unz | Disinformation and lies have been used to justify the wars on Syria that started in 2011.[1]
But lately I’ve been amazed at the extent to which our entire public
discourse now rests on disinformation and lies. This is a broader
problem, but it also affects the prospects for peace in Syria, one of
several places where U.S./NATO activities heighten the risk of nuclear
war.[2]
I’ve
been feeling pretty overwhelmed by it all lately, capped (most
recently) by the third U.S. attack on Syria. As I put that together
with President Trump’s giving the military free rein over “tactics,” it
sank in that, with this delegation of authority, war-making power has
now devolved from the Congress through the President to the military
itself, in areas where not only Syrians but Russians, Iranians and
others operate.
In
the apparent absence of an organized peace movement, the concentration
of so many people on opposing Trump, rather than on opposing U.S. wars,
distracts attention from this problem. Otherwise under fire from all
directions, Mr. Trump gets approval – across the spectrum – when he does
something awful but military, like launching cruise missiles at Syria
or dropping that horrific bomb in Afghanistan. Meanwhile his attempt to
reset U.S. relations and reduce tension with Russia is being used to
lay the groundwork for impeachment and/or charges of treason.
The lies about Syria have of course continued. First, Amnesty International issued “Human Slaughterhouse: Mass Hangings and Extermination at Saydnaya Prison Syria,”
claiming that the Syrian government executed between 5,000 and 13,000
people over a five-year period. Then another chemical weapons incident,
blamed without evidence on the government, was used as the excuse for a
second U.S. attack on Syria. Both of these charges were widely and
uncritically reported in the major media, though neither of them is
credible.[3]
But
the use of disinformation has been expanded in what I now see as an
attempt to destabilize the U.S. government itself, to achieve “regime
change” at home as it has been practiced in many foreign countries over
the last 70 years.[4]
It started right after the election with the attacks on General Mike
Flynn. And as it has continued, the campaign to demonize Russia and
Russian president Vladimir Putin has also intensified.
Bottom
line: It seems clear there is no evidence, let alone proof, that
computers at the DNC were hacked at all, let alone by Russia, or that
Russia tried in any way to “meddle” in the U.S. election. It has thus
far made no difference that, soon after the charge of Russian
interference in the last election was first made, an organization of
intelligence veterans who have the expertise to know pointed out that
U.S. intelligence has the capability of presenting hard evidence of any
such hacking and had not done so (and, I would add, still hasn’t).
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity stated bluntly: “We have
gone through the various claims about hacking. For us, it is child’s
play to dismiss them. The email disclosures in question are the result
of a leak, not a hack.” They then explained the difference between
leaking and hacking.[5]
Counterpunch | Vladimir Putin and Megyn Kelly had a far more interesting exchange
about Syria and sarin gas at the St. Petersburg forum. NBC did not
include this in the 11 minutes that aired Sunday, but RT America filmed
and posted it to YouTube.
In this one, Kelly echoed former UN Ambassador Samantha Power, NPR
commentator Scott Simon, and other American politicians and pundits who
have characterized Bashar-al-Assad as “evil.” She noted that even his
alleged co-conspirator Donald Trump called Assad an “evil guy,” as he
did after the alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian army.
“Our president has said that you’re backing an evil guy there. He said Assad is an evil guy. Do you believe that?”
Putin dismissed the silly question about “evil” with a comic
response, then responded that Russia is not defending Assad; it is
defending the Syrian state from the fate of Libya, Somalia, and
Afghanistan.
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