Friday 29th of March 2024

the hypocrite in all of us ...

the hypocrite in all of us ...

Given the United States’ disastrous record in the Middle East - most critically the invasion and occupation of Iraq - and the manifold lies coming out of Washington to justify its policies, many Americans are understandably skeptical about U.S. interventions and the rationalizations used to defend them. This leads many Americans to oppose both direct intervention in Syria and the arming of rebel factions - and rightly so.

But while there is room for debate on some aspects of the conflict, certain elements of the anti-war movement and the anti-imperialist Left - such as the U.S. Peace Council, the ANSWER Coalition, some Green Party leaders and even Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire - go beyond opposing U.S. intervention and implicitly (and in some cases, explicitly) defend the corrupt and autocratic regime of Bashar al-Assad. They minimize or deny its responsibility for war crimes, attempt to discredit the reputable human rights organizations that document these crimes, treat virtually the entire Syrian opposition as its most extreme and violent components and attack fellow Leftists who disagree with them.

Many of the arguments used to defend the Syrian regime’s devastating attacks on rebel-held cities are eerily similar to those used by U.S. politicians, in their public statements and in a series of bipartisan Congressional resolutions, to defend Israel's massive assaults on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. By combining segments of these statements and resolutions supporting Israel’s “right to self-defense” with certain anti-imperialists’ writings on Syria, I was able to put together the ultimate guide to defending war crimes.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bombing of Civilian Neighborhoods

The bombing of Aleppo/Gaza is a legitimate act of self-defense by the government of Syria/Israel against foreign-backed Islamist terrorists. Reports by groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) that accuse Syria/Israel of violating international humanitarian law are based on hearsay by terrorist supporters and are not to be taken seriously. Indeed, both Amnesty and HRW have repeatedly shown themselves to be anti-Syrian/anti-Israel, part of their overall pro-/anti-Western bias. Médecins San Frontierés and Physicians for Human Rights have also shown their anti-Syrian/anti-Israel bias in their reports of alleged “war crimes,” ignoring how the schools and hospitals bombed by Syrian /Israeli forces have been used by the terrorists for launching rockets into government-held areas/Israel and are therefore legitimate targets.

And a lot of the supposed “atrocities” blamed on the Syrian Arab Army/Israel Defense Forces are actually staged or committed by the terrorists. The loss of civilian life is tragic, of course, but the responsibility rests solely with the rebels/HamasAssad/Netanyahu wants peace, but he has a responsibility to defend his people from terrorism.

Similarly, as demonstrated by their report blaming Syria/Israel for the vast majority of civilian deaths, the U.N. Human Rights Council has shown itself to be irredeemably biased, effectively denying Syria’s/Israel’s right to self-defense. Indeed, the United Nations has a history of unfairly singling out the secular government/Jewish state, therefore requiring Russia/the United States to exercise its veto power to block international efforts to delegitimize the Syrian government/Israel.

Meanwhile, the news media—including shows like Democracy Now! and networks like Al-Jazeera—have simply repeated anti-Syria/anti-Israel propaganda through their one-sided reporting on the conflict, though at least there are networks like RT/Fox News to set the record straight.

Those who demonize Syria/Israel for defending itself against Islamic terrorist groups like Al-Nusra/Hamas don’t really care about human rights or international law. Indeed, those who complain about alleged “war crimes” by Syria/Israel completely ignore the very real war crimes by Israel/Syria. Such supposed “human rights” activists are backing the agenda of the United States and Israel/Iran and Syria and are motivated by imperialism/anti-Semitism.

There are no moderate anti-Assad/Palestinian groups; they are Islamist extremists and terrorists. And the claim that there has ever been a nonviolent anti-Assad/Palestinian movement is simply a myth.

The Syrian rebels/Hamas would not even exist were it not for support by the U.S. and Israel/Iran and Syria, who use them to carry out their agenda to destroy Syria/Israel. This is why Russia/the United States must continue to defend the people of Syria/Israel, reject calls for suspending military assistance and work with their ally to defeat the threat from terrorism.

From Gaza to Aleppo: A Handy Guide for Defending War Crimes

 

from the baroness — to the western press...

'Syrians don't want regime change'

RT: The evacuation was organized by both the Russian reconciliation center and the Syrian government. So, why are we still hearing so much condemnation from Western leaders?

Baroness Caroline Cox: The condemnation by the Western leaders makes me very angry. I have friends in western Aleppo, who tell me what’s happening. They tell me that the people, who had to flee from eastern Aleppo when it was held by the rebels, have terrible stories to tell of the atrocities they suffered. There was one lady, who saw her husband and 8-year-old daughter shot by one of the rebels and another, who was asking for food, shot in the mouth. Those, who have been trying to flee, were shot by many of the rebels. This news should be coming out.

And one of the things that surprises me and worries me is that, when I look at much of the Western news like the BBC, I hear from correspondents, who are not in Syria, not in Aleppo – they are in Lebanon. We need to know what’s happening in Aleppo, eastern Aleppo, western Aleppo, we need to hear from the people of Syria and, as I understand it, the vast majority of people of Syria are very relieved to know that ISIS-related groups are being driven out of eastern Aleppo and that people are free to come out.

RT: The UN's Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs has praised the work of the Russian military in helping the evacuation. But we're still hearing only criticism from many Western leaders. Are they ignoring any positive developments?

CC: Western leaders are ignoring the positive developments in Syria. One of the things that really worry me about the UK foreign policy and the US foreign policy is that it is still committed to regime change. When I was in Syria, in Aleppo and Damascus, the people there do not want regime change imposed by the West. They want to decide their own future, and they see that there is no moderate armed opposition left. If you have a regime change, you will have another disaster like Iraq, like Libya. I wish that the Western governments could stop this commitment to regime change, would listen to the people of Syria and let the people of Syria choose their own future…

RT: The spokesman for the US-led coalition in the Middle East says the situation in Aleppo right now complicates the Washington-led fight against ISIS in Raqqa. What’s your thought about that?

CC: The liberation of the people of eastern Aleppo and the driving out of the ISIS-related Islamist groups can only help the people of Syria to free them from this terrorist tragedy. That is a very strange comment.

RT: During the same briefing, Lieutenant-General Stephen Townsend said the US-led coalition had renewed its anti-ISIS offensive in the city of Raqqa. Why do you think it was put on pause in the first place?

CC: One of the greatest problems of the previous ceasefires was that they were broken by the rebels and used to rearm and gather more resources [for the rebels] to [let] them continue their offenses. Many of these rebels are being helped by western forces, by western governments.

If you visited Syria, you would see that there is no moderate opposition left. I met the opposition leaders within the ruling party, and they told me that there were no moderate rebels left.

On the one side people do die from shelling, but on the other side people die from shelling and beheading and torture and slaughter. So the Syrian people want to see ISIS defeated and they celebrate the removal of the rebels from eastern Aleppo.

read more:

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/370551-syria-liberation-aleppo-russia/

de-mining op...

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. Russian combat engineers have found ammunition made in the United States, Germany and Bulgaria during their mine clearance operation in the Syrian city of Aleppo, Commander of Russia’s International Mine Action Center Ivan Gromov said on Wednesday.


"Ammunition and large-caliber small arms together with rockets for Grad multiple launch rocket systems are represented there. The shells were produced in Germany, the United States and Bulgaria," he said in an interview with Rossiya-24 TV Channel.


The Russian combat engineers also found 122mm mortar shells, rockets for multiple launch rocket systems, hand grenades, grenade launchers and howitzer projectiles in one of the militants’ headquarters, the commander said, adding this ammunition would suffice for a whole battalion.



More:
http://tass.com/world/922932