more than happy to oblige, because Mutti Merkel and Mark Zuckerberg know what's best for all Germans -- especially the jacked off ordinary Germans. Mutti Merkel's Fourth Reich also resorts to press blackouts to keep the German sheeple ignorant and therefore in line. As Sweden's not to be relied upon for provision of straight immigration figures, and as Sweden is as dodgy as all f*ck (see Julian Assange, detained on trumped up 'allegations' 5 years, no charge), I'd be inclined to conclude Europe's migrant deluge comprises perhaps as little as 10% Syrian refugees landing in Europe. But who'd know?  Germany and Sweden sure as hell don't.  EU doesn't.  There's no medicals.  There's no quarantine.  There's no papers.  But, hey, there's false papers.  Oh, and there's even 700 freshly minted German refugees that have just gone missing in Germany.  Uh-oh!  Most are physically capable young men from demolished, chaotic and/or impoverished surrounding countries.  'Syrian refugees' is the mainstream media sound-bite, often an anti-al-Assad propaganda 'blame card', and also a convenient narrative for this largely Western intervention-induced mass non-European migration frenzy. Judging by previous statements made by politicians, it's safe to ignore anything European politicians have to say:  the European sheeple need to be pacified.  And talk is cheap.  It's plain that Europe's politicians have got no plan and, sadly, no balls.  National sovereignty is dead in Europe. Nothing will come of warnings and 'threats' to restore territorial and social order.  And, in terms of social order, the horse has already bolted.  So whatever 'remedies' are eventually taken, the problem remains. Immigration avoidance strategists take note:  Mutti Merkel's German Open Haus immigration overland march from Greece and Turkey is, of course, making a b-line for the generous, soft, easy policy marks:  Mutti's most accommodating (but disgruntled) Germany, and Sweden's 'feminist foreign policy'  schizo neoliberal-'Marxist' cultural integration Nordic play-pen involving:  knife-wielding maniacs, shootings, frequent grenade tossing, rioting, and fire-setting ... to start with. 'Human traffickers' on a mission to make a fast buck, kindly supplying discarded life vests to many, many thousands of Middle Eastern would-be permanent European residents per day -- every day, is an incongruity nobody's bothered to question or explain.  Screw you, ideologically sold out, deceitful, complicit, and useless elite and corporate fascist serving mainstream press.  The cynic in me sees this Great Migration as a highly organised (and highly expensive), adept feat of logistics ... and, therefore, not so legit.   Of course, the deceitful, lying, double-dealing politicians who have aided and abetted aggressive US-led foreign policy (and have also clearly sold out their own nations and peoples, as US-servile war strategy secondary 'weapons' and their societies as ill-fitting receptacles for displaced Middle Eastern and African migration) knew what to expect from well before 2011, when they partnered in the US-led murder of Gaddafi, plunging Libya into destruction and civil war, before moving right along to:  training, arming, and otherwise supporting terrorist proxies that the West has set upon beleaguered Syria. So, looking past the razzle-dazzle of theatre of state and military (and past the state and media propaganda), Syria is yet another attempted regime change in the Middle East -- in the service of nothing but corporate fascism.  I honestly believe that's the bottom line -- always.  I should probably point out here that it cannot just be the West alone responsible for everything, although, yes, there's masses of interference that is wrong (including an illegal war).  But big, bad US-led allies cannot force proxies in the region do what they don't want to do, or force them to fight among themselves.  So the people in the region -- including Arab players in the region -- also play a part in the destruction and displacement from the region. From my point of view, the domestic public bears no responsibility whatsoever for taking on the blowback problems (including refugees and immigrants) created by the politician shills for corporate fascism, when the crap eventually hits the fan and world populations start moving.  To my way of thinking, nobody is obligated to self-destruct, and certainly not because of decisions made by lying, cheating, con artist politicians that don't even really represent or hear the public. There's indication that Bashar al-Assad has been targeted by the US and its allies since 2006 (mentioned by WikiLeaks), so this European apocalypse is a long time in the making. Yet these servants of corporate fascism did no forward planning?  I don't think so.  The ugly truth is that they do not care about their suffering domestic populations -- they do not care about their own blood or their own land -- and they do not care about the future of Europe itself. The massive displacement of inhabitants from Libya, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and beyond, is predictable once you know the pattern to look for:  intervention/regime-change/war/civil-war, displacement, refugees, immigration (or something like that). As I think I may have said before, any experienced politics observer would have predicted this 'catastrophe', let alone governments who have prior experience with exactly this sort of displacement, and as first world governments who have no shortage of experts and advisers on hand. The highly predictable results of multiple US-led military actions, terrorist proxy destabilisations, and economic sanction assaults on the Middle East, that have been aided and abetted by key European players, would have been very plain to corporate fascist serving lying and scheming European politicians. So these treasonous politicians have squandered an opportunity of at least six years (if not more) to plan, to take control and to take appropriate action to avert what amounts to foreign civilian invasion of Europe. Lying, scheming, cheating, treacherous, European politicians could have made arrangements for in-situ humanitarian assistance for the eligible among those that have been consistently migrating into Europe from Africa and the Middle East for years now, well before Mutti Merkel unleashed mayhem upon Europe. The actions of these European politicians are a gross breach of duty of care to their domestic populations and are, in my opinion, undemocratic and incalculably costly acts of colluding criminal politicians that have placed European nations' long-term social welfare and national security in ongoing and permanent peril. Mutti's Ministry of Truth EXTRACTS ONLY Angela Merkel declares death of German multiculturalism Chancellor's remarks, which claimed multiculturalism had 'failed utterly', interpreted as a shift rightwards from previous views Kate Connolly in Berlin Monday 18 October 2010 06.27 AEDT Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared the death of multiculturalism in Germany, saying that it had "failed utterly" , in what has been interpreted as a startling shift from her previous views. The German leader said it had been an illusion to think that Germans and foreign workers could "live happily side by side". "We kidded ourselves for a while that they wouldn't stay, but that's not the reality," she said at a conference of the youth wing of her Christian Democratic Union party at the weekend, referring to the gastarbeiters, or guest workers, who arrived in Germany to fill a labour shortage during the economic boom of the 1960s. "Of course the tendency had been to say, 'let's adopt the multicultural concept and live happily side by side, and be happy to be living with each other'. But this concept has failed, and failed utterly," she said, without elaborating on the nature and causes of this failure. Merkel's verdict marks a shift in her previously liberal line on immigration which had always put her at odds with the more conservative wing of the party. While she stressed in the same speech that immigrants were welcome in Germany and that Islam was a part of the nation's modern-day culture, her remarks positioned her closer to Horst Seehofer, the Bavarian state premier of the Christian Social Union, who last week called for an end to immigration from Turkey and Arab countries. They also align her with Thilo Sarrazin, the former Bundesbank member whose book on how the failure of many of Germany's 16 million immigrants to integrate was contributing to Germany's decline led to his dismissal. Sharing the same podium as Merkel in Potsdam, Seehofer also said "multiculturalism is dead" and that both the rightwing parties were committed to a "dominant German culture". If Germany did not revise its immigration policies, he said, it was in danger of becoming "the world's welfare office". Seehofer insisted his statement was "an attempt to stop rightwing lunatics" but Jürgen Trittin, for the Greens, called the comments "shabby" and in danger of "lending social acceptability to views similar to those of rightwing extremists". There is a labour shortage in Germany. The chamber of industry and commerce has said Germany is short of 400,000 skilled workers and the gap costs €25bn a year, equivalent to 1% of growth annually. While industrialists have called on the government to remove obstacles stopping more skilled workers entering Germany, citing lengthy bureaucratic procedures as well as unrealistic thresholds, others say that long-term unemployed German workers should be given more of a chance first. Merkel insisted in her speech that immigrant workers should not be considered "until we have done all we can to help our own people to become qualified and give them a chance". The issue has caused tension within Merkel's year-old coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats. ... What they said "At the start of the 60s we invited the guest-workers to Germany. We kidded ourselves for a while that they wouldn't stay, that one day they'd go home. That isn't what happened. And of course the tendency was to say: let's be 'multikulti' and live next to each other and enjoy being together, [but] this concept has failed, failed utterly." Angela Merkel, German chancellor "Germany should … get tougher on those who refuse to integrate before opening itself up to further immigration." Horst Seehofer, Bavarian state premier "Integration is the achievement of one who has integrated … I don't have to recognise anyone who lives from the state, rejects that state, refuses to ensure his children receive an education and continues to produce little headscarfed girls." "A large number of the Arabs and Turks living in this city (Berlin) has no productive function other than selling fruit and vegetables". "Turks are conquering Germany in the same way as Kosovars conquered Kosovo – with a high birth rate." Thilo Sarrazin, former Bundesbank board member http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/17/angela-merkel-germany-multiculturalism-failures Sweden Sweden: It Is Considered Racism Only If the Victims Are Not White by Ingrid Carlqvist October 27, 2015 at 5:00 am http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6760/sweden-victims-racism -------------------- I'm half anticipating a civil war in Europe.  But I think that might be stretching things too far at this point in time, as the only Europeans armed and willing to stand their ground and fight for their land, and their identity, are the people of Novorossiya. ꕤ