The Science of Warstarting: WikiLeaks Publishes Damning OPCW Douma "Gas Attack" Email

Internal OPCW E-Mail

by WikiLeaks

23 November, 2019

OPCW management accused of doctoring Syrian chemical weapons report

Wikileaks today publishes an e-mail, sent by a member of an OPCW fact-finding mission to Syria to his superiors, in which he expresses his gravest concern over intentional bias introduced to a redacted version of the report he co-authored.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons sent a team of experts to investigate allegations that a chemical attack took place in the Syrian city of Douma on the 7th of April 2018.

The author of the e-mail was a member of that team and claims the redacted preliminary version of the report, misrepresents the facts he and his colleagues discovered on the ground.

The e-mail is dated 22nd of June. It is addressed to Robert Fairweather, Chief of Cabinet, and forwarded to his deputy Aamir Shouket and members of the fact-finding mission to Douma.

Making the Call on JIT's MH17 Airliner Shootdown: No Calls or Evidence, But Allegations Remain

NATO INTELLIGENCE DISASTER – NEW TELEPHONE INTERCEPTION TAPES REVEAL THERE WERE NO COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN UKRAINE AND KREMLIN AFTER MH17 CRASH – NO DUTCH EVIDENCE, NO RUSSIAN CRIME

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears

@bears_with

November 19, 2019

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Dutch Government have released highly sensitive intelligence confirming what is said to be telephone communications between Russian military commanders, the Russian Defence Ministry, and at least one Kremlin staff man in their communications with the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).

Moscow - The purported telephone interceptions date from June through August 2014. Tape-recordings and text partially translating and interpreting what was said were presented publicly on November 14 by the Dutch-directed prosecution of crimes committed when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was destroyed over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

In the release, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), run by Dutch and Australian policemen, announced it “is looking for information on the individuals within the military and administrative hierarchy who enabled the shooting down of MH17 in Eastern Ukraine using a BUK TELAR.” The JIT has already announced its conclusion that the Russian Government was responsible and criminally culpable in the shoot-down of the aircraft. The Malaysian Government, which is a member of the JIT and owner-operator of the aircraft in which 43 Malaysians were killed, has refused to endorse the allegations first announced by the Dutch on June 19.

In fact, as lawyers and analysts of the MH17 case now realize, last week’s disclosure of the top-secret interceptions reveals the JIT has no tape evidence of communications with Moscow on July 17 and 18, 2014, in the immediate aftermath of the aircraft crash. Alternatively, if the JIT has this evidence but is keeping it secret, the latest interception records demonstrate what the JIT cannot prove.

A Company View of Venezuela and US Foreign Policy

Jack Ryan, The CIA and Venezuela

by Tom Secker - Spy Culture

November 19, 2019

The CIA distanced themselves from the show with a credit at the end of each episode saying they did not endorse its content. But they allowed the creators and stars to visit CIA headquarters, and ultimately granted them permission to film there. Ryan is seen arriving, going through the doors and walking over the CIA seal – exactly the same as in Patriot Games, Argo and other CIA-supported productions.

The CIA’s full cooperation helped add to the show’s authenticity, but it also turned it into a piece of PR for the Agency, resulting in Krasinski and others extolling the virtues of the CIA in numerous interviews. 

Amazon’s Jack Ryan is the CIA’s newest entertainment-propaganda vehicle. John Krasinski went to CIA headquarters to help prepare him for the role.

Nuturing Your Inner Fascist

Reclaiming Your Inner Fascist 

by CJ Hopkins - Consent Factory

November 19, 2019

OK, we need to talk about fascism. Not just any kind of fascism. A particularly insidious kind of fascism. 

No, not the fascism of the early 20th Century. Not Mussolini’s National Fascist Party. Not Hitler’s NSDAP. Not Francoist fascism or any other kind of organized fascist movement or party. Not even the dreaded Tiki-torch Nazis.

It’s the other kind of fascism we need to talk about. The kind that doesn’t come goose-stepping up the street waving big neo-Nazi flags. The kind we don’t recognize when we’re looking right at it.

No Peace for the Dead in Bolivia: La Paz Funeral Gassed by Coup's Police

"They're Killing Us Like Dogs"—A Massacre in Bolivia and a Plea for Help

by Medea Benjamin - Common Dreams

November 22, 2019

Writing this dispatch from Bolivia, the conflict here is spiraling out of control and I fear it will only get worse.

La Paz funeral procession gassed by police. November 21, 2019

I am writing from Bolivia just days after witnessing the November 19 military massacre at the Senkata gas plant in the indigenous city of El Alto, and the tear-gassing of a peaceful funeral procession on November 21 to commemorate the dead. These are examples, unfortunately, of the modus operandi of the de facto government that seized control in a coup that forced Evo Morales out of power.

The coup has spawned massive protests, with blockades set up around the country as part of a national strike calling for the resignation of this new government. One well-organized blockade is in El Alto, where residents set up barriers surrounding the Senkata gas plant, stopping tankers from leaving the plant and cutting off La Paz’s main source of gasoline.

"The military has guns and a license to kill; we have nothing," cried a mother whose son had just been shot in Senkata.

"Please, tell the international community to come here and stop this."

Bombing Syria: Is Provoking a Wider Mideast War in Israel's Interest, or Just Netanyahu's?

Israeli airstrikes on Syria threaten wider Mideast war

by Bill Van Auken  - WSWS

21 November 2019

The Israeli Air Force carried out a major assault on Syria in the early morning hours Wednesday, striking more than 20 targets on the outskirts of Damascus and leaving at least 23 people dead.

Those killed in the air raids reportedly included Syrian government soldiers, allied militiamen and members of the Iranian Quds Force advisory mission sent to assist the government of President Bashar al-Assad in its eight-year-long war against Western-backed Islamist militias.

At least two civilians were killed in the attacks—a tailor, Hayoub Safad, and his wife—when an Israeli missile destroyed their home.

Several other civilians were wounded by shrapnel, including a young girl, whose home in the suburb of Qudsaya, west of the Syrian capital, was hit, the Syrian state government news agency SANA reported.

Victim of a Series of Accidents: Barr Buries Finally Jeffrey Epstein

Barr Ends All Conspiracy Theories Forever By Saying Epstein Died Via A Series Of Coincidences

by Caitlin Johnstone - Rogue Journalist

November 23, 2019

“I can understand people who immediately, whose minds went to sort of the worst-case scenario because it was a perfect storm of screw-ups,” Barr told AP on Thursday.

In an interview with Associated Press, US Attorney General William Barr put all conspiracy theories to rest once and for all by assuring the world that alleged sex trafficker and alleged billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s death was simply the result of a very, very, very long series of unfortunate coincidences.

Lo And Behold: Life Before and After Technology

Lo And Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

by Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing

 

Legendary master filmmaker Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Cave of Forgotten Dreams) examines the past, present and constantly evolving future of the Internet in Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.

Working with NETSCOUT, a world leader in-real time service assurance and cybersecurity, which came aboard as a producer and led him into a new world, Herzog conducted original interviews with cyberspace pioneers and prophets such as PayPal and Tesla co-founder Elon Musk, Internet protocol inventor Bob Kahn, and famed hacker Kevin Mitnick.

These provocative conversations reveal the ways in which the online world has transformed how virtually everything in the real world works, from business to education, space travel to healthcare, and the very heart of how we conduct our personal relationships.

In the words of executive producer Jim McNiel, “It’s a journey even Werner, with his immense imagination and inquisitive mind, didn’t expect. Unless you have lived in the technology space, you don’t yet fully appreciate what dwells there.” Herzog adds: “It is one of the biggest revolutions we as humans are experiencing.” 

See it in theatres, On Demand, Amazon Video and iTunes August 19th, 2016 

http://www.loandbeholdfilm.com

Illuminating Bolivia's Nightmare

Understanding Bolivia's Nightmare

by Gabriel Hetland - NACLA

November 20, 2019

Debate continues to swirl around the questions of what led up to Morales's resignation and what has happened since.

Street art in Cochabamba (Photo by MollySVH/Flickr)

If there was any doubt before, the horrifying events of the past week in Bolivia should have laid those doubts to rest: It was a coup. But there should have been no doubt to begin with.

While it is true that the events preceding Morales’s ouster were complex and multifaceted, there is no disputing that the military demanded Morales step down. The fact that the military head used the word “suggest” is irrelevant. When the military “suggests” a president step down, and he or she does immediately after, that is a coup.

As Bernie Sanders said when asked about this issue,

“[A]t the end of the day it was the military who intervened…and asked [Morales] to leave. When the military intervenes…that’s called a ‘coup.’” 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Alan MacLeod, Andrew Williamson, Janine Bandcroft November 21, 2019

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

November 21, 2019

For any who doubted "democratic regime change" an oxymoronic euphemism for totalitarian takeover, just take a look at what's going down in Bolivia.

Less than two weeks into the overthrow of Latin America's most popular president, there's blood in the streets. And, the "new elections" Western governments, environmental NGO's, and even lefty US presidential campaign front-runner Elizabeth Warren are calling for won't include Evo Morales' Movement for Socialism party. That according to democracy champion and self-proclaimed interim Bolivian president, Jeanine Áñez.

Dr. Alan MacLeod is an educator, essayist, and author whose research interests include media theory, propaganda, social media and South American politics.


Listen. Hear.

MacLeod’s first book is, 'Bad News From Venezuela, 20 Years of Fake News and Misreporting', and he served as editor of 'Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent', described as "a collaborative volume which updates Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model for the twenty-first-century media landscape". Alan's articles too appear at CounterPunch.org and FAIR.org, where his latest is, 'The Bolivian Coup Is Not a Coup—Because US Wanted It to Happen'.

Alan MacLeod in the first half.

And; racism and resource exploitation are also at the heart of British Columbia's fracked gas industry. As well as running roughshod over First Nations' rights and despoiling the lands and fresh water of the province, LNG transhipments also pose an unmitigable threat to marine life. 'The Whale and the Raven' is a newly released documentary film screening next week, November 27th and 28th at UVic's Cinecenta cinema. The film features the spectacular ecology of the Salish Sea and the people desperate to protect and preserve it.

Andrew Williamson is an award-winning, BC-based film producer and director and founder of Off Island and Crazy8's. Andrew shared production duties on the Canadian/German co-production through Cedar Island Films.

Andrew Williamson and The Whale and the Raven, a "story of humans and non-humans, united by a deep connection to the sea, separated by conflicting plans for its future" in the second half.

And; Victoria-based activist and long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Alan MacLeod and the continuing coup that wasn't in Bolivia.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca.  He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Bolivia a Case in Point: How the Organizaton of American States Subverts Hemispheric Democracy

OAS election observers subvert Bolivian democracy

by Yves Engler

November 18, 2019

Organization of American States election observers have played an important role in subverting Bolivian democracy.

While some may find it hard to believe that a regional electoral monitoring body would consciously subvert democracy, their actions in the South American country are not dissimilar to previous US/Canada backed OAS missions in Haiti.

"Welcome to a Dictatorship" - The Coup Consolidates

Coup Against Evo Morales Moves Towards Consolidation

by Marco Teruggi, Pagina 12 - via Popular Resistance

translation, Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau

November 16, 2019
 

You would not know it from the US corporate media, but the protests against the US-supported coup in Bolivia are growing massively despite right-wing violence. The people of Bolivia have not given up.

Above Photo: Henry Romero 

People around the world should do all they can to stand in solidarity with the people of Bolivia against the US-supported coup. The legislature controlled by the MAS party can annual the self-appointment of the fraudulent interim coup president, urge Evo Morales to return home and direct the military and police to stand with the people against the coup and to arrest the violent right-wing mob. 
 

Incredible scenes in #Bolivia.

Massive protest from El Alto to La Paz.

Extremely brave anti-coup protesters PROUDLY wave the Wiphala flag - symbol of indigenous resistance.

They are fighting back against fascists, the Bolivian army and US imperialism. pic.twitter.com/N8LOWvOyMP

— Fiona Edwards #JC4PM (@Fio_edwards) November 15, 2019

 

See the series of tweets from source here.

Weaponizing the OPCW: How Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Manipulated to "Justify" Broader War in Syria

The Hugely Important OPCW Scandal Keeps Unfolding. Here’s Why No One’s Talking About It.

by Caitlin Johnstone - Rogue Journalist

November 17, 2019

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is now hemorrhaging evidence that the US and its allies deceived the world once again about yet another military intervention, which should be a front-page story all over the world. Yet if you looked at American news media headlines you’d think the only thing that matters right now is indulging the childish fantasy that Donald Trump might somehow magically be removed from office via supermajority consensus in a majority-Republican Senate.

CounterPunch has published an actual bombshell of a report by journalist Jonathan Steele containing many revelations about the OPCW scandal which were previously unknown to the public. Steele is an award-winning reporter who worked as a senior foreign correspondent for The Guardian back before that outlet was purged of all critical thinkers on western imperialism; he first waded into the OPCW controversy last month with a statement made on the BBC revealing the existence of a second whistleblower on the organisation’s investigation into an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria.