The Syria Blacklist

https://www.mintpressnews.com/using-forged-emails-progressive-journalists-smear-challenging-syria-groupthink/261972/

This article provides a good summary for the case that Syria coverage has been manipulated and often fabricated. Given the longevity and complexity of the conflict the number of articles dealing with these questions is voluminous, even daunting for someone who hasn't been following things closely.

And thus this article plays a helpful role in providing the 'big picture' in terms of this question.

These journalists, and it is by no means limited to these three have played an important role in getting the story out.... apart from outlets like RT which the West has aggressively worked to discredit. RT is not always an outlet I would recommend and yet within its coverage and schedule there are some examples of solid journalism and commentary that are helpful for those seeking a broader understanding and for those trying to break free of the paradigms and strictures which govern Western coverage.

It's all the more important as Alternative Media has (like all things) cycled through a process of degradation and corruption. Outlets have been influenced through the powerful well budgeted propaganda campaigns. NGO's, news outlets and other organisations have been infiltrated by mainstream thinkers and in some cases those that seem to have direct relationships with intelligence agencies. Some like VICE News have clearly been connected to the Corporatocracy from their inceptions. And despite the fact that outlets like the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) and the White Helmets have been exposed as biased and even fraudulent, they are still regularly cited and utilised by both mainstream and alternative sources.

Even The Intercept, an outlet founded in the wake of the Snowden revelations proved a disappointment and in the years since has degenerated into an outlet that seems determined (with a few exceptions) to steer Leftists and Anti-Establishment figures into the Democratic Party.

An investigation into the Mainstream Media's coverage of the Syrian Conflict is a course in modern propaganda, the corruption of media and the machinations of imperialism. War is always rooted in lies and thus the honest journalist will always be placed in a position of dissidence and opposition. Pro-war journalists are necessarily liars. That's a statement that needs no qualification.

The campaign against these dissident journalists provides an informative if sobering study in the forces of intimidation and reveals just how nasty and vindictive the mainstream media corporatocracy really is. There is a real threat of violence in their counter-offensive (really counter-intelligence) operation.

Further the Syria revelations expose the fact that the post 9/11 – War on Terror narrative is itself not only flawed but is in fact a fabrication. The present American geopolitical agenda antedates 9/11 and involves Washington's quest for unipolarity. 9/11 facilitated this quest and has been used and exploited to the fullest extent. But by 2011, the War on Terror entered a new phase in response to the Arab Spring uprisings. These popular outbursts were spun and manipulated into generating a new series of wars focusing on Libya (as a gateway to North Africa) and Syria as a means to set up the board against Iran and to counter its gains in Iraq.

While many believe the US has been aligned with al Qaeda from the beginning and with its precursors among the mujahideen, these claims can certainly be challenged. But what cannot be challenged is the fact that by 2011 the US entered into a functional alliance with al Qaeda in its conflict with the Assad Regime. Further, the ISIS/al Qaeda split and the ISIS expansion into the Caliphate project and the invasion of Northern Iraq only brought the tactical goals of Washington and al Qaeda into a fuller harmony.

But of course a US-al Qaeda alliance, even if informal negates the whole narrative of the War on Terror and the raison d'être for the Patriot Act and all the 'reforms' and intelligence programmes that have flowed from this supposed and yet clearly bogus threat.

The reporters who are exposing the lies in Syria are in reality exposing the lies that overshadow and dominate US foreign policy and its narratives. These reports on Syria expose the lie that is the US narrative regarding 9/11 and its aftermath. That's why they are hated. That's why Hillary Clinton fulminates against someone like Tulsi Gabbard and insists (comically) that she's a tool, a creature of Moscow.

I suppose such declarations work in certain circles but for others these declarations are making the case for the counter-narrative, the attempts by journalists and others to expose what is really going on. The CNN, New York Times and now Clinton campaign against someone as innocuous as Gabbard demonstrates they've either grown very bold, very foolish or very desperate.

In the end, all these wars, all these power grabs are part and parcel components of US imperialism and its desperate attempt to secure global domination in the wake of the 1989/1991 collapse of the USSR.

The stakes couldn't be higher and I believe these journalists would be already dead or in prison (as indeed some of their colleagues are) if not for the fact that the Internet remains a wild card, an element that the empire has not yet been able to contain and control. Though it must be said, this window of Internet freedom is closing.

I found the exposure of CNN's Clarissa Ward to provide some satisfaction. I have experienced the very palpitations and spasms of rage that she talks about... except I experienced them while watching her reporting. Is she credulous and as stupid as she seems? Perhaps. As mentioned in other writings I am no longer convinced that travel generates insight and promotes education let alone wisdom. People see what they want to see. And Ward, a corrupted agent of the Corporatocracy reports within the boundaries of the consensus she serves. Whether these boundaries are delineated by editors or whether she self-censors is an open question. People can be sincere and yet blind and deceived, brainwashed by the system they've sold themselves to. Or in other cases (such as with the political class) they are simply corrupt and have no qualms about lying. Again, when it comes to war journalism, those promoting the war are immediately suspect or at least should be.

Given recent developments in Syria and how the course of the war is now being tied in with the push to drive Trump from office.... the story is far from over.